"Choosing Hope" -- UUSE Virtual Worship, December 7, 2025

Welcome (Stacey Musulin)

Centering (Martha Larson)

Prelude:

Improvisation on steel tongue drum

performed by Kristen Dockendorff

Chalice Lighting and Opening Words

Excerpt from "We Gather"

by Pat Uribe-Lichty

We gather to find

New ways of loving.

New ways of thinking.

New ways of being.

We gather - yes, always we gather,

for it is in gathering that we find our hope.

Opening Hymn

#118 "This Little Light of Mine"

Words and music: African American spiritual, c. 1750-1875

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Everywhere I go, I'm gonna let it shine.

Everywhere I go, I'm gonna let it shine.

Everywhere I go, I'm gonna let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Building up a world, I'm gonna let it shine.

Building up a world, I'm gonna let it shine.

Building up a world, I'm gonna let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Time for All Ages

Excerpts from "Hope"

by Corrine Averiss

Children depart while Mary plays "This Little Light of Mine."

Announcements

Joys and Concerns and Welcoming Visitors

Musical Response

Prayer

adapted from "A Prayer for Hope and Justice"

by Rev. Michelle Collins

Offering Words

Offering Music

"When You Believe"

by Stephen Schwartz

Gerald Dillenbeck, vocals

Two Reflections on Hope

Closing Hymn

#95 "There Is More Love Somewhere"

Words and music: African American hymn

There is more love somewhere.

There is more love somewhere.

I'm gonna keep on, till I find it.

There is more love somewhere.

There is more hope somewhere ...

There is more peace somewhere ...

There is more joy somewhere ...

Extinguishing the Chalice and Closing Words

(by Rev. Michelle Collins)

Go from this place knowing that hope is not a certainty but rather a choice.

When the world offers you despair, choose possibility.

When cynicism seems reasonable, choose engagement.

May our hope be grounded in love and expressed through action.

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.