A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union

Easter Sunday April 5, 2015, 10:30 am

Meditation
God of terror and joy, you arise to shake the earth. Open our graves and give us back the past; so that all that has been buried may be freed and forgiven, and our lives may return to you through the risen Christ, Amen.
— Janet Morley

From there to here

Prelude     Da Jesus an dem Kreuze Stund           J.S. Bach
The Good News!             Mark 16:1-8
Call to Worship (seated)
One:   God of life, in gratitude and great joy we laud you for the gifts of Christ’s Resurrection.
All:      Weeping may linger for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
One:     God turns our weeping into dancing and clothes us in gladness. No more do we walk in shadow. Death is swallowed up forever.
All:      What was dead shall live; what was dark shall shine; what was forgotten shall be remembered, for the Lord is risen and walks among us.
One:     Alleluia!
All:      Christ is Risen!
One:     He is risen indeed!
Easter Processional
Please remain seated as this introduction to the hymn is played and the elements of celebration are processed and the sanctuary is transformed. When invited, please rise and sing:
*  Hymn #233 Black           Christ the Lord Is Risen Today           Easter Hymn
*  Passing the Peace of Jesus 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 and joy.

The Word in our Midst

Anthem    Alleluia, He Lives        Joel Raney
Union Church Choir
Alleluia! He lives again, our glorious King of kings! Jesus Christ is risen.  Christ is risen, the stone is rolled away. All creation, rejoice and sing today. Jesus, our Redeemer, Christ, God’s only Son, lives again eternally, clothed in triune majesty, seated at the right hand of God! Hymns of praise we sing to the risen King.
Worship and adore Christ forevermore, Alleluia, he lives! Hearts to heaven and voices raise; alleluia, sing to God a hymn of gladness, sing to God a hymn of praise; he who on the cross a victim for the world’s salvation bled, Jesus Christ the King of glory, now is risen from the dead. Alleluia!
Hebrew Scripture Lesson                       Isaiah 25:6-9
Children’s Moment                                      As the children return to their seats, we sing:

May God’s presence 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.

For children preschool & under, care is available in the Nursery, downstairs off the Community Room.  There is no Children’s Church today; young ones are invited to rejoin their families.
Lesson From Acts                       Acts 10:34-43
Peter narrates the story of Christ’s death and resurrection, the story that is the basis of the church’s faith.
Gospel Acclamation #236 Black                Hallelujah (sung twice through)      Halleluja
Sermon     Render Me Fearless          Rev. Kent Gilbert

Gifts given for Love to flow

Call to Offering
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 good portion of our contributions flows out to aid to those in need via many external agencies.
This can now be done online or by text to  859-448-3403 (Example: Text “$50.00 Offering” to contribute to the ongoing ministries, or add “youth,” or “missions”  or designation of your choice to benefit one in particular.)
Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
Offertory              Meditation on an Easter Tune W. Smith
*  Doxology Praise God from whom all blessings flow;    Old Hundredth
                  Praise God all creatures here below;
                  Praise God above, ye heavenly host:
                  Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost. Amen.  

Praying it Forward

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.
Silent Prayers and Prayers of the Community
Litany for Easter Sunday
One:     Lord Jesus, here are your disciples. We meet you even in the midst of confusion. Help us live into those questions for which there are no easy answers. Feed our faith with the assurance of your presence.
All:      May we hear your voice in and through all the other voices   we hear. May we find life even in our questions; blossom, even in our uncertainty.
One:     Lord Jesus, here are your disciples. We meet you even amidst the tombs and stony places. Bring new life where we are worn and tired. Bring new love where we have turned hard-hearted. Bring forgiveness where we feel hurt and where we have wounded others. Bring joy and release where we are prisoners of ourselves.
All:      May we let go of fear and embrace hope. Heal our broken places that we may share your resurrection joy.
One:     Lord Jesus, here are your disciples, the body of Christ, your Church. We pray  for your Church throughout the world and for that part to which we belong: that   it may be ready to spend and be spent in your service.
All:      May we spend and be spent in lavish joy. May we be liberated and united by the love of the resurrected one.
Our Lord’s Prayer                      adapted for the New Zealand Prayer Book
                              by Jim Cotter (1988)
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be;
Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.
Amen.

From Here to There

*  Closing Hymn #243 Black           Alleluia! Hearts to Heaven    Weisse Flaggen
If you would like to join the choir in singing the Hallelujah Chorus, please make your way to the choir loft during the last verses of the hymn.
*  Benediction & Sending Forth
One:     From this Easter festival, we go forth to live resurrection:
In the name of the God who makes us;
In the name of the Christ who makes us free;
In the name of the Spirit who makes us One: Christ is Risen!
All:      Christ is Risen,  Indeed!
One:     Christ is risen and walks among us. Go then, children. Live with purpose, love with power, laugh down evil, and walk humbly with Lord.
*  Benediction Response    Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah        G.F. Handel
Hallelujah!  For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!  The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever:  King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!
Postlude (please be seated)         Toccata in F Major     C.M. Widor
_____________________________
*   Those who wish to  may stand
Especially in our prayers
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 China, Hong Kong and Macao and our brothers and sisters at Blue Lick Missionary Baptist Church in your hearts, and pray for them.
Please also hold these concerns in your prayers, today and throughout the week:
* Those in harm’s way in service of our country, and those who wait and worry for them.
* For the victims of violence everywhere, and especially under the influence of racial prejudice and simmering fear. Peace to those everywhere our madness reigns.
* Our church family members in nursing homes, or who are homebound:  Edith Hansen, Nancy Jones, Mary Miller, Averill Kilbourne, Alva Peloquin, Ruth Butwell, Kim Woolridge
* Kelly Mehler
* Mary K. Kauffman
* Michelle Tooley
* Debbonnaire Kovacs
* Ed Doty, Patty Boyce’s brother, as he awaits treatment for stage 4 bladder cancer.
* Baby Maddie Fresca, who we prayed for when she had a stroke and seizures when she was 1 day old, has been having more seizures. Please pray for her, her parents Misty and Matt, and her grandmothers, Nancy McQueen-Malin and Kate Fresca.
* Lory Bailey Beasley, friend of Dodie Murphy, will have a double mastectomy on Monday in Louisville.
* Elicia Holly, mother of Jessica Holly, who fell and broke both legs.
* Our Confirmation Class members and their mentors, many of whom have helped with Holy Week Services.
Announcements 
You Matter! Please Sign the Register, Check in on Facebook/Twitter and try a nametag! It’s hard to get to know people elsewhere, but we don’t want it that way at church.  Let’s all try to get to know each other better.
April 11: Board Orientation, Community Room For all Board Members, new and continuing. Orientation, Planning and Visioning. A delicious lunch will be served!
Ø 9-11 New Board members
Ø 11-2 All Board members
Habitat Benefit Concert April 11, 7:30 pm! Andy Blyth & friends-Benefit Concert for Habitat for Humanity, Berea Arena Theater. With special Guest “Sparrowhawks.” Admission:  $8 and canned food, doors open at 7. Almost sold out! Call 328-3805 for tickets.
Join the church next Sunday, April 12. New members will be received the second Sunday of every month. Come, be part of this family working for Christ’s justice and joy!
Church trip to see “Bonhoeffer: The Last Encounter” at Bunbury Theater, Louisville, April 12, 4:30 pm.                         Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity’s role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book The Cost of Discipleship became a modern classic. Call the office at 986-3725 if you’d like to go with a group from church.
Personal Ecology classes to begin April 8. On Wednesday nights Pat Gailey will conduct a 6 week class on beginning April 8, 6:30-8:30 in the Office Level Classroom. Personal Ecology is a model of wellbeing based on Fritjof Capra’s deep ecology web of life, and is focused on wellbeing across all dimensions of human experience, from physical to spiritual.
Materials will be provided.  The class will be in a workshop format with some presentation, some discussion, and some activities to help apply what is learned to personal situations.  Sharing is invited, but not required.
Pat is a licensed occupational therapist and educator with expertise in application of theory, pediatrics, technology, psych-ology, and wellness.  Fee:  $10 per session.  Fees will help defray cost, including space and utilities.  Please contact Pat at 859-985-9599 or pgailey@jppgailey.net for registration.
Living with Alzheimer’s, Early Stages. Program at the Madison County Public Library 507 West Main Street, Richmond Wednesday, April 8, 2015  2-4:00 pm. To register, call 1-800-272-3900 or e-mail infoky-in@alz.org.
AIDS Walk April 19 Ashley Hammond is participating in the Lexington AIDS Walk to benefit AVOL of Lexington on April 19. Use this link to donate: http://www.avolky.org
Family Faith Day: Down on the Farm April 19, 3-5 pm.  All are invited to a spring tour of Debbonnaire Kovacs’ four-acre paradise at 773 Big Hill Rd, half a mile down Prospect from the church. There’s plenty of parking.
Hike along the creek (possibly play in it, weather permitting), check out new growth in the vegetable, herb, and flower gardens and in the orchard, walk the labyrinth, climb trees, hike the perimeter, and snack on the patio.
Most importantly, meet and pet SaraBeth the donkey, Willow, Holly, and Ivy, the goats (try goat milk!), Budai and Sapphire, the cats, and Fairywinkle and Pixie, the Chihuahuas. Throw grain to the chickens and watch the ducks play in their little pool. There will be baby chicks and, if we’re really, really lucky, there may be baby goats!
Shopping amazon.com for Mothers Day?  Remember: Amazon Smile will donate .5% of eligible sales to Union Church if you register. You can register at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/61-0444677. This is a great way to support Union Church.