Courage to Be Who We Are

Using the song “Courage to Be Who We Are” from the Justice Choir Songbook as our anthem, we will honour and celebrate trans lives as part of the queer history that has sought freedom for all people to be their truest selves.

Service coordinator: Odell Havsdotter

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Courage to Be Who We Are

December 12, 2021

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Centering

“By the time I was 30 years old, I had done everything I had set out to do. I had taken my band from playing in basements to playing stadiums and arenas. Married, had a kid, had a house. Everything you really could ever want. But when it came down to it that didn’t make the dysphoria go away. And if I didn’t address what was going on then I was going to end up killing myself.”

~ Laura Jane Grace

Centering Music

Blood and Thunder, Laura Jane Grace

Welcome

Odell Havsdotter

Gathering Hymn

9 No Longer Forward Nor Behind (set to Forest Green)

Chalice Lighting

“As the Wild Wind Bites,” Ben Soule

Opening Words

“Come, Gather In,” Andrea Hawkins-Kamper

Affirmation

Love Is The Spirit 

Candles of Caring

Esmat Elhami

Unison Words

To troubled hearts, to spirits over-brimming, we offer our ministry of listening. For stories that need to be told, we open our hearts and offer the care of our attention, and the support of this, our faith community. So may it be.

Hymn

1048 Ubi Caritas

Offering

Odell Havsdotter

Our Share the Plate partner for December is Sunshine House, a small community drop-in and resource centre, focusing on inclusion and harm reduction in Winnipeg’s core area. They provide meals, laundry and bathing facilities, harm reduction supplies like syringes and condoms, and a meeting place where people exploring gender and/or sexual identity can gather.

Thank you for supporting the church with your funds, time, talent and energy.  Direct deposit or post-dated cheques simplify giving.  

Offertory

Ave Maria, Breanna Sinclairé

Reading

“How Trans Opera Singer Breanna Sinclairé Found Her Voice”

Anthem

Courage to Be Who We Are, performed by members of the First UU Winnipeg Choir

Meditation

“We Bear Witness,” Rev. Amy Brooks

The sound of the bell and two minutes of silence will follow the spoken meditation.

Sermon

Rev. Meghann Robern

Hymn

1021 Lean On Me

Announcements

Odell Havsdotter

Benediction

“As We Go Forward,” Cheryl Block

Chalice Extinguishing

Carry the Flame

Transition

Tell Me a Story, Skylar Kergil

Gratitude

Gratitude for our staff and our lay leaders who made this service happen:

  • Leaders: Rev. Meghann Robern & Odell Havsdotter
  • Coordinator: Odell Havsdotter, Sunday Services Team
  • Tech Team: Ashlyn Noble
  • Candles of Caring Host: Esmat Elhami
  • Songleader Videos: Paul Rodermond, Acting Music Director/accompanist; PJ Buchan, past Music Director; and the FUUW Choir; Josh Robern, editor
  • To contact the Sunday Services Team please email worship@uuwinnipeg.mb.ca