Sept. 23 Worship Bulletin

A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost             September 23, 2012

Meditation
“These communities, these small, local, autonomous communities open to others in both heart and mind were then, and are now, the transforming their corner of the world, making it better.”

                        —from notes on Joan Chittister’s Robbins Peace Lecture,  Berea College Sept 20, 2012

Gathering to Worship

Welcome and Announcements
Prelude     I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art (Old 124th)         Healey Willan
Call to Worship

One:     Imagine a world where service is more important that what status will buy you.

Imagine a world where the few and weak are not preyed upon, but uplifted and cherished.

Imagine a world where our homes are safe, our hospitality is lavish, our work is meaningful, and our care for one another builds our whole community.

All:      We gather to imagine God’s realm, to embrace and enact the love we are shown. Learning, we worship. Praising, we pray. Loving, we live to servants in the Kin-dom of God.

*Opening Hymn  Jesu, Jesu (opposite)   chereponi
* Prayer of Approach and Confession

One:     My friends, confession isn’t for wimps. It is for those who can bear the light of self honesty and the pain of repentance. We come as humans who make mistakes.  It’s part of what we do.  Let us now turn toward the divine, who can help us right them.

Let us pray.

One:    If our minds have been wide open to foolish innovations but half-shut or closed to the new things you wish to speak to us; Lord have mercy.

All:      Lord have mercy.

 One:    If our hearts are occupied with the lusts and worries of the secular world, leaving little space for the sweet sanity of trust and love; Christ have mercy.

All:      Christ have mercy.

One:    If our souls have been taken over by pride, ingrained with stubborn errors, or subverted by a creeping indifference; Lord have mercy…

All:      Lord have mercy.

God of amazing grace, have mercy on us as we thrash around in the tangled web of our own making. Forgive us our sins and deliver us from captivity to anything less than your Son Jesus. May he possess us mind, heart and soul, and by that possession, let us find once more the paradoxical liberty of the children of God.   Through this same Lord Jesus, our Redeemer. Amen!

* Words of Assurance
* 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    Walk Humbly With God          Dan Gawthrop  Union Church Choir        

And what doth the Lord require of thee?

But to do justly, and love mercy and walk humbly with Thy God.

Epistle Lesson                  James 3:13-4:3,7-8a
The wisdom of the world differs greatly from the wisdom of God.
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.

After Children’s moment our youngest members may return to their seats, go to the nursery in Knapp Hall Room 102 (Nursery is in the back left corner when entering the front of Knapp—ushers will be glad to direct you), or participate in Children’s Church on level 1a in Presser.
Gospel Lesson                  Mark 9:30-37
Jesus predicts his death a second time.
Sermon    Welcoming the One Who Sends          Rev. Kent Gilbert

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 Prayers & Prayers of the Community
Our Lord’s Prayer

            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

Offertory  Andantino        Leon Boellmann
*Doxology             Avery/Marsh

Walking Forward in Faith

* Closing Hymn      Heaven Shall Not Wait            Heaven Shall Not Wait
* Benediction and Sending Forth             
Postlude   Fantasy on Foundation          arr. Alice Jordan
_____________________________
* Those who wish to  may stand