Special UUCV Outdoor Worship Ceremony

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MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!

UUCV’s annual in-gathering water ceremony, scheduled for 10:30 AM on Sunday, September 13, will be held outdoors this year—at the Cumberland Drive-In in Newville, PA!  Worship leaders will be LIVE and in person at the drive-in.  This is not an experience to be missed!

(Note that due to technological constraints, we will NOT be live-streaming this worship service.  If all goes well, audio for the sermon and reflection will be posted to the UUCV Soundcloud channel as usual during the week following the service.)

HERE’S THE PLAN:

  • Gates will open at 10:00 am.  Though the address is on Centerville Road, please enter through the main Drive-In entrance on Ritner Highway.  (You may find it easiest to set your GPS to “Hair It Is” salon on Ritner Highway—that
business shares an entrance with the Drive-In.  After turning off of Ritner Hwy, just continue down the long driveway to the left of the salon.)

  • Bring your own lawn chairs and masks to sit outside with your household, or participate from inside your car. We will have volunteers directing you to park with appropriate “vehicular social distancing” between vehicles.

  • Every person over the age of 2 must wear a mask covering the nose and mouth at all times when outside their vehicle.

  • If possible, plan to use the bathroom at home before attending. Bathrooms will be open but limited to one household at a time, and will need to be cleaned in between each use.

WATER CEREMONY:

You can participate in the water ceremony in two ways:

  1. Bring your water to UUCV by 12 PM on Friday, Sept. 11. Outside the side door off of the parking lot, there will be instructions to pour your water into an individual vial and leave the vial at the church. One vial per household, please. Submit your message about your water to be read at the ceremony by email to Pam:  [email protected]. 

  2. Or, if you’d rather, you may allow us to use a symbolic water vial to represent your water. Submit your message about your water to be read at the ceremony by email to Pam:  [email protected].

BACK-TO-SCHOOL BLESSING:

Our in-gathering service will include a special blessing of this year’s UUCV Backpack Tokens. Whether you are headed back to school this year or gearing up for virtual instruction from home, heading into work or working from home, or just want a special reminder of UUCV’s blessings and good will to take with you, everyone who wants one may take home a Backpack Token. As you drive through the exit after service, stop by the small table and let us know how many tokens you would like. We will have volunteers wearing gloves drop them into your hands.