May 23, 2021, Pentecost, Worship Bulletin and Prayer Concerns

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

Pentecost May 23, 2021 10:30 am 

Meditation

Our task, as image-bearing, God-loving, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to the world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to the world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to the world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion.” —N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Easter

From There to Here: We Gather

Prelude Sweet Spirit arr. B. Ingram Union Church Handbell Ensemble

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.

Welcome

Music Holy, Holy Women and Men AJ Bodnar & Liza DiSavino

Holy, holy women and men; gathered in this holy place once again; morning has broken on these good friends; holy, holy women and men.

Prayer of Approach

Passing of the Peace Please remain seated.

Building the Community: News that Connects Us

Today we light the Justice Candle for Endangered Language Program  [Ready] In 2012 Google entered a project to preserve and promote the more than 6000 human languages that UNESCO classifies as endangered. This Spring, a new phone app has been released to make it even easier to know about these languages and help translators bridge the gap to preservation.

The free app is part of Google Arts & Culture’s mission to “democratize access to the world’s arts and culture,” and is headed by Chance Coughenour, the Google division’s head of preservation, relying on the  help of 2,500 partners in 80 countries. The division first started by digitizing pieces of museum art for public online access, and it’s now branched into using its tech to help preserve “intangible heritage,” or “the ephemeral part of heritage that is at risk of being lost or endangered,” Coughenour says.

Users can pull up the app, called Woolaroo, on their mobile browsers and take a photo of any object, or a scene containing several objects. Google’s Cloud Vision API, its image recognition system that’s used for such programs as Google Lens, analyzes the photo based on its machine learning data from having processed millions of images, explains Ian Pattison, head of retail engineering at Google Cloud U.K. The app will generate suggestions for each object in a photo—along with the translation for that word in the chosen language, plus an audio pronunciation of that word.

The 10 languages include two Italian languages: Sicilian and Calabrian Greek, a dialect of Greek still spoken in some villages in the southern region of Calabria (the toe of the Italian boot) by about 2,000 people. There’s Louisiana Creole, a French-based language, spoken by about 7,000 in certain Louisiana parishes. There’s Nawat (or Pipil), a language found in El Salvador spoken by 200 people, labeled by UNESCO as critically endangered, the most threatened level before extinction. Today when we remember the good news preached in the language of “home,” we light the candle for Chance and all who use the best of their heart and minds to preserve the diversity of God’s kin-dom.

The Living Word Among Us    

Congregational Hymn Send Down the Fire of Your Justice

Lesson from Acts of the Apostles Acts 2:1-21 Kim Kobersmith, Reader

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own

languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

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 John 15:26-27, 4b-15

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Sermon The Language Love Demands Rev. Kent Gilbert

Musical Piece Could You Listen to Me and I Will Listen to You Liza & AJ

Living Prayer

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”)

You can also use US mail!  Mail to: CPO 2105, Berea, KY 40404

Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!

Offering Music

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  the Indian Ocean Islands: Comoros, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles and our brothers and sisters at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship 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.

¨ Tom Hubbard

¨ Teri VanPelt, with a difficult medical diagnosis.

¨ Robert Rorrer, undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

¨ Betty Wray and family, at the death of her son, Bill.

¨ Bill Stolte, recovering from a fall.

¨ Sally Hindman, recovering from shoulder surgery.

¨ Laura Robie, 

¨ Stephanie and Barb daughter & daughter-in-law of Judith Singleton, with medical issues.

¨ Judith Singleton, at the loss of her sister-in-law, whose caregiver/son, Ron Browning, has just had a pacemaker installed

¨ Laurie Roelofs and family, at the loss of her mother, Shirley Mulder

¨ Susan Doring Zook’s family, at the loss of her aunt

¨ Dodie Murphy, seeking motivation to return to writing

¨ 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

¨ JoAnn Russell, Reda Hutton’s aunt, facing several medical challenges.

¨ 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 6600 Kentucky residents, and 111 Madison County residents, who have died to date from Covid-19.

¨ Important dates—Birthdays coming up this week:  today Rachel Roberts-Lakes; 25th Al White; 26th Carter Brownrobie; 29th Maggie Park; 30th David Vaughn

Community Prayer

Giver of Grace and Power of the Wind, you speak mercy and release in every tongue. Renewed, bewildered, and empowered by your Holy Spirit we hear your voice in the language of our heart. Speak of healing to those who are wounded, flame of love, and “Peace” to those who see only violence. On the wings of doves bring your counsel and hope to we who have waited so long. With faith rekindled and dreams restored, we offer ourselves to all that your love demands. Come holy Spirit! Enflame our hearts and renew us body, mind and soul! This we ask in the name of our Brother Jesus, 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

Sending & Blessing God Has Made of One Blood Liza & AJ

All People of the Earth

Leaders will sing a line, then the congregation repeats when invited:

God Has Made (God has made) Of One Blood (of one blood) All People (all people) of the Earth (of the earth).

Blessed be (Blessed be), And Amen (and amen); Amen and blessed be, Amen and Blessed be.

Postlude Glorious March Dobrinski Union Church Handbell Ensemble

OUR FELLOWSHIP PRINCIPLES:

“Union Church welcomes all followers of Christ and works with all who work with Him; respecting each person’s conscience; working by love,  endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.”