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May 7, 2017

Written by St. James UCC on . Posted in Bulletins.

Tena Brass, Lay Leader | Rev. Esther R. Ziegler, Worship Leader

Good Shepherd of the Sheep, you have opened the door to new life for us through your dedication and your sacrifice. May we reflect your love for us by opening the doors of our hearts to you and your beloved creation.

Welcome, Announcements and Introduction

Call to Worship, Rev. Ziegler

One: Come into this place as you are: friend or stranger, lost or found, old or young.
All: Come, for you are the person the Good Shepherd loves and gives life.
One: Come as you are to worship and to be folded into God’s tender care and shelter.
All: Come, let us worship and follow the one who reigns with love.

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April 23, 2107

Written by St. James UCC on . Posted in Bulletins.

Earth Day

For Meditation and Reflection:
“The idea that we live in something called the environment is preposterous. The world that environs us, that is around us, is also within us. We are made of it, we eat, drink and breathe it; it is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.”
-Wendell Berry
Welcome and Announcements

Opening Prayer : Oh, Great Creator,
We come before you in a humble manner. We pray for all our relations in nature.
We pray for all those who walk, crawl, fly and swim. May there be good health
And healing for this earth. May there be beauty above us; may there be beauty
Below us; may there be beauty in us, and may there be beauty around us. We ask that this world be filled with Love, Beauty and Peace.
-Medicine Grizzly Bear, Spokane, WA 1990

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Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017

Written by St. James UCC on . Posted in Bulletins.

For Meditation and Reflection:

“I have come to realize more and more that prayer is just being in the presence of one who loves you deeply, who loves with a love that will not let you go. And so, when I get up in the morning, I try to spend as much time as I can in the sense of being quiet in the presence of this love. And it’s often like saying I want to be sitting, it’s a cold day and I’m sitting, in front of the warm fire. I don’t have to do anything. The fire warms me. All I have to do is be there in front of the fire. And after a while, I may have the qualities of the fire change me so I have the warmth of the fire, I may have the glow of the fire, and it is so also with me and God that I just have to be there and quiet.”
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Welcome and Announcements

Opening Prayer (in unison): Almighty God, through your only Son you overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life. Grant that we who celebrate our Lord’s resurrection, by the renewing of your Spirit, arise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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April 9, 2017

Written by St. James UCC on . Posted in Bulletins.

Palm Sunday

For Meditation and Reflection: “The seed of God is in us. Given an intelligent and hardworking farmer, it will thrive and grow up into God, whose seed it is, and accordingly, its fruits will be God-nature. Pear seeds grow into pear trees, nut seeds into nut trees, and God seeds into God.”
– Meister Eckhart (1260 – 1329)

Welcome and Announcements

Opening Prayer (in unison): Gracious God, oil the hinges of our hearts’ doors,
That they may swing gently and easily to welcome your coming.

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April 2, 2017

Written by St. James UCC on . Posted in Bulletins.

Fifth Sunday of Lent

For Meditation and Reflection: “The Person Who Says It Cannot Be Done Should Not Interrupt The Person Doing It!”

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: For all that is our life we offer thanks and praise.
People: For all life is a gift which we are called to use, to build the store of common good.
Pastor: As we worship together this morning, may we know once again that we are not isolated beings, but connected.
People: In mystery and miracle.
Pastor: To the universe.
People: To this community.
All: And to each other.

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March 26, 2017

Written by St. James UCC on . Posted in Bulletins.

Fourth Sunday of Lent

For Meditation and Reflection “Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.” -Daniel J. Boorstein

Welcome and Announcements

Responsive Call to Worship – #824 (Black hymnal)

Opening Hymn: #1 – Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

Prayers of the People: #878 – Litany of Intercession

Today’s Scripture Readings: First Reading: Psalm 23 Second Reading: John 9:1-40

Sermon by Rev. Mary Mason: “Blind from Birth”

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March 12, 2017

Written by St. James UCC on . Posted in Bulletins.

For Meditation and Reflection “To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world”. – Karl Barth

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship

Opening Hymn: #506 – Sweet Hour of Prayer

Introduction of Worship Leader Rev. Ted Haas

Today’s Scripture Readings:

Psalm 92: 1-4
Philemon 1-7
Matthew 6: 5-15
Luke 5: 15-16

Sermon: Prayer Changes Things Within Us and for Others

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February 19th, 2017

Written by St. James UCC on . Posted in Bulletins.

Thoughts for Today

“For God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of
power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Second letter of Paul to Timothy 1:7

“Is it possible, I asked myself, that I’m being
summoned from some deep and holy place
within? Am I being asked to enter a new passage
in the spiritual life — the journey from false self to
true self? Am I being asked to dismantle old
masks and patterns and unfold a deeper more
authentic self — the one God created me to be?
Am I being compelled to disturb my inner universe
in quest of the undiscovered being who clamors
from within?”

From When the Heart Waits,
by Sue Monk Kidd.

“To be fully human, fully myself. To accept all that
I am, all that you envision. This is my prayer. Walk
with me out to the rim of life. Beyond security.
Take me to the exquisite edge of courage. And
release me to become.”

Prayer from When the Heart Waits,
by Sue Monk Kidd.

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December 11, 2016

Written by St. James UCC on . Posted in Bulletins.

Third Sunday of Advent

Meditation thoughts

‘For Longing’ by John O’Donohue
“Blessed be the longing that brought you here and quickens your soul with wonder.
May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire that disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.
May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease to discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.
May the forms of your belonging—in love, creativity, and friendship— be equal to the grandeur and the call of your soul….
May you come to accept your longing as divine urgency.
May you know the urgency with which God longs for you.”

Welcome and announcements

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