Sunday Worship Bulletin, Feb 19 2023

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!”

February 19, 2023 • 10:30 a.m.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

10:20am Gathering and Prelude

Wayne Shull, Music Director

Charlie Salt, AV

Joe McSwain, AV and Usher

Jerry Brines, Usher

Naomi Hanvey, Zoom App Assistance

Scotty Patton, Zoom Monitor

Maureen Carroll, Scripture Reader

Sue Ferrozzo, Candle Lighter and Fellowship Set-Up

Marilyn Closson, Fellowship Clean-up

Rev. Genavieve Heywood, Pastor

10:30am Worship begins

God is with us... all the time!

All the time . . . God is with us!

*Welcoming the Light of Christ

*Hymn:” We Have Come at Christ’s Own Bidding” 182 (NCH)

We have come at Christ’s own bidding to this high and holy place, where we wait with hope and longing for some token of God’s grace. Here we pray for new assurance that our faith is not in vain, searching like those first disciples for a sign both clear and plain.

Light breaks through our clouds and shadows, splendor bathes the flesh-joined Word. Moses and Elijah marvel as the heavenly voice is heard. Eyes and hearts behold with wonder how the Law and Prophets meet. Christ with garments drenched in brightness, stands transfigured and complete.

Strengthened by this glimpse of glory, fearful lest our faith decline. We like Peter, find it tempting to remain and build a shrine. But true worship gives us courage to proclaim what we profess, that our daily lives may prove us people of the God we bless.

About Our Sacred Conversations about Racism

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Racism (highlighted words link to definitions)

a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

behavior or attitudes that reflect and foster this belief : racial discrimination or prejudice

the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another

a political or social system founded on racism and designed to execute its principles

Community Prayer

Spoken Gratitude

Spoken Concerns

Silent Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

Response: “Awake! Awake and Greet the New Morn”

107(NCH) v.4

Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night, though cold the winter and cheerless, the rising sun shall crown you with light, be strong and loving and fearless. Love be our song and love our prayer, and love, our endless story, may God fill every day we share, and bring us at last into glory.

A Time of Offering

An Invitation to Share

Sacred Conversations about Racism: Jerry Brines and

Marilyn Closson

*Offering Acclamation:

Response: “Awake, Awake to Love and Work” 89 (NCH) v.2

Come, let your voice be one with theirs, shout with their shout of praise. See how the giant sun soars up, God’s gift for all your days! So, let the love of Jesus come and set your soul ablaze.

*Dedication Prayer

Holy One, bless the gifts of our time, talent, and treasure. May we be a witness to your presence in all the places we live. Bless our little congregation. May our gathering on Zoom and in-person grow in fellowship and compassion. Amen

Listening for God

Time with Young Hearts: Where is your happiest place?

Matthew 17:1-9 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

17 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will set up three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8 And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Message: Can We Stay?

Silent Reflection

Announcements

Church Council meets after worship

Bible Study Monday at 7pm at John and Maureen’s home.

Signups for Sacred Conversations about Racism

Our Light moves into the World God Loves

* Hymn: “Sent Forth by God’s Blessing” 76 (NCH)

Sent forth by God’s blessing, our true faith confessing, the people of God from this dwelling take leave. The service is ended, O now be extended the fruits of our worship in all who believe.

The seed of the teaching, receptive hearts reaching, shall blossom in action for God and for all. God’s grace did invite us, and love shall unite us to work for God’s realm and to answer the call.

With praise and thanksgiving to God ever living, the tasks of our everyday life we will face. Our faith ever sharing, in love ever caring, embracing God’s children of each tribe and race.

With your grace you feed us, with your light now lead us, united us as one in this life that we share. Then may all the living with praise and thanksgiving give honor to Christ and that name which we bear.

*Benediction

Silent Meditation and Postlude

Sunday Worship Bulletin Feb 12, 2023

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!”

February 12, 2023 • 10:30 a.m.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

10:20am Gathering and Prelude

Wayne Shull, Music Director

Charlie Salt, AV

Joe McSwain, AV and Usher

Jerry Brines, Usher

Naomi Hanvey, Zoom App Assistance

Scotty Patton, Zoom Monitor

Jan Young, Scripture Reader

Sue Ferrozzo, Candle Lighter and Fellowship Set-Up

Marilyn Closson, Fellowship Clean-up

Rev. Genavieve Heywood, Pastor

10:30am Worship begins

God listens... all the time!

All the time . . . God listens!

*Welcoming the Light of Christ

* Hymn “Come, Let Us Join with Faithful Souls” 383 (NCH)

Public Domain

1 Come, let us join with faithful souls

Our song of faith to raise;

One family in heart are we,

And One the God we praise.

2 Faithful are all who love the truth

And perfect truth proclaim,

Who steadfast stand at God’s right hand

And glorify God’s name.

3 And faithful are the gentle hearts

To whom the pow'r is giv'n

Of ev'ry hearth to make a home,

Of ev'ry home a heav'n.

4 O God of hosts, our faith renew,

And grant us, in your grace,

To join the songs sung by the saints

In every time and place.

About Our Sacred Conversations about Racism

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Racism (highlighted words link to definitions)

a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

behavior or attitudes that reflect and foster this belief : racial discrimination or prejudice

the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another

a political or social system founded on racism and designed to execute its principles

Community Prayer

Spoken Gratitude

Spoken Concerns

Silent Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

Response: “Awake! Awake and Greet the New Morn”

107(NCH) v.4

Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night, though cold the winter and cheerless, the rising sun shall crown you with light, be strong and loving and fearless. Love be our song and love our prayer, and love, our endless story, may God fill every day we share, and bring us at last into glory.

A Time of Offering

An Invitation to Share

An Offering of Hope: Leona Flowers, Hope House, Spokane

Sacred Conversations about Racism: Sam Mumford

*Offering Acclamation:

Response: “Awake, Awake to Love and Work” 89 (NCH) v.2

Come, let your voice be one with theirs, shout with their shout of praise. See how the giant sun soars up, God’s gift for all your days! So, let the love of Jesus come and set your soul ablaze.

*Dedication Prayer

Radiant God, bless us and our offerings that this little community may be found pleasing in your sight. Pour out your Spirit and strengthen us as we practice the way of Jesus. Amen

Listening for God

1 Corinthians 3:1-9 The Message translation

1-4 But for right now, friends, I’m completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You’re acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I’ll nurse you since you don’t seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything’s going your way? When one of you says, “I’m on Paul’s side,” and another says, “I’m for Apollos,” aren’t you being totally infantile?

5-9 Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working.

Matthew 5:21-37 The Message translation

21-22 “You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

23-24 “This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.

25-26 “Or say you’re out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don’t lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you’re likely to end up in court, maybe even jail. If that happens, you won’t get out without a stiff fine.

27-28 “You know the next commandment pretty well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt.

29-30 “Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.

31-32 “Remember the Scripture that says, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him do it legally, giving her divorce papers and her legal rights’? Too many of you are using that as a cover for selfishness and whim, pretending to be righteous just because you are ‘legal.’ Please, no more pretending. If you divorce your wife, you’re responsible for making her an adulteress (unless she has already made herself that by sexual promiscuity). And if you marry such a divorced adulteress, you’re automatically an adulterer yourself. You can’t use legal cover to mask a moral failure.

33-37 “And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.

Message: Word Power

Silent Reflection

Announcements

Bible Study Monday at 7pm at Wayne and Charlie’s homne.

Signups for Sacred Conversations about Racism

Our Light moves into the World God Loves

* Hymn: “Be Now My Vision” 451(NCH)

Public Domain

Be now my vision, O God of my heart; nothing surpasses the love you impart - you my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, your presence my light.

Be now my wisdom, and be my true word; ever within me, my soul is assured; Mother and Father, you are both to me, now and forever, your child I will be.

Riches I need not, nor life’s empty praise, you, my inheritance, now and always. You and you only are first in my heart, great God, my treasure, may we never part.

Sovereign of Heaven, my victory won, may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O Ruler of All.

*Benediction

Silent Meditation and Postlude

Sunday Worship Bulletin, Feb 5, 2023

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!”

February 5, 2023 • 10:30 a.m.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

10:20am Gathering and Prelude

Wayne Shull, Music Director

Charlie Salt, AV

Joe McSwain, AV and Candlelighter

Naomi Hanvey, Zoom App Assistance

Scotty Patton, Zoom Monitor

Sue Ferrozzo, Candle Lighter and Scripture Reader

Rev. Genavieve Heywood, Pastor

10:30am Worship begins

God’s light shines... all the time!

All the time . . . God’s light shines!

*Welcoming the Light of Christ

*Hymn: “You are the Salt for the Earth” 181 (NCH)

You are salt for the earth, O people: salt for the reign of God; Share the flavor of life, O people: life in the City of God!

Refrain: Bring forth the reign of mercy, bring forth the reign of peace. Bring forth the reign of justice, bring forth the City of God.

You are light on a hill, O people: light for the city of God! Shine so holy and bright, O people: shine for the City of God! (Refrain)

You are a seed of the Word, O people: bring forth the reign of God! Seeds of mercy and seeds of justice, grow in the City of God! (Refrain)

We are a blessed and a pilgrim people: bound for the City of God! Love our journey and love our homeland: love is the City of God. (Refrain)

About Our Sacred Conversations about Racism

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Racism (highlighted words link to definitions)

a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

behavior or attitudes that reflect and foster this belief : racial discrimination or prejudice

the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another

a political or social system founded on racism and designed to execute its principles

Community Prayer

Spoken Gratitude

Spoken Concerns

Silent Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

Response: “Awake! Awake and Greet the New Morn”

107(NCH) v.4

Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night, though cold the winter and cheerless, the rising sun shall crown you with light, be strong and loving and fearless. Love be our song and love our prayer, and love, our endless story, may God fill every day we share, and bring us at last into glory.

A Time of Offering

An Invitation to Share

Sacred Conversations about Racism: Marvin Wilson

*Offering Acclamation:

Response: “Awake, Awake to Love and Work” 89 (NCH) v.2

Come, let your voice be one with theirs, shout with their shout of praise. See how the giant sun soars up, God’s gift for all your days! So, let the love of Jesus come and set your soul ablaze.

*Dedication Prayer

Just God, we offer these gifts for Spokane Valley Partners and our church with the hope that they may be found as worthy tokens of our gratitude. Bless them and strengthen us to serve you always. Amen

Listening for God

Message with Young Hearts:

What is the best part of being in the dark?

Matthew 5:13-20

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Message: Powerfully Small

Sharing of Holy Communion

Pastor: We gather at this table mindful of the many who have gathered here before us and those yet to come. We are grateful that we have this day together. We remember that Jesus walked among our ancestors and the Holy Spirit dwells within us today. We remember that Jesus asked for us to remember him when we eat bread and drink of a cup.

When Jesus and his friends sat together at a Passover meal, Jesus took bread; ... Do this as often as you drink of it in remembrance of me." Let us pray.

All: Come, Holy Spirit come. Bless this bread and this cup and all who have gathered in your Spirit. Help us to remember that you have dwelt among us. Help us to dwell in the world today as living temples of your presence. Bless us to remember your teachings, commandments, and example. May we be renewed in this sharing. Amen.

Silence

Prayer of Thanksgiving

ALL: We thank you, God, for your presence as we remember the Living Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you are among us still, in each of us, and in all of your creation. Bless us to more fully live as your people. Amen.

Silent Reflection

Announcements

Signups for Sacred Conversations about Racism

Our Light moves into the World God Loves

* Hymn: “You are the Seed” 528(NCH)

You are the Seed that will grow a new sprout; you’re a star that will shine through the day; You are the yeast and a small grain of salt, a beacon to glow in the night.

You are the dawn that will bring a new day; you’re the wheat that will bear golden grain. You are a sting and a soft, gentle touch, my witnesses where’er you go.

Refrain: Go, my friends, go to the world proclaiming love to all, messengers of my forgiving peace, eternal love. Be, my friends, a loyal witness, from the dead I arose; “Lo, I’ll be with you forever, ’til the end of the world”

You are the flame that will brighten the way, sending sparkles of hope, faith, and love; You are the shepherds to lead the whole world through valleys and pastures of peace.

You are the friends that I chose for myself, the word that I want to proclaim. You are the city that’s built on a rock where justice and truth always reign. (Refrain)

You are life that will nurture the plant; you’re the waves in a turbulent sea; yesterday’s yeast is beginning to rise, a new loaf of bread it will yield.

There is no place for a city to hide, nor a mountain can cover it’s might; may your good deeds show a world in despair a path that will lead all to God. (Refrain)

*Benediction

Silent Meditation and Postlude