A Service of Worship for
​May 2, 2021

This icon was created by Kelly Latimore.
Press your hand
to this blessing,
here along. the side
where you can feel its seam.

Follow the seam
and you will find
the hinges on which
this blessing turns.

Feel how your fingers
catch on them--
top, bottom,
the slightest pressure
sending the gate gliding open
in a glad welcome.

Wait, did I say
press your hand
to this blessing?

What I meant was
press your hand to your heart.

Rest it over that
place in your chest
that has grown
closed and tight,
where the rust,
with its talent
for making decay look artful,
has bitten into
what you once held dear.

Breathe deep.
Press on the knot
and feel how it
begins to give way,
turning upon
the hinge of your heart.

Notice how it opens wide
and wider still
as you exhale,
spilling you out into a realm
where you never dreamed to go
but cannot now imagine
living this life
Without.

 Jan Richardson
​
Adult Education:
This Sunday, Rose Lange will share her spiritual journey. Zoom link is available on the Online Gatherings page on our website: https://www.covenanthouston.org/covenant-gatherings.html
Full worship service video:
Business Meeting 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. 
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. 
Prelude
"I Come with Joy," by Dale Wood. Andrew Bowen, organ. 

​Call to Worship

Opening Sentences
There is a famous saying that from great suffering comes great compassion.

Well, from great suffering can come great compassion,
or from great suffering can come great hatred.

From great suffering can come great openness of heart,
a great sense of kinship with others,
or from great suffering can come hatred, resentment and despair.
    
People need a lot of support for suffering to turn into compassion.

​Scripture Lesson:  John 10:11-18
​
​Hymn
"Good Shepherd, We Are Not Alone" Tune: Pure knobs Nascitur. Words: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. The Covenant Singers. Andrew Bowen, organ. 

​Time for Children

Confession
Unison Confession
O God who is love,
when you seem so far away from us,
remind us to reach within
to the fountain of feelings at the core of ourselves
and there, let us find you.

When you seem so unconcerned,
so massive, so impassive,
so insulated by your power, 
so distant by your expansiveness,
remind us to reach out
to the hand of a child,
to the face of a friend,
and there let us find you.

And in times when we have nothing to feel
and there is no one to touch,
let us never close our hearts or our hands,
but always, let us be open to you,
and let us be open today; here and now.  Amen.

​Music
"My Shepherd Will Supply My Need," Casey Okabayashi, soprano. 
Proclamation

​Prayer
Our God Who is Love,
When you tell us that “I know my sheep and they know me”, that is a lifeline. 
You know all about our perils and sorrows
You know that sometimes children go off to school and don’t come home.
You know what it’s like when the doctor herself calls about that routine biopsy and tells us we have been referred to MD Anderson.
You know about friends who don’t survive what some call “just the flu”.
You know about workforce reductions
You know about traffic stops

We know you because you are always showing up
We know you through the sacrifices of essential workers
We know you through witnesses with cell phone cameras
We know you through truth tellers in journalism and literature and the arts and through the keepers of statistics that do not lie
We know you through compost and prairie grass
We know you when what is lost is found, and when what is found is shared

Help us to be humble when in need and bold when we see need in others.  Sheep and shepherds need each other.

Amen
- Bill Kline
​​
​Invitation
​
​Prayer of Dedication
Trusting God is not assurance that whatever we do,
all will work out well.  It is instead confidence
that God’s call is wise and good.
It is sensitizing ourselves to this call so that we can be led and guided by it.
It is the renewed willingness to give up
the security we experience in ideas and customs
and to enter into the adventure of the trusting life.

Doxology

Affirmation of Faith
Listen to what God is saying to us:
You are my child.
You are written on the palm of my hand.
You are hidden in the shadow of my hand.
I have molded you from the secret of the earth.
I have knitted you together in your mother's womb.
You belong to me.
I am yours.  You are mine.
I have called you from eternity
and you are the one who is held safe
and embraced in love from eternity to eternity.
You belong to me.
I hold you safe and I want you to know that
whatever happens to you, I am always there. 
I am always there.
I am always there.
I will always be there and hold you in my embrace.
 
You are mine.
You are my child.
You belong to my home.
You belong to my intimate life
and I will never let you go.
I will be faithful to you.

Benediction

Postlude
"Today God's Son is Triumphant," by J. S. Bach. Andrew Bowen, organ.
Worship Notes

The worship leader is Bill Kline.

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

The Call to Worship is by Albert Schweitzer.

The Opening Sentences are by Pema Chödrön from an interview by Bell Hooks.

“My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” is sung by Casey Okabayashi, soprano.

The Unison Confession is from Touch Holiness by Ruth C. Duck.

"Good Shepherd, We Are Not Alone" text by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette.

The Prayer of Dedication is from Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition by John Cobb and David Griffin.

The Affirmation of Faith is from Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World, by Henri Nouwen.

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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