A Service of Worship for
October 11, 2020



You are a fire, ever burning and never consumed. 
You are a light, ever shining and never fading. 
You are goodness beyond all goodness, beauty beyond all beauty,
wisdom beyond all wisdom.
​
Catherine of Siena
Worship notes are included at the bottom of this page and in the Worship Order located at the link below.
Adult Education - TODAY,  9AM
The Adult Education class will feature a Baker Institute webinar on The Age of Addiction: How Bad Habits Became Big Business, featuring Professor David Courtwright.  The addictions to be discussed include, in addition to alcohol and other drugs, food, gambling, video games, and social media. Courtwright describes the myriad ways what he calls "limbic capitalism," referring to the ways "big business" can manipulate the pleasure centers in our brains for financial gain.  The webinar was moderated by Bill Martin.
​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 and discuss the elements of worship we find particularly meaningful and then transition into “rooms" for coffee time. 
​Log in details on the Online Gatherings page. 
Prelude
“Verset No. 1 on the Magnificat " by Johann Pachelbel; Patrick Parker, organ.

​Call to Worship

Opening Sentences
The spirit is breathing.
 
All those with eyes to see,
women and men with ears for hearing
detect a coming dawn;
a reason to go on.
 
They seem small, these signs of dawn,
perhaps ridiculous.
 
All those with eyes to see,
women and men with ears for hearing
uncover in the night
a certain gleam of light;
they see the reason to go on.

​Scripture Lesson: Matthew 5:1-16

​Time for Children

Confession
Unison Confession
Holy Wisdom:
We want to walk the path of generosity
but something holds us back.
We are fearful;
we don’t know how much money we will need
how much money we can spare.
You invite us to faithful living.
Guided by your Spirit,
confident in your voice showing us the way,
help us to give faithfully, joyfully.  Amen.
​
Music
"The Call to Wisdom" by Will Todd. Sung by the Covenant Singers, directed by Fran Avera.

​Proclamation
Prayer

Holy one, you call us blessed and you ask us to be light. We certainly know the night. We know the devastation of a virus ravaging our country, mishandled and multiplied by misinformation. So many are dead. Deaths world-wide have now reached one million. So many died without family and friends for comfort. We know the night of fires burning uncontrolled throughout the west and another hurricane in the Gulf. We know the night of systemic racism and those who deny it, those who close their eyes and ears and hearts to the devastation the lies of white supremacy and the systems of slavery and then continued oppression have wrought on our country. There is so much pain. We know, Holy one, that we must continue to open ourselves to the devastation around us. Seeing is the beginning. 

Seeing is the beginning but we cannot stay there. To just see the devastation and oppression and injustice is to quickly fall into despair. No, we must act. We must work. We must light the way forward - a way of peace and justice - a way you show us through your love. 

In these days of Stewardship, we consider what we have to offer to your work. We may not understand how our gifts help, we don’t always know the destination when we begin the journey, our light might only give us the next step forward. We may never see the whole path. We do see our companions. We see each other. We see work in the gardens, we see volunteers helping others to vote, we see each other making the efforts of our church a priority in our giving, we see creativity in how we gather as we must stay physically apart, we see the Blue Tiger Project and Kids Corner and Youth Group. We see Covenant folks gathering every Thursday for encouragement. We see worship services full of music and words focused on justice and care. We see our shared and individual anti-racist work. We are lighting the way forward in new ways, we are finding the next right steps. We are doing this together.

And you are with us every step. You call us to be the light of the world. Help us to light the way forward this day and every day.
Amen
​- Laura Mayo
​
​​Hymn 
​"Guide My Feed" African-American Spiritual, Wendell Whalum, The Covenant Singers and Patrick Parker, piano.
​​
​Invitation 

​Call to Stewardship
With this link you can make a donation to Covenant through PayPal or a credit card. 
​
​Prayer of Dedication
Sometimes our light goes out, 
but is blown again into instant flame 
by an encounter with another human being. 
Each of us owes the deepest thanks 
to those who have rekindled this inner light.

Doxology

​Affirmation of Faith
Love is the doctrine of this church,
The quest of truth is its sacrament,
And service is its prayer.
 
To dwell together in peace,
To seek knowledge in freedom,
To serve human need,
To the end that all souls shall grow into harmony
  with the Divine--
 
Thus do we covenant with each other
  and with God.


Benediction

Postlude
“Verset No. 2 on the Magnificat” by Johann Pachelbel; Patrick Parker, organ.
Worship Notes

The worship leader is ​Brooke Longoria​.

The Call to Worship is by Rev. Anna Blaedel.

The Opening Sentences are by Dom Helder Camera, Brazilian bishop.

The Unison Confession is adapted from Leading in Worship Resources in a Mennonnite Voice for Ears of All Kinds. 

“The Call of Wisdom” is sung by The Covenant Singers (Feb 8, 2016), Fran Avera, directing.

“Guide My Feet” is led by The Covenant Singers and Patrick Parker.

The Stewardship Invitation is given by Matt Bennett.

The Prayer of Dedication is by Albert Schweitzer.

​The Affirmation of Faith is arranged by L. Griswold Williams in Singing the Living Tradition, the 1993 Unitarian Universalist hymnal.

The picture in the photo at the top of the page was drawn by the Longoria family.

Sunday schedule for October 11: 
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
Stewardship Kickoff Video - Kristy Kyle, Treasurer
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