Welcome to this service for this Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

The main part of the service is included below in a video of our in-person and zoom worship on Sunday morning at 10:00 AM on September 5th. 

Who is our neighbor?  What is their need asking of us?  What works of mercy, compassion and love is God calling us to do?

The service led up to those questions with beautiful music and scriptures and reflections.

You can see the Order of Worship below and find a link to the bulletin. 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! We haver returned to the sanctuary for in-person services but we will also continue live streamed and recorded service options.  If you would like to join us by Zoom on Sunday mornings click here.

Similarly, our 7:00 PM Thursday Heartfulness Contemplative Training Circle has returned to in-person gatherings, but several of us will continue to participate by zoom.  For the Heartfulness Circle Zoom link, 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 poem by Mel Goertz: 

Each drop of rain

brings up a blade of grass

until the meadow is full.

Let us worship together…

Readings  

The scripture readings for this Sunday are: Psalm 146; James 2:1-8, 13b-177 and Mark 7:24-30. You can hear them read on the video below or read the text or download it here: 9-5-21 Service Readings

The Live Zoom Service Recording

Order of Worship (the video is below)—please note that the video is a different order from the bulletin, which is here: 9-5-21 bulletin final 2

1. Call to Worship, by Pastor Tom Kinder
2. Hymn, “Community of Christ”
3. Children’s Time and Lord’s Prayer
4. Anthem, “I’m Gonna Lift My Sister Up,” by Faya Rose Touré, Arranged by Peter and Mary Alice Amidon, sung by the United Church of Strafford Choir with Annemieke McLane, Choir Director
5. Scripture Readings, read by John Echeverria
6. Sermon, “Happy and Blessed”  The Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder
7. Hymn, “Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”
8. Future Directions Vision as a Unison Reading
9. [From this point we return to the beginning of the service for the next three items]
10. Prelude, Prelude in B Minor, Op. 28 No. 6, by F. Chopin,  Annemieke McLane, piano
11. Welcome and Announcements
12. Introit,  “Benedictus”  by Adam Gumpelzhaimer
13. [And here we return to the end of the service]
14. Prayers and Benediction
15. Choral Benediction Response, “Shalom Chaverim”
16. Postlude, Waltz in C Sharp Minor, Op. 64 No. 2, by F. Chopin, Annemieke McLane, piano

Here is the video: 

Sermon  

You can read the text and find a pdf of the Call to Worship and Children’s Time 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 when we are not yet out of the pandemic.  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 Deacon Chair Becky Bailey is 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.