A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
10:30 am, Fifth Sunday of Easter
Meditation
God to enfold me, God to surround me,
God in my speaking, God in my thinking,
God in my sleeping, God in my waking,
God in my watching, God in my hoping,
God in my life, God in my lips,
God in my soul, God in my heart. ~ Celtic Prayer
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude
Welcome
¨ The Call
“I am not asking you
to take this wilderness from me,
to remove this place of starkness
where I come to know
the wildness within me
where I learn to call the names
of the ravenous beasts
that pace inside me,
to finger the brambles
that snake through my veins,
to taste the thirst
that tugs at my tongue.
But send me
tough angels,
sweet wine,
strong bread:
just enough.”
~ Jan Richardson, “Desert Prayer,” In Wisdom’s Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season
¨ Hymn #332 Black As We Gather at Your Table Beach Spring
- As we gather at your Table, as we listen to your Word, help us know, O God, your presence; let our hearts and minds be stirred. Nourish us with sacred story till we claim it as our own; teach us through this holy banquet how to make Love’s victory known.
- Turn our worship into witness in the sacrament of life; send us forth to love and serve you, bringing peace where there is strife. Give us, Christ, your great compassion to forgive as you forgave; may we still behold your image in the world you died to save.
- Gracious Spirit, help us summon other guests to share that feast where triumphant Love will welcome those who had been last and least. There no more will envy blind us nor will pride our peace destroy, as we join with saints and angels to repeat the sounding joy.
¨ 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 Lift High the Cross Kitchin, Newbolt Union Church Choir
Refrain: Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim till all the world adore his sacred name.
1. Come, Christians, follow where our captain trod, our king victorious, Christ, the Son of God. Refrain.
2. Led on their way by this triumphant sign, the hosts of God in conquering ranks combine. Refrain.
3. All newborn soldiers of the Crucified bear on their brows the seal of him who died. Refrain.
4. O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree, as thou hast promised, draws us all to thee. Refrain. Amen.
Scripture Lesson 1 Peter 2:2-10, p. 1485
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
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.
Scripture Lesson John 14:1-14, p. 1304
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
Sermon Where We Are Going Rev. Kent Gilbert
Video Reflection
Responding to God’s Love in Communion
Invitation to Communion
One: The Lord be with you!
All: And also with those you cherish.
One: Lift up your hearts!
All: We lift them to the Lord.
One: Let us give thanks to God!
All: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
One: Gathered in the light of God’s care let us open ourselves to hope and healing. For those at home, If you have a candle with you, light it now and gather those elements you’ll use for your communion.
One: Christ stands with us in every human circumstance, and attends us at every table. Today we remember that despite alienation, separation, even death, still we are united. As we connect, please put in the comments or in the chat, what you are most hoping to be in touch with: the people, the ideas, the struggles.
One: Jesus has always been one to invite.
He said, “Drop your nets and follow me.”
He said, “Let the little children come.”
He said, “Come to Galilee and meet me there.”
He said, “Do not fear: I go to prepare a place for you” and “Where I go, you will be also.”
One: Jesus has always been one to invite, and that has not changed.
So friends, you are invited to this Table. A place has been prepared for you. Each and every one of us—with our doubts,
our fears, our scars, our joy, our dreams, our hopes, our questions—we are all invited to
God’s table to be reminded that we are not alone, welcome guests in a feast of life.
One: And here we will be met. Here we will be fed. Here we are given a taste of an expansive
life that is full to the brim with love, overflowing with joy.
So come.
Not because you must, but because a place has been prepared for YOU. You are invited and welcome. This Table is for you, a cornerstone of God’s grace.
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: Lord you meet us where we are, as you find us. With questions we seek you and your way; with faith and doubts we offer our lives and living to serve; with hope and gratitude we receive your blessings, your teachers, your love. You come to us in word and worship and you soothe our troubled hearts with your presence. As you come to us now with cup and bread, wisdom and challenge, hear our praise as it rings with all creation:
Sanctus #236 Black Halleluja Please Join in Singing
Words of Institution
One: Holy one, you who teach us what Love Demands and call us to be your compassion, the feast of your presence comforts and challenges. Like the disciples long ago, we don’t know where we are headed. We are unsure of the way and fearful of Christ’s absence in our world. But Jesus came to them as to us, to remind them that the house of Love is vast, and so much more than our fears. Love calls, demands, and makes possible the wider, deeper life you have prepared for all.
So we remember the many times that Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it among his friends. We remember the words he shared with love each time:
All: “This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
One: Not just the daily bread, but also the cup of celebration is passed to us: new life, flowing like joy, and looking like company. He took a cup, and giving thanks, said,
All: “This cup is a new covenant of my life and blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
One:Gracious God, by this meal we recall Jesus’ birth, his ministry to all of us in fear of not knowing the way or where we will end up. Send your Holy Spirit upon us and upon this bread and cup, that we who eat and drink at this holy table may be part parcel of Christ’s resurrection and reassurance. Make a feast of what we have and may the blessing sustain us so we may bless others. Prepare for us the living house of your way for your people.
All:Amen.
Serving One Another
All who seek the love of God are welcome at this table and are invited to freely receive from it. By tradition, unfermented grape juice is used in the cup on Sunday mornings. If it is not convenient to come forward, the elements can be brought to your seat by signaling to the usher. If it is not your tradition to receive, you are invited to join in prayers for the unity of the Spirit within your tradition. You may remain in you seat, or you may come forward for a blessing, as you wish.
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Offering Music Trumpet Concerto M. 2 Haydn Olivia Puckett, Trumpet
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Lord, we have truly tasted the goodness of your care: in this meal, in this work, you take the ordinary and make the miraculous. You take what we are tempted to reject and make living stones of hope and challenge. As you do for the world, we humbly ask you to do for each of us: unsure and unwise though we may be, take our broken pieces and help us make them foundations of a greater peace and a deeper love.
May no stumbling block keep us from Love’s demands. May no failure or fear of ours become a stumbling block for others. In all that is before us, known and unknown, help us and heal us again if it be your will. Prepare for us a place and a purpose, even when we don’t know where we are headed or how to get there. We offer you our hearts to serve and our hands to work as we pray in the name of your son, Jesus, who taught us to reach to you as…
Our Lord’s Prayer
All: 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: We Depart
¨ Hymn #331 Black Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life The Call
1. Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life: such a Way, as gives us breath: such a Truth, as ends all strife: Such a Life, as conquers death.
2. Come, My Light, my Feast, my Strength: such a Light as shows a feast: Such a Feast, as mends in length: Such a Strength, as makes his guest.
3. Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart: such a Joy, as none can move: Such a Love, as none can part: such a Heart, as joys in love.
Community Connections
Announcements
We share opportunities for Beloved Community and ways to serve.
Lighting the Justice Candle to Lead us Forth
May is Jewish American Heritage Month. Today we honor the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center for Antisemitism Research which advances research to understand, prevent, and reduce antisemitism.
This is especially important now due to the trend in rising antisemitism.
In 2022, ADL recorded 3,697 incidents of antisemitism– a 36% increase from the 2,717 incidents in 2021 and the highest number on record since ADL began tracking acts of antisemitism in 1979. This is the third time in the past five years that the year-end total has been the highest number ever recorded.
Incidents increased in each of the following categories: antisemitic harassment increased 29%; vandalism increased 51%; and assaults increased 26%.
Significant increases of antisemitism were found in organized white supremacist propaganda activity (102% increase to 852 incidents), K-12 schools (49% increase to 494 incidents) and college campuses (41% increase to 219 incidents), and in attacks on Orthodox Jews (69% increase to 59 Incidents) and bomb threats toward Jewish institutions (an increase from eight to 91 incidents).
Awareness and education about Jewish-American history are two ways to reverse this disturbing trend. Visit reformjudaism.org/14-ways-celebrate-jewish-american-heritage-month for more ideas.
¨ Benediction
Postlude
You are welcome to be seated to appreciate the music following service, and to show appreciation at the end with applause.
¨ 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 (Link to World Council of Churches Ecumenical Prayer cycle. (union-church.org/ministries/prayer/). Let us hold the people of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka; Gethsemane Baptist Church; and our brothers & sisters at Gethsemane Baptist Church in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.
¨ Prayers for 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 seeking a new and just society and those fearful that they will be supplanted, may God open their hearts and include them in grace.
¨ For the survivors of the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria and all those in the aftermath of natural, and man-made, disasters.
¨ The Bellnier family and for David’s father, recently diagnosed with aggressive lymphoma.
¨ Alva Peloquin, recovering from intestinal issues at the Terrace.
¨ Rhonda Cardwell, at the death of her father. Her mom, Lael Feldmann, is having health problems.
¨ Rita Barlow
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Jan Hamilton, Doug Hindman, Betsy Hoefer, Dorie Hubbard, Loyal Jones, Lois Morgan, Tom & Sara Parker, Cheryl Payne, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie, Betty Wray, Sally Zimmerman
¨ Patsy Boyce, sister-in-law of Bob and Jean Boyce, undergoing chemotherapy.
¨ Debbonnaire’s nephew & wife, Lyndon, who had an emergency C-section to deliver their baby, Silas, who is stable but just 2.7 lbs.
¨ Paddy Clarke, Kiyah (Moore) Clarke’s father-on-law, who is having surgery for cancer of the esophagus, in Ireland.
Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Graduates: Colin Perman from Madison Southern High School; Hannah From from Berea College (also winner of this year’s Red Foley award!)Sunni Walters from EKU with a B.S. in Psychology on May 12. Her plan is to enter the field in research; Rina Tanaka, with her MA in Music from EKU
Birthdays: May 7 – Annriette Stolte, Tom McClure; 10 – Mandy Connelly; 11 – Linda Parsons; 12 – Karl Holland, Neil Mecham, Jr.; 13 – Wayne Dollins, J.R. Anderson; 14 – Andrew Garrett
Anniversaries: May 12 – Ed & Carol Poston
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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