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Act of Installation(Allen Brower, President of the Congregation, Members of the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady, and Priscilla Richter) Mr. Brower: In our tradition, no right is more precious than that of a free congregation to choose its minister. By the same token, no right is more precious to a minister than the freedom of association with a chosen congregation. In our tradition, the Act of Installation, marking the bonding of a congregation and a minister, symbolizes a covenant between the people of the congregation and its minister. This covenant is based on mutual choice and sustained by the honor and integrity of all concerned. By this Installation, we formally affirm the relationship between the congregation of the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady and its chosen minister, The Reverend Priscilla Richter, who is called to dwell among us. This is a relationship sustained through mutual commitment, trust, and love. Members of the Congregation: We, the members of the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady, in accord with the practices of our liberal religious tradition, install you, Priscilla Richter as a called minister of our church. We would have you dwell among us, listening and sharing, accompanying us as we seek truth, love, and justice and discern our sense of the sacred center of all life. We would have you minister to us in times of celebration and sorrow, and lead us into deeper awareness of the spiritual unity which joins us one with another and with all existence. We pledge ourselves to walk as partners with you in unity, in love, and in all ways of truth. We bid you lead us boldly forward, walk beside us, and, at times, follow us cautiously, as your mind and heart require. We ask you to cherish us for our strengths and talents, encouraging us to use them for the larger good. We ask you to observe without dismay our weaknesses and failures, helping us to overcome them in so far as you are able. We entreat you to give generously to us and to the wider world, but never to give away yourself. It was for that self with all its potentialities that we called you. In that self we place our trust. In ever growing bonds of mutuality and affection, we say Shalom, live among us in peace and grace. Return to the Installation page
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