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!”
June 11, 2023• 10:30 a.m.
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10:20 Gathering and Prelude
Wayne Shull, Music Director
Charlie Salt, AV
Joe McSwain, Usher and AV
Jerry Brines, Usher
Laila Buse, Candle Lighter
Marvin Wilson, Scripture Reader
Scotty Patton, Zoom Monitor
Rev. Gen Heywood, Pastor
10:30am Worship begins
God inspires us. . . all the time!
All the time . . . God inspires us!
*Welcoming the Light
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)
Community Prayer
ALL: I cast all my cares upon you. I lay all my burdens down at your feet; and anytime that I don’t know what to do, I will cast my cares upon you.
Prayers of Gratitude
ALL: I cast all my cares upon you. I lay all my burdens down at your feet; and anytime that I don’t know what to do, I will cast my cares upon you.
Prayers of Concern
ALL: I cast all my cares upon you. I lay all my burdens down at your feet; and anytime that I don’t know what to do, I will cast my cares upon you.
Silent Prayer
ALL: I cast all my cares upon you. I lay all my burdens down at your feet; and anytime that I don’t know what to do, I will cast my cares upon you.
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 812 (NCH)
Amen, amen, amen.
A Time of Offering
An Invitation to Share
Dedication Hymn: “Holy Ground”
CCLI license #11038266
We are standing on holy ground, and I know that there are angels all around. Let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in his presence on holy ground.
Dedication Prayer
Giver of light and love, pour out your Spirit on these offerings of our time, talent, and treasure. Multiply our giving that this little church may be an embassy of your realm of compassion and justice. We ask as we serve the way of Jesus. Amen
Special Music: Marvin Wilson
Rite of Baptism
Pastor: Dear friends, we now join together in a very ancient practice of our faith. Let us remember how this rite has come down to us over the centuries, that even Jesus himself was baptized. Let us recall that through our baptism we are made one with the body of Christ, individual members of the whole body that spans across all nations and all time.
All: We remember that there is one body and one Spirit. In Christ we are neither Gentile nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female. We are one.
Pastor: The sacrament of baptism is an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace. It is a celebration of what we believe -- each of us is fully made in the image of God who loves us as we have been, as we are and as we will be. Baptism with water and the Holy Spirit marks, as a sign and a seal, our recognition of God’s love, our promise to grow in faith, our commitment to turn around when we turn away from God.
Laila Rose Buse, you have made it known that you seek to join with our ancestors of faith in this ancient experience.
I invite you and your friends and family to come forward.
Questions
Pastor: Laila Rose Buse, do you desire to be baptized into the faith and family of Jesus Christ?
Laila: I do.
Pastor: Laila, As you stand here with your family and God parents, you stand in the loving presence of God. Surrounded in that love, do you renounce the powers of evil and desire the freedom of new life in Christ?
Laila: I do.
Pastor: Do you profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, accepting his teachings, example, and loving path to God as the practice for your life?
Laila: I do.
Pastor: Do you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ’s disciple, to follow in the way of our Savior, to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice, and to witness to the work and word of Jesus Christ as best you are able?
Laila: I promise, with the help of God.
Pastor: Do you promise, according to the grace given you, to grow in the Christian faith and to be a faithful member of the church of Jesus Christ, celebrating Christ’s presence and furthering Christ’s mission in all the world?
Laila: I promise, with the help of God.
Congregational Assent
All may be invited to stand as the congregation is asked to make promises.
Pastor: Jesus Christ calls us to make disciples of all nations and to offer them the gift of grace in baptism.
Do you, who witness and celebrate this sacrament, promise your love, support, and care to the one about to be baptized, as she lives and grows in Christ?
People of VUCC: We promise our love, support, and care.
Pastor: Let us unite with the church in all times and places in confessing our faith in the triune God.
Pastor: Do you believe in God?
People: I believe in God.
Pastor: Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
People: I believe in Jesus Christ.
Pastor: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
People: I believe in the Holy Spirit.
Prayer of Baptism
The congregation may be seated.
Pastor: Christ be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor Let us pray.
Pastor: We thank you, God, for the gift of creation called forth by your saving Word. Before the world had shape and form, your Spirit moved over the waters. Out of the waters of the deep, you formed the firmament and brought forth the earth to sustain all life.
In the time of Noah, you washed the earth with the waters of the flood, and your ark of salvation bore a new beginning.
In the time of Moses, your People Israel passed through the Red Sea waters from slavery to freedom and crossed the flowing Jordan to enter the promised land.
In the fullness of time, you sent Jesus Christ, who was nurtured in the water of Mary’s womb.
Jesus was baptized by John in the water of the Jordan, became living water to a woman at the Samaritan well, washed the feet of the disciples, and sent them forth to baptize all the nations by water and the Holy Spirit.
Pastor: Bless by your Holy Spirit, gracious God, this water. By your Holy Spirit save those who confess the name of Jesus Christ that sin may have no power over them. Create new life in the one baptized this day that she may rise in Christ. Glory to you, eternal God, the one who was, and is, and shall always be, world without end. Amen.
Act of Baptism
Prayer for the Baptized
Pastor: We give you thanks, O Holy One, for Laila and for the grace acknowledged here today in water and the Holy Spirit. Embrace us all as your children in the one household of your love. Grant us grace to receive, nurture, and befriend our new sister in Christ.
ALL: Give to Laila; strength for life’s journey, courage in time of suffering, the joy of faith, the freedom of love, and the hope of new life; through Jesus Christ, who makes us one. Amen.
Listening for God
Time with Young Hearts
Last Sunday’s Drawing of Creation. What made the sky blue?
Scripture
Rom 4:13-25 (NRSVUE): For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”), in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 Therefore “it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
Matt 9:9-13, 18-26 (NRSVUE) As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
(and)
While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that moment. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread through all of that district.
Message: God’s Faith in Us
Silent Reflection
Our Light moves into the World God Loves
* Closing Hymn: “I was There to Hear Your Borning Cry” 315 (NCH)
John Ylvisaker, 1985
I was there to hear your borning cry,I'll be there when you are old.I rejoiced the day you were baptized,to see your life unfold.I was there when you were but a child,with a faith to suit you well;I’ll be there in case you wandered offto find where demons dwell.
When you found the wonder of the WordI was there to cheer you on;You were raised to praise the living God, I was there to cheer you on;You were raised to praise the living God, to whom you now belong. Should you find someone to share your time, and you join your hearts as one, I’ll be there to make your verse rhyme from dusk till rising sun.
In the middle ages of your life, not too old, no longer young,I'll be there to guide you through the night, complete what I've begun. When the evening gently closes in,and you shut your weary eyes,I'll be there as I have always been, with just one more surprise.
I was there to hear your borning cry,I'll be there when you are old.I rejoiced the day you were baptized,to see your life unfold.
Benediction and Silent Reflection with Postlude
Be yourself.
Grow in Christ.
Live with Compassion