Online Worship – October 18, 2020

Sunday Vespers is MOVING to a once-a-month service. There will be NO vesper services for the remainder of October. The next planned vesper service is November 22nd at 4:00 p.m.

An Outdoor Worship Service is planned for Sunday October 25th at 10:00 a.m. (weather permitting). We hope you will be able to attend in-person. Please be sure to bring your mask, a chair, and practice social distancing while on the campus. If you are unable to attend, the online worship service will still be available.

Hymn books are available to borrow. You could use them at home to follow along with the online worship service, bring it to Sunday Vesper, or a Outdoor Worship Service. The Hymn books can be checked out in the Church office, Monday-Thursday from 9am-12pm.

Trinity’s Bible Study is available online. Visit our website or Facebook page to view a video from Rev. Beebe. A new video will be released each week and will be available to watch whenever it is convenient for you. You can also ‘catch-up’ anytime at the Bible Study archive. To be included in our weekly email, simply subscribe to the website or join our Facebook group. Links to subscribe and join are at the bottom of our webpage.

Portions of the liturgy we use in the service are provided by Sanctified Art. Where used, they are identified with a superscript ² and the copyright acknowledgment is at the bottom of this worship page.

Briefly, a word concerning the technical presentation of this service. If you are having difficulty reading the words, look for your web browser’s “Zoom” settings. The keystrokes are typically ‘Ctrl-Shift-+’ to increase the zoom or ‘Ctrl-Shift-(minus)’ to decrease the zoom. Other devices may have a different mechanism (‘finger pinch’), but most support zoom.

Although the sanctuary doors will not be open, we hope you will have a meaningful Sunday worship experience!

This week’s bulletin is available at any time by clicking this link. The bulletin will open in a separate tab or window.

Please note the bulletin matches the order of service on this page, but there are additional items that may be of interest to you that are not included on this worship page.

The service this day contains:

• Preparation for Worship
• Prelude “O God, You Are My God”
• Call to Worship
• Hymn #714 “God of the Fertile Field”
• Prayer of Confession
• Declaration of Forgiveness
• Gloria Patri (Hymn #581)
• Prayer for Illumination
• Gospel Reading
• Old Testament Reading
• Anthem “Creation Will Be at Peace”
• Children’s Sermon
• Meditation “Tearing It Up”
• A Stewardship Story
• Affirmation of Faith
• The Lord’s Prayer
• Hymn #708 “We Give Thee but Thine Own”
• Benediction
• Congregational Response (Hymn #306)
• Prayer of Dedication for the Offering
• Offering to God
• Postlude “Give Thanks for Those Whose Faith Is Firm”

² One: Can you imagine unfettered love?
Free and bold, wild and true, the kind of love that changes you?

Can you imagine a home—safe and bright,
With impromptu dancing, meals around table, and laughter late into the night?

Can you imagine faith like a compass
That guides the way you shop and vote, the way you love and hope;
That asks questions and yet still believes, even despite uncertainty?

Can you imagine a world where trees, bees, and all living things grow wild and free?
Where peace is the narrative and hope the currency?
A world where news stories are testimonies and funerals are far between?

Can you imagine?

All: Yes, we can imagine.

One: Today in worship, dare to dream. Dare to imagine what could be.
And pay attention, for God is here, in wandering thoughts, hopes, and prayers.

All: Let us worship holy God, that great unfettered love.

Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

Jane Pellmann, lay reader.

² Holy God,
We want to see what you see.
We want to see what you see,
But we stumble through roadblocks of bias and narrow perspective,
Fear and limited information.
We are too small to imagine the type of love and beauty you can sow.
So in this moment, we ask that you would clear the roadblocks that keep us from you.
Blow the dust out of our ears.
Thaw out the frozen parts of our hearts.
Tell the logical arguments we form about what will and will not work to take a backseat.
And as you do,
Breathe fresh air into our lungs and fill our minds with endless possibilities.
We want to see what you see.
We want to reimagine this life we’re living.
Clear away the roadblocks.
Amen.

Jane Pellmann, lay reader.

Mark 12:38-44 – Jesus Denounces the Scribes and The Widow’s Offering. Listen for God speaking to you today.

As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Jane Pellmann, lay reader.

Leviticus 19:9-10; 25:8-12 – The Year of Jubilee.. Listen for God speaking to you today.

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God.
25 8 You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month—on the day of atonement—you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. 10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, or reap the aftergrowth, or harvest the unpruned vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces.

Brooke Tucker, Director of Faith Formation.

Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe

We know we all have a story to share concerning how we think about or do stewardship. So if you would like to share with us your story, please let us know, for we would love to hear it. Call any committee member: David Tiernan (chair), Marc Hitchins, Karen Walker, Jane Lippian or Martha Gioielli.

Martha Gioielli introduces Kelli Jebbia with Brooke Tucker.

Please wait until AFTER the worship service on November 1 to fill in your 2021 Stewardship Pledge Cards. Once filled in, they may be turned in to the church or mailed to the church office. May God richly bless our generosity as we return to God a small portion of what He has given to us.

Jane Pellmann, lay reader

² We believe in God the Creator,
    who, like a painter with a canvas,
    imagined creation and breathed it into being.
We believe in Jesus,
    who many years later,
    walked this hurting world and showed us a new way to love.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
    who prods us and pulls us,
    leads us and guides us,
    carries us and loves us into new life, day after day.
And we believe in the power of imagination,
    a gift from God that allows us to dream dreams,
    create anew, start over, try again, and live lives of hope.
So in response, together, as God’s church,
We dare to dream.
We strive to love.
We try to imagine a new day.
And we walk together,
All with God’s help.
Amen.

Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe

Heasuk Che, organist.

Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.

² Jesus of Nazareth,
In scripture we hear of a woman who gave her last coin away.
You pointed her out, but you did not say, “Go and do likewise.”
So we cannot help but wonder—did you point her out to ask,
“Why does this one have so little when others have so much?”
Did you point her out to help us see the injustice that led to her suffering?
Maybe.
So today, for her, and for you, and for every person who cannot afford to give to God
And put food on the table, we offer our gifts.
We pray that you would use them for your good.
Right what is wrong.
Balance the systems of injustice.
Use these gifts to build the world that we can only imagine
But you can bring forth.
In hope we pray,
Amen.

God calls us to give all of who we are, and all of what we have to be used in and thru the Church. So let us present our lives. Let us present our gifts unto God.
Offerings can be received in the church by mail or you may utilize online banking options.

You can click the image to the right or this link to give online now. At the online Giving site, select “2020 Pledge” as the Fund to fulfill your 2020 pledge or use another fund if you’re directing your gift elsewhere. Note, the church must pay a small processing fee to receive your contribution via online giving. Increasing your gift would help cover the cost of processing and would be greatly appreciated.

If you’d like to see alternatives to online giving, please take a look at our Contribute page.