Order of Worship

4 February 2024

WELCOME TO SHADOW ROCK UCC!

Prelude ~ America the Beautiful

Shared by Christine Kyhn

Welcome and Announcements

Shared by Pastor Ken

Opening Words

Led by Pastor Ken

One: Who are we and what are we called to do?

All: We are the sensitive and responsive ones called

to create a world where every person is radically

affirmed and barriers between people become

bridges of inclusion, justice, and spirituality.

Presentation of the Colors

Please stand if you are comfortably able.

Led by Troop 426

Call to Celebration

Led by A Member of Troop 426

One: From the corners of this city, from the confusion of life, from the loneliness of our hearts,

All: Gather us, O God.

One: To feed our minds, to fire our imagination, to free our hearts, to encourage our spirits,

All: Gather us, O God.

One: In the way that we gather is our identity.

All: We remind one another: “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

One: We pray: God of surprises, startle us with truth, amaze us with your power and grace, beckon us, and lead us far above restricted hope and narrow faith. May it be so.

All: We live our prayer by living in peace with one another.

Singing Our Faith

~ All Are Welcome

Let us build a house

Where love can dwell

And all can safely live

A place where

Saints and children tell

How hearts learn to forgive   

Built of hopes and dreams and visions

Rock of faith and vault of grace

Here the love of Christ shall end divisions

All are welcome, all are welcome

All are welcome in this place

Let us build a house where prophets speak

And words are strong and true

Where all God's children dare to seek

To dream God's reign anew   

Here the cross shall stand as witness

And a symbol of God's grace

Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus (Chorus)

Let us build a house where love is found

In water, wine and wheat

A banquet hall on holy ground

Where peace and justice meet   

Here the love of God, through Jesus

Is revealed in time and space

As we share in Christ the feast that frees us     

All are welcome, all are welcome

All are welcome in this place (Chorus)

Opening Prayer

Shared by A Member of Troop 426



Great Spirit of Life and Love, You are like a Mother and Father to us, make us Trustworthy, for there are those who trust us.

Make us Loyal, for through loyalty we reach our highest ideals.

Teach us to be Helpful, for through helpfulness do we forget our selfness.

Make us Friendly, for there are so many who need friends.

Train us in Courtesy, for courtesy is the carpet on life’s floor.

Make us Kind for kindness is the oil in the cogs of life’s machinery.

Insist upon our Obedience, for victory comes only to him who obeys. 

Make us Cheerful, for cheerfulness is the green grass among the rocks in the path of life.

Train us in Thrift, for thrifty habits brighten our future.  

Make us Brave; brave in the dark and brave in the light; but save us from becoming fakers in bravery.

Help us to be Clean – clean in thoughts, in speech, and in deed. And may we remember that our bodies are Thy holy temples, and that any abuse thereof is to tamper with Thy Great Plans.

Above all, O God, help us to be Reverent toward all things which You have made for our enjoyment when we are in Your great out-of-doors, among the trees, along the streams, and on the Hillsides. May we know it was You who made the waters to flow, the trees to reach heavenward, the mountains to endure to all ages. In all these things we ask that You will help us. And may we never forget the Scout Oath to which we all have pledged ourselves, so that through Your help we may live these points of our Scout Law.

Amen

Celebrations and Celebration Song

Led by Pastor Ken

At this time, we share moments from our lives: birthdays,

anniversaries, and words of peace and justice. We celebrate

sorrows and grief as part of our comprehensive view of life.

Give voice to goodness!

Celebrate your heart and your spirit.

Celebrate your life while you live it.

Even when it’s hard to do, celebrate the best of you!

Celebrate your dreams and your visions.

Celebrate the love you’ve been given.

Cherish all that you’ve been through.

Celebrate the best of you!

Invitation to Share the Table of Inclusion,  Justice, and Spirituality

Led by Pastor Ken

Members of Jesus’ spiritual family regularly ate a meal together. It was a human way to be together and it is something they had in common with virtually every other social group in their world. It was considered central to their identity and the way they cared for each other. It became a tradition and a life giving ritual. These meal traditions were their way of acting out the way the world could be. They offered each other hospitality and loving solidarity. They shared bread and cup in the spirit of celebration, presence, and joy. I invite you into the spirit of those meals as we share this bread and cup today. The sacrament of communion is rooted in Christian faith but at Shadow Rock we share it as a sacred human ritual open to everyone.

Welcome to the Table

Led by Pastor Ken

One: At this table we give thanks for justice, love, peace and freedom.

All: At this table we give thanks for friends and strangers who come together in community in this safe place.

One: At this table we welcome old and young, rich and poor, weak and strong, sick and well, and all members of the human family.

All: All of us have a place at the table and all are invited.

Thanksgiving

Led by Pastor Ken

One: We give thanks for the unfolding of matter,    mind, intelligence, and life that has brought us to this moment in time.

All: We celebrate our common origin with everything and everyone that exists.

One: We celebrate the mystery we experience and address as ‘God’ who is ground and sustainer of everything that exists, and in whom we live and move and have our being.

All: We acknowledge and celebrate this mystery embodied in every human person, aware that each one of us gives God unique and personal expression.

One: God is everywhere present in grace-filled moments of sharing and in carefully created communities of loving solidarity.

All: We are one with everything, living and nonliving, on this planet.

Connected.

Interrelated.

Interdependent.

Offerings and Offertory ~ The Sacred Harp

Shared by Christine and Peter Kyhn

Words For Mission

Led by A Member of Troop 426



One: The time has come to depart. May we leave with renewed strength and trust.

All: May we continue to build one another up with encouragement and hope.

One: Each moment gives us opportunities to practice compassion, celebration, presentness, and peace.

All: Like yeast in dough, may a new way of living and being rise up among us and spread stealthily through the world.

One: These are the times!

All: We are the people!

One: All of Creation is blessed.

All: May we love all and serve all.

One: May God be with you.

All: And also with you.

One: Amen.

All: Amen.

Retirement of the Colors

Led by Troop 426

Singing Our Faith~ Trees of the Field



You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace;

The mountains and the hills

will break forth before you.

There’ll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field

will clap, will clap their hands.

And all the trees of the field will clap their hands,

(clap, clap)

The trees of the field will clap their hands,

(clap, clap)

The trees of the field will clap their hands

(clap, clap)

While you go out with joy.

(Repeat faster)

Sermon Reboot is ON for today.

This is a time to talk about the message and explore together using the ORID Art Form Conversation methodology. What is ORID? It stands for Observation, Reflection, Interpretation, and Decision. You will get the hang of it.