Welcome to this service for the Fifth Sunday in Lent.  Each Lenten Sunday has a theme and a ritual just as each Advent Sunday does.  This is the Sunday of Truth. 

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 March 21st. 

We will hear the choir sing a beautiful hymn of a George Herbert poem, “The Elixir.”  (If you missed the related sonnet and reflection that I sent out this week you can see it by clicking here.)  We will reflect on that hymn and on scriptures from Jeremiah and the Gospels of Thomas and John as we try to answer Pilate’s question, “What is truth?”  Annemieke will play two piano pieces by J. S. Bach. 

You will also see below some portions of our worship together that were not included in the live zoom service, including the haiku (or tanka) 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 poem by Mel Goertz is in the Japanese tanka form of 31 syllables in five lines:             

     Rising at four in the morning,
a quiet time for writing
     to let your pen flow free.
No chores to do as yet,
     just thoughts and dreams.

Let us worship together.        

Readings:  The scripture readings for this Sunday are Jeremiah 31:31-34; Gospel of Thomas 77 and 70; and John 17:20-23a and 18:37-38a.  You can read them or download them by clicking here: 3-21-21 Service Readings 2

The Live Zoom Service Recording Order of Worship (the video is below):

1. Call to Worship by Pastor Tom Kinder
2. Prelude by Annemieke McLane, Partita I, Sarabande by J. S. Bach
3. Readings (see above), read by Danette Harris
4. Anthem “Teach Me My God and King,” sung by members of our church choir, directed by Annemieke McLane
5. Reflection “What Is Truth?” by the Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder, Pastor
6. Hymn “When We Can See As God Can See”
7. Closing Lenten Ritual and Unison Prayer
8. Postlude by Church Musician, Annemieke McLane, Partita I, Menuets by J. S. Bach

Here is the video:   

Sermon  

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

Anthem 

We had technical problems during the Anthem in the video above, so you may want to watch it on YouTube 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.