Order of Worship
Let us be as open vessels that God’s spirit may enter.
The Community Gathers: Experience God’s presence in the assembly. Please greet one another with joy and welcome new friends into our community of love.
You are welcome here…come and worship!
Welcome:
Gathering Music: If You’re A Star (by Amy Lee) -Michelle Currie
Responsive Call to Worship: (Isaiah 25, Psalm 24)
L: The earth and all that is in it belongs to the Holy One.
All: Look, here is our God, for whom we have waited.
L: This is the Holy One, for whom we have waited.
All: Let us be glad and rejoice.
Who shall ascend the hill of the Holy One?
L: And who shall stand in this holy place?
All: We come, seeking the face of God.
Opening Hymn: There’s A Sweet, Sweet Spirit #408
Invocation:
Faithful Redeemer, you are the beginning and ending
of all things. You promise to wipe away every tear,
that death and mourning will be no more.
You make your home among us,
and abide with us as our God.
Teach us to live as the saints you call us to be,
that we may truly be your people,
living and doing as we have been taught,
in the name of Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen.
Lord’s Prayer:
Awakening: There is a Place (A Time to Remember) (by Liam Lawton)
-Michelle Currie
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11, For Grief by John O’Donohue
-Dick Bennett
Meditation: A Time To Remember
A Ritual of Remembrance
Leader: We remember those who have died in the past year.
We celebrate their lives, even as we continue to grieve.
L: And we remember all those who have gone before us.
All: This is the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Celebration of the Lord’s Supper
Words of Invitation The Bread and The Cup
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Communion Meditation: Be Not Afraid (by Bob Dufford, S.J.)
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Musical call to Prayer: (two times) Hush now in quiet peace, be still your mind at ease. The Spirit brings release, so wait upon the Lord.
Prayers of the People:
Silent Prayers Pastoral Prayer
Closing Hymn: Blest Be the Tie That Binds
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.
Benediction:
Go on your way rejoicing.
In whatever good you choose to do, precede it with hope,
accompany it with prayer and follow it with thanksgiving.
May the blessing of God Most Wonderful,
Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit be with you
now and ever more.
Response: Amen
Recessional: Go in Peace
Go in peace and the peace of God be with you this day.
Go in peace and the peace of God be with you always.
celebrate and share the joy. Celebrate new life.
Go in peace and the peace of God be with you always
Many thanks to all who help coordinate and support our Worship each week, including our musician, Michelle Currie, our readers, Zoom Host, Greeters and Deacons.
News:
Strategic Planning Update:
The summary of the process from the gatherings held in late Sept/early October is now being reviewed by the various Church Committees. We hope to identity some key goals for 2023 and then we will share this with our wider church as we
establish action plans to work toward these goals.
Outreach and Visibility:
-In the last 28 days, our Facebook posts have reached 1,200 people, largely because of the number of posts we’ve created, and the people liking and sharing them, which increases our reach and visibility. In the same 28 days, people have engaged with our posts 435 times…. Thanks to everyone who checks our Facebook page, and likes,
comments, and shares our posts!
-Union Church yard signs are posted every week on main roads in the area to also increase visibility with the time of Service posted too.
Irresistible Blessing by Jan Richardson
This blessing
has been walking
for a long time,
traveling with no map,
no signpost, no guide.
It has been aching
with a heart
unbelievably broken
and unimaginably lost
and immeasurably tired.
This blessing
does not have it all together.
This blessing
sometimes wakes up
anxious and afraid.
This blessing
had to be quiet,
had to let itself sit
in stillness and sorrow,
had to let itself stop and rest
to allow for joy to become imaginable
again and grace to become believable
again and the presence of love
to become inescapable again.
This blessing knows
you carry your own sorrow,
your own grief.
It knows the weariness that visits you,
the questions that attend your road.
It knows, too, how you keep turning yourself
toward mystery,
how you keep turning yourself toward hope,
how you keep turning yourself
toward this world
with the beautiful stubbornness
by which a way is made.
And so this blessing is glad
to finally cross your path.
This blessing has been waiting
for you. This blessing
has been watching for you.
This blessing has been wanting
to see your face, to speak your name,
to offer thanks. This blessing
meets you with glad welcome.
This blessing meets you
with persistent hope.
This blessing meets you
with fierce love that is ancient
and present. This blessing
comes to you with heart impossibly open
and irresistibly drawn
and infinitely grateful
for the blessing
that you bear,
for the blessing
that you are.
© Jan Richardson