Easter 6: Rebellious Midwifery

Sunday, May 14, 2023
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 welcome guest preacher the Rev. Michelle Wahila, who brings a story of courage from the book of Exodus. Shiphrah and Puah were the midwives who defied the Pharoah’s orders to kill the Hebrew baby boys. They knelt humbly down at the birthing stool to usher new life into being. In the lowliest of places, God’s agency is enacted. Their story is a revolutionary picture of God’s upending of power.

Join us as we continue in our celebration of the Easter season. We would love to see you in our beautiful sanctuary, or to have you join us right here online. You are invited!

Easter 6: “Rebellious Midwifery” 

Psalm 138; Exodus 1:8-22

May 14, 2023   

Union Presbyterian Church  

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

Liturgist: Cathie Makowka

Presider: Rev. Jeff Kellam Preacher: Rev. Michelle Wahila

Prelude Chris Bartlette

“If With All Your Hearts,” Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Lau

Prayer Concerns Rev. Jeff Kellam

Announcements Cathie Makowka

Prelude Chris Bartlette

“But the Lord is Mindful of His Own,” Felix Mendelssohn, Franklin Ritter

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

Welcome Rev. Jeff Kellam

* Call to Worship Cathie Makowka

The doors are open wide! You are welcome here.

This is a place of love and grace.

This is a place of comfort and care.

This is a place of perseverance and courage.

This is a place where hope meets reality.

You are welcome to be a part of this beloved community.

Let us worship the God who welcomes us here.

* Hymn [Tune: Holy Manna]

“There is Room in God’s Great Welcome,” Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

Used with permission.

There is room in God's great welcome; See! The doors are open wide!
Here on earth as in God's heaven, hear the call to come inside!
There is so much room for difference — men and women, gay and straight.
In God's love, the rooms are countless, but there is no room for hate.

There is room in our good nation if we stand on justice-ground.
God has made a good creation; colors, cultures all abound.
Welcome, sister! Welcome, brother! All those yearning to breathe free!
There is room for one another but no room for bigotry.

There is room for understanding, for the outcast and the poor;
For the Christian, Jew and Muslim — there is room for these and more.
For the people on the fringes, for the ones with long career,
There is room for building bridges, but there is no room for fear.

There is room in faithful churches for the wounded and oppressed:
Women who've been told they're worthless, refugees who feel distressed,
Immigrants who fear the future, people scorned and pushed and shoved.
God, may we seek what you treasure: may we all make room for love.

* Call to New Life

* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace

We come with the audacity to admit the fullness of our lives to you, loving God. We offer that which is beautiful and good, and the parts of us that are hateful and cause harm. Hold this tension for us. Encourage us to see both the messiness and masterpiece of humanity. Remind us that a masterpiece is not quickly made. Prod us to persevere in our messiness. Give us hope that Your grace can be found in the contradictions of our lives.

(Time for silent prayer)

* Assurance of God’s Grace 

The God who took on human flesh entered into the messiness of humanity.

This God experienced the broken-hearted untidiness of life.

This God wept at horrors and hardships of human sin.

Even in the denials and the disappointments, the violence and anguish,

this God embraces us still.

Embraced, beloved children of God – This is who we are.

Embraced, beloved children of God!

This is who we are. Thanks be to God, Amen.

* Sharing of the Peace

May the peace of God be with you.

And also with you.

Let us greet one another with the peace of Jesus Christ.

Scripture Reading Psalm 138

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; 
    before the gods I will sing your praise. 
I will bow down toward your holy temple and praise your name  
    because of your steadfast love and faithfulness; 
    for you have glorified your name and your word 
    above all things.  
When I called, you answered me, 
    you increased my strength within me.  

All the rulers of the earth will praise you, O Lord, 
    when they have heard the words of your mouth. 
They will sing of the ways of the Lord, 
    that great is the glory of the Lord. 
The Lord is high, yet cares for the lowly, 
    perceiving the haughty from afar. 

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you keep me safe; 
    you stretch forth your hand against the fury of my enemies; 
    your right hand shall save me. 
You will make good your purpose for me; 
    O Lord, your steadfast love endures forever; 
    Do not abandon the works of your hands. 

Time for Young Disciples Rev. Michelle Wahila

Music: “Woman in the Night,” Brian Wren, Alfred V. Fedak

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

Scripture Reading Exodus 1:8-22 Rev. Michelle Wahila

Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians subjected the Israelites to hard servitude and made their lives bitter with hard servitude in mortar and bricks and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and allowed the boys to live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

Response  Holy Wisdom, Holy Word: 

Thanks be to God! 

Meditation “Rebellious Midwifery” Rev. Michelle Wahila

Affirmation of Faith from the Confession of Belhar

We believe in the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who gathers, protects and cares for the church through Word and Spirit. This, God has done since the beginning of the world and will do to the end.

We believe in one holy, universal Christian church, the communion of saints called from the entire human family.

We believe

• that Christ's work of reconciliation is made manifest in the church as the community of believers who have been reconciled with God and with one another;

• that unity is, therefore, both a gift and an obligation for the church of Jesus Christ; that through the working of God's Spirit it is a binding force, yet simultaneously a reality which must be earnestly pursued and sought: one which the people of God must continually be built up to attain;

• that this unity must become visible so that the world may believe that separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered, and accordingly that anything which threatens this unity may have no place in the church and must be resisted.

Anthem   Choir

“God, Make Us Agents of Joyful Rebellion,” David Bjorlin

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

God, make us agents of joyful rebellion

Called to resist sullen empires of fear,

Fueled not by hatred but love for all people,

We stand united, assured you are here.

Some will be Marys who sing down injustice.

Others like Moses will speak truth to power.

Few, like brave midwives, will shield life from evil.

All must be prophets awake for this hour.

Laughing in answer to snarling derision,

We dance to counter oppression and pain.

Feasting together despite our divisions,

We pledge ourselves to Christ’s upside-down reign.

God, make us agents of joyful rebellion

Called to sing out till our faith is made sight.

Fueled by the stories of saintly subversives,

We stand united, your justice our light.

Prayers of the People    Rev. Jeff Kellam

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 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. 

Prayer Response  #489 W & R   

“Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying,” Ken Medema  

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.        

Lord, listen to your children praying,  

Lord, send your Spirit in this place;  

Lord, listen to your children praying,  

Send us love, send us power, send us grace.  

Call for Offering   Rev. Jeff Kellam

* Doxology       “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” Brian Wren     

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.       

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;    

Praise God, all creatures high and low.    

Praise God, in Jesus fully known:    

Creator, Word, and Spirit one.    

* Prayer of Dedication   Rev. Jeff Kellam

* Hymn # 179 PH “God is My Strong Salvation” (Public Domain)

God is my strong Salvation:
What foe have I to fear?

In peril and temptation
My light, my help is near.

Though hosts encamp around me,
Firm to the fight I stand;
What terror can confound me,
With God at my right hand?

Place on the Lord reliance,
My soul, with courage wait;
God's truth be thine affiance,
When faint and desolate.

God's might thy heart shall strengthen,
God's love thy joy increase;
Mercy thy days shall lengthen;
The Lord will give thee peace.

* Benediction   Rev. Jeff Kellam

Postlude  Chris Bartlette

“Trumpet Tune,” Jerry McCrory

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    