A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Festival of Healing October 13, 2013
Welcome to this service of worship. We are glad that you are here today. You are invited to rise in body or in spirit as you are able and willing at points in the service marked “*.”
Hearing enhancement devices and large print bulletins are available in the vestibule. After checking in on FaceBook and Twitter, please silence your cell phone, pager, etc., so all may worship undistracted.
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.
Meditation
He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.
— Psalm 147:3
Gathering to Worship
Welcome & Announcements
Prelude Now the Silence (Now) C. Schalk/S. Wallace
Now the silence, now the peace, now the empty hands uplifted;
Now the kneeling, the plea, now the Father’s arms in welcome.
* Call to Worship
One: Bent over, ostracized, ashamed, and just plain desperate,
All: We fall before God, heavy with burdens.
One: Relieved, joyous, peace-filled, and grateful,
All: We call out to our God, who has come to set us free!
One: Let us worship the God who promises healing!
All: Let us worship our God in with thanksgiving and praise! Amen.
* Hymn #175 Black O Christ, the Healer, We Have Come Kentridge
* Prayer of Confession inspired by Jeremiah 29
One: But thus says the Lord: Seek shalom wherever you are, and pray to the Lord for your shalom shall be found in the shalom of the community.
All: We find ourselves in exile caused by relationships, economics, and failing health.
One: But thus says the Lord: Seek shalom wherever you are, and pray to the Lord for your shalom shall be found in the shalom of the community.
All: We feel used by people and systems, sometimes even abused.
One: But thus says the Lord: Seek shalom wherever you are, and pray to the Lord for your shalom shall be found in the shalom of the community.
All: We thirst for God’s promised justice through swift vengeance.
One: But thus says the Lord: Seek shalom wherever you are, and pray to the Lord for your shalom shall be found in the shalom of the community.
All: We strive to protect our families and our interests from any wrath.
One: But thus says the Lord: seek shalom wherever you are, and pray to the Lord for your shalom shall be found in the shalom of the community.
All: We long for the day when passive peace will prevail.
One: But thus says the Lord: seek shalom wherever you are, and pray to the Lord for your shalom shall be found in the shalom of the community.
All: May our actions embody our prayers for the healing of the community and therein may we find our long awaited wholeness. Amen. written by Katherine Hawker
* Words of Assurance
One: Shalom is near. Peace is near. God is near. Let us open our hearts to God, and God’s healing and forgiving light will come streaming in. This is God’s Good News in Jesus Christ.
All: Thanks be to God. Amen.
* Passing the Peace of Christ
All who come to this sanctuary are welcome companions on this day. Please turn to those nearest you and greet them with words of peace.
Hearing the Word
Anthem O Savior, in this Quiet Place (St. Stephen) William Jones
Union Church Choir Organ accompaniments by T. T. Noble and H. Willan
O Savior, in this quiet place, where anyone may kneel, I also come to ask for grace, believing you can heal.
If pain of body, stress of mind, destroys my inward peace, in prayer for others may I find the secret of release.
If self upon its sickness feeds and turns my life to gall, let me not brood upon my needs, but simply tell you all.
You never said “You ask too much” to any troubled soul. I long to feel your healing touch; will you not make me whole? Of all my prayers, may this be chief:
till faith is fully grown, Lord, disbelieve my unbelief, and claim me as Your own.
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, Little Church for children Preschool & under is available in the Nursery, downstairs off the Fellowship Hall, and Children’s Church, for grades K-3, takes place in the chapel. If this is your child’s first time attending Little Church or Children’s Church, please accompany them to fill out a registration form. Otherwise, children are welcome to follow volunteers to their worship spaces.
God Speaking Words of Healing
God Speaking through the Gospels Luke 17:11-19 (p. 1261)
God Speaking Words of Healing
Sermon Abundant Life Rev. Carol Poston
Responding to the Word
Invitation to the Offering
Offertory Sarabande on Land of Rest Gerald Near
* Doxology Avery/Marsh
A Litany of Healing (adapted from a prayer by Adam Thomas)
One: Together we lift our prayers to you, O God of love and healing. God our Creator, you breathe life into your whole Creation.
All: Help us breathe deeply of your peace and presence.
One: God our Redeemer, you give us yourself to make our joy complete.
All: Help us give our fear, pain, and grief to you.
One: God our Sustainer, you move through our lives in unexpected ways.
All: Help us move in concert with your life-giving motion.
One: Holy Trinity, One God, accept our thanks and praise for all the blessings of this life, especially for those blessings that our present circumstances make difficult to see.
All: O Lord, hear our prayer.
One: Shed the light of your healing love on all who are sick in body, mind, or spirit, that they may find new wholeness illumined by your grace.
All: O Lord, hear our prayer.
One: Knit together in your love all whose relationships have frayed, that they may find reconciliation and new beginnings.
All: O Lord, hear our prayer.
One: Bless all who work to improve the health of others, that they may bring hope, care, wisdom, and skill to all they serve.
All: O Lord, hear our prayer.
One: Hold in the palm of your hand all who are near death and all who care for them, that they may know the peace that passes all understanding.
All: O Lord, hear our prayer.
One: Grant all who turn to you the courage to participate with you in restoring this broken world to wholeness, that everyone and everything may share in the hope of your kingdom.
All: O Lord, hear our prayer.
One: At this time, I invite your prayers of thanksgiving or intercession either silently or aloud.
[Silence is kept, except for names being spoken]
For these and for all other petitions that are too deep for words, we pray to you:
All: O Lord, hear our prayer.
One: You are the Lord whose promises never cease.
All: You are the Lord whose presence never fails.
One: Gracious God, you are close to us no matter how far we feel from you: draw us into the very heart of your grace and help us to live into the truth that nothing in all creation can separate us from your love in Jesus Christ our Lord.
In hope and in faith, we pray together the prayer he taught us, praying to you,
Our Lord’s Prayer
Our Mother, Our Maker,
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.
Ritual of Blessing Wait for the Lord Taize
O Lord Hear My Prayer Taize
Walking Forward in Faith
* Benediction
* Congregational Song of Celebration Jerry Sinclair
Postlude Praeambulum in G Minor Melchior Schildt
_____________________________
* Those in harm’s way in the service of our country and all those who wait and worry for them.
* Greg Bolster, Steve’s brother, who, after 5 years of treatments, is presently undergoing more aggressive chemotherapy to treat an uncontrolled growth of cancer that has now spread to a lung
* Erin Hay and her family. Erin is a 2011 graduate of Berea College and an alumnus of the Concert Choir and Women’s Chorus, married to Berea College and Concert Choir alumnus John Cook, ’11, and the mother of a 10-month old daughter. She is being treated aggressively for inoperable brain cancer.
* Teri VanPelt & Christine Ward
* Ann Rhodes, at the death of her aunt Eleanor Pierce, in Tryon, North Carolina
* Gail Wolford, hospitalized with complications
* Judy Rowell, recovering from surgery at home
* Peggy Coyne’s daughter’s future mother-in-law, with serious lung problems
* Michelle Tooley, now recovering at home
* Sally Zimmerman, whose biopsy was benign—hallelujah!
* Peggy Baker, who was due to come home at “press time”
* Dawn Manor, Dot Kindel’s daughter, recovering from surgery at M.D. Anderson Center in Dallas,TX
* Rose Brandenburg, Larry’s aunt, now at Berea Health Care Center
* Edith Hansen, at The Terrace
* Klara Welsh, at the Berea Health Care Center
* Shirley Dean, on hospice care for lung cancer
Announcements…
This morning we welcome to the pulpit Rev. Dr. Carol Poston, an ordained United Methodist minister. She is working towards licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist and is a trained EMDR clinician. For information on Carol, go to www.counselingberea.org.
You Matter! Please Sign In, Check in on FB/Twitter and Try a Name Tag! It’s hard to get to know people elsewhere, but we don’t want it that way at church. Use the pew folder in your row, passing it back when all have signed, and whether you are a first time visitor or a long-time member, a name tag helps everyone connect the dots. Mobile phone users can also check in on Facebook and Twitter.
Wednesday Nite Live! this week: Sonam Yangzom, Berea College student from Tibet, who was the 2013 participant in the Caux Scholars Program in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building in Caux, Switzerland in July, will share her experience with us. The Mission and Service Board assisted Sonam with travel expenses to participate in this valuable program.
Next Week: Field Trip!! Next Sunday, the Children’s Elementary Sunday School class will take a field trip to Baldwin Farms at 1pm. Experience the pumpkin patch, corn maze, and lots of good fun! Please see the Sunday School teachers (Alvera Perman, Jessica Holly, and Maggie Park) for more details, or talk to Rev. Rachel.
Calling All Fairness Supporters! Come to the Berea City Council Meeting this Tuesday, October 15 at 6:30pm. The Berea Human Rights Commission will be making a presentation to the Council that includes a recommendation for an anti-discrimination Fairness ordinance in Berea. An anti-discrimination Fairness ordinance would include protections based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity in the areas of housing, employment and public accommodations.
Wear your blue Fairness t-shirt if you have one. The city council meets in the Berea Police and Municipal Building at 304 Chestnut St. Contact Kate Grigg at kate@fairness.org or 708-341-0916 for more information.
Pastoral Care and Shepherd Teams: Pastoral Care — it’s for all of us! We are looking for a few good shepherds… Leslie Small Stokes, our pastoral care trainer, is seeking a few more people for a team of 10-12 volunteer to “shepherds.” Shepherds will be our first line of pastoral care, spanning the breadth of our church and helping all of us get and give more loving care.
So You Want to Help… Applications for Shepherds are available today in the vestibule, parlor, and church office. Shepherds will be chosen on the basis of temperament, their ability to attend to their families and training with regularity (particularly through the sabbatical time), and ability to work well as a member of a team.
Rev. Rachel will continues to be available for pastoral care, especially for emergencies. Shepherds will be a vital link in communicating needs to the pastors, as well as being an additional prayer and support partner for any family in need. Please contact the church office at office@union-church.org or 986-3725 with any need you have or know of, and Joan will help connect you to the right shepherd and/or pastor.
Do you or someone you know need help in navigating the options under “kynect” — the new health care insurance options in Kentucky under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)? Anyone can call the White House Clinic in Berea (986-2323) for a personal appointment with a knowledgeable kynect staff person!
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