A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Second Sunday after the Epiphany 10:30 am
Meditation
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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 “<>.”
¨ The Call Charles Hoffman, Reader
One: Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
All: Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains; your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
One: How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
All: They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
One: For with you is the fountain of life;
All: In your light we see light. O continue your steadfast love to those who know you and your salvation to the upright of heart!
One: Guide us in those upright ways, O Lord, and in our time direct our prayers and praise. We enter your courts with thanksgiving and immerse in your presence.
All: Amen!
¨ Hymn Guide My Feet Guide My Feet
Union Church pays royalties to benefit the Berea College Black Music Ensemble when the congregation uses African-American spirituals and other traditional uncredited music.
1. Guide my feet while I run this race, guide my feet while I run this race, guide my feet while I run this race, for I don’t want to run this race in vain.
2. Hold my hand …
3. Search my heart …
4. Make us family while we run this race, make us family while we run this race, make us family while we run this race, for we don’t want to run this race alone!
¨ Prayer of Approach & Confession (unison) by Martin Luther King, Jr.
One: Most gracious and all wise God, before whose face the generations rise and fall; Thou in whom we live, and move, and have our being. We thank thee [for] all of thy good and gracious gifts, for life and for health; for food and for raiment; for the beauties of nature and human nature. We come before thee painfully aware of our inadequacies and shortcomings.
All: We realize that we stand surrounded with the mountains of love and we deliberately dwell in the valley of hate. We stand amid the forces of truth and deliberately lie. We are forever offered the high road and yet we choose to travel the low road. For these sins O God forgive.
One: Break the spell of that which blinds our minds. Purify our hearts that we may see thee. O God in these turbulent days when fear and doubt are mounting high give us broad visions, penetrating eyes, and power of endurance.
All: Help us to work with renewed vigor for a warless world, for a better distribution of wealth and for a brother/sisterhood that transcends race or color. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray. Amen.
¨ Words of Assurance
¨ Passing the Peace of Christ
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
Scripture Reading 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were gentiles, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.
Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of power deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
~New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition (Friendship Press, 2021)
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 John 2:1-11
Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the person in charge of the banquet.” So they took it. When the person in charge tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), that person called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
~New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition (Friendship Press, 2021)
Sermon “Do What He Says…” Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
A chance to take in what we have heard.
Living Prayer
Ringing 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.
What Can I Bring to the Party?
The author of John shows Jesus starting his ministry in a particular way: And it is a party! Following this Christ isn’t a question of obligation or guilt for not being someone else’s version of you. Paul’s letter reminds us that we each have unique but interconnected gifts to bring, and the purpose of bringing them is joy, relief, restoration.
In prayer today see if you can deeply and meaningfully connect to some of YOUR gifts.
* What are they?
* What brings them out?
* What multiplies them?
You will have to listen past all of the demonic voices of minimization, deflection, and self-derision. We all have them, but those are not Party Voices! Let them stay home. Come to the feast of grace and abundance because you bring the__________________ (fill with your best spirit here).
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 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 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.
Silent Prayers & Prayers of the Community Charles Hoffman, Reader
For all the trials and all that affronts and afflicts us every day, give us yet the strength for joy and transformation. The six jars of our diluted anxieties? Make them into the overflowing blessing you would have us carry to the world. The 900 bottles of violence and hate? By your word teach us to do what you say and make from them gallon after gallon of grace and hope. With gifts differing you bless us so we can each play some part in the celebration of wholeness you proclaim. Teach us to drink the wine of wonder and appreciate the nuances of the diversity you cherish.
As this week unfolds, we pray that you might convert our fears into fierce faith. Transform any despair to dancing in the face of challenge. Unite us across division with the feast of your Holy Spirit set for all, and strengthen every weary heart for changes yet to come.
Our joy is in you. Our strength is in you. Bless again; change us again, save and challenge us again that justice may roll down like mighty waters, waters to be the healing of us all. Jesus our brother teaches us to reach to you now and always 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.
¨ Hymn #593 Lift Every Voice and Sing Lift Every Voice
1 Lift every voice and sing,
till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty.
Let our rejoicing rise
high as the listening skies,
let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the harsh past has taught us.
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun
of our new day begun,
let us march on till victory is won.
2 Stony the road we trod,
bitter the chastening rod,
felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
yet with a steady beat,
have not our weary feet
come to the place for which our people sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
out from the gloomy past,
till now we stand at last
where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
3 God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
God who has brought us thus far on the way,
God, who by your might
led us into the light,
keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee;
lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, forget you;
shadowed beneath your hand,
may we forever stand,
true to our God, true to our native land.
From Here to There
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
This week we honor Tammy (“Tambone”) Clemons with the Justice Candle. Tammy was a graduate of Berea College and received the college’s first Women’s Studies degree. She later served as Sustainability Coordinator there and taught courses in peace and social justice studies. She earned a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate in cultural anthropology at UK, where her research reflected her passion for providing opportunities for Appalachian youth.
As a practicing artist she often mentored young people using zines, media education, and oral history as tools of empowerment. She was a co-founder of Camp Happy Appalachee, a beloved annual inclusive gathering of LGBQTIA+ community members and allies at the Appalachian Studies Association conference, and worked in various leadership roles with Appalachian Science in the Public Interest (appalachia-spi.org)over the past 15 years.
A strong ecofeminist and life-long advocate of renewable energy, she and her wife, Timi, built a solar home that is a testament to their love of justice for the earth. Tammy passed away on January 4 of this year and will be sadly missed by all whose lives she touched.
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.
¨ Benediction
¨ Benediction Response Woyaya (We Will Get There)
Those who are able & willing are invited to fill the aisles as we sing the Benediction Response together. If you’re at home or in the balcony, you are part of the embrace too. The embrace is as wide as God’s love!
Reprinted with permission using OneLicense #A-723786
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 Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen; and our brothers and sisters at Bearwallow Pentecostal Holiness Church in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.
¨ Mary Ellen Sarafin, Betty’s sister, suffering from cirrhosis.
¨ 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, and prayers that the proposed cease-fire will be honored by those on all sides.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Dottie Blackburn, Jerry Cooper, Jan Hamilton, Betsy Hoefer, Dorie Hubbard, Susan Kramer, Lois Morgan, Sara Parker, Cheryl Payne, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie.
¨ All those suffering from mental strain, trauma, and disease, ands those who care and worry for them:: 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.
¨ The Guild family as Will continues his struggle with brain cancer and stroke.
¨ Jen Eich’s 5-yr old niece, Harper, recovering from serious pneumonia.
¨ Kerry Jones, out of the hospital an recuperating at home from his stem cell transplant.
¨ Muse Watson, recovering at home from surgery
¨ All those affected by the fires in Los Angeles, including Union family Jim & JoAn Gaines and the Sehl-Hajmomenian family.
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: Jan. 21 – Sally Hindman, Iris Brandenburg, Ella Sutherland; 23 – Bob Boyce; 24 – Gail Wolford, Ali Beishline; 25 – Seth Hutchins; 26 – Sarabeth Brownrobie
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know.
We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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