This is the Church of the Open Mind - Loving Heart - Helping Hands - Caring Community

©2010 Unitarian Universalist Church of Winchendon              126 Central St., PO BOX 218 Winchendon, MA 01475                      (978) 297-0554

Contact Us

Home

We come together as a congregation every Sunday at 10AM for worship. We understand the root meaning of "worship" to be paying attention to those essential things of value, what is worthy, or "worth-ship." The root of the word "religion" is religare; which means to bind up, hold together. Worship then is the central activity of our faith, because it is through worship, that we, bound together in community, reconnect with ultimate worth, or as one theologian said "the ground of our being." We worship by listening to centering music, singing together, praying, meditating or sitting in silence, offering our gifts to the church and reflecting on a wide variety of spiritual and ethical topics.

When you enter our sanctuary you will be greeted by a member and given a program or "Order of Service". Visitors are invited to sign our guest book and are welcomed to join us after the service for coffee and conversation in our social room where you will have a chance to meet the congregation.
 
Our worship services are either lead by our minister, visiting preachers, or our lay members. The order of the worship service varies from time to time but usually has the following elements. Don't be surprised if something different happens because Unitarian Universalists enjoy novelty as well as tradition! We begin our service with music to center us in the moment. After this musical prelude we then begin our formal worship with Opening Words or a Call To Worship which are a few words that bring us into this particular sacred time. We light our flaming chalice while reading aloud our affirmations or covenant. We continue by congregational singing of a hymn and lighting candles for our greatest joys and sorrows, followed by a time of silent and spoken prayer. Most Sundays we read or tell a "Story for All Ages" so that young and old get a chance to reflect on the theme of the service. The children then leave for their religious education classes and the congregation takes the time to reflect on the gifts we have all received in our lives while the offering is taken for the work of the church in the world. We often follow this time with a thought provoking reading, a hymn and then a sermon/reflection for the day. We close the service with more music and a benediction and a lovely postlude where we are welcome to sit in silence and enjoy the music before we retire to our social room for fellowship time.