Order of Worship

14 January 2024

WELCOME TO SHADOW ROCK UCC! Welcome! Today we come together to celebrate the legacy of peace and justice left to us by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Our theme is

“Creating a Community of Peace!

Prelude ~

Shared by Travis Meyers

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.

Call to Celebration

Led by Cindy Gattorna

One: We gather as community

All: on our mountain home.

One: to rest from our labors,

All: on our mountain home.

One: to greet our neighbors,

All: on our mountain home.

One: and to open our being to insight and intuition

of that greater reality of which we are a part.

All: There is no mountain, valley, or river

that can separate us. So let us celebrate

the richness and diversity of this life and

our community gathered on this

mountain in the presentness of God.

Singing Our Faith

~ We Are the Family

by Ray Repp

We are the family and we are the home,

We are the mountain where love can be

known.

We are the voices and we are the hands

For bringing peace to our land. (Repeat)

1. And in our family all are welcome,

Doesn’t matter who you are,

In our home there’s always room

So plan to stay.

On our mountain where we labor

There’s much work that’s left to do,

And your talents would be helpful if you stay.

Chorus

2. And in our family ev’ry nation,

Ev’ry planet, ev’ry race,

Ev’ryone is always welcome to our home.

And with our voices let us tell you

That we mean just what we say,

And with our hands united, let us pray.

Chorus

Opening Prayer

Shared by Cindy Gattorna



Spirit of Life and Love,

We thank You for our lives, bodies, and souls;

Help us to realize that we are something new,

Someone who never existed before,

Someone original and unique in the world.

For if there had ever been someone like me,

There would have been no need for me to exist.

Blessed are You Eternal One

With divine wisdom. You have made our bodies,

Combining veins, arteries and vital organs

Into a finely balanced network.

Wondrous maker and sustainer of life,

When one of our systems fail –

How well we are aware! –

We sometimes lack the strength to stand in life with

others and before You. This awareness does not

humiliate us but makes us humble. With this depth

of awareness, help us to be more compassionate.

Blessed are you, Sustainer of Life,

Source of our health and strength.

May all the people say, Amen!

MLK Reading

Shared by Roy Zaborowski



Modern psychology has a word that is probably used

more than any other word. It is the word

"maladjusted." Now we all should seek to live a

well—adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and

schizophrenic personalities. But there are some

things within our social order to which I am proud to

be maladjusted and to which I call upon you to be

maladjusted. I never intend to adjust myself to

segregation and discrimination. I never intend to

adjust myself to mob rule. I never intend to adjust

myself to the tragic effects of the methods of

physical violence and to tragic militarism. I call upon

you to be maladjusted to such things. I call upon

you to be as maladjusted as Amos, who in the midst

of the injustices of his day cried out in words that

echo across the generation, "Let judgment run down

like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

As maladjusted as Jesus of Nazareth, who dreamed a

dream of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of

man. God grant that we will be so maladjusted that we

will be able to go out and change our world and our

civilization. And then we will be able to move from the

bleak and desolate midnight of man’s inhumanity to

man to the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom

and justice.

Singing Our Faith Dream God’s Dream

Please stand if comfortably able by Brian Sirchio

Dream God's dream. Holy Spirit, help us dream...

Of a world where there is justice, and where

everyone is free

To build and grow and love, and to simply have

enough

The world will change when we dream God's

dream

I'm dreaming of a world where the color of one's skin

Will mean less than what's within the person's heart

A world where water's clean, and where air is safe to

breathe

And every child born has enough to eat.

(Chorus)

I'm dreaming of the call God is offering to me

How to use my energy and my best gifts

To do the work of peace --

to say, God please use my life

To spread Your healing love -- and to live your Truth.

(Chorus)

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!

Offerings and Offertory ~ Abraham, Martin, and John

Shared by Travis Meyers

Word About Life For Today

Shared by Pastor Ken             

Prayer of Re-dedication to Justice

Led by Cindy Gattorna, Roy Zaborowski, Linda Johnston

One: Let us pray. When we behold the problems

of our world, we pray not to be tempted to

quick answers; when every tongue declares

a different truth, when every people praises

its own righteousness,

All: let us pause before we speak or praise or hope.

Silent Prayer

One: Let us look inward seeking to discover

eternal truths implanted there by you, truths

greater than those heard in the outer

multitude of voices and words.

All: And let us remember always that

to be loud is not to be right,

to be strange is not to be forbidden,

to be new is not to be frightful,

to be dark is not to be ugly.

One: Thus, let us find truths true to the Spirit of

Life and Love, that we may live with them,

and you, and ourselves in peace.

Silent Prayer

One: God to whom we belong, we know ...

that each person is of infinite worth to you,

that You delight in all our colors, shapes,

and sizes, and expressions of faith, and that

You dwell in the love that holds us together

as your One Body. Held captive by the

bondage of injustice, we confess that at

times we have failed to love –

All: alienating ourselves from You, our

community, and our very souls.

Silent Prayer

One: May we overcome the temptation to live in

fear: insular and distant from one another.

All: May we find strength in You to stop

quietly accepting the system that

divides, excludes, and crucifies your

Body.

One: Source of all that is just and true, fortify us

with the courage and integrity to draw one

another out of numb, collective amnesia and

remember your love that holds us close.

All: Let us never forget who we are in You,

because it is only in You that we are

freed from the shackles of guilt and sin

to act with sincere passion for justice.

One: Trusting in the deep goodness of life, we

anticipate the day when injustice will be no

more. Living and moving in your Spirit,

strengthen us to be active participants in the

fulfillment of that promise!

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.

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.