A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Fifth Sunday of Easter, Sharing the Lord’s Supper
May 3, 2015, 10:30 am
Meditation
“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”
— Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. quotes
From there to here
Prelude Hymn of Praise P. Keveren
* Call to Worship
One: Vines and branches proclaim God’s kin-dom.
All: We gather that we might bear fruit!
One: Come friends, come guests! Let us lend our lives to love in God’s name. Let us worship in word and song!
* Hymn #43 Black Love Divine, All Loves Excelling Beecher
* Prayer of Approach (unison)
Abide in us, Vine Grower. Forgive us of our sins, so we may live boldly, love fearlessly, and proclaim unceasingly that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, the maker of ways, and the giver of hope. Amen!
adapted from a prayer by Thom Shuman
* 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
Lesson from Acts Philip’s encounter with a surprising foreigner blesses them both. Acts 8:26-40
Anthem God Is Love J. Schivone
Union Church Choir
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.
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 Children’s Moment, children grades K-3 are invited to Children’s Church, which takes place in the chapel. If this is your child’s first time attending Children’s Church, please accompany them to fill out a registration form. Otherwise, children are welcome to follow volunteers to their worship spaces. For children preschool & under, care is available in the Nursery, downstairs off the Community Room. Please pick up your children in the Chapel after the service.
Epistle Lesson God is Love, and loving God means loving each other. 1 John 4:7-21
Sermon There, Where We Cannot Abide Rev. Kent Gilbert
Gifts given for Love to flow
Call to Offering
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.) If you give online, please place an Eastertide offering card from the red pew folder into the offering plate.
Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
Offertory Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee E. Whitsett
* Doxology Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Old Hundredth
Praise God all creatures here below; Praise God above, ye heavenly host: Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Sharing 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.
All: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
One: Jesus sat with all sorts, the many different colors of humanity, but mainly those excluded, and broke bread.
One: So along with everyone the world has turned its back on, along with everyone hungry, and everyone hungry for justice and truth, along with everyone abused as stranger and foreigner, along with everyone who does not fit “normal,” along with everyone who questions, doubts, and even denies, along with every prejudice that has ever been flung, along with every made poor by other’s riches, you, you and I, are welcomed at this table.
* Hymn #564 Black We Are Not Our Own Yarnton
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.
Silent Prayers and Prayers of the Community
Communion Prayer
One: “Get up,” you cried to your Word and Spirit, “and go down the wilderness road to chaos.” And so they went, calling forth life out of nothingness, planting seeds that branched into vines, pouring clear water into earth’s hollows, crafting us in your imaginative image.
One: You showed all of this to us, with delight in your heart, but we did not understand what we were seeing. We chose poorly, made violent decisions in this life. Though we loved you last, you loved us first, sending your prophets to declare all you had done, but we continued to abide in the tangled briars of temptation.
One: So you sent Jesus to us, the One who would bear your fruit of salvation and hope for all your children. With those who seem to intuit your heart, with those seeking to understand your hopes, with all those still on the path, we lift our songs of thanksgiving to you:
Communion Sanctus please join in singing:
Words of Institution
One: Love is your language of holiness, Branch weaving God, and Jesus Christ, our Savior is the true Vine of your heart. We remember that even on the night of betrayal his abode was love, and his invitation to us is yet green with life.
One: Abide with us, Lord, as we abide with you at this table.
One: In that upper room, Jesus sat at table with his friends, took bread, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying:
All: “Take and eat, this is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
One: After supper he took the cup of wine and, after giving thanks, gave it to them and said,
All: “Drink this, all of you: this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
One: Abide in us at this Table, Lord Christ, as you pour out your Spirit on the gifts of the bread and cup, and on your children gathered in this place.
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.
If it is not your tradition to receive, you are invited to join in prayers for the unity of the Spirit and all people, within your tradition.
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
All: Thanks be to you for the blessings of Love! May the broken bread remind us that you loved us so that we might put the needs of the hungry, the searching, the hurting, the lonely before our own. May this the cup, and every cup of grace nourish us so we can join with oppressed and outcast, intertwining our branches with theirs, abiding in the true Vine of justice and of hope. As you have fed us, may we feed others in Christ’s name. Amen.
From Here to There
* Closing Hymn #245 Black The Day of Resurrection Lancashire
* Benediction & Sending Forth
Postlude (please be seated) Love Divine, All Loves Excelling G. Raney
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* Please rise in body or in spirit as you wish.
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 Djibouti and Somalia and our brothers and sisters at West Side Baptist Church in your hearts, and pray for them.
Please also hold these concerns in your prayers, today and throughout the week:
* The victims of the earthquake and aftershocks in Nepal, and those who seek to assist them
* For the citizens of Baltimore and everywhere where civic, racial, and economic tensions cry out for reforms.
* Those in harm’s way in service of our country, and those who wait and worry for them.
* For the victims of violence everywhere, and especially under the influence of racial prejudice and simmering fear. Peace to those everywhere our madness reigns.
* Our church family members in nursing homes, or who are homebound: Edith Hansen, Nancy Jones, Mary Miller, Averill Kilbourne, Alva Peloquin, Ruth Butwell
* Kelly Mehler
* Mary K. Kauffman
* Michelle Tooley
* Ed Doty, Patty Boyce’s brother, as he continues treatment for bladder cancer.
* Elicia Holly, mother of Jessica Holly, who fell and broke both legs.
* Leslie Small Stokes’ grandmother, Dorothy Southard, who broke a hip
* Our Confirmation Class members and their mentors
* Dodie Murphy, recovering from knee surgery at home.
* Berea College graduates and all faculty, students, and staff in the Berea Community.
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 immediately after service you are invited to join Whitney Owens and Joshua Park as they receive prayers for their engagement. Rev. Kent and Rev. Rachel will lead this brief service after the main service here in the sanctuary. During the postlude, those who would like to participate are invited to move to the “piano” side space under the balcony in the front of the church.
We commend all Berea Graduates and their families as Berea College celebrates commencement today. Union Church founded Berea College in the hope of transforming men and women for lives of service. Today we see that proud ambition bearing fruit in the work of the students, staff, and faculty. Well done, Graduates and well done all who make earning degrees possible.
Help needed! Joan English, Office Administrator, will be away Mother’s Day weekend at a family wedding. Can you help staff the office May 7 & 8, 11 & 12? Mornings, 9-12, afternoons, 1-4, full days—you pick. There will be some phone answering, maybe some bulletin folding, some fellowship with Murphy the Wonder Beagle… let us know. Thanks!
Phone left at Healing Arts Retreat. If you think it’s yours, come by the office.
Broken Angel needs soldering or welding: Can you help? One of our sculptures, an iron and steel angel, has lost its halo. It needs a simple solder or weld job. If you have these skills or would like to adopt this project please contact Rev. Kent at kgilbert@union-church.org. Thanks!
Mugs! The Union Church mugs you ordered at Christmas are finally here, with great apologies from the potter! They look great, though, and are ready for pick up. You can pick up yours in the office.
Electronic Newsletter coming in June May’s can be your last paper newsletter! If you would like to continue receiving a paper newsletter, please let us know by May 20, either by calling or emailing the office. Thanks.
Otherwise you’ll receive a link in your email inbox on June 1! If you get the Monday emails from church already, we have your correct email address. If not, let us know. Making fewer paper copies will, of course, save money on postage, paper and labels—but also wear & tear on the copier and the staff.
Donate ONLINE or by TEXT, Now or Anytime! For online giving, Union Church uses EasyTithe, a completely secure contribution system. You can use Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express Credit and Debit Cards, or an E-Check from your checking account. Scan the code here to go right to the website on your smartphone, or visit www.union-church.org and click on the Donate button for instructions.
You do not need to register to make a donation (just choose “Quick Give” ). If you do register, your information will be securely stored making future visits faster and giving you full control of your giving reports. Credit card processing does cost the church about 3.1% of your transaction. ACH (E-Checks) only incur a 1% fee. Please use whichever is best for you, but if you can, consider adding a little additional to help cover the bank fee!
Give By Texting 859-448-3403: Yes! You can give using your web-enabled phone. Text any amount to 859-448-3403. The first time you do–and just the first time–you’ll get a link to associate your phone and enter your securely stored credit or debit card. It doesn’t go on your phone bill, but only to a card you specify. After that, all you need to do is text the number with an amount and any designation. It’s fast and easy! Of course, like every credit card transaction the church pays a 3.1% fee. If you can include that little extra bit, it will make a big difference!
Examples: Text “$50.00” to contribute to today’s offering. Text “$200.00 Capital Campaign” to contribute to a building pledge, or substitute the designation of your choice (youth, missions, BFCO, etc. Amounts texted without a designation will automatically go to the Annual Ministry Budget and all giving will be included in your annual giving records.
Kroger Rewards and Amazon Smile—two easy ways to give.
Kroger has been committed to supporting the communities it serves by assisting local charitable organizations through its Rewards Program. Union Church will earn rewards on all eligible purchases you make using your Kroger Plus Card. The Kroger rewards will accumulate and be donated quarterly to Union Church. This is an easy way for all to fund-raise for Union Church. Check bulletins for info or visit kroger.com/communityrewards
Amazon Smile will donate .5% of eligible sales to Union Church if you register at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/61-0444677. This is a great way to support Union Church.
Save the Date: June 3 Celebration of Oscar Romero with St. Clare Catholic church… Union Church and St. Clare members have maintained a 20+ year partnership with the community of Valle Verde in El Salvador. Dozens of Bereans have traveled to El Salvador as part of this partnership. Pope Francis recently beatified murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero, and our two churches will celebrate Romero’s contribution to justice and Christian faith. New Bishop of Lexington (RC) Stowe will preach. Join us June 3 at St. Clare Church at 5:30 for potluck and a 7pm service. We’ll follow the hour long service with a community Fiesta! Stay tuned for more info!
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