Covenant Church
an ecumenical liberal baptist congregation
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A Service of Worship for
April 11, 2021


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Doubting Thomas by Jesus Mafa

​Alone in the gospels,
 and in the whole of the Bible,
 Thomas is eternally remembered 
for the wrong distinction.  
He doubted, 
and that has become his moniker, 
down through the ages:  
Doubting Thomas.  
But his doubt is far from unique, 
in fact it is universal among the disciples.  
All of them doubted,  
every one hard pressed to recognize 
a reality different from the death they had witnessed.

Nancy Rockwell

Worship Order
Worship notes are included at the bottom of this page and in the Worship Order located at the link below.
With this link you can make a donation to Covenant through PayPal or a credit card. 
Adult Education - TODAY, 9AM
Today adult education will feature a Zoom visit by Amanda Yoder and Anne Slater therapists who have developed and lead an innovative six-week program called Examining Whiteness. This presentation will not be the first session in this program, but an introduction and explanation of what the program entails, described more fully here. Those who choose to participate in the six sessions of the program would do so in groups of approximately ten people.
​​Zoom link is available on the Online Gatherings page on our website:
https://www.covenanthouston.org/covenant-gatherings.html

Full worship service video:

COFFEE TIME Gathering on Zoom
Today, 11AM

We will begin as a large group before we transition into “rooms" for coffee time. 
​Log in details on the Online Gatherings page. 


Prelude
"Lord, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Andrew Bowen, organ. 

​Call to Worship

Opening Sentences
From the place where we are right
flowers will never grow
in the Spring.
 
The place where we are right
is hard and trampled
like a yard.
 
But doubts and loves
dig up the world
like a mole, a plough.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
where the ruined
house once stood.

​Scripture Lesson:  John 20:19-31
​
​Hymn

"When Thomas Heard from Jesus," Words: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. The Covenant Singers. Andrew Bowen, organ.

​Time for Children

Confession
Unison Confession
From arrogance, pompousness, and
  from thinking ourselves more important than we are,
    may some saving sense of humor liberate us.
 
For allowing ourselves to ridicule the faith of others,
    may we be forgiven.
 
From making war and calling it peace,
  special privilege and calling it justice,
  indifference and calling it tolerance,
  pollution and calling it progress,
    may we be cured.
 
God of our mixed up, tragic, aspiring, doubting,
  and insurgent lives,
  help us to be as good
  as in our hearts we have always wanted to be.  Amen.


​Music
"An Easter Carillon" by W. Leonard Beck. The Covenant Singers, directed by David Lee. Andrew Bowen, piano. 
Proclamation

​​​Prayer
As we pray today,
I want to thank Thomas for his doubts. 
Thomas is all of us.
We find it so difficult to believe in what we cannot see. 
How many of us would believe what happened to George Floyd if we had not had a video to see with our own eyes? How many other realities are we choosing to not believe?

God, we ask you to forgive us when we choose doubt over listening to someone. 

We also know that doubt can be a guide, but only if we use it to ask questions, to seek more, rather than ignore realities. 

God, we are grateful for the ability to wonder, to ask, to pursue truth.

The Burrus family is held close to our hearts as they struggle with the death of Sidney while they are still freshly grieving Mary Lee. 
We are grateful for being able to gather online to celebrate the lives of sisters and founding members Ann Pirtle and Martha Murphree. We are holding their families in our hearts as well. 

​God, we know you are with them and others in our community in need of comfort and help. 
Amen.
-Jodi Bash


​​Invitation
​
​Prayer of Dedication

All of us tend to hold certainty dearer than truth.  
We want to learn only what we already know; 
want to become only what we already are.

Doubts, Lord knows, are important for the development of religious faith if, with St. Augustine, you “believe in thinking and wish to think in believing.”
 
But if doubts are important, wonder is all-important.  
None of us scoffs at the stars, nor do we sneer at sunsets.  
Yet we depreciate so much else, it seems almost inevitable that, as civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines.  

We forget that both the tree of life and the tree of knowledge are deeply rooted in the soil of mystery.


Doxology

Affirmation of Faith
It is more important
            to follow the way of Jesus
                        than to believe or disbelieve
                                    the traditional claims about him.
 
The real task of Christianity today is the challenge
not only to go on interpreting the world in the old way,
but to start disturbing it with renewed power.

Benediction

Postlude
"Toccata in Seven," by John Rutter. Andrew Bowen, organ.

Worship Notes

The worship leader is Paula Ortega.

The prelude and postlude are played by Andrew Bowen, organ.

The Call to Worship is from Singing the Living Tradition, the 1993 Unitarian Universalist Hymnal.

The Opening Sentences are from Yehuda Amichai’s poem, “From the Place Where We Are Right.”
​
The hymn text is by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette.

The Unison Confession is by Harry Meserve in Singing the Living Tradition, the 1993 Unitarian Universalist Hymnal.

“An Easter Carillon” is sung by The Covenant Singers, directed by David Lee.

The Prayer of Dedication is from The Heart Is a Little to the Left by William Sloane Coffin.
​
The Affirmation of Faith is adapted from Doubts and Loves: What Is Left of Christianity by Richard Holloway.


Sunday schedule for today: 
9:00 - Adult Education with Zoom
10:00 - Worship via videos on the Worship Page
11:00 - Transition from worship to coffee time with Zoom

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Covenant Church
4949 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004
office@covenanthouston.org
713-668-8830
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