December 5, 2021, Worship Bulletin & Prayer Concerns

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

Second Sunday of Advent 10:30 am

Meditation

O friends, enter into this eternal garden, befriend the Guide who awaits you. Enter into the great, resounding Silence, be still and know the true Peace.

       — Nan Merrill, from “Psalm 119,” Psalms for Praying

From There to Here: We Gather

Gathering Music

Welcome

The Call Baruch 5:1-9 EJ Stokes, Reader

Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on for ever the beauty of the glory from God. Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God; put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting; for God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven. For God will give you evermore the name, ‘Righteous Peace, Godly Glory’. Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height; look towards the east, and see your children gathered from west and east at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them. For they went out from you on foot, led away by their enemies; but God will bring them back to you, carried in glory, as on a royal throne. For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low and the valleys filled up, to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded Israel at God’s command. For God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.

Lighting the Advent Wreath Ellen Mink

The Advent Wreath tradition reaches back to pre-Christian northern Europeans who lit candles awaiting the winter solstice. By the 1500s, both Lutherans and Catholics had adapted the Advent Wreath as a devotional way to prepare for the coming of Christ, the Light of the World. Each week as we wait through Advent, we light a new candle representing an aspect of the light God intends for all people. This Sunday the candle of Peace is lit.  

Song Peace Waits for Us at Advent Amanda Udis-Kessler

One: These words from the writings of Baruch, remind us that God’s spirit gathers from east and west, north and south. The divine generosity of peace and abundance supplies us all.  Like the childhood game of “musical chairs,” we are too often convinced that there are not enough places at the table. We shrink the guest list just in case there is not enough, and we scramble to occupy the chairs first to get “our share.” But to house the holy in both ourselves and others, scripture invites us to imagine differently: Our mission is to make real and available these gifts intended for all: a table set with grace for everyone, robed in the garments of a Peace that comes with justice. This is what really matters–this is the fruit of what is right and good.

One: We gather in the light of Hope, the roof under which we gather. 

And today we offer the Light of Peace to illumine a Door of Welcome in the shelter of our Advent prayers. 

All: May this light shine in our hearts, in our lives, and in this church community. May we make the place for peace, and be a living house for all that is holy.

Song     Peace waits for us at Advent…

Passing of the Peace           

Building the Community: News that Connects Us

Lighting the Justice Candle

This second Sunday in Advent we are focusing on PEACE.   While we honor organizations such as the United Nations and Witness for Peace for their ongoing work to bring about a more peaceful world, we also acknowledge our individual roles — within our homes, our schools, our churches, and our communities. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, we remember Jesus as a peacemaker and recommit to walk in his path. 

The Living Word Among Us

Hymn People, Look East

Hebrew Scripture Lesson Philippians 1:3-11 Ellen Mink, Reader

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

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                Luke 21:25-36

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” ’

Sermon The Door to Peace Rev. Kent Gilbert

Living Prayer

Hymn #116 O Come ,O Come, Emmanuel (v. 3,5,7) Veni Emmanuel

O come, O come, O Adonai, who came to all on Sinai high, and from its peak a single law proclaimed in majesty and awe. Refrain: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

O come, O Key of David, come and open wide your heavenly home. Make safe the path to endless day, to hell’s destruction close the way. Refrain.

O come, Desire of Nations, bind all peoples in heart and mind; make envy, strife and quarrels cease; fill the whole world with heaven’s Peace. Refrain.

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.

Call to Prayer and Offering

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: 200 Prospect St., Berea, KY 40403

Your contribution is love made visible. Thank you!

Responding to God’s Love in Communion

Invitation to Communion

One:  The Lord Be with you!

All:   And also with those you cherish.

One:  Lift up your hearts!

All: We lift them to the Lord.

One: Let us give thanks to God!

All: It is right to give God thanks and praise.

One: Today we join with one another in this meal of a common table in order that the uncommon unity we know might become as commonplace as the bread and cup at our tables. Though this is an ancient tradition, it has a powerful meaning in the present. Little pieces of bread acknowledge our brokenness and the places we feel fragmented and torn. But when taken with one another the pieces help us to become whole. It is the Peace/Shalom of Christ that we truly receive on this peace Sunday. So gather what it is you might have: bread, juice, or wine traditionally, or whatever very common element you are willing to let remind you of uncommon grace. Jesus used what was an everyday meal to share body and lifeblood with his disciples. We will too. As we ring the peace bell, gather whatever you and your household will use, then we’ll center here to immerse in God’s promised shalom. Not feeling it? Feeling distant and disconnected. That might be the most important reason to join together right now, where ever you are watching. Let these next minutes be a balm to those feelings as we gather in the hope of peace that may not yet be evident.

With us into that peace let us carry all those in families we are praying for. For all those who have lost someone they love, for those who are ill, for the peoples of Myanmar and Thailand; for the friends and members of Wayside Christian Church as part of our ecumenical prayer cycle, and for yourself: those of you in Michigan, and California. Those of you worshiping from Canada or Florida. Be in this peace with us.

Communion Prayer

Faithful God, we remember the ways you made yourself known first in all creation, then in the teachings of the prophets and caregivers, and ultimately in the fullness of time, in Jesus the Christ. Your advent among the people of the world comes to us in how you welcomed, healed, taught, revealed, blessed, challenged, and consoled. We remember the longing of those who waited for salvation, and the yearning we all have for the justice that brings true peace. We remember the life and ministry of Jesus doing all that love demands, and we remember his death at the hands of oppressors. By costly, precious love is his way of Peace made real. We praise you for breaking into our world with such love, and we join with all the herald angels to sing your praise:

Sanctus Tune: Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might adored, heaven and earth are shining bright  with the glory of your light. Loud hosannas now we sing! In the highest may they ring! Blessed is the coming One, Christ, Emmanuel, your Son. Glory in the highest! Holy God, your name be blessed!

Words of Institution

As we gather at home, let us take what we have and weave the old story with our own. It is you, O God, who invites us to this table not just to remember but to partake of your presence. And yet it is not just here where we find you in communion with us. As we share this meal together, enlighten us to the many ways you are active in the world you have created, and to the ways we may serve you any where and everywhere we find ourselves. We remember that Jesus gathered with friends, in the upper room before his death. He took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to the disciples saying “Take, eat. This is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Remembering all the times we have relied on the strength of a loving God when we have felt torn to pieces, we recall this gift from Christ to disciples long ago. We are one body, together with him we are made whole. We eat and we remember: in Christ’s name. Next we remember that Jesus took the cup. He poured, And again blessing it, shared it with his disciples saying “this cup is my blood, my life, poured out in a new covenant for you. Take and drink it all of you.

As we pour we remember the life-giving elements that fill our cups and fill our lives. We remember that which we have poured out for others, and ask God to bless them with shalom. We drink and we remember: that the peace of Christ which surpasses all may flow into us and give us life.

Through the broken bread, our eyes are opened. Christ is with us. Through the cup of blessing, our hearts are warmed. Christ is changing us and the world for good.

Offering Music Wild and Lone, the Prophet’s Voice arr. C. Anderson

Pearl Marshall, handbells

Wild and lone, the prophet’s voice echoes through the desert still, Calling us to make a choice, bidding us to do God’s will: “Turn from sin and be baptized; cleanse your heart and mind and soul. Quitting all the sins you prized, yield your life to God’s control.”

Prayers of the Community EJ Stokes, Reader

Living Peace, oil the hinges of our hearts, that we might be a door to the peace you make. May we stand at the threshold of honesty and confess to you the ways we have blocked the path, or wounded the travelers, mocked the goal, or closed the door. As John cried in the wilderness, let us too, prepare your way and fling wide the door to hope, to peace, to joy, to love. You have sheltered us in times of need. Help us house all that is holy in the days to come. We ask this in the name of the Prince of Peace, our Brother Jesus, who taught us to pray and 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

Benediction 

Postlude

Singing Together  starting with The Canticle of the Turning

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.”

Especially in Our Prayers…

¨ 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 Myanmar and Thailand and our brothers and sisters at Wayside 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.

¨ Our church family members in nursing homes or who are homebound: Alva Peloquin, Loyal Jones, Jennie Kiteck, Mary Miller, Lois Morgan, Jan Hamilton, Laura Robie, Tom & Dorie Hubbard, Sally Zimmerman

¨ Families and Friends in Crises…may God be present to every need and heal every rift and wound and those who care for them.

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

¨ Children in detention centers, that they may be reunited with their families soon.

¨ Dear friends of Union Church,  Michael Harrington and his husband, Matthew “Freddie” Frederickson, who is very ill at UK Hospital.

¨ 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 now over 11,000 Kentucky residents, and 196 Madison County residents, who have died to date from Covid-19.

¨ Wanda, Steve Gowler’s mother in hospital at Baptist in Richmond.

¨ Betty Wray, with leg issues

¨ Alva Peloquin on her 100th Birthday and in preparation for her move to Morning Pointe

¨ Jenny Kiteck hospitalized at Berea for her heart condition.

¨ Jan Hamilton, celebrating her 90th Birthday today!

¨ Important dates—if we haven’t got yours, let us know. We’ll help you get connected in FellowshipOne Go!

Birthdays coming up: Birthdays coming up: Today, Dec. 5 – Jan Hamilton; 10 – Joan Moore

Anniversaries: Dec. 7 – Reid Livingston & Lisa Bosley