Standing on the Shoulders | Unity Church of Ames

Midweek Faith Lift

July 18, 2018

Standing on the Shoulders

Revs. Heather & Don Withers

Chris Foster

Rev. Deb Hill-Davis

This service was a wonderful day of remembering the history of Unity of Ames and celebrating 25 years of being a Spiritual Presence of Love in the Ames community. Thank you to all who made the day possible, especially the planning team: Heather Withers, John Anderson, Barb McKelvey, Nancy Evans and Rev. Deb. A big thanks also to Lizmari Collazo who spent hours to upload all the videos, Jim Prouty who cleaned the church twice, once for the concert and then for Sunday. Thank you to Clark who wrote the music for the lyrics that I wrote. Thank you to the Chaplains for the prayer for Unity of Ames, and thank you to Chai Tunes for the wonderful concert on Saturday night. We raised over $600.00 toward our new floor in the Community Room.

And a big thanks also goes to the Friday Chat & Chew folks who put together that great display of the history of UCOA. That group includes Barb McKelvey, Joy Munn, Sally Hanna, Claire Uldrich, Liz White and John Anderson.

Thanks also to Mark Barrett who repainted the front of the church, Mary Fox and Donna Nelson who made the flower gardens so lovely and cared for. Thanks to Jim Trenberth, an all around great helper in every way and to Susan Wolfe for facilitating the process of getting the new patio in place. Thanks to Todd Davis and Mary Cochran for being the grill masters on Sunday and to Su and Harold for putting up the shelters. If I have left anyone out, please know that you are heartily thanked for your contribution to our celebration!

The video of the service will be uploaded to the website this week. Lizmari is also planning to upload the video messages from Rev. Barry Vennard, Rev. Donna Johnson and Jim Blake to the Faith Lift this Wednesday. The video of the concert and the video of the service will also be uploaded to the website.

What I will share with you here are the prayers and songs written for us for this celebration. We begin with the prayer, written by the Chaplain team at UCOA.

Prayer to Celebrate UCOA at 25 Years

Growing through Change, Here We Grow Again

Divine Sweet Spirit

We affirm the growth and change

Of the previous 25 years.

With grateful hearts we celebrate

Moving through all our challenges together

Through the power of spirit moving in us

We have transformed challenges into growth in every way.

In faith, we affirm the vision of our founders and build on that vision

To carry us joyfully into the next 25 years.

Here we grow again!

And so it is, and so we let it be!

Amen

And then the song, with lyrics by Rev. Deb Hill-Davis, music by Clark Ford

Ode to the Future of UCOA

A 25^th Anniversary Anthem

Chorus:

Standing on the shoulders

Of those who came before

Open to the vision

That there could be much more,

So much more, so much more

We see the beauty of the path

That brought us to this day.

We thank the elders of our church,

Their Faith did light the way.

Chorus:

Standing on the shoulders

Of those who came before

Open to the vision

That there could be much more,

So much more, so much more

We offer Love, we offer peace

And joyous Connection too.

We work together with each other

To see our dreams come true.

Chorus:

Standing on the shoulders

Of those who came before

Open to the vision

That there could be much more,

So much more, so much more

Collaboration and Inclusion

Serve as Points of Light

Transformation is our mission

Abundance our birthright.

Chorus

Standing on the shoulders

Of those who came before

Open to the vision

That there could be much more,

So much more, so much more

At 25 we celebrate Life

A shimmering Silver day

That lights the path for

Those to come

And find the Unity Way

Chorus:

Standing on the shoulders

Of those who came before

Open to the vision

That there could be much more,

So much more, so much more

And then we have a song written in Sanskrit by Chai Tunes especially for our 25^th Anniversary!

Swagatham (Sanskrit)

Swagatham Shubha Swagatham

Cha Taranga Swagatham

Swagatham Tava Swagatham

Ekatmatha Mandala Prekshaka Sannithou

Arpithey Susmithey Sumadhura Geetham

Tala Vrinda Mohanam

Ramneeya Swara Shobhanam

Raga Sudha Rasa Sagaram

Welcome, A Happy welcome

Chai Tunes welcomes you

Welcome, to you, welcome

Assembled audience of the Unity Church

We joyfully offer you our sweet song

Accompanied by a circle of dancing beats

Adorning beautiful shining notes

Making an ocean of melodious music

We were so abundantly blessed on this glorious day of celebration! As John Anderson said on Sunday, “Let’s go for 125 years!” AMEN to that, John!

Blessings, Joy and Much Love and Gratitude for all,

Rev. Deb