Gathering Music
Welcome and Announcements
Centering
Prelude
“Don’t Carry It All”
by the Decembrists
performance by Meeting House
Chalice Lighting and Opening Words
“Bold and Courageous Together”
by the Rev. Erika A. Hewitt
Congregation:
With full hearts
we affirm our relationships with one another;
we recognize our agency and our connective power;
and we accept our responsibility to be bold and courageous.
We light this chalice,
symbol of all that we are, all that we have done together,
and all that we will be as our shared ministry encourages those within, and beyond, our walls.
Opening Hymn
“Love Will Guide Us”
by Sally Rogers
#131 in Singing the Living Tradition
led by Meeting House
Love will guide us, peace has tried us,
hope inside us will lead the way
on the road from greed to giving.
Love will guide us through the hard night.
If you cannot sing like angels,
if you cannot speak before thousands,
you can give from deep within you.
You can change the world with your love.
Love will guide us, peace has tried us,
hope inside us will lead the way
on the road from greed to giving.
Love will guide us through the hard night.
Silence
Meditation
“We Are One”
by Hope Johnson
Music
“Walk the Same Line”
by Everything But the Girl
performance by Meeting House
Joys, Concerns and Introductions
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 Workers 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.
Offering Music
“If I Should Fall Behind”
by Bruce Springsteen
performance by Meeting House
Sermon
“What Shared Ministry Means to Me”
Rev. Josh Pawelek
Closing Song
“Lean on Me”
by Bill Withers
led by Meeting House
Sometimes in our lives
we all have pain,
we all have sorrow.
But if we are wise
we know that there’s
always tomorrow.
Chorus:
Lean on me when you’re not strong
and I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on,
For it won’t be long ’til I’m gonna need
somebody to lean on.
Please swallow your pride
if I have things
you need to borrow,
For no one can fill
those of your needs
that you won’t let show.
Bridge:
Just call on me brother when you need a hand.
We all need somebody to lean on.
I just might have a problem that you’d understand.
We all need somebody to lean on.
Chorus
If there is a load
you have to bear
that you can’t carry,
I’m right up the road,
I’ll share your load
if you just call me.
Call me… call 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.
