The First Church of Christ in Hartford founded 1632

a member of the United Church of Christ

Embracing God’s Presence, Serving the City, Building Upon Our Heritage Sunday, January 31, 2016

THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN HARTFORD An Open and Affirming Congregation of

The United Church of Christ

THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

Welcome ~ Bienvenidos January 31, 2016 10:30 AM

WELCOME TO WORSHIP AT CENTER CHURCH. We are glad you have joined us for this service of worship and the fellowship of this congregation. We hope that you will be both comforted and challenged by the Word of God for us today. If you are new to our community, we hope you will consider making this your church home. Any of our worship leaders or ushers will be able to help with your questions. If you are already a member, be sure to extend a friendly greeting to those around you, starting with someone you don’t know…yet.

PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP

“No one has a right to sit down and feel helpless: there's too much to do.” ~ Dorothy Day

CHIMING OF THE HOUR and GREETING HIGHLIGHTING OUR MINISTRIES

COMING BEFORE GOD

PRELUDE The King of Love My Shepherd Is Dale Wood, 1934-2003

Please turn off all cell phones and other electronic devices before the service of Worship begins.

A nursery with capable, nurturing staff is available in

the basement of the Meeting House.

The Light of Christ is brought into the sanctuary. Please stand. CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: We have come to worship God, the living God, People: Who chooses even you and me, to receive and carry the Word of life and hope. ALL: All glory to God! HYMN No. 22 Sing Praise to God, Who Has Shaped LOBE DEN HERREN Please be seated. PRAYER OF INVOCATION and THE LORD’S PRAYER Our Father*, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

CONFESSION AND RESPONSE

CALL TO CONFESSION PRAYER OF CONFESSION Leader: Before God and God’s people, I confess that I have been reluctant to speak out clearly, naming the injustice I see and declaring God’s vision. People: Before God and one another, we confess our reluctance to receive our calling as God’s people, made by God and chosen as witnesses to God’s dream of justice and joy.

(* = traditional wording but you may use alternative wording, such as “God,” “Creator,” or “Mother,” as seems fitting.)

Leader: Remind me, God, that you have made me for your service, and recharge me with your Word. People: Renew us, God. Grant us courage to live out your Way of peace and grace. We ask it in Jesus’ name; Amen. SILENCE FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION

WORDS OF ASSURANCE Leader: God has promised that whenever we repent, and seek a new union with God, forgiveness is ours. That promise comes true now. Sisters and brothers, know that in Christ Jesus, we are forgiven. All: Thanks be to God! Amen.

Please stand. Response (sung by all)

Glory Be to God text: Gloria patri, 3rd century, transl. music: Peter DuBois, 2007

THE PASSING OF THE PEACE Leader: The love of God, the Peace of Christ, and the fellowship of the

Holy Spirit be with you always. People: And also with you. Leader: Since in Christ we have been reconciled, let us share his peace

with one another.

PROCLAIMING GOD’S LIVING WORD

Please be seated. ANTHEM

Order My Steps Glenn Burleigh, 1949-2007 arr. Jack Schrader

During the singing of this anthem, the church school children will exit

the Meeting House to attend Church School.

HEBREW SCRIPTURE Jeremiah 1:4-10 NRSV: Old Testament, p. 685 NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE

Luke 4:21-30 NRSV: New Testament, p. 938 SERMON Who Said It Would Be Easy? The Reverend Dr. Damaris D. Whittaker

RESPONDING IN FAITH HYMN No. 286 Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness SPIRIT PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Choral Amen THE OFFERING OF GIFTS AND TITHES

(We encourage you to use offering envelopes when giving.) Offertory Music Blessed Jesus, At Thy Word S. Drummond Wolff, 1916-2004

PLEASE STAND AS THE OFFERING IS BROUGHT FORWARD. Hymn of Presentation OLD HUNDREDTH

text: Thomas Ken, 1674; alt. music: Louis Bourgeois, 1551

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise God, all creatures here below; Praise God above, you heav’nly host:

Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost.

UNISON PRAYER OF DEDICATION God of the prophets, we dedicate all that we give to your loving purposes: bringing in those who have been cast out; standing strong on behalf of those who are weak; speaking out with your Word of joy and justice for all people. May your loving realm increase! In Jesus’ name: Amen.

GOING FORTH

HYMN No. 43 Love Divine, All Loves Excelling BEECHER

BENEDICTION

The Light of Christ is taken out into the world.

Please be seated. POSTLUDE Suite Médiévale (Mvt. I) Jean Langlais, 1907-1991

Go in peace.

Our thanks to Deacon Sara Markham, Greeters Mary Hawkes and Graeme MacKenzie, Usher Luciano Valles, Jr., and Liturgist Ruth Fortune.

The flowers on display in the Meeting House today are given in honor of Wally Jeffers, beloved mother of Chris Jeffers, born on January 25, 1914.

We thank those who share their musical gifts with us today:

Center Church Choir Pamela Perry, guest choir director/organist

William Ness is on vacation and will return on Sunday, February 7.

After today’s service, please stop by the Remembrance Area to sign a card for

Marjorie Paust (thinking of you.)

CALL TO THE 383rd ANNUAL MEETING

The 383rd Annual Meeting of The First Church of Christ in Hartford/Center Church will be held on Sunday, February 7th, 2016, immediately following the reading of the year's History.

The purpose of this meeting is:

• to receive and act on reports and a proposed 2016 budget; • to elect officers and leaders for the coming year; and • to transact any other business to come before the meeting.

~ Kathleen Gourlie, Clerk

+ IN OUR PRAYERS + Curtis Anderson, Arline Baum, James Danis, Gladys Hernandez, Anne Jennings,

Bobbie Jones, Christine MacDonald, Marjorie F. Paust, Jeff Rathnam, Lita Rathnam, Sally St. Amant, Earl Sanderson, Norman Stanley,

Deborah Tuthill, the City of Hartford, the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ, the First Church of Christ in Hartford,

the State of Connecticut, and Syrian Refugees

FLINT, MICHIGAN: UCC RESPONSE

The 99,000 residents of Flint, Michigan, have suffered a grievous injustice. While under the control of state-appointed "emergency managers" in 2014, the water in the city's taps began flowing from the Flint River rather than coming from Detroit. When reports of contamination began building last year, the City Council voted 7-1 to negotiate a new contract with Detroit. Emergency manager Jerry Ambrose vetoed it as "incomprehensible."

Working in interdependent partnership, the Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut Conferences will send aid to Flint, both to protect their health, and to help them obtain justice. In the short term, they need safe water for drinking, cooking, and hygiene. Through gifts via the United Church of Christ's Emergency USA Fund, we will support Flint residents as they install filtering systems - and then replace the filter cartridges. We will also be sending a small delegation to meet with leaders in the area, bearing our care and concern in person, and building the relationships we will need to support them through the long-term recovery.

You can make your gift online here: https://unitedchurchofchrist.nationbuilder.com/emergency_usa_fund

We also urge you to call President Barack Obama at 202.456.1111 and urge him to encourage all appropriate federal organizations to expedite their support for addressing the immediate need of Flint residents for safe, affordable water.

We also urge you to pray. Our forebears in faith knew the value of water, how scarce it can be, how precious for life. Pray that for Flint's people justice may flow down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Kent Siladi, Conference Minister Connecticut Conference, United Church of Christ

This Week at Center Church Today - 10:30 Worship Service & Church School;

followed by refreshments, Cocoa with the Pastor (church school) & Budget Info Session;

- 3:00 Sunday Community Meals

Wednesday - No Choir Rehearsal this evening

+ LET THERE BE LIGHT +

The steeple of the Meeting House will be lighted this week as a memorial and tribute: January 31 In loving memory of a sister, Anna M. Pabst

February 1 In memory of her father and mother, by the late Miss Mary Starr Rawlins;

In loving memory of Ruth Peterson Hansen, by her husband, the late Howard F. Hansen

February 2 In loving memory of Jeannette Nakos, by her brother, the late Leroy W.

Kopp; In memory of Alfred Burger, Jr., our dear friend, by Jeanne and the late Harold Holcombe, Uncle Al, our Godfather, from Jean, Michele, Tom, Joshua, Jeremy, Heidi, Matthew, Nick, Alexis and Ryan

February 3 In memory of Albert F. Gilde and in honor of Dorothy F. Gilde, by the Late Helen M. Gilde; In memory of our dear friend, Jeanne Frances Schoen, by Joyce and Harold Buckingham

February 4 In memory of Mrs. Norma Allen Haine, by the late William Haine; In loving tribute to a dear uncle, John Arthur Taylor, by his niece, Patricia W. Anderson

February 5 A friend in need, is a friend indeed - Ling Sieng Guong, nurse, West Malaysia - died December 5, 1984, by the late Janet Chen

February 6 In memory of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Hohlfeld, by their son, the late J. Maurice Hohlfeld

January 31 ~ Sarah Gale February 4 ~ Richard & Sara Markham

February 6 ~ Mark Fisher

SUNDAY MORNING ADULT EDUCATION CLASS CHURCH HOUSE PARLOR, 8:45 a.m.

FEBRUARY 7 to 28 The class will be discussing Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This book was chosen by both The New York Times Sunday Book Review and The Hartford Courant as one of the five best nonfiction books of 2015. Please join us and share your thoughts on topics that are of significant public and private concern in our society today.

Forget, for a moment, the ubiquitous comparisons to James Baldwin: Though fitting in many ways, they can distract us from how original Coates’s book truly is. Structured as a letter to his teenage son, this slender, urgent volume -– a searching exploration of what it is to grow up black in a country built on slave labor and “the destruction of black bodies” -- rejects fanciful abstractions in favor of the irreducible and particular. Coates writes to his son with a cleareyed realism about the beautiful and terrible struggle that inheres in flesh and bone.

~from The New York Times Sunday Book Review, 12/3/15

In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates delivers a searing indictment of America’s legacy of violence, institutional and otherwise, against blacks. Framed as a blunt, sometimes bitter, often anguished letter to his teenage son, this brief volume includes his memories of Chicago, which he once visited to report on segregation in the North as a product of government policy. “’Black-on-black crime’ is jargon, violence to language, which vanishes the men who engineered the covenants, who fixed the loans, who planned the projects, who built the streets and sold red ink by the barrel,” Coates writes in relation to what he calls the “caged neighborhoods” of Chicago’s West Side. So often books are touted as “essential”; it has never been

more true than in this case, a point sadly reinforced by recent revelations about the Chicago Police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

~ from The Hartford Courant, 12/27/15

* * *

For more information or questions, please contact

Joe Bradley, Alvin Thompson, or Bill Warner-Prouty.

An

OPEN AND AFFIRMING Congregation. "We include into full participation in the life of this church persons of any age, race, economic status, gender, sexual orientation, marital status and physical, emotional and mental capacity" (from the statement adopted October 23, 1994.) In recognition of the richness of backgrounds of our congregation, a DIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES will find expression in our worship services. Center Church offers an OPEN COMMUNION. Adults and children from all religious backgrounds are invited to partake.

FREE PARKING is available during Sunday Worship Services at the Travelers Plaza Garage off Prospect Street (next to the Hartford Club.) The garage closes at 1:00pm (12:00pm June through August). Free on-street parking is also available on Gold Street and on the west side of Lewis Street each Sunday. REST ROOMS are located in the basement of the Meeting House. Please use the stairs in the southeast corner of the building. For safety, please have an adult accompany your child to the restroom. CHURCH SCHOOL is held at the Church House (60 Gold Street) for preschool to 12th Grade. Children are to remain with their families in the Meeting House during worship until they depart for Church School following the Children’s Moment. Please pick your child up promptly at 12:00pm. For their safety, children will remain with their Church School instructor until an adult picks them up. CHILDCARE and NURSERY care are provided by trained, capable, and nurturing staff and volunteers, and is available in the Meeting House basement for infants and toddlers (up to two years of age.) A nursery without staff is also located on the second floor of the Church House. ADULT CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CLASSES are held in the Church House (60 Gold Street) at 8:45am. Announcements regarding Adult Education classes are announced in our publications. HANDICAPPED ACCESS to the sanctuary is via the lift outside at the south end of the portico. If possible, please call the church office in advance for assistance in using the lift. Please feel free to confer with a minister regarding our INQUIRER'S CLASSES for POTENTIAL MEMBERS, BAPTISMS, WEDDINGS or COMMITMENT CEREMONIES. The latest issue of CENTER CHURCH NEWS is available in the literature rack at the back of the Meeting House and at the Church House (60 Gold Street).

THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN HARTFORD

A member of the United Church of Christ (UCC) CENTER CHURCH, 60 Gold Street, Hartford, CT 06103

Church Office Hours: Monday thru Friday, 8:30am to 4:00pm Library Hours: Wednesdays, 9:30am to 11:30am, Sunday 9:45am to 10:45am,

or by appointment. P 860.249.5631 F 860.246.3915

www.centerchurchhartford.org

Minister: The Reverend Dr. Damaris D. Whittaker (ext. 202) Minister Emeritus: The Reverend J. Alan McLean

Interim Director of Music/Organist: William Ness (ext. 204) Warburton Director of Outreach Ministries: Nathan Fox (ext. 205)

Director of Faith Formation: Jana Russo-Priestley (ext. 210) Office Administrator: Marie Ferrantino (ext. 209)

Bookkeeper: Jamie Maheu (ext. 201) Receptionist/Office Assistant: Monique Young (ext. 200)

Office Assistant: Frances Burton Sexton: Thomas St. Amant

Hymns and Service Music reprinted under OneLicense.net # A-708141.

LARGE-PRINT BULLETINS ARE AVAILABLE ~ PLEASE ASK A DEACON FOR A COPY.