A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
10:30 am Sixth Sunday of Easter
Meditation
“Love is an act of will–namely, both an intention and an action.” ~ bell hooks
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude
Welcome
¨ Call To Worship EJ Stokes, Reader
One: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.
All: Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the world and those who live in it. Let the floods clap their hands!
One: Bountiful God, who gathers your church and feeds it through word and sacrament, fill us, we pray, with the joy of your presence.
All: Turn us from lessons of war to lessons of peace. Turn us from a craving for things of this world to a hunger for that which satisfies forever.
One: We pray, dearest God, that as you have ushered in this Lord’s Day so you will usher in that day of your holy realm of peace.
All: Help us to live to love, so that our lives may be living signs, however small, of its coming. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.
¨ Hymn What Love Demands Mark Hayes
Words and music were commissioned by the congregation in 2021 from nationally renowned composer, Mark Hayes, who was moved by the history and mission of the church. The piece especially honors the public health workers, medical personnel, chaplains, and front-line essential workers who answered love’s demands in a time of national pandemic. It is dedicated to them by the people of Union Church, Berea, KY, in memory of Mr. Tom Warth, Dr. Richard and Ms. Judy Drake, and Ms. Mary Lou and Dr. Lester Pross. Please join in singing!
1. What does it mean to love my neighbor? How can I live in harmony?
Are you my brother, or are you just another? When I look in your eyes, who do I see?
I see you’re made in the image of God,
Uniquely gifted with the right to be loved.
Neighbor or stranger, how may I serve you? What does love demand?
Chorus:
Love is listening with heartfelt compassion, holding the lonely, wiping a tear.
Love demands that I live in the moment, to live in the question when the answer’s unclear.
Love demands that I seek what unites us, releasing fear and whatever divides us.
With God as my strength I will be the change I want to see
For that’s what love, that what love demands.
2. What can we do to stand for justice? What can we do so all are free?
What can we do to end oppression, so all have the same opportunity?
We will be God’s hands and welcoming arms.
We keep you safe from the danger and harm.
Homeless or helpless how may we serve you? What does love demand?
Love demands we do what we can. Take a stand, Lend a Hand!
Chorus:
Love is listening with heartfelt compassion, holding the lonely, wiping a tear.
Love demands that we live in the moment, to live in the question when the answer’s unclear.
Love demands that we seek what unites us, releasing fear and whatever divides us.
With God as our strength we will be the change we want to see
For that’s what love, that what love demands.
¨ 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.
Word and Worship
Special Music Overture from Suite in D Handel Olivia Puckett, trumpet
Scripture Reading Acts 10:44-48
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
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 15:9-17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Sermon Promotion to Love Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
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.
All: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
One: The celebration of communion is always a festival of friends, a pulling together of our loves and our hopes, our moments of agony and our glimpses of victory. It is here, where bread is broken and wine is shared, that we can most fully be ourselves and see others for who they truly are: sons and daughters of the living God. Here the common things of life—bread and wine, memories and dreams—become holy, touched by God. Here that which is earthly becomes divine, and that which is human becomes more than it has ever dreamed.
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.
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.
Communion Prayer
One: We thank you God,
for in the beginning, you set the world on its course;
you led your people into freedom,
and gave them a way to walk in peace and justice.
With all who have travelled this road before
and with all who hope walk closer to the way, we lift to you
our song of praise:
~ United Church Publishing House, Celebrate God’s Presence (United Church Publishing House, 2000)
Sanctus please join in singing:
Words of Institution
One: When we were lost, you came to us in Jesus, our companion and guide, who shows us your way and invites us to follow. We pray for all who are seeking a way forward in love, that we may abide and make possible all that love demands.
One: Before his last journey to the cross and death, our Lord gathered his disciples for supper and called them not servants, but “friends,” worthy of the challenge of living love for all the world to know.
One: When we were lost, you came to us in Jesus, our companion and guide, who shows us your way and invites us to follow. We pray for all who are seeking a way forward in love, that we may abide and make possible all that love demands.
One: Before his last journey to the cross and death, our Lord gathered his disciples for supper and called them not servants, but “friends,” worthy of the challenge of living love for all the world to know.
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. Grant that by taking something of you into ourselves, we may be and become the body of your living word.
All: 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. 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.
Offertory Resurrection Suite Union Church Orchestra
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 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!
Sung Response
Prayer of Thanksgiving EJ Stokes, Reader
One: Gracious God, may your gifts of love transform and enliven us that we may live lives of thanksgiving. May your presence among us provoke such longing for your realm, that we will never be satisfied until the whole earth knows your justice, your peace, and your love.
This we pray in the name of the risen Christ who taught us to reach to you as…
Our Lord’s Prayer
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
¨ Hymn #347 Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ Linstead
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 we are remembering Reverend Cecil Williams who passed away on April 22 at the age of 94. Coming to the beleaguered Tenderloin District in 1963, Rev, Williams transformed the dying church into a robust community center, welcoming the most down-and-out, marginalized people of the neighborhood. He and his wife, Janice Mirikitani – along with many visionary partners and supporters along the way – built a safe haven for the homeless, the jobless, and LGBTQIA+ neighbors, as they were being shunned by society. After his retirement at age 70 he continued to serve as the director of Minister of Liberation and CEO of the Glide Foundation.
“Death isn’t the greatest thing to be feared for it homogenizes everyone, makes us all equally dead. Most folks are afraid of living because abundant life requires risking everything to love, liberate, and accept yourself and others now. People are afraid of life for it creates diversity and requires commitment to action. To live is to struggle.”
¨ Benediction The God of Second Chances David Haas
Those who are able & willing are invited to fill the aisles as we sing the Benediction Response together. If you’re at home or in the balcony, you are part of the embrace too. The embrace is as wide as God’s love!
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 (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 brothers and sisters at the Holy Pentecostal Sanctuary 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: Jan Hamilton, Betsy Hoefer, Dorie Hubbard, Lois Morgan, Sara Parker, Cheryl Payne, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie, Sally Zimmerman.
¨ All those suffering from mental strain, trauma, and disease: may God soothe and heal all who are troubled.
¨ Members and Friends who need safer housing and income security.
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
¨ Barb Taylor, recovering well at home from a stroke.
¨ NoraRuth Jenkins, recovering from two recent surgeries.
¨ David, a friend of Claudia Munson-Schrumpf, struggling with a rare autoimmune condition.
¨ Debby Gray, recovering from emergency surgery. MealTrain: mealtrain.com/trains/k0yrvr
¨ Several of our beloved church family have experienced recent losses. We grieve the passing of Lois Dodson, mother of Eric; Delores Turnbull, aunt of Ellen Suters, and Anita Marshall, a friend of many in the congregation.
¨ The Oliver/Robinson family at the death of Brandy Oliver Brown, at home, surrounded by family, after a 10-year cancer battle.
Congratulations, Graduates! Both Berea College and EKU Graduates are our in our prayers and celebrations today, as are the faculty, staff, and many support persons who make their education possible! Olivia Puckett, who serves on our A/V team and is a gifted musician, playing today, will graduate from Eastern Kentucky University; and Matthew Parrish will graduate with his Master’s of Arts in History, also from EKU.
¨ Will Guild, husband of Katie Morgan, with a serious brain injury, in Roanoke, Virginia; and Katie as she navigates responsibility and care.
¨ For all those caring for others in their illnesses and needs: may God give them both strength and encourage-ment in this work of costly love.
¨ Prayers for health and new life for Brice and Meaghan Spencer-Catlett (daughter of Maureen and Bruce Spencer), “Great with Child” and anticipating delivery in the very near future. May God watch over newborns and new parents!
¨ Grace Virginia Hutchins, born May 2 to Laurel and Seth! May God bless her life and fill it with great love!
¨ Chris and Grace McKenzie, at the birth of their son, Alexander Loyal Todd McKenzie on Thursday, April 18. Meal Train: mealtrain.com/gmm0g8
¨ Muse Watson, with continuing health difficulties.
¨ Deb Beishline’s mom, Doris Mosley, recovering from gall bladder surgery
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: May 6 – Ann Butwell; 7 – Annriette Stolte, Thomas McClure, 10 – Lothar Baumann, Mandy Connelly; 11 – Linda Parsons, David Hurst; 12 – Karl Holland, Neil Mecham, Jr.
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
Leave a Reply