A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
March 1, 2026 10:30 am Second Sunday of Lent Celebration of Communion
Meditation
No matter what the world says,
says or thinks about me,
I am a child, I am a child of God. ~ Mark A. Miller
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 “<>.”
Introit Roll Down Justice Mark A. Miller
There’s a voice strong and clear ringing out far and near,
“Let justice roll down! Let justice roll down!”
Like the rush of a stream comes a powerful dream,
Let justice roll down, justice rolls down!
Let the earth be restored, every soul be reformed
Let the healing renew, creation reborn!
Here in this sacred space, with the strength of God’s grace
Let justice roll down, justice rolls down!
Roll down! Roll down, justice!
Roll like an everflowing stream.
Roll down, justice!
Roll like an everflowing stream, roll down!
¨ Call to Worship x, Reader
One: The world seems obsessed with who is “right and wrong,” “good or bad,” “in or out” or on “this side or that side.”
All: It is a radical endeavor to name each person as “Child of God.”
One: How will we be agents of God’s justice?
All: By demanding that barriers to the worth and dignity of all people be brought down so that all might know God’s love.
One: Holy and Living God, we open to you. Wake us from our slumber and help us see.
All: May peace flow. Let justice roll.
One: Let no one feel outside your love, outside our love.
All: May peace flow. Let justice roll.
One: Remind us that we are all children of God.
All: May peace flow. Let justice roll.
¨ Hymn #388 Help Us Accept Each Other Aurelia
1. Help us accept each other
as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother,
each person to embrace.
Be present, God, among us,
and bring us to believe
we are ourselves accepted
and meant to love and live.
2. Teach us, O God, your lessons,
as in our daily life
we struggle to be human
and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people,
for all, not just for some,
to love them as we find them,
or as they may become.
3. Let your acceptance change us,
so that we may be moved
in living situations
to do the truth in love;
To practice your acceptance,
until we know by heart
the table of forgiveness
and laughter’s healing art.
4. God, for today’s encounters
with all who are in need,
who hunger for acceptance,
for righteousness and bread,
Bring us new eyes for seeing,
new hands for holding on:
renew us with your Spirit;
God! Free us, make us one!
¨ Prayer of Approach and Confession
One: Friends, the world can be a broken place, and we can feel broken in the midst of it. Let this season be a season of truth-telling, and this a moment of honesty. We don’t confess in order to feel guilty, we confess in order to find change. Through authentic ownership we release the power once used to hide or distract, and turn it toward healing and transformation. Let us pray:
All: God, in humility we confess that many things in our life are not as they should be. Somethings we have done we should not have. And somethings we let happen by doing nothing. And somethings we keep doing because we cannot find or even imagine what else we could try. For our part in these broken times we are truly sorry.
Forgive. Transform. Heal. We would live in your love and move as love demands.
One: Lord have mercy and show us the way.
All: Amen.
¨ Words of Assurance
One: The preacher Paul asked “who can separate us from the love of God? Is there any power that can? Not one; not one thing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.” God didn’t send Christ into the world to condemn it, but that we might all find life and abundant life in his way. All who seek it will find, my friends, and all who ask for forgiveness will receive what is needed to move in hope. This is the way of our God:
All: Thanks be to God!
¨ 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 Child of God Mark A. Miller Union Church Choir
1. No matter what people say or think about me, I am a child of God.
2. No matter what people say or think about you, you are a child of God.
3. No matter what the world says or thinks about me, I am a child of God.
4. No matter what the church says, decisions, pronouncements on you, you are a child of God. And there is no thing, or no one who can separate, they can’t separate you from the truth that you’re someone, you are family, you are meant to be a child of God!
Scripture Reading Genesis 17:1-8
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you and will make you exceedingly numerous.”
Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
“I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding, and I will be their God.”
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
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.
Sung Psalm #121 p. 704
The psalms were originally musical compositions. During Lent we will pray the psalms in musical form. You are invited to sing the response when invited, at the “R” if using the hymnal.
Scripture Reading John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.”
Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
Sermon Child of Night and Light Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
Responding to God’s Love in Communion
Invitation to Communion
One: God be with you!
All: And also with you.
One: Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them up to God.
One: Let us give thanks for the bounty that is life from God’s hand.
All: It is right and good to join this feast for all creation as God’s love rolls down.
One: All are invited to come to this feast where there is enough– enough room around the table, enough grace for everyone in our places of need.
One: Come you are hungry: hungry for love, for justice, for change, for reconciliation, for all that sustains beloved community and your place in it. Come all who thirst, for God knows our needs and blessings roll down like living water as we gather, as we strive together as Love demands.
One: You need not be a member of this church or of any church to partake here. At this table come with no other qualification than being a child of God. You need not be ready, perfect, old enough, honed, educated, or feeling worthy. You are already enough for this welcome. You are welcome and wanted in the streams of God’s living love.
Call to Prayer
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 Next week we pray for Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and our siblings at Kirksville Christian Church in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.
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.
Communion Prayer
One: God who holds our lives, it is good to stand in the waters of justice rolling down bringing heaven on earth. You are watering us with your will for a love-soaked humanity, a vision you author in the grace of creation, in the teachings of the prophets and light-bearers, in the way you continue to stand with and for all peoples.
One: In never-ending thanks for these many gifts, we join the chorus of all in heaven and on earth singing to you in joyous company:
Sanctus
Words of Institution
One: New birth for creation broke forth upon us in Jesus. Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.
One: In these acts of love and justice we see the birth of our call as church to let the waters of justice roll, knowing we have been delivered from death through a covenant of water and the Spirit.
All: May we be strong for the holy work of your heart, O God of Love.
One: In this moment, we remember all who suffer in our day and imagine how Jesus calls to us to respond to them. We remember the people and places, known and unknown, present and far from here, that so desperately need a place at the table of love.
[Silence is observed to lift their names].
One: Just as he said it that last night with his disciples, Jesus says to us “come, gather around, my friends.” This common bread at our table is much more than it seems.
All: “This is the brokenness of the world. This is my body, broken for you. Whenever there is suffering, I suffer with you. I am broken for you.”
One: In the same way he offered them drink. The common cup is much more than it seems.
All: “This cup is my blood shed whenever the innocent bleed at the hands of oppressors. Whenever there is suffering, I suffer with you. I am poured out for you.”
One: Christ is present and comfort is given, food is offered, hope is restored by these gifts. Pour out your holy spirit on this body gathered, and on the broken bread and poured cup. May we become your body for the sake of a world where love flows free and all the broken are restored.
Serving One Another
All who seek the love of God are welcome at this table and are invited to freely receive from it. By tradition, unfermented grape juice is used in the cup on Sunday mornings. If it is not convenient to come forward, the elements can be brought to your seat.
If it is not your tradition to receive, you are invited to join in prayers for the unity of the Spirit within your tradition. You may remain in your seat, or you may come forward for a blessing, as you wish.
Living Prayer
Embodied Prayer
You are invited to reflect and pray at the candle table. You may also choose to source the essential ingredient of solitude and private prayer, remaining with your own thoughts in your pew. Please refer to the insert in your bulletin for further inspiration.
For Reflection Child of God: Naming Each One
Close your hand, making a tight fist. What do you need to give up during Lent to let justice roll down and prevail in your life, in your world?
¨ Think about those who you find difficult to love—perhaps even yourself.
¨ What prejudices are playing the background? What wrongs are you holding tight? Slowly open your hand, releasing your grasping for protection.
¨ Open and release to compassion and courage.
We come before you, One who is Goodness,
frustrated and angered by injustice,
often feeling helpless and
powerless in the struggle.
Rather than work at what we can
for your reign of love,
we just want to throw up our hands in resignation.
Forgive us and remind us of the
power you give us
to name and resist evil in all its forms.
Move us closer to compassion and courage
to speak up and stand up
or what is right and good. Amen.
Offertory Communion Meditation R. Teichler Union Church Orchestra
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Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
¨ Doxology Kyrie No. 7 Taize
Prayer of Thanksgiving
For this reminder of brokenness and of healing, we give you thanks, Lord. For the reminder of such love flowing down, stronger than condemnation, wider than territory or tribe, we give you our hearts. For the ever-present, ever-rolling streams of your restoration, we beg that they might flow to all people and that such Love as Jesus tried to show us might heal all your lands, and all our hearts. From above, again and again, may we be one with you: one spirit, one love, one body born to be living words of grace. Help us, we pray, in Jesus name and in the way he 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 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 #177 God of Change and Glory Katherine
1. God of change and glory,
God of time and space,
When we fear the future,
Give to us your grace.
In the midst of changing ways
Give us still the grace to praise.
Refrain: Many gifts, one Spirit,
One love known in many ways.
In our difference is blessing,
From diversity we praise
One Giver, one Word,
One Spirit, one God
Known in many ways,
Hallowing our days.
For the Giver, for the gifts,
Praise, praise, praise!
2. God of many colors,
God of many signs,
You have made us different,
Blessing many kinds.
As the old ways disappear,
Let your love cast out our fear.
Refrain
3. Freshness of the morning,
Newness of each night,
You are still creating
Endless love and light.
This we see, as shadows part,
Many gifts from one great heart.
Refrain
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
Today we light this candle for Alice Coachman, the first Black woman to win Olympic Gold from any country. In the 1948 summer games in London, Coachman set a record in the high jump on her first try and with a surgically implanted rod in her back to manage an injury that was expected to end her athletic career. She was 24. King George VI placed the gold medal around her neck. President Truman congratulated her at the White House. The mayor of her hometown of Albany, Georgia, refused to shake her hand.
She grew up in the Jim Crow south where sports programs were for whites only and very rarely included girls. She picked cotton, sold pecans and plums, and hauled corn to market in order to help feed her family. In 1939, she received a scholarship to the Tuskegee Institute where she became known as the “Tuskegee Flash.” In 1952, Coca-Cola signed her as a spokesperson making her the first Black female athlete to endorse an international brand. And in 1996, she was honored at the Atlanta Olympics as one of the 100 greatest Olympic athletes in history.
¨ Benediction
¨ Benediction Response Hold On Heidi Wilson
Our Prayers for Others
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
¨ 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.
¨ That the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East may hold; and those suffering receive the aid they need.
¨ 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.
¨ Our neighbors experiencing housing insecurity, homelessness and food insecurity.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Dorie Hubbard, Susan Kramer, Hattie Parks, Cheryl Payne, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie, Theresa Scherf.
¨ Britt Miracle, in University of Cincinnati Hospital with severe heart issues.
¨ Rick Fulton, at home, but facing a possible heart transplant.
¨ Pam Chabora, recovering from a fall, with a badly broken arm and other injuries.
¨ Betsy Whaley and family, with Covid; and at Betsy’s mother’s cancer diagnosis.
¨ Dottie Lovell, suffering with pneumonia, at home.
¨ Curtis Hughes, Paula White’s brother, due to have a procedure done on Tuesday, March 3, to close a hole in his heart.
¨ Randy Stone, recovering from surgery.
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthday: March 5 – Jenny Bromley
Anniversary: March 1 – Charles & Audrey Coyne
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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