Welcome We are glad you are here!
Prelude Gratitude by Edvard Grieg
Call to Worship
One: Every table is filled with the Divine. Whoever the guests, whatever the meal, wherever it may be, so too, is the Divine.
All: Come into the God-light: the Shekinah – God’s glittering presence. Come to the table with your God- light to share and to illumine where the shadows think they hold sway.
Opening Hymn NCH 198 Lift High the Cross
Refrain: Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim; Let all adore and praise that sacred name.
Come, Christians, follow where our Savior trod, the Lamb victorious, Christ the Child of God. Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim; Let all adore and praise that sacred name.
Each newborn servant of the Crucified bears on the brow the seal of Christ who died. Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim; Let all adore and praise that sacred name.
O Christ, once lifted on the glorious tree, your death has brought us life eternally. Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim; Let all adore and praise that sacred name
Set up your throne, that earth's despair may cease, beneath the shadow of its healing peace. Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim; Let all adore and praise that sacred name.
So shall our song of triumph ever be: praise to the Crucified for victory. Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim; Let all adore and praise that sacred name.
Please Be Seated
Unison Prayer
We see you, God, in the Light. We see your Glittering Presence, even when light appears to be absent. There is no darkness into which your light does not shine; sometimes all it takes is for us to bring it to where it needs to go. Once we do so – the darkness disperses. Others do not always see the light at first. Let that never make us think that the light is gone.
When our light finds the light in others, which it always does, in that moment, transfigurations occur and your love changes the world, that is, we, who are your love, change the world with you – one person in light to the other, sharing the Divine Path together.
Help us to see the light in ourselves and others; to share it with others—as you have long called us to do. We trust in you to do the rest.
Assurance of God’s Love
Passing of the Peace
Please Be Seated
First Reading Alice Walker In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose
Musical Praise Every Time I Think About Jesus arr. L.L.Fleming
Gospel Reading John 3:14-21 (Inclusive Bible) Adapted
Message for All Gathered
Hymn NCH 188 Give Me a Clean Heart
Give me a clean heart so I may serve you. God, fix my heart so that I may be used by you. For I'm not worthy of all these blessings. Give me a clean heart and I'll follow you.
Please Be Seated
Prayers for Others and Ourselves
The Lord’s Prayer/ The Prayer of Jesus
Musical Praise A Blessing by David N. Childs On a poem by Sara Teasdale (Peace 1917)
Invitation To Give
Offertory
We praise thee, O God, our Redeemer, Creator; in grateful devotion our tribute we bring. We lay it before thee, we come and adore thee, We bless thy holy name, glad praises we sing. Amen.
Please Be Seated
Invitation to the Table
Jesus said: I am the bread of life. You who come to me shall not hunger; You who believe in me shall never thirst. In company with all who hunger for spiritual food, we come to this table to know the risen Christ in the sharing of this life-giving bread .
Communion Prayer
God be with you . And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to God. Let us give thanks to God Most High . It is right to give God thanks and praise .
Church Covenant
In response to God’s love, we covenant with each other to be faithful to the demands and inspiration of the eternal spirit, revealed in the event of Jesus Christ;
to accept and respect each other with love and concern in our worship and witness; to reach out with the courage of our convictions in the cause of justice, liberation and equality for all;
In this, we covenant to keep the ultimate promise; “I care, I am with you.”
Sharing of the Elements
Communion Responses The Bread of Life ~The Cup of Blessing
Please take a piece of bread and move to the cups. Dip your bread and consume it immediately. The cups with ribbons contain wine. The cups without ribbons contain grape juice.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Thank you God, for inviting us to this table remembering your active presence in our lives. We are grateful and continuously thirst for the new and right spirit of this communion with you today, tomorrow and every day. Guide us always as we embrace You and all those who have gone before us. Amen.
Closing Hymn NCH 190 Beneath the Cross of Jesus
Beneath the cross of Jesus I gladly take my stand, the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land; A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, from the burning of the noontide heat, and the burden of the day.
Upon that cross of Jesus within my mind I see the very dying form of One who suffered there for me; And from my grieving heart with tears two wonders I confess – the wonders of Christ's glorious love and my unworthiness.
I take, O cross, your shadow for my abiding place; I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of Christ's face; Content to let the world go by, to know no gain or loss, my sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.
Please Be Seated
Benediction and Sending Forth
Choral Blessing May the Road Irish Blessing, arr. James Ahrend
Postlude Solace by Scott Joplin
Brief Announcements For the Good of the Congregation
Have a blessed week !
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