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!”
Sunday, October 8, 2023 • 10:30 a.m.
10:20 Gathering and Prelude
Wayne Shull, Music Director
Charlie Salt, AV
Joe McSwain, AV and Usher
Jerry Brines, Usher
___________, Scripture Reader
_________, Candle Lighter
Scotty Patton, Zoom Monitor
________, Fellowship Set-Up
Charli Salt, Fellowship Clean-up
Rev. Genavieve Heywood, Pastor
10:30am Land Acknowledgement
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.
Worship begins
God sees . . . all the time!
All the time . . . God sees!
*Welcoming the Light of Christ:
* Hymn: “Holy, Holy, Holy” 277 (NCH) Public Domain
1 Holy, holy, holy! God the Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty! God in three persons, blessed trinity!
2 Holy, holy, holy! Saints adore you truly, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; cherubim and seraphim bow before you only, From the beginning God eternally.
3 Holy, holy, holy! Though we know but dimly, though the eye of human kind your glory may not see, you alone are holy holy; you alone are worthy, perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.
4 Holy, holy, holy! God the Almighty! All your works shall praise your name, in earth, and sky, and sea. Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty! God in three persons, blessed trinity!
Community Prayer
Refrain: 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
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 812 (NCH)
Amen, amen, amen.
A Time of Offering
An Invitation to Share
*Dedication Hymn 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.
*Dedication Prayer:
Loving God, we give in gratitude that your way is everlasting. Bless our gifts of time, talent, and treasure. Help us fulfill your vision for this embassy of your compassion and justice. Amen
Listening for God
Message to Young Hearts
Isaiah 5:1-7
I will sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded rotten grapes.
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield rotten grapes?
And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his cherished garden;
he expected justice
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness
but heard a cry!
Matthew 21:33-46
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way. Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”[b]
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Message: “God Planted a Vineyard”
Announcements
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 and Silent Meditation with Postlude
Be Yourself.
Grow in Christ.
Live with Compassion.
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