A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
August 30, 2026 10:30 am
Meditation “Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service.” ~ Mother Teresa
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude
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 Lorilyn Howie-Kipphut, Reader
One: Gathered as God’s people, we come to worship together:
All: singing praises to the One who loves us, opening our hearts to the One who calls us.
One: Called to be followers of Jesus, we come to share our lives together:
All: to celebrate the joys of our hearts, to mingle our tears with God’s.
One: Challenged to become partners with the Spirit, we will seek peace and hope:
All: offering our food to our enemies, giving a drink of water to those who have drained our souls.
~Thom M. Schuman
¨ Hymn God, Be the Love to Search & Keep Me Green Tyler
¨ Prayer of Approach & Confession
One: God of Moses and Mary, we would live at peace with others, but too often we do not make the choices that make that possible; we would welcome those we do not know, but too often we choose to close the eye of our hearts we could make outsiders our dear friends, but too often we choose the safety of our cliques.
All: Forgive us, Genuine Love, for every unwise, unhelpful choice.
One: Hold on to our shaky lives,
All: until we learn to clasp your goodness to our hearts, and then learn to pass it on to those around us.
One: Whisper your grace and hopes to us,
All: until we can stop cursing our enemies, and bless them as we might good friends.
One: Smooth the rough edges of our arrogance,
All: until we become polished enough to shine in being honorable. Help us put aside our stumbling blocks to discipleship so we can follow Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as he leads us to your way and the wider life. Amen.
~ from a prayer by Thom M. Schuman, adapt by Kent Gilbert.
¨ 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
Anthem Morning Has Broken Bunessan Union Church Choir and Orchestra
1. Morning has broken like the first morning, blackbird has spoken like the first bird. Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning! Praise for them, springing fresh from the Word!
2. Sweet the rain’s new fall sunlit from heaven, like the first dewfall on the first grass. Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden, sprung in completeness where His feet pass.
3. Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning born of the one light Eden saw play! Praise with elation, praise every morning, God’s recreation of the new day! Amen.
Welcome back, Choir and Orchestra! There’s a seat for YOU with them – rehearsals Thursday evenings.
Scripture Reading Exodus 3:1-15
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to mount Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
~ 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 Romans 12:9-21
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in afflictions, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
Sermon Vengeance, Love, and Holy Ground 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 Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal; and our siblings at River of Life Foursquare 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
Standing on Holy Ground
What would you do if you KNEW beyond any shadow of a doubt you were on Holy Ground? Moses, is awestruck, and then commanded to take off his shoes so the very soles of his being could connect with that coursing power. In this we see that holiness doesn’t demand a distancing, but rather an intimacy with the divine. Either now, or at a time when you can give it your full attention, take off your shoes and allow your very soles to feel the holiness of the ground you walk on. When you have connected, offer yourself in prayer before never-consumed Love.
Purging Vengeance from “the List”
White-hot rolling anger in the desire to correct a wrong is so human… and so destructive. Right or wrong as our fury might be, it often knocks us right off the patches of the holy ground where healing love supersedes human “fight and flight.” Breathe deep and imagine a safe container all around you. Allow yourself to hold the vengeance you desire. If you can, look deeper. Not at what fury you want to wreak, but at the cost to YOU in carrying it. If you can and without judgement (and it may take some time or multiple engagements) see if you can leave any parts of the rage in God’s hands as you step back onto holy ground.
What can you do to hang on to any thread of love and decency even as you work through justifiable accountability for self and others?
Offertory
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 Lorilyn Howie-Kipphut, Reader
One: Hope of the world, lover of all creation and all your many many people, help us figure out how to let love be genuine and true in us. We pray to know how to hate what is evil with righteous fire and gentle mercy together at once. In every circumstance, help us hold fast to what is good and turn loose of everything that binds ourselves, or someone around us to twisted consequence or unholy harm. Knowing that we cannot guide our unruly emotions, we ask that you would guide our actions, even when our heart can’t yet follow.
Help us do the right and loving thing, even for those who elicit our worst. Work with us as we work with others until our vengeful impulse looks like love in action, no matter whom; no matter what. To you we bring our sick: those ill in spirit, and those who suffer in body. Strengthen them. Heal them. Hold them and us until right relationship is achieved.
Help us find the way to peace, and help us make the peace we cannot find. We would be servants of your love with generosity and savvy and zeal. Help us to hold fast to what is good, we pray in the name of the one you sent, Jesus the Christ, 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 kin-dom 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 kin-dom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
¨ Hymn Come, Holy Spirit, Come! Diademata
1. Come, Holy Spirit, come! Inflame our souls with love, transforming every heart and home with wisdom from above, Let none of us despise the humble path Christ trod, but choose, to shame the worldly wise, the foolishness of God.
2. All-knowing Spirit, prove the poverty of pride, by knowledge of the Father’s love in Jesus crucified. And grant us faith to know the glory of that sign, and in our very lives to show the marks of love divine.
3. Come with the gift to heal the wounds of guilt and fear, and to oppression’s face reveal the kingdom drawing near. Where chaos longs to reign, descend, O holy Dove, and free us all to work again the miracles of love.
4. Spirit of truth, arise; inspire the prophet’s voice: expose to scorn the tyrant’s lies, and bid the poor rejoice. O Spirit, clear our sight, all prejudice remove, and help us to discern the right, and covet only love.
5. Give us the tongues to speak the word of love and grace to rich and poor, to strong and weak, in every time and place. Enable us to hear the words that others bring, interpreting with open ear the special song they sing.
6. Come, Holy spirit, dance within our hearts today, our earthbound spirits to entrance, our mortal fears allay. And teach us to desire, all other things above, that self-consuming holy fire, the perfect gift of love.
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
Dolly Parton, songwriter, philanthropist, and lover of all God’s people, died this week at age 80. In contrast to many who received great wealth, she never forgot those who were in need. Her reading foundation, The Imagination Library, sent more than 300,000,000 books to children all across the US and many other countries to give them a head start.
She founded hospitals with the royalties she earned, and supported thousands for months and months after devastating fires ripped through Tennessee. When Covid struck she donated $1,000,000 to Vanderbilt University’s vaccine research clinic. Both in public and in private, her care for others was always on display, and she used her renown to aid others. A child of God, she used her talents for the betterment of God’s people and world. May she rest in peace and in power and in joyful song.
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 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 and food insecurity.
¨ Victims of the flooding in Nepal, that God might provide protection and consolation. One Great Hour of Sharing (our Palm Sunday Offering each year) is on the scene.
¨ 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.
¨ Charlie Hoffman, anticipating surgery
¨ Wilma Miracle who, at 100, had a fall recently and is in serious condition.
¨ For Mary McConnell and family, as her sister enters hospice care.
¨ The family of Jackie Perman, recovering from a difficult abdominal surgery. Jackie is Cadence’s grandma.
¨ Denis Burton, recovering from abdominal surgery at St. Joe Main in Lexington.
¨ Amber Lawson, Deb & Terry Beishline’s daughter-in-law, just diagnosed with breast cancer.
¨ Doris Mosley, Deb Beishline’s mother, after a long emergency room visit with gall bladder issues. More treatment will be necessary.
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: Recent, with many apologies for missing last week: Aug. 26 – Robert Rorrer; 29 – Jen Eich; today and coming up: 30 – Nancy Adams; Sept. 1 – Sara Parker; 2 – Dodie Murphy, Hamrick Walters; 3 – Barbie Day; 5 – Brian Madden; 6 – Chris Green
Anniversaries: Sept. 1 – Gene & Dorothy Chao; 3 – Greg & Adria Sutherland
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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