(Used with permission by Tanjong Leman.) Charity is no substitute for justice withheld. -Saint Augustine of Hippo www.colonialucc.org 913-362-7735 10:15 a.m. June 1, 2014
2 The Colonial Church in Prairie Village United Church of Christ Babies in the Water Sunday Worship Service Please silence your mobile phone in preparation for worship. * Please rise in body or spirit. WE GATHER AS GOD S PEOPLE ORGAN PRELUDE Converse -Hobby WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS (Please sign and pass pew pads and fill out Prayer Request cards you may have. You can place the Prayer Request cards in the offering plates later in the service.) MOMENT TO LAY YOUR BURDENS DOWN SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM FOR LENA ELISE SEIBERT Pastor: Friends in Christ, we are here to celebrate the gift of grace in the sacrament of baptism. People: There is one body and one Spirit. There is one hope in God s call to us. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Creator of us all. Pastor: Jesus came to John to be baptized by him. John tried to stop him and said, "I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me?" People: Jesus answered, "Allow me to be baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness." So John agreed to baptize Jesus. Pastor: When Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting on him. People: A voice from heaven said, "This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him." Pastor: At another time Jesus said: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you. BAPTISMAL HYMN #323 Little Children, Welcome
* SONG OF PRAISE GLORIA #759 ADAPTED Glory to the Creator, and to the Christ, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen. Amen. 3 * SHARING GOD S WELCOME (Greet everyone in the hope of peace and friendship.) CHILDREN S CONVERSATION (Children of all ages are welcome to come forward to the chancel steps. Following the Conversation, children are welcome to remain to worship or to attend our Sunday School.) This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine, this little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine, this little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. WE HEAR GOD S WORD * THE WORD IN SCRIPTURE Exodus 1:13-2:10 The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. They made their lives miserable with hard labor, making mortar and bricks, doing field work, and by forcing them to do all kinds of other cruel work. The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah: "When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it's a boy, kill him. But if it's a girl, you can let her live." Now the two midwives respected God so they didn't obey the Egyptian king's order. Instead, they let the baby boys live. So the king of Egypt called the two midwives and said to them, "Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?" The two midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because Hebrew women aren't like Egyptian women. They're much stronger and give birth before any midwives can get to them." So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong. And because the midwives respected God, God gave them households of their own. Then Pharaoh gave an order to all his people: "Throw every baby boy born to the Hebrews into the Nile River, but you can let all the girls live." Now a man from Levi's household married a Levite woman. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that the baby was healthy and beautiful, so she hid him for three months. When she couldn't hide him any longer, she took a reed basket and sealed it up with black tar. She put the child in the basket and set the basket among the reeds at the riverbank. The baby's older sister stood watch nearby to see what would happen to him.
4 Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the river, while her women servants walked along beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds, and she sent one of her servants to bring it to her. When she opened it, she saw the child. The boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. She said, "This must be one of the Hebrews' children." Then the baby's sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Would you like me to go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" Pharaoh's daughter agreed, "Yes, do that." So the girl went and called the child's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I'll pay you for your work." So the woman took the child and nursed it. After the child had grown up, she brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her son. She named him Moses, "because," she said, "I pulled him out of the water." THE WORD PROCLAIMED Pastor Aaron Roberts Express your thoughts by Tweeting to #ColonialUCC. THE WORD IN OUR HOLY MEAL Communion Prayer Pastor: You have told us, O God, what is good and right. People: You gave us a vision of a peaceable Kingdom in the garden of Eden, where man and woman were united to serve you. Pastor: You have told us, O God, what is good and right. People: Instructing your people through the prophets to be united with one another, seeking peace. Pastor: You have told us, O God, what is good and right. People: Showing us a different way of living in community through Jesus Christ. Pastor: Loving God, you have invited us time and time again to do what is good and right in your sight. To live the way that you intended us to live, in a community of peace and wholeness. You have given us every opportunity to return to you and embrace your vision. We witness to you now, joining our voices together and remembering your reign of peace and love and justice. (Written by Rev. Michelle Bodle) Remembering and Consecrating Sharing the Bread and Cup (As the bread and cup are served, we will sing Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ, which is #347 in the hymnal. Drink the cup as you are served as a sign of God s particular love for you. Hold the bread until everyone has been served, and we will eat it together as a sign of our unity in Christ.)
5 Prayer of Hope Gracious God, you have made us one in the body of Christ, and nourished us at your table with holy food and drink. Send us into the world to do justice: to find the lost and lonely, to heal broken souls, to free prisoners, and make the powerful care. Grant us strength to persevere in resisting evil, and to proclaim in all we say and do your good news in Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. WE RESPOND WITH THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER CALL TO OFFERING AND OFFERTORY Elevation -Dubois * Doxology (#780 adapted; tune Old Hundredth) Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise God, all creatures here below; Praise God above, you heavenly host: Creator, Christ, and Spirit, One. Amen. * Prayer of Dedication LORD, you know the justice that needs doing. By what we have just offered to you, help our church be advocates for your justice. By the life, power, and teachings of Jesus, we pray. Amen. TIME OF PRAYER Prayers of the People Believing that each joy and/or concern expressed is indeed a prayer, after each expression, the pastor will say: Lord, in your mercy. And the people may respond: Hear our prayer. Praying in Silence Our 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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
6 WE DEPART TO SERVE * HYMN #588 Let Justice Flow like Streams * RENEW OUR COVENANT (Turn towards the center aisle as we bless one another with the promise of our covenant.) We covenant with the Lord and with one another and do bind ourselves in the presence of God to walk together in Christian Love. We seek to worship God in spirit and in truth and to love our neighbors as ourselves. With God s help we will honor Colonial Church in our conduct, support its program, and extend the influence of Christ throughout the world. * CONGREGATIONAL SONG OF BLESSING #809 God Be With You God be with you, God be with you, God be with you till we meet again. O God be with you, God be with you, God be with you till we meet again. * BENEDICTION AND POSTLUDE St. Thomas -Kern Parents of Lena Elise Seibert: Stacy Seibert and Juliet Arndt Grandparents: Muriel and Walt Seibert Liturgist: Chucho Marquez Children s Conversation: Shea Zellweger Greeters: Kathi and Jim Cook Communion Ushers: Missy Flachsbarth, Hayden Huggins, Stacy Lybarger, Grace Lybarger Head Usher: Linda Moses Ushers: Martha and Bruce Wofford, Linda and Tom Moses
7 Colonial Church Study Guide Don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. Those who hear but don't do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don't listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do. (James 1:16, 22-25) Introduction Charity and justice are both important biblical concepts in Hebrew scripture, in the gospels, and in the epistles. Both are responses to the needs of others and both, if not trivialized, are costly. In this bible study, the faith grounding of both activities will be considered in terms of personal salvation, salvation in our relationship to others and salvation in our relationship to God. The assumption behind this approach is that both charity and justice are not add-ons to our faith but are core practices of our faith. This passage above clarifies this theme.* When you understand that practicing charity and risking for justice are sources of salvation and of happiness, then you can embrace the opportunities for charity and justice with pleasure instead of feeling that they are burdensome. This path to salvation, like others, requires not so much a change of mind, though that is helpful, as an opening and transformation of the heart, of re-centering your life around the callings and highest hopes given by God. Charity The Bible is full of calls to charity and acts of charity. They include gifts to religious leaders and organizations to sustain religious practice, gifts to the poor and particularly widows and orphans, and the obligations of hospitality - opening your home and welcoming strangers. Much has also been written about the concept of Jubilee, of forgiving debts so that those in the Jewish community would not be permanently alienated from the land, the source of life-giving sustenance. In Deuteronomy 15:7-12, we find a passage about charity that is more appeal than law, that being thankful in the midst of our here and now lives. We are reminded that we are creatures and that God is God. The issue of God-given rights is grist for another bible study. Here we are reminded of God-given opportunity, given for us. To be charitable as
8 an expression of such thankfulness puts us in right-relationship with God, God the source of our created life and God the source of our created world, and God the source of hopes and dreams that draw us together in right relationships to each other. With this perspective, we can see that when Jesus gave his life to affirm such truths, however hard it was to do, it was a gift of hope and of thankfulness. Justice The bible is full of calls to justice and acts of justice. The awareness of standards of justice deepens over biblical history from blood feud to an eye-for-an-eye, and finally to the great commandment to love your neighbor as you love yourself (Matthew 22:39). Hebrew scripture, the gospels, and the epistles have all contributed to the emergence of the rule of law, and of democracy as the best way to create our laws. These contributions emerged over the centuries intertwined with principle-based Roman law and with laws that merely reflect precedent. In the United States that we stand before the law both as petitioners based on our own needs for justice and as those who are part of Caesar, the dispensers of justice. Attending to such double-mindedness can help us understand that we need the guidance of the gospel more than ever. We need visions of justice to correct whatever there is of narrow self-interest in our own petitions, and we need vision of justice to draw us toward greater fairness, equity, and compassion as we shape the laws and expectations that govern our official lives, that shape our institutions, and that reform our direct relationships with each other. Once again we can find in Deuteronomy guidance that is more than obedience to the law. In Chapter 24: 14-19 we can see justice and charity closely intertwined. You shall not keep back the wages of a worker who is poor and needy, whether a fellow citizen or an alien living in your country in one of your settlements. Pay the wages on the same day before sunset, for those that our poor have set their heart upon them. If you do not pay on time, then the one in need may appeal to God against you and you will be guilty of sin. (Written by United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries)
9
10
11
12