Round Hill Community Church

Transcription

1 Round Hill Community Church

2 ORDER OF SERVICE September 21, 2014 Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost PRELUDE Alleluia Robert Williams WORDS OF WELCOME INTROIT CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: Let us come to the sanctuary of prophets and angels All: We share sacred time and holy song. Leader: Let us come to the gospel story of healing and call All: We share our gifts and promises for living. Leader: We have come to a time of the Holy Spirit. All: We expect the unexpected. *HYMN No. 21 Let the Whole Creation Cry *PRAYER Christ our teacher, you reach into our lives not through instruction, but story. Open our hearts to be attentive; that seeing, we may perceive, and hearing, we may understand, and understanding, may act upon your word, in your name. Amen. *THE LORD S PRAYER (using trespasses ) *The congregation is invited to stand

3 *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. ANTHEM Oh, Holy Words Robert Cundick and Edwin F. Parry Oh, holy words of truth and love We hear our prophet say. Revealed to saints from God above to guide in heaven s way. Oh, words from prophets God inspires. In counsels oft withstood, Reproving all our ill desires, Commending all that s good. Beautiful words of love Coming from God above, How sweet, how dear the words we hear! They re beautiful words of love. They re from apostles good and true, Whose names we all revere, Who daily teach us what to do, In words of love and cheer. In holy worlds our hearts rejoice: A prophet speaks today! All nations come to hear his voice, his counsels to obey. Beautiful worlds of love coming from God above, How sweet, how dear the words we hear! They re beautiful words of love, Oh, holy words of love. SCRIPTURE LESSON 1 Corinthians 13 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as

4 for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. STORY Yudisthira at Heaven s Gate: Odds Bodkin A Tale from the Mahabharata *HYMN No. 530 I ve Got Peace Like a River OFFERING Invitation Offertory Prayer Anthem Love at Home John Hugh McNaughton There is beauty all around When there s love at home; There is joy in ev ry sound When there s love at home. Peace and plenty here abide, Smiling sweet on ev ry side. Time doth softly sweetly glide When there s love at home. In the cottage there is joy When there s love at home; Hate and envy ne er annoy When there s love at home. Roses bloom beneath our feet; All the earth s a garden sweet, Making life a bliss complete When there s love at home. Kindly heaven smiles above When there s love at home; All the world is fill with love When there s love at home. Sweeter sings the brooklet by; Brighter beams the azure sky. Oh, there s One who smiles on high When there s love at home.

5 *Doxology No. 46 *Hymn No. 720 O Beautiful for Spacious Skies (verse 1) PASTORAL PRAYER No. 716 *HYMN No. 560 Leaning on the Everlasting Arms 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 In This Time L. Sivis

6 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 worshiped 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 and 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.

7 CHURCH NEWS We thank Elena Debnar and Michael Sandifer for ushering. A very warm welcome and special thank you to Odds Bodkin for leading us in worship this morning. The Water Mage s Daughter: A Novel of Love, Magic and War in Verse is Odds original Odyssey-length epic poem available as an ebook on Amazon. Earning five star reviews. His nom de plume is McKenzie Bodkin for this book. His online download store, featuring 17 original albums of stories, can most easily be found by googling odds bodkin storyteller and once at Odds site, visiting his online store. Odds is giving away full color poster maps used with his 4-hour telling of The Odyssey, available as a download. His latest project is a school program called StoryScience, half Greek myth, half multimedia presentation. It contrasts ancient story versus modern science s views of the Earth and focuses on the science of climate change for middle and high school audiences. Call your family and friends when you get home and invite them to join you here this afternoon for an hour long Family StoryBlast with Odds. A reception will follow in the Parlor. Admission is Free for Children and $5 for Adults. Today s flowers are given in loving memory of John Hill Wilson from Sandra Wilson and his family. Thank you to Nancy Mazzoli and Beth Wright for hosting Coffee Hour this morning. Please join them in the Parlor immediately after worship. The Meditation/Stress Reduction Group meets every Thursday in the Church Meeting Room, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Come when you can. Bring a friend. All are welcome.

8 October Book Study As we continue to focus our energies and resources to change the world as Jesus changed the world, we will read How to Change the World: Rediscovering the Message and Mission of Jesus, by Mike Slaughter. Join Ed Horstmann to discuss the book on Sundays after the service [Oct. 5, 12, 26] or on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. [Oct. 1, 8, 15, 29] Books will be available for $15 during Coffee Hour or in the Office. Blessed to Be A Blessing is the theme of this year s stewardship program. While we will explore the power of blessing through sermons and study programs, there will be three opportunities for the congregation to gather with the Rev. Dr. Ed Horstmann to learn more about the vision and direction of Round Hill Community Church. This is an extraordinarily exciting time for our community of faith, and we hope that every member and friend of Round Hill Community Church will sign up for one of these special gatherings. There is a sign up sheet in the Parlor: Let s explore together how we are blessed to be a blessing. CROP Hunger Walk - ending hunger one step at a time! Imagine that you re in Kenya, walking to get water that you ll carry back home in a 5 gallon jerry can balanced on your head. Your family needs this water for drinking, bathing, preparing meals or watering the garden or livestock. Whatever the reason, 5 gallons of water weighs about 42 pounds, and you may have to walk miles to get it. Having to use so much of your valuable time to carry water keeps you from growing more vegetables, raising more livestock or developing a business. There is only so much time in a day. There s a solution and you can be part of it. CROP Hunger Walks help Church World Service work with communities to determine the best solution to their challenges. It could be a sand dam to help provide water; livestock to help start a farm; or tools or seeds to help keep a family fed - and healthy. Visit today to donate or sign up for your Walk!

9 Some ways your small steps can make a big difference: $10 can prove a pair of rabbits $50 can provide tools and seeds for a family to grow a garden $100 can provide 200 chicks, helping families find their way from need to nourishment JOIN US FOR THE 7TH ANNUAL GREENWICH/PORT CHESTER/RYE CROP HUNGER WALK SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, ND Congregational Church, 139 East Putnam Ave. Registration - 1:15 pm, WALK - 2:00 p.m.

10

11

12 REFLECTION Try saying this silently to everyone and everything you see for thirty days: I wish you happiness now and whatever will bring happiness to you in the future. If we said it to the sky, we would have to stop polluting; if we said it when we see ponds and lakes and streams, we would have to stop using them as garbage dumps and sewers; if we said it to small children we would have to stop abusing them...if we said it to people, you would have to stop stoking the fires of enmity around us. Beauty and human warmth would take root in us like a clear, hot June day. We would change. Joan Chittister Senior Minister: The Rev. Dr. Edward G. Horstmann Pastoral Associate: The Rev. Lynne S. Kramer Minister Emeritus: The Rev. Dr. Ralph Ahlberg Interim Music Director: Eugene Sirotkine Church School Coordinator: Connie Blunden Round Hill Community Church 395 Round Hill Road, Greenwich, CT roundhillcommunitychurch.org