Heirlooms of UCN History #56
by Will Frank
With the positive report of the ordaining council prepared, the ceremony of ordination and installation of Robert Wilcox Sonen as minister of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk arrived at 7:00 PM on Monday, November 20, 1939. Cecil Baily, church member and organist, offered as the prelude the “Andante Cantabile” by Tchaikovsky. A congregation of 110 filled the pews, every seat being occupied. Some likely had to sit on folding chairs in the back.
The only snag in the proceedings was the late arrival of the Rev. Edwin M. Slocombe, minister of the First Unitarian Church of Lynchburg, who was not yet present to read the “sentences” scheduled for early in the order of service. Yet the service otherwise went off without a hitch. From all reports, it was a very impressive ceremony.
The congregation recited a responsive “Litany.” It likely closely reflected the spiritual core of the minister now being installed.
For the worth of all pure seeking and the holiness of every place where light is found; for the insights of toil; for the sanctities of birth and death: