A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Fourth Sunday of Easter 10:30 am
Meditation
What will sustain us and allow us to stay engaged is the power of what we love, not just the possibility of what we fear. ~ Carrie Newcomer
“The future depends on what you do today.” ~ Gandhi
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 “<>.”
¨ The Call Pamela Chabora, Reader
One: God is our great Shepherd and Leading Elder:
All: I follow and I want for nothing!
One: God throws out a rope to me, and the name of the rope is “love.”
All: The Shepherd draws me to where the grass is green and the water is not dangerous, and I eat and lie down and am satisfied.
One: Sometimes my heart is very weak and falls down,
All: But the Lord lifts me up again and draws me onto a good road.
One: When I have been drawn into a valley, though it is very dark there, I will not be afraid,
All: For it is between those mountains that the Great Shepherd will meet me and the staff of love will comfort and sustain me;
One: The Lord spreads a table before me with all kinds of foods,
All: And even when I am assailed on every side, the hunger that I have in my heart is satisfied.
One: The Shepherd puts His hand upon my head and all the “tired” is gone.
All: My cup is filled till it runs over. These roads of mercy and goodness are the way ahead for me. I will follow them all the days of my life that I may lodge with the Great Shepherd and sit at the Lord’s fire forever.
~ Modified from words of the West Michigan Conference Native American Interpretation of the 23rd Psalm
¨ Hymn # 247 My Shepherd Is the Living God Consolation
1.My shepherd is the living God,
I therefore nothing need;
In pastures fair, near pleasant streams
you settle me to feed.
You bring my wandering spirit back
when I forsake your ways,
And lead me for your mercy’s sake
in paths of truth and grace.
2. When I walk through the shades of death,
your presence is my stay;
A word of your supporting breath
drives all my fears away.
Your hand, in sight of all my foes,
does still my table spread;
My cup with blessings overflows,
your oil anoints my head.
3. The sure provisions of my God
attend me all my days;
O may your house be my abode,
and all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
while others come and go –
No more a stranger or a guest,
but like a child at home.
¨ Prayer of Approach and Confession
One: Let us Pray…
All: Lord, we confess that we’ve traded the lifestyle Jesus offered for the deathstyle of empire. We’re eating ourselves to death while others starve. The green pastures are full of pesticides and the still waters are unsafe to drink. Some who praise you, and preach your power, lace their speech with terrible lies and the temptations of ruling others and owning their lives. We dress ourselves in death to walk through the valleys of distraction, instead of carrying life into the shadows of danger and despair.
We pray for ourselves and our world: we pray for the forgiveness of transforming love. Help us to reject the empire of hate and death. Help us to leave wrong desires and idolatrous greed behind. Help us to fear no evil, to sit down and eat with our enemies, and to anoint one another in service and love instead.
Feed us with this courage and forgive us our transgressions that we may follow you more closely all the days of our lives. In Christ’s name we pray: Amen.
~modified from a voice-play by Diane Zaerr Brenneman, Words for Worship 2 (Harrisonburg, VA: Herald Press, 2009).
¨ Words of Assurance
¨ 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
Anthem Peace I Leave with You, My Friends Roy Repp Union Church Choir
Refrain: Peace I leave with you, my friends, shalom, my peace in all you do. Peace I leave with you, my friends. I give to you so you can give to others too.
1. To share Gods love is why I came, to show God’s kindness without end. Go now, my friends, and do the same until I come again.
2. Take my hand & be at peace, the spirit of our love I send. And with this love you will be free, until I come again.
3. With this love you all will know that loneliness is at an end. Rejoice my people though I go, for I will come again.
x
Scripture Reading Acts 9:36-43
Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydia was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter got up and went with them, and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed.
He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Meanwhile, he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.
~ 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.
Scripture Reading John 10:22-30
At that time the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me, but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, in regard to what he has given me, is greater than all else, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
Sermon All the Cries We Cannot Hear Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
A chance to take in what we have heard and reflect together.
Living Prayer
Call to 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.
Embodied Prayer
You are invited to reflect and pray at the candle tables. You may also choose to source the essential ingredient of solitude and private prayer, remaining with your own thoughts in your pew.
All The Voices… Mothers and fathers can both distinguish their child’s voice among thousands of others even in a crowded room. This skill isn’t magic, though. Whether learning to recognize the cry of a child, the true voice of vocation, of familial ties, or of faith and discipleship, it all takes practice. In your prayer time today take a moment to physically and specifically list the characteristics of Christ’s faith voice to you.
How can you attune yourself to that voice among so many others?
¨ Start by recalling a time you were compelled by a message, a call to action, etc.
¨ What caught in your heart?
¨ What was similar to other experiences that moved you?
List some of your insights below, then keep the list close. If you like, assign in your head and heart a special or sweet sound you can associate with those characteristics, or imagine the words coming to you in the voice of a beloved teacher, parent, mentor or friend.
Share with a trusted friend or partner just how you will know the voice of the Shepherd next time you hear it.
Moral Witness Moment… Union Church is joining with thousands of other houses of worship around the country in a movement to call for a revival of moral values in how we live together.
We are following the teachings of clergy like The Rev. Dr. William Barber II, founder of “Repairers of the Breach” (breachrepairers.org) in lifting a call for moral accountability in civic endeavors and govern-mental action. In this spirit, all friends, members, and visitors are encouraged to pray for ways we can work together for the well-being of all by caring for the ones Christ cared for most. As Jesus reminds us all, those who hear his voice don’t just sit around congratulating themselves. They follow that voice into loving action and righteous expectations. Take time to pray for your own moral courage, then open yourself to ways you will follow Christ’s voice, hear the cries of the least, the lowest, and the often left-behind, and hold accountable those who hurt others.
Your Heart Today
Where there is fear I can allay,
Where there is pain I can heal,
Where there are wounds I can bind,
And hunger I can fill:
Lord, grant me courage,
Lord, grant me strength,
Grant me compassion
That I may be your heart today.
Where there is hate I can confront,
Where there are yokes I can release,
Where there are captives I can free
And anger I can appease:
Lord, grant me courage,
Lord, grant me strength,
Grant me compassion
That I may be your heart today.
When comes the day I dread
To see our broken world,
Protect me from myself grown cold
That your people I may behold.
And when I’ve done all that I could,
Yet, there are hearts I cannot move,
Lord, give me hope,
That I may be your heart today.
~ Fr. Manoling Francisco, SJ
Offertory
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 #765 Alleluia!
Silent Prayer and Prayers of the Community Pamela Chabora, Reader
God of grass, grow up under our feet.
God of still water and water still pure, quench the fires of our fears and fury.
God of restoration, restore to us the path to goodness and mercy for ourselves and for those seeking it in us. Restore to us the commitment to never walk that path for just ourselves, but to bring ALL the sheep we know along that road. Help us pave it straight and strong, through every danger.
For it is in company that we seek and find your banquet; by feeding all are we fed.
Anoint us, God of overflowing cups and vanquished valleys, that we may live and move and weave our very being into your vision for the household of God. We know your voice, Lord. We know it is you calling us. Help us never stray even as we reach to you again 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 Beauty for Brokenness Graham Kendrick
~Graham Kendrick © 1993 Make Way Music. grahamkendrick.co.uk
International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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 is Mother’s Day. We light this candle in honor of Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the original 1870 Mothers Day Proclamation. Her premise that motherhood should reflect universal wise action and uncompromising opposition to the forces of death resonates for all persons, regardless of family origin or family status.
¨ Benediction
¨ Benediction Response God of the Poor Graham Kendrick
Postlude
Mothers Day Proclamation
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 India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; and our siblings at Dixie Park Cornerstone Baptist 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.
¨ 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, Theresa Scherf.
¨ In a season when we remember the reversal of an unjustified death, we pray for all who suffer from injustice and cruelty, personal or systemic. We pray for God’s righteousness, mercy and peace to prevail for all who are being wrongfully persecuted.
¨ 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, hit again with flooding in these recent storms.
¨ 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.
¨ Rev. Kent’s cousin, Kathy, undergoing chemotherapy for esophageal cancer, and her mother, Helen, who is Rev. Carla’s sister.
¨ Kelly Mehler, responding very well to treatment for his lymphoma.
¨ Barb Taylor’s son, David, undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
¨ 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.
¨ Terry Scherf has moved to Dominion in Richmond and would love to come to church. If you can provide an occasional ride, please let us know in the office.
¨ Muse Watson at the death of his sister, Gerry Morris. Prayers also for her husband, Lee, a former Berea College campus minister; and sons Paul and Jon and their families.
¨ Maya Todd, with heart issues.
¨ Melissa Zook, recovering from back surgery.
¨ Max Ponnie, Emily LaDouceur’s son, who badly broke his tibia at a track meet.
¨ Mothers who have been blessings to their children, and for all for those who find “mother” a difficult word today.
¨ Laurie White’s mom, Skippy, facing a long and painful recovery from spine surgery.
¨ Steven Bailey, Rhonda Edward’s son, suffering cellulitis, hospitalized in Louisville
¨ Pope Leo XIV, newly-elected pope, leader of the Catholic Church. May he be a force for unifying a divided world.
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: today, May 11 – Linda Parsons, David Hurst; 12 – Karl Holland, Denis Burton, Felix Reyes; 14 – Steve Rutledge, Matt Willis, Andrew Garrett; 15 – Betty Hibler; 19 – Carla Baumann, Courtney Parrish
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
Leave a Reply