A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost 10:30 am
Meditation
Oh love, my love, there springs a world,
And on the world there shines a sun,
And in the sun there burns a fire,
Within the fire consumes my heart,
And in my heart there beats a bird,
And in the bird there wakes an eye,
Within the eye, earth, sea and sky,
Earth, sky and sea within an O
Lie like the seed within the flower.
~Kathleen Raine, excerpt from “A Spell for Creation”
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude Jesus, Priceless Treasure Johann Brahms
Welcome
The Call Peggy Patrick, Reader
Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.
The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
With open mouth I pant, because I long for your commandments.
Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name.
Keep my steps steady according to your promise, and never let iniquity have dominion over me.
Redeem me from human oppression, that I may keep your precepts.
Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.
My eyes shed streams of tears because your law is not kept. ~Psalm 119:129-136
¨ Hymn #540 We Plant a Grain of Mustard Seed New Beginnings
1. We plant a grain of mustard seed, and in our faith we find the proof of God is love, indeed, which blossoms from its kind; the proof of God is love, indeed, which blossoms from its kind.
2. Our actions, more than words, define how love’s example feeds a greater love, for love divine bursts forth from smallest seeds; feeds a greater love, for love divine bursts forth from smallest seeds.
3. When stooped to lend a helping hand, we find a touch that heals, for love invested will expand to bear the fruit love yields; for love invested will expand to bear the fruit love yields.
4. Make love our purpose, love our aim, for love endures all things, and choosing love our lives will claim the peace forgiveness brings; and choosing love our lives will claim the peace forgiveness brings.
5. So may our new beginnings prove, the living bread and wine, that through our common human love we taste what is divine; that through our common human love we taste what is divine.
6. Our lives will be fulfilled and blessed if through the seeds we’ve sown and by the love that we profess the love of Christ is known; and by the love that we profess the love of Christ is known.
¨ 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 Lesson Romans 8:26-39
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. And God, who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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 13:31-33, 44-52
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
Sermon x Seth Hutchins
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
Who are people in your life whose ‘small actions’ help create a beautiful life for you. Find a way to express this appreciation to them.
How can you appreciate the “Mustard Seeds” that make up who you are. Perhaps the things you deem as insignificant, in fact, add great beauty and richness to our community.
Are there any unrealistic burdens or expectations you can to let go of? What are some ‘seeds’ that you need to ‘let go and let grow.’
Offertory Blessed Are Those Who Live in Faith Johannes Brahms
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.
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· 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 Peggy Patrick, Reader
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 #528 Sois la Semilla (You Are the Seed) Id y Ensenad
- Sois la semilla que ha de crecer, sois la estrella que ha de brillar. Sois levadura, sois grano de sal, antorcha que debe alumbrar.
Sois la mañana que vuelve a nacer, sois espiga que empieza a granar. Sois aguijón y caricia a la vez, testigos que voy a enviar.
Estribillo (Refrain): Id, amigos, por el mundo, anunciando el amor, mensajeros de la vida, de la paz y el perdón. Sed, amigos, los testigos de mi resurrección. Id llevando mi presencia, con ustedes estoy.
- You are the seed that will grow a new sprout; you’re a star that will shine through the day; you are the yeast and a small grain of salt, a beacon to glow in the night.
Go, my friends, go to the world, proclaiming love to all, messengers of my forgiving peace, eternal love.
Refrain: You are the dawn that will bring a new day, you’re the wheat that will bear golden grain;
You are a sting and a soft, gentle touch, my witness where e’er you go. Be, my friends, a loyal witness, from the dead I arose; “Lo, I’ll be with you forever, till the end of the world.”
2.Sois una llama que ha de encender resplandores de fe y dcaridad.
Sois los pastores que han de llevar al mundo por sendas de paz.
Sois los amigos que quise escoger, sois palabra que intento esparcir.
Sois reono Nuevo que empieza a engendrar justicia, amor y verdad. Estribillo.
2.You are the flame that will brighten the way, sending sparkles of hope, faith and love:
You are the shepherds to lead the whole world through the valleys and pastures of peace.
You are the friends that I choose for myself, the word that I want to proclaim.
You are the city that’s built on a rock where justice and truth always reign. Refrain.
3.Sois fuego y sabia que vine a traer, sois la ola que agita la mar. La levadura pequena de ayer fermenta la masa del pan.
Una ciudad no se puede seconder, ni los montes se han de ocultar, el mundo a Dios ha de ver. Estribillo.
- 3.You are the life that will nurture the plant; you’re the waves in a turbulent sea;
yesterday’s yeast is beginning to rise, a new loaf of bread it will yield.
There is no place for a city to hide, nor a mountain can cover its might; may your good deeds show a world in disrepair a path that will lead all to God. Refrain.
Community Connections
Announcements
We share opportunities for Beloved Community and ways to serve.
Lighting the Justice Candle to Lead us Forth
It’s easy to forget that before 1966, roughly half of all seniors were uninsured, living in fear that the high cost of health care could propel not only them, but their families, into poverty. Not that long ago, far too many disabled people, families with children, pregnant women and low-income working Americans were unable to afford the medical care they needed to stay healthy and productive.
On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid Act, also known as the Social Security Amendments of 1965, into law. It established Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly, and Medicaid, a health insurance program for people with limited income. The March of Dimes reported in 2020 that 42% of births in the US were covered by Medicaid. Funded by a tax on the earnings of employees and matched by contributions by employers, both Medicare and Medicaid were well received. In the first three years of the program, nearly 20 million beneficiaries enrolled in it.
¨ Benediction
¨ Benediction Response Woyaya (We Will Get There)
Reprinted with permission using OneLicense #A-723786
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 Republic of Congo, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe; and our brothers & sisters at River of Life Foursquare 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
¨ Sally Zimmerman has moved to Dominion Memory Care, 200 Meridian Way, Richmond, KY, 40475. She always appreciates cards and letters.
¨ 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
¨ 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
¨ John Hosp, John & Peggy Coyne’s son-in-law’s brother. He had a heart attack at 43 and has been in ICU for stints and blood clots.
¨ Fred Park, with stage 4 lung cancer.
¨ Delores Carpenter and family, at the death of her beloved aunt, Geneva Jones, of Richmond, Indiana.
¨ Doug Hindman, recovering from surgery at The Terrace
¨ Rick Wicker, receiving rehab for a stroke; and also recovering from stent surgery.
¨ Joan English’s cousin, Karen Peterson, facing a second stressful diagnostic doctor visit.
¨ Jerry Cooper, recovering from surgery.
¨ Phyllis Smith’s niece and many friends, at her sudden death on Thursday. Phyllis was an enduring Berea character, known by many. We’ll share arrangements when we have them.
¨ 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 31 – Sharona Nelson; August 4 – Ed Poston, Finn Strange; 6 – Jack Marshall; 7 – Truman Fields
Anniversaries: July 30 – Kristin Boyce & Mariano Sana; August 5 – Kim & Dave Kobersmith, Diana Hultgren & Kent Gilbert; 6 – Laurinda & Jeff Pool
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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