Round Hill Community Church

Transcription

1 Round Hill Community Church

2 ORDER OF SERVICE April 19, 2015 Third Sunday of Easter PRELUDE Prelude on Ave Verum Mozart-Biggs Andantino Haydn WORDS OF WELCOME INTROIT CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: God s truth shines in the light of a new day! All: We come wanting God s truth to be our guide. Leader: God s truth leads us to a place of holiness and light. All: We come wanting God s truth to be our home. Leader: God s truth lives in songs of praise and joy! All: We come wanting God s truth to be our feast. Leader: God s truth deepens our life as our thirst for God deepens. All: We come thirsty for God s truth. We come thirsty for God. We come thankfully to drink from the well of God s grace, that God s truth may live in us. *HYMN No. 16 Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing *The congregation is invited to stand

3 *OPENING PRAYER Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen. *THE LORD S PRAYER Our Father 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 and ever. Amen. *GLORIA PATRI Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. CHILDREN S MESSAGE Children may now leave for Church School. Linda Seaver

4 SCRIPTURE LESSON Matthew 6: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, What will we eat? or What will we drink? or What will we wear? For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today s trouble is enough for today. ANTHEM Rejoice, The Lord Is King Parker SERMON Who We re With Jon Morgan

5 *HYMN No. 566 Be Still, My Soul OFFERING Invitation Anthem Prayer to Jesus Rorem (Text by Gerard Manley Hopkins) Jesu that dost in Mary dwell, Be in thy servants heart as well, In the spirit of thy holiness, In the fullness of thy force and stress, In the very ways that thy life goes, And virtues that thy pattern shows, In the sharing of thy mysteries; And every power in us that is Against thy power put under feet In the Holy Ghost the Paraclete To the glory of the Father. Amen. *Doxology Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below; praise him above, ye heavenly host: Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. *Hymn No. 720 O Beautiful for Spacious Skies (verse 1) PASTORAL PRAYER

6 *HYMN No. 218 Thine Is the Glory CHURCH PRAYER Our Heavenly Father, shed forth thy blessed spirit upon all our lives. Make each one of us an instrument in thy hands for good. Purify our hearts, strengthen our minds and bodies, fill us with Christian love. Let no pride, no self-conceit, no rivalry, no illwill ever spring up among us. Make us earnest and true, wise and prudent, giving no just cause for offense and may thy holy peace rest upon us this day and every day throughout the coming week, sweetening our trials, cheering us in our work, and keeping us faithful to the end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. BENEDICTION CHORAL RESPONSE POSTLUDE March Haydn (This march was written in 1792 for a famous clock in Vienna. It was played automatically on a small flute organ operated by the clock mechanism.)

7 ROUND HILL COMMUNITY CHURCH MISSION STATEMENT We, the members of the Round Hill Community Church, a self-governing, non-denominational body, seek to foster a community of faith where people of all ages and backgrounds pursue spiritual growth; where God is worshipped in Word and praised in music; where friends are made and hurts are healed. We seek to be a community where individuals commit their time are resources to education, fellowship, and to helping those in need among our Church family and in the broader world. We are a church where faith, hope, justice and love are valued, and above all, Jesus is Lord. ROUND HILL COMMUNITY CHURCH CREED I believe in God, the one universal Father of all mankind, revealed supremely in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and present with us to guide, comfort and inspire in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Kingdom of God; and in the mission of the Christian Church to proclaim the Gospel to all the world, exalting the worship of the Lord our God, and laboring for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of righteousness, the reign of peace, and the realization of human brotherhood. United in Christian love, we pray and labor for the coming of the Kingdom, the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting. Amen.

8 CHURCH NEWS Thank you to Harold Kuplesky and Fred Mason for ushering today. A very special thank you to Jon Morgan, for preaching this morning. We thank Craig Lazzara for being our Liturgist. Thank you to Jean Jacullo and Samira Loschiavo for hosting today s Coffee Hour. Please join them in the parlor following the service. Our Annual Dinner is this Wednesday! Remember to RSVP when you get home today! There will be a gathering for all parents at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 3rd following the service. Ed Horstmann will present several new initiatives geared toward families and children that are being planned and we d love to get your input! Please join us for a light lunch and conversation. We plan to be together for about an hour. Supervision and pizza will be available for children. Please contact Nancy Mazzoli at nancy.mazzoli@gmail.com if you plan to attend. Be sure to make your way into Les Beaux Arts Gallery following today s service to view the new exhibit Polo at Conyers Farm by artist, Ted Berkowitz. The exhibit runs through Thursday, May 14, 2015.

9 The Meditation/Stress Reduction Group meets every Thursday in the Church Meeting Room, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Come when you can and bring a friend. All are welcome! Neighbor to Neighbor has identified a special wish list item of peanut butter and jelly for April. A food wagon and giving envelopes are located in the Narthex. Please be generous. Round Hill Community Church has a Facebook page where we regularly post and update the congregation and the wider community about happenings in the Church and Community House. To follow us, go to Round Hill Community Church on Facebook and click Like on our page.

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11 REFLECTION Tucked away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long, long trip that almost spans the continent. We re travelling by passenger train, and out the windows we drink in the passing scenes. But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. There will be bands playing and flags waving. And once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true. So many wishes will be fulfilled and so many pieces of our lives finally will be neatly fitted together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damming the minutes for loitering, waiting, waiting, waiting for the station. When we get to the station that will be it! we cry. Translated it means, When I m 18 that will be it! When I buy a new Mercedes Benz, that will be it! When I put the last kid through college that will be it! When I have paid off the mortgage that will be it! When I win a promotion that will be it! When I reach the age of retirement that will be it! However, sooner or later we must realize that the true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us. Relish the moment is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24: This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. It isn t the burdens of today that drive men mad. Rather, it is regret over yesterday or fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who would rob us of today. So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough. Adapted from Robert Hastings

12 Senior Minister: The Rev. Dr. Edward G. Horstmann Minister Emeritus: The Rev. Dr. Ralph Ahlberg Minister of Music: Christopher Kabala Church School Coordinator: Connie Blunden Round Hill Community Church 395 Round Hill Road, Greenwich, CT roundhillcommunitychurch.org