Planning a UU Service

We've put this together to help plan our upcoming Special Music Service, and hopefully it addresses most of your questions and information needs. Questions, comments and clarifications all welcome. Thank you again for having me at your church, and I look forward to spending a lovely morning with you.

WHAT TO DO

Select a theme, if you haven’t done so yet. You’ll find that each of the services has some suggested readings and opening/closing words if you want to use them – but they are only suggestions, choose what you feel fits! The writeups for each service you can copy use in the church newsletter and electronic communications about upcoming services. (see Publicity below).

ORDER OF SERVICE

The Special Music Service takes the place of the sermon and runs between 20 and 25 minutes. I’m also happy to do one of my songs for the Prelude, typically between the Welcome/Announcements and the Chalice Lighting. I have a cedar flute (native American) that makes for a lovely 30-45 seconds to bring us back from a silent meditation, if you would like to do so – your choice.

Everything else you should plan fairly normally. Please plan to have your accompanist there for any gathering music, the offertory and the hymns. A closing hymn is always nice, but I definitely recommend no more than 2 total to keep the service from getting too lengthy, particularly with speakers for Joys and Concerns (as I have heard on occasion, “blessed are the brief” :)

I do ask one favor – if there is a “speaker introduction” it is usually best to do it right before the Sermon (the Special Music Service part). It seems to make a nice clean break, particularly if it follows a Meditation. Little people are welcome to stay for the service or depart for RE per normal – either way is fine with me. Experiencing live music is always a good thing even if the Special Music Service messages are geared primarily towards adults.

TECH NEEDS & MORNING SETUP

In a small sanctuary I am fine working “unplugged” (without amplification). If a sound system/hard of hearing assisted system is used, I need a vocal mic on a tripod stand and another mic cable to connect my acoustic guitar preamp. So 2 inputs total – voice and guitar. I have a mic and stand with me usually if necessary. I can use a wireless headset vocal mic if you prefer, and I usually have that with me too.

I generally arrive 45-60 minutes before the service starts so I can get set up and sound checked, warm up for a few minutes in the sanctuary, then set up my CDs and mailing list someplace for after the service, and finally have a few minutes to relax and get centered.

PUBLICITY (if needed)

The attached photo is a low-resolution .jpg suitable for use on your website, and other non-print purposes. If appropriate, please link to my website as appropriate from your upcoming services webpage, http://andrewmcknight.net , and if the church uses Facebook, “Like”-ing and linking to my music page at http://facebook.com/AndrewMcKnight.Musician is appropriate and greatly appreciated!

If you’d like to do so on the church website, Facebook page, Twitter feed etc. - you are free to embed or post a link to this concert video of “Good Things Matter” http://youtu.be/qNJoP21AFWg and invite members to help themselves to some free downloads of some of my songs at http://www.andrewmcknight.net/downloads.

Some churches publicize their upcoming services in the Religion sections of local papers. If so you might find it handy to download this high-resolution print quality photo. If we are also planning a concert during my visit, we have an additional set of appropriate materials to publicize the event to the entertainment media and general public.

HONORARIUM

Thank you for continuing to make my life in music possible! A check made out to me the morning of the service is fine, and please let me know ahead of time if you need a W-9 form.