World Communion Sunday: Faith, Fear, Friends, Family

Sunday, October 2, 2022
10:30 AM 11:30 AM 10:30 11:30

Union Presbyterian Church 200 E Main St Endicott, NY, 13760 United States (map)

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We dig into an intimate piece of correspondence today, a letter that seems to be from the apostle Paul to his sibling in ministry, Timothy. Something is wrong. Something has changed. There is fear where there was faith. What are the roots of our faith, and how can they give us strength and encouragement when the world around us is filled with chaos?

Join us on this World Communion Sunday as we share the Lord’s Supper and enjoy hymns from around the world. Join us for worship in our sanctuary, or right here, if you are at home or on the road. You can also find the live-stream and worship videos on the Union Presbyterian Church of Endicott YouTube page! Worship videos are available Sunday after 1:00 PM. All are welcome!

Online Bulletin

Stewardship 1

Faith, Fear, Friends, Family

Union Presbyterian Church

Psalm 137; 2 Timothy 1:1-14

October 2, 2022

World Communion Sunday

Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Liturgist: Joan Kellam Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube

Prelude Chris Bartlette

“Communion Meditations,” Lani Smith

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.   

Welcome Rev. Pat Raube

Call to Worship

From north and south,
from east and west, we come:
God's people called to the Table
where simple grace nourishes us.
From down the street to across town,
from single households to apartment dwellers:
God's people are called to community,
where we live and serve one another.
From every class, every race, every status;
from little ones with sippy cups to elders with overflowing hearts:
God's people are called to witness to God's hope,
to offer peace to a shattered world.

Hymn #5 W & R “Halle, Halle, Hallelujah,” Hal H. Hopson (Caribbean)

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.   

Halle, halle, hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Praise God in this holy place,
Every nation, every race.
Come, make joyful music to the Lord.
Sound the trumpet, sound it clear.
Sound it for the world to hear.
Come, make joyful music to the Lord.

Halle, halle, hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Everything that breathes now praise;
Sing your songs, let voices raise.
Come, make joyful music to the Lord.
Play the cymbals, play the lute;
Play the timbrel, play the flute.
Come, make joyful music to the Lord.

Halle, halle, hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Call to New Life

Prayer for Wholeness and Peace

God of every people, every place, and every prayer, we lift our hearts to you in search of healing. Today we pray, not only for ourselves, but for the world. Everywhere we look, people are striving to gain supremacy and power—when we could be striving to love you, giving God, and to love one another. Everywhere we look, we see the ways in which we place other things before you—the little gods of our idolatry, patient God, instead of you, the One whose love is beyond our comprehension. Everywhere we look, we see the universal need for your healing, and we pray—heal minds and hearts, loving God. Heal bodies and spirits. Heal your people everywhere, so that our dream of World Communion might become a reality, with every voice on earth singing your praise. We pray in your holy name. Amen.

Words of Assurance

With the whole church:

We affirm that we are made in God’s image,

befriended by Christ, and empowered by the Spirit.

With people everywhere:

We affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity,

planted more deeply than all that is wrong.

With all creation:

We celebrate the miracle and wonder of life and the unfolding purposes of God, forever at work in ourselves and the world. Thanks be to God. Amen!

Sharing of the Peace

May the peace of God be with you.

And also with you.

Let us offer one another a sign of God’s peace.

Scripture Psalm 137:1-7

By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept.
    when we remembered you, O Zion.
As for our harps, we hung them up

on the trees in the midst of that land.
For those who led us away captive asked for a song,
and our oppressors called for mirth:
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How shall we sing the Lord’s song
    upon an alien soil?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand forget its skill!
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

Remember, the day of Jerusalem, O Lord,

against the people of Edom,
who said, “Down with it! Down with it! Even to the ground!”

Children’s Message Rev. Pat Raube

Music: “We Are Singing, for the Lord is Our Light,” Hal Hopson

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.   

Scripture 2 Timothy 1:1-14

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my beloved child:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:

Thanks be to God!

Meditation Rev. Pat Raube

Affirmation of Faith

From “A Brief Statement of Faith,” Presbyterian Church (USA)

We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church.

The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the Church.

In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.

Hymn # 697 W & R “Eat This Bread,” Jacques Berthier (France)

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.   

Eat this bread, drink this cup,

Come to me and never be hungry.

Eat this bread, drink this cup,

Trust in me and you will not thirst.

Minute for Mission Stewardship Campaign Kevin Kelley

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

The Invitation 

… Come. It is Christ who invites us to meet him here.

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise!

The Great Thanksgiving 

…And with our loved ones, separate from us now, who yet in this mystery are close to us, we join in the song of your unending greatness.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might, 

Heaven and the earth are full of your glory:

Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord: 

Hosanna in the highest!

The Words of Jesus 

The Invocation of the Holy Spirit

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer (Unison)

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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. 

The Communion

Look,

the Body of Christ is broken

for the life of the world.

Here is Christ coming to us in bread and in the fruit of the vine.

The gifts of God

for the people of God.

Music for Communion:

“We Remember You,” Joel Raney

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.   

Prayer of Thanksgiving After Communion 

Holy God, we thank you for this feast of grace and life. As we have been served, help us to serve our neighbors. As we have been fed, help us to feed all who are hungry. As we have been loved, help us to love this world, because in Christ you have loved us. Amen.

Hymn  #597 W & R (Japan)

“Here, O Lord, Your Servants Gather,” Isao Koizumi, Everett Stowe

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.   

Here, O Lord, your servants gather,

Hand we link with hand;

Looking toward our Savior’s cross,

Joined in love we stand.

As we seek the realm of God,

We unite to pray:

Jesus, Savior, guide our steps,

For you are the Way.

Many are the tongues we speak,

Scattered are the lands,

Yet our hearts are one in God,

One in love’s demands.

E’en in darkness hope appears,

Calling age and youth:

Jesus, teacher, dwell with us,

For you are the Truth.

Nature’s secrets open wide,

Changes never cease.

Where, O, where can weary souls

Find the source of peace?

Unto all those sore distressed,

Torn by endless strife:

Jesus, healer, bring your balm,

For you are the Life.

Grant, O God, an age renewed,

Filled with deathless love;

Help us as we work and pray,

Send us from above

Truth and courage, faith and power,

Needed in our strife:

Jesus, Master, be our Way,

Be our Truth, our Life.

Benediction  

Go into the world in peace.

Have courage!

Hold fast to what is good.

Return no one evil for evil.

Strengthen the faint-hearted,

support the weak,

help the suffering.

Honor all people.

Love and serve the Lord your God,

rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

and the love of God,

and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit,

be with each and all of us,

This day and forevermore.

The Spirit is among us, so go in peace.

Thanks be to God. Amen

Postlude  Chris Bartlette

“Song for the Nations,” Chris Christensen, Mark Hayes

Used by permission, CCLI License #CSPL068847

Where an * is indicated, please rise in body and/or in spirit.

“W & R” ~ the red Worship and Rejoice hymnal.

“PH” ~ the blue Presbyterian Hymnal

Call to Worship from Rev. Thom Shuman.

Communion Prayer from the Iona Community, Scotland.

Image: “Lois and Eunice,” Stained glass. St. Mary’s Kemptown, UK. Window by James Powell & Sons, 1897. Used with permission.