CHURCH SERVICES
at the
UNITED CHURCH of LUDLOW
are shared ELECTRONICALLY
Contact unitedchurch@tds.net
or call 802-228-4211
for more information.
_________________________________________________________________________
If you are comfortable attending in person, please join us.
The doors open at 9:45 am, and worship begins at 10:00 am.
We follow procedures to minimize the risk of exposure.
Please read and follow those procedures for the safety of all.
If you are not able to attend in person, a simultaneous Zoom stream is available.
Send an email to unitedchurch@tds.net to get Zoom access.
_________________________________________________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We thank Chris Heintz for leading our worship service this week.
&
Happy Valentine's Day
_________________________________________________________________________
A Warm Welcome to All Visitors.
If any member of the congregation may be of service to you, please contact the
church office at 802-228-4211 to leave a message or send an email to
unitedchurch@tds.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 church office at 802-228-4211
or unitedchurch@tds.net.
Upcoming Meetings/Events
Executive Board Meeting - Wednesday, Feb. 24, 7:00 pm
Weekly Offerings
Please continue to mail your offerings to our Receiver of Offerings, Anne Oakes, at
145 Merrill Road, Ludlow, Vermont 05149.
Altar Guild
Linda Alexander and Carol Wu provide our Altar Guild services.
Prayer Concerns
Please keep Bob Kottkamp in your prayers as he recovers at home from surgery.
We ask that you keep David and Beth Almond's son, James, in your
prayers as he continues his recovery at home.
We continue to keep the following in our prayers:
James Almond, Terry DeYoung, Arthur Marin, Kathy Doyle, Judy Edwards,
Jean Eggleston, Carolyn Gauthier, Sheila Kafer, Susan Kneebone,
Ginny Kottkamp, Anne Oakes, Evelyn Tucker, Herb Van Guilder,
and Evelyn Verro.
Celebrations
Lee Potter celebrates a birthday on February 25th
Linda and Lee Potter celebrate an anniversary on Feb 26th
Marge Macintyre celebrates a birthday on February 28th
_________________________________________________________________________
If any member of the congregation may be of service to you, please contact the
church office at 802-228-4211 to leave a message or send an email to
unitedchurch@tds.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 church office at 802-228-4211
or unitedchurch@tds.net.
Upcoming Meetings/Events
Executive Board Meeting - Wednesday, Feb. 24, 7:00 pm
Weekly Offerings
Please continue to mail your offerings to our Receiver of Offerings, Anne Oakes, at
145 Merrill Road, Ludlow, Vermont 05149.
Altar Guild
Linda Alexander and Carol Wu provide our Altar Guild services.
Prayer Concerns
Please keep Bob Kottkamp in your prayers as he recovers at home from surgery.
We ask that you keep David and Beth Almond's son, James, in your
prayers as he continues his recovery at home.
We continue to keep the following in our prayers:
James Almond, Terry DeYoung, Arthur Marin, Kathy Doyle, Judy Edwards,
Jean Eggleston, Carolyn Gauthier, Sheila Kafer, Susan Kneebone,
Ginny Kottkamp, Anne Oakes, Evelyn Tucker, Herb Van Guilder,
and Evelyn Verro.
Celebrations
Lee Potter celebrates a birthday on February 25th
Linda and Lee Potter celebrate an anniversary on Feb 26th
Marge Macintyre celebrates a birthday on February 28th
_________________________________________________________________________
This Week's Service continues our journey to define who we are in the 21st Century. We will seek to answer the following:
_________________________________________________________________________
- What will be the most important needs for ministry in and around the church that will claim our new pastor’s abilities, gifts and time?
- Identify the five most important and how they might be met by the new pastor.
- What will be the most important needs for ministry that will be met by the ministry of the congregation?
- Identify the five most important and how they might be met by members of the church.
_________________________________________________________________________
February 14, 2021 2:00 P.M.
SERVICE OF WORSHIP
SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
PRELUDE
(All are encouraged to use the prelude as a quiet time of meditation in preparation
for the worship service which follows.)
Innumerable times a whole Christian community has been shattered because it
has lived on the basis of a wishful image. Christians…will often bring with them
a very definite image of what Christian communal life should be and will be
anxious to realize it. But God’s grace quickly frustrates all such dreams …
Every human idealized image that is brought into the Christian community is a
hindrance to genuine community and must be broken up so that genuine
community can survive. Those who love their dream of a Christian community
more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian
community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest,
earnest and sacrificial.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
THE GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE
The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of
the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13: 13)
And also with you.
CALL TO WORSHIP* (Please stand)
Pastor: We are together today because Christ has claimed us. We are called to
be the body of Christ in today’s world.
People: Who are we to make such a claim? Who would see Jesus Christ
when they look at us?
Pastor: It is not our claim that brings us together. The church is not our private club.
People: We are not here just for ourselves, for our own needs. We are
drawn together by a larger purpose.
Pastor: We are called by Christ for a mission. The gathered community is sent
out into the world.
People: We are here to be equipped for ministry. We have been chosen
as apostles of good news.
HYMN 421* (see insert) We Gather Together
HOLY SCRIPTURE Acts 1: 15, 21-26
CONGREGATIONAL CONVERSATION
Pastor: The time came, for those who knew Jesus, to choose another to join
them in their witness to the resurrection.
All: O Lord, You know our hearts.
Pastor: And so they prayed.
All: O Lord, You know us inside and out. Help us to know who you
send to us, to walk among us, to witness to the living love of Christ.
GLORIA 70*
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the
beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen. Amen.
HYMN 451* Be Now My Vision
You will be placed into small groups in Zoom Break Out Rooms to discuss
each of the following questions. Then we will gather again to hear what has
been discussed.
A CONFESSION OF WHO WE ARE (Romans 12:4-8)
Pastor: For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members
have the same function,
ALL: …so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we
are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the
grace given to us:
Pastor: …prophecy,
All: …in proportion to faith;
Pastor: …ministry,
All: …in ministering;
Pastor: …the teacher,
All: …in teaching;
Pastor: …the exhorter,
All: …in exhortation;
Pastor: …the giver,
All: …in generosity;
Pastor: …the leader,
All: …in diligence;
Pastor: …the compassionate,
All: …in cheerfulness.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
During these sessions we have been seeking how we might become the most
faithful body of Christ we can be as we lean forward into God’s Kingdom.
Now take a few moments of silence to contemplate what gifts of God do I think
I am bringing to this work in progress?
One: And one was chosen.
All: And was counted along with the rest. Thanks be to God!
Together in this place, by the grace of God may we be committed to
becoming members of the household of God, built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple
in the Lord; in whom we also are built together spiritually into a dwelling
place for God. Thanks be to God! Amen
JOYS AND CONCERNS
PASTORAL PRAYER
LORD’S PRAYER (“trespasses”)
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.
WE OFFER OURSELVES & OUR GIFTS
OFFERTORY
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
HYMN 398 * Shadow and Substance
BENEDICTION
BENEDICTION RESPONSE
DISMISSAL
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
POSTLUDE
* All who are able may stand.
SERVICE OF WORSHIP
SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
PRELUDE
(All are encouraged to use the prelude as a quiet time of meditation in preparation
for the worship service which follows.)
Innumerable times a whole Christian community has been shattered because it
has lived on the basis of a wishful image. Christians…will often bring with them
a very definite image of what Christian communal life should be and will be
anxious to realize it. But God’s grace quickly frustrates all such dreams …
Every human idealized image that is brought into the Christian community is a
hindrance to genuine community and must be broken up so that genuine
community can survive. Those who love their dream of a Christian community
more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian
community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest,
earnest and sacrificial.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
THE GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE
The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of
the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13: 13)
And also with you.
CALL TO WORSHIP* (Please stand)
Pastor: We are together today because Christ has claimed us. We are called to
be the body of Christ in today’s world.
People: Who are we to make such a claim? Who would see Jesus Christ
when they look at us?
Pastor: It is not our claim that brings us together. The church is not our private club.
People: We are not here just for ourselves, for our own needs. We are
drawn together by a larger purpose.
Pastor: We are called by Christ for a mission. The gathered community is sent
out into the world.
People: We are here to be equipped for ministry. We have been chosen
as apostles of good news.
HYMN 421* (see insert) We Gather Together
HOLY SCRIPTURE Acts 1: 15, 21-26
CONGREGATIONAL CONVERSATION
Pastor: The time came, for those who knew Jesus, to choose another to join
them in their witness to the resurrection.
All: O Lord, You know our hearts.
Pastor: And so they prayed.
All: O Lord, You know us inside and out. Help us to know who you
send to us, to walk among us, to witness to the living love of Christ.
GLORIA 70*
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the
beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen. Amen.
HYMN 451* Be Now My Vision
You will be placed into small groups in Zoom Break Out Rooms to discuss
each of the following questions. Then we will gather again to hear what has
been discussed.
- What will be the most important needs for ministry in and around the church that will claim our new pastor’s abilities, gifts and time?
- Identify the five most important and how they might be met by the new pastor.
- What will be the most important needs for ministry that will be met by the ministry of the congregation?
- Identify the five most important and how they might be met by members of the church.
A CONFESSION OF WHO WE ARE (Romans 12:4-8)
Pastor: For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members
have the same function,
ALL: …so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we
are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the
grace given to us:
Pastor: …prophecy,
All: …in proportion to faith;
Pastor: …ministry,
All: …in ministering;
Pastor: …the teacher,
All: …in teaching;
Pastor: …the exhorter,
All: …in exhortation;
Pastor: …the giver,
All: …in generosity;
Pastor: …the leader,
All: …in diligence;
Pastor: …the compassionate,
All: …in cheerfulness.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
During these sessions we have been seeking how we might become the most
faithful body of Christ we can be as we lean forward into God’s Kingdom.
Now take a few moments of silence to contemplate what gifts of God do I think
I am bringing to this work in progress?
One: And one was chosen.
All: And was counted along with the rest. Thanks be to God!
Together in this place, by the grace of God may we be committed to
becoming members of the household of God, built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple
in the Lord; in whom we also are built together spiritually into a dwelling
place for God. Thanks be to God! Amen
JOYS AND CONCERNS
PASTORAL PRAYER
LORD’S PRAYER (“trespasses”)
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.
WE OFFER OURSELVES & OUR GIFTS
OFFERTORY
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
HYMN 398 * Shadow and Substance
BENEDICTION
BENEDICTION RESPONSE
DISMISSAL
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
POSTLUDE
* All who are able may stand.
