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Rev. Meg Barnhouse
December 19, 2021
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org
We celebrate our annual Christmas Pageant
Chalice Lighting
This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.
Call to Worship
The Persian poet Rumi wrote,
God’s joy moves from unmarked box to unmarked box
From cell to cell. As rainwater, down into flowerbed.
As roses, up from ground.
Now it looks like a plate of rice and fish,
Now a cliff covered with vines,
Now a horse being saddled.
[God’s joy] hides within these,
Till one day it cracks them open.
Affirming Our Mission
Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.
Learn more about Beloved Community at this link. – The King Center
Reading
“EACH NIGHT A CHILD IS BORN”
by Sophia Lyon FahsFor so the children come
and so they have been coming.
Always in the same way they came-
Born of the seed of man and woman.No angels herald their beginnings.
No prophets predict their future courses.
no wise man see a star to show where to find
The babe that will save humankind.
Yet each night a child is born is a holy night.
Fathers and mothers
Sitting beside their children’s cribs-
Feel glory in the sight of a new beginning.
They ask “Where and how will this new life end?
Or will it ever end?”Each night a child is born is a holy night
A time for singing-
A time for wondering
A time for worshipping.
Meditation Reading
“IN THIS NIGHT”
by Dorothee SolleIn this night the stars left their habitual places
And kindled wildfire tidings
that spread faster than sound.
In this night the shepherds left their posts
To shout the new slogans
into each other’s clogged ears.
In this night the foxes left their warm burrows
and the lion spoke with deliberation,
“This is the end revolution”
In this night roses fooled the earth
And began to bloom in snow.
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