Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Celtic Sunday!
August 16, 2020 10:30 am
Meditation
We were born into an unjust system. We are not prepared to grow old in it. — Bernadette Devlin
From there to here: we Gather
Welcome
As the Berea community responds to the governor’s suggestion to avoid gathering in large groups, we worship online to limit the risk of exposure to Covid-19. We’re delighted to welcome you into this virtual circle of God’s healing love and light.
The Call from the Iona Community Joseph Jacobs, Reader
I will light a light in the name of the Maker who lit the world and breathed the breath of life. I will light a light in the name of the Son who saved the world and stretched his hand to me. I will light a light in the name of the spirit who encompasses the world and blesses my soul with year.
We will light three lights for the Trinity of Love: God above us, God beside us, God beneath us: The beginning, The End, The everlasting one.
Passing the Peace at Home
Building the Community: News that Connects Us
The Living Word among us
Special Music My Heart’s in the Highlands trad. Al, Alice & Ruth
Hebrew Scripture Lesson Genesis 45:1-15 John Payne, Reader
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, ‘Send everyone away from me.’ So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.
Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ And they came closer. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.
So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.”
And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.’ Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
Children’s Moment Please join in singing as we bless children everywhere:
May God’s blessing 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.
Gospel Lesson Matthew 15:10-28 Joan English, Reader
Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.”
But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Sermon Purity and Power Rev. Kent Gilbert
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.
A Chance for Generosity: www.easytithe.com/union
Our gifts help sustain this particular community of caring by sustaining the building, pastors and staff, and all the materials that make our ministry of healing, justice, and teaching available to all in need. In addition, a portion of our contributions flows out to aid those in need via many external agencies.
Many friends give online, and you can use your smart phone or computer and go to www.easytithe.com/union. You don’t have to register to make a contribution, but if you do, it can make future generosity that much easier. You can even give by text! Text to 859-448-3403 (Example: Text “$50.00 Offering”)
Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
Offering Music
Silent Reflection & Prayer
In your prayer and meditation today, let us recall Jesus’ words about what makes us pure or impure. See if you can hold in your mind’s eye a deeply held prejudice or dismissal you are accustomed to, perhaps one so ingrained you rarely register it.
As you breathe a prayer to understand better and deeply, look at the actions you take based on your thoughts, the actual physical or verbal responses that come out of you. Breathe through the temptation to think about what you THINK about your purity notions: how is it that you give them power? In your prayer examine whether they deserve this power, and are you giving power to the self you are called to be, verses the self you have been trained to be?
This is an honest prayer, so deal gently with yourself as you encounter anything that is disruptive, disturbing. Jesus call, is not to condemnation but transformation. If you have found something coming out of you which is not helpful, pray and breathe that prayer for understanding and transformation.
Now, or later, or in conversation with a trusted friend, record the transformation that would bring you healing. Listen for the voices in your world that illuminate that path. See if you can take steps to give power to holy conversations this week.
Our Prayers for Others
You are very welcome to email or phone prayer requests to the office for the bulletin. Please do so by 10 am Thursdays, and be sure you have permission to share the information.
¨ 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. Let us hold the people of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger and our brothers and sisters at Living Waters Sanctuary in our hearts, and pray for them. Please hold these concerns in your prayers, today and throughout the week.
¨ All those seeking a new and just society and those fearful that they will be supplanted, may God open their hearts and include them in grace.
¨ Families and Friends in Crises…may God be present to every need and heal every rift and wound and those who care for them.
¨ Those feeling isolated because of staying home with compromised immune systems or other health conditions
¨ Jeff Pool and the family, at the death of his mother, Billie Faye Pool, at 94.
¨ The family and friends of Jody Flara, who died August 3.
¨ Abby Embry and all the family, at the death of her brother, Adam Nathaniel Decker (July 16, 1978 — August 1, 2020) .
¨ Michelle Russell, family member of Reda Hutton, who is very ill, in Texas.
¨ Jaidyn, granddaughter of Sandy Bowles McClure, soon to undergo open heart surgery.
¨ Marie, Dorie Hubbard’s kindergarten aged great grand-niece, who has had a recurrence of cancer and is back in treatment.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes, or who are homebound: Alva Peloquin, Loyal Jones, Jennie Kiteck, Mary Miller, Lois Morgan, Barb Smith, Jan Hamilton.
¨ Children in detention centers, that they may be reunited with their families soon.
¨ Those affected by the Covid-19 virus, their families and friends living with fear, anxiety, and feelings of isolation, may God bring peace to all who love them; and our wider community as we cope with the new realities of living.
Prayers of the People Betty Hibler, Reader
In confession, Lord, we come to you aware that there is much too much that comes out of us that does no one any credit, least of all you. For all the times we have worried about how pure we are and abstinent we were, we know we have turned around and showered derision on those we deemed unworthy. We have hoarded your good word, we have tried to keep the blessings to “us and ours” rather than see that we are all “them” and that “them” is us.
So now we come to you for help. Clear our heads like the woman who helped Jesus: help us see the truth, help us walk in light. Dog us with the hounds of heaven until we fall in revelation at the feet of your total grace, your improbable welcome, your matchless love for every one of us. Do not fail to keep after our trailing errors, our oversights and slights. These do you no honor and us no good, we know. Keep us accountable to the higher calling, the better way, and thus make us servants in truth, not just wanna-be’s in name only.
We know there is healing needed in this world: for our families, for our souls, for the lives and bodies of the sick. Help them and help us to be a whole, healing, beloved community. Like the woman with a daughter she loves, we beg you help us grow beyond our pretty petty piety and emerge to restore and be restored. This we ask in Christ’s name, the one who taught us 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 God of Change and Glory Katherine Merry Kay Winter, singer
- God of change and glory, God of time and space, when we fear the future, give to us your grace. In the midst of changing ways give us still the grace to praise. Many gifts, one spirit, one love known in many ways, In our difference is blessing, from diversity we praise one Giver, one Word, one Spirit, one God known in many ways, hallowing our days. For the giver, for the gifts, praise, praise, praise!
- God of many colors, God of many signs, you have made us different, blessing many kinds. As the old ways disappear, let your love cast out fear. Many gifts, one spirit, one love known in many ways, In our difference is blessing, from diversity we praise one Giver, one Word, one Spirit, one God known in many ways, hallowing our days. For the giver, for the gifts, praise, praise, praise!
- Freshness of the morning, newness of each night, you are still creating endless love and light. This we see, as shadows part, many gifts from one great heart. Many gifts, one spirit, one love known in many ways, In our difference is blessing, from diversity we praise one Giver, one Word, one Spirit, one God known in many ways, hallowing our days. For the giver, for the gifts, praise, praise, praise!
The Sending & Blessing
Postlude The Red-Haired Boy Kelley Caldwell
Justice Candle
Today the Justice Candle is lit in honor of Reverend Joe Peacock. Rev. Peacock served at both Union Church and Berea College in the later 1950s. He was a father, grandfather, pastor, civil rights activist, and tireless champion of social justice and peacemaking. There will be a virtual memorial service on Saturday, August 29 at 2pm (please note this is Central Daylight Time). A virtual reception will follow the memorial service where remembrances and stories will be shared. Please save the date and plan to join the family for the celebration of Rev. Peacock’s life and legacy
In Worship Today…
Each week many elements come together to make our worship together rich and deep.
This week we are grateful for those reading, playing and singing – Joseph Jacobs, Betty Hibler, Joan English, John Payne and Merry Kay Winter; and Marty Hensley, Jeff Hutton, Sayer Kobersmith, Sean Mack and Rina Tanaka, our gifted AV crew.
Many thanks to the Worship Team who crafted this service: Don Cardwell, Debbonnaire Kovacs, Jennifer Melton and Sharona Nelson.
Leave a Reply