Worship Services
- Worship Schedule
- Description of Worship Services
- Lay-Led Worship Services
- 2026-2027 Thematic Arc for Worship
Worship Schedule
Each month’s plans for our 10:30 a.m. Sunday worship services appear here. Details about the worship service for the upcoming Sunday also appear on our Home Page. Childcare is always provided without reservations for Worship, Mindfulness Meditation and Forum.
Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026 – Remembrance Sunday – Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon
Join us for our beloved annual Remembrance Sunday service, as we honor the memory of beloved ones now gone. You are invited to bring a photo or memento of a departed loved one for our remembrance altar and will be invited to speak their names into our service.
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026 – “Start in Your Own Backyard” – Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon
Join us to hold one another post-election, as we reach the other side of one of the most consequential election cycles of our lifetime. What’s next? No matter the outcome, we can be sure there is plenty of loving work to be done in our very own backyard.
Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026 – “The Grass Grows Over” – Ben Schulz, Lay Leader
A sense of place and rootedness can be comforting, but what does it mean to be rooted in places that are scarred and polluted? The forces of violence and exploitation are all around, and the places that remember them are not so far away as we might think. For this Sunday’s sacred place, we’ll look to one such troubled history in our own backyard: Rocky Fork Lakes Conservation Area, in northern Boone County. What might it tell us about what it means to remember and live on in the aftermath?
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2026 – Harvest Sunday – All-Ages Service – Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon and DRE Jamila Batchelder
Join us for our annual All-Ages Harvest Celebration service, when we give thanks for the abundance of our earth, and respond with blessings for one another.
Sunday, Nov. 29, 2026 – Question Box Sunday – Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon
It’s your rare chance to make Rev. Molly improvise! Unitarian Universalists are a people of questions, and once a year, we pull out a sparkly box, invite you to put questions in it during the service, and give our minister the chance to respond.
The Zoom address for our 10:30 a.m. Sunday worship is
https://zoom.us/j/380411489
You can also join by phone: 312-626 6799
Webinar ID: 380 411 489
Services are also streamed live to Facebook
Description of Worship Services
We offer a worship service every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.. The current month’s schedule appears above. Services last about one hour.
Children are present for about the first 15 minutes, which includes a stones of joy and sorrow ritual. The children then leave for their religious education classes. Nursery care and our full religious education program for preschool through junior high school are offered at this time.
Although each of our services is unique, services usually begin with a welcome from a member of our Board of Trustees and occasional special announcements.
Interspersed with a variety of music and hymn singing, the typical service also includes the lighting of the chalice, one or more inspirational readings, a sermon or homily, an offertory, an opportunity to express joys and sorrows, and a closing benediction.
After the service we gather for fellowship, conversation and coffee.
Members of the Worship Associates assist in planning worship services and also participate in conducting services.
Lay-Led Worship Services
Our lay-led services honor our commitment to lay involvement in church leadership and our church’s history. We began in 1951 as a lay-led fellowship, and thus all services were lay led until we called our first minister in 1980.
From September through May, we have occasional lay-led services, and many of the services are lay led during the summer. The Worship Associates organize the lay-led services. These services are often non-traditional and unique and allow individuals to speak to a topic of interest or lead the congregation in exploring a variety of activities related to the many facets of worship and spirituality.
2026-2027 Thematic Arc for Worship
“You are here. We are here.”
Purpose:
- Re-locating ourselves, in a time of disorientation.
- Re-rooting ourselves in earth and place.
Theological touchstones:
- The sacredness of every place and person.
- The interconnection of all things.
- Deeper time and clearer attention.
Monthly Themes:
- September – toes in the water @ Grindstone Creek
- October – moving under a rustling canopy of leaves @ MKT trail (MLK trailhead)
- November – golden hour in your own backyard @ church prairie
- December – curled up with a book/audiobook @ the library
- January – surrounded by art @ Columbia Art League
- February – delving into history @ the Blind Boone Center
- March – witnessing life return @ Garth nature area
- April – in a riot of blossoms @ the redbud grove in Stephen’s Lake Park
- May – On a blanket under new leaves @ the Big Burr Oak