St. Andrew's and First United Worship Service – April 25, 2021

St. Andrew’s and First United Worship Service – April 25, 2021 – 4th of Easter, B, Camping Sunday, Vocation Sunday

Words of Welcome, Announcements, and Celebrations

Lighting the Christ Candle

Call to Worship – responsive One: Let our praise for all that God has done resound within and beyond these walls. All: When all people worship God, the poor shall eat and be satisfied, and justice and peace will embrace present and future generations. One: Let us worship God as Easter people!

Prayer of Approach –all Guide us in our worship today, Holy Spirit. As we hear words of love and challenge, move through us calling us to act upon them. As we sing praises, may our hearts be lightened. Inspire us to reconnect with you in ways we never imagined possible; to be changed because we have been here to worship our God. Amen.

Musical Reflection – MV 37 “Each Blade of Grass” 1 Each blade of grass, ev’ry wing that soars, the waves that sweep across a distant shore, make full the circle of God.

Each laughing child, ev’ry gentle eye, a forest lit beneath a moon-bright sky, make full the circle of God.

2 Each silent paw, ev’ry rounded stone, the buzz that echoes from a honey’d comb, make full the circle of God. Each fire-brimmed star, ev’ry outstretched hand, the wind that leaps and sails across the land, make full the circle of God.

3 Each icy peak, ev’ry patterned shell, the joyous chorus that the dawn foretells, make full the circle of God. Each cosmic hue, ev’ry creature’s way, all form the beauty of this vast array, making full the circle of God.

Minute for Mission: “When Being Born with Light Skin Is Dangerous” When Ikponwosa Ero was five years old, she couldn’t walk down the street without being taunted for having albinism, a genetic condition that results in lack of pigmentation in skin, eyes, and hair. Children would taunt her with rude songs and pull her hair. When she told teachers she couldn’t see well (a condition common for people with albinism), they accused her of lying. Today, Ero, a lawyer, advocates for people with albinism. In 2015, the United Nations appointed her as the first

Independent Expert on the subject. Ero’s priority is to end brutal attacks against people with albinism. More than 600 attacks have taken place in 26 African countries since 2007; two-thirds of the victims are children. Being born with light skin is particularly dangerous in Tanzania, where 1 in 1,400 people have albinism. Few of these people live beyond the age of 40, not only because of high rates of cancer but also because of belief systems. Some belief systems portray people with albinism as magical. As a result, there is a lucrative trade in their body parts, which are believed to hold special power. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation even worse because people can’t get to medical appointments or purchase sunscreen. In some communities, people with albinism are blamed for the outbreak of the pandemic. That’s why your generosity through Mission & Service is supporting the Morogoro Women’s Training Centre to host seminars for young Tanzanian women with albinism. Topics like disability rights, legal protection, and entrepreneurship will be covered. “The seminars are really important because they will not only provide training and give women a greater sense of their rights but also an opportunity to share experiences and talk about how their condition and the stigma around it affects them,” says Wendy Gichuru, the United Church’s program coordinator for Africa and the Middle East. Your Mission & Service gifts support a variety of critical seminars like the Morogoro ones around the world. Thank you

4 so much! Through Mission & Service, your generosity addresses prejudice and violence―and helps change lives.

Invitation to Confession – one (Based on 1 John 4:7-21 NRSV) One: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” In these words, we learn that our human love becomes possible because of God's love for us. Jesus came so that we might catch a glimpse of that love and learn to love one another as he loves us. It is so easy to say that since God loves us so much, we also ought to love one another, but we confess that it is not always so easy to do.

Prayer of Confession – one Holy One, we know in our hearts that the love we have for one another should make your love visible to the world, but we confess that even in the church, our words and actions are not always grounded in love. We squabble over things which, in the light of your love for us, are insignificant and petty. We get caught up in power-struggles and the urge to control, sometimes through deeds and language which make others powerless. For the times we have not lived out your love, hear our silent prayer of confession…. (silent prayer) Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness – responsive One: We love because God first loved us and those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. God fills our

5 hearts anew with love, turning us away from anything which causes pain for God or our sisters and brothers. May Jesus' commandment of love become the chief desire of our hearts, the source of all our thoughts and the inspiration of our lives. All: We live in hope as God’s forgiven Easter people. Thanks be to God!

Scripture Readings: Acts 8:26-40 8:26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.)

8:27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship

8:28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

8:29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it."

8:30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

8:31 He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

8:32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

8:33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth."

8:34 The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?"

8:35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.

8:36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?"

8:38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

8:39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

8:40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

OR John 15:1-8 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.

15:2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.

15:3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.

15:4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

15:6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

Leader: Alleluia! Christ is risen! People: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Musical Reflection ‘I Am the Vine’ (Klusmeier) Words by Shirley Erena Murray Music by Ron Klusmeier

I am the vine, and you are the branches, I am the vine, and in me, you thrive Cut from my being, you can do nothing I course through stem and leaf, leaping alive.

I am the vine, and God is the gard’ner Tending the vineyard, burning the waste, Pruning the dead shoot, cleaning the good fruit, Grapes for the vintage wine, sweet to the taste.

I am the vine, and you are the branches, Tendrils of faith reach out and grow strong! You are my friends with new understanding Stay in my company, here you belong. Stay in my company, here you belong.

Message: Title Unknown at Time of Print

Musical Reflection: VU 510 “We have this Ministry” 1 We have this ministry and we are not discouraged; it is by God's own power that we may live and serve. Openly we share God's word, speaking truth as we believe, praying that the shadowed world may healing light receive. We have this ministry, O God, receive our living.

2 O Christ, the tree of life, our end and our beginning, we grow to fullest flower when rooted in your love. Brothers, sisters, clergy, lay, called to service by your grace, different cultures, different gifts, the young and old a place. We have this ministry, O God, receive our giving.

3 The yoke of Christ is ours, the whole world is our parish; we daily take the cross, the burden and the joy. Bearing hurts of those we serve, wounded, bruised and bowed with pain, Holy Spirit, bread and wine,

we die and rise again. We have this ministry, O God, receive our loving.

Offertory Invitation and Prayer – one/all One: We bring our gifts as symbols of our love - our love for God - our love for Jesus - our love for one another. We ask God's blessing on them, and trust that we will be blessed and strengthened by the Holy Spirit to be fruitful and loving witnesses of the gospel. Let us pray: All: Gracious God, in your love you have given us all that we have. You are the vine, we are the branches. Receive these fruits of our labour, which we dedicate to your glory. Use us and the gifts we offer, that we may be signs of your love in and for the world, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Prayers of the People, The 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. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Musical Reflection MV 42 “Praise God for this Holy Ground” Lyrics will be on screen

Commissioning and Benediction – responsive May we abide in the love that comes from God.

May we live in love that is as expansive as all creation. May we grow in love that calls us home. May we know the love that blooms from us is Jesus Christ, now and always. Our Worship is over, now our service begins. Hallelujah! Christ is risen! All: Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

Musical Blessing MV 122 “This is the Day” This is the day that God has made; We will rejoice and be glad! This is the day that God has made; We will rejoice and be glad! Singing hallelu, singing hallelu, singing hallelu! We will rejoice and be glad! Singing hallelu, singing hallelu, singing hallelu! We will rejoice and be glad!