Lay Leader Guidelines and Suggested Script

Lay Leader Guidelines and Suggested Script

Note: Text in underlined and in bold is a section header, not to be read. Text in italics are directions for the Lay Leader. Text in Roman type is a template for the Lay Leader to read. In some cases this may need to be modified. The Lay Leader should contact the speaker for the Sunday Service. Ask the speaker if he/she has any particular readings or hymns/songs she/he would like to use for the service. If you have readings, hymns or chalice readings you would like Rev. Nina to consider, please discuss with her. Working together, the two of you can determine what works best for the service theme. If it is an outside speaker or a UUFB lay speaker, determine the theme, and if there are no suggestions for readings, choose readings/hymns that fit the service theme. Modify this template as needed so that you have only the text and/or directions you need on the day of the service. A good source for ideas about opening words, chalice lighting and other parts of the service, visit http://www.uua.org/ and/or https://www.uuworld.org/articles/online-help-worship-leaders for support for worship service lay leaders.

Reserve a seat in the front row. Please sit there when the speaker is speaking.

TURN ON THE SOUND SYSTEM RECORDER, AND LIGHT VOTIVE CANDLE

Gathering Song. Lay Leader and presenter choose. You may sing (or recruit someone else to sing for you) the gathering song you have selected. Generally, it will be “Enter, Rejoice…”(#361) or “Come, Come, Whoever You Are"(#188)

Welcome and Announcements

Welcome to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Bozeman. I am and I will be the Lay Leader for today’s service.

Use the following words to describe who UUs are or choose your own words or refer to the seven principles:

Unitarian Universalists are a community of people from many backgrounds and many beliefs. We create spirituality and community beyond boundaries, working for more justice and more love in our own lives and in the world. (from UUA website)

We offer a special welcome to those who are visiting today and invite you to stand, if you care to, and tell us who you are and where you come from. (Pause and give time for any visitors to stand and introduce themselves. Proceed when you are certain anyone who wants to speak has done so.) Thank you for sharing. Please join us for coffee (9:15 a.m. only) and conversation after the service. If you are interested in knowing more about the Fellowship, there is a welcome table at the entrance doors where you can obtain additional information and speak with a Fellowship member.

Please read the announcements printed in the order of service. If there are any other announcements related to the activities of the Fellowship that are not in the order of service or cannot be posted on the Bulletin Board in the back, please come forward. This would also be a good time to turn off your cell phones.

On the 2nd Sunday of the month, please say:

On the second Sunday of every two months, we collect a special offering for a local group who puts into action our beliefs and hopes as a Fellowship. Today designated checks and cash will go to ____. (Check with Amanda Cater or Board member)

Hand of Friendship

Let us take this time to share the hand of friendship with one another.

Time this part. Keep it to 45 seconds. Ring the chime to let people know that they should return to their seats

Prelude

There is no need to introduce the Prelude. Just let the musician play. When the musician starts to play, it is appropriate for you to sit down.

Time of Centering / Ringing of the Peace Bowl

For thousands of years spiritual teachers have said that our breath is the gateway to peace, stillness and insight. We invite you now to center yourself, focus on your breathing, and let stillness begin to open your heart and heal your spirit. Dwell in the silence until you hear the ringing of the peace bowl.

OR you may use the following alternate wording:

Let us now rest together for a moment on the forming edge of our lives. May we resist the headlong tumble into the next moment and reclaim for ourselves presence in this time and in this place. Let us center ourselves, focus on our breathing, and let stillness enter our hearts and rest our minds. We will rest there together in the silence until the ringing of the peace bowl.

Or you may substitute your own alternate introduction to the Time of Centering. But be sure to include the last part about the ringing of the peace bowl.

Time this part about 30-45 seconds. Ring the Peace Bowl to end the moment of silence.

Reading of the Covenant

Let us all read the covenant together, as it is printed in your order of service.

Love is the spirit of this church

And service is its prayer

This is our covenant with one another and

The Spirit of Life:

To live together in peace,

To seek truth in freedom

And to help one another.

Opening Words/Lighting of the Chalice and Peace Candle

Invite your chalice lighter to come forward. If the lighter is a child, help the child light the taper. Have them stand next to you as you read what you have chosen. Also light the Peace Candle. Instruct the chalice lighter to use the votive candle to light the taper; then blow them both out after the chalice and peace candle are lighted.

Insert Chalice Lighting Reading here (usually no more than 1-2 minutes)

…followed by the Peace Candle statement.

Suggested phrases/quotes for the peace candle are included at the end of this document.

Opening Hymn

Consider giving a little background about the hymns such as composer and/or lyricist if it enhances the singing of the song

Please rise in body or spirit to sing Hymn (give number & name of hymn). Our musician, ____ (give name) will play an introduction (or the whole verse if we don’t know the hymn) and then we will sing the verses together.

Story for All Ages (9:15 service only)

Invite the storyteller and children to come forward.

Turn the microphone off.

There should be a mike set up for the SFAA giver. You may help turn it on.

As the children are leaving, the congregation will sing “Go Now In Peace.”

Turn the SFAA mike off, and turn your microphone back on.

Reading (optional)

Some speakers may request a reading, or you may choose a reading or responsive reading that fits the theme of the Service. Usually 2-3 minutes in length. If Rev. Nina is our speaker, discuss with Rev. Nina about possible readings for this space.

Music (optional)

Rev. Nina likes music between the reading and the sermon.

Sermon

When needed, introduce the speaker. Ask the speaker for biographical/pertinent information when contacting him or her about the service. Rev. Nina will not need an introduction.

Musical Meditation

This is the response to the sermon/presentation. You do not need to introduce it.

Joys and Concerns

This is our fellowship, our community, in which we share and find strength and common purpose. Let us open our minds and hearts to one another to listen with love and understanding. If you have a joy or concern you would like to share, we invite you to come forward, place a stone in the water, tell us your name and briefly share your joy or concern. Please use the microphone.

You can help the Joys and Concerns flow. If someone should share something painful or difficult, you can ask the next person to wait a moment before sharing his/her joy or concern. Also, individuals who speak irregularly sometimes forget to speak directly into the microphone and cannot be heard beyond the first few rows. If you notice this is occurring, please assist the speaker.

When folks are finished, add another stone to the water and please say

I put this stone in the water to represent all the joys and concerns left unspoken in our hearts.

The musician plays the introduction and all sing “Comfort Me.”

Offering

The offering is a sign of commitment to a free Fellowship, which is supported by the voluntary generosity of all who join with us. The offering is given and received in grateful appreciation of our shared hopes and values. Let ours be an offering to sustain and strengthen this community, which is sacred to so many of us.

Optional. The Lay Leader may decide to use/not use the following statement:

If you are visiting us for the first time, you may let the plate pass you by. Your presence with us today is a gift.

If it is the 2nd Sunday of the month in which a special offering is being taken, please say:

“Today all cash and designated checks will go to ______(organization). Please make the check payable to the UUFB and put ______in the memo line. ______(person) will tell us a few words about the mission and work of their organization.” (Check with Amanda Cater or Board member about who this is.) Invite this person to speak.

After the collection and the plates have been returned to the altar, say:

What is given in love is received with gratitude.

May this Fellowship be worthy of all of your gifts.

Closing Hymn

Please rise in body or spirit to sing Hymn (give number & name of hymn). Our musician, _____ (give name) will play an introduction (or a whole verse if the hymn is less known); then we will sing the verses together

Please remain standing through the Chalice Extinguishing.

Closing Words and Extinguishing the Flame of the Chalice

Give Closing Words here (selected by lay leader or Rev. Nina or speaker and you may choose together).

Extinguish the flame in the chalice and Peace Candle.

Closing Circle and Song

Let us form our closing circle, join hands and sing _____(name of song)

TURN OFF RECORDER

NOTE: This template should assist you in preparing for the service. If any element of the service needs to be shifted or changed because of the theme of the week or a service with special needs, please do so. If you wish to change the wording of the introduction, the joys and concerns and the offering, there are suggestions in the Lay Leader Tips.

PEACE CANDLE LIGHTING CHOICES

Peace cannot be kept by force;
it can only be achieved by understanding.
- Albert Einstein / Peace is a journey of a thousand miles
and it must be taken one step at a time.
- Lyndon B. Johnson
Peace is not absence of conflict,
it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. - Ronald Reagan / We affirm and promise the goal of world community, with peace, liberty, and justice
for all. - UU Principle
If there is to be peace in the nations…
There must be peace in the heart.
– Lao-Tse / We will take one more step,
‘til there is peace for us and everyone,
we’ll take one more step.
-Joyce Poley (from UU hymnal)
We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
-Dalai Lama / An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
-Mahatma Gandhi
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek,
but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
-Martin Luther King, JR. / Peace is not something you wish for;
It’s something you make,
Something you do, something you are,
and something you give away.
-Robert Fulghum
All peoples are…created from one essence.
If fate brings suffering to one member
The others cannot stay at rest.
– Saadi (Persian, Muslim poet) / You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one.
-John Lennon
We look forward to the time
when the power to love will replace the love of power.
Then will our world know the blessings of peace. - William Ellery Channing / "If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten
that we belong to each other."
- Mother Teresa
It isn't enough to talk about peace.
One must believe in it.
And it isn't enough to believe in it.
One must work at it.
- Eleanor Roosevelt / Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
-Matthew 5:9

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