WELCOME
Happy New Year and Merry Christmas
this 7th Day of Christmas
Thank you for coming! 
Welcome to our Taize service.
This service is offered on the first Friday of every month.
First United Church of Christ and Conference Center is 
a church with full real life standing in the Eastern Association;
Southern California Nevada Conference of the
United Church of Christ (UCC). 
It's good to be real in Second Life! 
And as a UCC church, we'd like you to know that
"No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, 
you are welcome here."
Our service will be in voice and text.  
Music will be on the media viewer, so be sure that you have voice and media turned on. 
If you don't know how to do that, let someone know and we'll try to help.
There will be a link in Nearby Chat so you can watch it in your browser if the viewer isn't working for you.
Please try not to touch the viewer, I have learned (the hard way) that it is cranky and doesn't like to be poked.
There is a bulletin for the service, if you want one, in the red binder near the door.
Taize worship is a contemplative type of worship developed by the ecumenical monastic community of Taize, France.
It incorporates repetitive prayers set to music, sometimes in different languages, along with moments of silent prayer, scripture, and other readings, poems or prayers. 
The use of repetitive sung prayers allows us to to turn off our thinking mind and allow the music and prayer to sink into our hearts.
I encourage you, if you are some place where you feel safe doing so, to try singing along with the sung prayers once you get the rhythm. 
You may also want to light a candle wherever you are,
as our candles are lit here in our sanctuary,
to recognize the Spirit's presence with us
and set aside this time for worship.
The readings are the daily readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.
Now, let us take a moment and in silence open our hearts to God. 

MOMENT OF SILENCE

"Bless the Lord, My Soul"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4Svh-9ohg4
Chorus:
Bless the Lord, my soul
And bless God's holy name
Bless the Lord, my soul
who leads me into life.

MOMENT OF SILENCE

"The Kingdom of God"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL1_IhVTJmk
Chorus:
The kingdom of God is justice and peace 
and joy in the Holy Spirit. 
Come, Lord, and open in us the gates of your kingdom.

MOMENT OF SILENCE

REVELATION  21:1-6a
hen I saw a new heaven and a new earth; 
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "
See, the home of God is among mortals. 
He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes. 
Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, 
for the first things have passed away."
And the one who was seated on the throne said, 
"See, I am making all things new." 
Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."
Then he said to me, 
"It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end."

MOMENT OF SILENCE

"Nada te Turbe"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvfTVxgkWpo

MOMENT OF SILENCE

"Blessing for a New Beginning" - John O’Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

TIME OF SILENT MEDITATION - about 5 minutes

PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE

In the silence of our hearts or in words typed in Nearby Chat
let us give thanks for the gift of this day
and pray for the life of the world ...

if you have a prayer of joy or concern that you wish to lift to God, and have supported by the energy of those gathered here, type it in Nearby Chat at this time.
Please conclude your prayer with the words, "Lord, in your mercy" so we know you are finished. 
When you see "Lord, in your mercy," you may wish to respond with "hear our prayers."
Lord, in your mercy,


Lord hear our prayers
those voiced here today
those spoken only in the depths of our hearts
those for which we have no words,
we lift them all up to you
with faith that you know, better than we,
what is needed.
We pray all this, in the name of the one who taught us to pray together:
Our Father
who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name
thy kin-dom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
for Thine is the kin-dom
and the power
and the glory, forever.
Amen.

"I Am Sure I Shall See"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wm_hjF_PO8
Lyrics:
I am sure I shall see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
Yes I shall see the goodness of my God,
Hold firm, trust in the Lord

GO IN PEACE