A Digital Service 4/19
Pastor Tom Towns
Music Director-Jim Flanigan
Prayers collected and arranged by John Angermayr
Prelude
In the Garden-Performed by Nancy Gunter
Words for Meditation
Psalm 71:4-6
4 My God, rescue me from the power of the wicked;
rescue me from the grip of the wrongdoer and the oppressor
5 because you are my hope, Lord.
You, Lord, are the one I’ve trusted since childhood.
6 I’ve depended on you from birth—
you cut the cord when I came from my mother’s womb.
My praise is always about you.
Introit
Opening Prayer
Leader: To pause and give thanks
is to pay attention to the parts of living
that bring delight,
turn us from what destroys
and make life rich –
whatever else may also be.
ALL:This practice of intentional remembering
helps realign our perspective
with the whole truth of our lives.
Leader: When bitterness,
or fear,
or grief,
become the whole view,
gratitude points us to
the beauty-also
and the love-anyway
and the simple-pleasures that surround.
Our steady companions in life’s complexities.
ALL:We honor the Sacred,
we honor each other,
we honor the earth and our creaturely companions
when we remember this web of life that holds us.
All its terrors.
All its gifts.
Leader: Gratitude paired with denial
about all that calls for mending and repair
will not satisfy for long.
ALL: But gratitude that is alive to all that is,
a sibling of sorrow, cousin of rage,
so aware of the ache and the loss and injustice –
but still seeing cause to pray:
“thank you, thank you, thank you”
is to feast on the nourishment of God.
Amen.
Opening Hymn
Scripture Readings
Numbers 17 and 2 Samuel 24:9-15
Sermon
How Clergy and Churches Reacted to the Spanish Flu Pandemic
(Sermon notes attached)
Special Music
Grieve Not the Holy Spirit of God
Closing Hymn
Benediction
A Holy Pilgrimage
By Beth A Richardson
You walk a holy journey
You have never walked before.,
Full of tears and gratitude,
Gentle conversations,
Silences filled with love.
No one knows the way,
But you meet each twist and turn
With discernment and courage,
Hope and faith.
You walk this pilgrimage,
In many ways, by yourself—
But you are never truly alone.
Others walk before you, behind you, beside you,
Surrounding you with love,
Wrapping you in hope,
Touching your spirits in peace.
You are loved,
You are held,
You are God’s
Amen.
Benediction Response
Easter People, Raise your Voices
Words for Pondering
Adaptation of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
By M. Barclay
For everything, there is a season.
Most things are not as simple
as “good” or “bad.”
It is more often a question
of who and of when.
There are times to birth new things.
There are times to welcome death.
There are times to plant seeds for those to come
and times for harvesting the long labor of others.
There are times when destruction is necessary, or at least unavoidable, and there are times when healing is possible.
There are times to create art and times to tear it down.
There are days where only weeping will do; others for laughing. Some days we can only mourn, others we dance. We ebb and flow our way together.
Sometimes we long to be in the arms of another,
other times we need the intimacy of solitude.
There are times for seeking a way through the impossible, and other times for accepting our losses.
There is a time to hold on and a time to let go.
There are times when some of us need to be silent
and times when the rest of us must speak.
Love has its time and hate has its place.
Conflict must be accepted;
and peace welcomed in due time.
May we listen our way into and out of each season,
with Wisdom as our guide,
forcing nothing,
receiving everything,
trusting Love’s companionship.
Postlude