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!”
March 6, 2022 • 10:30 a.m.
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10:20 Gathering and Prelude
Wayne Shull, Music Director
Charlie Salt, Acolyte and AV
Naomi Hanvey Facebook Monitor
Scotty Patton, Zoom Monitor
Rev. Gen Heywood, Pastor
10:30am Worship begins
God is with us…all the time!
All the time...God is with us!
Passing the Peace of Christ and Welcoming the Light of Christ
Hymn: “Amazing Grace” 547 (NCH)
Public Domain
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see
T’was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed
Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come ‘tis grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home
My God has promised good to me, whose word my hope secures; God will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.
Call to Confession
One: We are made of stardust and to dust we shall return. Let us return our lives to God, the maker of the stars, the planets, and every living creature and know the freedom of living the way of Jesus.
Prayer of Confession
Maker of All, we are yours. Hold us in that love as you reveal to us the ways we have fallen short of our potential as your children. Heal the brokenness within us. Heal the brokenness we have caused. Grant to us hearts ready to make the change and become new through the power of forgiveness, the freedom of repentance, and the joy of transformation. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Silent Confessions with God
Lighting of candles on the Cross
Assurance
One: God forgives us.
All: O Majesty, O Magnificence, O Mystery, come!
Be the hammer, and break our indifference.
Be the sun, and splinter our shadows.
Be the wind, and scatter our despair.
Yea, in the dry country of our souls, let thy grace rain;
so that we take root in thee, and grow.
Make us trees strong in all seasons, bearing fruit,
giving shade to all the weariness
and shelter to them that are lost.
So we pray to the glory of Jesus Christ
who made the cross tree green and flourishing forever.
Amen.
(Arnold Kenseth, USA)
Response
Hymn: “Grace Alone” v1
Every promise we can make, every prayer and step pf faith, ev’ry difference we can make is only by His grace. Every mountain we will climb, every ray of hope we shine, every blessing left behind is only by His grace.
Grace alone which God supplies strength unknown He will provide; Christ in us, our Cornerstone, we will go forth in grace alone.
Community Prayer
Spoken Prayer
Silent Prayer
Lord’s Prayer
Response “Grace Alone” v1
CCLI license #11038266
Every promise we can make, every prayer and step of faith, every difference we can make is only by God’s grace. Every mountain we will climb, every ray of hope we shine, every blessing left behind is only by God’s grace.
Grace alone which God supplies strength unknown God will provide; Christ in us, our Cornerstone, we will go forth in grace alone.
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
Loving God, bless our offerings of time, talent, and treasure. With your blessing, we will fulfill your vision for our lives, our world, and this your church. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen
Listening for God
“Reviewing Our Journey”
Who/What influenced your religious and political views?
Philippians 3:4b-11 from The Message
You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.
7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
1 Peter 3:14-16 The Message
Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.
Message “How Christian Education Creates Extremists” Naomi Hanvey
Silence
Sharing Holy Communion
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 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: 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
Hymn: “My Faith it is an Oaken Staff” 418 (NCH)
Public Domain
1 My faith, it is an oaken staff, the trav'ler’s well-loved aid; My faith, it is a song of trust, sustains me undismayed. I’ll travel on, and still be stirred by silent thought or social word; By all my perils undeterred, a pilgrim unafraid.
2 My guide is Jesus Christ whose steps, when travelers have trod, whether beneath was flinty rock or yielding grassy sod, they cared on their joy unspent, through pain and trial they onward went, unstayed by pleasures, still they bent their zealous course to God.
3 My faith, it is an oaken staff, O let me on it lean! My faith, provides the ground of hope, supports a purpose keen! Your Spirit, God, upon me send, That I may be what you intend. With patient courage, we’ll contend as radiant saints serene.
Benediction and Sing Amen (760)
(Sing Amen) Amen, we praise your name, O, Lord
(Sing Amen) Amen, we praise your name, O, Lord
(Sing Amen) Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, we praise your name, O, Lord
Postlude
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