11/16/25 Bulletin
- Feb 11
- 7 min read
UNION CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF HANCOCK
We respect tradition — and we welcome inclusive language about people and expansive language about God. Please pray using words most meaningful to you.
Open and Affirming of ALL God’s Children
November 16, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. - Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 839 3635 9115
Passcode: 776780
The first pew in front of the pulpit has books and quiet activities for people of all ages.
Please find something that suits you, take it to your pew, and return it after the service.
Silent Prayer
In the rising of the sun and its setting, in the whiteness of the moon and its seasons,
in the infinity of space and its shining stars / you are God and we bless you.
May we know the harmony of heaven in the relationships of earth
and may we know the expanse of its mystery within us. ~ J. Philip Newell
* Indicates points in the service when we stand in body or spirit
Announcements
Prelude Built on a Rock Tune: Kirken Ludwig Lindeman
Welcome
*Introit God of Grace and God of Glory (vs. 1) R. #477
God of grace and God of glory, on your people pour your power; / now fulfill your Church’s story; bring its bud to glorious flower. / Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour, / for the facing of this hour.
*Call to Worship
Followers of Christ, let us remember the path we have chosen:
The way of truth and life.
The way of love for our neighbors and ourselves.
The way of community and connection.
Followers of Christ, let us not grow weary in care for each other.
We will not turn against one another.
Evil tells stories that harm and isolate, but this we proclaim:
We belong to each other. This is our joy and our hope.
*Passing of the Peace (ASL) and Lighting of Peace & Justice Candle
*Hymn Be Still My Soul R. #95
Be still, my soul: for God is on your side; / bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. / Trust in your God, your savior and your guide, / who through all changes faithful will remain, / Be still my soul! your best, your heavenly friend / through thorny ways leads to a peaceful end.
Be still, my soul: for God will undertake / to guide the future surely as the past. / Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake; / all now mysterious shall be bright at last. / Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know / the voice that calmed them in this world below.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on / when we shall dwell with God forevermore, /
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, / Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. / Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past, / all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
*Invocation (spoken in unison)
Gracious One, be present among us, we pray, keeping us soft in heart toward each other. As struggle multiplies, may we resolve not to isolate ourselves or others, but to move into closer relationship, and into deeper connection, deeper understanding, deeper solidarity. Redirect us again and again, to the witness of Jesus, whose life was shaped by the hope of community, and the courage of compassion. Amen
Children’s Message
Scriptures Isaiah 65:17-25
Contemporary Poem “Human Family” Maya Angelou
Special Music The Lord is My Shepherd Howard Goodall Solo: Pat Summerer
Message Rev. TJ Mack
*Hymn When Peace, Like a River (It Is Well with My Soul) B. #438
When peace like a river, upholds me each day, / when sorrows like sea billows roll, /whatever my lot, you have taught me to say, / "It is well, it is well with my soul."
Refrain:It is well with my soul, / it is well, it is well with my soul.
Though evil should tempt me, though trials should come, / let this blessed assurance control, / That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, / and has paid life and blood for my soul.
Refrain:
My sin oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! / my sin— not in part, but the whole— / Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. / Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
Refrain:
O God, speed the day that is filled with your light, / when clouds are rolled back as a scroll; /The trumpet shall sound and the Lord shall appear, “even so”— it is well with my soul.
Refrain:
Prayers of the People – Sharing Joys & Concerns
Our Father (Creator, Mother) who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
Lead me Lord, lead me in thy righteousness, make my way plain before my face. For it
is thou Lord, thou Lord, only, that makest me dwell in safety.
Invitation to Offering (spoken in unison)
We belong to each other. Everything is shaped by community: Our wellness. Our livelihoods. Our spirits. Our cities. Our planet. We make or break each other - together. In this spirit, let us bring our offerings to God as an act of celebration of all we can do with and for each other, still and yet.
Offertory Harvest Home Gilbert Martin
*The Doxology
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God for all that love has done; Creator, Christ, and Spirit, One. Amen .
*Prayer of Dedication (spoken in unison)
Provider and Protector, when we grow too arrogant, too individualistic, or too full of shame, we return to your teachings. We remember the utter grace of a planet that feeds us. We remember that the earth is not property but kin, alive and aching. We remember that everyone is indebted to others - that every good thing we experience is connected to others. We do this to remember our places - humble and entangled - in the whole of things. To the flourishing of the common good, we offer our gifts. Amen
*Hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God B. #440 A mighty fortress is our God, our strong and sure protection: / Our God, who loves us, has resolved to free us from subjection. / With bold Satanic pride and hatred well supplied, / the deadly force of sin has sworn to do us in. / Mere human strength will perish.
These human hands, for all their skill, cannot shape our salvation. / We need a champion, one who will achieve our liberation. / Who is there, good and brave, with strength and will to save / our weak and fearful race? Who will our cause embrace? / God’s only Child, Christ Jesus!
When evil powers rage and swear and threaten mass destruction. / When we are tempted to despair, to yield to their seduction— / Then may we stand assured by God’s most holy Word, / the evil one shall fail, God’s righteousness prevail: / Then why should we be fearful?
God’s everlasting Word abides, our strong and sure salvation. / The Spirit here and now provides rich gifts and consolation. / Let wealth and family go, this body be brought low. / Whatever loss we bear God will at last repair. / God’s realm is ours forever.
*Benediction
*Sung Benediction Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing (vs. 1) R. #333
Lord, dismiss us with your blessing; / fill our hearts with joy and peace; / let us each, your love possessing, / triumph in redeeming grace: / oh, refresh us, oh, refresh us, / traveling through this wilderness.
Postlude All Saints Triumphant, Raise the Song Arr. Richard Blake
(Please remain seated for the Postlude)
If you are visiting with us today, please sign our Guest Book in the back of the sanctuary.
The Union Congregational Church of Hancock, United Church of Christ will conduct its 2025 Annual Church Meeting on November 16, 2025, immediately following the 10:00 AM Worship Service for the following purposes:
1. To Elect Church Officers, Board and Committee members;
2. To receive Board and Committee Reports;
3. To vote on the Proposed 2026 Church Budget
4. And to hear any other business to come before the congregation.
Vicky J. Espling, Clerk
October 31, 2025
Support our Church Financially
Please visit Hancock (Maine) UCC on Facebook or our webpage www.hancockucc.com
or visit this link to our PayPal account: paypal.me/hancockucc
or mail offerings to:
Union Congregational Church, PO Box 443, Hancock, ME 04640 (Attention: Treasurer)
Contact Us
Vicky Jennifer TJ
207.422.3100 207.323.6743
Resources
enfleshed: Liturgy that Matters
Many thanks to those who make this service possible –
in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
Music Minister – Debbie Riley
Deacons – Alison Boden and Everett Espling
Liturgist – Nancy Johnston
Audio-Video Support – Mike Summerer
Office Administrator – Vicky Espling
Settled Minister – Rev. TJ Mack
The Body of Christ – You
The New Century Hymnal (B.) Hymns of Truth and Light (R.)
Copyright © 1995 The Pilgrim Press Copyright © 1998 First Congregational
Church of Huston, Texas
"Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE,
License #A-738532. All rights reserved.
God of Grace and God of Glory
Words and Music - Public Domain
Contributors: Public Domain
Be Still, My Soul
Music - ©1933 Presbyterian Publishing/Westminster John Knox/Geneva Press
Contributors: Katharina von Schlegel
It Is Well with My Soul
Words and Music - ©2011 Lorenz Publishing Corporation, The
Contributors: Spafford, Lloyd Larson
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
Music - ©2001 Concordia Publishing House
Contributors: Martin Luther
Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing
Words and Music - ©pd Public Domain
Contributors: Public Domain
Comments