A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
April 14, 2024 Third Sunday of Easter 10:30 am
Meditation
“We cannot escape our fears. [But] the power of the resurrection is the power to plant the seeds of transformation… The word of God calls us to peace rather than security.” ~ Nancy R. Blakely
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude
Welcome
¨ Call To Worship
One: Like disciples in the first days of Easter, we have gathered to worship God in the midst of uncertainty. Despite fears and trembling, we have come seeking comfort, inspiration, community, and insight.
All: We have come to open ourselves to the power of God’s presence in our midst. No matter what.
One: Unsure of the turn of events, and unsure of who or what we might find, We have come to seek truth and peace, and offer up the turnings in our lives.
All: We have come to ask God’s help in our learning and in our growing.
One: People of God, look around and see all the images of God assembled here. The risen Christ stands in the present moment. In me, in you, in each of us, God’s spirit shines for all to see. People of God, come. Let us worship together.
~Adapted from United Church Publishing House, Celebrate God’s Presence (United Church Publishing House, 2000) by Kent Gilbert
¨ Hymn #253 Yours Is the Glory Judas Maccabeus
1. Yours is the glory, Resurrected One! Endless is the victory you o’er death have won. Angels clothed in radiance rolled the stone away; conquered is the grave in which your body lay.
Refrain: Yours is the glory, Resurrected One! Endless is the victory you o’er death have won.
2. See, it is Jesus, Jesus has appeared; do not doubt at all for nothing you will fear. Let the church with gladness hymns of triumph sing; tell it without ceasing: Death has lost its sting. Refrain.
3. Am I still frightened? One whom I adore, Jesus lives again, gives peace forevermore. Jesus is my victory, life and strength and Head; Jesus is my glory, nothing shall I dread. Refrain.
¨ Passing the Peace of Christ
All who come to this sanctuary are welcome companions on this day! You are invited to turn to those nearest you and greet them with words of peace.
Word and Worship
Anthem Now the Green Blade Rises K. McChesney Union Church Choir
Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain, wheat that in the dark earth many days has lain; love lives again that with the dead has been: Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
In the grave they laid him, love who had been slain, thinking that he never would awake again, laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen: Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain, Jesus who for three days in the grave had lain; quick from the dead my risen Lord is seen: Love is come again, my risen Lord is seen! Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
Scripture Reading 1 John 3:1-7
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Children’s Moment as the children return to their seats we sing:
May God’s blessings guard, protect and guide you. God bless you, God bless you. Our savior’s loving arms be ever ’round you. God bless you, God bless you.
Scripture Reading Luke 24:36b-48
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you–that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
Sermon Peace, Not Security Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
Living Prayer
Ringing of the Peace Bell
The Union Church Peace Bell was created by Jeff Enge in honor of Union Church member Carl Eschbach (1904-1998). A twin bell hangs in Berea’s sister province in Japan and is also rung in the hope of peace for all nations.
Offertory Wondrous Love arr. Paul Christiansen
Union Church Orchestra
A Chance for Generosity: www.easytithe.com/union
A community of caring relies on support. Your recurring or one-time donation will make a ministry of healing, justice, and teaching available to all in need.
¨ Use your smart phone or computer and go to www.easytithe.com/union. No registration required, but registering once makes future generosity simply an amount and a click.
¨ Baskets for checks or cash are located at the head of each aisle for those who wish to make an in-person donation.
¨ Give by Text. Text an amount to 859-448-3403 (Example: Text “$50.00 Offering”)
¨ Give by Mail to: 200 Prospect St., Berea, KY 40403
Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
Sung Response
Prayers of the Community Diane Bailey, Reader
Great God of Peace, come to us now and speak to our fears. What peace can there be if all we feed ourselves is the bread of anxiety. Standing in our midst, you feed us more than “quiet.” Touch us with healing hands and center our souls. Chase out our avoidance, and strengthen us to face with the eyes of resurrection, all that is being remade.
Show us our own remaking, and give us the love needed for the demands of healing. In good work we have peace. In the presence of purpose and in your service we have peace. In loving our neighbors and in loving you, we have peace. So as we pray you taught us, make real and visible the love you intend. Strengthen us for all that lies ahead unseen, and grant that what you offer to each of us may spill to a waiting world in your name. In that hope we are bold to reach to you as …
Our Lord’s Prayer
Our Maker, Our Mother, and Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
From Here to There
¨ Hymn #249 Peace I Leave with You, My Friends Peace, My Friends
Refrain: Peace I leave with you, my friends:
Shalom my peace, in all you do.
Peace I leave with you, my friends,
I give to you, so you can give to others, too.
1.To share God’s love is why I came, to show God’s kindness without end. Go now my friends and do the same, until I come again. Refrain.
2. Take my hand and be at peace, the spirit of our love I send; and with this love you will be free, until I come again. Refrain.
3. With this love you all will know that loneliness is at an end, rejoice my friends although I go, for I will come again…
Community Connections
Announcements
We share opportunities for Beloved Community and ways to serve. Please see the listing of church & community events, prayers, and notices in the pages following the service.
Lighting the Justice Candle to Lead us Forth
Our Justice Candle for today is for the Recovering Joy Arts and Nature Center, located in Somerset, and directed by Brenda Richardson. Their mission is to nurture a deepened experience of life for those who come to Samara Fields sheep farm by modeling circular, sustainable economies, and providing opportunities to make art and create community with other people and the other-than-human world.
Their model demonstrates that the means and processes of sustainable living are at hand within the woods and fields of this region, and revitalizes a strength of the Appalachian culture to ‘make do’ in transformative ways.
The project’s title for the year is Caringly, Carefully Crafting. Themes for all projects are earth-centered. Our aim is to cultivate work that transforms values, knowledge and exploration into well-crafted outcomes. A cottage industry collective that includes artists who select themselves into the work, community members and graduates of Sky Hope a recovery program for homeless women suffering from addiction to alcohol and drugs is our long-term goal.
The Recovering Joy Arts and Nature Center was awarded a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women to help fund classes that teach SKYHope women, who will learn more about fiber arts – using fibers from plants and animals to create yarn that can be then used in weaving projects and to provide community members and people who are committed to lifetime recovery, their families, and those who mentor and serve the Recovering and their families, with opportunities.
Your Mission and Service Board is hoping to provide an opportunity to visit the Recovering Joy Arts and Nature Center in the near future.
¨ Benediction The God of Second Chances David Haas
Those who are able & willing are invited to fill the aisles as we sing the Benediction Response together. If you’re at home or in the balcony, you are part of the embrace too. The embrace is as wide as God’s love!
Our Prayers for Others
¨ Each week we join millions of Christians who pray for one another through the ecumenical prayer cycle and, locally, the Berea Ministerial Association’s prayer cycle (World Council of Churches Ecumenical Prayer cycle: union-church.org/ministries/prayer) Let us hold the people of Belarus, Russia, Moldova and Ukraine; and our brothers and sisters at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.
¨ All the people of Ukraine for their safety and sovereignty. Prayers also that the government of Russia will turn to reason & respect for their own peoples’ lives as well as for Ukrainian families.
¨ All those affected by the devastating losses in the current conflict in the Middle East.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Jan Hamilton, Betsy Hoefer, Dorie Hubbard, Lois Morgan, Sara Parker, Cheryl Payne, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie, Sally Zimmerman.
¨ All those suffering from mental strain, trauma, and disease: may God soothe and heal all who are troubled.
¨ Members and Friends who need safer housing and income security.
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
¨ Barb Taylor, recovering well at home from a stroke.
¨ NoraRuth Jenkins, recovering from two recent surgeries.
¨ David Hampton, dear friend of Matt and Lynnette Willis who recently suffered a stroke, and is recovering in hospital in Sacramento.
¨ Peggy and John Coyne, recovering from Covid.
¨ David, a friend of Claudia Munson-Schrumpf, struggling with a rare autoimmune condition.
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: April 16 – Annie Sims; 19 – Madalyn Dodson; 20 – Howard Carlberg
Anniversaries: April 17 – Jeff & Reda Hutton
Congratulations to Jane Hostomsky & Dalton Davidson, married here in Cowan Chapel yesterday.
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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