Worship leader: Rev. Samantha Tuttle
Music provided by Oli Covington

Welcome and Announcements – Welcome to this place of worship, which we make special by our presence. Come into this place, where the ordinary is sanctified, the human is celebrated, the compassionate is expected. Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of this time, this life in the presentness of God.

Call to Worship:

Pastor: We gather at this time and in this place to celebrate the mystery of life.
Congregation: We commit to moving beyond our previous selves and to continue emerging into persons and into a community dedicated to enhancing this world.
Pastor: We affirm the worth of all, and commit ourselves to honoring the sacred in all.
Congregation: We seek to open ourselves to be more in tune, more involved with each other and the world.
Pastor: We commit ourselves to learning, changing, thinking again…deconstructing our faith and daring again to imagine how faith and risk lead us to each other,
Congregation: engaging us all in the depths and dimensions of what it means to be human, to be neighbor, to love, to include, to laugh, to be free.
All: Welcome to worship.

Order of Worship on Sunday, October 8th, 2017
Worship Leader – Rev. Michael Lyle

For Meditation and Reflection:
Jesus was brought up in Nazareth of Galilee. This land, though despised by the more purely Jewish inhabitants of Judea because its people were of mixed racial stock, was loyal to the Jewish religion and traditions, the home of a hardy, self-respecting population, and particularly pervaded by the messianic hope. Here Jesus grew to manhood through years of unrecorded experience.”
– From A History of the Christian Church

The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives. – Isaiah 61: 1-2

St. James United Church of Christ
Order of Worship on Sunday, October 1st, 2017
World Communion Sunday

For Meditation and Reflection:
As surely as we belong to the universe, we belong together. We join here to transcend the isolated self. To reconnect, to know ourselves to be at home, here on earth, under the stars, linked with each other.
Let us take a moment now to settle into the silence. Hear and feel your quiet breathing. Hear and feel the quiet of this place and this community of people. In this quiet hour may our spirits be renewed. In this gathering of old and new friends may our minds be open to new truth, and our hearts be receptive to love, as we give thanks for this life we are blessed to share.

Welcome and Announcements – A warm welcome is extended to all. Your presence both enriches us and this time of celebration together.

Call to Worship
Pastor: May we greet one another with open hearts and minds;
People: inspire each other to consider new questions
Pastor: seek deeper meaning;
People: and cultivate both wisdom and compassion.
Pastor: May this time together empower us to take some steps
People: so all our living is transforming
All: and the yearning of our hearts become reality

Order of Worship on Sunday, September 24, 2017:
Blessing of the Animals

Worship Leader: Rev. Guy S. Johnson
Lay Leader: Janell Kinzie

For Meditation and Reflection
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
– Anatole France

Welcome music provided by Oli Covington.

Welcome and Announcements

Opening Prayer

Opening Hymn: For the Beauty of the Earth
“For the beauty of the earth
For the splendor of the skies.
For God’s love, which from our birth,
Over and around us lies.
Refrain: God of all, to you we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of human love,
Animals that we love too.
For your grace here and above,
Shown in all we say and do.
Refrain
For the good that love inspires,
For a world where none exclude,
For a faith that never tires,
And for every heart renewed.
Refrain

Today’s Scripture Readings:

Genesis 1:22-24
Mark 11:1-3

Order of Worship on Sunday, September 17th 2017

Welcome and Announcements – Welcome to this place of worship, which we make special by our presence. Come into this place, where the ordinary is sanctified, the human is celebrated, the compassionate is expected. Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of this time, this life in the presentness of God.

Call to Worship:

Pastor: The symbols of life are all around us: light and noise, children and adults, birds and animals, colors and movement, words of goodwill, songs of joy.
Congregation: May we recognize these symbols as life affirming. May we seek to renew them everyday. May we be inspired to share them generously.
Pastor: As we meet and as we prepare to depart, may we again commit as individuals and as a community to the values and ideals that would contribute to the transformation of this world.
All: Welcome to worship

Order of Worship on Sunday, September 10th, 2017

Welcome and Announcements – Welcome to this place of worship, which we make special by our presence. Come into this place, where the ordinary is sanctified, the human is celebrated, the compassionate is expected. Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of this time, this life in the presentness of God.

Call to Worship:

Pastor: Sharing life’s journey with others is always a privilege.
Congregation: We are enriched by the company of each other.
Pastor: We are drawn closer to the heart of love in this time of celebration.
Congregation: May this gathering be touched with tenderness,
Pastor: refreshing us anew by the grace that encompasses this day.
Congregation: Together may we support each other,
Pastor: empower each other,
All: welcome each other.

Opening Hymn: #28 – For the Beauty of the Earth

Opening Prayer: (Unison)

During this time of prayer and quiet reflection, may we be enabled to find that power that already lies within us: for love, for creativity, for hope. May our hearts be open to compassion, our minds open to wisdom, our spirits open to grace. This morning, we gather, sing, pray and think – offering ourselves to and with the reverberating hum, mystery and presence of life. We commit again to facing each other with new desire and intention, with embrace, laughter, tears and honesty. May we always rejoice in life and work to cultivate a sense of its giftedness. May ours be a faith that shines to the world as the light of deeds and the witness of actions. Amen.

NOTE – WORSHIP TIME RETURNS TO 11:00 AM

Worship Leader: – Rev. Dr. Mary Mason

For Meditation and Reflection

“A hundred times every day, I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other people, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”
– Albert Einstein
Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship – Psalm 8 – #624, Black hymnal

Opening Hymn: #436 – God of Grace and God of Glory

Today’s Scripture Reading: Matthew 14:22-33

Reflections by Rev. Mason: “Take Heart, Take Courage”

Worship Leader – Rev. Samantha Tuttle

For Meditation and Reflection:

“God is real for me, a mystical, undefinable presence that I can experience but never explain. I experience God as the source of life in the act of living fully. I experience God as the source of love in the act of loving wastefully. I experience God as the Ground of Being in the act of having the courage to be. Jesus is the revelation of this God for me, not because of miracle stories or excessive pre-modern claims, but because he is portrayed as one who is fully alive with the life of God, totally loving with the love of God, and as one who possesses the capacity to be all that he could be revealing the very Ground of Being that I call God. I serve the God that I meet in Jesus, not by trying to convert others to my way of believing, but by seeking to transform the world so that every person might have that God-like capacity to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that each person can be.”

Christ and the Body of Christ – By John Shelby Spong
From The Once and Future Jesus

Welcome and Announcements – Welcome to this place of worship, which we make special by our presence. Come into this place, where the ordinary is sanctified, the human is celebrated, the compassionate is expected. Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of this time, this life in the presentness of God.

Worship Leader – Rev. Michael Lyle

For Meditation and Reflection:

“I believe he (Christ) says it to all of us: to feed his sheep, his lambs, to be sure, but first to let him feed us – to feed us something of himself. In the sip of wine and the crumb of bread. In the dance of sun and water and sky. In the faces of the people who need us most, and of the people we most need. Who knows where we will find him…or whether we will recognize him if we do? Who knows anything even approaching the truth of who he really was? But my prayer is that we will all of us find him somewhere, somehow, and that he will give us something of his life to fill our emptiness, something of his light to drive back our dark.
– Frederick Buechner, Excerpt from his sermon “The Great Dance”

Welcome and Announcements

Opening Prayer

Responsive Call to Worship:
Leader: This is the day that God has made.
People: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Leader: O come, let us worship and bow down;
People: let us kneel before God, our Maker.

For Meditation and Reflection: We come together from our separate lives, each of us bringing our concerns, our preoccupations, our hopes, and our dreams. We are not yet fully present. The traffic, the last-minute cooking, the final details still cling to us. Our bodies hold the rush of the past few hours. It is now time to let go of these pressures and embrace and become aware of the present moment…When you are ready, repeat silently to yourself: ‘Hineini’ or ‘Here I am’. Hineini is used in the Torah to signify being present in body, mind, and spirit. It means settling into where we are and simply being “here”.

Welcome and Announcements – A warm welcome is extended to all. Your presence both enriches us and this time of celebration together.

Reminder -Dave Kirk will be traveling to Wise County to volunteer with Remote Area Medical, a mission that provides medical and dental care to folks who otherwise have no access to such care, and for whom this may be the only time all year they’ll see a doctor. RAM also collects used clothing to distribute, but an unfilled need turns out to be new socks and underwear. If you are able, please consider picking up something to donate – you can leave it in the bin in the breezeway. We’re collecting from now through July 19. Thank you!!

Reminder: Our Congregational Meeting will be held at around 12:15, after our post-worship fellowship today. All members are cordially invited to attend.

Worship Leader – Rev. Samantha Tuttle

For Meditation and Reflection:

We come together from our separate lives, each of us bringing our concerns, our preoccupations, our hopes, and our dreams. We are not yet fully present. The traffic, the last-minute cooking, the final details still cling to us. Our bodies hold the rush of the past few hours. It is now time to let go of these pressures and embrace and become aware of the present moment…When you are ready, repeat silently to yourself: ‘Hineini’ or ‘Here I am’. Hineini is used in the Torah to signify being present in body, mind, and spirit. It means settling into where we are and simply being “here”.

Worship leader – Rev. Dr. Robert M. Close, Jr.

For Meditation and Reflection

Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come again and again. -Rumi

Welcome and Announcements:

Call to Worship – Rev. Close
.
Opening Hymn: For the Beauty of the Earth – Red hymnal #55

An Expression of Our Faith (in unison)
We are a Christian community of faith, with each person traveling a journey of spiritual discovery….a journey to healing and wholeness. We find more grace in faithful searching than in certainty. For us, following Jesus involves selfless love, resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege. We believe that God is calling us to build a healthy community of faith, to strive for peace and justice, to protect and restore God’s creation, to bring hope to others, to live our lives with compassion and holy boldness. In Jesus we find our approach to God, yet we respect the faithfulness of those whose approach is different. Listening to the Spirit in our midst, we are convinced that God’s plan is for all to be one. All that matters is to Be At One with God. Amen.

Trinity Sunday
Worship leader – David Plume

For Meditation and Reflection
Holy, holy, holy God, in calling forth creation from the void, revealing yourself in human flesh, and pouring forth your wisdom to guide us, you manifest your concern for your whole universe. You invite us, as your people, to gather the world’s needs into our hearts and bring them before you.

Welcome, announcements and Introduction:

Call to Worship
Leader: In the name of the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
Leader: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
People: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Leader: In the beginning the Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.
People: In the beginning God said, “Let us make humankind in our image.”
Leader: And so we came into being, created by God who exists in community.
People: We are here as God’s community to worship the Source of our being.

Happy Mother’s Day

Welcome and Announcements – A warm welcome is extended to all. Your
presence both enriches us and this time of celebration together.

For Meditation and Reflection: We come together from our separate lives,
each of us bringing our concerns, our preoccupations, our hopes, and our dreams.
We are not yet fully present. The traffic, the last-minute cooking, the final details still cling to us. Our bodies hold the rush of the past few hours. It is now time to let go of these pressures and embrace and become aware of the present moment. When you are ready, repeat silently to yourself: ‘Hineini’ or ‘Here I am’. Hineini is used in the
Torah to signify being present in body, mind, and spirit. It means settling into where
we are and simply being “here”.

Call to Worship
Pastor: We are people of all ages who enter this space
bringing our joys and our concerns.
All: We come together in hope.
Pastor: We greet each other warmly with our voices and our smiles.
All: We come together in peace.
Pastor: We share our growth and our aspirations.
All: We come together in wonder.
Pastor: We share our losses and our disappointments.
All: We come together in sorrow.
Pastor: We share our concern and our compassion.
All: We come together in love.
Pastor: We sing and pray and listen. We speak and read and dream.
We think and ponder and reflect. We cry and laugh and reflect.
We mourn and celebrate and meditate. We strive for justice and for mercy.
All: We come together to worship God.