As you go through the program each week, please be sure to click on the video links to view each selection. Lyrics sheets and photos will also be included in each week’s post.
Minister: Rev. Richard Dutton
Soloist: Emily Getchell-Lacey
TRUSTEE TIDBITS:
Hello! We are Liz and Bev Lapham, two of the trustees of Union Church.
We found Union Church about 8 years ago and loved attending the inter-denominational services. We have also made great friends among our fellow trustees and parishioners. And we miss seeing everyone this summer!
I am Liz Lapham, and there are two jobs at Union Church that I take pleasure from doing. One is emailing the ministers for their order of service so that our soloists and pianists can plan for the day and Karen Sticht will have their information for the press releases. Sometimes, not always, I have to send them a “gentle reminder” to submit it to me! My most satisfying job is creating the flower arrangements for the altar each Sunday, using flowers from our meadow/garden.
And I am Bev Lapham, treasurer of the Union Church and I take care of all the financial business of the church. In the past I have worked on the “raising the roof” fund-raising. I also work with Chuck and Rick on building and grounds. We hope you are all safe and well and that we will all be together next summer!
SOLO: “Acquaint Now Thyself With Thee” – Emily Getchell-Lacey
MINISTER’S MESSAGE:
Rachel Naomi Remen is a writer and physician who suffered with Crohn’s disease all her life. She writes about her Hasidic Rabbi grandfather who tells the story of the birthday of the world. In the beginning there was only the darkness, the Ein Sof, the source of life. In the course of history, in a moment in time this world, the world of 1,000 things, emerges from the heart of the holy darkness as a great ray of light. And then because this is a Jewish story, there was an accident, and the vessels containing the Light of the world, the wholeness of the world, broke.
The wholeness of the world, the light of the world was scattered into 100,000 fragments of light. And they fell into all events and all people where they remain deeply hidden until this very day. Now according to my grandfather the whole human race is a response to this accident. We are here because we are born with the capacity to find the hidden light in all events and all people, to lift up and make it visible once again and thereby to restore the innate wholeness of the world. It’s a very important story for our times. This task is called, TIKKUN OLAM, repairing the world in Hebrew. It's a comprehensive task. It involves all people who have ever been born, and all people who are presently alive... you and me.
Now hear the words and music my son created for this message...
Allan Dutton – “Tikkun Olam”
HYMN OF THE DAY: "Siyahamb' ekukhanyen' kwenkhos'" -
"We Are Marching in the Light of God"
Clarinet Ensemble: Stacey Baston, Sebrena Leclerc, Lisa McHugh, Ron Sibley, Karen Sticht
This South African song and fourteen others were first recorded and published in 1980 by the Church of Sweden Mission and the singing group "Fjedur" after a visit they made to South Africa. The subsequent 1984 collection Freedom is Coming brought the songs to a worldwide audience.
(Please scroll down to view lyrics sheet below video)
SOLO: “Create In Me A Clean Heart, O God” – Emily Getchell-Lacey
OFFERTORY:
While our doors may be shut and the offertory plate cannot be passed, the work of the Lord is never closed. We continue to invite those who are able to make donations to our historic church. You may do so by mailing a check-- made out to the Union Church of Meredith Neck-- to the Union Church c/o Bev Lapham, PO Box 1748, Meredith, NH 03253. Your donation will help with both the work of the Lord and the maintenance of the building and grounds.
PRAYER CHAIN:
A button has been added at the top of the Union Church Facebook page that will allow you to request to visit the group page for the Union Church Prayer Chain group, where you can then request to join. Once your request is approved you will be able to begin viewing and commenting on existing posts, as well as adding prayer requests of your own. And once you are a member, you can invite others who are Facebook friends of yours to join the group by clicking the “+Invite” button to the right of the group name, just below the cover photo.
We are hopeful that this group will satisfy the need for a community setting— albeit a virtual one— in which members of our little community can request and receive spiritual support from one another as we continue to self-isolate for everyone’s safety.
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