A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Third Sunday after Pentecost 10:30 am
Meditation
We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up, everybody, and sing!
~ Sister Sledge
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude
Welcome
¨ Call To Worship Rhonda Edwards, Reader
Desmond Tutu taught that ubuntu celebrates our diverse interdependence and is related to the wholeness or peace that Jesus brings:
We find that we are placed in a delicate network of vital relationship with the Divine, with my fellow human beings and with the rest of creation. … We are meant then to live as members of one family, the human family exhibiting a rich diversity of attributes and gifts in our differing cultures as members of different races and coming from different milieus—and precisely because of this diversity, made for interdependence…
The peace we want is something positive and dynamic. In the Hebrew it is called shalom which refers to wholeness, integrity; it means well-being, physical and spiritual. It means the abundance of life which Jesus Christ promised he had brought. It all has to do with a harmonious coexistence with one’s neighbors in a wholesome environment allowing persons to become more fully human.
~ Desmond Tutu, “The Quest for Peace,” address, Johannesburg, August 1986, quoted in Michael Battle, Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me (New York: Seabury Books, 2009), 83.
So come, family! Let us enter our worship together and with thanks. Let us live as though everyone here is mother and sister and brother and cousin and father to us in order that we might live Gospel in the light of this day!
To start let me invite those of you who wish to rise in body or in spirit to join in singing the hymn printed in your bulletin!
¨ Opening Hymn Who Is My Mother, Who Is My Brother? Kindred
Reprinted with permission using OneLicense #A-723786
¨ Prayer of Approach and Confession
One: Let us pray…
All: God of every one of us, we gather as your family but we confess that “family” has been hard, and we haven’t always done it well. First we confess that we have been more ready to see others as strangers and enemies, rather than as siblings to us in Christ’s call. For those we do see as family, even with them we have often fallen short of the mark. Families have brought pain. Some have not been places of safety. Even the church family has closed doors and turned our backs on too many. These things we confess in the hope that they may be set right. Forgive our blindness and magnify our connections and compassion for one another. We stand before you wishing to be worthy of the name “children of God,” and hoping you will show us how. In Christ’s name we pray: Amen
¨ Words of Assurance
¨ Passing the Peace of Christ
All who come to this sanctuary are welcome companions on this day! You are invited to turn to those nearest you and greet them with words of peace.
Word and Worship
Scripture Reading 1 Samuel 8:4-20, 11:14-15
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only–you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.”
So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed offerings of well-being before the Lord, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.
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 Mark 3:20-35
And the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”– for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Sermon Family Fiction 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.
Offertory
¨ Doxology Old Hundredth
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise God all creatures here below.
Praise God above ye heavenly host:
Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost! Amen.
Prayer and Reflection Questions
The People Wanted a King. What Do You Want?
Sometimes the thing we think we want isn’t the answer to the thing we need.
Take a moment to reflect: what do you want? And what need is underneath that hope or desire? In prayer be brave and go deep. What is under the thing that is under the need? Maybe the thing you thought would be the solution isn’t the only way? Ask for what you need and be open to God’s creative reply.
Who Are Your Families?
Jesus makes family not of blood but of spirit.
Who are in your families of spirit? What gifts have you received from them and from being “adopted?” Who is in need of adoption by you? Give a shout out of thanks for these siblings and parents, and meditate on how you can keep spreading the blessing.
A Chance for Generosity: www.easytithe.com/union
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Prayers of the Community Rhonda Edwards, Reader
O God of great relations and binder of ties both human and divine, we lift our hearts and hands to you. We bring to you all the members of our many families who yearn for the wholeness and healing of your love. With deepest gratitude we cherish those in our lives who made living lovely: our sisters in faith, our brothers in arms, our siblings both chosen and born-to, who have included us in a vision of our self.
We offer our broken places, and our broken promises that you might break their tyranny over us and over any we have harmed. And pray for the healing and hope you have offered to any who call upon you. Hear our prayer and bind us in one human family: forgetting not one while loving all. Give us strength to do this work in the name of Jesus, who taught us to reach to you as…
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.
From Here to There
¨ Hymn #427 God Made from One Blood St. Denio
- God made from one blood all the families of Earth. The circles of nurture that raised us from birth. Companions who join us to walk through each stage, of childhood and youth, adulthood and age.
- We turn to you, God, with our thanks and our tears. For all of the families we’ve known through the years. The intimate networks on whom we depend, of parents and partner and roommate and friend.
- Through families we’ve tasted the value of trust, And felt what it means to be loving and just. Yet, families have also betrayed their best goals, mistreating their members and bruising their souls.
- Help families in all of their various forms To face with integrity struggles and storms; Grant peace to our homes that will nurtures the bud of peace for the families you made from one blood.
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
Today, June 9, is “Senior Citizens’ Day,” and a perfect time to recognize non-profit justice heroes who are striving to foster “a society in which everyone ages with dignity and purpose.”
On the national and state level this effort is perhaps most effectively spearheaded by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP, aarp.org). Founded in 1958 by a retired school principal, Ethel Percy Andrus, it has grown into a 38 million plus member organization that works to “strengthen communities” and advocates for Americans 50 and older to “choose how they live as they age.” Their advocacy includes ensuring that low-income older adults have nutritious food, affordable health care and housing, and that all adults have “strong and sustaining bonds.” Recognizing that loneliness is a problem for all generations, they sponsor programs such as Big and Mini that connect seniors with young people for weekly video chats and mutual support.
Locally, support for older adults is organized by Berea Home Village (bereahomevillage.org) a grass-roots non-profit founded in 2017 as part of the Village-to Village network. Member and volunteer-driven, this non-profit provides basic services that allow aging adults to “remain active, independent, and socially connected to their communities.” They offer transportation, home safety assessment, phone check-in calls, health and wellness programs, and social and educational activities.
¨ Benediction The God of Second Chances David Haas
Those who are able & willing are invited to fill the aisles as we sing the Benediction Response together. If you’re at home or in the balcony, you are part of the embrace too. The embrace is as wide as God’s love!
Reprinted with permission using OneLicense #A-723786
Our Prayers for Others
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