A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Children’s Sabbath October 20, 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
Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.
— Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916
Gathering to Worship
Hymn Sing Choose Your Favorites!
Welcome & Announcements
Prelude All Things Bright and Beautiful Wilbur Held
* Call to Worship
One: We come with hopes—
All: Hopes for our children and for ourselves.
Children: God! Hey, God!!
One: We come with hurts—
All: Our own and the wounds of so many children and families.
Children: God! Hey, God!!
One: We come with faith—
All: We are loved as children by the Holy.
Children: God! Hey, God!!
One: We come with doubts—
All: We wonder how such suffering can exist in our world.
Children: God! Hey, God!!
One: We come for challenge—
All: We seek renewed vision and bold commitment to bring justice to all children.
Children: God! Hey, God!!
One: We come to pray—
All: To pray for children wounded by the violence of guns and poverty, and to pray for ourselves, for the strength to respond.
Children: God! Hey, God!!
One: We come to praise—
All: To praise the Holy for the gift of children.
Children: God! Hey, God!!
One: Come, let us hear the cries for justice. Let us worship God together.
All: Amen
* Hymn It’s Me, It’s Me, O Lord Penitent
* Prayer of Confession
One: God of love and justice, we long for peace within and peace without.
All: We long for harmony in our families, for serenity in the midst of struggle, and for commitment to each other’s growth. We long for the day when our homes will be a dwelling place for your love.
One: Yet we confess that we are often anxious; we do not trust each other, and we harbor violence. We are not willing to take the risks and make the hard choices that love requires.
All: Look upon us with kindness and grace. Rule in our homes and in all the world; show us how to walk in your paths, through the mercy of our Savior. Amen.
* Words of Assurance
One: Listen to the words of the Scriptures: the mercy and love of God are endless; God’s wrath is slow, and God’s love is eternal.
All: Thanks be to God.
* 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 We Will Praise Him Gordon Young
Union Church Childrens’s Choir
We will praise Him with our voices, we will praise Him with our song; We will praise Him with our singing, we will praise Him all day long. Alleluia, sing to Jesus, alleluia to His name, Praise we sing to God our Father, alleluia, Amen.
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 through the Gospels Luke 8:1-8 (p. 1262)
Sermon In Praise of the Nag Rev. Rachel Small Stokes
Song Jesus’ Hands Were Kind Hands Au Clair de la Lune
Prayers of the People
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 Kiyosato, Japan and is also rung in the hope of peace for all nations.
Silent Prayer and Prayers of the Community (Sung Response)
One: A child or teen dies from a gun every 3 hours and 15 minutes.
All: Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. O God, kum ba yah.
One: A child or teen is injured by a gun every 34 minutes.
All: Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. O God, kum ba yah.
One: A child is born into poverty every 32 seconds.
All: Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. O God, kum ba yah.
One: One out of four children lives in poverty in Kentucky…
All: Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. O God, kum ba yah.
One: Each of us knows people who have been affected by poverty, violence, and abuse as children. Some of us know them all too well.
All: Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. Someone’s crying, God, kum ba yah. O God, kum ba yah.
One: It doesn’t have to be this way; we can do better as a nation, as communities of faith, as families and as individuals. With God’s help, may we act with courage and commitment.
All: We are praying, God, come by here. We are praying God, come by here. We are praying, God, come by here. O God, come by here.
One: Come by here, O God. We pray and continue to pray as you have taught us, to you,
Our Lord’s Prayer
One: ….Our Maker, our Mother,
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.
Offering Our Gifts
Call to Offering
Offertory Children of the Heavenly Father Donald P. Hustad
* Doxology Avery/Marsh
Walking Forward in Faith
* Benediction
* Closing Hymn Seek Ye First Karen Lafferty
Postlude Come, Christians, Join to Sing (Spanish Hymn) Donald P. Hustad
_____________________________
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. Let us hold the people of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and our brothers and sisters at Berea Evangelistic Center 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 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.
* Linda Parsons, recovering from emergency abdominal surgery
* Teri VanPelt & Christine Ward
* Gail Wolford, recovering from surgery
* Peggy Coyne’s daughter’s future mother-in-law, with serious lung problems
* Michelle Tooley
* Peggy Baker, at home after an 11 week hospital stay!
* 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, recovering from a fall
* Shirley Dean, on hospice care for lung cancer
Assisting in Worship
Worship leader today is Dante Clavere
Note: This morning’s organ offertory and postlude are arrangements by Donald P. Hustad, long-time professor at Southern Seminary’s School of Church Music in Louisville. Dr. Hustad, who passed away this summer at the age of 94, was Larry Brandenburg’s major professor in conducting for two graduate degree programs and just importantly, life-time friend and mentor. They are played this morning in Dr. Hustad’s memory.
Announcements…
October 26: Old-fashioned Hayride and Bonfire Fall All-Church Event Saturday, October 26, 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. at Rev. Kent’s house and the surrounding Christmas Ridge Farm. Park at the Friends Meeting House — overflow parking at Berea Utilities Parking Lot Follow the signs for the Hay Rides.
*Hayrides for all ages from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
* Hot dogs and fixings and apple cider 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
* Bring a side dish to share and your own plates, cups, cutlery.
* Bonfire and S’mores and MORE hayrides 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
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.
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.
Save the Date!!
November 10, 3:00 pm, Sanctuary
Fundraiser concert by Ken Burns’ pianist Jacqueline Schwab
Ms. Schwab is heard on Ken Burns’ Civil War, Baseball, Mark Twain, National Parks and more, she also plays vintage American and traditional Celtic music
Admission price: $10 (adult); $5 (student/child); $35 family maximum
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