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Tag: Mark Dewey

Sunday, February 24, 2019

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

Seventh Sunday after Epiphany

Musician Sea Raven Morse

For Meditation and Reflection:

   “God, wake me from the fog of my low expectations. Help me shake off the world’s despair, its pointless habits, desires, and attachments, its broken busyness, and the downward spiral of judging, consuming, and protecting myself. Give me the courage to trust that you are moving and acting, the courage to embrace the unimaginable. Give me the urgency to act, for now is the time, and the patience to wait for every moment.”             ~Steve Garnass-Holmes

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship  (Psalm 37)

Leader:  The Lord invites us to graze on faith.

All:  Let us graze on faith and trust in the Lord.

Leader:  The Lord invites us to graze on faith.

All:  Let us graze on faith and wait for the Lord

Leader:  The Lord invites us to graze on faith.

All: Let us graze on faith and delight in the Lord.

Leader:  Yet a little while, says the Lord, and wickedness will be no more. You will look for wickedness, and goodness will be in its place.

All:  Let us graze on faith and trust in the Lord.

Opening Hymn:          Arise, Your Light Is Come                    #164

Pastoral Prayer

Today’s Scripture Reading:    Luke 6:27-38

Sermon                       Am I my brother’s keeper?      by Mark Dewey

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Sunday, February 17, 2019

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

For Meditation and Reflection: 

   God, wake me from the fog of my low expectations. Help me shake off the world’s despair, its pointless habits, desires, and attachments, its broken busyness, and the downward spiral of judging, consuming, and protecting myself. Give me the courage to trust that you are moving and acting, the courage to embrace the unimaginable. Give me the urgency to act, for now is the time, and the patience to wait for every moment.       — Steve Garnass-Holmes

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship (from Jeremiah 17 and Katherine Hawker)

   Hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah:  People who trust in human strength are like shrubs in the desert: they live alone in salt, and they can’t see relief when it comes. People who trust in the Lord are like trees by the stream, which send their roots into its water: they do not fear the heat; in drought, they are not anxious, nor do they cease to bear fruit.

Leader:  Happy are we
All:  when our treasures cannot be quantified.
Leader:  Happy are we
All:  when our knowledge is tempered by mystery.
Leader:  Happy are we
All:  when our pain is held in the balm of love.
Leader:  Happy are we
All:  when our delight comes from beyond ourselves.

Opening Hymn:         Enter, Rejoice, and Come in              #73

Children’s Time

Pastoral Prayer

Lord’s Prayer (Alternate version, in memory of William Dewey)

Earth-maker, pain-bearer, life-giver: blessed be your work.     Let happen here on earth what you will.

Give us what we need today in bread and insight, and release us from our offenses, as we release our offenders.

When we forget that life is both a gift and a task, forgive us; when we hold grudges or blame other people, forgive us; when we love ourselves more than we love other people, forgive us.  

Don’t leave us alone with our private demons and fears, with our apathy and our indifference, but deliver us from the evil in us and around us.   

Help us choose what is good, what is right, what is loving, what is just, for we are endowed with the power to make our world whole, forever.   Amen.

Today’s Scripture Reading:             Luke 6:17-26

Sermon                      Blessed Are the Self-Insufficientby Mark Dewey

Responsive Sharing

Reflective Hymn:      God Will Take Care of You                 #460

The Offerings and Offertory Music

Prayers of Joys and Concerns

Lord’s Prayer  (Traditional version, with debts)

Closing Hymn:                      What a Covenant                    #471

Blessing and Sending

Leader:  Go out into the world in peace.
All:  Have courage.
Leader:  Hold onto what is good.
All:  Return no one evil for evil.
Leader:  Strengthen the faint-hearted.
All:  Support the weak.
Leader:  Help the suffering.
All:  Honor all persons and all creation.

Leader: Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sharing the Peace as we go…….And we hope you can join us for post-worship coffee and conversation in Fellowship Hall.

Thoughts for the Day/Week

The Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas said the only thing that really converts people is the face of the other. The face of the other creates a moral demand on the heart that is far more compelling than the Ten Command-ments written on stone. So many Christian mystics talk about seeing the divine face or falling in love with the face of Jesus. I think that’s why St. Clare used the word ‘mirroring’ so often. We are mirrored not by concepts, but by faces delighting in us, giving us the face we can’t give ourselves. It is the face of the other that finally creates us.   — Richard Rohr

ANNOUNCEMENTS

This Sunday, Feb 17th:  10am:  Sunday School for adults in the Sanctuary led by Janell Kenzie and Brenda Lyle; Sunday School for Children resumes this month in the Fellowship Hall with Lauranne Oliveau. 11am:  Worship with Seminarian Mark Dewey

Next Sunday, Sunday, Feb 24th:  Worship with Seminarian Mark Dewey and Sea Raven on piano.

Sunday, Mar 3rd:  Communion SundayWorship with Samantha Tuttle.

Childcare is available during services. Thank you to Katie and Greta for your gracious care of the children. 

Lovettsville Food Bank Donations:  Please bring non-perishable food items to church. 

–  BRIDGES* VOICES OF FAITH speaker series –

Tues. Feb 19th 7-8:30pm Purcellville Library:  The Baha’i Faith, with speakers, Jenny Rahmani and Paria Akhavan. 

Thurs. Feb 21st 7-8:30pm Cascades Library: Islam, with speaker Hurunessa Fariad of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society. 

Thurs. Feb 28th 7-8:30pm Cascades Library: Christianity – The Emerging Church with Kurt Aschermann, of Christ Church, Lucketts. 

 *Building Relationships for Interfaith Dialogue, Goodwill, Education and Service

Statement of Faith:     We gather as an Open and Affirming community to worship God, however known. We welcome everyone, no exceptions. Together we seek spiritual comfort and challenge, learn from ancient and modern texts, and seek new dimensions of truth. We practice following the way of Jesus. We dare to demonstrate God’s love by working for justice and peace among all people

Sunday, October 14, 2018

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

Order of Worship for October 14, 2018
Worship Leader: Mark Dewey
Musician: Janell Kinzie

For Meditation and Reflection:
What impedes your rush into God’s arms? What treasure weighs in your pocket? What railing do you cling to even as you long to leap?

Surely more than your riches. Your expertise? Your approval rating? The despair that enfolds you when you face the deep unknown? The familiar failure that nestles you, hides you from the risk, the ask, the new?

Go sit in silence and listen for the beckoning. See what arises to stop you. Then lay your hands on it, tie it down, and walk away.
—Steve Garnass-Holmes

Introduction of Worship Leader

Call to Worship
God of grace, we come with all we have
and all we are: bodies, souls, and minds.
We come for a glimpse
of your kingdom of kindness–
a world where love rules over all,
a world where enemies embrace,
and distinctions between friend and foe
dissolve in the light of your love.
We dedicate this hour to being with you,
to noticing your presence,
which is around us and within us always.
We come to share the welcome of your kingdom.
Amen.

Opening Hymn: #21 “God Reigns O’er All the Earth”

Pastoral Prayer

Today’s Scripture Reading: Mark 10:17-31

Sermon: “Threading the Eye of the Needle”
by Mark Dewey

Reflective Hymn: #179 “We Yearn, O Christ, for Wholeness”

The Offerings and Offertory Music

Responsive Sharing & Prayers of Joys and Concerns

Lord’s Prayer [Alternate version, in memory of William Dewey]
Earth-maker, pain-bearer, life-giver: blessed be your work.
Let happen here on earth what you will.
Give us what we need today in bread and insight, and release us from our offenses, as we release our offenders.
When we forget that life is both a gift and a task, forgive us; when we hold grudges or blame other people, forgive us; when we love ourselves more than we love other people, forgive us.
Don’t leave us alone with our private demons and fears, with our apathy and our indifference, but deliver us from the evil in us and around us.
Help us choose what is good, what is right, what is loving, what is just, for we are endowed with the power to make our world whole, forever.
Amen

Closing Hymn: #563 “We Cannot Own the Sunlit Sky”

Blessing and Sending

Sharing the Peace as we go… And we hope you can join us for post-worship coffee and conversation in the Fellowship Hall.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

This Sunday, Oct 14th:
9am: Council Meeting in Fellowship Hall
11am: Worship led by Seminarian Mark Dewey
12:30pm: Oktoberfest Debrief

Wednesday, Oct 17th:
Morning Meditation: 10:00-11:30am
Evening Meditation: 7:00- 8:00pm each week with Diane Younkins. No experience necessary.

Next Sunday, Oct 21st:
10am: Sunday School for children in Fellowship Hall with Robin Scott; for adults in Sanctuary; discussing The Phoenix Affirmations, copies available.
11am: Worship led by Rev. Samantha Tuttle

Sunday, Oct 28th:
11am: Worship Led by Rev. Michael Lyle
12:30pm: Jammin’ at James open mic in the Sanctuary.

Childcare is available during services at St. James. Thank you to Greta Harteis and Katie Sulek for your generous and caring work.

Food Bank Donations: Please bring non-perishable food items to church; Thanks, Tena B, for taking our donations to the Lovettsville Food Bank.


Our Statement of Faith:
We gather as an open and affirming community to worship God, however known. We welcome everyone, no exceptions. Together we seek spiritual comfort and challenge, learn from ancient and modern texts, and seek new dimensions of truth. We practice following the way of Jesus. We dare to demonstrate God’s love by working for justice and peace among all people.

Sunday, April 8, 2018

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

Order of Worship

For Meditation and Reflection
“The universal incarnation always shows itself in the specific, the concrete, and the particular — refusing to be an abstraction. Poet Christian Wiman puts it this way: ‘If nature abhors a vacuum, Christ abhors a vagueness. If God is love, Christ is love for this one person, this one place, this one time-bound and time-ravaged self.’” —Richard Rohr

Welcome and Introduction of Worship Leader (Lay Leader)

Responsive Call to Worship
Worship Leader: When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread.
Congregation: Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”
Worship Leader: So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them.
Congregation: Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”
Worship Leader: Then Jesus took the bread and gave it to them, and he did the same with the fish. And they ate, and they saw, and they cared for one another.

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October 22, 2017

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

Order of Worship on Sunday, October 22, 2017

Worship Leader – Mark Dewey
Music Leader – Alex Thomas

For Meditation and Reflection

“If we are absolutely grounded in the love of God, which protects us from nothing even as it sustains us in everything, then we can face all things with courage and tenderness, and we can touch the hurting places in others and ourselves with love.”
– Richard Rohr

Welcome, Announcements, and Introduction

Responsive Call to Worship: Isaiah 45 and Psalm 96

Leader: Thus says the Lord:
All: I will go before you and level the mountains;
Leader: I will break through the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron;
All: I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places;
Leader: So you may know that it is I, The Lord, who calls you by your name.
All: Let the sea roar, and all that fills it.
Leader: Let the field exult, and everything in it.
All: Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy!
Leader: And let us sing with joy and thanksgiving for the love of God which protects us from nothing, even as it sustains us in everything.

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