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

Second Sunday of Lent

March 17, 2019           10:30 am

 
 
 
Meditation
Let the beauty you love be what you do. There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground. ― Rumi
Spirituality is not primarily about values and ethics, not about exhortations to do right or live well. The spiritual traditions are primarily about reality…an effort to penetrate the illusions of the external world and to name its underlying truth. ― Parker J. Palmer

From there to Here: We Gather

Welcome & Announcements
Welcome to this service of worship!  During the service, you are invited to rise in body or in spirit, standing or sitting, at points in the service marked “t.”
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!
Prelude If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee J.S. Bach
The Call A Permeable Life Carrie Newcomer
¨  Hymn #24 Black  The God of Abraham Praise Leoni
¨  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 and hospitality.

The Living Word among us

Anthem Contemplation P. McKlveen
Union Church Handbell Ensemble
Hebrew Scripture Lesson Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 (p. 15)
In response to Abram’s despair over whether God will be faithful to his promise to grant him an heir, God shows Abram the stars and promises anew, “So shall your descendents be.” Abram’s belief is reckoned to him as righteousness, in a verse that St. Paul will later put to great use. Yet the note of continuing doubt in the very next verse, and the need for an elaborate ceremony of demonstration, may unsettle the description of Abram’s legendary faith just a bit!
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.
Following the Children’s Moment, children kindergarten through 5th grade are invited to Children’s Church in Cowan Chapel. They are also welcome to stay in the service if they prefer. The Children’s Worship Center in the back of the sanctuary has toys, books, and drawing materials for children (or parents) who would like help staying present in the service. For children preschool age & under, care is available in the Nursery, downstairs in Room 104 off the playground.
Sung Psalm 27 Debbonnaire Kovacs, cantor p. 637
The Psalms were originally musical compositions. During Lent we will pray the psalms in musical form with congregational responses. Please sing the response when invited.
Gospel Lesson  Luke 13:31-35 (p. 1255)
Jesus “sets his face toward Jerusalem” as he laments the fate of the city.
Sermon Confronting the Unimaginable 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.
Prayer in Action and Reflections
Abraham was promised things that seemed completely impossible and unimaginable. What seems unimaginable or impossible on your journey? What “faith lines” are tracing your path? In what ways does God seek to gather you under wings of love? In what ways have you responded to that call?Do you have a covenant with God? What are the terms of this covenant? Is it something you have thought about consciously or something hidden and unthinking, perhaps even unrecognized?
Our Offering Offering baskets are placed in the aisle, and can also be brought to your seat. 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 good portion of our contributions flows out to aid to 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!
Community Sharing Table During Lent, one of the many ways you can kneel and kiss the ground is through your contributions at the Community Sharing Table. We are   considering how our  contributions can walk along with our scriptures each week.
Week 2: Items for children and babies (the chicks we gather under our wings)
Week 3: Bottled water or other drinks for those who thirst
Week 4: Non-perishable meat items (fatted calf)
Week 5: Emergency kits for disaster relief (the poor are always with us)
Week 6: (Palm Sunday): One Great Hour of Sharing
Use the Labyrinth as Meditation During the season of Lent, you will have three ways of walking a labyrinth here in the  sanctuary.

1. Your bulletin cover will feature a different finger labyrinth each week, which you can travel prayerfully without leaving your seat.
2. For this season, the entire sanctuary is our labyrinth. As you walk, whether to a prayer station or for another reason, walk mindfully, pondering the paths your life is taking right now. Consider taking the long route some-times, around a set of pews.
3. One of your destinations could be the labyrinth station in the front corner by the Peace Bell.

Kneeling in Prayer We are enlarging our prayer corner for you to kneel for your unique prayer journey. Each week the articles for contemplation will reflect the lectionary readings for that week.
Record Your Hundred Ways In the children’s corner is a large family star chart for recording and celebrating the actions we have taken in our “Kneel and kiss the ground” focus. If you have participated in one of the suggested actions or in any other way of letting the beauty you love be what you do, put a star or sticker on the chart.
Gather in a Circle
As we end our time of prayer, you are invited to form a large circle around the sanctuary. Those who have not left their seats to pray are encouraged to join the circle. Feel free to create “arms” of our “amoeba of love” which include those who cannot leave their seats. We will pray the Lord’s Prayer together and then sing our parting blessing responsively, repeating each line after the minister.
One: 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

¨  The Sending and Blessing
Especially in our prayers
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 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and our brothers and sisters at Farristown Baptist Church in our hearts, and pray for them. Please hold these concerns in your prayers, today and throughout the week.
Prayer requests to be printed may be sent to the office anytime before 10:00 am Fridays.
¨ Children in detention centers, that they may be reunited with their families soon. 15,000 are now detained in the US.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes, or who are homebound:  Edith Hansen, Nancy Hindman, Loyal Jones, Mary Miller, Alva Peloquin.
¨ Those who are without homes and safe places.
¨ Shirley Carlberg’s sister in her treatment for cancer.
¨ Judy Rowell, recovering at home from heart valve replacement surgery.
¨ For Michelle Hayden’s sister-in-law in her treatment for cancer.
¨ The family, friends and colleagues of Janice Blythe, at her sudden death.
¨ Delores Carpenter and all the family, at the death of her mother, Bernice Allen Parsons.
Rev. Kent will be away at a family wedding next week. Rev. Emily Miller will bring us the Word. Rev. Miller is the Director of Spirituality & Religious Life at Transylvania University. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a native of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, she has previously served churches in Michigan and Virginia, and worked for the PC(USA) and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In 2018, she and her husband, Rev. Dr. Jake Hofmeister, relocated to Berea with their then 2 month old daughter, Harriet.
Lectio Divina today: Join Rev. Kent in the chapel at 4:00 on Sunday afternoons or 8:30 on Wednesday mornings during Lent for Lectio Divina, a brief Benedictine practice of reading scripture as Living Word.
Next Sunday (3/24), we are going to become a LOVE FLASH MOB for our young neighbors in the dorms nearby. Children’s Church kids will decorate boxes for an extra-special delivery. You can drop cookies and treats in the community room before or after service next week, and then come after Lenten Lunch at 2:00 to deliver the cookies and love.
Want to keep your hands busy during service? There’s a basket in the back of the church with knitting projects started by the knitters among us. You can knit a few rows and pray for the person who will receive the finished item, and then return it to the basket after service for someone else to add their stitches and prayers.
Bread for the World 2019 Offering of Letters to Congress “Better Nutrition, Better Tomorrow” will be at Wednesday Night Live March 20.Union Church is a Covenanted Member of Bread for the World and each year we participate in the Offering of Letters, along with churches and organizations through-out the United States, to lobby Congress on behalf of the world’s malnourished children and adults. Please plan now to come to WNL on March 20 and write to your Senators and Representative. All materials will be provided, along with information on this year’s campaign. In 2018 our Offering of Letters helped win bi-partisan passage of the Global Food Security Reauthorization Act and the Farm Bill.
Also, on March 20 we will have locally-made and donated pottery bowls for sale as part of the campus “Empty Bowls” event that same evening. The proceeds from the annual sale of the bowls support local Food Banks.
You can read more about Bread for the World and the 2019 Offering of Letters by visiting the website: bread.org.
Thursday – Come to a Tupperware party and shopping spree! Free gifts, fun & games, tasting, learning and sharing. Hosted by Sara Murphy, all welcome!

Lent Opportunities

Explore a Labyrinth! Today and Sunday 3/31 at 1:30 in the Classroom. Carla Gilbert will lead this two-part series. The first session will focus on learning and conversation about the topic; during the second session, you will visit the new labyrinth at the Campus Christian Center. No registration necessary—just show up!
Today – Settle Into Scripture! Sundays at 4:00 pm; Wednesdays at 8:30 am Cowan Chapel.  For thirty minutes, Rev. Kent will lead the traditional Benedictine practice of Lectio Divina, a four-step process that treats scripture as a living word, rather than just a text to be studied.  (Note: Sunday and Wednesday of each week will use the same scripture passage.) Also, watch Facebook for a virtual version of the weekly Lectio Divina.
Community Joy at Wednesday Nite Live! March 20—Caroling Practice for our April 14 Spring Caroling Event after Wednesday Nite Live supper. All ages welcome.
Bread for the World Offering of Letters also at WNL on the 20th. You can buy handmade bowls to help support Berea College’s Empty Bowls event, proceeds to the Berea Food Bank, too!
Run Together! Couch to 5K: Thursdays 6-6:30 pm; Stephenson Trail. Ever wanted to train for a 5K? Let’s do it together. Bring the kids & the dog! Contact Laura with questions: joyfulsunflower@gmail.com / 859.358.0106 (text or call) or just show up!
Chair Yoga Friday, 3/22, 11:00 am til noon in the Classroom. Judy Flavell, teacher at Mind Body and Sol Yoga Studio will be leading Chair Yoga, a gentle form of yoga that allows to you connect with your body and let your spirit shine through. No registration necessary — just show up wearing comfortable clothes! Also April 5.
Love Our Young Neighbors With Cookies! Sunday 3/24 meet at 2:00 in the Community Room: We want to fill boxes with cookies and deliver them to the nearby dorms to remind them that they are loved by their Union Church neighbors. Bring cookies and help pack / deliver the care packages.
Reflect Through Photography!  Use Facebook to share images representing the Lenten Word of the Day. Follow Union Church on Facebook and post your images.
Make Stuff Together! In the back of the sanctuary, you will find kits with simple knitting projects, started by the knitters among us. Pick one up during service,
follow the pattern, pray for the person who will receive the item, and sign the card when you leave it in the basket for the next person to continue.
Connect With Each Other! Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of  Living. Virtual Book Group We will use a private Facebook group to read & discuss this book of essays by Shauna Niequest. Contact Laura to be added to the group: joyfulsunflower@gmail.com  / 859.358.0106  (text or call).

Every Week—you’re invited!

Zen Meditation every weekday, 8:00 am. Join us for 20 minutes of unstructured quiet meditation in beautiful Cowan Chapel, on the Scaffold Cane Road side of the church.
Mondays at 6:30 pm, Cowan Chapel. David Parks will offer Zen teaching: Meditation, Koans, Conversation, 6:30 – 8:00 pm, Cowan Chapel.
Wednesday Nite Live: The Union Church community gathers for a simple supper at 5:45 pm, September through May, in the Community Room (basement level, handicap accessible by ramp near the playground).  After a few announcements, recognition of birthdays and prayer, it’s supper time! No need to call ahead – you, your friends, neighbors, college students, visitors to Berea, are welcome to come for food and fellowship – whether once, once in a while, or every week. After supper:
· Youth Group (grades 6-12), 6:30 pm. Want to know more? Contact Chris McKenzie, Youth Director at mckenziec@berea.edu.
· Handbell Choir rehearsal, 7 pm. Want to know more? Contact Pearl Marshall, Handbell Director at pmarshall@union-church.org.
Occasional presentations & discussions around mission work and hot topics. Watch bulletins and email announcements for info.
Thursday Noon Bible Study. Meet with Rev. Carla in the Classroom at noon to reflect upon the Scripture for the week and issues of the day.
Thursdays — our Music Director, Bernardo Scarambone, will teach a very basic music reading class right before choir (5:45 pm). Everyone is welcome to join them — no pressure to stay for choir – but you’d be welcome!
Fridays – Bridge Club, 1:30 pm in the Classroom. Call Doug Hindman, 582-5806 if interested.

Around Town and Notes & Notices

April 4-10: Host families needed for Danish High School visit! This is a great opportunity to create international friendships. Individuals and families of any size are needed to host Danish students visiting Berea. Responsibilities are mostly the bed-and-breakfast type, with morning drop-offs and evening pickups, and one afternoon of “free time with hosts.” No prior hosting experience is required and all students speak fluent English. Jennifer Escobar is coordinating. Please call 859-582-7104 for more info and to volunteer!
Sustainable Berea’s Victory Garden Blitz April 5 and 6!  Each year, the Victory Garden Blitz seeks to boost local food security by installing raised garden beds at discounted cost to low-income families, or beds for families who don’t have the ability to build their own. It also offers education to new gardeners. We need 5-gallon buckets to transport soil for the Victory Garden Beds. Drop them at the Berea Urban Farm or at Union Church where Sustainable Berea can collect them. Scribble your name on the bucket if you want the bucket back! We need volunteers to help install beds and we need trucks and trailers. 859-985-1689.