A Service of Worship for
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Education
Letting Go as a Part of Moving On from John Shuster:
There are practical and spiritual elements to the Letting Go Process, some of which comes naturally to us and some of which is counter-intuitive and quite difficult for many if not most of us. This session will look at how the Covid factor in our lives has raised many an opportunity on both the practical and the spiritual level to let go, in order to expand or strengthen our soul-life for whatever we face and are managing and praying our ways through. |
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Prelude
“Salut d’amour” - Edward Elgar, Jacy Grannis, viola Call to Worship Opening Prayer God, each new day is a gift from you filled with rich possibilities. Let us be fully alive today, with eyes open and ears attentive to all that you want to share with us. In this morning time, fill us with your love. Then, all the day through, let us live in your Spirit. Open our hearts to care for one another. Help us to greet you in all the people we meet this day. And as we come to know and care for each other more deeply, draw us all nearer to yourself. Amen. Scripture Lesson: Acts 1:1-11 Time for Children 
Graduate Recognition Litany Leader: Sarah Jane Cravens and Jack Daggett, will soon graduate from college and high school respectively, completing 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. Call to Confession Unison Confession
Spirit of life, come to us to break down barriers; to widen horizons; to make us less judgmental. Help us to see the larger picture and the kinder conclusion; to love and let live; to embrace and forgive; to sustain and care. Help us to reach out to our better selves, that we may love more and hate less, care more and reject less, that bound together by understanding we may sustain each other through trial and tribulation, through joy and happiness, through sickness and health. Help us, O God, to be joined in a common purpose of hope and fulfillment. Renew and revive us. We seek a common, holy ground for one and all. Amen |
Music
“Homeward Bound” - Marta Keen, arr. Jay Althouse/Jacy Grannis, Jadyn Grannis, soprano.
Proclamation Hymn “O Christ, When You Ascended” Text: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette; Tune: Valet will ich dir geben. (You are invited to sing along, the words are within the video.) Prayer I do not know when we can gather together again in worship, Lord. So, for now I just ask that: When I sing along in my kitchen to each song on Stevie Wonder’s Songs in The Key of Life Album, that it be counted as praise. And that when I read the news and my heart tightens in my chest, may it be counted as a Kyrie. And that when my eyes brighten in a smile behind my mask as I thank the cashier may it be counted as passing the peace. And that when I water my plants and wash my dishes and take a shower may it be counted as remembering my baptism. And that when the tears come and my shoulders shake and my breathing falters, may it be counted as prayer. And that when I stumble upon a Tabitha Brown video and hear her grace and love of you may it be counted as a hearing a homily. And that as I sit at that table in my apartment, and eat one more homemade meal, slowly, joyfully, with nothing else demanding my time or attention, may it be counted as communion. Amen. -Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber
Invitation Prayer of Dedication God of making and unmaking, of tearing down and re-creating, you are my home and habitation, my refuge and place of dwelling. In your hollows I am re-formed, given welcome and benediction, beckoned to rest and rise again, made ready and sent forth. Affirmation of Faith Faith is the quality that allows us to find a way to go on, to feel empowered, to—no matter what—keep on trying. This is not a sentimental faith that everything will be just fine, according to our wishes or our timetable. Rather, it is an awakened faith that gives us the courage to go into the unknown, the remembrance that nothing is fixed, and the understanding that as long as we are alive, possibility is alive. It is the power of faith that inspires us to step forward into the center of our lives—to participate, to link up, to reach out to others and let others reach out to us, to work for a better world. And it is the vitality of faith that tells us, however easy it is to forget or be overcome by fear, that the place for communicating, for loving, for sheltering, for trying, is right where we are. Benediction And so, be at peace knowing that change must come and that we must be part of bringing it. I have been encouraged again and again by these words of Martin Luther King, Jr: “We shall overcome because Carlisle is right. 'No lie can live forever.' We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right. 'Truth crushed to earth will rise again.' We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right. 'Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne.' Yet that scaffold sways the future.” And it must. The scaffold of truth must sway the future. Amen. Postlude “Ashokan Farewell”, Jacy Grannis, viola. | |||
Worship Notes
The worship leader is Jerrell Jones.
The prelude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola.
The Call to Worship is Stay (A Blessing for Ascension Day) by Jan Richardson.
The Opening Prayer is adapted from The Corrymeela Worship Book, brought to Covenant by Harley Gambill after her stay with the Corrymeela community in Ireland.
The Unison Confession is a prayer by Rhys Williams.
“Homeward Bound” is sung by Jadyn Grannis, soprano, with Jacy Grannis playing viola.
“O Christ, When You Ascended” is by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette.
The Prayer of Dedication is from Night Visions by Jan L. Richardson.
The Affirmation of Faith is by Sharon Salzberg.
The postlude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola.
The worship leader is Jerrell Jones.
The prelude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola.
The Call to Worship is Stay (A Blessing for Ascension Day) by Jan Richardson.
The Opening Prayer is adapted from The Corrymeela Worship Book, brought to Covenant by Harley Gambill after her stay with the Corrymeela community in Ireland.
The Unison Confession is a prayer by Rhys Williams.
“Homeward Bound” is sung by Jadyn Grannis, soprano, with Jacy Grannis playing viola.
“O Christ, When You Ascended” is by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette.
The Prayer of Dedication is from Night Visions by Jan L. Richardson.
The Affirmation of Faith is by Sharon Salzberg.
The postlude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola.
Copyright (c) 2020, Covenant Church
