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
May 19, 2024 – Pentecost Sunday - Mental Health Sunday
This service will be in-person and on Zoom at 10:00 (Recorded for Facebook and YouTube)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 822 2425 2518
Passcode: 755650
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
Fiery God, burn down systems of power that demean and destruct. Rage with us like a mighty wind when people are made vulnerable and are not protected. Speak the language of interdependence to our hearts, that we might not be stuck in despair,
but empowered towards co-creating the Kin-dom of God. Amen
* Indicates points in the service when we stand in body or spirit
Announcements
Prelude O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing Tune:Azmon/ Glaser
Welcome
*Introit Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (v.1) B. #43
Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven on earth be found,
Fix in us a humble dwelling, all your faithful mercies crown;
Jesus, you are all compassion; pure, unbounded love impart.
Visit us with your salvation, enter every trembling heart.
*Call to Worship
One: Come Holy Spirit—
All: Speak in a dialect our hearts understand.
One: Come Holy Spirit—
All: Bless us with the gifts we need to co-labor towards justice.
One: Come Holy Spirit—
All: Make vivid our dreams about the ways of radical care.
One: Come Holy Spirit—
All: Pour your vitality over our lives.
*Passing of the Peace (ASL) and Lighting of Peace & Justice Candle
*Hymn Come, O Spirit, Dwell Among Us B. #267
*Invocation (in unison)
Here we gather for song and scripture, seeking comfort and hope, seeking to be inspired as well as challenged. May we be open to the Spirit. May we be open to learning and learning from one another. May we grow in faith, hope, and love. Amen
Children’s Message
Christian Scripture John 14:15-21 and Acts 2:1-17
Special Music Meditation Azmon/ David Lasky
Message Rev. TJ Mack
*Hymn This Is a Day of New Beginnings R. #414
A Litany for Mental Health Sunday
Leader: If you have a colored sticker in your bulletin, I invite you to rise in body or in spirit, as you represent the one in four people in America who are affected by substance abuse or a mental illness that is severe, moderate, or mild. We acknowledge that we are often uninformed about these issues and how they impact persons and their families.
Response (those who are seated): At times, because of our lack of knowledge and understanding, we find ourselves separated from our sisters and brothers with serious mental illness and substance abuse, as well as their families.
Response (those who have risen): We hope that God will help us all dispel ignorance and misinformation about substance abuse and the serious mental illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Leader: We pray that troubled minds and hearts, and broken lives and relationships might be healed.
Response (those who are seated): We pray that the cloud of stigma, labels, exclusion and marginalization might be dispelled for the sake of those touched by mental illness and substance abuse.
Response (those who have risen): We pray that we may be containers of hope for persons and families living with mental health challenges. We pray also for better treatment, for steadier recovery, for greater opportunity to work and serve.
Leader: We live with gratitude for compassionate, dedicated caregivers and mental health professionals, for new discoveries in brain research and better medications.
All: O God, we seek the power of your Spirit, that we may live in fuller union with you, ourselves, and those living with mental health issues. Grant that we may gain courage to love and understand each other, as you love and understand us. Amen
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 thy way plain before my face.
For it is thou Lord, thou Lord, only, that makest me dwell in safety.
Invitation to Offering – Come! Look for signs and wonders—ways the Sacred is already revealing Herself in our lives— community gardens, mutual aid funds, coordinated actions to protect our collective dignity. A kinder world is already at hand, may we gather our resources for its unfolding.
Offertory Trentham Jackson/ Lasky
Breathe on Me Breathe of Life
*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)
Mysterious Spirit, we dedicate our offerings to the ordinary wonders of living—shared meals, shared stories, and shared lives. May simple signs and wonders offer us sustenance in a difficult world. And may the Holy meet us in surprising ways. Amen
*Hymn O Holy Dove of God Descending R. #228
*Sung Blessing 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.
*Benediction
Postlude We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight arr. Anthony Giamanco
Dunlap’s Creek
(Please remain seated for the Postlude)
If you are visiting with us today, please sign our Guest Book in the back of the sanctuary.
Support our Church Financially
Please visit Hancock (Maine) UCC on Facebook or our new 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
207.422.3100 207.323.6743
Many thanks to those who make this service possible –
in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
Music Minister – Debbie Riley
Choir – Mary Angela Davis, Nick Davis, Jeanne Edwards, Peggy Emigh, Jane Lennon,
David Mack, Carol Skinner, Pat Summerer
Deacons – Everett Espling & David Wildes
Liturgist – Sarina Brooks
Audio-Video Support – Patrice Alexander
Office Administrator – Vicky Espling
Settled Minister – Rev. TJ Mack
The Body of Christ – You
Resources:
enfleshed: liturgy that matters – Silent Prayer, Call to Worship, Offering Prayers
UCC Worship Ways – Invocation
A Litany for Mental Health Sunday – Adapted by First Congregational Church, Boulder, Colorado from prayers by Susan Gregg Schroeder found at: http://www.mentalhealthministries.net
"Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE,
License #A-738532. All rights reserved
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Words and Music - ©1993 MorningStar Music Publishers / Birnamwood Publications
Contributors: Charles Wesley, Sid Davis
This Is a Day of New Beginnings
Words - ©1983 Hope Publishing Company
Contributors: Brian Wren
O Holy Dove of God Descending
Words and Music - ©1976 Fred Bock Music Company
Contributors: Bryan Jeffery Leech
Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing
Words and Music - Public Domain
Opmerkingen