Round Hill Community Church

ORDER OF SERVICE May 10, 2015Mother’s Day

PRELUDE Larghetto Handel Prelude on Forest Green Held Thank You Mother Thalia Cokkinos

WORDS OF WELCOME

INTROIT

CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: God has searched us and known us. God has formed us in our

mothers’ wombs and accompanies us through all the seasons of our lives.

All: We come to worship God, who understands us completely. Leader: God seeks us when we flee – whether we take the wings of the

morning or venture slowly through the routines of the day, God’s hand holds us tenderly.

All: We come to worship God, who cares for us completely.Leader: God’s thoughts are more than the sand of the sea, yet God

Knows every word that falters on our tongues and every stumbling path we wander.

All: We come to worship God, who loves us until we find ourselves at home

*The congregation is invited to stand

*HYMN No. 14 Womb of Life, and Source of Being

*OPENING PRAYER God our mother,in whose arms we are held,and by whose passion we are known:help us so to receive your tendernessand respond to your challengethat others may draw life from us,in your name, Amen.

*THE LORD’S PRAYER Our Father who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come.Thy will be doneon earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread,and forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive those who trespass against us,and lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from evil.For Thine is the kingdom,and the power, and the glory,forever and ever. Amen.

*GLORIA PATRIGlory be to the Father, and to the Son,and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning,is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE The Rev. Dr. Ed Horstmann

The Garden Song

Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow.All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground.Inch by inch, row by row, someone bless the seeds I sow.Someone warm them from below, 'til the rain comes tumbling down.

Pulling weeds and picking stones, we are made of dreams and bones.Feel the need to grow my own 'cause the time is close at hand.Grain for grain, sun and rain, find my way in nature's chain,to my body and my brain to the music from the land.

Plant your rows straight and long, thicker than with prayer and song.Mother Earth will make you strong if you give her love and care.Old crow watching hungrily, from his perch in yonder tree.In my garden I'm as free as that feathered thief up there.

Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow.All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground.Inch by inch, row by row, someone bless the seeds I sow.Someone warm them from below, 'til the rain comes tumbling down.

- Dave Mallett

Children may now leave for Church School.

SCRIPTURE LESSON John 1: 1, 14In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us… full of grace and truth.

ANTHEM In the Beginning Haydn

Recitative: (Raphael) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; and the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.Chorus: And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.Recitative: (Uriel) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

SCRIPTURE LESSON Luke 2: 41-51Now every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not

know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

SERMON What Wondrous Love is This? The Rev. Dr. Ed Horstmann

*HYMN No. 526 The Gift of Love

OFFERINGInvitationAnthem Dona Nobis Pacem Mozart*Doxology Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him,

all creatures here below; praise him above, ye heavenly host: Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

*Hymn No. 720 O Beautiful for Spacious Skies (verse 1)

PASTORAL PRAYER

*HYMN No. 431 Go, My Children, With My Blessing

CHURCH PRAYEROur Heavenly Father, shed forth thy blessed spirit upon all our lives. Make each one of us an instrument in thy hands for good. Purify our hearts, strengthen our minds and bodies, fill us with Christian love. Let no pride, no self-conceit, no rivalry, no ill-will ever spring up among us. Make us earnest and true, wise and prudent, giving no just cause for offense and may thy holy peace rest upon us this day and every day throughout the coming week, sweetening our trials, cheering us in our work, and keeping us faithful to the end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

BENEDICTION

CHORAL RESPONSE

POSTLUDE Bouree and Minuet Handel

ROUND HILL COMMUNITY CHURCH MISSION STATEMENTWe, the members of the Round Hill Community Church, a self-governing, non-denominational body, seek to foster a community of faith where people of all ages and backgrounds pursue spiritual growth; where God is worshipped in Word and praised in music; where friends are made and hurts are healed. We seek to be a community where individuals commit their time are resources to education, fellowship, and to helping those in need among our Church family and in the broader world. We are a church where faith, hope, justice and love are valued, and above all, Jesus is Lord.

ROUND HILL COMMUNITY CHURCH CREEDI believe in God, the one universal Father of all mankind, revealed supremely in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and present with us to guide, comfort and inspire in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Kingdom of God; and in the mission of the Christian Church to proclaim the Gospel to all the world, exalting the worship of the Lord our God, and laboring for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of righteousness, the reign of peace, and the realization of human brotherhood. United in Christian love, we pray and labor for the coming of the Kingdom, the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting. Amen.

CHURCH NEWS

Happy Mother’s Day!

Thank you to Bill and Grada Herrick for ushering today.

Thank you to Bill Herrick and Michael Sandifer for hosting today’s Coffee Hour. Please join them in the parlor following the service for fellowship.

Thank you to MaryAnn and Elena Debnar, for serving as our Liturgists today.

All are invited to attend the Spring Women’s Gathering on Sunday, May 31st after church fellowship. Special guest and RHCC member, Mei Yao, will share her observations about her cross-cultural life, which include living

in Taiwan, Tokyo and the U.S. Deanna Mulligan will host in her home. A light lunch will be served. To reserve your place, contact the Church office.In response to the human tragedy suffered by the people of Nepal, the Outreach Committee has made two generous contributions to relief agencies on behalf of RHCC. This is our Faith in Action! Any individuals wishing to further support the Nepal aid effort through the RHCC Outreach Committee can submit a check made out to RHCC with Nepal Aid in the memo line. The Committee will bundle the contributions and identify agencies most responsive to the needs as they develop in Nepal. THANK YOU.

The Meditation/Stress Reduction Group meets every Thursday in the Church Meeting Room, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Come when you can and bring a friend. All are welcome!

It’s a new month and a new initiative for our friends at Neighbor to Neighbor!! May’s special “wish list item” for collection is canned tuna. A food wagon and giving envelopes are located in the Narthex. Please be generous.

REFLECTION

Family meals and festive parties, the practice of hospitality, the presence of books and the reading of the scriptures, dinner conversations and parental prayer, moments of guidance and correction, family worship – all these and more shape the contours of tradition. To be conscious of ourselves in that great stream, and to help our children come to that consciousness, is perhaps the primary aspect of the parental vocation. It underscores the truth that we have nothing which was not given to us.

Delores Leckey, Weavings – a Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life

Senior Minister: The Rev. Dr. Edward G. HorstmannMinister Emeritus: The Rev. Dr. Ralph Ahlberg

Minister of Music: Christopher Kabala Church School Coordinator: Connie Blunden

395 Round Hill Road, Greenwich, CT 06831203.869.1091 roundhillcommunitychurch.org