A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
10:30 am Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Meditation
“I wondered if we were put on this earth only to destroy every beautiful thing, to make chaos. Or were we meant to overcome this? Did bad things happen so that goodness could show through in people?” ~Silas House
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude
Welcome
The Call Stanley Kramer, Reader
When I rise up let me rise up joyful like a bird. When I fall let me fall without regret like a leaf. ~Wendell Berry
¨ Hymn #2 Glory, Glory Hallelujah Glory, Glory
- Glory, glory, hallelujah, since I laid my burdens down. Glory, glory, hallelujah, since I laid my burdens down.
- I feel better, so much better, since I laid my burdens down! I feel better, so much better, since I laid my burdens down!
- Feel like shouting hallelujah, since I laid my burdens down! Feel like shouting hallelujah, since I laid my burdens down!
- I am dancing Miriam’s dance now, since I laid my burdens down. I am dancing Miriam’s dance now, since I laid my burdens down.
- I am climbing Jacob’s ladder, since I laid my burden down. I am climbing Jacob’s ladder, since I laid my burden down.
- Every round goes higher and higher, since I laid my burdens down. Every round goes higher and higher, since I laid my burdens down.
(In lieu of royalties to unknown African-American composers, Union Church pays royalties to benefit the Berea College Black Music Ensemble when the congregation uses African-American spirituals and other traditional uncredited music.)
¨ 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
Special Music Jacob’s Ladder Sacred Harp
1. As Jacob with travel was weary one day, and at night on a stone for a pillow he lay, there he saw in a vision a ladder so high, that its foot was on earth and its top was the sky.
Refrain: Alleluia to Jesus who died on the tree, and hath raised up a ladder of mercy for me, and hath raised up a ladder of mercy for me.
2. The ladder is long, it is strong and well-made, it stood hundreds of years, and is not yet decayed; many millions have climbed it and reached Zion’s hill, and the thousands by faith are now climbing it still. Refrain.
Come, let us ascend! All may climb it who will, for the angels of Jacob are guarding it still. There are regions of light, there are mansions of bliss, Oh, then, who would not climb such a ladder as this? Refrain.
Scripture Lesson Genesis 28:10-19a
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
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.
Scripture Lesson Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 x
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’
But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'” Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
Sermon Too Soon to Tell Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
Living 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.
Prayer Reflection Questions
Survey the Field…In prayer time today, or with a trusted friend, take time to survey the field of your experience. No action may be needed right now: just note where the “wheat” and “weeds” are, how are they entwined. Are there some things you can’t decide what they are? Probably. Hold these in special consideration, perhaps asking for the wisdom to return to check if they are helping or hurting. Practice accepting that we are a mixed field. In prayer and meditation survey the field often to learn what is needed.
Offertory Meditation J. Krug Union Church Handbell Ensemble
As we come forward, our gifts are received for this common work together.
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!
Silent Prayers & Prayers of the Community
Lord of the harvest and of the chaff, help us know the when and the where of our zeal. Teach us the tender touch and the wise gaze, lest we painstakingly kill that which you lovingly tend. We confess we know only in part and our own hearts are mingled with wheat and tares, the roots knit tight and deep and hard to tell apart. Help us know the when and the where; help us know the how and why. In tending and rending, inspire us to seek the greatest good in the right time. When patience is our tedious task, or when pruning is the needed work, give us the strength to act and forebear in right measure for the sake of the good you intend.
The field of our lives is mixed, Great Gardener. Cultivate in your people the health and joy, the justice and strength that we may embody your hopes and serve your will, as Love demands.
Hear us as we pray together the prayer Jesus taught, reaching to you as…
Our Lord’s Prayer
All: 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: We Depart
¨ Hymn #586 Come to Tend God’s Garden King’s Weston
1. Come to tend God’s garden, seeds of hope to sow, planting fields of justice, watching mercy grow! In an arid wasteland, spread a verdant heath! In a land of tumult, cultivate God’s peace!
2. As we tend God’s garden, from its furrows rise stems of fresh beginnings, stretching toward the skies! Graciousness, our meadow, joyfulness, our root, unity, our foliage, righteousness, our fruit!
3. May God’s garden flourish, may our toil succeed, may God bless our actions, every work and every deed! Serving Christ each season, with God’s diagram, charted by the Spirit, for the task at hand!
Community Connections
Announcements
We share opportunities for Beloved Community and ways to serve.
Lighting the Justice Candle to Lead us Forth
Emmett Till was the fourteen year old victim of a racial hate crime on August 28, 1955. He was abducted in Money, Mississippi; he was beaten, shot in the head, and had a large metal fan attached to his body with barbed wire before being thrown into the Tallahatchie River. His crime: he “may” have whistled at a Carol Bryant, a white woman.
His mother, Mamie, refused to let his horrific murder go unnoticed, insisting that his casket remain open during his Chicago service; pictures published in Jet Magazine widely spread the grisly evidence. Fifty thousand people attended his service. It was a graphic depiction of the violence exacted upon Black men and women for breaking the rules of white supremacy in the Deep South.
Although Emmett was the victim, in his death, he galvanized the Civil Rights movement into action. One hundred days after Emmett’s murder, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a city bus, saying that she thought about giving up her seat, but remembering Emmett, refused to do so.
With the initiation of the resulting Montgomery Bus Boycott, a young African American preacher, Dr. Martin Luther King, was asked to speak. As he said, the perpetrators called themselves “Christian”, but their worship was emotional, not moral. The time was right; the Civil Rights movement refused to go back to silence.
¨ Benediction
¨ Benediction Response Woyaya (We Will Get There)
Please sing as you form our larger circle. We will sing it twice so that we may fully see each other and sing at the same time.
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 Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda; and our brothers & sisters at Grace Baptist Church in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.
¨ Prayers for 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 seeking a new and just society and those fearful that they will be supplanted, may God open their hearts and include them in grace.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Jan Hamilton, Doug Hindman, Betsy Hoefer, Dorie Hubbard, Lois Morgan, Tom & Sara Parker, Cheryl Payne, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie, Betty Wray, Sally Zimmerman
¨ Loyal Jones, in hospice care. His daughter, Susan, reports he’d love to hear from friends. His address is 200 Tabernacle Rd. L-205; Black Mountain; NC; 28711.
¨ Rita Barlow, receiving care at home.
¨ All those suffering from mental strain, trauma, and disease: may God soothe and heal all who are troubled.
¨ Angela Anderson, recovering from surgery! Keep in touch at her Caring Bridge site: www.caringbridge. org/visit/angelafaithanderson
¨ Joyce Mosher’s family and many friends, at her passing. Many thanks to all who helped with her memorial service and the reception following.
¨ Annriette Stolte, who has had a fall and broken several ribs. She’d love cards and calls from Union friends: 579 Alexian Way #417, South Signal Mountain, TN, 37377; 859-200-6954
¨ Gail Wolford and family, at the death of her mother, Janet Warner, just a few weeks short of her 99th birthday. Gail’s address is 61 Abbotsford Dr., Richmond, KY, 40475.
¨ Doug Hindman, recovering from surgery at The Terrace.
¨ Joan English’s cousin, Karen Peterson, facing a stressful diagnostic doctor visit.
¨ Jerry Cooper, anticipating surgery on Thursday.
¨ Rick Wicker, awaiting strength for heart procedures.
¨ For Members and Friends who need safer housing and income security.
¨ John Stanley & Heather Lundy,former Union Church members & still beloved friends, as John recovers from a stroke.
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: July 26 – Jesse Montgomery; 27 – Silas Montgomery; 29 – Barbara Frederiksen
Anniversaries: July 23 – 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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