"Ancestor Day" -- UUSE Virtual Worship, October 26, 2025

Gathering Music (Mary Bopp)

Welcome (Emmy Galbraith)

Announcements (Rev. Josh Pawelek)

Centering (Emmy Galbraith)

Prelude and Calling the Directions

"To the Four Directions"

Music by Mary Bopp

Words adapted from Joan Goodwin's "To the Four Directions"

Sandy Johnson, vocals

Chalice Lighting and Opening Words

Excerpt from "The Art of Living"

by Thich Nhat Han

Bill Graver, Alex and Wesley Bernier (11:00 AM)

Opening Hymn

#387 "The Earth, Water, Fire, Air"

anonymous

The earth, the water, the fire, the air,

return, return, return, return

Building the Altar of Remembrance

"Breaths"

by Sweet Honey in the Rock

UUSE choir

Body Prayer

"Reaching Back"

by Emmy Galbraith

Musical Interlude

Joys and Concerns

Musical Interlude

Offering

MARC, Inc. provides the opportunity for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live meaningful lives of independence, choice, inclusion, and continuous personal growth. MARC, Inc. was founded in 1952 by seven families who were working together to support their children who were living with disabilities. Today, they have a campus on Sheldon Road in Manchester where they provide multiple services and programs, in addition to managing eleven residential homes. MARC supports almost three hundred individuals from twenty-seven towns in the Greater Hartford area.

UR Community Cares mission is to keep older and disabled neighbors supported in their homes and active in their communities. Their programs include: "Neighbors Helping Neighbors," which provides volunteer support so that older adults and people with physical disabilities can live safely at home; "Cycling Without Age Manchester," which deploys an e-bike rickshaw to provide free recreational rides for older and disabled residents in Charter Oak Park and along the East Coast Greenway; the UR Community Tech Center, which offers free technology support and volunteers to answer questions about smartphones, tablets, laptops; and UR Vision Resources, a 100-page printed Blind/Vision Impaired Directory to ensure more people know what services are available.

Offering Music

"Meditation on Breathing"

Adapted with permission from Sarah Dan Jones by the UUSE children's choir

When I breath in...

I breathe in Hope

When I breathe out...

I breathe out Peace

When I breathe in...

I breathe in Peace

When I breathe out...

I breathe out Love

When I breathe in...

I breathe in Love

When I breathe out...

I breathe out Joy

When I breathe in...

I breathe in Joy

When I breathe out...

I breathe out Flame

When I breathe in...

I breathe in Flame

When I breathe out...

I breathe out Warmth

Story

Remembering our deceased UUSE members and friends

Remembrances

Closing Hymn

#83 "Winds Be Still"

Words by Richard S. Kimball

Music by Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Winds be still

Storm clouds pass and silence come.

Peace grace this time with harmony.

Fly, bird of hope, and shine, light of love,

and in calm let all find tranquility.

Bird fly high.

Lift our gaze toward distance view.

Help us to sense life's mystery.

Fly high and far, and lead us each to see

how we move through the winds of eternity.

Light shine in.

Luminate our inward view.

Help us to see with clarity.

Shine bright and true so we may join our songs

in new sounds that become full symphony.

Closing Words

Excerpt from "Braiding Sweetgrass"

By Robin Wall Kimmerer

Extinguishing the Chalice

Closing Circle

May faith in the spirit of life

And hope for the community of earth

And love of the light in each other

Be ours now, and in all the days to come.