Welcome to this service for the Second Sunday in Lent. 

Each Lenten Sunday has a theme and a ritual just as each Advent Sunday does.  This is the Sunday of Freedom. 

We will read verses from a wide range of the Bible to give us a sense of how central freedom is to our spiritual tradition.  The freedom begins with our individual heart, mind and spirit, liberating ourselves from whatever thoughts or old habits harm us and hold us back from being our truest, best selves.  The freedom includes just as importantly the liberation of whole peoples from the slavery of injustice or oppression. 

We will hear and sing ‘When Israel Was in Egypt’s Land (Go Down Moses),” and pianist Annemieke McLane and Becky Bailey will offer a rendition of “Wade in the Water” powerful enough to part the Red Sea!  We will reflect on what liberation we need this Lent as individuals and what humanity needs in order to be free to live into a new story that can save our society and allow life on earth to flourish.

The main part of the service is included below in one video of our live zoom worship on Sunday morning at 10:00 AM on February 21st. 

You will also see below some portions of our worship together that were not included in the live service, including the haiku of the day, a few announcements and the offering. 

Thank you for being part of our church community! If you would like to join us on our Sunday morning zooms click here or on our Thursday Heartfulness Contemplative Training Circle zooms click here.  If you would like to be added to our weekly newsletter list please let us know at unitedchurchofstrafford@gmail.com

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 webpage 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         Call to Worship 

“Be still, and know that I am God.”  Psalm 46  

This week’s haiku by Mel Goertz:   

As I took down the feeders,

a bard owl in a tree

was watching me.

Let us worship together.  

Readings: 

The scripture readings for this Sunday are from Psalm 51, Galatians 5, Mark 8 and Exodus 12.  You can read them or download them by clicking here: 2-28-21 Service Readings   

The Live Zoom Service Recording Order of Worship (the video is below, and we apologize that we have not included the Prelude because of recording problems):

1. Gathering Music by Church Musician, Annemieke McLane
2. Call to Worship by Pastor Tom Kinder
3. Readings (see above), read by Ingrid Webb
4. Hymn “When Israel Was in Egypt’s Land (Go Down Moses)”
5. Reflection “For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free” by the Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder, Pastor
6. Anthem “Wade in the Water,” sung by Becky Bailey, piano by Annemieke McLane
7. Closing Lenten Ritual and Unison Prayer

Here is the video: 

Sermon 

You can read the text and find a pdf of the Call to Worship and Sermon by clicking here.    

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

To read additional announcements please see our weekly churchwide emails by clicking here. 

You can be added to our email list by requesting so at unitedchurchofstrafford@gmail.com.

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.  If you would like to donate or help please email us or use the comment feature on this page.