A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
10:30 am Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Meditation
“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.” ~Thich Nhat Han
From There to Here: We Gather
Prelude
Welcome
The Call Jenny Bromley, Reader
One: Come along with me as a sojourner in faith. Bring along a sense of expectancy, a vision of high hopes, a glimpse of future possibility, a vivid imagination. For God’s creation is not done.
All: We are called to pioneer a future yet unnamed. As we venture forward, we leave behind our desires for a no-risk life, worldly accumulations, certainty.
One: Let us travel light in the spirit of faith and expectation, toward the God of our hopes and dreams.
All: May we be witnesses to God’s future breaking in.
One: Come along with me as sojourners in faith secure in the knowledge that we never travel alone.
~ Chalice Worship
¨ Hymn #423 Great Is Your Faithfulness Faithfulness
1. Great is your faithfulness, O God, Creator, with you no shadow of turning we see. You do not change, your compassions, they fail not; all of your goodness forever will be.
Refrain: Great is your faithfulness! Great is your faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed your hand has provided, Great is Your faithfulness, God, unto me!
2. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness to Your great faithfulness, mercy and love. Refrain
3. Pardon for sin and a peace so enduring, your own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. Refrain
¨ 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
Special Music Day by Day Godspell
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.
Scripture Lesson Genesis 22:1-14
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide,” as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Scripture Lesson Matthew 10:40-42
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous, and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
Sermon Seeing More Clearly Rev. David Jones
Video Reflection
Living Prayer
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.
A Chance for Generosity: www.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 www.easytithe.com/union. No registration required, but registering once makes future generosity an amount and a click.
· Baskets 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!
Prayer Reflection Questions
Prayer & Reflection Questions
Have you ever felt as though God, or the universe, was asking too much of you? As though YOU were being tested by God.
How would you respond if you were asked to sacrifice what is most valuable and precious to you, after being promised something very different?
What measures do you take to see more clearly what God is really asking of you?
How can the following verse give comfort and challenge as you commit small or major daily sacrifices in order to love and welcome others, to do justice in the world?
Micah 6:8
He has told you what is good—
and what does the Lord require of you,
but to do justice and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Offertory Amazing Grace trad. Union Church Orchestra
Silent Prayer & Prayers of the Community Jenny Bromley, Reader
God, friend of those in need, Jesus has untied our burdens, and healed our spirits. We lift up the prayers of our hearts for those still burdened, those seeking healing, those in need within the church and the world. Hear our prayers, day by day, that we may love you with our whole being and willingly share the concerns of our neighbors. Hear us as we pray as we were taught…
Lord’s Prayer
All: 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.
From Here to There: We Depart
¨ Hymn #25 O God, Our Help in Ages Past St. Anne
1. O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home:
2. Under the shadow of your throne your saints have dwelt secure; sufficient is your arm alone, and our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood, or earth received its frame, from everlasting you are God, to endless years the same.
4. A thousand ages in your sight are like an evening gone, short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun.
5. Time, like an ever-rolling stream, soon bears us all away; we fly forgotten, as a dream fades at the opening day.
6. O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, still be our God while troubles last, and our eternal home!
Community Connections
Announcements
We share opportunities for Beloved Community and ways to serve.
Lighting the Justice Candle to Lead us Forth
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) mobilizes people of faith to end torture in U.S. policy, practice, and culture. A nationally recognized interfaith membership organization based in Washington, DC, NRCAT is comprised of more than 300 religious organizations and more than 75,000 individuals have participated in our programs and activities. Our diverse partners share a common commitment to advancing the values of human dignity, human rights and an end to torture, without exception. To achieve its mission, NRCAT engages in grassroots organizing, public education, and state and national policy advocacy.
NRCAT began as a response amongst 150 faith leaders convened by Dr. George Hunsinger, professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, seeking a moral response to harrowing reports of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. From this hunger for a collective moral voice to end U.S.-sponsored torture, NRCAT was founded in 2006.
Today, NRCAT’s national membership includes representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and religious groups, regional interfaith and ecumenical organizations, and local congregations. Learn more at nrcat.org
¨ Benediction
¨ Benediction Response Woyaya (We Will Get There)
Please sing as you form our larger circle. We will sing it twice so that we may fully see each other and sing at the same time.
Reprinted with permission using OneLicense #A-723786
Our Prayers for Others
¨ 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 (World Council of Churches Ecumenical Prayer cycle: union-church.org/ministries/prayer) Let us hold the people of Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda; and our brothers & sisters at The Unitarian Universalists Fellowship in our hearts, and pray for them today and throughout the week.
¨ Prayers for 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.
¨ All those seeking a new and just society and those fearful that they will be supplanted, may God open their hearts and include them in grace.
¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Jan Hamilton, Doug Hindman, Betsy Hoefer, Dorie Hubbard, Lois Morgan, Tom & Sara Parker, Cheryl Payne, Alva Peloquin, Laura Robie, Betty Wray, Sally Zimmerman
¨ Loyal Jones, in hospice care. His daughter, Susan, reports he’d love to hear from friends. His address is 200 Tabernacle Rd. L-205; Black Mountain; NC; 28711.
¨ Dottie Lovell, struggling with a case of Bell’s Palsy.
¨ Patsy Boyce, sister-in-law of Bob and Jean Boyce, undergoing chemotherapy.
¨ Rita Barlow, receiving care at home.
¨ All those suffering from mental strain, trauma, and disease: may God soothe and heal all who are troubled.
¨ Angela Anderson, beginning treatment at Dana Farber Lynch Syndrome Center. Keep in touch at her Caring Bridge site: www.caringbridge. org/visit/angelafaithanderson
¨ Betty Sarafin’s family. Her brother-in-law, Thomas Aquinas Cook, Jr. Esq, has ALS and is declining.
¨ John Stanley & Heather Lundy, former Union Church members & still beloved friends, as John recovers from a stroke.
¨ Joyce Mosher
¨ Doug Hindman, now back at The Terrace from a hospital stay, awaiting shunt surgery.
Celebrations with Prayers of Joy!
Birthdays: Today – July 2 – Delores Carpenter, Lauri Eiselt; 3 – Susie Ritchie; 4 – Phyllis Hughes, John Coyne, 5 – Sune Frederiksen; 7 – Jessica Gowler; 8 – Kelly Mehler, Bernardo Scarambone; 9 – Amy Williams, Gwen Castillo
If we haven’t got your important dates, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!
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