Search Results

(from Vecteezy.com ) Gathering Music Welcome Centering Prelude "A New Way" by Mary Bopp Chalice Lighting and Opening Words Bearers of Hope & Resistance Rev. Michelle Collins Welcome to this place, a place where hope can be nourished. In a world that profits from despair, our gathering is a declaration of faith. We declare that joy still rises, that kindness still matters, that hope is not dead. We come to remember we are not alone. May our time together restore us to wonder, strengthen our resolve, and return us to the world as bearers of hope that sustains the work of resistance. Opening Hymn #126 "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" Words: v. 1 Robert Robinson, v. 2-3 Eugene B. Navias Music: John Wyeth Come, thou fount of ev'ry blessing, tune our ears to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. While the hope of life's perfection fills our hearts with joy and love, teach us ever to be faithful, may we still thy goodness prove. Come, thou fount of ev'ry vision, lift our eyes to what may come. See the lion and the young lamb dwell together in thy home. Hear the cries of war fall silent, feel our love glow like the sun. When we all serve one another, then our heaven is begun. Come, thou fount of inspiration, turn our lives to higher ways. Lift our gloom and desperation, show the promise of this day. Help us bind ourselves in union, help our hands tell of our love. With thine aid, O fount of justice, earth be fair as heav'n above. Time for All Ages I Am Today by Matt Forrest Esenwine Read by Sam Taylor Musical Interlude Announcements Joys and Concerns Musical Response Introduction to the Service Reflections from Janet Heller Offering Offering Music "Imagine" Words and Music by John Lennon, Arr. Mary Bopp Reflections from Maureen Flanagan Musical Interlude Reflections from Sam Taylor Closing Hymn #108 "My Life Goes On in Endless Song" Words: Traditional, v.3 Doris Plenn Music: Robert Lowry My life flows on in endless song above earth's lamentation. I hear the real though far-off hymn that hails a new creation. Through all the tumult and the strife I hear the music ringing. It sounds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing! What though the tempest 'round me roars, I know the truth, it liveth. What though the darkness 'round me close, songs in the night it giveth. No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I'm clinging. Since love prevails in heav'n and earth, how can I keep from singing! When tyrants tremble as they hear the bells of freedom ringing, when friends rejoice both far and near, how can I keep from singing! To prison cell and dungeon vile our thoughts to them are winging; when friends by shame are undefiled, how can I keep from singing! Extinguishing the Chalice and Closing Words "May We Go Forth" by Rev. Ess Baumberger May we go forth to meet oppression with freeing justice, hatred with healing love, and despair with unfailing faith. May it be so. Amen. 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.

An early lyric sheet for “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” published by Philadelphia: Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments, c. 1863. We’ve sung through various iterations of the late 18 th -century American camp meeting song “Say, Brothers Will You Meet Us?” Just prior to the Civil War, federal soldiers in Massachusetts set the explicitly abolitionist lyrics of John Brown’s Body” to the same tune. Then, as the story goes the poet, author, abolitionist, prison reformer, women’s rights activist and campaigner for a “Mother’s Day for Peace,” Julia Ward Howe, on a visit to Washington, DC in 1861, heard troops singing “John Brown’s Body.” She found it crass—good for marching, not so good for moving the heart of a nation. A minister accompanying her suggested she write her own version of the song for the abolitionist cause, something more transcendent and scripturally-based to inspire not only the troops but the Union itself. Awakening from a dream the next morning she wrote down the lyrics to what became the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” [1]             It’s a call to arms, a spiritual rallying cry for civil war. The scriptural references come not from Jesus’ sermon on the mount, but from the apocalyptic books of Daniel and Revelation. They invoke themes of divine justice: “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” In her mind the nation’s great sin was slavery. War would end it. A line from a verse we didn’t sing says, “As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.” Please know I am not invoking Howe to suggest that we are on the verge of civil war today. I don’t believe that. But I recognize that in communities and cities where there has been state-sanctioned violence -- immigrant abductions, tear gas raids on apartment buildings, and the ICE murder of Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis last week and other recent ICE shootings -- something akin to war is happening. The reason I am invoking Julia Ward Howe is because it has always been my intention in this sermon, on the eve of the national Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration, to reflect on a few figures in our UU history who have worked for racial justice; and then to ask what lesson or wisdom from their lives speaks to our lives. Julia Ward Howe, though raised Episcopalian, became a Unitarian in her early forties. She was friends with a number of Boston-area Unitarian ministers, including Theodor Parker, as well as many of the Boston and Concord, Massachusetts Transcendentalists. She was a member of Boston’s Unitarian Church of the Disciples where, though not a minister herself, she occasionally delivered the Sunday sermon.   While there are many dimensions to Julia Ward Howe’s life and activism I could explore this morning, mindful of last week’s service on art as resistance , I lift up what is perhaps her most enduring contribution to American culture, the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” While I don’t resonate with its apocalyptic Bible references, and while it is certainly not a song designed to de-escalate tension, I do find in her Abolitionist lyrics a kindred spirit, naming injustice with searing moral clarity and reminding us we are called from the depths of our faith to confront it. I proudly claim her as a spiritual ancestor. Next, let's turn to late 18 th -century Philadelphia where, in the fall of 1793, the mosquito-born yellow fever caused the deaths of 10% of the population. After yellow fever subsided, Richard Allen (who at this same time founded the first Black Methodist Church in the nation, and eventually became the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church) and Absalom Jones (who, a few years earlier, had founded the first Black Episcopal Church in the nation, the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas) published an article defending Philadelphia’s free black community for its heroic response to the yellow fever. They wrote the article to counter criticisms white journalists were leveling against the black community. One paragraph in the article has always made me proud.  They wrote: “When the sickness became general, and several of the physicians died, and most of the survivors were exhausted by sickness or fatigue, that good man, Dr. Rush, called us more immediately to attend to the sick.” [2] That "good" man was Dr. Benjamin Rush, perhaps most well-known as a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who was an avowed abolitionist long before the Abolitionist movement coalesced in the 1830s, and a committed Universalist. Though not trained as a minister, he was an avid reader of Universalist theology; he was close with Philadelphia’s leading Universalist minister, the Rev. Elhanan Winchester; and he was present in 1790 at the founding of the Philadelphia Convention of Universalists, the first attempt at creating a national Universalist denomination. That Convention drafted “Articles of Faith and a “Plan of Government” which, according to the Universalist historian Russell Miller, “were submitted to Dr. Benjamin Rush … for correction and arrangement.” [3] Miller also says that Rush was gifted at translating Universalist ideas into action. “Almost every Universalist social reform impulse,” he writes, “from anti-slavery, temperance, and prison reform in the pre-Civil War era to participation in the Social Gospel movement of the late nineteenth century can be traced to Rush’s influence.” [4] Rush was relentless in his opposition to slavery. In 1773, at age 27, he wrote a tract entitled “ An address to the inhabitants of the British settlements, on the slavery of the Negroes in America, ” in which he systematically dismantled the popular pro-slavery arguments of the day. He called for an end to the slave trade, for the dissolution of the African Committee of Merchants who were chiefly responsible for carrying out the trade, for the shunning of those involved in the trade, for the education of African Americans in reading, writing, business and religion, and for giving to African Americans all the privileges of free-born British subjects. He called on magistrates, legislators and advocates to use their offices to suppress this evil. To clergy he said “Ye who estimate the worth of your fellow creatures by their Immortality and therefore must look upon all [hu]mankind as equal,—let your zeal keep pace with your opportunities to put a stop to slavery.” [5]             I mentioned Rush’s work with Allen and Jones in confronting the yellow fever crisis of 1793 for a very specific reason. They likely didn’t think of it this way, and I don’t want to overstate what was happening between them, but from my vantage point 230 years later, I see a multi-racial, multi-faith effort to organize a public health response to a pandemic. I want to repeat those words: I see a multi-racial, multi-faith effort to organize a public health response to a pandemic. I stress this because, given efforts today to disrupt, disable and create mistrust in the American public health system, and given a multitude of efforts to sow racial and religious discord throughout the United States, I cling to this story. I cling to this story of these relgious leaders--each of them in the midst of founding new chuches--working together to bring healing to a devastated city. As we engage in social justice work in multiracial, interfaith coalitions, especially when we work on health care justice, I proudly claim Benjamin Rush as a spiritual ancestor. [6]             A third person I’d like to hold up is the Rev. Ephraim Nute. There’s actually way too much to his story to adequately tell it in a few paragraphs. He really deserves an entire sermon, or maybe a book group. [7] But briefly, an entry in the online Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography  describes Nute as “an outspoken and aggressive abolitionist [who] was the American Unitarian Association … missionary to the Kansas territory during the “Bleeding Kansas” years prior to the Civil War. A conductor on the Underground Railroad, he was a key figure in the free state cause. He lost family and friends to the violence there and had to fight to save his own life.” [8] He was clearly heroic, clearly passionate about ending slavery. [9] And a number of sources say that because the denomination was divided over how best to address slavery, Nute was also “frustrated at being ignored, denied, and underfunded in his mission” [10] by denominational leaders in Boston. In February of 1859 he wrote a letter to an unidentified friend thanking him for a $10 donation, and describing a recent failed attempt to help eleven escaped slaves and two free blacks travel to Oskaloosa, Iowa. The party was captured. Nute wrote to his friend: “The great trouble was the want of funds. This hindered us from sending them forward as fast as they arrived, as before has been done, & so permitted such a large number to accumulate here.” [11] They had to wait for sufficient funding; when they were finally able to leave, the group was too large and thus too obvious to their pursuers. Nute’s concern about funding resonates with me precisely because, as I’ve named a number of times, I am encountering increasing requests to raise money for people who are directly impacted by authoritarian policies, specifically immigrant families who have seen a primary breadwinner abducted, detained or deported; and transgender people or families with transgender members who are leaving states with anti-trans laws, hoping to resettle in safer states. I am not trying to equate the challenges escaped slaves and their supporters faced with the challenges facing immigrants and transgender people today. But to the extent people working directly with these groups are in touch with me, there is enormous financial need, and there is understandable frustration. I am hopeful we can respond with generous spirits. I won’t say more about this here, except to note that our Social Justice / Anti-Oppression Committee is weighing some proposals for how we can invite the members and friends of this congregation to support specific individuals and families that our partners identify to us. Those conversations will unfold in the coming months. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not comment on the ICE murder of Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis on January 7 th . It was an excessive and unjustified use of force by an officer of the state. The Department of Justice’s decision not to open a civil rights investigation is yet more evidence of authoritarianism. There is a historical echo for Unitarian Universalists in Good's murder. I lift up the name of Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white woman, mother of five, who was murdered for her involvement in the Civil Rights movement.  In March of 1965, as a relatively new member of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit, she heard Martin Luther King, Jr’s call for religious leaders to come to Selma, AL to support the voting rights march. Though not a member of the clergy, as a 2006 article in the UU World  reports it, “Liuzzo took the call to heart. She drove … to Selma, intending t o stay a week. She volunteered at the … Brown [Chapel] African Methodist Episcopal Church and used her car to drive protesters back and forth from Selma and Montgomery. On March 25, Liuzzo was giving a ride to fellow civil rights worker Leroy Moton when four Klansmen pulled their car alongside hers and shot her. Liuzzo was killed instantly while Moton was able to escape.” [12] About her murder, Martin Luther King is reported to have said: “If physical death is the price some must pay to save us and our white brothers from eternal death of the spirit, then no sacrifice could be more redemptive.” [13] [14] [15] I am not trying to draw too close a comparison between these two murders separated by 60 years. The immediate circumstances are not the same. But both happened in the context of a larger struggle for racial justice in the United States. Both remind us, sadly, that there is no way for anyone of any identity to engage in this struggle, or even be simply adjacent to it, with complete safety. These are hard, frightening, enraging times. These are also sad times. So much is being lost. But not our spirits. I turn to people like Benjamin Rush, Ephraim Nute, Julia Ward Howe, Viola Gregg Liuzzo, as well as Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, Martin Luther King, Jr. and so many more, as reminders that though the times are hard, frightening, enraging and sad, we inherit a historical legacy that strengthens and inspires us. We claim Unitarian Universalist principles and values that center us. We work in solidarity with partners in the wider community who guide us. And we have this Unitarian Universalist congregation for support, comfort, care, love and a vision of the beloved community. In all of this, our eyes see the glory and our spirits are renewed. Amen and blessed be. [1]  See “The Battle Hymn of the Republic: The Story Behind the Song” and the Trump ( sic ) Kennedy Center Website: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/music/story-behind-the-song/the-story-behind-the-song/the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/#:~:text=Howe's%20new%20words%20also%20angered,was%20on%20the%20North's%20side . For more information on Julia Ward Howe, see: https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/julia-ward-howe/ . [2]  Allen, Richard and Jones, Absalom, “A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Colored People During the Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the Year 1793; and a Refutation of Some Censures Thrown Upon Them in Some Publications,” in Miller, Ruth, ed., Blackamerican Literature: 1760 – Present  (New York: Macmillan Publishing co., 1971) p. 65. [3]  Miller, Russell E., The Larger Hope: The First Century of the Universalist Church in America, 1770-1870 (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 1979) p. 77. [4]  Ibid., p. 39. [5]  Rush, Benjamin, “An address to the inhabitants of the British settlements, on the slavery of the Negroes in America. To which is added, A vindication of the address, in answer to a pamphlet entitled, "Slavery not forbidden in Scripture; or, A defence of the West India planters." / By a Pennsylvanian. ; [Fifteen lines of verse, signed Proteus] (Philadelphia: John Dunlap, 1773) pp. see: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=evans;idno=N10229.0001.001;node=N10229.0001.001:2;rgn=div1;view=text . [6]  In proudly claiming Rush as a spiritual ancestor, I don’t want to suggest that he was free from the racist assumptions of his day despite his belief in the equality of all people. For example, like many white residents of Philadelphia, Rush assumed that people of African descent had greater immunity to the yellow fever virus. This assumption was false. I guess I should also point out that Rush’s approach to treating the virus included bleeding. This treatment had no impact on the virus whatsoever. [7]  Groth, Bobbie, the Incredible Story of Ephraim Nute: Scandal, Bloodshed and Unitarianism on the American Frontier (Boston: Skinner House, 2011). Currently available at: https://www.abebooks.com/9781558966093/Incredible-Story-Ephraim-Nute-Scandal-1558966099/plp . [8]  Groth, Bobbie, “Nute, Ephraim” Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography , 2009. See: https://www.uudb.org/nute-ephraim/ . Also check out “Ephraim Nute, Free State Minister,” in the Unitarian Universalist World , March 17, 2015 at https://www.uuworld.org/articles/ephraim-nute-free-state-minister . [9]  This is yet another instance where proudly claiming someone as a spiritual ancestor shouldn’t prevent us from naming the ways they participated in racism even as they advocated against slavery. While it is beyond the scope of this sermon, I feel it is important to note that the abolitionist New Englanders who travelled to Kansas in the 1850s often framed their activities in the language of settler colonialism, claiming a right to the land that was God-given—a species of Manifest Destiny that ignored the indigenous people of the region. [10]  Groth, “Nute,” Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography. [11]  Nute, Ephraim, “Ephraim Nute to unidentified, February 14, 1859” posted at “Slave Stampedes on the Southern Borderlands. See: https://stampedes.dickinson.edu/document/ephraim-nute-unidentified-february-14-1859 . [12]  Greer, Jane, “UU civil rights martyr posthumously honored: Viola Liuzzo inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame,” UU World , November 19, 2006. See: https://www.uuworld.org/articles/uu-civil-rights-martyr-posthumously-hono . [13]  This quote appears in the entry for Viola Gregg Liuzzo at the online Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography. See: https://www.uudb.org/liuzzo-viola/ . [14]  A personal note: My father joined the voting rights march for its final leg into Montgomery. He was in the area at the time of Liuzzo’s murder. We once determined he would have been somewhere between downtown Montgomery and the airport at that time, and thus he was no more than 14 miles away from murder when it happened. [15]  Learn more about Liuzzo, including the aftermath of her murder, at the Jim Crow Museum website at https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/witnesses/violaliuzzo.htm#:~:text=He%20eventually%20flagged%20down%20a,The%20murder%20of .

Gathering Music Welcome and Announcements Centering Prelude "Mine Eyes Have Seen" by Mary Bopp Chalice Lighting and Opening Words excerpt from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s eulogy for the Rev. James Reeb (March 15, 1965) Opening Hymn Mashup "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us" and "John Brown's Body" lyrics by various authors, adapted by Rev. Josh Pawelek traditional American hymn tune Say, brothers, will you meet us, Say, brothers, will you meet us, Say, brothers, will you meet us, On Canaan's happy shore? By the grace of God I'll meet you, By the grace of God I'll meet you, By the grace of God I'll meet you, On Canaan's happy shore. Say, sisters, will you meet us, Say, sisters, will you meet us, Say, sisters, will you meet us, On Canaan's happy shore? By the grace of God I'll meet you, By the grace of God I'll meet you, By the grace of God I'll meet you, On Canaan's happy shore. John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave His soul goes marching on. Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! His soul is marching on. John Brown died that the slave might be free John Brown died that the slave might be free John Brown died that the slave might be free But his soul is marching on! Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! His soul is marching on. The stars above in Heaven are looking kindly down The stars above in Heaven are looking kindly down The stars above in Heaven are looking kindly down On the grave of old John Brown. Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! His soul is marching on. Time for All Ages Song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" Lyrics by Julia Ward Howe Music: traditional American hymn tune, mid-19th century Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. Refrain: Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on. I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read the righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; His day is marching on. [Refrain] He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of all before His judgement seat; O be swift, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. [Refrain] Joys and Concerns Musical Meditation Offering The recipients of our Community Outreach offering for the month of January are Moral Monday CT and Power Up CT. Both organizations have been leaders in Connecticut's Black Lives Matter movement and a variety of social justice campaigns and initiatives. Offering Music "Glory" by Mary Bopp Sermon "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" Rev. Josh Pawelek Closing Hymn #201 "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" Words: traditional Music: tradition, arranged by Mary Allen Walden (The tune is named for Sojourner Truth, the 19th century African American evangelist, abolitionist, reformer and women's rights activist.) Glory, glory, hallelujah! Since I laid my burden down. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Since I laid my burden down. Feel like shouting, "Hallelujah!" ... Life is sweeter, so much sweeter ... Feel like dancing, hallelujah!... Love is shining all around me, ... 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 (Mary Bopp, piano) Welcome and Announcements (David Klotz) Centering Prelude (Mary Bopp, piano) Chalice Lighting & Opening Words (David Klotz & Jane Penfield) #493 Hildegard of Bingen Fire of the Spirit, life of the lives of creatures, spiral of sanctity, bond of all natures, glow of charity, lights of clarity, taste of sweetness to the fallen, be with us and hear us. Composer of all things, joy in the glory, strong honor, be with us and hear us. Introduction to the Service Opening Hymn #22 "Dear Weaver of Our Lives' Design" Time for All Ages Story: The Artivist read by Sam Taylor Musical Interlude Announcements Joys and Concerns Musical Interlude Offering Continuing our practice of sharing our gifts with the community beyond our walls, fifty percent of our unallocated Sunday plate cash collections for the month of January will be shared with Moral Monday CT and Power Up. Offering Music Introduction to the Speakers Reflections - Dan Thompson Musical Interlude Reflections - Elizabeth Thomas Closing Hymn #122 "Sound Over All Waters" Extinguishing the Chalice and Closing Words #447 from Albert Schweitzer At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. Music "The Flame in Our Hearts Never Ceases Burning" Music by Mary Bopp Words by Rev. Joshua Pawelek 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.

Our ministry theme for January is practicing resistance . I’m not surprised our friends at Soul Matters (the independent UU resource hub that provides materials for our monthly themes) landed on this theme at this time. As we have named many times over the past year, the administration in Washington, DC has engaged in many authoritarian actions, e.g., abducting and deporting people without due process, deploying federal troops to US cities, cutting the social safety net to pay for tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest residents, freezing funds Congress has already appropriated, defunding universities, criticizing judges, firing federal employees without cause, using the Department of Justice to harass and attack political opponents, etc. (I can't say I fully understand what happened in Venezuela this weekend, but I can say it is not consistent with the actions of a decent, ethical and democratic nation.) People of liberal faith abhor such actions. We recognize a profound threat to our time-honored democratic institutions, practices and assumptions (as flawed as they are). We feel called to resist. My original sermon title was “Resistance!” However, every time I started working on this sermon, the fact that the Christian celebration of Epiphany happens this week kept intruding on my thoughts. I finally changed my title to “Two Epiphanies.” I want to let two epiphany stories bump up against each other, and then name what, if anything, they say about practicing resistance .             In the western Christian liturgical calendar the celebration of Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, Theophany, Little Christmas and a variety of other names, takes place, mostly, on January 6 th , a date established by the early Christian church. Epiphany comes from the Greek word “epiphaneia,” meaning “manifestation.” If I understand correctly, in its early years during the third and fourth centuries, Epiphany was a catchall celebration, commemorating a number of events that, for church leaders, manifested Jesus’ divinity. These events included the virgin birth, the visitation of the three Magi (sometimes wise men or kings), Jesus’ baptism, and his supposed first miracle: turning water into wine at the Wedding at Cana as described in the New Testament book of John. Because it included the celebration of Jesus’ birth, Epiphany was the original Christmas; and in fact, the Eastern Orthodox churches still celebrate Christmas on January 6, rather than on December 25 th . [1]   As an aside, I started researching why the early church chose January 6 th  for the celebration of Epiphany. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer to that question, but apparently January 5 th  and 6 th  were auspicious days in ancient world, associated with the births of various deities. In a 2011 book entitled The Origin of Feasts, Fasts and Seasons in Early Christianity, two Notre Dame religion professors, Paul Bradshaw and Maxwell Johnson, write that “Epiphany, like Christmas, was but a Christian replacement feast for, or Christianization of, various pagan festivals celebrated on or near 6 January, especially in ancient Egypt. The pagan festivals in question are the Egyptian celebration in honor of the birth of the god Aion, born of the virgin Kore [on] 6 January, and another, called Pater Liber, in honor of Dionysius on 5 January.” [2]   For me, the central Epiphany story is the visit of the three Magi to the home of Jospeh, Mary and Jesus. The Magi travel from the east, following a star, searching for the child who was born “king of the Jews.” They ask around Jerusalem. “Where is the child who was born king of the Jews? We saw his star rising in the East.” King Herod learns about their inquiries and is frightened. He’s king of the Jews and he intends to remain so. He secretly calls for the Magi to come to his palace. He pumps them for information about the star, then sends them on their way, asking them to let him know once they find the child. He’d like to visit as well. As we heard earlier, “When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.” [3]               That’s one epiphany story. Over the last year, Emmy [4]  and I have been talking about La Befana, and wondering: if it’s possible to get Santa Claus to visit on Christmas Eve, couldn’t we also get La Befana to visit on or near Epiphany? La Befana is a figure in Italian folklore similar to Santa Claus in that she visits children and leaves goodies and presents for them. My late father-in-law, Valentino Pascetta, who grew up in Italy, told stories of La Befana visiting on the eve of Epiphany and leaving oranges in his shoes. Unlike Santa, she isn’t typically jolly. She appears as a crone, a witch. She doesn’t fly in a sleigh, but she does fly on a broom. As the story goes, the Magi stopped by her home when they were on their way to visit Jesus and invited her to join them. She showed them hospitality, but declined their invitation saying she had too much housework to do. As the Rev. Mary Wellemeyer says in a meditation entitled “La Befana,” “she was too busy sweeping.” [5]  Later, as the story often goes, she regretted her decision and tried to catch up to the Magi, but she couldn’t find them. She wasn’t sure who the messiah was, so now, on the eve of Epiphany, she visits every child, leaving treats and presents in their shoes. I like Rev. Wellemeyer’s Universalist take on La Befana. She writes: “I’m not so sure this spirit woman wanders / or tries to make up / for something she missed. / No Magi for her, / no one special star, / no one certain special holy baby / far away. / She knows the other truth, / that every child is holy, / and worthy of gifts, / perfect and blessed; / the gift of life to life / from the mystery beyond / birth and death.” [6] That’s our second epiphany story this morning. There’s a cool linguistic connection between the two. An entry in the New World Encyclopedia on Epiphany mentions that “in Rome, ‘Epiphania’ was transformed through mispronunciation into  Befana , the great fair held at that season, when sigillaria  of terracotta or baked pastry were sold. [7]  From what I can tell, La Befana gets her name from this early winter festival or fair which was associated with Epiphany. I found a few other articles confirming this. [8]  And just for fun I learned from Chat GTP that ‘in spoken medieval Italian, especially among people who did not know Greek or formal church Latin, the word was gradually altered through folk pronunciation and sound shifts: Epiphania  → Epifania  → Pifania → Befania  → Befana.’ [9]  La Befana may, and likely did have earlier iterations in ancient Italian culture as an agricultural/fertility goddess, but I think it’s so cool that her current name is a mispronunciation of the Greek word for epiphany. In reflecting on what these epiphany stories might tell us about resistance, I draw three lessons or insights, which I name as noncompliance, generosity, and hopefulness. Noncompliance. Herod says to the Magi: “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” [10]  They do not comply. “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.” [11]  There is enormous pressure to comply right now. Pressure on colleges and universities, on public health and health care institutions, on judges and courts, on corporations, on the media. Many ignore the warnings and return to Herod. I’m mindful of words from the historian Timothy Snyder in his 2017 book, On Tyranny: “Don’t obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.” [12]  I think it’s worth finding ways for all of us, individually and together, to take an inventory, to become clear about all the ways we are being asked to comply with authoritarianism, and then choose noncompliance.             Generosity. Here I turn to La Befana. Unlike the Magi, she is not of royal lineage, not a queen or a noblewoman. She is old. She is poor. She lives alone in a modest home. She is a domestic laborer. I read somewhere—and now can’t find the quote—that her tools (a broom, stockings, simple gifts) are objects of everyday life, not wealth and power. No frankincense and myrrh. No Nintendo switches or I-phones. My father-in-law got oranges. She operates in a world of scarcity, but still finds a way to give. A spirit of generosity runs through the stories of La Befana. And I want to channel that spirit into this new year.             The bottom line is that I am getting more and more requests from our immigrants rights partners for basic financial support for the families of ICE detainees: food, toiletries, diapers, rental assistance, legal fees. And I see no reason why those requests will not increase in the coming year. [13]  Similarly, I am increasingly aware of transgender people or families with transgender members who are leaving states with strong anti-trans law and resettling in friendlier states. They often need a variety of supports as they rebuild their lives. Beyond these two groups, we know middle income people and families who are losing access to affordable health insurance. We know lower income people and families who are finding it increasingly difficult to make financial ends meet due to chaos in the economy. And all this is before massive cuts to Medicaid and Snap go into effect next year. I don’t know exactly what our congregational role is in responding to these kinds of needs as they grow, but I am increasingly led to the conclusion that our generosity is required, that our generosity is itself a form of resistance. I want to discuss ways we can organize this kind of generosity at the next meeting of our Social Justice / Anti-Oppression Committee. If you’d like to be part of that conversation, please feel free to join us—Tuesday evening at 7:00.             Finally, hopefulness as resistance. On Christmas Eve I said that whoever wrote the stories about Jesus’ birth knew that all was not right with the world. They lived under imperial Roman rule, and by all accounts that rule was punishing and impoverishing. As an alternative to that imperial power the writers offered the image of a child, born outside of the trappings of wealth and imperial power, a child who symbolized a different kind of power—the power of humility, meekness, kindness, compassion, peace-making and love. It’s a hopeful story. At its heart it reminds us a different world is possible. [14]  It reminds us we are justified in being hopeful.             I suppose that is the central epiphany for me as I encounter these two stories: A different world is possible. The pathways to that world include our noncompliance with authoritarianism, our generosity towards those most severely impacted by authoritarian policies, and our enduring hopefulness.             Amen and blessed be. [1]  For a more detailed discussion of the history of Epiphany, see “Epiphany (Christian)” in the online New World Encyclopedia  at https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Epiphany_(Christian) . [2]  Bradshaw, Paul and Johnson, Maxwell, The Origin of Feasts, Fasts and Seasons in Early Christianity (Collegeville, MN, Liturgical Press, 2011) p. 132. [3] Matthew 2: 10-12. As an aside, church tradition has it that the Magi visited Jesus twelve days after Jesus’ birth, hence the ‘twelve days of Christmas,’ ending with Epiphany.  There’s nothing in the text that actually indicates twelve days. Herod called for the death of all children two years and younger “according to the time that he had learned from the Magi” (v. 16), which leads some scholars to argue that the Magi’s visit could have been as much as two years after Jesus’ birth. [4]  Emmy Galbraith is UUSE’s Director of Children and Youth Ministry. [5]  Wellemeyer, Mary, “La Befana” in Admire the Moon: Meditations (Boston: Skinner House Books, 2005) p. 12. [6]  Ibid., pp. 12-13. [7]  See the section on local customs under “Epiphany (Christian)” in the online New World Encyclopedia  at https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Epiphany_(Christian) . [8]  De Marchi-Fusaroli, Paolo, “Understanding the Meaning of Epiphany” (Repubblica e Cantone Ticino, Internet Topics), see: https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194044/http://www3.ti.ch/argomenti/index.php?fuseaction=2.leggi&artId=219 . [9]  Chat GTP response to inquiry regarding the origin of the title La Befana in Italian culture.  [10]  Matthew 2:8b. [11] Matthew 2:12. [12]  Snyder, Timothy, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century  (New York: Crown, 2017) P. 17. [13]  Otte, Emilia and Eichorst, Angela (for the CT Mirror), ICE arrests, deportations in CT up sharply in Trump’s second term,” Hartford Business Journal , August 29 th , 2025. See: https://hartfordbusiness.com/article/ice-arrests-deportations-in-ct-up-sharply-in-trumps-second-term/ . Tillman, Laura “CT residents detained by ICE remembered at Hartford vigil,” CT Mirror , December 23, 2025. See: https://ctmirror.org/2025/12/23/ct-ice-hartford-vigil/ . [14] Or, in the words of the Indian writer and activist, Suzanna Arundhati Roy, “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

Gathering Music Mike Zanta, Guitar Welcome and Announcements Centering Prelude "White Flag" by Joseph performed by Meetinghouse Chalice Lighting and Opening Words Matthew 2: 10-15a (New Revised Standard Version) Opening Hymn #1007 "There's a River Flowing in My Soul" by Faya Ora Rose Toure (Rose Sanders) There's a river flowin' in my soul. There's a river flowin' in my soul. And it's tellin' me that I'm somebody. There's a river flowin' in my soul. There's a river flowin' in my heart ... There's a river flowin' in my mind ... Time for All Ages Musical Meditation Joys and Concerns Musical Meditation Offering The recipients of our Community Outreach Offering for the month of January are Moral Monday CT and Power Up CT. Both organizations have been leaders in Connecticut's Black Lives Matter movement and a variety of social justice campaigns and initiatives. Offering Music "March, March" by the Chicks performed by Meetinghouse Sermon "Two Epiphanies" Rev. Josh Pawelek Closing Music "Good Fight" by Unspoken performed by Meetinghouse Extinguishing the Chalice "The Work of Christmas" by Howard Thurman Gently adapted by Rev. Josh Pawelek 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 (Mary Bopp) Words of Welcome (Emmy Galbraith) Centering (Rev. Josh Pawelek) Prelude "Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella" Traditional French carol Arr. by Mary Bopp Chalice Lighting and Opening Words Excerpt from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens gently adapted by Rev. Josh Pawelek Opening Hymn "Angels We Have Heard on High" Words by Earl Marlatt Music: French Carol Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plains And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains Gloria in excelsis Deo Gloria in excelsis Deo Shepherds why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong? What glad tidings do you bring Which inspire your heavenly song? Gloria in excelsis Deo Gloria in excelsis Deo See him in a manger laid Whom the choirs of angels praise Mary, Joseph, lend your aid While our hearts in love we raise Gloria in excelsis Deo Gloria in excelsis Deo Reading Luke 2:1 1-14 (New Revised Standard Version) Silence Carol "In the Bleak Midwinter" Words by Christina Rosetti and Andrew Storey Music by Gustav Theodore Holst In the bleak midwinter frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone, snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter long ago. Christ a homeless stranger, so the gospels say, cradled in a manger and a bed of hay; in the bleak midwinter, stable-place sufficed Mary and her baby, Jesus Christ. Once more child and mother weave their magic spell, touching hearts with wonder words can never tell; in the bleak midwinter, in this world of pain, where our hearts are open, love is born again. Story "Santa's God" Neale Donald Walsch Musical Meditation Offering It is our tradition on Christmas Eve to dedicate our offering to the UUSE Minister's Discretionary Fund. This fund is used throughout the year to provide financial support to people in our congregation and in the wider community who have fallen on hard economic times, or who have specific monetary needs they cannot otherwise afford. Offering Music "Christmas Time is Here" Vince Guaraldi Homily (Rev. Josh Pawelek) Silence Music "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" by Mel Torme and Robert Wells Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at your nose Yuletide carols being sung by a choir And folks bundled up in winter clothes Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe Help to make the season bright Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow Will find it hard to sleep tonight. They know that Santa's on his way He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh And every mother's child is going to spy To see if reindeers really know how to fly And so I'm offering this simple phrase to kids from one to ninety-two Although it's been said many times, many ways Merry Christmas To you. Carols "Joy to the World" Words by Isaac Watts Music attributed to George Frederick Handel Joy to the world! The Lord is come Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing And heaven and nature sing And heaven, and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the world! the Savior reigns Let men their songs employ While fields and floods Rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love And wonders of His love And wonders and wonders of His love. "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" Words by Edmund Hamilton Sears Music by Richard Storrs Willis It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold: "Peace on the earth, good will to men, from heaven's all-gracious King." The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing. Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurled, and still their heavenly music floats o'er all the weary world; above its sad and lowly plains, they bend on hovering wing, and ever o'er its Babel sounds the blessed angels sing. And ye, beneath life's crushing load, whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow, look now! for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing. O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing! For lo! the days are hastening on, by prophet seen of old, when with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling, and the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing. "Silent Night, Holy Night" Words by Joseph Mohr Music by Franz Xaver Gruber Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright. Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child. Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight. Glories stream from heaven afar Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia, Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born. Silent night, holy night! Son of God love's pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus Lord, at Thy birth Jesus Lord, at Thy birth. 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. Closing Music "Jingle Bells" Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh what fun it is to ride in a One horse open sleigh Jingle bells, Jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh. Dashing through the snow In a one horse open sleigh Over the hills we go Laughing all the way Bells on bobtails ring Making spirits bright What fun it is to ride and sing A sleighing song tonight. Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh what fun it is to ride in a One horse open sleigh Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh what fun it is to ride in a One horse open sleigh. A day or two ago I thought I'd take a ride And soon Miss Fanny Bright Was sitting by my side The horse was lean and lank Misfortune seemed its lot We got into a drifted bank And there we got upsot. Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh what fun it is to ride in a One horse open sleigh Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh what fun it is to ride in a One horse open sleigh.

Welcome and Announcements Centering Prelude "Edelweiss" by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II Service Introduction Chalice Lighting & Opening Words Chalice Lighting #448 in Singing the Living Tradition by Christine Robinson We gather this hour as people of faith with joys, sorrows, gifts and needs. We light this beacon of hope, Sign of our quest For truth and meaning, In celebration of the life we share together. Opening Hymn "My Life Flows on in Endless Song" #108 in Singing the Living Tradition Words from an Early Quaker Song Music from an American gospel tune My life flows on in endless song above earth's lamentation. I hear the real though far-off hymn that hails a new creation. Through all the tumult and the strife, I hear the music ringing. It sounds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing! What though the tempest 'round me roars, I know the truth, it liveth. What though the darkness 'round me close, songs in the night it giveth. No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I'm clinging. Since love prevails in heav'n and earth, how can I keep from singing! When tyrants tremble as they hear the bells of freedom ringing, when friends rejoice both far and near, how can I keep from singing! To prison cell and dungeon vile our thoughts to them are winging; when friends by shame are undefiled, how can I keep from singing! Time for All Ages - Our Favorite Things Joys & Concerns Reading "Notes for Radical Living" by Tilda Swinton Make friends with chaos Hold a calm mind Let things shake Forgive human frailty Champion second chances Defy unkindness Reverence fellowship Listen to the quiet Respect the young Seek growth Trust in change Treasure learning Inspire faith in evolution Hold faith in miracles Reach beyond the binary Be wary of the doubtless Honour the brightheaded Grow plants Attend to the weather Be electric Cherish language Celebrate silence Dance daily Bless the handmade Sing into pain Find joy in shadow Challenge assumptions Follow the wind Swoon under clouds Look upwards Face forward Feel your courage Read history Open your ears Drop your shoulders Bend your knees Raise the roof Keep breathing Be trustworthy Take care of yourself Believe in goodness Head for the light Musical Interlude Reflections from Clare DiMaiolo Offering "We do not gather our gifts only 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, Cornerstone Shelter (Rockville). Offering Music "The Sound of Music" by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II Reflections from Gianna DiMaiolo Musical Interlude Reflections from Kate Kimmerle Closing Hymn #346 in Singing the Living Tradition "Come, Sing a Song with Me" Words & Music by Carolyn McDade Come, sing a song with me, come, sing a song with me, come, sing a song with me, that I might know your mind. (Chorus) And I'll bring you hope when hope is hard to find, and I'll bring a song of love and a rose in the wintertime. Come, dream a dream with me, come, dream a dream with me, come, dream a dream with me, that I might know your mind. (Chorus) Come, walk in rain with me, come, walk in rain with me, come, walk in rain with me, that I might know your mind. (Chorus) Come, share a rose with me, come, share a rose with me, come, share a rose with me, that I might know your mind. (Chorus) Closing Words #684 Closing Words in Singing the Living Tradition by Duke T. Gray The blessing of truth be upon us, The power of love direct us and sustain us, And may the peace of this community Preserve our going out and coming in, From this time forth, until we Meet again. 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 "So Long, Farewell" by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II

I want to share the words the choir just sang. The piece is “Where the Light Begins” by the choral composer Susan Labarr. The words are a slightly adapted excerpt from a longer poem titled “Where the Light Begins,” [1]  by the Rev. Jan Richardson, an artist, writer and Methodist minister. The poem is from Rev. Richardson’s 2015 collection, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. [2] About the light she says:   Perhaps it does not begin. Perhaps it is always. Perhaps it takes a lifetime to open our eyes, to learn to seewhat has forever shimmered in front of us the luminous line of the map in the dark the vigil flame in the house of the heart, the love so searing we cannot keepfrom singing, from crying out. Perhaps this day the light begins in us.            I find these words and the theology implicit within them both comforting and hopeful. I hear in these words the notion that at the heart of everything, at the heart of all existence, there is an essence, a power, a creative spark, a spirit that is – or at least feels – eternal. Richardson muses: “Perhaps it does not begin. Perhaps it is always.” It is peaceful and calm (at least that’s what the music suggests). You may encounter it as the biblical “still small voice,” or as that place inside of you where you may go when you long for comfort and solace. Some might use words like God or Goddess to name it. Some may say ‘love.’ Some may prefer not to name it at all. Richardson calls it light. I find it comforting and hopeful precisely because, if it’s always there, even if I have not yet learned to see it, even if I have not yet learned to see “what has forever / shimmered in front of us,” as the poem says, then there must be ways to access it. When times are hard there is always something I can turn to for the inspiration to keep going, to keep struggling, to keep meeting challenges, to find comfort, to stay hopeful. I might turn to loved-ones, to family, friends, neighbors and colleagues. I might turn to the ancestors—those of blood and those of spirit—who’ve bequeathed this life to me. I might turn to this Unitarian Universalist congregation, to our Unitarian Universalist faith, to our Unitarian Universalist principles and values. I might turn to music, to art, to novels and films. I might turn to the good green earth, to the land, to the solid ground. I might turn to the night sky, to the stars. I imagine all of these particular sources of comfort and hope as manifestations of the light that does not begin, that always is. I suppose this is why we light lights at all times of year, but especially at this time of year when daylight hours are shortest: to remind ourselves of the eternal light, however we understand it, whatever meaning we might attach to it. And to remind ourselves of our sources of hope, to remind ourselves that it is good and right and reasonable to be hopeful. A few weeks ago, Stacy Musulin shared the children’s story “Hope” by Corrinne Averiss  and Sebastien Pelon . I really liked a quote from that story: “Hope is keeping a light on, however dark things seem.” [3]  I like the simplicity of this quote. I like its straightforwardness. I like its universality—virtually anyone can take it to heart. I like the way it invites reflection. In the midst of challenging and difficult times, what light can I keep on? In the midst of unknowing and uncertainty, what light can I keep on? In the midst of loss, grief, sadness, depression, what light can I keep on? In the midst of social, economic and political unrest, what light can I keep on? In the midst of violence and war, what light can I keep on?           I took that story as a reminder that even if there is a light that has always been, a light that has “forever shimmered in front of us,” it is still up to us to access it. It is still up to us to tap into it. It is still up to us to keep “a light on, however dark things may seem.” Where does the light begin? It begins in us.           In this dark season, I urge you to light lights. As you do, I pray that you encounter, as the poem says, the luminous line / of the map in the dark / the vigil flame / in the house / of the heart, / [and a] love / so searing / [you] cannot keep from singing, / from crying out. I   pray that you will find comfort and hope as the light begins in you.           Amen and blessed be. [1]  Richardson, Jan, “Where the Light Begins,” at “This Unlit Light, posted December, 2016. See: https://thisunlitlight.com/2016/12/31/where-the-light-begins/ . [2] Richardson, Jan, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons (Orlando: Wanton Gospeller Press, 2015). [3]    Averiss , Corrinne and Pelon , Sebastien, Hope (New York: words and pictures, 2019).

Gathering Music (Debbie Vinick, harp) Welcome Introduction Centering Chalice lighting and Opening Words "Forgotten Church" by James Crews The next time you pray for someone else, send whispered words on shaky wings up to the night sky, you might consider including yourself before the final amen. When you ask for your own happiness, plead for a flashlight to shine a path through whatever darkness you are facing, it's like stepping back into the forgotten church of this one body, and finding all the stained-glass still intact, every pew dusty but undamaged, just waiting for you to sit here again in worship to sing in praise of the actual heart that has never stopped working for you, resting only in the slimmest of instants between beats. Now place a hand on your chest and speak--not to the God above, but the one who lives always right here inside you. Music "Christmas Carol Medley" Arr. and performed by Debbie Vinick 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 lie, They too shall live, Fo they are now a part of us, As we remember them. Music "Pastorale from the Christmas Concerto by Arcangelo Corelli" Arr. and performed by Debbie Vinick Reading "We Hold Hope Close" by UU minister and activist Rev. Julian Jamaica Soto In this community, we hold hope close. We don't always know what comes next, but that cannot dissuade us. We don't always know just what to do, but that will not mean that we are lost in the wilderness. We rely on the certainty beneath, the foundation of our values and ethics. We are the people who return to love like a North Star and to the truth that we are greater together than we are alone. Our hope does not live in some glimmer of an indistinct future. Rather; we know the way to the world of which we dream, and by covenant and the movement forward of one right action and the next, we know that one day we will arrive at home. Sharing Music "Pachelbel's Carol" Arr. and performed by Debbie Vinick Reading "Winter Solstice" by James Crews It's as if the solstice took two Bare twigs and rubbed them together To give us a spark of rising sun, To keep it going on this December day. Not enough to heat the house Or light even a corner of the room, Still we learn to call it holy, knowing It holds the promise of shorter nights, As the candle lit for a loved one We have lost somehow flickers Their evergreen smile, small flame That brings us closer with just A thimble's worth of warmth. Music "Let There Be Peace on Earth" by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller Arr. and performed by Debbie Vinick Extinguishing the Chalice and Closing Words "On Those Days" by Donna Ashworth On those days, when you miss someone the most, as though your memories, are sharp enough, to slice through skin and bone, remember how they loved you. Remember how they loved you, and do that, for yourself. In their name, in their honour. Love yourself, as they loved you. They would like that. On those days when you miss someone the most, love yourself harder. 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 (Debbie Vinick, harp)

Gathering Music (Mary Bopp) Welcome and Announcements (Rev. Josh Pawelek) Centering Prelude "Joy on Christmas Morning" by Audrey Snyder UUSE Choir Chalice Lighting and Opening Words #542 "Solstice" by Diane Lee Moomey Again did the earth shift Again did the nights grow short And the days long. And the people Of the earth were glad And celebrated Each in their own ways Opening Hymn "Winter Takes its Time" Music by Mary Bopp Words by Rev. Josh Pawelek and Mary Bopp Drone: Winter takes its time. Winter takes its time. Verses: Let us all heed winter's teaching. Let us not pass quickly by. Let us honor winter's wisdom. Let the darkness hold us close. Let us rest in winter's stillness. Let us rest the long night through. Time for All Ages Joys and Concerns Musical Meditation Offering "We do not gather our gifts only 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, Cornerstone Shelter (Rockville). Offering Music "I Believe" by Mark Miller "Where the Light Begins" by Susan Labarr Homily "Where the Light Begins" Rev. Josh Pawelek Music "Night of Silence" by Daniel Kantor Closing Hymn #55 "Dark of Winter" by Shelly Jackson Denham Dark of winter, soft and still, your quiet calm surrounds me. Let my thoughts go where they will; ease my mind profoundly. And then my soul will sing a song, a blessed song of love eternal. Gentle darkness soft and still, bring your quiet to me. Darkness, soothe my weary eyes, that I may see more clearly. When my heart with sorrow cries, comfort and caress me. And then my soul may hear a voice, a still, small voice of love eternal. Darkness, when my fears arise, let your peace flow through me. Extinguishing the Chalice "The Flame in Our Hearts" Music by Mary Bopp Words by Rev. Josh Pawelek The flame in our hearts, never ceases burning. 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.

Greetings CYM Families & Friends! Our lovely choir director, Jenn Richard, has prepared a phenomenal array of musical pieces perfect for kicking off the holiday season! Do not miss this Sunday’s annual Holiday Music Service for all ages. Children & Youth Ministry (CYM) classes will not be held this Sunday, and we hope that families will enjoy this festive service together in the Sanctuary. The exceptions are that the Nursery will be open and our High School Youth Group programming will run, including Affirmation after the program hour. (Don’t forget to pack a lunch Affirmation youth!) And everyone don’t forget to bring cash or card to purchase some goods at the HSYG Bake Sale being offered after both the 9 and 11am services this Sunday! Proceeds will be split between the HSYG activity fund and UUSE. Children’s Chapel will resume in January. Nursery : Childcare will be available in our nursery at 11 AM for children age 3 and under. Sunday Service : “Where the Light Begins” - This Sunday, we celebrate the holidays with our annual, all-congregational music service. Let us welcome the solstice; let us welcome Hanukkah; let us welcome Christmas in this season where the light begins. Coordinators: Mary Bopp, Rev. Josh Pawelek, Emmy Galbraith Next High School Youth Group Meeting: Saturday, December 13th 1-3pm at UUSE for baking and Sunday, December 14th for regular HSYG meeting and Bake Sale Next Affirmation Meeting: December 14th at 1pm (pack a lunch) See you Sunday! Seasonal Happenings : Sun, Dec 14: Holiday Music Service @ 9&11am Sun, Dec 21: CYM Winter Holiday Party @ 12pm (outdoors!) Wed, Dec 24: Christmas Eve Service @ 5pm Sun, Dec 28: No CYM Programming - Winter Break Sat, Jan 3: 6PM Talent Show for children and youth in collaboration with the monthly Coffee House. Bring dinner for the family and enjoy the many talents of our community! Children and youth are invited to perform a song, poem, skit, magic tricks, trivia, or any other talent! RSVP to Emmy or Dan Thompson Sat, Jan 24 - Sun, Jan 25: Overnight Con for 7th-12th graders! Located at USH (Unitarian Society of Hartford) with UUSE support. Arrive at 6pm on Saturday and stay for games, movies, video games, foosball, and zoom with other youth! Rise and shine Sunday morning to participate in USH’s long standing tradition of “Soup Sunday!” Sat, Jan 31: UUSE Annual Cook-off and Live Auction Event - fun for the whole family! Sat, Feb 21: 8AM Mount Southington Ski Trip in partnership with USH (Unitarian Society of Hartford) Open to skiers of all ages! Sun, Feb 22: 3pm Kirtan at UUSE Sat, Mar 28: Nightlight Mission in partnership with USH (Unitarian Society of Hartford): Families with children/youth meet @ 2PM to sort clothes & prepare soup, coffee and sandwiches; @8PM distribute clothing and food to the unhoused. With Gratitude, Emmy Galbraith Director of Children & Youth Ministry dcym@uuse.org Office: (860)646-5151 Cell: (860)576-7889 CYM Committee Members: Sudha, co-chair Michelle Spadaccini, co-chair Desiree Holian-Borgnis Paula Baker Kaitlyn Guilmette Committee email: uusecym@uuse.org Angela Attardo, CYM Program Assistant CYMAsst@uuse.org Molly Vigeant, Nursery Coordinator