Sunday, January 15, 2012
Called and Recalled
Visitors: Welcome to our church. Please sign our guest book! If you do not have a church home, we pray that you will find one with us. We have large-print bulletins available, as well as hearing assistance devices. Please ask an usher if you require either of these. Restrooms are located in the church school building. Go through the door next to the choir loft, and straight ahead. We also have restrooms downstairs in Fellowship Hall. Again, exit through the door next to the choir loft, turn left down the hall, and go down the steps.
We Gather To Worship
Prelude
Announcements
Chime Interlude
*Call To Worship
Leader: We are called, each and every one:
All: old, young, woman, man.
Leader: We are called into God’s future,
All: called to speak God’s message, called by the One whom we gather to worship today.
*Hymn: “We Are Called to Be God’s People” ……………………#710
*Invocation (We light the Christ Candle.)
Leader: Holy One, you have searched me out! You know me!
People: You know when I sit, when I stand;
Leader: from far away you discern my thoughts.
People: You trace my journeys and my resting places, you are familiar with all my ways.
Leader: Indeed, there is not a word on my tongue but you, you know it completely.
People: Your embrace is all around me.
Leader: You lay your hand upon me.
People: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, so exalted that I cannot grasp it.
Leader: Truly, you yourself created my inmost being;
People: you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Leader: I praise you! Fearfully, wonderfully, you created me;
People: wonderful are your works; well do I know it.
Leader: My body was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, and woven in the depths of the earth.
People: Your eyes looked on me, still in the womb; in your book all the shapes were recorded, as day by day they were formed, formed where there had been nothing.
Leader: To me your thoughts are very precious, profound in their sweeping vastness, numberless as sand in the sea.
All: Even at my end I shall be with you.
*Response: “O Gracious Light, Lord Jesus Christ”…………….#359, V 1
Prayer Of Confession
Leader: God, we know you call us into your future. But sometimes, we do not recognize your voice—perhaps because we have not yet learnt, or have forgotten to expect your call. Sometimes, we do not hear you calling—perhaps because we get too busy, or distracted by other voices, like our inner voice of greed or self-satisfaction. Sometimes we hear your call, but we ignore it—perhaps because to follow means making changes when we are comfortable, or we doubt that we are able to answer the call.
All: We are sorry for these times when we don’t acknowledge your voice, don’t hear your voice, don’t respond to your voice. (A time for silent prayers of confession; Music: “Speak, Lord, in the Stillness.”)
Assurance Of God’s Forgiveness
One: When we don’t hear God’s voice,
All: God will call us again.
One: When we don’t respond to God’s voice,
All: God will call us again.
One: The stories of God’s people who came before us assure us that God will call us, and call us again and again,
All: calling us into the future of hope, calling us with the voice of love, calling us as children of the light.
Affirmation: “O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright”. . . ………..#27, V 1 & 3
We Hear The Word
ReadingOf The Scripture: I Samuel 3: 1-10
A Time For Children
Anthem: “We Are the People of God” …………………Martin
Reading Of The Gospel: John 1: 43-51
Message For This Day
We Respond To God
*Hymn: “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”……………..#539
Pastoral Prayers And 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 sins as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.)
Our Offering
Offertory
*Doxology: “Praise God from Whom All Blessings” ………..….#809
*Prayer Of Dedication
Leader: We offer these gifts of money, as we offer ourselves, for the imagining and realizing of your vision for all creation. Amen.
*Closing Hymn: “Lord, Speak to Me, That I May Speak” …….#574
*Blessing
Leader: Daughters! Sons!
All: Speak, God, for your servants are listening.
Leader: God is about to do something in our world, and calls us into that future. Be ready, then, to hear God’s call and, empowered by the Spirit, to follow the way shown to us by Jesus the Christ. Amen.
*Choral Benediction: “Lord, Now Let Your Servant”………#343, V 1 & 3
*Chime Meditation
Postlude
*Where noted, please stand if able.
January’s Proverb:
The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord, searching every inmost part. Proverbs 20: 27
Scarves For Special Olympics (Date Change). The organizers of the Special Olympics are interested in providing handmade scarves to the participants in this year’s winter games. The scarves may be knitted or crocheted in any pattern, but they must use Red Heart Yarn #319 Cherry Red and #387 Soft Navy. Each scarf must be 6 inches wide and 54-60 inches long, and must use both colors of yarn. Completed scarves should be returned to Valerie by next Sunday, January 22, 2012. Please see Valerie if you would like additional information.
The 2012 Flower Calendar is posted in the vestibule. Please consider sponsoring the flowers that beautify our sanctuary. Available dates: Jan. 22; Feb. 5, Mar. 4, 25; Apr. 1, 22, 29; and June 10, 17.
The Book Club Meeting for January is on Thursday, January 26, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson will be discussed. Synopsis: Bill Bryson is an immensely popular writer who has tackled a wide variety of subjects. The focus of The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is something pretty personal: his childhood inDes Moines,Iowa. Department stores and movie theaters are just two things that Bryson argues were different and better in the 1950s, parts of a life that he observes doesn’t exist anymore. Described as, “a very enjoyable memoir that effectively covers both the author’s childhood and the wider issues going on in the country at the time, this book is a perfect mix of personal and national issues with a fantastic touch of humor.
The Food Pantry Item for January is laundry detergent.
Soup Kitchen update: the last Soup Kitchen meal for 2011 was held on December 31(New Year’s Eve) with an outstanding turn-out – the special holiday turkey dinner with all the fixin’s was a huge hit feeding over 40 people who attended! Most of the attendees wanted seconds and sometimes even third refills. The kindness ofZion members and friends went beyond the call of generosity with enough food leftover for a complete meal at the Homeless Shelter on New Year’s Eve. Jordan and I truly felt blessed when we were able to deliver the boxed meal to the Homeless Shelter after feeding those at the Soup Kitchen. Thank you everyone for your time and generosity in making the 2011 Soup Kitchen a fruitful and inspiring commitment from the members of Zion UCC.
The first Soup Kitchen meal for the 2012 will be held on 1/31, Tuesday. Zion provides meal only; serving is not required. Sign-up sheet with menu will be on the credenza beginning the first week in January. Please remember, all food will be picked up at the church by 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, 1/28, to deliver to the Soup Kitchen on the same day. Shirley opens the side door of the church at 8:30 a.m. on respective Saturdays for drop-offs; doors will be closed by 9:30 a.m. same day.
2012 Greeters Needed for Feb. 12, 19, 22; Mar. 4, 11, 18, 25; Apr. 1, 6, 8, 15, 22, 29.
2012 Bulletin Sponsors Needed for Jan. 22, 29; Feb. 5, 12, 19, 26; Mar. 4, 18, 25.
Coming Up Next Week:
Jan. 15, Trivia Nite, 6:00 pm
Jan. 18, Choir Practice, Sanctuary, 7:30 pm
Looking Forward:
Jan. 23, Consistory Mtg,ZionHse, 7:00 pm
Jan. 26, Book Club, Mustard Seed Rm, 7:00 pm
Jan. 30, CEST Mtg, Main SS Rm, 7:00 pm
Jan. 31, Soup Kitchen, Peace House, 10:45 – 1 pm
Feb. 1, Bible Discovery, Fellowship Hall, 6:30 pm
Feb. 2, Worship and Music Cmte,ZionHse, 7:30 pm
Feb. 6, Something More, Oakside Park, 12 noon
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