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Gathering Music Welcome Centering Prelude "Winter Morning Meditation" by Mary Bopp Chalice Lighting & Opening Words #429 in Singing the Living Tradition by William F. Schultz Come into this place of peace And let its silence heal your spirit; Come into this place of memory And let its history warm your soul; Come into this place of prophecy and power And let its vision change your heart. Opening Hymn "Come Sing a Song With Me" #346 in Singing the Living Tradition 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, make a plan with me, come, make a plan with me, come, make a plan 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) Time for All Ages "Brave Irene" Written and Illustrated by William Steig Musical Interlude Announcements Joys and Concerns Introduction to the Service Reading "Our Roots of Resilience" by Kimberlee Anne Tomczak Carlson Imagine a Majestic Tree with strong roots Feel the gravity of the earth holding you in place. Wiggle your toes as if they were roots. Roots connect you to the earth lending you strength. Gently sway in the wind, turning your body like a trunk of a tree, Leaning this way and that, bending as the air pushes and pulls. What surrounds you, may sway you, Make you bend and feel unbalanced Wiggle your toes. Know that your roots can hold you as you grow and learn. A tree is nourished by the soil and water. You are nourished by the food the earth grows and the water it provides. You are cared for and loved by many people. Breathe deeply Still yourself Know that your roots are strong. Wiggle your roots. Musical Interlude Reflections from Stan McMillen Musical Interlude Reflections from Jen Edgerton 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 February will be shared with Manchester's African American and Black Affairs Council. Offering Music "The Majestic Tree" by Mary Bopp Reflections from Trisha Corey-Lisle Closing Hymn "May Nothing Evil Cross This Door" #1 in Singing the Living Tradition Words by Louis Untermeyer, Music by Robert N. Quaile May nothing evil cross this door, and may ill fortune never pry about these windows; may the roar and rain go by. By faith made strong, the rafters will withstand the battering of the storm. This hearth, though all the world grow chill, will keep you warm. Peace shall walk softly through these rooms, touching our lips with holy wine, till every casual corner blooms into a shrine. With laughter drown the raucous shout, and, though these sheltering walls are thin, may they be strong to keep hate out and hold love in. Closing Words #684 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 .

Our ministry theme for February is embodying resilience. Last week Stacy, Paula and Heather offered insights into what creates resilience in the natural world. Their message: diverse, connected, interdependent communities are resilient. We learned about mycelium, the vast fungal networks that carry nutrients and water, break down decaying matter, and even aid in tree-to-tree communication in the midst of threats. We learned about the role seed banks play in sustaining forest health, how they function as a “reserve of all the generations before, dormant in the forest floor,” waiting for the right opportunity, the right mix of sunlight, water and space to emerge. A further message: “There is always hope and opportunity.” [1]  I agree, hopeful people are resilient. People who can discern opportunity in the midst of crisis are resilient.           This morning I want to talk about the role our inner lives play in keeping us resilient. I am drawing directly on insights from the 20 th -century American minister, university chaplain, theologian, educator, civil rights leader and Christian mystic, Howard Thurman. It is difficult to fully appreciate and understand not only liberal Christianity, but liberal religion in general today—2026—without knowledge of Thurman’s contributions from the mid-twentieth century. He was born in Florida in 1899 and raised in a Baptist household. He served as dean of Rankin Chapel at Howard University from 1932 to 1944. In 1944 he co-founded the interracial, interfaith and intercultural Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. And from 1953 to 1965 he served as dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, where he famously mentored Martin Luther King, Jr. He died in 1981. [2] I note that when we identify the sources of King’s philosophy of nonviolence, we name Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Ghandi. Thurman also taught King nonviolence. Rumor has it that King carried a copy of Thurman’s book, Jesus and the Disinherited, with him when he travelled.           There are three reasons I invite Thurman into our midst this morning. First, it is Black History month. Thurman is African American. Yes, we refer to Thurman all year long—you may remember we shared his meditation, “The Work of Christmas” at our epiphany service in January—but it certainly makes sense to explore his work during Black History Month.           Second, Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited , published in 1949, is a biblically-grounded survival guide for people living under an authoritarian regime. I am tired of repeating what needs to be repeated every week, but it must be said: the federal government in Washington, DC is governing in an anti-democratic, authoritarian manner. I have named multiple times from this pulpit and in other public settings why I make that claim. The military surge into Los Angeles in June which, among many atrocities, witnessed the murder of American citizen Keith Porter, Jr., was the moment I started calling it authoritarianism. Thurman wrote Jesus and the Disinherited  because, in his experience, though there were many “interpretations dealing with the teachings and life of Jesus of Nazareth … few of [them] deal with what the teachings and the life of Jesus have to say to those who stand, at a moment in human history, with their backs against the wall.” [3]           He was writing specifically to and for black people. He said “the striking similarity between the social position of Jesus in Palestine and that of the vast majority of [African] Americans … is obvious to anyone who tarries long over the facts.” African Americans “assume that there are no basic citizenship rights, no fundamental protection, guaranteed to them by the state.” [4]  The book is a helpful reminder that though what we are witnessing today is horrifying, enraging, immoral and un-American, it is not new. There are people in our midst who have lived through authoritarianism in the United States, or who inherit family and community memories of living through authoritarianism in the United States. We can and should learn from them. Their experience and wisdom are invaluable.           For Thurman, a strong inner life is essential for living with resilience under an authoritarian regime. He was deeply committed to identifying, nurturing and growing the inner life, the inner attitude, the inner spirit. Without it, all is lost. With it, surviving and thriving are possible. Jesus’ message, he wrote, “focused on the urgency of a radical change in the inner attitude of the people. He recognized fully that out of the heart are the issues of life and that no external force, however great and overwhelming, can at long last destroy a people if it does not first win the victory of the spirit against them.” [5]  More simply put, Jesus “recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the key to his destiny.” [6]           Thurman names three ways authoritarians win the victory of spirit and kill the inner life of the people. First, they instill fear. While fear is a legitimate response and important for survival, it ultimately becomes toxic to the inner life. To cultivate a resilient inner life, he advises his readers to discern positive, life-giving answers to the questions, “Who am I?” and “What am I?” His answer to the question: I am beloved child of God. Such an awareness “tends to stabilize the ego and results in a new courage, fearlessness, and power. I have seen it happen again and again.” [7]  For nurturing your own resilience, I invite you to ponder and answer these questions: “Who am I?” and “What am I?” What answers give you courage?           Second, he names that surviving when one’s back is against the wall often requires taking a posture of deception. He says “deception is perhaps the oldest of all the techniques by which the weak have protected themselves against the strong. Through the ages, at all stages of sentient activity, the weak have survived by fooling the strong.” [8]  But, like fear, deception ultimately becomes toxic to the inner life. To counteract this toxicity, he calls for “a complete and devastating sincerity.” He writes that ultimately, we must “be simply, directly truthful, whatever may be the cost in life, limb, and security.” And, “if the number increases and the movement spreads, the vindication of the truth [will] follow in the wake. There must always be the confidence that the effect of truthfulness can be realized in the mind of the oppressor as well as the oppressed. There is no substitute for such faith.” [9]  Sincerity, honesty and truth-telling are keys to resilience.           Third, he writes about hate, which he calls one of the “hounds of hell that dog the footsteps of the disinherited in season and out of season.” [10] Hate is entirely understandable. It meets many psychological needs. It often feels good. It binds people together. It generates creativity, even moral justification. But for Thurman, “hatred finally destroys the core of the life of the hater.” He argues that “Jesus rejected hatred because he saw that hatred meant death to the mind, death to the spirit, death to communion with [the divine]. He affirmed life; and hatred was the great denial.” [11]           In place of hate, what feeds, nurtures and sustains the resilient inner life? Love. Thurman analyzes Jesus’ admonition to love our enemies as ourselves. He writes about the different kinds of enemies that impact the lives of the disinherited, and in each case, though he recognizes it is no easy task, he calls for humanizing the enemy. “Love of the enemy,” he says, “means that a fundamental attack must first be made on the enemy status.” He says a lot about how this might be achieved. He says, essentially, that perpetrators of injustice must be held accountable, but this can still be achieved with love at the center. Again, he does not underestimate the challenge. But making the attempt is a key to strengthening and freeing one’s inner life. He asks, “Can this attitude … become characteristic of one’s behavior…?” He answers: “I think so.” He cautions that “merely preaching love of one’s enemies…—however high and holy—cannot, in the last analysis, accomplish the result.” Instead, “at the center of the attitude is a core of painstaking discipline.” [12]  It takes intentional, daily practice to love one’s enemies as oneself. Painstaking discipline. His point: the person who engages in such discipline, this monumental human effort to love one’s enemies as oneself, is on the path to a resilient inner life.           The third and final reason I want to bring Thurman into our midst is a quote attributed to him, though, full disclosure, I have yet to find where he wrote or said it. I share it as a prompt for cultivating resilience. “Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. Then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”           In this authoritarian moment, it is easy to spiral down and out into fear, into hatred, perhaps into deception, including self-deception, which seems to be so common among corporate and political elites who want to curry favor with authoritarian Washington. It is so easy to spiral down and out, mind and heart racing, ruminating, worrying into anxiety, into helplessness, into hopelessness, into despair. To spiral into resilience, name to yourself and to anyone else who will listen what makes you come alive.           On Tuesday our Pastoral Friends committee held a conversation on “Hope in Hard Times.” About thirty of you attended. We asked people to share what practices cultivate resilience in them. We heard listening to music, meditating, moving our bodies—stretching, yoga, exercise. We heard about taking walks outside, and about a practice of attaching intentions to a stone and then walking with the stone. We heard about interactions with animals, wild and domestic, watching birds at the feeder. We heard about humor, and talked about which comedians are helping us stay sane. Nobody mentioned prayer, but I know some of us have rich prayer lives that ground and center us. We heard about creativity. One participant shared about teaching herself to paint with her non-dominant hand due to an injury. We heard about participation in rallies and finding community there. And, oh yes, community—friends, family, and the community of this UU Society East congregation. And I want to share a quote from Jeannette Lesure, because she responded to my request in the newsletter to share with me what makes you come alive and I threatened to quote her. She wrote: “When I think of why I love folks, it’s about the ways we blend—-not necessarily in unity, but in the ways our differences harmonize. We help bring out the beauty… carry one another forward.  When I sing, I listen to the other voices and try to make the sound richer through BLENDING, not taking over. I feel more whole that way, too.” Thanks Jetty.           All of these are answers to the question, “what makes you come alive?” I commend the question to you. Take it with you into this week, into this month. Answer it, and then go do the things that make you come alive. Authoritarianism will not prevail if the people have come alive. Authoritarianism will never win the victory of the spirit against the people if they have come alive. Authoritarianism cannot determine the quality of the inner life of people who have come alive.           Go do it, because the world needs people who have come alive. Go do it, because the world needs resilient people.           Amen and blessed be. [1]  View our 2/1/26 Sunday service on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1PKBzmU8M0&t=10s . [2]  I am grabbing some of this bio from the entry for Howard Thurman at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Thurman . I also recommend Fluker, Walter Earl and Tumber, Catherine, eds., A Strange Freedom: The Best of Haward Thurman on Religious Experience and Public Life (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998). [3]  Thurman, Howard, Jesus and the Disinherited (Boston: Beacon Press, 1976) p. 11. [4]  Ibid., p. 34. [5]  Ibid., p. 21. [6]  Ibid., p. 28. [7]  Ibid., p. 50.  [8]  Ibid., p. 58. [9]  Ibid., p. 70. [10]  Ibid. p. 74.  [11]  Ibid., p. 88. [12]  Ibid., p. 106.

Dean Howard Thurman Assison N. Scurlock, photographer Smithsonian Online Archives NMAH AC 0618.S04.01 Gathering Music (Mary Bopp) Welcome and Announcements (Rev. Josh Pawelek) Prelude Chalice Lighting and Opening Words Excerpt from "Waiting to Grow Again" by Jennifer Johnson 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. 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 Responsive Hymn "This Meetinghouse" words adapted from Eugene Sander by Josh Pawelek This meetinghouse, A place of love and gladness. Where all may meet, to seek the common good. A source of strength, to face each doubt and sadness. Where every dream, is known and understood. This meetinghouse, ask those who came before, And found themselves, by crossing through its door. 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 February will be shared with Manchester's African American and Black Affairs Council or AABAC. AABAC is a community-based organization whose mission is to uphold all aspects of the lived experiences of Black people in Manchester through advocacy, education, the arts and community events. Offering Music "The Sound of Music" By Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein Gerald Dillenbeck, vocals Mary Bopp, piano Sermon "What Makes You Come Alive?" Rev. Josh Pawelek Closing Hymn #123 "Spirit of Life" by Carolyn McDade Extinguishing the Chalice 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 .

Religious education is not just for kids. We have plenty of programs to keep adults busy too. Intro to UU The Intro to UU program is taught periodically by the minister. There's not one scheduled at the moment. Keep an eye on the Happenings section of the website to see when the next session might be coming.

Religious education is not just for kids. We have plenty of programs to keep adults busy too. Intro to UU The Intro to UU program is taught periodically by the minister. There's not one scheduled at the moment. Keep an eye on the Happenings section of the website to see when the next session might be coming.

Music plays a key role in our services and in our congregational life. Upcoming Concerts & Musical Events Contact the office for details - email: info@uuse.org phone: 860.646.5151 Sunday 2/22/26 Read More Music + Mantra: Kirtan at UUSE 3:00PM Sunday Feb 22nd 2026 Music + Mantra: Kirtan at UUSE 3:00PM Sunday Feb 22nd 2026 Saturday 3/21/26 Read More Gender-Free Contra Dance Gender-Free Contra Dance Save the Date - March 21 at UUSE Mark your calendars for March 21, 4:00 to 7:00 PM. (with a 3:45 PM beginner lesson). There are no "ladies" or "gents" in a ... More...