CHURCH SERVICES at the UNITED CHURCH of LUDLOW are shared ELECTRONICALLY Contact [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]. 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 [email protected]. 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:
_________________________________________________________________________ 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. Comments are closed.
|