A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
August 16, 2026 10:30 am
Meditation
Kindle, O Lord, in our hearts, we pray, the flame of love which never ceases, that it may burn in us and give light to others. May we shine forever in your temple, set on fire with that eternal light of yours which puts flight to the darkness of this world; in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen. ~St. Columba
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude Celtic S elections Turlach O’Carolan Traditional Irish Airs Bella Issakova and Randy Clepper, musicians
Welcome
Welcome to this service of worship! Please sign in using the pew folder, passing it back down the row so all can greet one another by name, and place the sheet in an offering plate. We’re glad you’re here! During the service, you are invited to rise in body or in spirit, standing or sitting, at points in the service marked “<>.”
¨ Invocation All We Need Is Here
All we need is here! All we need is here! God is among us, All we need is here!
¨ Call to Worship Blessing John O’Donohue Pam Chabora, Reader
Blessed be the longing that brought you here and quickens your soul with wonder. May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire That disturbs you when you have settled for something safe. May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease To discover the new direction your longing wants you to take. May the forms of your belonging–in love, creativity, and friendship– Be equal to the grandeur and the call of your soul. May the one you long for long for you. May your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire. May a secret Providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling. May your mind inhabit your life with the sureness with which your body inhabits the world. May your heart never be haunted by ghost-structures of old damage. May you come to accept your longing as divine urgency. May you know the urgency with which God longs for you.
¨ Hymn God, Be the Love to Search & Keep Me Green Tyler
1. God, be the love to search and keep me;
God, be the prayer to move my voice;
God, be the strength to now uphold me:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
2. Bind to myself the Name of Holy,
Great cloud of witnesses enfold;
prophets, apostles, angels witness:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
3. Brightness of sun and glow of moonlight,
flashing of lightning,strength of wind,
depth of the sea to soil of planet:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
4. Walking behind to hem my journey,
going ahead to light my way,
and from beneath, above, and all ways:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
5. Christ in the eyes of all who see me,
Christ in the ears that hear my voice,
Christ in the hearts of all who know me:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
¨ Prayer of Approach & Confession
One: Let us come to God in Truth and Hope. Let us pray:
O God, gladly we live and move and have our being in you. Yet always in the midst of this creation-glory we see sin’s shadow and feel death’s darkness:
All: Around us in the earth, sea, and sky, the abuse of all that matters; beside us in the broken, the hungry, and the poor, the betrayal of one another: and often, deep within us, a striving against your Spirit.
One: O Trinity of Love, forgive us that we may forgive one another;
All: Heal us that we may be a people of healing, and renew us that we also may be makers of peace in your way, and in your name. Amen.
~ adapted from the Iona Community Worship Book, 1991 edition
¨ Words of Assurance Come, Bring Your Burdens to God South African English Trans: Barbara Clark, Mairi Munro, Martine Stemerick
Come, bring your burdens to God (3x) For Jesus will never say no.
¨ Passing the Peace
All who come to this sanctuary are welcome companions on the journey of faith. Please turn to those nearest you and greet them with words of peace.
Word and Worship
Special Music Traditional Irish Dance Tunes Bella Issakova and Randy Clepper
Scripture Reading Isaiah 56:1,6-8
Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come and my deliverance be revealed. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant– these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel: I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
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 Matthew 15:10-28
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, sexual immorality, 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 from that moment.
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
Sermon Leaps and Bounds Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
Living Prayer
Call to Prayer
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. Next week, let us hold the people of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger; and our siblings at Gloryland Baptist Church in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.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.
Embodied Prayer
You are invited to reflect and pray at the candle table. You may also choose to source the essential ingredient of solitude and private prayer, remaining with your own thoughts in your pew.
For Reflection
Coming Out Clean…
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.
Offertory Jig and Reel Paddy Fahey Bella Issakova and Randy Clepper
A Chance for Generosity: 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 easytithe.com/union. No registration required, but registering once makes future generosity simply entering 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!
¨ Doxology Words: St. Patrick, adapted Kent Gilbert Tune: Bunessan
Christ be beside me, Christ be before me, Christ be behind me, my rock and my stay; Christ be within me, Christ be below me, Christ be above me guiding my way.
Silent Prayers and Prayers of the Community Pam Chabora, Reader
Lord of running wave and quiet earth, God of the flowing air and sparkling stars, how your compassion and love leaps beyond all that would bind it…and us… from you and from one another. We bring to you the concerns and hopes of so many in our hearts:
We bring them in weakness for your strengthening;
We bring them in sickness for your healing;
We bring them in trouble for your calming;
We bring them who are lost for your guidance;
We bring them who are lonely for you love;
We bring them who are dying for your resurrection.
For ourselves we ask that what might come out of our hearts would not defile or degrade your creation. May we not pour poison on others by what we say or do. May your Holy light shine through us to illuminate the gifts of all and bar the way to none.
We pray to live and move and have our being in your Christ who leaps free of all our boundaries. In mercy you are present on earth among us. In kindness, let your love bend deep and teach human hearts to hold the holy.
Our Lord’s Prayer
Our maker, our Mother and Our Father, source of all life, our companion in Heaven, your name is to be honored. May your new community of hope be realized on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the essentials of life. Release us from wrongdoing as we release those who wrong us.Do not test us beyond our enduring;Save us from all that is evil.For you embrace justice, love, and peace now and to the end of time. Amen.
~ Iona Abbey Worship Book, @2026
¨ Hymn The God of Heaven Bell, Maule
Chorus:
2. Far from the church, outside the fold, where prayer turns feeble and nervous, the Spirit wills society’s ills be healed through humble service. Chorus
3. From rural quiet to urban riot, in every social confusion, the Spirit pleads for all that leads to freedom and illusion. Chorus
4. Truth after tears, trust after fears, God leaving everyone wiser, the Spirit springs through hopeless things transforming what defies her. Chorus
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
Kentucky Justice Online (kyjustice.org) provides free legal help for Kentuckians, the basic premise being that all people deserve access to justice. The organization was created through a partnership of Kentucky’s four legal aid programs and the Kentucky Access to Justice Commission.
The network provides legal self-help resources, information, and referrals to people in need of civil legal representation. Kentucky’s civil legal aid programs provide assistance to low-income and other vulnerable people, focusing on providing legal representation, education and self-representation.
The Joy of Welcoming New Members
Partnership & Purpose
Today presents an opportunity to covenant together! All who would like to are welcome to join the church family – you will be received in joy.
Questions of the Congregation and New Members
Covenant of Welcome
And we, the members and faithful friends of this church, renewing our own covenant to God and to each other, do now heartily welcome you to our fellowship, promising to watch over you in love, and praying that you, and we, may be true witnesses for Christ, a light in the world, and continue to increase in usefulness and joy in his service.
From Here to There
¨ Benediction
¨ Benediction Response All We Need Is Here
All we need is here! All we need is here! God is among us, All we need is here!
Our Prayers for Others
¨ 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.
¨ Those in mortal danger in the continuing war in Iran. For the leaders of nations to set aside assassination and warfare in favor of just, diplomatic solutions to conflict.
¨ We pray for our country, and those who are directly affected by the actions and inaction of our government to address the needs of its people and the world.
¨ Our neighbors experiencing housing insecurity, homelessness and food insecurity.
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
¨ The children and staff of Samuel’s Kids School and Orphanage in Uganda.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Dorie Hubbard, Susan Kramer, Hattie Parks, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie, Theresa Scherf.
¨ Students, teachers and staff at the start of a new school year!
¨ Laurie McVicker, with critical blood sepsis issues, now at the University of Pennsylvania hospital.
¨ George Johnston, Patti Smithson’s cousin, injured in a terrible car accident, in California.
¨ Charlie Hoffman, anticipating surgery.
¨ Bob Berger, with vascular issues.
¨ Paula White’s cousin, Donna Seale, badly injured in a car collision that will require several surgeries.
¨ Ron Rosen, in his recovery from thyroid cancer and for up coming surgical procedures to improve his voice.
¨ John Hindman, Sally Hindman’s brother, diagnosed with prostrate cancer, and his wife, Diane, in Hospice Care with lung cancer, in California.
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: Aug. 17 – Kim Kobersmith, Meaghan Spencer-Catlett; 18 –BG Hibbard; 20 – Sean Mack; 21 – Kayleena Ward; 22 – Rob Wescott; 23 – Alvera Perman; 24 – Iris Shaffer, Sylvia From
Anniversaries: Aug. 18 – Tim Monroe & Cheryl Nixon; David & Lisa Shroyer; 19 – Larry & Iris Brandenburg
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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