WELCOME!

1. WELCOME! First Unitarian Universalist Church “An Urban Center for Social Justice and Spiritual Renewal”

2. Singing Together • There Is More Love Somewhere • Come On Get Happy • Gonna Lay Down My Sword and Shield • (Words are in your Order of Service)

3. Welcome and Announcements • Want to learn more about UUs?“Introduction to UU” class will be held at 12:30 today in Memorial Hall. • We want your socks! Yes, really. Socks for the homeless are being collected in the Social Hall. • Christmas Day Dinner. Interested? Look for a sign-up sheet in the social hall. • Please read Order of Service insert for other events this week

4. CENTERING • Prelude          • Calling To Worship  • Kindling the Flame          • Opening Hymn*  #354 “With Joy We Claim the Growing Light”

5. DEEPENING • Silent Meditation • Invocation • Musical Meditation    • Reading#466, “Religion”

6. ISMS “The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might repent the revolution, traditionalists are already defending it as part of their tradition.” ~G.K. Chesterton

7. Isms • Conservatism and the Bad New Days • Liberalism and the Acquisitive Individual • Progressivism and the Indeterminate Future

8. Progress As Continuous Improvement • “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” ~Benjamin Franklin

9. Progress As Continuous Improvement • Hegel and Faith in Future History • Disillusionment and Despair • Progress is a Commitment, not a Faith

10. Adventurous Minds • “It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.” ~Alan Cohen

11. Adventurous Minds • Abolitionists, Feminists, and Activists • Pacifists, Atheists, Socialists • Social Justice, Ecology, Responsibility

12. A Tradition of Courage • Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” ~ Maya Angelou

13. A Tradition of Courage • Not Afraid of Ideas • Avant-Garde • The Challenge of Hope

14. A Tradition of Courage • “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~Winston Churchill

15. First Church “The First Unitarian Universalist Church in Detroit is an urban center for social justice and spiritual renewal. Our Mission is to Liberate Truth, Radiate Kindness, and Love Courageously.”

16. First Church • http://www.1stuu.org/history/pamphlet.html • Social Justice (Race, Gender, Class, Sexuality, Ecology) • Religious Humanism • Interfaith Engagement • Community Formation

17. A Progressive Future • “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.” ~Noam Chomsky

18. A Progressive Future • Reason and Compassion • Liberty and Community • Creativity and Tradition • Excellence and Equity

19. Closing Words “I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.” ~Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

20. RETURNING • Offering      • Closing Hymn#116 I’m on My Way • Benediction  • Recessional • Congregation may exit to McCollester Hall for coffee, cookies, and conversation