A warm welcome to all visitors to our church email newsletter or web page.
If the Pastor or any member of the congregation may be of service to you, please contact the church office at 802-228-4211 or Rev. Harpster at 802-875-8895. His email is harpsterd@vermontel.net.
Regarding Individuals in the Hospital or Sick at Home
It would be greatly appreciated if you know of individuals or family members in the hospital or sick at home, to kindly inform the pastor, Rev. Harpster.
Weekly Offerings
Offerings and other cash receipts for the week ending 5/17/20 were $ 1070, which includes $150. received in memory of Pat Liao. The costs for each week are $1,118 (derived by dividing the annual budget by 52 weeks.
As always, please continue with your weekly offering by writing a check to The United Church and sending it in to Anne Oakes at 145 Merrill Rd., Ludlow, VT 05149. Thank you so much.
Prayer Concerns
We continue to keep the following in our prayers:
James Almond, Terry DeYoung, Kathy Doyle, Pam Dundy, Judy Edwards, Carolyn Gauthier, Susan Kneebone, Ginny Kottkamp, Annie Oakes, Evelyn Tucker, Herb Van Guilder, and Evelyn Verro.
We know the power of prayer. If you have others to add to our prayer concerns, please email Thomson131VT@gmail.com
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Congregation Survey - Re-Opening Our Church
Since the onset of the Covid-19 corona virus, churches throughout the world have been forced to close their physical doors and cease having church services in our sanctuaries. Thankfully, through modern technology, we have been able to continue to provide a worship service each week. While these Zoom services have been inspirational in many ways, it is not the same as worshiping together in person. To date, the State of Vermont has been very successful in keeping the spread of the virus to a minimum, although the United Church was indeed tragically affected with the death of Pat Liao. With current numbers of new cases hovering near zero, the governor of Vermont, Phil Scott, has given the okay for churches to reopen under certain guidelines. The Church Executive Board has been discussing and have met to see whether we are ready and willing to reopen the church for services each Sunday. While the Vermont Conference, United Church of Christ is unsure about when they think churches should reopen, some of the members of the board are in favor. We are in the process of preparing a plan that would, following guidelines of the State of Vermont and the CDC, allow us to do that while keeping the church building safe for public assembly. This plan will include keeping the church clean and sanitary, having guidelines as to the use of face masks and sanitizers, and maintaining seating and procedures that help us in practicing social distancing. We will extend a more detailed outline of the plan to everyone before our reopening. The plan will also include continuing to offer the service each week online, so that more members who are unable to attend in person will be able to share our worship with us. This plan is certainly contingent upon Pastor Harpster being willing to preach in person.
We want to hear how the church members feel about this important decision, so we have put together a simple questionnaire which you will find at the end of this email. We ask you to please complete the survey, as this will help us to be sure we are offering the safest and most timely reopening possible. We would ask that each family member complete the survey. The Board will be meeting again on June 17 to discuss this matter and would appreciate your response ASAP so that we can include them in our discussion. We certainly encourage you to contact Laura Lienhard or Dean Alexander, if you have questions, comments or concerns about the survey. We do intend to follow this email with a phone call to be sure everyone has seen and understands the process.
Dean Alexander Laura Lienhard
diggerda@aol.com laura_lienhard@hotmail.com
802-228-2442 802-236-7310
Zoom Church Services Continue
IMPORTANT… PLEASE NOTE Below:
Beginning May 30th, 2020, Zoom will be enabling GCM encryption across the entire Zoom platform, providing increased protection for meeting data. In order to join the church service this Sunday, you will need to have Zoom 5.0 on your computer or device. If you do not have Zoom 5.0 when you try to join our church meeting on Sunday, you will receive notice of a required forced update. It should be simple and you will be directed to download the new version to your computer or device. You will get a message to do this and be asked to simply click yes to download the 5.0 version. We have not seen the directions but believe it will be self-explanatory and should only take a few minutes. We wanted to let you know this before you suddenly found out on Sunday. This is supposed to make the platform safer to use and help to reduce the possibility of intruders!
Zoom Service
United Church of Ludlow
Although we will not be together in person for our Service, we will be having a Zoom service, complete with music, on May 31, 2020 at 10:00 am. If you would like to participate in the service, please do not hesitate to call us at one of the numbers below before Sunday:
Linda: 802-558-9055
George: 802-558-9057
Home phone: 802-228-6275
The Bulletin for the service and the words to the hymns are at the end of the newsletter. They are also available as .pdf documents which you can download when you receive an email invitation to the Zoom service.
Hopefully we will see you in church!
George and Linda
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May 31, 2020 10:15 A.M.
SERVICE OF WORSHIP
PENTECOST SUNDAY
PRELUDE: Praise Him, Praise Him Jesus Our Blessed Redeemer John Troutman
GREETING
In the name of the triune God: the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Come together now in this time and in our homes joining hands and hearts.
May each of us gather in from distant places to share a celebration of Pentecost, remembering the birth of the Christian Church. Holy Spirit, focus
our love and weave us together holding fast to the mystery and preciousness
of life. We praise God for the Holy Spirit which fills us at this moment.
HYMN 192 There’s a Spirit in the Air”
Stanzas 1 & 2
PRAYER OF INVOCATION
One: Let us pray:
Many: out loud, but muted
Dear Creator of heaven and earth,
be with us as we worship and praise your name.
Be with us as we gather as a community of God,
asking that the Holy Spirit to descend on us
as it did in that upper room of our ancestors
so many years ago. Dear Holy Spirit, sustain us and your world.
WORDS OF CONFESSIONS, THANKSGIVING FOR FORGIVENESS
One: We humbly come before you,
authentically and fully as your children,
including all that has separated us from you and each other.
We asked for the healing of forgiveness
for the ways in which we fall short.
Silence
Many: out loud, but muted
Thank you for the assurance of forgiveness
as we resolve to do better as a family of God
with you and with one another.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
READING OF SCRIPTURE
Lesson One Acts 2:1-21
Lesson Two 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
SERMON “Unraveled by Uncertainty”
HYMN 420 Breathe on Me, Breath of God
Stanzas 1 & 2
JOYS AND CONCERNS
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
PRAYER RESPONSE Hymnal, No. 473
Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness;
Make thy way plain before my face.
For it is thou, Lord, thou, Lord only,
That makest me dwell in safety.
OFFERTORY SENTENCE
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
HYMN 500 Sprit of God, Descend Upon My Heart
BENEDICTION
BENEDICTION RESPONSE
POSTLUDE: Prelude in C Major Composer, J. S. Bach
Lyrics to the Hymns for the
Church Service on May 31, 2020
There's a Spirit in the Air
1. There's a spirit in the air,
telling Christians everywhere:
'Praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working, in our world!'
2. Lose your shyness, find your tongue,
tell the world what God has done:
God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow's life today!
Breathe on me, Breath of God
1 Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what Thou doest love,
and do what Thou would do.
2 Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until my will is one with yours,
to do and to endure.
Spirit of God
1 Spirit of God, descend upon my heart,
wean it from sin, through all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
and make me love Thee as I ought to love.
2 Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King,
love you with all our heart and strength and mind?
I see thy cross there teach my heart to cling.
O let me seek Thee and O let me find!
