As you go through the program each week, please be sure to click on the video links to view each musical selection. Lyrics sheets and photos will also be included in each week’s post.
Minister: Rev. Brad Wolff Soloist: Robyn Piper
TRUSTEE TIDBITS: Chuck & Karen Thorndike
SOLO: “The Living Church” – Robyn (Pelon) Piper (Please scroll down to view sheet music below video, lyrics by Rev. J. Charles Pelon)
MINISTER’S MESSAGE:
“Religious Distancing”
This Sunday, July 12, is another in a longer and longer line of Sundays when being in church in person isn’t possible. I will miss gathering with the community at Meredith Neck, just as I have missed others! I have been “zooming” and “watching You Tube” for church, but as meaningful as that is, I still miss being personally present in God’s house with God’s people. I’m not wildly enthused with the new necessity of “social distancing,” and truth be told I yearn for less “religious distancing” as well. But when I reflected about my yearning, I quickly realized that this isn’t the first time I have felt this.
People expressed this yearning in the Bible, and a yearning for less religious distancing seems to be a pretty common experience of the Christian life. God can feel distant, the inspiration of church community far away, and sometimes both seem to withhold a reviving presence. And when we experience that distance, we can feel alone, spiritually dry, and anxious for a sense that God is still close, still listening, still caring. But even our prayers feel empty, and they seem to return to us with something more like an echo than a response.
David’s words in Psalm 22 can sound something like ours:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest. (v. 1-2)
What David says next, however, is a turning point in his lament:
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them. (v. 3-4)
David vividly remembers God’s holiness and faithfulness, while being expressive and honest about what he feels. Something remarkable happens to David’s feelings as he cries out to God. The truth transforms them. He begins to embrace God’s holiness, God’s faithfulness anew, and allows those truths to redirect his feelings and buoy him with a genuine sense of renewed hope and confidence. My Bible refers to Psalm 22 as “A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.”
I am personally so thankful for the truth of God’s holiness and faithfulness during all the turmoil, anguish, and separation we are experiencing in these days and weeks. When it comes to the separation we are experiencing, one person put it this way: “What the heart has once truly treasured, it shall never lose.”
We are often encouraged these days to find ways to practice social distancing without allowing ourselves to become isolated from family, friends, and neighbors. Be creative with reaching out! Let me encourage you to observe our necessary “religious distancing” without allowing yourself to become isolated from God’s holiness, God’s faithfulness, God’s call to be His people, and the daily opportunities you have to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly in God’s light and love.
It is my hope that the presence of God will sustain you in the many challenges we currently face, not the least of which is holding tight to God’s holiness and faithfulness to His people and creation.
~Pastor Brad Wolff
HYMN OF THE DAY: “It Is Well With My Soul” – Clarinet Ensemble
Ensemble Members: Sebrena Leclerc, Patte Morrow, Karen Sticht
(Please scroll down to view lyrics sheet below video)
SOLO: “Rhymes & Reasons” – Robyn Piper
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: We are announcing the creation of the Union Church Prayer Chain group on Facebook, in response to the suggestion that it would be nice to have some sort of online version of a Prayer Chain for our community, especially while we are unable to congregate in person. It is a private group, so people must request to join.
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, 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. https://www.facebook.com/groups/unionchurchprayerchain
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