Worship At United
Coming together for worship at United is like finding water in a dry and thirsty land. That’s why we do so, not only on Sunday mornings but midweek, too!
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Like a stream in the desert, worship can refresh and renew us. Each week it offers us God’s new life and hope, for ourselves and for this world. At United, worship is the center of our life together, from which everything else flows: outreach, education, care, among others.
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Whether on Sunday mornings, midweek, or other times, worship at United offers that new life in different ways. Sometimes – especially in the Sunday 8:30 AM service and the midweek contemplative services – worship is like the deep, still waters that God promises in the 23rd Psalm. In the later Sunday service, worship can be like a living stream, offering life in all kinds of ways. Similarly, like on Mardi Gras and Fiesta Sundays, worship is a river, full of life and surprises.
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At United, we believe all of us – regardless of age – need the living waters of worship. That’s why children and younger youth join in the first part of the late service each Sunday and why Children’s Ministry always begins with prayer and song. It’s also why we offer a number of “intergenerational” services for all ages throughout the year.
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We hope you’ll join us in worship at United. Together may we be renewed by the waters of life God offers us each week.
In Such a Time as This
Worship in November
“Write the Vision.” “Build the World.” “Create Rejoicing.” “Find the Way to Peace.” Through the first four Sundays of November, the Hebrew prophets are our guides for discerning what it means to be a person of faith in our time—which is not unlike their times. It’s a season to give thanks for their witness and our call to faith and commitment. After Thanksgiving, we start a new year as we start Advent’s journey to new life.
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Worship This Month
Write the Vision - All Saints Sunday
November 2
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
The book of Habakkuk opens with a dialogue between the prophet and God (1:1-4, 2:1-4). Despairing of the evil and violence all around him, he asks God when things will change, when God will come to help the people. In response, God tells Habakkuk to climb up the ramparts and hold a sign with God’s vision for the world. It must have seemed a fool’s errand to the prophet, as it may for us, too. But “writing the vision” is what we’re called to do. On All Saints Sunday, we remember those who had the courage to hold such visions. (Daylight Saving Time ends. Please set your clocks back one hour Saturday evening.)
Build the World
November 9
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
Haggai was even more of a minor prophet than Habakkuk, but he dreamed big and he called his people to do the same (2:1-9). Faced with the rebuilding of his devastated city and temple, he proclaimed God’s word “Take courage, all you leaders, all you priests, all you people of the land. Work, for I am with you. Fear not.” Good words for our time, as a church and as a nation.
Create a Rejoicing - Stewardship Sunday
November 16
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
“Pay attention to the verbs,” a Biblical scholar advised. “That’s where the action is.” The prophet Isaiah is full of verbs, especially in chapter 65 (17-25). “Behold,” says God, “I am doing a new thing. I will rejoice and delight. I will listen and answer.” And you (aka us), Isaiah continues, “will build and plant, and none shall destroy.” Sounds like a plan, yes?
Guide Our Feet -Thanks-Singing Sunday
November 23
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
An old man named Zechariah sings to his infant son John. As he looks into the child’s eyes, he sees hope and possibility, God’s assurance that life will go on. We sing such hope this Thanks-singing service.
The One Who Comes... Where We Least Expect -First Sunday of Advent
November 30
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
Advent doesn’t begin with Luke’s nativity story but with the Gospel’s apocalyptic vision of the “Son of Man” coming in glory. What an odd place to start—but an appropriate one in our time of Christian nationalism with its allegiance to a conquering, militarized Christ. Luke ends his Gospel with Christ in glory, but he begins it with a child born in poverty. So what constitutes true glory?