Welcome to the United Church of Craftsbury.
Lighting of the United Church of Craftsbury's Bell Tower for the month of August
If you’re visiting or new to our congregation, please sign our guest book. The greeters can
has been given in loving memory of Hans and Ella Vahlteich
supply a hearing device or magnifier to assist you during our service. We would love to keep in
by their daughter and son-in-law, Beverly and Bill DeLaney.
United Church of Craftsbury
touch; please leave us your contact on a form in the pew rack.
Participants today:
Rev. Alan Parker, Pastor; Sandalyn Chadwick, Accompanist.
For Next Sunday:
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14; Psalm 111; Proverbs 9:1-6; Psalm 34:9-14; Ephesians 5:15-20;
John 6:51-58
If you would like to place flowers in the sanctuary
in memory of a family member or loved one, contact Roberta Alexander (586-7730).
Bulletin news due at church via e-mail, phone message, or note by Friday morning. You may
also contact Michelle Warren at 586-9632 or email [email protected].
.
Upcoming Weekly Church Calendar:
Sun.
08/09
Service:
10 AM
Mon.
08/10
Tues.
08/11
AA:
6 PM
Deacons’
Meeting:
7 PM
Committee Contacts:
 Church Clerk: Anne Wilson (586-2825)
 Church Council: Andy Moffatt
(586-2248)
 Community Supper: Barb Strong
(586-2516)
 Deacons: Jen LaPoint (586-2883)
Wed.
08/12
Thurs.
08/13
Book
Discussion:
7 PM
Migrant
Justice
Meeting:
10 AM4 PM
Fri.
08/14
Sat.
08/15
Al-Anon:
6 PM
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Horse & Buggy Club: Paula Massé (586-2857)
Ladies Union: Lois Charron (586-9674)
Memorial Committee: Diane Sanville (586-9642)
Prayer Circle: Norma Waterhouse (586-2285)
Religious Education: Barb Strong (586-2516)
Trustees: Bruce Sweeny (802) 525-4245
United Church of Craftsbury
PO Box 46, Craftsbury Common, VT 05827
Phone: (802) 586-8028 ∙ Email: [email protected]
Website & Online Calendar: www.unitedchurchofcraftsbury.com
Pastor: Rev. Alan Parker∙ Pastor Emeritus: Rev. Arnold Brown ∙ Ministers:The Entire Congregation
August 9, 2015
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B
WE GATHER TO BE PRESENT WITH GOD
PRELUDE
GREETING & ANNOUNCEMENTS
INTROIT
GATHERING MUSIC, PRAYER, INVOCATION & MEDITATION
HYMN # 283 (NCH) Sung three times
Spirit of the Living God
(Alternating with Reading from Psalm 34)
CALL TO PRAYER OF CONFESSION, HEALING AND FORGIVENESS
UNISON PRAYER FOR HEALING OF BROKENNESS
Compassionate God, we break from suffering and sin; heal us. We worship our gifts
and forget to worship in truth you, the giver of all gifts. We build walls around our
close circle and ourselves and find clever ways to keep others out. We protest that
we are not doing this, but our hearts know the broken truth. We try to shape the
world in our image, not yours. We wound the world and all its liveliness and
loveliness. We sacrifice hopeful joy for hopeless pursuit. We fail in all that is not of
you, and we know this to be true. Loving God, heal us from our brokenness and sin.
SILENT PRAYER
RESPONSIVE ASSURANCE OF PARDON
One: Out of our humble prayers, broken lives return to life. Heads bowed in sorrow,
numbness, and regret are raised to the light of new life.
All: Strangers and enemies become fellow children of God. Cleansed by God’s living
waters, we set forth refreshed, hopeful, and safely in the arms of God’s grace.
One: God is love. God is forgiveness. God is welcome.
All: How could love be any other way? Praise be to all of God’s holy things. AMEN
CHORUS OF ASSURANCE
(SING) It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well; it is well with my soul.
WE LISTEN TO HEAR GOD’S WORD
A PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION ((Unison)
O God, may our reading, hearing, and understanding of your Word, and our own
spoken words, be acceptable in your sight. For you are our rock and our redeemer.
AMEN
THE WORD OF GOD IN SCRIPTURE
o 1 Kings 19:4-8
o Ephesians 4:25-5:2
o John 6:35, 41-51
(At the conclusion of Gospel reading, the congregation responds, saying,
“Thanks be to God, who brings light and truth.”)
REFLECTION
“Dannemora, Weddings, Nutriloaf, or Bread”
WE OFFER OUR PRAYERS AND OUR GIFTS
JOYS AND CONCERNS OF THE CONGREGATION
PASTORAL PRAYER, PRAYERS OF THE CONGREGATION& LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come; thy will
be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us
our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory, for ever. Amen.
CHORAL RESPONSE TO PRAYER
(SING) Hear our prayer, O God; hear our prayer, O God.
Incline your ear to us, and grant us your peace.
CALL TO GIVING AND RECEIPT OF OFFERING
*DOXOLOGY
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise God all creatures here below.
Praise God above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
WE SHARE CHRIST’S TABLE AND GO OUT IN PEACE
COMMUNION HYMN # 347 (NCH)
Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ
SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION
We will serve the elements by inviting those wishing to receive them to come
forward. If you prefer, we will bring the elements to you.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Holy God, in deep gratitude for this moment, this meal, and these people, we give
ourselves to you. Take us to live as changed people; we have shared this living bread
and cup, and we cannot remain the same. Ask much of us; expect much from us;
enable new things by us; encourage many through us. Send us out, Dear God, with
gentle hearts to touch an ordinary, everyday world with the promise and joy of your
holiness. AMEN
*CLOSING HYMN #533 (NCH) V. 1, 3, & 4
Children of God
*BENEDICTION
Threefold Amen
RESPONSE # 590
POSTLUDE
* We rise, either in body or in spirit
CALL TO PRAYER OF CONFESSION, HEALING, AND FORGIVENESS
We catch a glimpse of God’s sacred path. We see who we might become. Yet we often stumble
along the way; we take the side roads of our pleasures, worries, and obsessions. We pray now for
healing of our brokenness and sin, that we might see anew the holy path of peace, love, and
welcome, and follow this path in all our days.
Scripture for August 9, 2015
1 Kings 19:4-8
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he
might die: "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the
broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." He looked, and there at his head
was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a
second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." He got up, and ate and
drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry
but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing;
rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil
talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to
those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of
redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be
kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God,
as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
John 6:35, 41-51
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will
never be thirsty."
Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were
saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down
from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the
Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught
by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the
one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one
may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and
the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
End of reading: “This is the word of God; the story of Jesus Christ, who brings light and truth to the world.”
Opening Reading, August 9, 2015
Psalm 34:1-8
SING
I will bless God at all times;
God's praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in God;
let the humble hear and be glad.
O magnify God with me,
and let us exalt God's name together.
I sought God, and God answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
SING
Look to God, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor soul cried, and was heard by God,
and was saved from every trouble.
The angel of God encamps
around those who fear God,
God's angel delivers them.
O taste and see that God is good;
happy are those who take refuge in God.
SING