Gathering Music (Mary Bopp)
Welcome (Gina Campellone, Children’s Ministry Director)
Announcements (Rev. Josh Pawelek)
Centering (Gina Campellone)
Prelude
Chalice Lighting and Opening Words
“A Network of Mutuality”
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
#584 in Singing the Living Tradition
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
There are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted.
Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear, only love can do that.
We must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.
The foundation of such a method is love.
Before it is too late, we must narrow the gaping chasm between our proclamations of peace and our lowly deeds which precipitate and perpetuate war.
One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.
We shall hew out a mountain of despair, a stone of hope.
Opening Hymn
“Circle Round for Freedom”
by Linda Hirschhorm
#155 in Singing the Living Tradition
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
Story
“Let the Children March”
by Monica Clark-Robinson, with illustrations by Frank Morrison
spoken by Gina Campellone
Song
“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round”
Led by Rev. Josh
Note: “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me “Round” is an American freedom song and civil rights anthem based on the Black spiritual “Don’t You Let Nobody Turn You Round.” This song has been recorded hundreds of times by artists such as Mahalia Jackson, Sweet Honey in the Rock, the Roots and Joan Baez.
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Aint gonna let nobody turn me around
I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’
Marchin’ down to freedom land
Ain’t gonna let racism turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let racism turn me around
I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’
Marchin’ up to freedom’s land
Ain’t gonna let no hatred turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let no hatred turn me around
I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’
Marchin’ up to freedom’s land.
Ain’t gonna let injustice turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let injustice turn me around
I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’
Marchin’ up to freedom’s land.
Joys and Concerns
Musical Meditation
Offering
The recipient of our January Community Outreach Offering is the Connecticut Domestic Worker Justice Campaign. Domestic workers (house, cleaners, personal attendants, nannies, etc.) remain one of the most exploited and exploitable classes of workers in the country. Connecticut’s ongoing Domestic Worker Justice Campaign advocates for labor rights, workplace protections, and training for domestic workers. The campaign’s long-term goal is to pass an enforceable Domestic Worker Bill of Rights in our state. Organizations who participate in the campaign include the CT workersWorkers Center, Unidad Latina en Accion, the Naugatuck Valley Project, United Action of Southeastern CT, Comunidades Sin Fronteras, the Hartford Catholic Archdiocese Office for Social Justice, and a number of congregations, including UUS:E.
Musical Offering
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand”
by Thomas A. Dorsey
performed by Mary Bopp
Congregational Conversation: “Let the Children March”
Homily: “What Would You March for Today?”
Closing Hymn
“Amazing Grace”
Words: John Newton
Music: “Virginia Harmony, 1831
#206 in Singing the Living Tradition
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved:
how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;
’tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,
we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.
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.
