United Church of Ludlow
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United Church of Ludlow eNewsletter - May 29, 2020

5/29/2020

 
 
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
 
 ______________________________________________________________________
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
​____________________________________________________________


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 w
eave 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! 

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