A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Proper 11 of the Season after Pentecost 10:30 am
Meditation
“To live a good life is to decide to stop living unconsciously, and to make a decision that you are going to wake up to all that is beautiful and holy and that still works.” ~ Ann Lamott
From There to Here: We Gather
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 Lorilyn Howie-Kipphut, Reader
One: God’s Spirit calls to our spirits,
All: inviting us to worship.
One: God’s Spirit calls to our spirits,
All: inviting us by love.
One: God’s Spirit calls to our spirits,
All: calling us by name, calling us to grow in faith, calling us to be made new and whole.
One: Speak, Lord, your people are listening.
All: Amen!
¨ Hymn #410 If You But Trust in God to Guide You Neumark
1 If you but trust in God to guide you
with hopeful heart through all your ways,
you will find strength with God beside you
to bear the worst of evil days;
for those who trust God’s changeless love
build on the rock that will not move.
2 Only be still and wait his pleasure
in cheerful hope, with heart content.
trusting that grace which knows no measure
will by unbounded Love be sent;
nor doubt our inmost wants are clear
to One who holds us always near.
3 Sing, pray, and keep God’s ways unswerving,
offer your service faithfully,
and trust God’s word; though undeserving,
there find the truth to set you free;
God will not fail to guide and bless
those who embrace God’s faithfulness.
¨ Prayer of Approach and Confession
One: Broken ways, broken promises, broken systems… all of these things separate us from God and from one another. Even without ill intent or indifference, we can break the peace and impede the love God intends for us to promote. So in acknowledgement and in humility we pray:
One : When we have boasted of our own power over others and forgotten our debt to those who keep us high and mighty,
All: we did not do right.
One: And when our tongues have been razor sharp, cutting and devouring,
All: we spoke treachery to your way.
One: And when we have trusted in abundant riches and sought our refuge in wealth for all the privilege money can buy,
All: we confess we have ignored the plight of too many around us and failed to serve them as you command.
One: We have done wrong,
All: and let wrong be done around us.
One: Forgive us and set us right. Show us the way to root and flower in your care. Make us like a green olive tree set in your garden and watered by your steadfast love, that the fruit of our lives might bring peace and sow consolation.
All: Hear our prayer, O Lord, and in your mercy give us the power and the will to change… for good. Amen. ~ based on Psalm 52
¨ Words of Assurance
One: Friends, we know from Jesus that all who seek the love of God will find it; that God is not looking to clear-cut the forest, but rather tend each tree in the grove. God promises forgiveness and the power for renewal to all who carry and confess, release and rework. Receive the love of God with an open heart, and being forgiven, free your mind and heart for love in Christ’s name.
All: Thanks be to God for a love like that! Amen.
¨ 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 Amos 8:1-12
This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. The songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day,” says the Lord God; “the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!” Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt? On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day. The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
~ 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 Luke 10:38-42
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed–indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
Sermon Going to Essence Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
A chance to take in what we have heard and reflect together.
Living Prayer
Call to 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 tables. You may also choose to source the essential ingredient of solitude and private prayer, remaining with your own thoughts in your pew. Please refer to the insert in your bulletin.
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 Gathered Here in the Mystery of This Hour Phil Porter
Reprinted with permission using OneLicense #A-723786
Silent Prayer and Prayers of the Community Lorilyn Howie-Kipphut, Reader
In your mercy, Lord, look upon all our work and help us sort out what is most important, most needed. Help us in disease or distress to sit at your feet, relying on your wisdom and strength when our own fail. We pray to see in each face the countenance of Christ, and welcome all as we would hope you would welcome us. For ourselves, for our families and for our world, we ask your help to work for the things that cannot be taken away, that are worthy of the love you have invested in us and in all creation, and that help us hear your word over distraction.
Holy one, we are worried about so many things. Help us go to essence and help us find whatever is needed in our walk and call. It was Jesus who taught us to pray and so we 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 #542 Born of God, Eternal Savior Weisse Flaggen
1 Born of God, Eternal Savior,
source of life and truth and grace,
Human One, whose birth incarnate
hallows all our human race;
Come again, in all your glory,
come to us, inspire and lead,
fill us with your lovingkindness,
heal our wrongs, and help our need.
2 Christ, as you have lived for others,
so may we for others live;
freely have your gifts been granted,
freely may your servants give.
All the wealth that we may gather
is for use in causes just.
We are stewards of the bounty
loaned to us in solemn trust.
3 Come, O Christ, and reign among us,
granting love, and joy and peace;
hush the storm of strife and passion,
bid its cruel discords cease.
By your patient years of toiling,
By our silent hours of pain,
Quench our fevered thirst for pleasure
Shame our selfish greed for gain.
4 See the Christlike host advancing,
High and lowly, great and small,
Linked in bonds of common service,
answering the Savior’s call.
Jesus Christ, we hear your pleading
that your people should be one.
grant, O grant our hope’s fruition:
here on earth your will be done.
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
As we celebrate National Ice Cream Day today, it is a good time to spotlight a business that “uses ice cream to change the world.” Ben and Jerry’s strives to address injustice by integrating progressive values into their day to day operations They have committed to increasing their sourcing from black owned and black led suppliers; they engage in fair trade practices and prioritize regenerative agriculture and animal welfares.
They are actively working to reduce their greenhouse gas footprint and recycle their dairy waste, while using responsibly sourced packaging. Their “Democracy is in Your Hands” initiative promotes expansion of voter access and advocates for campaign finance reform. They have been very vocal supporters of LGBQT+ and Immigrants/Refugees’ rights. To learn more, visit benjerry.com/values
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 Send Down the Fire M. Haugen
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 Djibouti and Somalia and our siblings at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
¨ Dave Reilly’s nephew, Herb Post, ill with kidney cancer that has spread to his lung.
¨ Charlie Hoffman, with cardiac issues.
¨ Carla Gilbert and Jeff Melton, both recovering from surgery.
¨ The Bellando family and friends, at Richard’s passing July 4.
¨ B.W. Broaddus, the double first cousin of Paula White, with aggressive prostate cancer which has metastasized.
¨ Former Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplain Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian national whose legal asylum status was revoked by the Trump administration and was then detained by ICE. Without trial or hearing they will deport him to Egypt where his life is threatened because of his political opposition to an authoritarian regime. He has been in the US legally for more than 10 years and served thousands of families with care and diligence. Prayers for his safety and for mercy and justice to prevail.
¨ 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, and starvation of those in Gaza.
¨ 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.
¨ Prayers for those undergoing cancer treat-ments. We give thanks for the doctors, nurses, and other scientists working to help them.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Jerry Cooper, Jan Hamilton, Betsy Hoefer, Dorie Hubbard, Susan Kramer, Lois Morgan, Sara Parker, Cheryl Payne, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie, Theresa Scherf.
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: Today, July 20 – Deborah Martin, Mallory Lakes, Cavan Kobersmith; 21-Tennant Kirk; 22 – Emma White; 26 – Jesse Montgomery; 27 – Silas Montgomery
Anniversaries: Laura Nagle & Melissa Sparks; 27 – John & Ramona Culp
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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