We held virtual worship on Sunday, April 19, 2020 at 10am. You can view the recording below or on Facebook by clicking here.
Worship Bulletin
First Sunday After Easter 2020 10 a.m
GATHERING MEDITATION Denise Levertov
Just when you seem to yourself
nothing but a flimsy web
of questions, you are given
the questions of others to hold
in the emptiness of your hands,
songbird eggs that can still hatch
if you keep them warm,
butterflies opening and closing themselves
in your cupped palms, trusting you not to injure
their scintillant fur, their dust.
You are given the questions of others
as if they were answers
to all you ask. Yes, perhaps
this gift is your answer.
GATHERING MUSIC Morning Has Broken June & Kathryn
CALL TO WORSHIP
Unlock the doors of fear and doubt
Christ is risen!
Let your faith spill into the streets!
Christ is risen!
Death has no more claim on your life.
Christ is risen!
In life, in death, in life beyond death, Christ is your life!
Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!
OPENING TO GOD The Blessing of Thomas Maren Tirabassi
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.
John 20:29b
Blessed are the ones, says Thomas,
to those who listen to him
this eastertide,
who don’t need a sanctuary to worship God.
Blessed are those who don’t need a choir
to hear holy music,
and who don’t need to sit in a pew
to open their hearts in prayer,
and who don’t need a stained glass window,
or a preacher or even bread and cup
to find the good news.
Blessed are those who really touch
even with gloves on,
who really smile with a mask,
who can be kind on Facetime or Zoom,
who follow a livestream to find Jesus alive.
But also blessed is the Thomas
in every one of us
who acknowledges our longing
to hold someone’s real warm hand
not just the story of a hand
that reaches out to someone else,
and who wants to feel
not Jesus’ long-ago bleeding side
(we congratulate ourselves about that)
but at least to feel side by side
with other Christians
in order to be side by side with Christ.
Blessed is the Thomas in all of us
who lives with doubts and hopes,
and learns to let go of all expectations
when waiting to meet God.
EPISTLE 1 Peter 3:8-9, 13-16a Clark Callender
Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing.
It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing.
Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?
But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed.
Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.
Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you
an accounting for the hope that is in you;
yet do it with gentleness and reverence.
GOSPEL LESSON John 20:19-31 Elissa Johnsen
In the evening that same day, the first day of the week, when the [disciples/students/talmidim] were gathered together behind locked doors out of fear of the religious authorities, Yeshua came, stood in the middle and said, “Shalom aleikhem!/Peace be with you!” Having greeted them, he showed them his hands and his side.
The talmidim were overjoyed to see the Lord. “Shalom aleikhem!” Yeshua repeated. “Just as [Abba/Father] sent me, I myself am also sending you.” Having said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive [the Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh!] If you forgive someone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you hold them, they are held.”
Now T’oma (the name means “twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Yeshua came. When the other talmidim told him, “We have seen the Lord,” he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger into the place where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe it.”
A week later his talmidim were once more in the room, and this time T’oma was with them. Although the doors were locked, Yeshua came, stood among them and said, “Shalom aleikhem!” Then he said to T’oma, “Put your finger here, look at my hands, take your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be lacking in trust, but have trust!” T’oma answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Yeshua said to him, “Have you trusted because you have seen me? How blessed are those who do not see, but trust anyway!”
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is Mashiach, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
REFLECTION Barbara and Mitchell
MUSIC Christ the Lord Is risen Today Shaun Booher
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
THE LORD’S PRAYER
PRAYER AT HOME Steve Garnaas Holmes
Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here & see my hands.
Reach out your hand & put it in my side.
Do not doubt but believe.”
Thomas answered him, “My Lord & my God!” —John 20.27-28
I don’t want proof.
I want You.
I don’t need pious beliefs,
a palace of certainty.
I just want you,
whether or not I know it.
Not my feeling,
but your presence.
Let my reaching be my faith,
my hunger for you, my wisdom;
my unknowing be my looking,
my doubt my journey.
I would rather always wonder
than lose my longing for you,
my Lord, and my God,
my Presence, my Beloved.
POSTLUDE The Way of the Cross Leads Home Charlie & Cynthia Yerrick
PRAYERS FROM LAST SUNDAY
Sally – Thanksgiving that Dorothy Baah is negative for Covid-19 and is spending Easter home with her family
Liz – Prayers that all find a way to rejoice today, even in the face of all this uncertainty and discomfort
Nancy – Prayers for family of Jen Rivers, who died unexpectedly on Easter Sunday
Nancy – Prayers for the Yandow Family. Sue passed away today and leaves behind her husband and three children.
Roger – Let us remember the profound yom haShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, from Monday evening through Tuesday evening.
Maureen – Shirley Wiegner suffered a serious stroke the day before Easter and her family isn’t able to visit her because of the virus..
BIRTHDAYS
4/19 Marjorie St John
4/21 Noah Heffernan (6 years old)
4/23 Jenna Olson
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chittenden Asylum Seekers Assistance Network (CASAN) informational Zoom meeting and Q&A Monday, 4/20 at 7 pm.
Weekly Zoom Coffee Hour Tuesdays at 7 pm.
Monday Companions on Zoom, Monday , 27 April; Finish up discussion of Inspired.
