"Your Invitation to the Party: Joy, Justice, and the Work of Love" -- UUSE Virtual Worship, September 27, 2026

Gathering Music (Mary Bopp)

Welcome (Rev. Josh Pawelek)

Prelude

"There is a Love"

Music by Elizabeth Norton

Words by Rebecca Ann Parker

There is a Love holding me.

There is a Love holding all that I love.

There is a love holding all.

I rest in this Love.

There is a Love holding us.

There is a Love holding all that we love.

There is a Love holding all.

We rest in this Love.

We rest in this Love. Love.

Chalice Lighting and Opening Words

"Invocation"

by Angela Herrera

(ad. by Rev. Sierra-Marie Gerfao)

Opening Hymn

#298 "Wake Now My Senses"

Words by Thomas J. S. Mikelson

Music, traditional Irish Melody

Wake, now, my senses, and hear the earth call;

feel the deep power of being in all;

keep, with the web of creating your vow,

giving, receiving as love shows us how.

Wake, now, my reason, reach out to the new;

join with each pilgrim who quests for the true;

honor the beauty and wisdom of time;

suffer thy limit, and praise the sublime.

Wake, now, compassion, give heed to the cry;

voices of suffering fill the wide sky;

take as your neighbor both stranger and friend,

praying and striving their hardship to end.

Wake, now, my conscience, with justice thy guide;

join with all people whose rights are denied;

take not for granted a privileged place;

God's love embraces the whole human race.

Wake, now, my vision of ministry clear;

brighten my pathway with radiance here;

mingle my calling with all who will share;

work toward a planet transformed by our care.

Story

"Swimmy"

by Leo Leonni

Musical Medication

Announcements

Joys and Concerns

Musical Interlude

Offering

Our September Community Outreach Ministry recipients are the Manchester Latino Affairs Council and She Leads Justice.

The Manchester Latino Affairs Council (M.L.A.C.) was established in January of 2007. Its current mission is to address social issues with a focus on diversity, inclusivity and equality within Manchester's Latino community.

She Leads Justice advocates for under-resourced, marginalized women in Connecticut. They work to close the civil legal justice gap and to create state policy for economic security. Formerly know as the Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund, their work supports women who identify as cisgender and transgender, and non-binary individuals, as well as people of all marginalized gender identities.

Offering Music

"Plowshare Prayer"

by Spencer LaJoye

Pat Eaton-Robb, guitar

Sermon

"Your Invitation to the Party: Joy, Justice, and the Work of Love"

The Rev. Sierra-Marie Gerfao

Closing Hymn

#131 "Love Will Guide Us"

Words by Sally Rogers

Music, traditional, arr. by Betty A. Wylder

Love will guide us, peace has tried us,

hope inside us will lead the way

on the road from greed to giving.

Love will guide us through the hard night.

If you cannot sing like angels,

if you cannot speak before thousands,

you can give from deep within you.

You can change the world with your love.

Love will guide us, peace has tried us,

hope inside us will lead the way

on the road from greed to giving.

Love will guide us through the hard night.

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.

About Our Guest Speaker

The Rev. Sierra-Marie Gerfao of New Haven is the newly appointed part-time Executive Director of the Connecticut Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry. She also serves as Director of Family Ministries at the UU Congregation of Danbury. She is passionate about building communities of belonging and flourishing.