A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Pentecost 10:30 am
Meditation
“The secret of grace is not in moving, or in stillness. It is in knowing that each moment is entirely itself and not a step along the way to someplace else.” ~ Brian Andreas
“There can be no love without justice.” ~ bell hooks
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 “<>.”
Scripture Reading Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs–in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
¨ The Call Alice White, Reader
One: As the wind and flame blew through hearts then and there, we feel the breeze and know the fire here and now!
All: Come, Holy Spirit! Bless and bend, grace and guide your church again!
¨ Hymn #267 Come,. O Spirit, Dwell Among Us Ebenezer
1 Come, O Spirit, dwell among us,come with Pentecostal power; give the church a stronger vision, help us face each crucial hour. Built upon a firm foundation, Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone, still the church is called to mission that God’s love shall be made known.
2 We would raise our alleluias for the grace of former years; for tomorrow’s unknown pathway, hear, O God, our humble prayers. In the church’s pilgrim journey you have led us all the way, still in presence move before us, fire by night and cloud by day.
3 Come, O Spirit, dwell among us, give us words of fire and flame. Help our struggling voices praise you, glorify your holy name. Good Creator, Savior, Spirit, Three in One: what mystery! We would sing our loud hosannas now and through eternity.
¨ Prayer of Approach and Confession
One: And so we gather, Lord. We come willing but wondering and worrying. We come unsure of where your Spirit will ask us to go. We come busted and broken and begging for better. When our own babble has obscured your fire, or when we have failed to act on the blessings you send…
All: We ask forgiveness. We ask for help. We ask for the Spirit to guide us.
One: Challenge and change us by your grace for all true love demands.
All: 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
Anthem Send Down the Fire Marty Haugen Union Church Choir
Send down the fire of your justice; send down your love; come send down the Spirit, breathe life in your people, and make us the people of God.
1. Call us to be your compassion, teach us the song of your love; give us hearts that sing, give us deeds that ring, make us ring with the song of your love.
2. Call us to learn of your mercy, teach us the way of your peace; give us hearts that feel, give us hands that heal, make us walk in the way of your peace.
3. Call us to answer oppression, teach us the fire of your truth; give us righteous souls, ‘til your justice rolls, make us burn with the fire of your love.
4. Call us to witness your kingdom, give us the presence of Christ; may your holy light keep us shining bright, ever shine with the presence of Christ.
Scripture Reading Genesis 11:1-9
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
Children’s Moment #327 Jesus Loves Me Jesus Loves Me
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 14:8-17, (25-27)
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I have said these things to you while I am still with you.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
Sermon Be Advised … 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.
Offertory To Dwell in Unity, Valerie Stephenson, Union Church Handbell Ensemble
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Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
¨ Doxology Gathered Here in the Mystery of This Hour Phil Porter
Silent Prayer and Prayers Community
Lord of Wind and Flame, God of lovingkindness, we are so grateful and glad of your constant presence! When we are weak your Holy Spirit brings wonders! You restore us and inspire us and keep us going and never fail to bless, no matter what our worst fears might whisper.
You are the fire of New and Eternal Life, you are the call of just and good relationship to the world, to one another; and you are the spirit and voice of wisdom, guiding us when we have lost the way or forgotten to move. Blow through us all again with your gifts! Frail as we feel somedays, bent out of shape as we might be, we are your church, Holy One: we are the bearers of good news for this world and heirs with Jesus to the costs and joys of discipleship.
Send us where you need kindness to reign; bolster us where you need us to be strong for love lived out loud. Soothe our fears and magnify our dreams that we can be a church peopled with hope and healing. Humbled and expectant, we pray in the name of Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit, reaching to you the way Jesus taught, saying…
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 #289 Come Forth, O Love, Divine Down Ampney
1 Come forth, O Love divine,
seek now this soul of mine,
and visit it with your own ardor glowing;
O Comforter, draw near,
within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.
2 O let it freely burn,
till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let your glorious light
shine ever on my sight,
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.
3 And so the yearning strong,
with which the soul will long,
shall far outpass the power of human telling;
for none can guess its grace,
till Love create a place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.
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
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¨ Benediction
¨ Benediction Response Send Down the Fire M. Haugen
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 Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Eswatini and our siblings at First Church of the Nazarene in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.
¨ 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.
¨ 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.
¨ 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.
¨ Members and Friends who need safer housing and income security.
¨ Rev. Kent’s cousin, Kathy, undergoing chemotherapy for esophageal cancer, and her mother, Helen, who is Rev. Carla’s sister.
¨ Kelly Mehler, responding very well to treatment for his lymphoma.
¨ Barb Taylor’s son, David, undergoing treatment for prostate cancer
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
¨ Laurie White’s mom, Skippy, facing a long and painful recovery from spine surgery.
¨ Dave Reilly’s nephew, Herb Post, ill with kidney cancer that has spread to his lung.
¨ Charlie Hoffman, with cardiac issues.
¨ Congratulations, Jess Burton and Jacob Graber, at the birth of their second daughter. Lila is a big sister!
¨ Welcome to the world, Ransom Hager Gravitt! Congratulations to Mom, Carlie Hager, Dad, Spencer Gravitt, and grandma Tennant Kirk!
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: June 12 – Patti Smithson; 13 – Gene Chao; 14 – Teresa Gowler
Anniversaries: June 13 – Mathew & Courtney Parrish
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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