Services since mid-March 2020 have been on Zoom, with sermons, readings, poetry, music and visual effects.
Sunday 21st March
The zoom service was led by our member Elizabeth Faiers who paid a very personal and moving tribute to Sarah Everard and her family. Sarah was originally from York and her family still live here, and Elizabeth knows them well. The chalice was lit in memory of Sarah. The theme was on Community supporting friends, reflecting on the current pandemic, and how we can support each other during these trying times. One of the readings was The villagers stayed put, the story of Eyam, by Rev. Derek Smith, and how the villagers quarantined themselves, just as we have to do just now. Hymns included 192 from Hymns for Worship (green) A New Community and 130 from Sing Your Faith (purple) Ours is a town for everyone. Conversation afterwards reflected on how we are all coping.
Sunday 28th February 2021
A service led by our minister, Rev. Stephanie Bisby, on How much is enough? with quotations from the Rowntree report, and reading sfrom The soul of money, The prosperous heart, a poem by our own member Brinley Price
Sunday 24th January 2021
In York David Zucker led a thoughtful service for Holocaust Memorial Day which included a story for all ages, an animated version of Ruths story by Ruth Roggoff, a child who escaped through Europe and arrived in the U.K. with her mother and brother on the day war broke out. Readings from Between God and Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel, Refugee Blues by W.H. Auden, and a passage from the Autobiography of Ernest Toller. Hymns ranged from Captive voices cry for freedom to We have a dream. 50 people attended on zoom, including some relatives and friends with Jewish connections.
Sunday 3rd January 2021
For York Unitarians, the first service of 2021 was also the first service with our new minister, Rev. Stephanie Bisby, whom we were delighted to welcome. Her service on "The innocent year" was very appropriate, and the closing words included the phrase "tomorrow is a new day" - and we all hope for better days to come. Stephanie has recorded a number of firsts - the first student to graduate from Unitarian College, probably the first applicant to candidate on zoom, and to preach her first sermon as York's minister on zoom. However, she is the 4th female minister at the York Chapel, but perhaps this is a first too!