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.
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