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Gathering Music Holiday Favorites Margeaux, Simone and Ryan Ford, musicians Welcome (Emmy Galbraith) Announcements (Rev. Josh Pawelek) Centering Prelude "Sun Arise" by Helen Yeomans UUSE Choir Chalice Lighting and Opening Words "A Joyful Noise" by Rev. Josh Pawelek Opening Hymn #235 "Deck the Hall With Boughs of Holly" words: traditional Welsh music: old Welsh carol Deck the hall with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la "Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la Don we now our gay apparel, fa la la la la la, la la la Troll the ancient Yuletide carol, fa la la la la, la la la la. See the blazing Yule before us, fa la la la la, la la la la. Strike the harp and join the chorus, fa la la la la, la la la la. Follow me in merry measure, fa la la la la la, la la la While I tell of Yuletide treasure, fa la la la la, la la la la. Fast away the old year passes, fa la la la la, la la la la. Hail the new, ye lads and lasses, fa la la la la, la la la la. Sing we joyous all together, fa la la la la la, la la la. Heedless of the wind and weather, fa la la la la, la la la la. Time for All Ages "Winter Candle" by Jeron Ashford Music "The Christmas Wish" by Danny Akken Wheetman UUSE Children's Choir Joys and Concerns Musical Interlude Offering "We do not gather our gifts for ourselves, but to share with the larger community." Continuing our practice of sharing our gifts with the community beyond our walls, fifty percent of our Sunday plate collections for the month of December will go to three area shelters: McKinney Men's Shelter (Hartford), East Hartford Community Shelter and Cornerstone Shelter (Rockville). Offering Music "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" by Pyotr Tchaikovsky Dorothy Bognar and Mary Bopp, pianos Music "Carol of the Bells" by Mykola Leontovich Arr. by Peter Wilhousky and Dan Thompson "Rise Up, Shepherd and Follow" Trad. Spiritual, arr. by Greg Gilpin UUSE Choir with Dorothy Bognar, piano Homily "Live in Peace" Rev. Josh Pawelek Closing Hymn #388 "Dona Nobis Pacem" words: traditional Latin music: traditional canon Dona nobis pacem, pacem; dona nobis pacem. Postlude "Live in Peace" by Helen Yeomans UUSE Choir 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.

First Reflection Finding a Balance: Dark and Light                         At our Thanksgiving Sunday service two weeks ago, Emmy Galbraith (our Director of Children and Youth Ministry) spoke beautifully about holding in our hearts two strongly divergent feelings. We were sharing a newly published version of the story of the first Thanksgiving . Keepunumk: Weeȃchumun’s Thanksgiving Story [1]  tells the story from a Wampanoag perspective, incorporating Wampanoag spirituality and values. As beautiful as the book is, as compelling and meaningful as the Wampanoag spirituality and values are, it doesn’t erase the catastrophic impact of British colonization on the lives of indigenous people. It’s important for all of us to fully feel the heaviness, the sadness, the pain of that impact and its ongoing legacies. At the same time, it’s also essential to our ongoing spiritual health, individually and collectively, to contemplate and name outwardly the blessings in our lives for which we are grateful, to take time with family and friends to practice rituals of thanksgiving and to gather strength and resilience from such rituals. We can feel both feelings. We can hold both realities. One doesn’t have to erase the other.             For me, this holiday season, this Advent time, this midwinter time, this darkness awaiting the solstice light time, this feasting and frivolity time, causes us to feel divergent—sometimes strongly divergent—feelings; causes us to move in spiritual directions that seem—and are—contradictory.             Here in the upper-middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, it’s a dark season. There’s so much spiritual sustenance we can encounter in the nurturing, blanketing darkness, the mysterious, magical darkness, the still, quiet darkness. In darkness we have the opportunity to settle, to center down, to turn inward, to face squarely our contradictions, our growing edges, to heal and strengthen ourselves, to nurse those parts of ourselves that feel raw and tender. In darkness, if we’re patient, we can come back to our sources of resilience and courage. We need this dark time in the cycles of our living. And, at the same time, we instinctually yearn for the light in the midst of the darkness. The return of the sun at the solstice, the guiding star illuminating the Bethlehem manger, the menorah, the kinara—all symbols of reliability in a strange and impersonal universe; symbols of hope in moments of despair; symbols of love to counter hatred, greed and violence; symbols that invite people into community, into celebration, into joy.             We need both. We need spirituality and spiritual practices that draw us into the darkness so we can receive its blessings. We need spirituality and spiritual practices that draw us toward the light so we can receive its blessings. And, always, my concern in this  season is that culturally and religiously we put too much emphasis on light, and we miss the spiritual opportunities the darkness holds or us. Let’s face it, lights are everywhere. Beautiful, yes, but so omnipresent, so pervasive they banish all shadow, draw our attention outward, orient us to the myths and narratives of light overcoming darkness. We don’t need to overcome darkness. We need balance. Our ministry theme for December is presence. My claim this morning is that in this season we tend to be present to the light. We’re insufficiently present to darkness. We need to learn how to be present to darkness.             I’ll close this first reflection with a poem by the late Unitarian Universalist minister, the Rev. Francis Anderson, that attempts to rectify this imbalance. He says:             Christmas has no right / to burst upon us / Suddenly / And loudly / From afar / Lighting up / Right where we are / With nylon trees / And a long-life / Plastic / Star…. / It is a lonely / Road / To Bethlehem / That must be walked / Slowly / And untalked .... / Where no bright  / Light / Or angel song / Intrudes / Ahead of cue / to wrongly claim / Arrival of the dawn / Before the night / Is walked / By each of us / On through.   Second Reflection Blue Christmas               With the light comes joy, celebration, singing, feasting, good tidings, good cheer. Some of you—more of you than you might imagine—confess privately that you can’t always get there, not every year. Try as you might, you don’t feel joy. Try as you might, you can’t muster the energy and enthusiasm to celebrate. The good tidings don’t resonate with you. Yes, you spend time with others, you genuinely enjoy the company, you seem cheerful enough, but you know (even if we don’t) that you’re just going through the holiday motions. You add your voice to the caroling chorus, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the Newborn King,” but the words catch in your throat, and even if nobody else notices, you know your voice isn’t as strong as it has been in other years. And you don’t even have the inner resolve to remind yourself that even though you love singing the song, you don’t agree with the theology. It just doesn’t seem to matter this year.             There could be any number of reasons for your malaise. Perhaps this is the year your spouse died. We’ve had six deaths in our congregational family since July. Maybe you lost a sibling or a close friend. This is your first holiday season without them. You are sad. And people are tip-toeing around you, not sure what to say when all you really want is for them to be themselves. Or maybe it’s your tenth holiday season without your loved-one, and you really miss them this year, more than you have in recent years. Perhaps the holidays were never pleasant for you as a child. Challenges in your family of origin made the holidays more of an ordeal than a celebration. You thought you’d put it all behind you, but those long ago days are poking through this year. Perhaps this year you, or someone close to you, is living with a debilitating illness. The treatment is overwhelming—and not just the treatment, but the trips to the doctor’s office, the poking and prodding, long hold-times on the phone with the insurance company, and having to explain over and over again what you’re going through to well-meaning people who ask how you’re doing.             Or perhaps you’re down because every day your wide-open heart reaches out to the world and bears witness to some new problem, some hard news, some ominous rumbling on the horizon, some new violence, some frightening new climate data. The emotional energy it takes to process it just so you can get through your days leaves you with little to no capacity for joy and good cheer. Sometimes we call this Blue Christmas.             It’s OK. It’s OK to be blue at this time of year. There’s no rule that you have to feel joy when the larger culture says it’s time to feel joy. And so much of the joy is contrived anyways. But it’s also true that we typically don’t make sufficient room for these harder, more difficult feelings during the holiday season. We’re conditioned to be present to joy, but not present to this particular species of darkness. Again, we’re out of balance. I’m not urging you to impose your blues on someone else’s holiday party. That’s not the path to balance. I am suggesting it is healthy to make room in which to experience and name what is hard for us in this season. Not as a “bah humbug” to other peoples’ joy, but as a full statement of who we are right now. I say we owe it to ourselves and to our loved-ones to make room for our blue feelings, precisely because they’re real, precisely because it’s unhealthy to silence them. And I’ve noticed over the years, when we intentionally make that room, when we have the opportunity to name what is hard for us, when we can be present to it, and when those around us can be present to it, that presence creates balance. And, sometimes, not always but sometimes, in the midst of our outwardly-stated blueness, joy and good cheer come upon us unexpectedly. So I say, bring your whole self to this holiday season. Bring every blessed piece of you. Strive or balance. There is room or all of you. There is room for the whole you.   Third Reflection I Will Be Present Tomorrow               In planning this service, Mary (Bopp) and I talked a lot about music that evokes multiple, often contradictory feelings at the same time. She kept referencing a scene from the early 2000s remake of science fiction television holiday classic, Battlestar Galactica (I know, not a holiday show). The scene features the fighter pilot, Starbuck, reminiscing about her childhood when her father would play music that made her feel happy and sad at the same time. Mary said she’s always looking for music that has the effect on her. The music she’s offering today is such music. Human beings are capable of experiencing the light and the dark, the joy and the sadness at the same time. Music can do that too.             Every year when we come to these first Sundays in December, when we come to Advent, when we begin that period of waiting and anticipation for Christmas, for the solstice, for the beautiful lights; and when it is also dark, also time to turn inward, we sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” It’s a Christian Advent hymn, one of the most famous. For me, the words are important, but the music is what really resonates. The music orients me toward mystery, toward silence and stillness, toward darkness. Yet it’s also a hymn of rejoicing, full of anticipatory joy. “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come within as Love to dwell.” For me joy is finely woven into the hymn’s darkness. There’s a wonderful balance. Multiple feelings simultaneously.             I’ve been making the claim that it’s important for the quality and health of our spiritual lives to be present in this holiday season to the full range of our emotions, to the full spectrum of light and dark. Given that, I can’t resist showing you a message hidden in the original Latin version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” Apologies if this is a tad nerdy.             I’m basing this sharing on a 2013 article by C. Michael Hawn , a former professor of Church Music at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” in the form we sing it today, was composed in Latin likely between the 9th and 12th centuries, though it is made up of more ancient components known as antiphons. If I understand correctly, an antiphon is a sung response to a Bible reading in a worship service. In this hymn, those more ancient antiphons are various references to Jesus, preceded by “O.” O Emmanuel. O Splendor. O Dayspring. O Wisdom. Historically there are eight antiphons: wisdom, Adonai, root of Jesse (who is the father of King David), key of David, Dayspring, King of the Gentiles, and Emmanuel. Take the first letter of each name (in Latin) and you get the word SARCORE. As far as I know, this is gibberish. However, read it backwards ! You get Ero Cras, which in Latin means, “I will be present tomorrow.” [2] (My wife, the Latin scholar, says that’s one way to translate it. It could just be “I will be tomorrow” or “I will exist tomorrow.”)             Regardless of what it means or what the original composers had in mind, I like that there’s a hidden message that can be interpreted as “I will be present tomorrow.” I like it as a call to us to be present in this season, present to the dark as well as the light, present to the sorrow as well as the joy, present to the full range of who we are and all we can hold. Rejoice, indeed.             Amen and blessed be. [1]  Learn more about this book at: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/669852/keepunumuk-by-danielle-greendeer-author-anthony-perry-author-alexis-bunten-author-gar-ry-meeches-sr-illustrator/ . [2] Hawn, C. Michael, “History of Hymns: ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’” Discipleship Ministries: United Methodist Church (May 20, 2013). See: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-o-come-o-come-emmanuel

Greetings CYM Families & Friends! December is underway, with all its opportunity for joy and celebration.  Let’s gather this season to grow shared peace and meaning for the winter holidays and beyond. This Sunday after regular programming, Children & Youth Ministry is hosting a holiday party with crafting and cocoa in the Sanctuary.  Please join us!  This is an All Congregation event open to everyone, and the more the merrier. During a time of year that asks and offers so much, I invite you to find grounding and fellowship at UUSE.  If you have been thinking about visiting our children’s program for the first time, or haven’t been able to attend in a while, consider plugging in this Sunday! Here’s what’s happening in Children & Youth Ministry on Sunday, December 8, 2024: @10:30 AM Children & Youth Choir: Last rehearsal before the Annual Holiday Music Service! Open to all ages!  Link to the song being rehearsed for our Annual Holiday Music service on December 15th: https://youtu.be/Fe94llIISKI Feel free to practice at home! @11 AM Sunday Service:   “On Being Present in the Dark Season” - This morning, we continue exploring our December ministry theme, presence. Rev. Josh offers reflections on presence during the dark days of late autumn as the winter solstice approaches. Coordinator: Rev. Josh Pawelek. Nursery:  Childcare is available in our Nursery on the Garden Level at 11 AM for children 3 and under. Care is provided by two regular childcare staff including our Nursery Coordinator Molly, our Nursery Assistant Lilly-Rose.  Our nursery staff have grown up at UUSE, and are equipped with loads of experience, patience, and creativity to keep our youngest UUs safe and engaged.  Families are always welcome to tour and stay in the nursery at any time. Children and Youth Ministry Groups: Children and Youth in 1st-12th grade will join their families in the Sanctuary for the beginning of worship every Sunday.  (If you are prepping for teaching or need to stay with a little one during this time, we will look after your child in the Sanctuary.)  Please look for youth name tags on the Main Level.  Students will be dismissed from the Sanctuary to the Garden Level for programming after a Time For All Ages.   Spirit Play (Pre-K/Kindergarten): “The Ant and The Grasshopper” - Spirit Play children will go directly to class at 11 AM for the day’s lesson.  This Sunday, our students will hear an old story about welcoming everyone and sharing what we have and who we are. Spirituality & Religion (Grades 1-5): “Winter Art” - This Sunday our students will be lead by guest Dottie Reiss, to once again prepare some unique and beautiful winter art to be hung in the Main Level foyer.  Thank you Dottie for your generous gifts of time, effort, and inclusion of our young artists! Anti-Racism (Grades 6-8): “Knowing Our History” - In Lesson 8, Jewell emphasizes the importance of knowing collective history.  She examines the collective history of America, including the legacy of residential schools, which sought to separate Indigenous families from their children and forcibly assimilate them into white American culture.  Other historical legacies that she looks at include the police bombing of the Black liberation group, MOVE, as well as the deaths of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.  The activities for this chapter encourages students to think beyond their family history and question how their history is tied to the land and to collective history. High School Youth Group (Grades 9-12):  Does NOT meet this Sunday.  BUT PLEASE see this week’s HSYG message from Michelle to prepare for the following week’s HSYG Holiday Party, which includes bringing a wrapped present (approx $20 value) for a Yankee Gift Swap (financial support available, just reach out to Michelle.) December Programming: 12/8: Regular CYM Programming Pre-K through 8th Grade @ 11AM * All ages Holiday Party in the Sanctuary at 1PM (see flyer) 12/15: Annual Holiday Music Service (All Congregation Service) @ 11AM * High School Youth Group Holiday Party (during regular 11AM program hour) * CYM Potluck lunch @ 12:30PM (Garden Level) * Junior Youth Group Meeting 1PM-3PM * Affirmation Class 1PM-2:30PM 12/22: Regular CYM Programming Pre-K through 8th grade @ 11AM 12/24: Christmas Eve Service @ 7PM (Families welcome!) 12/29: One service @ 10AM to reflect on the year’s end (Families welcome!) *NO CYM programming including NO nursery care available UUSE Happenings: December Engagement Opportunities to discuss UUSE’s relationship with the UUA We invite YOU to participate!   We would like to encourage everyone to participate. All voices are important –including those of folks who don’t see themselves as having strong views on the issues and those who haven’t been involved thus far. When we all share our views and listen to the perspectives of others, we develop a richer understanding of who we are as a congregation.   Come share your perspectives on A2 and the UUA and deeply listen to the views of others so that we are able to find a way forward as a unified congregation. Thematic analysis of the notes capturing the major ideas shared in each session will be presented in a final report to the congregation recommending ways forward.   Three more Radical Listening Workshops Radical Listening Workshop (3-hour commitment) with internal facilitators These are highly participatory workshops (8-10 participants) that include one-on-one and small group exercises. ·      Friday, Dec. 6, 10 am-1 pm ·      Sat. Dec. 7, 1-4 pm ·      Tues. Dec. 10, 10 am-1 pm   Three more Focus Groups Focus Group (3-hour commitment)  with an outside facilitator Highly participatory structured whole group conversation (8-10 participants) ·      Sunday, Dec. 15, 3-6 pm ·      Monday, Dec 16, 1-4 pm ·      Saturday, Dec. 21, 1-4 pm   One more Task Force Led Conversation Dec. 15 at the CYM Potluck after the 11 am service Folks without children in CYM are also welcome to attend! An excellent opportunity to share conversation across generations. RSVPs preferred but not required for this engagement opportunity.   If you need childcare for any of the above opportunities, please let us know when you sign up. Please sign up as soon as possible -- with a preferred choice and a back-up choice  by emailing  monica.vanbeusekom@gmail.com  OR  by texting or calling Sid Soderholm at 301-789-8638  OR  by signing up in person after services on Sundays And lastly, if you haven’t been to CYM yet this year, please join us this Sunday! Children in the Nursery through 12th grade need to be registered every year for the Children & Youth Ministry program, so please register here if you haven’t already. Thank you! With Love and Gratitude, Emmy Galbraith dcym@uuse.org Cell: (860)576-7889 CYM Committee Members: Desiree Holian-Borgnis, Chair Michelle Spadaccini Paula Baker Sudha Sevin Committee email: uusecym@uuse.org Angela Attardo, CYM Program Assistant CYMAsst@uuse.org

Gathering Music (Mary Bopp) Welcome and Announcements (Rev. Josh Pawelek) Centering Prelude "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" Mary Bopp, piano Chalice Lighting and Opening Words excerpt from "You Darkness, of Whom I am Born" By Rainer Maria Rilke, tr. Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy Opening Hymn #89 "Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life" Words by George Herbert Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams Come, my way, my truth, my life: such a way as gives us breath, such a truth as ends all strife, such a life that killeth death. Come, my light, my feast, my strength: such a light as shows a feast, such a feast as mends in length, such a strength as makes a guest. Come, my joy, my love, my heart: such a joy as none can move, such a love as none can part, such a heart as joys in love. Welcoming New Members Introductions (Membership Committee co-chairs) The Charge (Minister) As you take up membership in the Unitarian Universalist Society East, I charge you to share with us who you are. Share your creativity, your experiences, your questions, your doubts, your beliefs, and all your discoveries of life's meaning. I charge you to shake us up with your ideas, to stir us up with your conscience, to inspire us with your actions, and to stimulate our hopes with your dreams of what life can be. Congregational Welcome (Congregation) We welcome you as companions in the search for truth and meaning. We invite you to share in our mission of caring for one another, encouraging each other in spiritual growth, working for justice and peace in the wider community, and living in harmony with the earth. We join our gifts with yours, trusting in the power of community to bring freedom, healing and love. New Member Affirmation (New members) We join the Unitarian Universalist Society East out of a desire and willingness to participate in a liberal religious congregation. We pledge to share our time, energy and gifts; to diligently seek our spiritual truths; and to strengthen the bonds of community. Music #1059 "May Your Life Be as a Song" Words: Jim Scott Music: Yuri Zaritsky May your life be as a song, Resounding with the dawn to sing awake the light. And softly serenade the stars, Ever dancing circles in the night. Joys and Concerns Musical Interlude Offering "We do not gather our gifts for ourselves, but to share with the larger community" Continuing our practice of sharing our gifts with the community beyond our walls, fifty percent of our Sunday plate collections for the month of December will go to three area shelters: McKinney Men's Shelter (Hartford), East Hartford Community Shelter and Cornerstone Shelter (Rockville). Offering Music "Largo" from Harpsichord Concerto in f minor By J.S. Bach Mary Bopp, piano Sermon Being Present in the Dark Season Rev. Josh Pawelek Closing Hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" Words, Latin c. 9th century, trans. composite base on John Mason Neale Music adapt. by Thomas Helmore O come, O come Emmanuel, and with your captive children dwell. Give comfort to all exiles here, and to the aching heart bid cheer. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come within as Love to dwell. O come, you Splendor very bright, as joy that never yields to might. O come, and turn all hearts to peace, that greed and war at last shall cease. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come within as Truth to dwell. O come, you Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by your presence here. And dawn in every broken soul as vision that can see the whole. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanual shall come within as Light to dwell. O come, you Wisdom from on high, from depths that hide within a sigh, to temper knowledge with our care, to render every act a prayer. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come within as Hope to dwell. 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.

Gathering Music  (Chris Crossgrove)                                      Welcome and Announcements (Anne Vogel)                                             Centering  (Stacey Musulin)                                                                                          Mini Body-Scan Meditation             By Lore Stevens   Prelude                                                                                   Introduction to the Service                                                Chalice Lighting                                                                    Look to This Day By Kalidasa   Look to this day: For it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course Lie all the verities and realities of your existence. The bliss of growth, The glory of action, The splendor of achievement Are but experiences of time.   For yesterday is but a dream And tomorrow is only a vision; And today well-lived, makes Yesterday a dream of happiness And every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day; Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!    Opening Hymn                                                                      #16 "‘Tis a Gift to Be Simple"                                         Words: Joseph Bracket Music: American Shaker tune  Chris Crossgrove, piano with Sandy Johnson, vocals (11:00 A.M.) ‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free, ‘tis a gift to come down where we ought to be, And when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘twill be in the valley of love and delight.    When true simplicity is gained,  To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed.  To turn, turn will be our delight  ‘til by turning, turning we come ‘round right.     Time for All Ages / Reading 1                                                                                                Excerpts from All Creation Waits  (Children’s Edition) (Wood Frog, Painted Turtle, Striped Skunk) By Gayle Boss Illustrated by Sharon Spitz                                                                   Welcoming Visitors and Joys & Concerns                Musical Response                                                                              Reading 2                                                                               Excerpts from All Creation Waits   (Wood Frog, Painted Turtle, Striped Skunk) By Gayle Boss Illustrated by David G. Klein   Offering   The charitable giving offering for the month of December will be shared between three area shelters: McKinney Men's Shelter in Hartford, the East Hartford Shelter, and the Cornerstone Shelter in Rockville.                                                                                  Offering Music                                                           Sermon: "Reflections on the Present of Presence" (Anne Vogel)                                 Closing Hymn                                                                           Winds Be Still, #83                                                                  Words: Richard S. Kimball Music: Samuel Sebastian Wesley Chris Crossgrove, piano; Sandy Johnson, vocals (11:00 A.M.) 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 distant 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.   Extinguishing the Chalice  (Quote from Pico Iyer)                                                          In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.   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.

Gathering Music Welcome and Introduction Centering Chalice Lighting and Opening Words Music Kristen Dockendorff, flute Reading #720 "We Remember Them" In the rising of the sun and in its going down, We remember them. In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, We remember them. In the opening buds and in the rebirth of spring, We remember them. In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer, We remember them. In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn, We remember them. In the beginning of the year and when it ends, We remember them. When we are weary and in need of strength, We remember them. When we are lost and sick at heart, We remember them. When we have joys we yearn to share, We remember them. So long as we live, They too shall live, For they are now a part of us. As we remember them. Music Sharing Music Reading "Blue Christmas: This, Too, Belongs" by Tara Brach The sound of rain, not cheerful songs A quiet rocking chair, not traditions of the season The early sunset, not dancing lights Loss, tender heart, hollow soul, heavy days Grief is welcome, a sacred part of the mourning, of the bereft, of the weeping Amidst the celebrating, this too belongs This too is holy It binds us to our ancestors, the earth, the stars Yet still A steaming mug of tea warms the belly The dog wags its tail and the cat purrs There are laughter and tears, sometimes both, beside the joy This too belongs Sharing human suffering is connection, hearts like stones are held by all that is Grief and light, intertwined This too belongs Music Extinguish Chalice and Closing Words "You Don't Have to be Brave" by Rev. Tess Baumberger You don't have to be brave. You don't even have to be okay. You don't have to hold your chin up and force wayward tears back inward. You don't have to talk about acting as though you don't feel like a broken stained glass window, the solvent of loss having made your mortar evaporate. You can melt, you can shower, you can shatter, here. We will catch all your pieces in our hands. We will hold you as you put them back together, Perhaps forming an image of a new life, a new self. Our love, our listening, our tears, our holding will form new mortar for all those spaces. Oh, we have known that solvent, too. Music

Gathering Music (Mary Bopp)   Welcome (Emmy Galbraith)   Announcements (Rev. Josh Pawelek)   Centering (Emmy Galbraith)   Prelude “When I See You” By Linda J. Smith Koehler and Rissa Moore   “Open My Eyes to the Miracles Around Me” By Abigail Spinner McBride   “Gratitude” By Ina Hata   Performed by members of the Manchester Women’s Sacred Singing Circle   Chalice Lighting and Opening Words “A Harvest of People” By Max Coots Opening Hymn #349 “We Gather Together” Words by Robert E. and Dorothy Caiger Senghas Verse 3 by Rev. Josh Pawelek Music by Adrian Valerius, arr. by Edward Kremser   We gather together in joyful thanksgiving, acclaiming creation, whose bounty we share; both sorrow and gladness we find now in our living, we sing a hymn of praise to the life that we bear.   We gather together to join in the journey, confirming, committing our passage to be a true affirmation, in joy and tribulation, when bound to human care and hope — then we are free.   We gather together, as the year is fading, To share with each other our deep gratitude For all of our blessings, for love and compassion, For healing and sustenance, making us whole.    Time for All Ages Keepanumuk: Weeâchumun's Thanksgiving Story By Danielle Greendeer; Anthony Perry; Alexis Bunten  Illustrated by Garry Meeches Sr.   Musical Interlude (Mary Bopp)   Joys and Concerns Musical Interlude (Mary Bopp)   Offering The recipient of our November community outreach offering is Manchester Senior, Adult and Family Services.   Offering Music “Praying for Time” By George Michael Will Alexon, vocals and guitar    Sharing Gratitude   Song “We Give Thanks” By Wendy Luella Perkins   Oh, we give thanks for this precious day, For all gather'd here, and those far away; For this time (food) we share with love and care, Oh, we give thanks for this precious day. Homily “More Than a Cliché” Rev. Josh Pawelek   Closing Song #128 “For All That Is Our Life” Words by Bruce Findlow Music by Patrick Rickey   For all that is our life we sing our thanks and praise; for all life is a gift which we are called to use to build the common good and make our own days glad. For needs which others serve, for services we give, for work and its rewards, for hours of rest and love; we come with praise and thanks for all that is our life. For sorrow we must bear, for failures, pain, and loss, for each new thing we learn, for fearful hours that pass: we come with praise and thanks for all that is our life. For all that is our life we sing our thanks and praise; for all life is a gift which we are called to use to build the common good and make our own days glad.     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.

Gathering Music “Get Together” Words and music by Chet Powers   Welcome and Announcements   Centering   Prelude   “What’s Going On” Words and music by Al Cleveland, Renaldo Benson and Marvin Gaye   Chalice Lighting and Call to Worship We Meet on Holy Ground by Richard Gilbert   We meet on holy ground, For that place is holy Where lives touch, Where love moves, Where hope stirs, There is holy ground. We meet on holy ground, Brought into being as life encounters life, As personal histories merge into the communal story, As we take on the pride and pain of our companions, As separate selves become community. We meet on holy ground.   Opening Hymn    #318 “We Would Be One” By Samuel Anthony Wright & Jean Sibelius Performed by Meetinghouse We would be one as now we join in singing our hymn of love, to pledge ourselves anew to that high cause of greater understanding of who we are, and what in us is true. We would be one in living for each other to show to all a new community.   We would be one in building for tomorrow a nobler world than we have known today. We would be one in searching for that meaning which bends our hearts and points us on our way. As one, we pledge ourselves to greater service, with love and justice, strive to make us free.   Time for All Ages   Story “I Am We – A Book of Community” Written by Susan Verde Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds Read by Lynn Dove      Song "Ju st Imagine" by Matt Falkowski Performed by Meetinghouse   Just imagine Just imagine Just imagine a little love   Just imagine Just imagine Just imagine a little love   I’m gonna bring a little love And you can bring a little love We’ll put our love together ‘Cause a little means a lot The world will be a better place when love is what we’ve got   Let’s all bring a little love   Just imagine Just imagine Just imagine a little peace   Just imagine Just imagine Just imagine a little peace   I’m gonna bring a little peace   And you can bring a little peace We’ll put our peace together ‘Cause a little means a lot The world will be a better place when peace is what we’ve got   Let’s all bring a little peace   Just imagine Just imagine Just imagine a little hope   Just imagine Just imagine Just imagine a little hope   I’m gonna bring a little hope And you can bring a little hope We’ll put our hope together ‘Cause a little means a lot The world will be a better place when hope is what we’ve got   Let’s all bring a little hope Let’s all bring a little peace Let’s all bring a little love  Joys and Concerns   Musical Interlude   Offering Continuing our practice of sharing our gifts with the community beyond our walls, fifty percent of our Sunday plate collections for the month of November will be dedicated to Manchester Senior, Adult and Family Services. Offering Music “Imagine” by John Lennon & Yoko Ono Performed by Meetinghouse   Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us, only sky   Imagine all the people Livin' for today Ah   Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion, too   Imagine all the people Livin' life in peace You   You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one   Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man   Imagine all the people Sharing all the world You   You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one   Reading : Barbara Kingsolver, FB posting, 11.06.24   Truth and love have been smacked down, so many more times in history before today. Truth, because it’s often inconvenient, and love because it is vulnerable.   But truth is like gravity, and carbon, and the sun behind an eclipse: it’s still there. And love stays alive if you tend it like a flame. If you feel crushed by unkindness today, it’s a time for grieving, reaching out to loved ones, noticing one bright color somewhere in the day. Remembering what there is to love. Starting with the immediate, the place and people we can tend ourselves, and make safe. We can’t save everything all at once, but it’s still worth saving something. Because there are so many of us to do it.   And we are all still here today, exactly as we were yesterday. Like gravity, and carbon, and the sun behind an eclipse.   Reflections on Consensus   (Kevin Holian-Borgnis)   Musical Interlude   Homily : "Building a Consensus Community" (Kate Kimmerle)   Closing Hymn          #128 “For All That Is Our Life” By Bruce Findlow & Patrick L. Rickey Performed by Meetinghouse For all that is our life we sing our thanks and praise; for all life is a gift which we are called to use to build the common good and make our own days glad. For needs which others serve, for services we give,f for work and its rewards, for hours of rest and love; we come with praise and thanks for all that is our life. For sorrow we must bear, for failures, pain, and loss, for each new thing we learn, for fearful hours that pass: we come with praise and thanks for all that is our life. For all that is our life we sing our thanks and praise; for all life is a gift which we are called to use to build the common good and make our own days glad. Closing Words #580 “The Task of the Religious Community” by Mark Morrison-Reed The central task of the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. There is a connectedness, a relationship discovered amid the particulars of our own lives and the lives of others. Once felt, it inspires us to act for justice. It is the church that assures us that we are not struggling for justice on our own but as members of a larger community. The religious community is essential, for alone our vision is too narrow to see all that must be seen and our strength too limited to do all that must be done. Together, our vision widens and our strength is renewed. 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   Postlude “We Are Family” by Bernard Edwards, Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. [Chorus] We are family I got all my sisters with me We are family Get up, everybody, and sing. We are family I got all my sisters with me. We are family. Get up, everybody, and sing.

After last Sunday’s sermon, a far-greater-than-usual number of you called or wrote or texted to thank me for my words and to say you felt better, felt not so alone, felt more hopeful. I hadn’t anticipated that response, though maybe I should have. It was gratifying to hear from so many that my words had been well-received and helpful. This morning is different. The 2024 elections are over. Donald Trump won the presidency handily. Though I do hope that being here in the UUSE sanctuary or in our online space, together, will remind you that you are not alone, I confess I don’t know what to say to make anyone feel better or more hopeful about the future of the United States, or about your own future, or about the futures of your families, your loved-ones, your friends.  Like many of you, I have been struggling emotionally—cycling through fear, sadness, anger, disbelief, and all the shades of feeling in between. Like many of you I have been struggling physically—sick to my stomach, dizzy, jittery, not sleeping well and, therefore, tired. I haven’t lost my appetite, though some of you have said you don’t feel like eating. Like many of you I have been struggling spiritually—not feeling grounded, rooted, centered; not able to take the full breaths I know I need to take. Perhaps, if you leave this place this morning and remember nothing else that I say, remember the admonition to breathe. I said last Sunday that, in the very least, we could anticipate the next few weeks would be very hard, meaning that if Kamala Harris won, there would be relentless legal challenges, disinformation campaigns, and possible violence. Now we know it’s not just the next few weeks that will be difficult. Now we know it’s minimally the next four years and likely beyond that that will be difficult. Of course, the word ‘difficult’ does not begin to articulate what is likely coming. Given what the President- and Vice President-elect have promised, what the writers of Project 2025 have promised, what anti-immigrant radicals like Stephen Miller have promised, what Christian Nationalist leaders have promised, what Elon Musk has promised, referring to it simply as ‘difficult’ feels somehow to have wildly missed the mark. Furthermore, we must be mindful that what those of us with more resources, more privilege, more financial security experience as ‘difficult’ will likely be catastrophic for those on society’s margins. I want to say five things to you. Everything I have to say ought to sound familiar coming from me—there’s nothing radically new here. What is new is the shift in the American body politic that has brought Donald Trump to the presidency claiming a popular mandate. That is, he won the popular vote. What is also new is the lack of guardrails—the friendlier courts, the supportive Congress—giving him far more unbridled power this time around. Given this newness, what I have to say, though I have said it before, feels more radical, more essential, more vital to me. I hope it will feel that way to you too. First: the depth of our spiritual life and practices—our individual spiritual life and practices, our collective spiritual life and practices—matters immensely. Our capacity to move through the coming years with strength, resilience, grace, hope and an abiding love depends first and foremost on the depth of our spiritual life and practices. So make it your righteous habit to breathe deeply, in and out, in and out, in and out. Take time every day to breathe in peace, as the song says. [1]  Breathe out love, as the song says. Breath in peace, breathe out love. Then pray. I know quite a few of you do not identify as praying people. That has to change. Whether you are a committed atheist or a committed theist, say the words of your deepest longings out loud. Let yourself and those around you encounter in your words what your heart longs to say. Let your body and the bodies of those around you resonate with your voice as it speaks the words your heart longs to say. Let your spirit and the spirits of those around you soar in response to the words your heart longs to say. Then go outside. Bear witness to the natural world. Bear witness to the earth. Bear witness to the last falling leaves saying your name. Reach down in any way you can and touch the earth. Lie down on the earth. Let this earth-touch steady you. Let this earth-touch ground you. Let this earth touch center you. Then stretch, then walk, then sing, then create, journal, meditate, read scripture—whatever is scripture to you—exercise, sit quietly, sit in stillness. Then, come to worship on Sunday morning. Come to this scared space or join us online. Come so that we can be together, because that is the center of our collective spiritual life. This being together in beloved spiritual community is our central spiritual practice. Come, so that none of us has to face what is happening in our country alone. Come so that we can go through it together. Second: “just as you did it to one of the least of these, so you did it to me.” I have never been more clear in my life. We, the members and friends of this Unitarian Universalist congregation; we, Unitarian Universalists across the United States and across the world; and we, liberal people of all faiths—all religions—must root ourselves in solidarity with the least of these. We must proudly, unapologetically and faithfully align ourselves with oppressed peoples, with poor people, with, as the biblical reading says, those who are hungry and thirsty, those who are strangers in need of welcome, those who are naked, those who are sick, those in prison. We must proudly, unapologetically and faithfully orient ourselves to the needs, the vision, the organizing efforts, the strategies of those who are targeted by the incoming administration—people targeted for deportation, targeted to have rights taken away, targeted to have public goods and services taken away, targeted to have their history erased, targeted to have control of their own bodies taken away, targeted to have their healthcare taken away. We must proudly, unapologetically and faithfully align ourselves with freedom and justice movements led by women, led by Black people, Indigenous people and People of Color, led by immigrants, led by transgender, nonbinary and queer people, led by people with disabilities. We must proudly, unapologetically and faithfully pursue a vision of Earth justice, Earth stewardship, Earth survival. We know how to do this. A few years before I arrived as your minister, this congregation voted overwhelmingly to become a Unitarian Universalist Association Welcoming Congregation and to support and empower Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people both here and in the wider community. For us this is not just a proud legacy. It is a fundamental spiritual commitment. Soon after I arrived this congregation became a certified Unitarian Universalist Association Green Sanctuary, dedicated to living in harmony with the Earth. For us this is not just a proud legacy. It is a fundamental spiritual commitment. In more recent years we overwhelmingly passed a congregational resolution in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement. And still more recently, we overwhelmingly passed a congregational resolution to become a sanctuary congregation. For us these are not merely proud legacies. They are fundamental spiritual commitments. Of course they have never been easy commitments to keep. At times we have missed the mark over the years. But these are our commitments, and in the weeks, months and years ahead, I have no doubt we will be called to fulfill them in ways we never imagined when we first made them. Third: Struggle lies ahead. I use the word ‘struggle’ often. The struggle  for social justice. The struggle  for racial justice. The struggle  for reproductive justice. The struggle  for worker justice. The struggle  for environmental justice. None of these struggles are new, but Tuesday’s election results have catapulted the stakes into the stratosphere. I’m mindful that I rarely say what I mean by struggle . I assume everyone knows more or less what I mean. Sometimes I worry that I—and we—have entered into these struggles in ways that require the least amount of disruption to our lives, the least amount of sacrifice, the least amount of risk for us. To the extent that’s true, my gut tells me that era of safe struggle is over. Although we don’t know yet what struggle looks like in the coming months and years, I am confident it will be different than what we are used to, that it will require more from us than we are accustomed to, that it will require sacrifice, that it will be disruptive. Here’s just one example I have begun contemplating: I’m trying to imagine multiple families facing deportation somehow living in our meeting house. It doesn’t seem possible, yet we may be asked to make it possible. A few years ago I preached a sermon entitled “Perhaps Struggle is All We Have.” In that sermon I shared wisdom from the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2015 book, Between the World and Me. Some of you will remember he wrote this book as a letter to his then teenage son about the way the United States treats black bodies and how to live in such a cruel society. He said justice is never guaranteed. He said “you must resist the common urge toward the comforting narrative of divine law, toward fairy tales that imply some irrepressible justice.”  [2]  This statement contradicts the Kingian saying (based on the words of the 19th-century Unitarian minister Theodore Parker) that “the moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.” Coates is saying, “no it doesn’t.” Coates says “perhaps struggle is all we have because the god of the universe is an atheist, and nothing about this world is meant to be. So you must wake up every morning knowing that no promise is unbreakable, least of all the promise of waking up at all.” But—and this is critical—“This is not despair. These are the preferences of the universe itself: verbs over nouns, actions over states, struggle over hope.” [3] Last Sunday I spoke about the promise the founders of the United States made to their posterity. This week the hard lesson: no promise is unbreakable. But let us not despair. We can still act. We can commit to struggle for what is right and good. We can commit to struggle for the reassertion of the founders’ promise. We can commit to struggle for the least of these. We can commit to struggle for democracy. Let us trust that struggle is indeed the preference of the universe. Let us make ourselves ready to be in the struggle. Fourth: Despite the broken promise, I urge you also to “Keep Alive the Dream in the Heart.” Last Sunday we sang “America the Beautiful.” Many of you reported getting choked up in ways you didn’t expect. This week, at our vigils, and in private conversations, some of you reported feeling that the United States of America is done, is over, has failed; or more specifically that American democracy is now dying, if not dead. I don’t want in any way to belittle or downplay the strength and intensity of your feelings if you feel this way. But I do want to urge you to “Keep Alive the Dream in the Heart.” I borrow this language from the 20th-century American mystic and mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., the Rev. Howard Thurman. As long as we keep the dream alive in the heart, he says, we will not lose the significance of living. He writes; “The dream in the heart is the outlet. It is one with the living water welling up from the very springs of Being, nourishing and sustaining all of life…. The dream is the quiet persistence in the heart that enables [us] to ride out the storms of [our] churning experiences…. It is the ever-recurring melody in the midst of the broken harmony and harsh discords of human conflict…. It lives in the inward parts, it is deep within, where the issues of life and death are ultimately determined. Keep alive the dream; for as long as [we have] a dream in [our] hearts, [we] cannot lose the significance of living.” [4] However you understand the promise of the United States of America; however you understand the promise of our Unitarian Universalist faith, I urge you to keep alive the dream in your heart. And on those days when you simply can’t do that, please know and trust that I or someone else in this congregation will keep your dream alive for you; just as I know and trust that on those days when I simply can’t do it, you will keep it alive for me.           Fifth, finally:  please know and trust this too: I love you. And I know and trust that you love me. And I know and trust that you love each other. And I know and trust that you love the promise of our nation, just as you love the promise of our faith. I am glad I have you, and I am glad we have each other. I am glad knowing that we will not go through this alone. I am glad knowing that we will go through this together.           Amen and blessed be. [1]  Jones, Sarah Dan, “Meditation on Breathing,” Singing the Journey  (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2005) #1009. [2]  Coates, Ta-Nehisi, Between the World and Me (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015) pp. 70. [3]  Ibid, p. 71. [4]  Thurman, Howard in Fluker Walter Earl and Tumber, Catherine, eds., “Keep Alive the Dream in the Heart,” A Strange Freedom: The Best of Howard Thurman on Religious Experience and Public Life (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998) pp. 304-305.

Welcome and Announcements (Rev. Josh Pawelek)   Centering   Prelude "Spirit of Life" by Carolyn McDade Mary Bopp, piano   Chalice Lighting and Opening Words Matthew 25: 34-40   Opening Song “For a World Made Whole” Music by Mary Bopp Words by Josh Pawelek   May we be people, people of faith. May we be people, people of faith. May we be people, people of faith. For a world made whole, may we be people of faith.   May we be people, people of hope.   May we people, people of love.   May we be people of peace.   Time for All Ages   Song #1053 “How Could Anyone” By Libby Roderick How could anyone ever tell you you were anything less than beautiful? How could anyone ever tell you you were less than whole? How could anyone fail to notice that your loving is a miracle? How deeply you're connected to my soul. Joys and Concerns   Musical Response   Offering The recipient of our November community outreach offering is Manchester Senior, Adult, and Family Services.   Offering Music "O Mio Babbino Caro" by Giacomo Puccini Eric Rosenberg, saxophone Mary Bopp, piano   Sermon “For a World Made Whole” Rev. Josh Pawelek   Closing Song #95 “There is More Love Somewhere” African American Hymn There is more love somewhere. There is more love somewhere. I'm gonna keep on 'til 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   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.

I am going to speak about Tuesday’s election, but perhaps less about the election and more about what the United States of America means to me, and what I believe is at stake in this election. To begin, historically, the Sunday before election day features the ‘get out the vote’ sermon. Unitarian Universalist ministers really don’t need to remind their parishioners to vote. Democracy, freedom, liberty, the right of conscience—all lie at the heart of our spiritual identity. For many of us, voting is a sacred obligation. I know from experience that you take voting very seriously, and I have never felt a strong need to urge any of you to vote. Many of you have taken advantage of CT’s new option for early voting. When I went to vote I saw UUSE member Randy Kurker-Stewart in line. And it was UUSE member Paul Lorenzo who checked me in, gave me a double high five, and handed me my ballot. That was a rush. I was really happy—and really proud—to receive my ballot in this election from a member of our congregation. Some of you volunteer to drive elderly and disabled voters to the polls. Some work on campaigns. Some of you run for office. Some of you volunteer for voter turn-out operations. I will note that since 2016 members of UUSE have participated in letter-writing efforts through the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s non-partisan “UU the Vote” campaign. This year, most of you who’ve done this in the past opted to volunteer for partisan voter-turnout operations. Because they are partisan, we don’t organize or keep track of them in any way. I do want to point out that one UUSE member, Ollie Cohen, continued with UU the Vote and wrote letters to voters in swing states through the non-partisan voter turnout organization Vote Forward. Ollie wrote 800 letters to help turn out the vote in North Carolina!             Please know I take the separation of church and state very seriously. Although that language – ‘separation of church and state’ – does not appear in the United States Constitution, its spirit figures prominently in the first half of the first amendment to the Constitution: “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” I interpret that language to mean that the United States government is, always has been, and will continue to be a secular government. While there are some in our nation who long for a theocracy and would replace our time-honored religious freedoms with the tenets of Christian Nationalism, the United States is and always has been religiously pluralistic; respects and upholds the freedom of individuals and organizations to practice religion in accordance with their conscience, respects and supports religious minorities, and offers safe harbor to people fleeing religious persecution in other parts of the world. This is one of the reasons I love the United States of America and proudly sing “America the Beautiful.”  As the scholar of religion Diana Eck has said, “freedom of religion is part of the blueprint for America.” [1] To oppose religious freedom, to oppose the separation of church and state, is profoundly un-American.             One of the ways the United States maintains the separation of church and state is through the federal tax code, specifically through the Johnson Amendment of 1954 (that’s then Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson). This amendment to the code’s section 501(c)(3) prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches and other religious bodies, from engaging in political campaign activities. As a church, we cannot endorse or oppose candidates for public office, which is why any voter turnout efforts we participate in have to be non-partisan. It is my understanding that churches and other religious organizations did historically participate in electoral politics, blurring the line of separation. The Johnson Amendment ended that practice, and continues to serve as a powerful guardrail for preserving the separation of church and state. For me, upholding it rises to the level of a sacred obligation. While I have always found it relatively easy to refrain from making an explicit endorsement of a candidate for office, I confess that in every federal election going back to 2016, it has become increasingly difficult for me—and in this election I find it virtually impossible—to talk about what’s at stake in the election without implying an endorsement. That is, when we look at what is at stake; when we use our Unitarian Universalist principles or our new Unitarian Universalist values and covenants to assess what the presidential and down-ballot candidates say, one candidate—and essentially one party—clearly represents a set of policy proposals that contradict our principles and values. And not only that, one candidate—and essentially one party—explicitly promotes a set of anti-democratic measures that would erode constitutional protections, for example asking the Department of Justice to investigate political opponents, revoking broadcasting licenses for media outlets who report in ways deemed unfavorable to that candidate, or using the military to conduct domestic law enforcement operations, including operations against protestors. Any of these actions would violate the second half of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which grants the people of the United States freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. These are threats to our democracy, and I am unwilling to ignore them when I speak from this pulpit. But how do I—how do we—talk about these threats without making an implicit endorsement? I really don’t know. Yet, I’m also unwilling to take responsibility for the problem. One candidate—and essentially one party—has created this problem by refusing to uphold long-standing democratic norms and threatening to abandon others. Maybe I’ll draft a letter. “Dear Internal Revenue Service: This sermon as not an endorsement of any political candidate. It’s not my fault that one of the candidates equates virtually everything dear to me and my religion as the ‘enemy within.’ Any advice you can give on how to navigate these treacherous legal waters will be greatly appreciated.” The United States of America was founded as a promise to future generations. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” I’ve never read these words as a declaration that the nation was perfect upon its founding. The founders didn’t regard it as perfect. They argued about it relentlessly, and continued to argue after the founding. Looking back over these past 237 years, clearly it was riddled with imperfections the founders couldn’t collectively grasp. We live with the legacies of those imperfections and are still coming to terms with them—settler colonialism, slavery, the disenfranchisement of women and anyone not wealthy enough to own property. The founders bequeathed to us an imperfect union with the promise that it could be perfected, that there could be greater justice, lasting tranquility, robust public welfare, a reliable common defense and all the blessings of liberty: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, freedom of religion. Blessings all. They promised us—their posterity—that in using the tools or representative democracy, we the people could craft solutions to our most vexing problems. By coming together, dealing with facts, dealing with what is known to work, finding common ground, we the people could fulfill the founders’ promise slowly, over time. And that is precisely what has happened. This movement toward perfection has included the slow expansion of democratic participation, the inclusion of more and more constituencies in the rights the founders identified.  I point to the 13th amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery—though not perfectly. I point to the 14th amendment establishing criteria for citizenship and equal protection under the law—though not perfectly. I point to the 15th amendment establishing the right of men to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude—though not perfectly. I point to the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote—though not perfectly. All of this I regard as the slow, incremental fulfillment of the founders’ original promise. All of this I regard as America the beautiful. And, with every movement toward perfection, toward justice, toward greater inclusion and participation, toward an expanding franchise, there has been harsh, sometimes violent resistance—a painful truth of United States history. Resistance to expanding democracy for People of Color. Resistance to women voting, women in the workplace, women having access to their own property and other forms of wealth; women making choices about their reproductive healthcare. Resistance to workers organizing for a living wage, for decent benefits, for protections in the workplace. In more recent decades, resistance to GLBTQ rights and inclusion. Resistance to any effort to address climate change despite the overwhelming scientific evidence for impending climate catastrophes; resistance to any influx of immigrants in all eras of our history—Irish in one era, Italian in another, Jewish, Eastern European, Chinese, Mexican, Syrian, Afghan, Haitian—people have come to the United States from every country in the world Inevitably, there is resistance despite the evidence that immigrants contribute positively to the general welfare. (Sidebar: Puerto Ricans are United States citizens, not immigrants, which one candidate’s campaign staff doesn’t quite seem to understand.) Resistance is inevitable. Today one candidate—and essentially one party—has harnessed the longstanding American impulse to resist progress.  If it prevails in this election, it is quite possible we will see retrenchment on democracy, on who can participate, on who is entitled to certain rights, on who has control over their own body. That’s what’s at stake in this election. I’m not endorsing a candidate. I am endorsing the promise of America for all Americans. I am endorsing the long, slow expansion of democratic participation, the long, slow expansion of civil rights, the time-honored separation of church and state. I am endorsing fairness, kindness, caring, compassion and love. I am not endorsing the return to a mythical golden age of American greatness—no such age ever existed. I am endorsing the look forward, the hard work, the perennial struggle to establish a more perfect union. Finally, here we are. It’s the eve of the 2024 presidential election. We are facing an existential moment for our democracy. Though we don’t know what will happen, we do know that in the very least, the next few weeks are going to be hard, not only because of disinformation campaigns and legal challenges leading to chaos and distrust, but also because of the very real possibility of violence. So many of you have told me you’re not doing well: you’re nervous, anxious, stomach in knots, terrified, can’t sleep, can’t focus. “Despair for the world,” as the poet Wendell Berry said in our opening words, grows in us. We wake in the night at the last sound in fear of what our lives and our children’s lives may be. Berry urges us, in moments like this, to “come into the peace of wild things … into the presence of still water ….” To rest for a time in the grace of the world and be free.  [2] Some may hear these words in this moment as a form of escapism or denial.  I disagree. We need to take care of ourselves, in order to stay strong for what lies ahead. It’s good advice in the near term. Find peace now, because surely there is hard work ahead. I also urge you, during the post-election period, to rest in the grace of each other. As I said in my November newsletter column, whatever happens after Tuesday, let’s be present to each other. Let’s hold each other, because we’re going to need holding.  Let’s be kind to each other, because we’re going to need kindness. Let’s love each other, because we’re going to need the support of a loving community. Whatever happens, let’s not go through it alone. Let’s go through it together. This Tuesday evening, Janet Dauphin, who is co-chair of our Membership Committee, will host an online gathering from 7:00 to 9:00 for people who want to be together on election night. Thursday from 4:00 to 6;00, Mary and I will host an in-person gathering in this space. We’ll have readings, music, silence, candle-lighting, an opportunity for sharing thoughts and feelings. I’ll host an online gathering Friday from 3:30 to 5:30. And we’ll plan more the following week depending on what happens, how people are feeling and what people need. My prayer for you on election eve, is that this congregation, this beloved spiritual community, may be a haven for you in the coming weeks. May it hold you. May it calm you. May it sustain you. May your Unitarian Universalist community be a source of hope and resilience for you. And may it always inspire you to take the forward look, to engage in the hard work, the perennial struggle to establish a more perfect union, to build America the beautiful. Amen and blessed be. [1]  Pitney, Nico, “Her Modern Family: Four Moms, Four Refugee Kids, and Plenty More, Huffington Post, August 27, 2016. See: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/diana-eck-interview_n_57bf669de4b04193420e6e65 . [2]  Berry, Wendell, “The Peace of Wild Things,” Singing the Living Tradition (Boston: Beacon Press and the UUA, 1993) #483.

Welcome (Rev. Josh Pawelek)   Announcements   Centering   Prelude Americana I: "Fantasia on America the Beautiful" Music by Samuel A. Ward Mary Bopp, piano   Chalice Lighting and Opening Words “The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry spoken by Genna Bender (11:00)      Opening Hymn #155 “Circle Round for Freedom” by Linda Hirschhorn Circle 'round for freedom, circle round for peace, for all of us imprisoned, circle for release circle for the planet, circle for each soul, for the children of our children keep the circle whole.   Time for All Ages “Our Youth Weigh In”   Song #1009 “Meditation on Breathing” By Sara Dan Jones   When I breathe in, I’ll breathe in peace When I breathe out, I’ll breathe out love.   Joys and Concerns   Musical Meditation   Offering The recipient of our November community outreach offering is Manchester Senior, Adult, and Family Services.     Offering Music Americana II: "Fantasia on Themes from Aaron Copland” Mary Bopp, piano   Sermon “America the Beautiful” Rev. Josh Pawelek   Closing Song “America the Beautiful” adapted from Katherine Lee Bates   O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed thy grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!   O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy soul refine, Till justice, love and mercy reign, And all hearts are divine!   O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years, Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!   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.