Welcome to this service for this Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.   

The main part of the service is included below in a video of our live zoom worship on Sunday morning at 10:00 AM on June 13th. 

This week Mel Goertz was in the sanctuary playing guitar and singing two Emily Dickinson poems that she set to music, and Herbert and Mel joined members of the choir leading the virtual congregation in singing “Amazing Grace.”  Marcia Bushnell read from home on Zoom verses from Psalm 107 and Mark 4 about crossing stormy seas and finding peace with the help of our higher power.  The sermon looked back at how we crossed over into the pandemic in March of 2020 and looked ahead to the crossing we are about to make out of the pandemic into a new era.  We celebrated the assurance we have of God’s grace and the Spirit’s guidance and strength in any and every transition of our lives.

You can see the Order of Worship below. You will also find some portions of our worship that were not included in the live zoom 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  

Here is this week’s haiku by Mel Goertz:                                     

As we passed,

a newborn fawn lay in orchard grass

mother doe standing by.

Let us worship together…          

Readings: 

The scripture readings for this Sunday are Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 and Mark 4:35-41. You can hear them read on the video below or read the text or download it here: 6-20-21 Service Readings 

The Live Zoom Service Recording

Order of Worship (the video is below): 

1. Call to Worship, by Pastor Tom Kinder
2. Introit, A poem by Emily Dickinson set to music and performed by Mel Goertz
3. Scripture Reading, read by Marcia Bushnell
4. Sermon “Crossing to the Other Side” by the Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder, Pastor
5. Hymn “Amazing Grace” 
6. Closing Unison Reading of our congregation’s Future Directions Vision

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 continue to stay closely connected during this transition time.  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 and Kim Welsh, 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.