A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union 10:30 am
Meditation
Remember when we believed in hope?
Remember when?
I do.
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude
Welcome
¨ Call to Worship Peggy Patrick, Reader
One: We are invited—
All: Into the story,
Into this place,
Into this hour of worship.
One: We are invited—
All: Into reflection,
Into community,
Into our own spiritual journeys.
One: We are invited—
All: The broken and bruised,
The hopeful, the new,
The faithful, the doubting,
The wondering, the waiting.
One: We are invited—
All: Because God so loved;
One: So listen, trust the invitation, and bring your whole self.
All: All are invited here.
¨ Hymn I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
Reprinted with permission using OneLicense #A-723786
¨ Prayer of Approach and Confession
One: God who meets us where we are— There is nowhere we can go that you are not.
All: You were with Jesus at his baptism. You were with him in the wilderness, And even in between, you were there, Saying aloud, “This is my beloved.”
One: We know that you are with us too—
In the good, the bad, and everything in between—
But so often we act like we are alone.
All: Instead of coming to you with our hurt, We hold it in or cast it onto others. Instead of coming to you with our joy, We credit ourselves and offer you nothing.
One: How can we long for a deeper relationship with you
While living like you are nowhere to be found?
All: Forgive our self-centered ways. Remind us that in every breath, in every step, you are there.
One: You are the God who meets us where we are.
All: Before and behind, above and below, within and around. Amen.
¨ Words of Assurance
One: Family of faith, if you hear nothing else today, hear this:
God is here. God sees you. God knows you. God meets you at the edge of every new beginning, and God calls you beloved.
All: Again and again, we are forgiven. Again and again, we are loved. Again and again, we are invited in. We are washed by the water. We are called beloved. Thanks be to God for a love like that.
One: Amen!
¨ 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 The God of Second Chances David Haas Union Church Choir
1. Come now, O God, of second chances; open our lives to heal. Remove our hate, and melt our rage. Save us from ourselves.
2. Come now, O God, release our demons; open our eyes to see the shame within, our guilt and pain. Mend us, make whole.
3. Come now, O God, and still our anger; open our minds to peace. Embrace our fear, and hold us close. Calm the storm within.
4. Come now, O come now, O God, shake our resentment; open our way to choose the way of love over revenge. Show us the way.
5. Come now, O come now, O God, and grant compassion; open our hearts to love. May we let go of all our hurt. Help us to move on.
6. Come now, O God of second chances; may we forgive ourselves, may we become you living sign: children of God’s love.
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.
Sung Psalm Psalm 25:1-10, p. 635
The psalms were originally musical compositions. During Lent we will pray the psalms in musical form. Rev. Kent will lead. You are invited to sing the response when invited, at the “R” if using the hymnal.
Scripture Reading Mark 1:9-15
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Sermon Again and Again: God Meets Us Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
Living Prayer
Call to 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
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 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!
Prayer and Reflection Questions
r e f l e c t
What dreams do you have for this world?
For yourself? For your community?
p r a y
God of tomorrow,
Brokenness weighs on us. No one is left untouched.
And so we lift our eyes to you, dreaming of the day when love is all we carry. Give us the strength to be those who dream— today and tomorrow. Amen.
¨ Doxology Old Hundredth
To God, all glorious heavenly light; To Christ, revealed in earthly night; To God the Spirit, now we raise Our joyful songs of thankful praise. Amen.
Community Prayer Peggy Patrick, Reader
Holy God, If we are honest, faith often feels like water in our hands. No matter how hard we try to hold onto it, some of it always slips through— Like droplets of truth running down our wrists, back toward our heart. This human inability to hold onto you leaves us thirsty for more. Meet us here. Meet us in our hope and our heartache. Meet us in our fear and our joy, Meet us in our cupped hands and clenched fists. And even if the water keeps running,
And we do not have a sky-parting moment of clarity, Or a tangible sense that you are near; Even if we do not hear the words, “This is my beloved,” Ringing in our ears, We will trust that you are near, Always and forever meeting us here, Running toward our hearts. Gratefully we pray, Amen.
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 #205 Forty Days and Forty Nights Heinlein
- Forty days and forty nights You were fasting in the wild; Forty days and forty nights Tempted, and yet undefiled.
- Shall not we your sorrow share And from worldly joys abstain, Fasting with unceasing prayer, Strong with you to suffer pain?
- Then if Satan on us press, Flesh or spirit to assail, Victor in the wilderness, Grant we may not faint nor fail!
- So shall we have peace divine; Holier gladness ours shall be; Round us, too, shall angels shine, Such as served You faithfully.
- Keep, O keep us, Savior dear, Ever constant by your side, That with you we may appear At th’eternal Eastertide.
Community Connections
Announcements
We share opportunities for Beloved Community and ways to serve. Please see the listing of church & community evens, prayers, and notices in the pages following the service.
Lighting the Justice Candle to Lead us Forth
Anne McCarty Braden (July 28, 1924 – March 6, 2006) was an American civil rights activist, journalist, and educator dedicated to the cause of racial equality. She and her husband bought a suburban house for an African American couple during the Jim Crow era. White neighbors burned crosses and bombed the house. During McCarthyism, Anne was charged with sedition. She wrote and organized for the southern civil rights movement before violations became national news. Anne was among nation’s most outspoken white anti-racist activists, organizing across racial divides in environmental, women’s, and anti-nuclear movements.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 28, 1924, Anne McCarty was raised in rigidly segregated Anniston, Alabama, in a white, middle-class family that accepted southern racial mores wholeheartedly. A devout Episcopalian, Braden was bothered by racial segregation, but never questioned it until her college years at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia. As she grew older she experienced what has been framed as a “racial conversion narrative” “a conversion of almost religious intensity” “turning myself inside out and upside down.” The experience that so affected her, in 1946, was witnessing and covering as a reporter for the Birmingham News, a march of black veterans to the Birmingham courthouse.
After working on newspapers in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama, Anne Braden returned to Kentucky as a young adult to write for The Louisville Times. She became a supporter of the Civil Rights Movement at a time when it was unpopular among southern whites.
Partnership and 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.
¨ Benediction The God of Second Chances David Haas
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 France, Germany and Monaco; and our brothers and sisters at Berea United Methodist Church 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.
¨ To donate to those affected by the recent earthquakes in Japan, this is the most direct way to do so: Japan Red Cross: jrc.or.jp/english/
¨ 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.
¨ Jeannette Davidson, having health problems.
¨ Prayers for Barb Taylor, recovering at home from a stroke.
¨ The family and friends of Scharme Price, Berea artist and friend of many, who passed away Feb. 7 of her cancer. Gwen Hensley of our church family is her sister, and the Brunner family is dear to many Bereans. There will be a celebration of Scharme’s life at a later time.
¨ Cron Carpenter
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: Today, Feb. 18 – Lorilyn Howie-Kipphut, Brenda Campbell; 20 – Renee Thornsberry; 21 – Rhonda Cardwell; 22 – Ramona Culp; 23 – Steve Boyce; 26 – Triss Holland
Anniversaries: Feb. 19 – Lauri Eiselt & Susan Schmied
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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