Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

July 5, 2020  10:30 am

Meditation
“We could choose to be a nation that extends care, compassion, and concern to those who are locked up and locked out or headed for prison before they are old enough to vote. We could seek for them the same opportunities we seek for our own children; we could treat them like one of “us.” We could do that. Or we can choose to be a nation that shames and blames its most vulnerable, affixes badges of dishonor upon them at young ages, and then relegates them to a permanent second-class status for life. That is the path we have chosen, and it leads to a familiar place.”
― Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

From there to here: we Gather

Welcome
A welcoming Spirit blows through us all! As the Berea community responds to the governor’s suggestion to avoid gathering in large groups, we worship online to limit the risk of exposure to Covid-19. We’re delighted to welcome you into this virtual circle of God’s healing love and light.
The Call “By the Oaks of Mamre” Rachel G. Hackenberg  Sandy Bolster, Reader
Stay awhile, O Stranger, for the night has been long and cruel and our souls are not yet wrung dry from weeping.
Stay awhile, O Stranger, for the fires are raging on cultic altars built to sacrifice precious fruit to ravenous gods.
Stay awhile, O Stranger, for the day has burned our eyes with violence against your holy blessings.
Stay awhile, O Stranger, for the heavy dust of inhospitality and racism must be washed from our feet and picked from our toes.
Stay awhile, O Stranger, for the moon rises on our endurance and the candles of hope must be relit and shared.
Stay awhile, O Stranger, for your impossible stories make us laugh and laugh until joy looses our bonds and sets us free.
Stay awhile, O Stranger, until dawn finds us toasting to life with overflowing cups of wisdom and peace.

Passing the Peace at Home

Building the Community: News that Connects Us
Today our justice candle is lit in honor for Reverend Richard Allen, who founded the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Originally named “Negro Richard,” Rev. Allen taught himself to read and write during his time as a slave. He eventually purchased his own freedom and became a minister at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. After enduring racism from the white congregation members, Allen led the black congregation to form the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, a denomination that still holds strong to this day.
The Living Word among us
Anthem Embrace of Love Gabrielly Barreto
Epistle Lesson  Romans 7:15-25 Sayer Kobersmith, Reader
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
Children’s Moment              Please join in singing as we bless children everywhere:
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.
Gospel  Lesson  Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 Sayer Kobersmith, Reader
‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’
‘At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’
Sermon Home of the Brave Rev. Kent Gilbert

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.
A Chance for Generosity: www.easytithe.com/union
Our gifts help sustain this particular community of caring by sustaining the building, pastors and staff, and all the materials that make our ministry of healing, justice, and teaching available to all in need. In addition, a portion of our contributions flows out to aid those in need via many external agencies.
Many friends give online, and you can use your smart phone or computer and go to www.easytithe.com/union. You don’t have to register to make a contribution, but if you do, it can make future generosity that much easier. You can even give by text! Text to 859-448-3403 (Example: Text “$50.00 Offering”)
Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
Offering Music

Responding to God’s Love in Communion

Invitation to Communion
One: The Lord be with you!
All: And also with those you cherish.
One: Lift up your hearts!
All: We lift them to the Lord.
One: Let us give thanks to God!
All: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
One: In this time of increased isolation, let us center ourselves in this moment of committed community. If you have a candle, let’s light it now.
With those all over the world, we are remembering light in the darkness and the light of the World by this light.  Let us center ourselves now for prayer:
Communion Prayer
Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ,
Divine Goodness in the flesh come to love our flesh: all lives are your beautiful creation. Your Spirit anointed him for that love that preached good news to the poor, proclaimed release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, setting at liberty those who are oppressed, and announcing that the time had come
To save the people… He heals the sick! He feeds the hungry, He eats with those cut off from the fullness of life and love, He opens hardened hearts, and makes a Way out of no way.
With all in heaven and on earth who know your grace, we sing our unending praise:
Sanctus Please join in singing:
Santo! Santo! Santo! Mi corazon te adora! Me corazon te sabe decir; santo eres Dios. Holy! Holy! Holy! My heart, my heart adores you! My heart is glad to say the words; you are holy, God.
Prayer Continues
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to a new path of faithful life, and you deliver us from our death-dealing preoccupations. You make with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit. When Jesus breathed Spirit upon his beloveds, he promised to be with us always and so he is, and will be.  Each breath we take, each movement of breeze, reminds us of this beautiful truth, that by the power of your Word and Holy Spirit, we are not alone. We can breathe in the presence of your Christ.
Words of Institution
Let us pray:
One: On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
All: “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
One: Take now your meal, and as you lift it to share: let us remember the long road through God’s gifts and people that bring this blessing to us: the blessing of water and field, of labor to plant and harvest, mill and bake, to carry, wrap, stock, sell, store and serve. Remembering our common lot and our mutual dependence on such gifts, take now this meal of long love and care. We eat and we remember: in Christ’s name.
Next we remember that Jesus took the cup. He poured, and again blessing it, shared it with his disciples saying
All: “This cup is my blood, my life, poured out in a new covenant for you. Take and drink it all of you.”
One:      As we pour we remember the life-giving elements that fill our cup. We remember the life poured into us by a loving Jesus who didn’t come to condemn but to fire us with love and blow the spirit through us to wider life and deeper peace.
A table is set before us in the presence of all our antagonizing anxieties: take and drink.  God is present, Christ is alive, and the Winds of The Spirit are blowing!
Prayers of the People Reconciliation Jennifer Melton
God of all being, Source of oneness, Enable us to embrace this opportunity For reconciliation. Division is unnecessary. Resentment unhelpful. Blame unassignable. So much more is attainable on your path, in your way. This is a time of coming together, Holding each other, Loving one another; Spilling your grace abundantly. Open our hearts to love, Open our minds to understanding, Open our souls to restoration of unity. Let us pray as Jesus taught us…
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.   
Our Prayers for Others
You are very welcome to email or phone prayer requests to the office for the bulletin. Please do so by 10 am Thursdays, and be sure you have permission to share the information.
¨ 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. Let us hold the people of Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda and our brothers and sisters at Berea United Methodist Church in our hearts, and pray for them. Please hold these concerns in your prayers, today and throughout the week.
¨ 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.
¨ Families and Friends in Crises…may God be present to every need and heal every rift and wound and those who care for them.
¨ Jaidyn, granddaughter of Sandy Bowles McClure, soon to undergo open heart surgery.
¨ Marie Grace, for finding peace and patience in affliction, prayer request received online.
¨ Guy Patrick, recovering from intestinal surgery.
¨ Teri VanPelt, experiencing health concerns.
¨ Marie, Dorie Hubbard’s kindergarten aged great grand-niece, who has had a recurrence of cancer and is back in treatment.
¨ Emily Hoskins, who is pregnant and has gestational diabetes.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes, or who are homebound: Alva Peloquin, Loyal Jones, Jennie Kiteck, Mary Miller, Lois Morgan, Barb Smith, Jan Hamilton.
¨ Children in detention centers, that they may be reunited with their families soon.
¨ George Mountjoy, living with cancer.
¨ Those affected by the Covid-19 virus, their families and friends living with fear, anxiety, and feelings of isolation, may God bring peace to all who love them; and our wider community as we cope with the new realities of living.

From Here to There

Hymn How Beautiful, Our Spacious Skies Materna

1. How beautiful, our spacious skies, our amber waves of grain;
   our purple mountains as they rise above the fruitful plain.
   America! America! God’s gracious gifts abound,
   and more and more we’re grateful for life’s bounty all around.
2. Indigenous and immigrant, our daughters and our sons:                                                        O may we never rest content till all are truly one. America! America!                                God grant that we may be
   a sisterhood and brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
3. How beautiful, sincere lament, the wisdom of our tears,
   the courage called for to repent the bloodshed through the years.
   America! America! God grant that we may be
   a nation blessed with none oppressed, true land of liberty.
4. How beautiful, two continents, and islands in the sea
   that dream of peace, nonviolence, all people living free.
   Americas! Americas! God grant that we may be
   a hemisphere where people here all live in harmony.

(On her first trip west in the summer of 1893 the distinguished New England educator Katharine Lee Bates was inspired to write “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies.”  One hundred years later, in 1993, Miriam Therese Winter wrote new stanzas to clearly include all of the Americas.)
The Sending & Blessing Rev. Kent Gilbert
Postlude Stars and Stripes Forever
 
In Worship Today…
Each week many elements come together to make our worship together rich and deep.
This week we are grateful for Sandy Bolster and Sayer Kobersmith, Readers; and Marty Hensley, Jeff Hutton, Sayer Kobersmith, Sean Mack and Olin Perry, in the sound and camera equipment booth.
Many thanks to the Worship Team who crafted this service: Don Cardwell, Debbonnaire Kovacs, Jennifer Melton and Sharona Nelson.
Congregational Meeting to consider revised 2020 budget on  Sunday July 19, 2:00 pm.
Zoom Webinar format.
 Announcements are found at union-church.org/news