A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Proper 24 of the Season after Pentecost 10:30 am
Meditation
“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” ~ Ernest Hemingway
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 Steve Rutledge, Reader
One: We gather as a people still becoming — learning to stay rooted when the winds of change are strong.
All: We come as we are, holding hope, weariness, and faith that still flickers.
One: The journey of the soul is not a straight line. It twists, it pauses, it deepens — and still, grace meets us there.
All: We trust that God is at work in our growing, even when the soil feels hard or the light feels distant.
One: Every act of persistence is worship. Every moment of truth-telling is holy. Every breakthrough is a gift of Spirit.
All: We bring our whole selves — the patient, the restless, the ready — to the One who makes all things new.
Together, we lift our hearts in gratitude and trust. For the God who began a good work in us will be faithful to see it through. Amen.
¨ Hymn #505 Sweet Hour of Prayer Sweet Hour
1. Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
that calls me from a world of care,
and bids me at my maker’s throne
let all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
my soul has often found relief,
and oft escaped the tempter’s snare
by your return, sweet hour of prayer!
2. Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
the joys I feel, the bliss I share
of those whose anxious spirits burn
with strong desires for your return!
With them I hasten to the place
where I would know my Savior’s face,
and gladly take my station there,
and wait for you, sweet hour of prayer!
3. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
whose wings shall my petition bear
to One whose truth and faithfulness
engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since I’m bid to seek God’s face,
believe God’s word, and trust God’s grace,
I’ll cast away my every care,
and wait for you, sweet hour of prayer!
¨ Prayer of Approach and Confession (unison)
Holy One, you invite us into a life of Being and Becoming — to live rooted in your love and to keep growing toward your vision of justice and peace.
Yet we confess that we often lose heart.
When the way is long, we forget that love demands persistence.
When compassion costs us something, we hesitate.
When prayer feels unanswered, we turn inward and give up.
Forgive us, O God, for the ways we shrink from the holy work of love.
Restore in us the courage to keep showing up — to keep believing that mercy still matters and that hope still heals.
Remind us that in every act of kindness, every step toward justice, every breath of truth, your Spirit is shaping us into who and what we are meant to be.
In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.
¨ Words of Assurance
One: Hear this good news: Love does not give up. The God who created us meets us with mercy that is new each morning. When love demands more of us, grace supplies what we need.
All: In Christ, we are forgiven, restored, and renewed for the work ahead. Thanks be to God.
¨ 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 Praise the Lord, God’s Glories Show David Schelat Union Church Choir
Praise the Lord, God’s glories show, alleluia, gloria! Saints within God’s courts below, angels round the throne above; all that see and share God’s love, alleluia, Gloria! Earth to heaven and heaven to earth; praise God forevermore! Praise the Lord, great mercies trace; all that God for us has done; all God sends us through the Son; alleluia, Gloria!
Scripture Reading Genesis 32:22-31
The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”
But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
~ 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 Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my accuser.’ For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
~ New Revised Standard Version, updated
Sermon When Your Breaking Becomes Your Making Dr. E.J. Stokes
Video Reflection
A chance to take in what we have heard and reflect together.
Living Prayer
Call to Prayer
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 Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and our siblings at New Liberty Baptist Church in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.
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.
Offertory Sonata 3 Carl Abel Union Church Orchestra
A Chance for Generosity: 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 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 Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying Ken Medema
Silent Prayers and Prayers of the Community Steve Rutledge, Reader
One: Persistent Love, Maker of All Things New, be here with us now.
Be with those whose bodies, hearts, and spirits carry weariness. Strengthen their hope, steady and persistent, like the widow who would not be denied. Let them feel the quiet power of love that demands patience, endurance, and courage.
Be with those whose breaking feels final, whose struggle leaves them afraid. Whisper to them that vulnerability is not an ending but an opening—a space where being and becoming quietly unfold, where new names, new purposes, and the inheritance of your love await.
Send those who are whole to those who are hurting, that our hands, our words, our presence may honor each other and reflect your care. Help us notice the new beginnings hidden inside the pain, and respond with hearts willing to welcome, to persist, to heal.
We rest in your care, trusting the love that always reaches toward us. And we ask all these blessings in the name of Jesus, 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 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 #472 Precious Lord, Take My Hand Precious Lord
1. Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn; Through the storm, through the night, Lead me on to the light:Take my hand, precious Lord, Lead me home.
2. When my way grows drear, Precious Lord, linger near, When my life is almost gone, Hear me cry, hear my call, Hold my hand lest I fall: Take my hand, precious Lord, Lead me home.
3. When the shadows appear and the night draws near, And the day is past and gone, At the river I stand, Guide my feet,hold my hand: Take my hand, precious Lord, Lead me home.
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
We light this candle for all the Israeli and Palestinian prisoners that were released this week. We remember the families of the hostages that died. We pray for the refugees returning to a Gaza that has been destroyed. We give thanks for all the negotiators who helped achieve the cease fire and hope for a lasting peace.
¨ Benediction
Postlude x
Our Prayers for Others
¨ Dave Reilly’s nephew, Herb Post, ill with kidney cancer that has spread to his lung.
¨ Bonnie Donelly, grandma of Tennant Kirk’s daughter-in-law Carlie, on hospice care with pancreatic cancer.
¨ Peggy Patrick, recovering from knee replacement surgery.
¨ Rhonda Edwards, and family at the death of her mother.
¨ The family of Kelly Mehler at his sudden death on October 5. The love of the church family surrounds all who grieve his passing.
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
¨ 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.
¨ That the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East may hold; and those suffering receive the aid they need.
¨ 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.
¨ Our neighbors experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Betsy Hoefer, Dorie Hubbard, Susan Kramer, Lois Morgan, Sara Parker, Cheryl Payne, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie, Theresa Scherf.
¨ Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: Today, Oct. 21 – Critley King Smith; 22 – Sarah Broomfield, Ellen Suters, Thomas Brownrobie; 27 – Reda Hutton, Susan Schmied
Anniversaries: Oct. 22 – Howard & Shirley Carlberg, 23 – Stephanie Ryan & Ryan Reigelsperger; 25 – Tony & Katie Basham
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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