A Gathering in Worship Offered by the People of the Church of Christ, Union
Reformation Sunday
October 25, 2020 10:30 am
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” —Saint Francis of Assisi
From Here to There: We Gather
Welcome
As the Berea community responds to the governor’s suggestion to avoid gathering in large groups, we worship online to limit the risk of exposure to Covid-19. We’re delighted to welcome you into this virtual circle of God’s healing love and light.
The Call When Great Trees Fall Maya Angelou Donna Abner, Reader
Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves. And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.
Passing the Peace at Home
Building the Community: News that Connects Us
Justice Candle: Today we light the Justice Candle for Red Bird Mission, founded in 1921 to serve folks living in a remote area of Appalachia. Despite the restrictions of Covid-19, with great commitment and creative adjustments, Red Bird continues to provide an array of essential services to the rural community.
They organized volunteers to make masks and provide instructions on how to use them and disinfectants appropriately to increase personal safety. They secured PPE for staff in order to safely continue basic in-home care that allows seniors to stay in their homes rather than going to a nursing home.
Grow Appalachia made adjustments to procedures for distributing seeds, fertilizer and tools. But farmers continued to receive the support to grow their own food.
The industrial kitchen has been busier than usual with community folks making jellies, jams, salsa, canning vegetables and baking goods for themselves and for sale at the farmers’ market.
They applied for and received Certified Farm Market status for their community store so that farmer’s market can move indoors and local farmers can continue to sell eggs, produce and other goods.
Although the K-12 school remains closed, preschool packets are delivered to families of young children.
Since internet services are extremely limited in this part of southeastern Kentucky, Zoom was not an option when the senior citizen center closed. Red Bird set up conference calls to provide social contact among their elderly. Staff report that the expensive calls are worth every penny because the seniors are enjoying them so much.
Sadly, the work camps that brought groups of 20-30 volunteers to repair homes and make improvements were canceled. This not only eliminated the services to the community but has reduced a badly needed revenue stream .
The Director of Outreach, Tracy Nolin, says that the emergency food pantry has been especially needed since March when supplies became scarce at groceries stores. The hour long drive to any store often had to be made more than once or twice to find staples such as toilet paper and flour. Thus folks used twice as much gas and depleted scarce financial resources. With the help of grants and donations, Red Bird increased the stock in their pantry and increased the frequency that a family can receive free food and goods from their pantry. They have enough funds to continue to do so through December. “We are doing God’s work and we have faith that through his Grace we will be able to continue”.
Visit www.rbmission.org or http://rbmission.org/ministries/community-outreach/ to learn more about the ministry of Red Bird Mission and ways that you can support them.
The Living Word Among Us
Special Music A Mighty Fortress D. Wagner
Union Church Handbell Ensemble; Bernardo Scarambone, organ
Hebrew Scripture Lesson Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Steve Boyce, Reader
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. The Lord said to him, ‘This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, “I will give it to your descendants”; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.’ Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequalled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
Children’s Moment Please join in singing as we bless children everywhere:
May God’s blessing 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.
Gospel Lesson Matthew 22:34-46 Patty Boyce, Reader
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet?’
If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Sermon Of Loves and Lords Rev. Kent Gilbert
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
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 portion of our contributions flows out to aid those in need via many external agencies.
Many friends give online, and you can use your smart phone or computer and go to www.easytithe.com/union. You don’t have to register to make a contribution, but if you do, it can make future generosity that much easier. You can even give by text! Text to 859-448-3403 (Example: Text “$50.00 Offering”)
Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!
Offering Music
Silent Reflection and Prayer
The love of God is a deep mystery. Who can say what catches the heart and holds fast a soul?
In prayer today let us focus on beguilement. Beguiled by beauty and sustained by compassionate delight, we are beloved of God. Sink and settle into that realization. If the thought is foreign, or overwhelming, hold in your sacred imagination what it would mean if such love for you were possible. And if you are or were to be beguiled, delighted, by God, what does or would that look like in your life? What outward signs manifest such a state? Those in love often find that they are expanded, filled, with new strength. The love that fills them brims over to those whom they care for. This week, let us pray to brim over for our neighbors. Let us pray to spill delight to families, friends, and even our challengers. How could you put such Godly love in the center this week? If you do, to whom and for what will you reach as your prayer in action?
Our Prayers for Others
You are very welcome to email or phone prayer requests to the office for the bulletin. Please do so by 10 am Thursdays, and be sure you have permission to share the information.
¨ 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 Canada and the U.S.; and our brothers and sisters at First Christian Church in our hearts, and pray for them. Please hold these concerns in your prayers, today and throughout the week.
¨ 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.
¨ Families and Friends in Crises…may God be present to every need and heal every rift and wound and those who care for them.
¨ The Barlow family, at the loss of Gabe. A memorial service will be held on November 7, and will be viewable online.
” Cron Carpenter, hospitalized after a fall on Friday.
¨ Hattie Parks, recovering at home.
¨ Sharona Nelson’s daughter, Melinda, with medical difficulties.
¨ Rachel Small Stokes and the family, at the death of her cousin Faye.
¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Alva Peloquin, Loyal Jones, Jennie Kiteck, Mary Miller, Lois Morgan, Barb Smith, Jan Hamilton.
¨ Children in detention centers, that they may be reunited with their families soon.
¨ Those affected by the Covid-19 virus, their families and friends living with fear, anxiety, and feelings of isolation, may God bring peace to all who love them; and our wider community as we cope with the new realities of living, including the over 1000 Kentucky residents, and nine Madison County residents, who have died to date from Covid-19.
Prayers of the People EJ Stokes, Reader
Join me in whatever way is prayerful to you:
Creator God, you have made us to love. Love you, love our neighbor, love all this creation you lavish on the world. But we confess we don’t always do any of that very well. Made to love, sometimes we look away. Called to compassionate justice, we lash and thrash. Prophets from Moses, to Jesus, to people in the pews have taught us to know better. Forgive us and help us. Reform our thinking and infuse our living with what we truly need, and what the world truly needs from us. From the heights of such love we can see the promised land, and reaching deep into your truths we can help everyone get there. Help us, dear Lord, in all our struggles. Let love change us and prevail in all the people.
This we ask in Jesus’ name, 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 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
Hymn Oh God, in Whom All Life Begins Noel
O God in whom all life begins, who births the seed to fruit, bestow your blessing on our lives; here let your love find root. Bring forth in us the Spirit’s gifts of patience, joy, and peace; deliver us from numbing fear, and grant our faith increase.
Unite in mutual ministry our minds and hands and hearts that we might have the grace to seek the power your peace imparts. So let our varied gifts combine to glorify your Name that in all things by word and deed we may your love proclaim.
Through tears and laughter, grief and joy, enlarge our trust and care; so bind us in community that we may risk and dare. Be with us when we gather here to worship, sing and pray, then send us forth in power and faith to live the words we say.
The Sending and Blessing
Postlude Faces of Union
Come to Coffee Hour after worship! Use this link. Let’s visit a bit!! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87387600761?pwd=aU5QcGt3RnRrVGRCZkZlWnFHRU9PQT09
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