Trinity Sunday Celebration of Holy Communion & Holy Community Westport Presbyterian Church—June 4, 2023, 11:00 am
(Video will be posted LIVE on the church’s FB page at 11am and then cross-posted here. If the video doesn’t load properly here, you should be able to click on the Watch on Facebook link and watch as a guest, even if you don’t have Facebook)
PRELUDE: Voluntary on ST. PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE—Lani Smith
(I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity: By invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.)
RESPONSIVE CALL TO RETURN TO OUR SOULS
Pastor: You are Creative Mystery!
People: You are the Unnamed Stupendous!
Pastor: You are Earth Maker!
People: Deep Heaven’ Source!
Pastor: You are our Higher Power!
People: You are God of Life & Light Eternal
Pastor: The One Whose Love is Everywhere!
People: The One Whose Voice releases the voiceS of peoples long silenced.
Pastor: We worship You!
People: Will You walk with us?
Pastor: We praise God!
People: The Power of Three! A Holy Trinity!
HYMN: Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! GTG#1
PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND COMMITMENT
Pastor: Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of people and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.
People: We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
Pastor: We may have all come in different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.
People: Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
Pastor: Almost always, the creative, dedicated minority has made the world better. We must use our time creatively.
People: Life’s most persistent and urgent question is “What are you doing for others?”
–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
SUNG AFFIRMATION OF AMAZING GRACE
AFFIRMING OF HEALING, SAVING POWER OF GOD: Halle, Halle, Halle (sing refrain twice) GTG#591
PASSING OF PEACE
Pastor: The peace of Christ be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor: Let us share the peace of Christ with each other.
BIBLE READING: John 4:4-29
ANTHEM: Trinitarian Blessings—K. Lee Scott
SERMON: Take Me to the Water
SUNG PREPARATION FOR COMMUNION: What Is This Place GTG #404
SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION
Pastor: Let’s gather around this planet friendly, holy table, With holy bread & drink
People: The promise of Christ coming alive among us
Pastor: This is the welcome table of God where all who intend to experience the non-physical spiritual dimension of life—
People: And live in relationships of freedom and peace with neighbors!
Pastor: Hunger no more! Come to eat! Here, all who longs for otherwise elusive grace
People: May enjoy the strong love of God in Jesus Christ.
Pastor: Here you are embraced and held by Self Emptying Love!
People: One of God’s great and holy names!
Pastor: Come to drink, you are invited into this holy mystery.
People: We are ready!
Pastor: Jesus said: “I am the bread of life. All who come to me shall not hunger, and all who believe in me shall never be thirsty.”
People: We are hungry for Your Love, O God, We are thirsty for Your Deep Peace, O Lamb of God. We seek an unusual gift— an experience of wonder and joy.
Pastor: Come in, Holy Spirit. Open our eyes to the mystery of The living Christ’s presence in our midst. Through the broken bread…
People: We are becoming the Body of Christ—
Pastor: Feeding the hungry!
People: Giving showers and clothes to people who are homeless and extremely poor!
Pastor: Becoming anti-racist! Getting into Good Trouble!
People: Let us praise and pray to God by singing an African hymn!
CONGREGATIONAL SUNG PRAYER: Come, Bring Your Burdens to God GTG#851
Pastor: Lift up names of people we wish to pray for, concluding with The Lord’s Prayer (Glory to God, page 35)…
BREAKING & SHARING OF BREAD, POURING & SHARING OF WINE
Pastor: The Grace, Peace, Love and Joy of Jesus Christ be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor: Let us pray the prayer of thanksgiving together….
ALL: Gracious, loving God, You have called us to become a body of Christ. Thank you for filling us amidst hunger &thirst. Now send us into the world to do the great work You have called us to do— Find the lost & lonely! Heal wounded souls! Free people, including ourselves, who are not at all free! Give compassion to the vulnerable & marginalized! Love Beauty, Planet & Sky, persist in resisting evil, share by how we live the Message of Jesus, Who is The Light in the World. Amen.
WELCOMING
OFFERTORY: Climbing Up the Mountain—arr. Patsy Ford Simms, Joshua Stark, bass
Offering link
UNISON PRAYER OF DEDICATION
May our giving change us. May our giving change our church. May our giving change the fate of just one person. May our giving travel a long ways beyond us and make Your Realm of Love larger. And may our giving travel deep inside of us and make us more humble. Amen.
CONGREGATIONAL HYMN: Guide Me Feet GTG#741 (change stanza 6 to “You’re My Power….”)
BENEDICTION
SUNG BENEDICTION RESPONSE: Lead Me, Guide Me GTG#740
POSTLUDE: Sonata in D minor— Domenico Cimarosa
CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS
- Bread, Buns, Fruit are needed for our INTERRUPT HUNGER work. WESTPORT SHOWERS happen on Sundays & Thursday nights.We need men’s pants in all sizes! Men’s shoes!
- Children’s Sunday School has restarted in the redesigned 2nd floor Children’s Space, teaching & learning will emphasize Care for the Earth, Sky and all God’s creation. 11:00 am. On Easter Sunday the Westport Rising Children’s Sunday School was re-born after the pandemic! During that first class, the children planted milkweed seeds in peat pots, and learned how essential milkweed is to Monarch butterflies- it is the only food they eat! Zack Capps already knew about Monarch butterflies from his preschool teacher. Teachers are focusing on care for the earth in our Sunday School classes. Recent lessons have featured the importance of clean water for children living in other countries as well as for kids in America. The milkweed seeds sprouted, and tender plants were moved to larger pots which were placed outside so the plants could “harden.” June 4th is the day the children get to be“co-creators” with God, and set the plants in the ground on our church property. We hope that when the plants blossom, Monarch butterflies will be attracted by the scent, will lay eggs on the leaves, which will hatch into caterpillars which will feast on the leaves. They will transform first into chrysalises, and then into very beautiful Monarch butterflies.
- Steptoe Lives is planning Juneteenth in Steptoe, on Sunday afternoon, June 18, 4 pm. Events will be held in the neighborhood, at St. James Missionary Baptist Church (music, Dancing Word and historical re-enactor ) and here at Westport Presby (film)
Friendship Time before and after worship with snacks and coffee. Starts at 10:20 am in the main hallway. Continues after worship. Time for spontaneous friendship interaction. Smile. - ZOOM Dialogue on the subject: Critical Race Theory: The Myths! The Facts! ThisTuesday, June 6 at 7 pm. Dialogue Partners: Justice Gatson, anti-racist educator and organizer, PUIMN, and Rev Scott. 75 minutes. Q & A. Ask Rev Scott for the ZOOM link.
ZOOM Bible Study is this Wednesday, June 7, 6:30 p.m. Ask Rev Scott to send you the ZOOM link. We continue in the Gospel of Mark.
0 Comments