Alternative Live Stream (no chat)
If you wish to share a joy or sorrow, you may email it to minister@uuchelmsford.org by 9:00 AM on Sunday mornings. Please remember that our services are live streamed and that names will be shared as you write them.
First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church
Order of Worship
December 7th, 2025
Centering Thought
“To hope is to accept despair as an emotion but not as an analysis. To recognize that what is unlikely
is possible, just as what is likely is not inevitable. To understand that difficult is not the same as
impossible. To plan and to accept that the unexpected often disrupts plans –for the better and
for the worse… Perhaps hope is the courage to persevere when winning looks hard.”
(Rebecca Solnit, Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility)
Ingathering Chimes
Prelude: “A Promise Through the Ages Rings”
Welcome and Announcements: Rev. Ellen Rowse Spero
Chalice Lighting: Joan Coyne
Call to Worship: “This Act of Faith” by Rev. Gretchen Haley
Hymn #344 in Singing the Living Tradition: “A Promise Through the Ages Rings”
Lighting the Advent Wreath: Hope
“Joy” – Ami Hughes
Congregational Response: “There is More Joy Somewhere”
There is more joy somewhere.
There is more joy somewhere.
I’m gonna keep on til I find it.
There is more joy somewhere.
Offertory: Excerpts from J.S. Bach’s Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben
Joys and Sorrows (If you have a joy or sorrow to share, you may email it to the worship leader at
minister@uuchelmsford.org by 9:00am Sunday morning, or if you are attending in person, you may write it
in the joys and sorrows book at the back of the sanctuary. Please remember that services are live streamed
and that names are shared as written. The Pastoral Care and Service Team has a table during social hour
where you can send a card of comfort, support or celebration in care of other First Parishers.)
A Time for Meditation and Prayer
Congregational Response: “Ubi Caritas”
Ubi caritas et amor
Ubi caritas Deus ubi est.
Ancient Reading: Tao Te Ching, Chapter 13 by Lao Tze, translated by Stephen Mitchell
Modern Reading: “The Gates of Hope” by Victoria Safford (www.meaningandmomentum.com/gatesofhope)
Readers: Ami Hughes and Leslie Yauckoes
Anthem: “Joyful Is The Dark” – Brian Wren and Carlton Young
Sermon: Soul Matters Choosing Hope: “What is Hope, Exactly?” – Rev. Ellen Rowse Spero
Benediction & Extinguishing of the Chalice: “Hope’s Disguises” by Jan Richardson
Postlude: Audacity of Joyful Celebration
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Many Thanks to this Sunday’s Volunteers:
Greeter: Rose Lerer
Ushers: John Fisher, Leila Pelosi & Rick Warner
Worship Tech: Neil Harmon
Online Chat Host: Bill Newhard
Social Hour: Cheryl Wilson & Jeanette Moreau
Flowers: The Flower Fairy
