A Service of Worship for
Pentecost Sunday
May 23, 2021
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Adult Education:
This Sunday, The adult education class on Sunday, May 23 will feature Dr. Anne Chao, Program Manager of the Houston Asian American Archive (HAAA), who will be speaking on "Witness to History: Stories from the Houston Asian American Archive." 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. |
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Prelude
"Trumpet Tune in D Major," by David Johnson. Andrew Bowen, organ. Call to Worship Opening Prayer We are creatures of habit. We are reluctant to tread a new path because we don't know where it leads. Then we are forced down a new path by detours of circumstances, and the new becomes the familiar, and again we fear finding a fork in the new road. Sometimes the new road leads us to an open space, lit by the sun, cooled by breaths of breeze, but if we fear the path we haven't worn smooth by our repeated travel, protected, but breathless, shaded but covered from the sun, we risk missing what the light reveals, and the invigorating spirit found in new meadows. Scripture Lesson: Acts 2:1-21
Hymn "Let Every Christian Pray," Music: Sir Jospeh Barnby. Words: Fred Pratt Green. The Covenant Singers. Andrew Bowen, organ. Graduate Recognition Litany Leader: Alex Milano, Elliot Miller, and Vee Nagel, will soon graduate from high school and Virginia Wells has just graduated from college. These young people have completed a significant educational milestone.
People: We celebrate you this day. We congratulate you on your academic accomplishments. Sunday School Teachers and Mentors: We celebrate who you have been, who you are now, and who you will continue to become. Leader: Frederick Buechner wrote, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." People: As you continue to find this place, we pray for your courage to create peace; we pray that you remember that we are each called to love ourselves and our neighbors; we pray that you know you are celebrated by this church family for being exactly who you are even as you continue to become. All: Together we affirm: The loving presence of God, the life and teachings of Jesus, and the revealed Spirit throughout the ages. The sanctity, dignity, and equality of human beings and the value of all life in the universe. Truth as an ongoing process, and the necessity to be explorers in the continuing discovery of faith and understanding. Time for Children Confession Unison Confession
God, send the gift of your Spirit, to fill this place and ourselves and the world. Touch us with truth that burns like fire, with beauty that moves us like the wind; and set us free, God, free to try new ways of living; free to forgive ourselves and others; free to love and laugh and sing; free to lay aside our burden of security; free to join the battle for justice and peace; free to see and listen and wonder again at the gracious mystery of things and persons; free to be, to give, to receive, to rejoice as a child of your Spirit. |
Music
"Jubilate Deo," by Peter Anglea. The Covenant Singers, directed by Fran Avera. Carl McAliley, piano. Proclamation Prayer On this Pentecost Sunday, I want to share are prayer from the Alliance of Baptists. A prayer rooted in our continued inability to understand each other's language, each other's pain, each other's point of view. This prayer was written by Allison Tanner, pastor of public witness at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church in Oakland, CA. "God of Life and Love and Liberation, We pray for all who are living with death and devastation and destruction We pray for Gaza and all the lives lost, communities destroyed, and families living in fear We pray for East Jerusalem, for those who endure settler attacks, home evictions and constant humiliation We pray for people of the West Bank, 48, Refugee Camps and the Diaspora, all who are longing for freedom, justice and equality. We pray for Israelis who are outraged by what is happening at the hands of their government. We pray for all who are working for a just peace in the land we call holy. May your life-giving spirit blow through war-torn lands and places of death to birth new life. Amen." - Jodi Bash
Greeting from Tim Moore
Invitation
Prayer of Dedication Mindful of truth ever exceeding our knowledge and community ever exceeding our practice, reverently we covenant together, beginning with ourselves as we are, to share the strength of integrity and the heritage of the spirit in the unending quest for wisdom and love. Doxology
Affirmation of Faith II thought I heard the voice of the spirit cry: Come and find me. You won’t have to look hard. Come to where the ocean touches the shore; find me in the bright-light promise of morning on the waves; look carefully at the bubbles breaking on the wet sand—there I am. Turn over the glistening rock, slippery with its cushion of seaweed—here I am. Hear the gulls crying news of the endless ocean-- that is my news, my voice. Lie with me in the tall, green marsh grass; see my footprints in the sand you have walked upon. Do not say I am lost, for you have found me. I am here. Benediction Postlude "O That I Had a Thousand Voices," by Paul Manz. Andrew Bowen, organ. |
Worship Notes
The worship leader is Nita Lindley.
The prelude and postlude are played by Andrew Bowen, organ.
The Call to Worship is “Psalmsong” from Morning Watch: Meditations by Barbara Pescan.
The Opening Prayer is by David Lee.
The Unison Confession is from Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder.
"Jubilate Deo" is sung by The Covenant Singers from April 19, 2016, directed by Fran Avera.
The Prayer of Dedication is by Walter Royal Jones, Jr. in Singing the Living Tradition, the 1993 Unitarian Universalist Hymnal.
The Affirmation of Faith is “Preface” from Life Tides by Elizabeth Tarbox.
The worship leader is Nita Lindley.
The prelude and postlude are played by Andrew Bowen, organ.
The Call to Worship is “Psalmsong” from Morning Watch: Meditations by Barbara Pescan.
The Opening Prayer is by David Lee.
The Unison Confession is from Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder.
"Jubilate Deo" is sung by The Covenant Singers from April 19, 2016, directed by Fran Avera.
The Prayer of Dedication is by Walter Royal Jones, Jr. in Singing the Living Tradition, the 1993 Unitarian Universalist Hymnal.
The Affirmation of Faith is “Preface” from Life Tides by Elizabeth Tarbox.
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
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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