- Nov 1, 2024
- 7 min read
Veradale United Church of Christ
An Open & Affirming Congregation
Worshiping God in Christ – Welcoming All – Working for Justice & Peace
“No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here!”
November 3, 2024
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
10:20 Gathering and Prelude
Wayne Shull, Music Director
Joe McSwain, Usher
Jerry Brines, Usher
Tom Cuilla, Usher Coordinator
Cherall-Anne St. James and Maureen Carroll, Scripture readers
Diane Smith, Candle lighter
Sue Ferrozzo, Fellowship Set-up
Charlie Salt, Fellowship Clean-up
Scotty Patton, Zoom Monitor
Rev. Gen Heywood, Pastor
10:30am Worship begins
We worship on the unceded traditional territory of the Spokane, Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Coeur d’Alene, and other tribes. We acknowledge the history of indigenous genocide, removal, and erasure that continues to this day. We recognize the role that Christian communities played in these injustices, and we recommit ourselves to seeking more peaceful, just, and neighborly ways of sharing this land with all who call it home.
Community Affirmation
God loves us ...all the time! All the time...God loves us!
Service and Fellowship Opportunities
Next Sunday: A Widow’s Offering, Ruth 3:1-5 and 4:13-17 & Mark 12:38-44
Bible Study, Monday at 7pm at Sue and Rocky’s home
Silent Prayer, Tuesday 9:00 to 9:30am
String-A-Lings, Wednesday, 5:30pm; Sing-A-Lings Wednesday, 6:30pm
Bling-A-Lings and Ding-A-Lings
Community giving this month: Salish School Fund Raiser
Welcoming the Light of Christ
(Lighting of Candles for the Saints in our lives)
*Hymn: “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” 295 (NCH)
1. I sing a song of the saints of God, faithful their whole lives through, who bravely labored, lived, and died for the God they loved and knew. And one was a doctor, and one was a queen, and one was a shepherdess on the green: they were saints of God if you know what I mean. God help me to be one, too.
2. They loved their God and they lived that love. It was loving that made them strong; They did what was right, for Jesus’ sake, lived justly their whole lives long. And one was a prophet, and one was a priest, and one was slain by a fierce wild beast; there is no earthly reason, none in the least, why I shouldn't be one, too.
3. They lived not only in ages past; there are hundreds of thousands still. The world is filled with living saints who choose to do God’s will. You can meet them in school, on the road or at sea, in church, in a train, in a shop, or at tea; for the saints are folk like you and like me, and I mean to be one, too.
Prayer with Thanksgiving for the Saints
ALL: Holy One, the light from these candles is a reminder of the light we have known through others. These are the saints in our lives. Some live among us and some have gone from this life. May your Spirit continue to shine their light through us. Make us reflections of your love, justice, and compassion. Amen
Community Prayer
Love, love, love , love, Christians this is your call. Love your neighbor as yourself for God loves us all. (one time)
Prayers of Gratitude
Refrain
Prayers of Concern
Refrain
Silent Prayer
Refrain
The Lord’s Prayer use the translation which is meaningful to you or
Our Father (Creator) 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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass 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.
Response: 759 (NCH)
Glory to the Creator, the Christ, the Holy Spirit, three in One. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
A Time of Offering
An Invitation to Share
Dedication Hymn
Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because God’s given Jesus Christ, the Son. (repeat)
And now let the weak say, “I am strong!” Let the poor say, “I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us!” (repeat)
Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because God’s given Jesus Christ, the Son. Give thanks. Give thanks.
Dedication Prayer
Sovereign of the Universe, we are grateful and make these offerings of time, talent, and treasure to the work of your Spirit through us. Bless all that we are and all that we give that it may, one day soon, be on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Listening for God
Ruth 1:1-8
Ruth 1:1-18
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. 10 They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
So she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you, to turn back from following you!Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge;your people shall be my people and your God my God.17 Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.May the Lord do thus to me, and more as well,if even death parts me from you!”
18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
Mark 12:28-34
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.
Message: Love is the Way
Sharing Holy Communion
Hand sanitizer passed around.
Pastor: Friends in Christ, we gather at our many tables mindful of the presence of God’s Spirit that is here with us. We seek to honor the request of Jesus given in the scripture. Of all the teachings Jesus gave to our ancestors, this he asked them and us to do for him to remember him.
When Jesus and his friends sat together at a Passover meal, Jesus took bread; giving God thanks and praise, he broke the bread. He gave it to his friends saying, “Take this all of you and eat of it. This is my body that is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
After the meal had ended, Jesus poured out the cup and again he gave God thanks and praise. He gave the cup to his friends and said, “Take this all of you and drink from it. This is the cup of the new covenant. Do this as often as you drink of it in remembrance of me.”
Let us pray.
All: Loving God, you are with us in questioning and learning. We thank you with humble hearts. Let your presence be felt among us. Come, Holy Spirit come. Bless this bread and this cup and all who have gathered in your Spirit. Refresh us and renew us as Christ’s body in the world today. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Silence as all who want to receive come forward. We will break bread and share a common cup or you can receive the packaged bread and drink,
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Pastor: Let us pray. We thank you, God, for this loving community. As we share this meal and these blessings, we are humbled. You are beyond our understanding and within everyone and everything everywhere and in all creation. Bless us now to more fully live as your people in respect and love for all through Jesus Christ whose way we follow. Amen.
Meditation in Music
Announcement Reminder
Our Light moves into the World God Loves
*Closing Hymn One Bread, One Body
refrain: One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless. And we though many throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.
1.Gentile or Jew, servant or free, woman or man, no more. (refrain)
2. Many the gifts, many the works, one in the Lord of all. (refrain)
3Grain of the fields, scattered and grown, gathered to one, for all (refrain)
Benediction
Communal Blessing
Be Yourself.
Grow in Christ.
Live with Compassion
