A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the
Church of Christ, Union
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
National Observance of Children’s Sabbath
October 19, 2014, 10:30 am
Meditation
“We are here, O God, because we believe in peace. It is your gift and our struggle.”
– from an Action for World Development Service in Brisbane, Australia
From there to HEre
Welcome and Announcements
Prelude Air in F G.F. Handel
* Call to Worship
One: “It was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
All: On this Children’s Sabbath, we gather to praise God who created every child wonderfully.
One: “People were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ And he took them up in his arms, laid hands on them, and blessed them.”
All: We gather to follow Christ who cherished the children others would keep away.
One: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
All: We gather to be moved by the spirit that we might be partners in the end of oppression.
One: Come, let us worship God – Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit!
* Opening Hymn I’m Gonna Sing When the Spirit Says Sing I’m Goin’ a Sing
* Prayer of Approach and Confession
One: Holy God, we remember Jesus’ words to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” We recall, with deep gratitude, how these powerful words have sustained and comforted your people in many seasons and situations.
And yet, we believe that there are times when we need to live with hearts that are troubled over the pain and injustice that we have embedded in your good creation. In fact, there are times when, in the midst of deep sin, you trouble the waters and cause a heaviness to take up rent in our hearts – a heaviness that will not be assuaged by soothing platitudes or easy promises, a heaviness that will only move out when justice and peace move in.
Listen, in mercy, to those things that trouble us most this day.
[Silence is kept as we lift to God those things that trouble us.]
We are troubled, O God…
All: Trouble our hearts, O God, until we become your Beloved Community.
One: May the trouble we feel in our hearts this day cause us to go forward with determined minds and resolute spirits.
All: Save us from cowardice and complacency, that we might speak to the hearts of all who are troubled and afraid in this community, with the promise that can only be fully received in a community that believes peace and justice to be possible.
One: Let not your hearts be troubled! —by Rev. Mary Gene Boteler
* Words of Assurance
Anthem The God of Second Chances David Haas
Union Church Choir; Charlie Hoffman, cello
1. Come now, O God of second chances; open our lives to heal. Remove our hate, and melt our rage. Save us from ourselves.
2. Come now, O God, release our demons; open our eyes to see the shame within, our guilt and pain. Mend us; make us whole.
3. Come now, O God, and still our anger; open our minds to peace. Embrace our fear, and hold us close. Calm the storm within.
4. Come now, O God, shake our resentment; open our way to choose the way of love over revenge. Show us a new way.
5. Come now, O God, and grant compassion; open our hearts to love. May we let go of all the hurt. Help us to move on.
6. Come now, of God of second chances; may we forgive ourselves, may we become your living sign: Children of God’s love.
* 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
Hebrew Scripture Lesson Exodus 33:12-23
Childrens Anthem Jesus Wants Me As I Am Vagle, Murray
Jubilee and Joyful Noise Choirs
Jesus wants me as I am; All I can’t do, all I can, what I was and what I am, He wants me now.
Rich or poor or big or small matters not to Him at all, long as I can hear his call, “Come be my friend.”
I had thought for very long, only grown-ups wise and strong could be worthy of His love, but I was wrong.
Take my heart, I’m ready now to be your friend. All I am and all I have, now to the end, for Jesus wants me as I am: All I can’t do, all I can, what I was and what I am, He wants me now.
Childrens 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.
Gospel Lesson Matthew 22:15-22
Sermon In Your Face Rev. Rachel Small Stokes
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.)
Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
Offertory Meditation Broughton
* Doxology Schumann
We give thee but thine own, what e’er the gift may be.
All that we have is thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from Thee!
Praying it Forward
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
Our Lord’s Prayer
One: 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.
Blessing the Way
* Closing Hymn #575 O for a World Azmon
* Benediction
Postlude Allegro Maestoso Mendelssohn
____________________________
* Please rise in body or in spirit
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 Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and our brothers and sisters at Calvary Apostolic Church in your hearts, and pray for them.
Please also hold these concerns in your prayers, today and throughout the week:
* Those in harm’s way in service of our country, and those who wait and worry for them
* Our church family members in nursing homes: Edith Hansen, Klara Welsh, Bernice Robertson, Nancy Jones, Mary Miller, Virginia Piland, Averill Kilbourne, Alva Peloquin
* Naomi Brandenburg, Larry’s mother, who has been ill
* Bea Chasteen
* Tom Frazier, who has had a successful pacemaker procedure
* Gloria VanWinkle, recuperating at Berea Health Care Center
* The Madison County delegation to our sister city, Hokuto, Japan. Rev. Kent is leading this delegation
* Ruth Vallely, Dodie Murphy’s aunt, in hospice in Florida
* Sune Frederiksen and family, at the loss of his aunt, Thea Madsen, in Denmark
* Jimmie Lewis and family, at her father James Wallace’s death
* Hamrick Walters and the families he works with in Prescott, WA
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. Use the pew folder in your row, passing it back when all have signed. Let’s all try to get to know each other better.
Next week: Fourth Sunday New Membership Info: Come One Come All! Each Fourth Sunday of the Month anyone wanting to know more about Union Church or wanting to explore church membership, as well as new members who have not been able to participate in a previous meeting, are invited to come to the classroom two doors past the church office immediately following worship for conversation with the Pastors and the Community Life and Growth Board.
Light refreshments will be offered and you are invited to pick up coffee or tea in the parlor on your way through the hall. Childcare will be offered downstairs as needed; please contact the church office the prior week if you would like this service.
New members will be received each Second Sunday of the month at the close of worship. Those joining may choose to attend the Fourth Sunday meeting prior to or after becoming members, whichever is more convenient.
Jammin’ on the Porch has moved indoors, and into to our Community Room! Bring your instrument and join in the jam session Thursdays at 7:00 pm. Father and daughter duo Lewis and Donna Lamb host the event. All are welcome to join in the music, or join in the listening!
Madison County KFTC Friend-Raiser event! Saturday 4-8:00 pm, in the Community Room. This free, family-friendly event will feature live music from Tyler Childers & Senora Lainhart, potluck featuring pulled pork from Sonny’s BBQ, a great silent auction, activities, and an evening of good fun all to celebrate and support KFTC’s work. 2014 also marks the chapter’s 10th birthday, so we’ll also celebrate 10 years of great work in Madison County. We’re asking able attendees to bring a dish to share and a donated item for the silent auction. But if you can’t do that, be sure to still come along and bring a few friends!
For more information about the event and to learn how you can volunteer, please contact Beth Bissmeyer at bethbissmeyer@kftc.orgor (859) 314-2044.
Concert Choir’s Annual Fall Concerts October 25 & October 26 The Berea College Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, Stephen Bolster conductor, will present their annual fall concerts in Gray Auditorium on Saturday night, October 25 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, October 26 at 3:00 p.m. The public is invited to attend, and there is no charge for admission. The choirs will be accompanied by Lindsay Clavere on the piano.
The first half of the program consists of a variety of sacred music from different eras, in several languages and styles. Included are songs of praise by Ronald Staheil and Heinrich Schűtz, two Marian Antiphons by César Carillo and Edvard Grieg, two songs about God’s light by Andrea Ramsay and Fernando Moruja, three songs about the beauty of God’s creation, and three African-American spirituals.
The second half of the program features a group of Renaissance madrigals and chansons performed by the Chamber Singers, and a large selection of movements from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. The concert will conclude with a group of works about peace by contemporary composers, including Mack Wilberg’s Anthem of Peace, featuring a brass ensemble of faculty and student players directed by Matthew Talbert, in which the audience joins the musicians in the performance.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance info on Facebook On October 1st, Grace McKenzie presented at WNL about her work with Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and the Eastern Kentucky Asset Building Coalition (EKABC). She indicated that she had recently created an EKABC Facebook site and it needs more likes. Please go to the following link to like this site https://www.facebook.com/easternkentuckyassetbuildingcoalition. Thank you in advance for liking the site!
Kroger Community Rewards Giving More Back to the Community! Kroger is committed to helping our communities grow and prosper. Year after year, local schools, churches and other nonprofit organizations will earn millions of dollars through Kroger Community Rewards. If you have a Kroger Plus Card, go to kroger.com/communityrewards and register with Church of Christ, Union. Then all you have to do is shop at Kroger and swipe your Plus Card! You must have a Kroger Plus Card to register, they are available at any Kroger store. It’s VERY easy to register!
Raffle tickets on sale From now until the November 16 drawing, Mission Board will be selling tickets for a beautiful Amish quilt and a coverlet crocheted Tunisian style. Single tickets are $1; $5 for six tickets; and $20 gets an envelope of 25 tickets. There will be two drawings: Red tickets are for the quilt. Blue ones for the coverlet. The proceeds will go to support the church’s mission outreach.
Liberty Place fundraiser tea and auction November 8, 1:30-3:30 pm at Liberty Place: 218 Lake St., Richmond. Tickets are $25 and are available from Dodie Murphy (859-200.-7277 or at Wednesday Night Live). Liberty Place is a 108-bed long term residential addiction recovery center for women and is part of Kentucky River Foothills.
The live auction will feature Rev. Kent’s auctioneering skills & themed tables decorated to the nines by the donors — and a silent auction featuring art, crafts, gift cards and services donated by generous supporters. Among the silent auction items are pottery by Bruce and Kelley Hoefer of Turning Wheel Pottery, jewelry by Diane Gilliam and Nora Swanson, glass by Michelle Weston, wrought iron by Jason Meeks, and a magnificent red quilt wall hanging by Kentucky women artists. Pam Gammon of Berea has hand built an incredible dollhouse, as she does every year, and antique table linens also will be put up for bid. The sweet and savories at the tea are prepared and served by the Liberty Place women.
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