Zoom Cluster Worship - January 16, 2022
Welcome!
This is designed to be participatory; we need folks to help with each of the following worship elements:
VT 43 God Be the Love
Call to Worship
(Light a candle if you have one)
Leader: We come to worship a God who speaks to us in many ways.
All: We are here, YHWH. Open our ears.
L: We come to worship a God who challenges us to take new perspectives.
A: We are here, YHWH. Open our hearts.
L: We come to worship a God who calls us to action.
A: We are here, YHWH. Open our arms.
Birthdays
Lena Osborne (4th Chamberlain) turned 10 on January 10th! Lena is super excited to be turning double digits AND have her golden birthday (10 on the 10th) at the same time!
Isaya Magatti turned (7th, BCS) turned 13 on Jan. 7th! Isaya can do 88 jumping jacks in a minute! He likes advisory time at school and reading (mostly fantasy). He is hoping to learn to skateboard.
Rachel Hirschler (7th BCS) turned 13 on Jan. 7th! Rachel likes to play board games with her mentor and her family. She enjoys drawing in her freetime and really likes art class at school.
Jared Martin (7th, GJHS) turned 13 on Dec. 30th! Jared loves his cats! He also likes to play Minecraft and board games with friends. He really enjoys building Lego sets and doing theatre at school.
We are so glad that Lena, Rachel, Isaya and Jared are part of Assembly!
An introduction to
Interviews with Assembly Prophets
Modern day prophet- Rachel Held Evans
The prophets believe—stubbornly, relentlessly—that God is in the business of making all things new, of setting all things right. And so they sing that song loud and long into the night. For some it rings as a warning, for others, a freedom song. For all, it is a call to action, an appeal to align our hopes, ambitions, choices, and plans with the hopes, ambitions, choices, and plans of God. Prophecy is where the dreams of God and the dreams of God’s people meet, and the resulting poetry has shaped the rhetoric and lives of the faithful for generations, from John the Baptist to Martin Luther King Jr.
I used to think of the prophets as fortune-tellers who predicted Jesus’ birth the way a meteorologist might forecast the weather. I appealed to Isaiah and Ezekiel to prove that Jesus was the Messiah because the details of his arrival (in Bethlehem, to a virgin) lined up. But “while the prophets are in a way future-tellers,” writes Walter Brueggemann, “they are concerned with the future as it impinges on the present.” Prophecy illuminates the past, present, and future by employing story and poetry to bring into sharp contrast the way things are with the way things should be with, the ways of power-hungry people with the ways of a loving God, the path of cruelty and injustice with the path of righteousness, the kingdoms of this world with the coming Kingdom of God.
From the Lectionary, Advent 1: Dreaming With God
December 01, 2014 by Rachel Held Evans
Scripture
Genesis 48:1-3, 50:15-20
Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.
Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
Sermon
Our sermon this Sunday is a recorded sermon from Rabbi Sharon Brous. Brous is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR, a Jewish community in Los Angeles that launched in 2004 to reinvigorate Jewish practice and inspire people of faith to reclaim a moral and prophetic voice. Her sermon draws on both Old Testament texts and rabbinic midrash. You may want to have a Bible handy as you listen.
Sharing our reflections
What are the calls and challenges you’re hearing from God and the prophets this morning?
What have you heard from the prophets?
Let’s take some time to reflect together
Prayer for our reflections
Let’s gather up all the ways we offer of ourselves – our reflections, our gifts – in prayer, through the words of Walter Brueggemann:
We confess you to be the God who calls,
who wills,
who summons,
who has concrete intentions for your creation,
and addresses human agents who do your will.
We imagine ourselves called by you …
Yet a strange lot:
called but cowardly,
obedient but self-indulgent,
devoted to you, but otherwise preoccupied.
In our strange mix an answering and refusing,
We give thanks for your call.
We pray this day,
for ourselves, fresh vision;
for our friends, great courage,
for those who search for you in places more dangerous than ours, deep freedom.
As we seek to answer your call,
may we be haunted by your large purposes,
We pray in the name of the utterly called Jesus.
Amen.
“An answering and refusing” in Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth
VT 539 God speaks
to us in Bird and Song
Sharing from our lives
Share Prayer Requests by filling out the online form in the Assemblyline. You may continue to do this throughout each week. Prayer requests are sent out to the congregation via the Assembly listserv on Wednesdays. This will be especially important to use in the coming weeks if you want to share beyond those present in your cluster on Sunday morning
Intercessory Prayer
The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought,but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words
Gracious God, we bring our prayers to you as acts of love for you and for our neighbors.
God of mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for ourselves and those dear to us… (pause, open prayers)
God of mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our community and for our neighbors…
(pause, open prayers)
God of mercy, hear our prayer.
SHORTEN
We pray for the church…
(pause, open prayers)
God of mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for the world… (Pause, open prayers)
God of mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for other concerns we carry in our hearts… (pause, open prayers)
God of mercy, hear our prayer.
God of grace and glory, you fling the stars into the heavens; you see every sparrow fall.
Deepen our trust in the mystery of your power shining through Christ Jesus,
that we may live your love for the world.
Amen.
Announcements
Electives: After this worship service head back into the main room for electives at 11:15. There will be 3 options in break out rooms. 1. Harry Potter hosted by Lora Nafziger 2. Sermon response hosted by Scott Coulter 3. Defund the Police? Hosted by Karl Shelly
Tues Jan 18 at 6pm - Meribeth Shank is hosting an indoor labyrinth walk in the multipurpose space. Contact her at meribethshank@gmail.com for more information.
Tues Jan 18 at 7:15pm - Small Group Reps meeting on Zoom
12pm every Wed & Fri - Join Scott or Karl on Zoom for a brief contemplative reading of a psalm, silence, and a brief prayer.
Sun Jan 23, 7pm Congregational Meeting on Zoom. The agenda will include the first reading of the 2022 Spending Plan. See attachments in the Assemblyline. We hope you can be there!
VT 209 We Dream
of a Turning
Benediction
May YHWH bless you and keep you.
May YHWH’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May YHWH look kindly upon you and give you peace.
Return to the main room for electives which will begin at 11:15 or leave meeting if you do not want to stay for electives.
It may be helpful to confirm who from your group is tech hosting and worship hosting next week.
Welcome to Zoom Cluster worship.
Head into your break out room. Look for your small group
or if you’re not in a small group, look for your group by alphabetical last name.
Cluster Group #1�Small Groups Auklet, B, Groupyndor�Household's last name starts with A-C*
Cluster Group #2
Small Groups Beta, CE&FL, Maple
Households D-G
Cluster Group #3
Small Groups Almond Joy, 8th St, Polar Bear
Households H-J
Cluster Group #4
Small Groups Bees, Bugles, Grape
Households K-M
Cluster Group #5
Small Groups Crisalida, Grateful, Hygge
Households N-Q
Cluster Group #6
Small Groups Alpha, Ring of Fire, Well-Seasoned
Households R-T
Cluster Group #7
Small Groups Cardinal, Cicada, Hug, Zed
Households U-Z
CHILDREN CAN HEAD TO ROOM 8