Worship for Ordinary Time 14B Live Stream July 4, 2021 1
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Community UCC, 805 South 6th Street, Champaign, IL 61820 Worship for Ordinary Time 14B Live Stream July 4, 2021 1 Community United Church of Christ, Champaign, IL July 4, 2021 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time 10:15 am WE GATHER IN FAITH Prelude America the Beautiful Aaron Ames Samuel A. Ward, arr. Christi Stills Copyright © 2021 Christi Stills Music www.chrisstill.com Welcome Rev. Connie Bandy Good morning and welcome to Community United Church of Christ. As a church we gather this morning to consider what it means to be a person of faith living in these United States. We face many challenges as nation. How might we respond as people who walk in the way of Jesus? Today’s service, Prayer for America, was curated by UCC pastor Rev. John Gage and adapted by Pastor Leah. It includes a series of sacred and poetic readings in three movements: Glory, Shadow, and Hope. Listen, deeply, to the words offered this morning. Thank you to our lay readers and musicians for making this worship service something that, we hope, will inspire, enlighten, and call us, in the words of Lincoln, to be our better angels. As we settle into worship, as we begin, we welcome you. And who are we? We are young and old and middle age. Gay and straight and in between. We are single and partnered. Happy and sad, confused and inspired. We are street smart and college educated. Some of us can’t pay our bills and others of us have more than enough to share. Who are we? We are God’s people. We are the Body of Christ. No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here and we really mean it. Welcome to worship. Hymn This is My Song, O God of All the Nations NCH #591 V 1, 2 Led by Anita Stein, Xiaoyi Zha, David Willcox Words Lloyd Stone, Music Jean Sibelius One License Music Song License #11596 One License Words Song License #27491 One License #A-734456 This is my song, O God of all the nations, a song of peace for lands afar and mine; this is my home, the country where my heart is; here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine: but other hearts in other lands are beating with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine. My country's skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine; but other lands have sunlight too, and clover, and skies are everywhere as blue as mine: O hear my song, thou God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and for mine. 2 WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD Seeking the Word in Scripture from the Letters of the Early Church Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16a Ilsa Kantola By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. .All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. from the Hebrew Prophets Jeremiah 29:4-7 Jon Ebel Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. “Prayers from America: Glory, Shadow, & Hope” I. Glory “A City Upon a Hill” by John Winthrop (1630) Kristy Brownfield Now the only way to avoid disaster and provide for our future in this land is to follow the counsel of the prophet Micah: to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Toward this end, we must be knit together in this work as one body; We must treat each other with familiar affection; We must be willing to give up our excesses, in order to supply others what they need. We must build an amiable society together in all meekness, gentleness, patience, and generosity of spirit. We must delight in each other, feel for others’ conditions as our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always remembering the vision of our common mission and common life in the work—our common life as members of the one body. Thus we will manifest the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us, as God’s own people, and will command a blessing upon us in everything we do, so that we will see even more of God’s wisdom, power, goodness, and truth than we have known before. We will find that the God of Israel is among us, and ten of us will be able to resist a thousand of our enemies. God will make us a praise and glory, that people will say of future settlements: “May the Lord make it like New England!” For we must consider that we will be like a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us… 3 My Country by Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (1830) Jennifer Cromely America! my own dear land- You hear the sounds of healthful toil, O, 'tis a lovely land to me; And youth's gay shout and childhood's glee, I thank my God that I was born And every one in safety dwells, Where man is free! And all are free. Our land- it is a glorious land- We're brothers all from South to North, And wide it spreads from sea to sea- One bond will draw us to agree- And sister States in Union join We love this country of our birth- And all are free. We love the free- And equal laws we all obey- We love the name of Washington, To kings we never bend the knee- I lisped it on my father's knee- We may not own no Lord but God And we shall ne'er forget the name Where all are free. While we are free. We've lofty hills and sunny vales My Land, my own dear native Land, And streams that roll to either sea- Thou art a lovely land to me; And through this large and varied land I bless my God that I was born Alike we're free. Where man is free! The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (1883) Brin Schuler Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Hymn God of the Ages, Whose Almighty Hand NCH 592 v 1, 4 Led by Anita Stein, Xiaoyi Zha, David Willcox Words Daniel Crane Roberts, Music George William Warren One License Song #24060 One License#A-734456 God of the ages, who with sure command brought forth in beauty al the starry band of shining worlds in splendor through the skies, our grateful songs before your throne arise. Refresh thy people on life’s toilsome way; lead us from night to never-ending day; With truth and love guide us through error’s maze, and we shall give you glory, laud, and praise. 4 II. Shadow Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes (1938) Chase Skye Let America be America again. In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned Let it be the dream it used to be. That's made America the land it has become. Let it be the pioneer on the plain O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas Seeking a home where he himself is free. In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, (America never was America to me.) And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- And torn from Black Africa's strand I came Let it be that great strong land of love To build a "homeland of the free." Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme The free? That any man be crushed by one above.