Welcome to this service.  Today we are celebrating World Communion Sunday.

You can respond with thoughts about the service or with anything you would like to say by using the comment feature at the end of the post or by emailing us.  You can also bring others into this experience by sharing the link to this service by email or social media. Whoever you are, wherever you are on your journey, you are welcome here and in our church community.

Pastor Tom Kinder

Today’s Order of Worship

1. Prelude by Annemieke McLane
2. Call to Worship: A Haiku by Mel Goertz
3. Scriptures
4. Sermon
5. Service of Holy Communion
6. Offering
7. Announcements
8. Benediction & Postlude, “When We Can See as God Can See”

Prelude   from “Songs Without Words,” Op. 19 No. 4 in A Major, Felix Mendelssohn, performed by our church musician, Annemieke McLane, piano.

Call to Worship  “Be still, and know that I am God.”  Psalm 46   This week’s haiku by Mel Goertz:

The dragonflies are gone.

We miss their flights around the pond.

Silver wings.

Let us worship together.

Scripture Passages

Isaiah 11:1-9

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

John 17:20-23

”I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is honorable, if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Practice what you have learned and received and heard from the saints, and seen them do, and be blessed this day and all days by the presence of the God of peace.

Sermon   Think about These Things: Another World Is Possible,  Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder

You can find the text of the Sermon by clicking here.

Service of Holy Communion

Please be sure to have bread and juice in order to participate in the service in the video below.

Offering

This congregation is a small but meaningful part of the movement to establish God’s realm of peace, justice and care for God’s creation on earth, actively engaged in serving our community and supporting the wider worldwide movement. One of the ways we work together and increase our strength beyond our individual abilities is by pooling our resources. 

This is hard to do when we are forced apart by the pandemic, so we hope you will take just a minute to use our online donation service. To make your offering on line, please click here.  (This is a service we are providing through an extremely well established on-line donation company specializing in churches that is recommended by the national United Church of Christ and used by thousands of churches like ours.  To read more about our decision to allow on line donations, click here.)

Announcements

Please note that we are gathering as a congregation by Zoom at 10:30 AM on Sunday mornings to say hello to one another and share our Joys and Concerns and Prayer requests and offer our compassion and support and company for this journey.

We are now streaming live readings and music from our sanctuary on that same Zoom link at 10:15 AM, so just sign on fifteen minutes earlier.

Our Heartfulness Contemplative Training Circle is also meeting by Zoom on Thursdays at 6:00 PM.  This is for anyone who is interested in practicing mindfulness or meditation, or heartfulness and centering prayer.  It is a time for talking about those practices and also more generally about our spiritual life. You can find links to instructions on how to be part of those Zoom gatherings on the Welcome Page of our website.

If you are not on our weekly email list and would like to be, please email us at unitedchurchofstrafford@gmail.com and we will make sure you receive all our church news.

It is extremely important that we stay connected now.  Please reach out by phone or email to neighbors and other members of the congregation, especially those who live by themselves or are struggling or vulnerable.  Our Deacons, Becky Bailey, Kim Welsh and Maggie Hooker, are coordinating our Deacons Fund and our outreach to people in need of support, and Danette Harris, Chair of our Mission Committee, is leading our work with the Food Shelf.  Becky, Danette and Joey Hawkins are on the town committee that is coordinating outreach as well.  If you would like to donate or help please email us or use the comment feature on this page.

Benediction and Postlude  “When We Can See as God Can See”

When we can see as God can see
We learn a new geography.
We see we all come from one place,
One small blue home afloat in space.

When we can see as God can see
We learn we share one history,
One tree with branches that can trace
One stem from common roots: one race.

When we can see as God can see
We learn to love diversity,
The beauty of each hue of face,
More joy, the wider our embrace.

When we can see as God can see
We learn our deep, true unity:
Why at this meal all have a place,
One bread, one cup, one love, one grace.

copyright 2007 Thomas Cary Kinder

Here is a COVID quarantine classic, a rough and ready mom and pop recording from our second online service in March 2020: