March 9, 2025, The First Sunday of Lent, Worship Bulletin & Prayer Concerns

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

March 9, 2025     10:30 am 

The First Sunday of Lent

Meditation   

When we talk about God, we never have to talk about which side of the road she might walk down. Wherever you are, that’s where she’ll be. -Rev Sarah (Are) Speed

From There to Here: We Gather

Prelude

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 “<>.”  

Invocation 

¨ The Call Diane Bailey, Reader

One: Here in this place, we can ask big questions.

All: Who is my neighbor? How can I help? What do I have to learn? Where is God in it all?

One: Here in this place, we can ask big questions.

All: So may we listen. May we learn. May we stay curious, and may we look for God.

One: This is our invitation to lean in. Let us worship our holy God.

¨ Hymn #541  They Asked “Who’s My Neighbor?” Neighbor

1. They asked, “Who’s my neighbor and whom should I love; for whom should I do a good deed?” Then Jesus related a story and said, “It’s anyone who has a need, yes, anyone who has a need.”
2. There once was a traveler set on by thieves who beat him and left him to die; a priest and a Levite each saw him in pain, but they turned away and walked by, yes, they turned away and walked by.
3. A certain Samaritan then came along to bind up his wounds and give aid; he took him to stay at an inn until well, and for all the service he paid, yes, for all the service he paid.
4. I know who’s my neighbor and whom I should love, for whom I should do a good deed; for Christ made it clear in the story he told: it’s anyone who has a need, yes, anyone who has a need.

¨ Prayer of Confession  (unison)

Holy God, you have told us to love our neighbors as ourselves, but we get tripped up on logistics. We want to know: who is our neighbor? Do we have to love the stranger? Must we have compassion for our enemy?

Forgive our human tendency to create exceptions in the face of love. Rewire our hearts so that we might see the face of a neighbor in every stranger we pass. With hope we pray, amen.

¨ Words of Grace

One: Family of faith, when we set limits on love,

All: God loves extravagantly.

One: When we forget that we are neighbors,

All: God claims us as God’s own. When we judge, hold back, or harm, God surrounds us with grace.

One: There is nothing we can do or leave undone that could separate us from the love of God.

All: This is the good news of the gospel. Thanks be to God! Amen.

¨ 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 Ave Maria   Caccini                        Union Church Choir; Kim Kobersmith, flute

 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 #25 p. 635

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                                                                Luke 10:25-37

An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 

Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Sermon Who Is the Stranger? A Lectio Divina Rev. Christina Ryan Perkins

Video Reflection

A chance to take in what we have heard.

Living 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.

 Offertory

 Embodied Prayer

You are invited to reflect and pray at the candle table. There are artistic reflection opportunities at stations around the sanctuary. Please join us in our collaborative art. You may also choose to source the essential ingredient of solitude and private prayer, remaining with your own thoughts in your pew. 

 A Chance for Generosity: www.easytithe.com/union

A community of caring relies on support. Your recurring or one-time donation will make a ministry of healing, justice, and teaching available to   all in need.

¨ Use your smart phone or computer and go to www.easytithe.com/union. No registration required, but registering once makes future generosity simply entering an amount and a click.

¨ Baskets for checks or cash are located at the head of each aisle for those who wish to make an in-person donation.

¨ Give by Text. Text an amount to 859-448-3403 (Example:  Text “$50.00 Offering”).

¨ Give by Mail to: 200 Prospect St., Berea, KY 40403.

Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!

¨   Doxology               Old Hundredth

To God all glorious heavenly Light, To Christ revealed in earthly night, To God the Spirit now we raise Our joyful songs of thankful praise. Amen.

Silent Prayers and Prayers of the Community          Diane Bailey, Reader

One:      Gracious God, We love to ask you questions. We love to throw our wonderings at the sky, to bring our curiosity to your feet, to examine, beseech, and imagine all day long.

But when the answers come, we don’t always like what we hear. Awaken a curiosity in us. Awaken a penchant for listening, and make room in our spirits for your Word to land.

With hope we question, we wonder, we dream, we listen and we pray…

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 #498 Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love Chereponi

Refrain: Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love, show us how to serve the neighbors we have from you.

1 Knelt at the feet of his friends, silently washing their feet, Jesu, you acted as a servant to them. Refrain

2 Neighbors are rich and poor, varied in color and race, neighbors are near and far away. Refrain

3 These are the ones we should serve, these are the ones we should love, all these are neighbors to us and you. Refrain

4 Loving puts us on our knees, showing our faith with by our deeds, serving the neighbors we have from you. Refrain

5 Kneel at the feet of our friends, silently washing their feet, this is the way we should live with you. 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

A physician and researcher, Jane Cooke Wright is credited as having been among the cancer researchers to discover chemotherapy. She was the daughter and granddaughter of African American physicians. In 1964, Wright was the only woman among seven physicians who helped to found the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and in 1971, she was the first woman elected president of the New York Cancer Society.

Dr. Wright was appointed associate dean and head of the Cancer Chemotherapy Department at New York Medical College in 1967, apparently the highest ranked African American physician at a prominent medical college at the time, and certainly the highest ranked African American woman physician.

She was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to serve on the National Cancer Advisory Board (aka the National Cancer Advisory Council) from 1966 to 1970 and the President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke from 1964 to 1965.  

¨  Sending Forth

One:      Church, if God asked you, “Who is your neighbor?” what would you say?

All:      We would say every child, every person, every weeping willow, and every morning lark.

Every freckled face, every wrinkled pair of hands, every tail-wagging dog, and every crisp ripe apple. We would say, we are connected – to one another, to all of God’s creation. There are no strangers in God’s house. We are all family here.

One: I think God would delight in that answer. For it is said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

All: with all your soul,

One: with all your strength,

All: with all your mind,

One: and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

All: We believe. Help our unbelief. Amen.

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 Ireland; United Kingdom: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales; and our brothers and sisters at Kirksville Christian Church 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 in the Middle East, and prayers that the cease-fire will hold.

¨ 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.

¨ All those suffering from mental strain, trauma, and disease, and those who care and worry for them: may God soothe and heal all who are troubled.

¨ Our Kentucky neighbors, who are once again facing the devastation of flooding.

¨ 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.

¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.

¨ The Guild family as Will continues his struggle with brain cancer and stroke.  

¨ Muse Watson, recovering at home from surgery

¨ Rev. Kent’s cousin, Kathy, undergoing chemotherapy for  esophageal cancer.

¨ Ally Nurre, having some complications from a recent knee replacement.

¨ Kelly Mehler, awaiting the next phase of treatment for lymphoma.

¨ Barb Taylor’s son, David, undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.

¨ Susan Doring-Zook and family, at the passing of her mother, Mary Doring.

¨ Meg Suters, who has had a minor stroke, and for her daughter, Ellen, caring for her.

¨ Rev. Christina’s family: her brother-in-law, Jamie, with stage 4 cancer and his wife, her sister Veronica. They’ve got two small children.

¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!

Birthdays: March 11 – Theresa Scherf; 12 – David Shroyer; 16 – Pete Campbell

Anniversaries: March 10 – Karl & Triss Holland

If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know.

We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!