Registration Forms Due January 19, 2015

To worship is to stand in awe under a heaven of stars, before a flower, a leaf in sunlight or a grain of sand. To worship is to work with dedication and with skill; it is to pause from work and listen to a strain of music. Worship is loneliness seeking communion; it is a thirsty land crying out for rain. Worship is the mystery within us reaching out to the mystery beyond. It is an inarticulate silence yearning to speak; it is the window of the moment open to the sky of the eternal. Rev. Jacob Trapp, Unitarian Universalist

Worship is all that and more. It is song and silence, thought and feeling, prose and prayer and hours of preparation, practice, selecting, rehearsal, writing, researching, organizing, learning, deepening, and sharing. Worship becomes the great mystery that we enter each week as faith communities.

Join us as we learn to create more meaningful worship for congregations of all sizes!

What: A worship workshop beginning with Keynote Speaker Rev. Erika Hewitt and followed by break-out sessions on storytelling, music, pulpit presence, writing and technology for worship. We’ll also have lunch and make time for getting to know other UUs.

Who: Professional and lay worship leaders, worship teams, musicians, and music directors. High school youth participating in these capacities are very welcome!

Where: Tree of Life UU Congregation, 5603 Bull Valley Road, McHenry, IL 60050

Cost: $20.00 for folks not from a sponsoring congregation. Members from sponsoring congregations are encouraged to donate. Not sure if you’re a sponsoring congregation? Ask your minister. (Tree of Life is a sponsoring congregation.)

More about our Keynote Speaker, Rev. Erika Hewitt: Rev. Hewitt has Master’s degrees in Latin American History and Anthropology. She graduated from Starr King School for the Ministry in 2002 and began the process of pastoring to congregations in the regular UU way, but something wasn’t right and so she leapt. She took a chance, moved from California to Maine and serves a congregation half-time while trusting Spirit to guide her in her other ministerial callings: coaching UU worship teams, writing, teaching yoga and meditation, and crafting rites of passage for others. Rev. Hewitt has written Story, Song and Spirit: Fun and Creative Worship Services for All Ages and The Shared Pulpit: A Sermon Seminar for Lay People.

Click here for more information and the registration form.