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!”
September 1, 2024
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10:20 Gathering and Prelude
Wayne Shull, Music Director
Tom Cuilla, Usher Coordinator
Joe McSwain, Usher
Jerry Brines, Usher
Don Young, Scripture Reader
Diane Smith, Candle lighter
________, Fellowship Set-up
Naomi Hanvey, 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 dwells among us ...all the time! All the time...God dwells among us!
Service and Fellowship Opportunities
Next Sunday: Return to the Lectionary
Bible Study Returns Monday, September 9
Silent Prayer, Tuesday 9:00 to 9:30am
String-A-Lings practice Wednesday, 5:30pm
Sing-A-Lings sort music Wednesday, 6:30pm
Community giving next month: N-Sid-Sen
Welcoming the Light of Christ
Hymn: Christ is the Mountain of Horeb 45 (NCH)
1.Christ is the Mountain of Horeb which is flowing: water of life pour forth to heal, to make us whole. Christ is the Mountain of Horeb which is flowing: water of life pour forth to heal, to make us whole. Sweeter than honey is the stream, come taste and see. Refresh your being, refresh your heart and mind. Christ is the Mountain of Horeb which is flowing: water of life pour forth to heal, to make us whole.
2. Flower of flowers, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, blooming pure and free for you. O Christ the pathway of love above all loves, Eternal Fountain of salvation flowing free. Come seek the one who understands your grief and pain. Refresh your being, refresh your heart and mind. Flower of flowers, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, blooming pure and free for you.
Community Prayer
In moments like these, I sing out a song. I sing out a love song to Jesus. In moments like these, I lift up my hands, I lift up may hands to the Lord. Singing I love you, Lord. Singing I love you, Lord. Singing I love you, Lord. I love 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: Amen, amen, amen.
A Time of Offering
An Invitation to Share
Dedication Hymn
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!
All your works shall praise Thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty. God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
Dedication Prayer
God of All, you dwell with us now and always, we thank you with humble hearts. Bless our offerings of time, talent, and treasure. May our love and life reflect your presence in this world. Amen
Listening for God
Revelation 21:1-27 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home[a] of God is among mortals.He will dwell[b] with them;they will be his peoples,[c]and God himself will be with them and be their God;[d]4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.Death will be no more;mourning and crying and pain will be no more,for[e] the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless,[f] the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral,[g] the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And in the spirit[h] he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names that are the names[i] of the twelve tribes of the Israelites: 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel[j] who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city has four equal sides, its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Footnotes
21.3 Gk the tabernacle
21.3 Gk will tabernacle
21.3 Other ancient authorities read people
21.3 Other ancient authorities lack and be their God
21.4 Other ancient authorities lack for
21.8 Or the unbelieving
21.8 Or prostitutes
21.10 Or in the Spirit
21.12 Other ancient authorities lack that are the names
21.15 Gk He
Revelation 22:1-7 Then the angel[a] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life[b] with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him;4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
7 “See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
Footnotes
Message: God’s Place is On Earth
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
All: We thank you, God, for your presence at all our tables where we remember and experience the presence of Christ. Help us to live more fully the way of Christ. Strengthen our faith, increase our love for one another, and let us show forth your praise in our lives, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Meditation in Music
Announcement Reminder
Our Light moves into the World God Loves
Closing Hymn: O Holy City, Seen of John 613 (NCH)
1 O Holy City, seen of John, where Christ, the Lamb, does reign within those four-square walls shall come no night, nor need, nor pain, and where the tears are wiped from eyes that shall not weep again.
2 O shame to us who rest content while lust and greed for gain in street and shop and tenement wring gold from human pain, and bitter lips in deep despair cry, "Christ has died in vain."
3 Give us, O God, the strength to build the City that has stayed too long a dream, whose laws are love, whose ways are your own ways, and where the sun that blazes is your grace for all our days.
4 Already in the mind of God that City is prepared: oh, how its splendor challenges the souls that greatly dare: Yes, bids us seize the whole of life and build its glory there.
Benediction
Communal Blessing
Be Yourself.
Grow in Christ.
Live with Compassion
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