Gathering Music (Mary Bopp) (begins at 6:55)
Welcome (Gina Campellone)
Centering (Rev. Josh Pawelek)
Prelude
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
Chalice Lighting and Opening Words
“Christmas Has No Right”
The Rev. Francis Anderson
spoken by Rev. Josh Pawelek
Opening Hymn
“Angels We Have Heard on High”
French Carol, words by Earl Marlatt
#231 in Singing the Living Tradition
Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o’er the plains
and the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strains.
(Chorus)
Gloria, in excelsis Deo
Gloria, in excelsis Deo
Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why these songs of happy cheer?
What great brightness did you see? What glad tidings did you hear?
(Chorus)
See him in a manger laid whom the angels praise above;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid, while we raise our hearts in love.
(Chorus))
Reading
Luke 2:1-14
read by Gina Campellone and Rev. Josh Pawelek
Music
Story
“Room for a Little One”
by Martin Waddell
read by Gina Campellone
Music
Offering for the UUS:E Minister’s Discretionary Fund
Offering Music
“O, Holy Night”
music by Adolphe Adam
words by Placide Cappeau, English translation by John Sullivan Dwight
performed by Jeannine Westbrook
Homily (Rev. Josh Pawelek)
Carols (led by Jeannine Westbrook)
“The First Noel”
English carol
Music: William Sandys’s Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern
The First Noel, the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!
They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the East beyond them far
And to the earth it gave great light
And so it continued both day and night
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!
And by the light of that same star
Three wise men came from country far;
To seek a king was their intent,
And to follow the star wherever it went.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!
“In the Bleak Midwinter”
Words ad. by John Andrew Storey from Georgina Rosetti
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,
Cradle in a manger
And a bed of hay.
In the bleak midwinter
Stable-place sufficed
Mary and her baby,
Jesus Christ
Once more mother and child
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.
“It Came Upon the 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.
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world hath suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear 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.
