November 17 Worship Bulletin, Prayer Concerns & Announcements

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

Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost

November 17, 2013       10:30 am

Hymn Sing           Choose Your Favorites!

Welcome & Announcements                  Gail Bowman

Choral Introit                  Sing a Song of Joy       Richard Shephard

Union Church Choir

Sing a song joy, praise our God with mirth; His flock who can destroy?  Is he not Lord of heaven and earth? Sing we then secure, tuning well our strings: with voice an echo pure, let us renown the King of Kings. First who taught the day from the East to rise, whom doth the Sun obey when in the seas his glory dies. The stars in order stand and are directed by his hand. All that praise his name and his hosts observe, His arm will shield from shame:  Their steps from truth shall never swerve. Let us then rejoice, sounding loud his praise: so will he hear our voice and bless on earth our peaceful days.

*  Call to Worship

One:     Give thanks to God; call upon that Holy name.  Make known the deeds of the Almighty among all the nations.

All:      Proclaim that our God is exalted.   

One:     Surely, God is our salvation.  We will trust, and will not be afraid.

All:      For the Most High is our strength and our might.  Because of this, we listen for the still, small voice of our Creator.  We take on the many tasks of our days just as others do, yet we also take time to listen, and to hear.

One:     We hear You, O God, in the change of the seasons.

All:      Your voice speaks to us in the golden showering when the gingko trees let loose their leaves, all at the same time. Your command of all that is made speaks to us in the shift of the sun, the fluctuation of the temperatures, and in the unexpectedness of the events of our lives.

High voices:    With joy, we draw water from the wells of salvation.

Low voices:     With satisfaction, we center our thoughts on Your promises.

All:      Sing praise to God, for God does marvelous things.  Let this be known in all the earth.

*  Hymn #22 Black             Sing Praise to God      Lobe Den Herren

*  Prayer of Confession

One:     Gracious God, hear our prayers for mercy and understanding.

All:      We can be erratic — moving too quickly in some things but too slowly in others.

One:     We make commitments, then abandon them.  We seek after good habits, but fail to allow enough time for them to take hold in our lives.

All:      We can be very difficult to teach.  We can be very difficult to reach.

One:     We are heavily dependent on Your infinite patience.

All:      Instruct our ignorance, enlighten our darkness, give us a sincere and hearty repentance for all the ways we have failed You and ourselves, we pray. 

* Words of Assurance

One:     Prayer, done simply, honestly and truly, carries us near to the heart of God.  In God, our good intentions find good results, and we find peace.

All:      Deepen, broaden and elevate our desire to respond as You beckon and guide us, O God.

The third ALL stanza is taken from  “A Mother’s Prayer for the Child in Her Womb”

by Phillis Wheatley, 1779

* Passing the Peace of Jesus 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.

Childrens Anthem           For These Blessings    Natalie Sleeth

Union Church Choir

Gracious God, for every blessing we would bring Thee thanks alway. Every gift Thy love expressing to Thy children day by day. Lord most Holy, all Thy creatures, great and small, give Thee now our thanks unending for these blessings, one and all. Help us live, forever sharing from the plenty we receive, that the world may know Thy caring, and in Thee, in truth believe.

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.

Following Children’s Moment, Little Church for children Preschool & under is available in the Nursery, downstairs off the Fellowship Hall, and Children’s Church, for grades K-3, takes place in the chapel.  If this is your child’s first time attending Little Church or Children’s Church, please accompany them to fill out a registration form.  Otherwise, children are welcome to follow volunteers to their worship spaces.

Call to Offertory

Offertory  Chromhome en Taille Gaspard Corette

*  Doxology            Avery/Marsh

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.

First Scripture Reading              Isaiah 65:17-25

Silent Prayer and Prayers of the Community  

Our Lord’s Prayer

  One:  …Our Maker, our Mother,

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.

Second Scripture Reading                      Luke 21:5-11, 17-19

Hymn #256 Black            We Live By Faith and Not By Sight     Dunlap’s Creek

Message    Troubling Times          Rev. Gail Bowman

* Closing Hymn #444 Black            We Are Often Tossed and Driven      By and By

* Benediction           

Postlude    Finale on Lauda Anima            Robert Hobby