Fourth Sunday of Lent & Pretzel Sunday
March 6, 2016, 10:30 am
Meditation
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
FROM THERE TO HERE
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 “*.”
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 Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling arr. D. Wood
*Call to Worship
One: Do you feel it? God’s kingdom is beneath our feet.
All: We live in the new creation shaped by God out of our brokenness: God’s spirit falling fresh.
One: Can you live it? God’s reconciling love in Christ has shattered our ways of viewing people.
All: No longer labeling sisters or brothers, but entering their embrace with open arms.
One: Do you trust it? God is making everything, including us, new,
All: and offering us as ambassadors of this grace.
One: Let us enter worship, with seeking with new eyes and renewed hearts.
Opening Hymn #417 This Is a Day of New Beginnings BEGINNINGS
Prayer of Approach and Confession
“Kyrie eleison” is Greek for “Lord have mercy,” and is an ancient petition in prayers of confession. When invited, please sing the refrain through twice, and hum while the worship leaders interweave the prayers between our singing.
All: Kyrie Refrain (sung twice)
One: For our sake, Christ Jesus offered himself in love, bearing sin that sin might have no bearing on our hearts. We confess that our lives have not always borne witness to such a gift: help us we pray!
All: Kyrie Refrain (sung once)
One: Reconcile us in our difficulties and discussions; be between us and the harm of our guilt and fears. In relation to self, to other, and with you, we pray for your transforming love to bring us to our right mind and heart.
All: Kyrie Refrain (sung once)
One: In our actions, thoughts and deeds, Lord make us truly new. And by seeing the world with your eyes, help bear light in a broken world.
All: Kyrie Refrain (sung twice)
Passing the Peace of Jesus 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 joy.
THE WORD IN OUR MIDST
Anthem Lead Me, Lord arr. John Courter
Union Church Choir, solo: Sharona Nelson
Lead me, Lord, lead me in your righteousness, make your way plain before my face. For it is you, Lord, only, who makes me to dwell in safety.
Lead me, Lord, lead me through your holy will; make your way plain before my face for it is you, Lord, dearest, fairest Savior who gives me the strength to follow you.
Lead me, Lord, through earth’s darkened valleys, show your face before my eyes. For, Lord, without you there would be no life. Guide us, dear Lord, les we all be lost.
Lead me, Lord, Jesus, kindest savior, please be my guide through all my days. For it is you, Lord, wonderful savior, who gives me the peace that calms my heart.
Hear my prayer; hear my supplication, Lord. Teach me the way to follow you. You know my heart, Lord; know my every thought, Lord; encompass me round with your loving arms.
Epistle Lesson 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Children’s Moment
As the children return to their seats or move to children’s church, 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 Children’s Moment, children grades K-5 are invited to Children’s Church, which takes place in Cowan Chapel. Otherwise, children are welcome to visit the Children’s Worship Center, where there are toys, books, and drawing materials for children (or parents) who would like help staying present in the service. For children preschool & under, care is available in the Nursery, downstairs off the Community Room. Please pick up your children in the Chapel or Nursery after the service.
Sung Psalm 32 p. 642
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 15:1-3,11b-32
Sermon The Lost Boys Rev. Kent Gilbert
GIfts Given for Love to Flow
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.
This can now be done online or by text to 859-448-3403 (Example: Text “$50.00 Offering” to contribute to the ongoing ministries, or add “youth,” or “missions” or designation of your choice to benefit one in particular.
Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
Offertory Pastorale K. Lowenburg
*Doxology
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 to God our Creator.
All: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
* Communion Hymn, opposite All Who Hunger, Gather Gladly Holy Manna
Communion Prayer
One: We gather around this table to reclaim our memories and to ground ourselves in the story—a story knit into the fabric of our beings-about the abundant gift and sufficiency of God’s creation.
One: We are invited to pause in our wondering, to seek for ourselves Jesus’ clarity of vision and passionate resolve, to feel for ourselves the Spirit’s ever-present offering of life, and find in ourselves a remembrance and a readiness to work toward a world restored.
One: Who is welcome here? All who seek and serve the love of God, all who hunger and thirst for righteousness, all who are weary and long for strength in a struggle for justice and who yearn for peace within and without.
Let us together prepare in prayer to gather at the table of blessing.
Ringing of the Peace Bell and Prayers of the Community
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: Through your abundant creation and the awe gift of your son, you have come into our lives, teaching us, cajoling us, calling us back to you … forever suffering our pain and renewing our hope in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
One: We come before you, the fed and the starving; the self-satisfied and disturbed, all seeking you within the madness of how your creation is plundered and your people suffer. The earth is a table, and the table is a gift meant to provide for all: we are partners with you in its care, and beneficiaries of your creation and care. For your constant love and unceasing labors to heal, we sing your praises for this mighty work, raising our voices to proclaim:
Communion Sanctus #795 Please join in singing
Communion Prayer
One: On the night he was betrayed, Jesus sat with his disciples and broke bread. He blessed it, lifted it up, and spoke these words:
All: “this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
One: Then, after supper was over, he took the cup and blessed it, and said:
All: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
One: Remembering you as we come to the richness of your table, we cannot and we do not forget the rawness of the world and the cry of the poor. We cannot take bread and forget those who are hungry. We cannot drink and forget those who are thirsty. Help us feed others as we are fed.
One: Here you have offered us not just bread, not just a cup, but your very self, so that we may be filled and forgiven, healed, blessed, and made new again.
All: Ground us in your love that we may be strong and discerning for the journey. Bless us, as we open our hearts and hands to receive, and celebrate the goodness of the world. Come, Holy Spirit, Come! Amen.
Serving One Another
All who seek the love of God are welcome at this meal and are invited to freely receive from it. We will share the elements today by intinction, dipping the bread in the cup. When invited please come to one of the stations by exiting your pew to the left and returning by the right. If it is not convenient to come forward, the elements can be brought to your seat by signaling to the usher. All the bread is gluten-free, and the chalices are filled with non-alcoholic grape juice.
Blessing for Those Who Will Receive at Home
Members who have been designated to carry communion to those who could not be with us this morning are invited forward at this time. The elements from our meal will go with our blessing and prayers for our continued unity in the Spirit. If you would like serve by taking communion to others, you are very welcome to do so and are invited to volunteer.
Prayer of Thanksgiving [Unison]
All: Broken, we are made whole; lost, we are brought home; empty, we are filled with songs of gladness. We rejoice and give thanks to you, God of reconciling hope, who has graced us with mercy, love, and gifts for healing the world. Amen.
From Here to There
* Closing Hymn #449 Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling Sortly and Tenderly
* Benediction & Sending Forth
* Benediction Response
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me; Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me; Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Postlude (please be seated) Love Divine, all Loves Excelling J. Raney
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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 peoples of Portugal, Spain, Italy and Malta and our brothers and sisters at Liberty Avenue Full Gospel Outreach in your hearts, and pray for them.
Please also hold these concerns in your prayers, today and throughout the week:
¨ For refugee families and individuals seeking shelter and safety, and for all who are working to provide it: May God magnify our efforts.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes, or who are homebound: Edith Hansen, Nancy Jones, Mary Miller, Alva Peloquin
¨ George Oberst
¨ Sheila Johnson, facing breast cancer
¨ Marlene Payne and her family
¨ Kelly Ambrose and family
¨ Terry Allen Watts, NoraRuth Jenkins’ cousin
¨ Alvera Perman’s nephew Kendrell Marshall and his family as he fights non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
¨ George & Elsie Hardman
¨ James Wray (Betty Wray’s son) recovering from heart surgery
¨ For all discerning the way forward in difficult circumstances, may God’s light lead and guide
¨ For the family and friends of Don Graham in the death of his wife Frances
¨ The family of Jay Long at his death: his wife, June, and 6 children
¨ Cindy Saylor’s friend Genny Bryant, who has colon cancer.
¨ Laura Robie, who had knee replacement surgery last week
¨ Andy Blyth, who had surgery last week
¨ Loretta Mountjoy, who has had pacemaker surgery and is recovering at home
¨ Jerry Cooper’s daughter, Debbie diagnosed with breast cancer
¨ Muse Watson and family in the death of Muse’s sister-in-law, Sheri
Announcements
You Matter! Please Sign the Register, Check in on Facebook/Twitter and try a nametag! It’s hard to get to know people elsewhere, but we don’t want it that way at church. Let’s all try to get to know each other better.
TODAY’S LUNCH MENU:
The Properties and Community Life & Growth Boards are serving up some yummy rice & beans! Next week: Pastoral Relations and Finance Boards are preparing Italian dishes!
Join the church next week! New members are received every second Sunday of a month. YOU are welcome here!
We Need YOUR PICTURE for a New Church Directory! If you’ve got a photo you’d like to use, please send it to the office. Also — if there’s a chance we don’t have your address, phone, email address, anniversary, or birthday(s)—please send that info on as well: office@union-church.org. There will be a draft available at Lenten lunches and WNL for you to check and correct if needed. If we left you out — we don’t mean to!! Please add your info! Also, if you happen to know that someone has moved or attends church elsewhere, let us know that too.
Help Beautify the Sanctuary for Easter! Order Lilies by March 22!
Easter morning flowers are a glorious way to celebrate the joy of resurrection. Now you can order sanctuary lilies in honor or memory of loved ones for just $15 with a click! Sales will support our Annual Budget, providing loving care in our many ministries.
We’ll see that the lilies are delivered to church and they’ll be available to take home after the Easter Service if you wish. All orders must be received by March 22 to have dedications included in the Easter service bulletin — just visit union-church.org.
Special Lent Opportunities
TONIGHT!! Hymn Sing, 6:00-7:30pm, Cowan Chapel. Belt out your old favorites! Requests will be taken! Join your voices together!
Let’s Do Lunch! Lenten lunches through March 13 Each year the Boards work together to provide lunch for the Sundays of Lent (through March 13, which is our ANNUAL MEETING!) and the income from these lunches helps to fund the budgets of our Boards — suggested donations of $5.00/single or $15.00/family.
Young People’s Healing Arts Retreat Saturday, March 12th, 9am-1pm. Older children and teenagers will explore Lenten themes of distress and healing using fabric and embroidery. Very interactive, with a lot of breaks, snacks and fun time! Led by Abigale Embry and others.
Calling All Knitters, Needle-workers, Crafters, Crocheters and More! Sunday mornings of Lent, 9:45am-10:15am, bring your own creative project to work on, and join others for relaxed and unstructured conversation, community-building, and coffee before the church service begins.
Tuesday Evenings in Lent: Walking Meditation Please join us and meet at 5:45 at Alumni Field. Walks will be led by David Bellnier and will be a chance to revel in nature and inspiration, while enjoying exercise and new friends. Listen together to a reading, then walk together in meditation!
Book Study America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America Wednes-days, 7:00 pm, Classroom. Rev. Kent and Rev. Rachel will lead a discussion of this new book by Sojourners executive director and long-time Civil Rights ally Jim Wallis. This will be a time of non-judgmental, thoughtful, and prayerful study as we try to learn more how to be effective advocates for racial justice. (If you can’t attend the class, you can read along with us; discussion guides available online.)
Other Highlights
Family Resource Youth Centers in danger of being eliminated! Rally in support March 10, 11-2 at the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort. These centers provide extremely valuable services the most vulnerable youth in our communities. Advance registration required, at http://events.fryscky.org. Free transportation available.
The Family Resource Center at Berea Community Elementary School has contacted No Child Cold/
No Child Hungry in Berea for children’s (new or gently used) jeans and athletic pants in sizes 4 to 16. The need is urgent. Farristown and Foley middle schools need junior-sized jeans. Bring them to church on Sundays or Wednesday nights and Dodie Murphy will deliver them to the schools. If anyone prefers to donate money, checks should be made payable to Union Church and marked No Child Cold/No Child Hungry.
Sustainable Berea’s Annual Meeting March 14 at First Christian Church. Join us at the meeting to hear about Sustainable Berea’s upcoming projects for 2016. 6:30 pm for desserts and 7:00 pm for the meeting, followed by the baked goods auction at 8:00 pm. If you can donate a baked item for the event, either to be in the auction or to feed people in the dessert-meal, prior to the meeting. If you are interested, please contact Cheyenne Olson at 859-893-4590.
Equine Spirituality: Heart of the Horse-Human Partnership Dr. Jeff B. Pool, March 15 5:00 p.m. Draper Building, Room 114, Berea College, From Jeff: “My presentation presupposes a central conviction or hypothesis, a claim that many other people and I have tested and verified consistently, to varying degrees, in actual work with horses: that human work with horses and human attention to spirituality converge, and that, when thoughtfully engaged, both spheres of activity mutually encourage, enhance, and enrich one another in multiple ways. I will draw attention especially to a family of approaches to working with horses that activates the very core or heart of the most authentic forms of partnership between horses and humans. For want of a better phrase, I have described this way of working with horses, following many other people who work with horses on the basis of similar philosophies, as the “natural” approach to the equine-human partnership. By providing a working definition of spirituality, I will also illuminate dimensions of spirituality on the basis of which the natural approach to working with horses already operates as well. In this way, I will explore the core of the equine-human partnership as a form or mode of spirituality itself, through which both humans and horses, in that order, can experience transformation of life together.”
Reaching Individuals: Behind and Beyond the Bars April 15: The third annual faith-based event focused on offender and re-entry ministry in Kentucky. Keynote Speaker: Rev. Lee A. Schott, Pastor of Women at the Well, a congregation inside the walls of the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women. April 15, 9 am—4:30 pm, Flaget Center, Louisville. Find out more at www.louisvillereentry.org. $15 regis-tration includes lunch.
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