To make sure you can enable your audio and video when the time comes, please make sure to enter the Zoom room with them turned off. That way you remain in control of whether they are on and off later in the service. Thanks!        

Welcome and Announcements                                               Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

        The Carol Sing-Along begins right here immediately after the service! Just stay in the main Zoom room and we will sing for about half an hour. Those who want to chat instead will be able to accept invitations to breakout rooms, and those who want to change breakout rooms can do so by using the chat to ask BJ Wishinsky to re-assign them. Both the singing and the chatting will be available for about half an hour.

Undie Sunday Covid Style is going on right now.  Every year UUCPA collects underwear, socks, gloves, and such for the Opportunity Center’s Holiday Shoppe.  Even in the middle of a pandemic, there are still people without stable housing and they still need underwear, among other things.  Visit the church website to find out how you can contribute. Tuesday is the final day!

Update: please do NOT come to the church to pick up your Christmas packet. Due to the new stay-at-home orders, they will be mailed to all members. You’ll need taper candles as well, and should be able to get them where you buy groceries.

Check out What’s Happening at UUCPA today--follow the links for details.

Christmas Carol Sing-Along – 12/06, 11:30 am - 12:00 pm

CANCELLED Christmas Eve Packet Pickup – 12/06, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Harmonic Circle – 12/06, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Senior High Youth Group - SHYG – 12/06, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

And coming up this week:

Healing the Divide – Sunday, 12/06, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

White Folks Dismantling White Supremacy – Tuesday, 12/08, 7:15 pm - 8:45 pm

The Jataka Tales – Wednesday, 12/09, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Gardening @ UUCPA – Thursday, 12/10, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

2nd Friday Bridge Club – 12/11, 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Saturday Meditation – 12/12, 9:00 am - 10:30 am

Humanists at UUCPA – Saturday, 12/12, 6:00 pm - 8:40 pm

Sunday Meditation – 12/13, 9:30 am - 10:25 am

Sunday Service – 12/13, 10:30 am - 11:30 am

Green Class Sunday School (gr. 2-3)* – 12/13, 9:30 am - 10:15 am

Red Class Sunday School (preschool)* – 12/13, 9:30 am - 10:15 am

Ecojustice Sunday School Class (gr. 6-8)* – 12/13, 10:15 am - 11:45 am

Blue Class Sunday School (gr. 4-5)* – 12/13, 11:45 am - 12:30 pm

Neighboring Religions Sunday School Class (gr. 6-8)* – 12/13, 11:45 am - 12:30 pm

Yellow Class Sunday School (gr. K-1)* – 12/13, 11:45 am - 12:30 pm

CANCELLED Christmas Eve Packet Pickup – 12/13, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Harmonic Circle – Sunday, 12/13, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Discovering UUCPA – Sunday, 12/13, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

        *For reasons of safety, advance registration is required for all children & youth programs

Prelude                                  Allegro non molto, Winter from The Four Seasons      Eric Leong &

(Vivaldi)                                      Dmitriy Cogan

Chalice Lighting                                          Chrystal Hogan                    

  member, Neshoba Unitarian Universalist Church,

                                        Cordova, Tennessee                                                               

Centering Words                                                    Hypatia

Song                                                       Spirit of Life (No. 123 in gray hymnal)

Spirit of Life, come unto me.

Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.

Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;

move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.

Roots hold me close; wings set me free;

Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.

Story for All Ages                         Back in Time: Buddha’s Birth                   Rev. Dan Harper

Caring and Sharing               

To have your joys and sorrows shared aloud, please e-mail them

to joyconcern@uucpa.org or post them in the Zoom chat box.

Song                         Voice Still and Small (No. 391 in the gray hymnal)

Voice still and small, deep inside all,

I hear you call, singing.

In storm and rain, sorrow and pain,

still we’ll remain singing.

Calming my fears, quenching my tears,

through all the years, singing.                               

Readings                             Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke

Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler

                                Leo Tolstoy, diary entry

                                Anonymous

Spoken Meditation

Sung Meditation                  Total Praise                               Quarantet

(Richard Smallwood; arr. Patrick Barrett and Doreen Rao)

Homily                   What If God . . . ?                                                          

Offertory                                          Largo, Winter from The Four Seasons              Eric Leong &

                                                          (Vivaldi)                       Dmitriy Cogan        

        We are honored to support our justice partner for December, Outlet.

You can give via credit card or Paypal

at www.uucpa.org/connection/donate

or send the text message “uucpajustice” to the number 44321

For payments towards your annual pledge, use “uucpa20202021”

Thank you!

Song                              Ubi Caritas (No. 1048 in the teal hymnal)

                        Ubi caritas et amor

                        Ubi caritas Deus ibi est.

                        (Translation: Where there are charity and love, God is there.)

Chalice Extinguishing                      Rev. Barbara Pescan                    

Postlude                                    Allegro, Winter from The Four Seasons                         Eric Leong &

      (Vivaldi)               Dmitriy Cogan

Benediction                                                                                                  All

Please check that your audio and video are enabled.

Go out into the world in peace

Be of good courage

Hold fast to what is good

Return no one evil for evil

Strengthen the faint-hearted

Support the weak

Help the suffering

Rejoice in beauty

Speak love with word and deed

Honor all beings.

Everyone not choosing to go to the Carols Sing-Along

will be randomly assigned to a breakout room

to converse after the service. To change rooms after a while,  

post your request to BJ Wishinsky in the chat.

Enjoy!

Music Director: Bruce Olstad                                 Pianist: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe

Special music:         Eric Leong, violin, and Dmitriy Cogan, piano

                Quarantet: Melissa Thomson, Amy Morgenstern, Matt Rosin, and Bruce Olstad

Livestreaming, tech support, and online community creation: Greg Becker, Tim and Maribea Berry, Heather and David Chen, Dox Doxiadis, Mark and Alyssa Erickson, Megan Fazio, Castor Fu, Rev. Dan Harper, Chris Jacobi, Christopher Kan, Paul Kostka, Kevin Ma, Bruce Olstad, Susan Owicki, William Phelps, Elsa Schafer, Melissa Valentine, BJ Wishinsky, Ann Zeise.