Download FROM THE CORNER - St. John`s United Methodist Church

FROM THE CORNER
St. John’s United Methodist Church
1207 Peabody Ave.
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 726-4104
www.stjohnsmidtown.org
The news of our life, growth, and discipleship
June 12, 2016
10:50 a.m.
St. John's United Methodist
Church - Midtown Memphis
JUNE
……………………
12 SUNDAY– “Another Face of God”
Summer Series begins. The Church Office is
selling copies of Joan Chittister’s book Two
Dogs and a Parrot, the inspiration for our
summer sermon series for $15. (10:50am)
12 SUNDAY– Vacation Bible School set up in
the fellowship hall. (2:00pm)
12 SUNDAY– Quarterly Ladies’ Lunch at
Stone Soup Café directly following service.
13 MONDAY - 16 THURSDAY– Vacation
Bible School features Christian-based
programming, service projects, art and music
activities. VBS is for children ages 3-12. Nursery will also be open. (9:00am-12:00pm)
16 THURSDAY– Vacation Bible School
Celebration Family Dinner (6:00-7:30pm)
27 MONDAY - 30 THURSDAY First week
of Project Transformation
JULY
……………………
2 SERVICE SATURDAY– Community
Garden Group (8:00am)
2 SERVICE SATURDAY– Soup Kitchen in
the Fellowship Hall. Volunteers appreciated–
contact Annie ([email protected])
(3:30-5:30pm)
3 SUNDAY– Service of Healing and Blessing
in the chapel. (5:00pm)
This Friday at 6:00pm
John Kilzer leads us with
Paul Taylor, Ashley
Davis, Jim Duckworth,
and Steve Potts.
ANOTHER FACE OF GOD
“Acceptance”
ANNOUNCEMENTS
…………………………………….
Vacation Bible School Sign Up It’s not too
late to sign up for VBS, beginning June 13
and ending on June 16. Bring a completed
registration form with your child on June 13.
Forms are located on the bulletin board and
on the children’s section of our website.
(9:00am-12:00pm)
Project Transformation Volunteers Needed
St. John’s is providing volunteers to read one
on one with children on June 27-30 at
Centenary UMC. We are still in need of 4-6
people to volunteer on each of those days.
Contact Blaire Burton or email Rebekah
Gienapp ([email protected]) if you can help
with one or more days. (9:15am-12:00pm)
Volunteers Needed for VBS Set Up We’ll be
bringing in set pieces for VBS today and
could use some volunteers. If you’d like to
help, join us in the fellowship hall. (2:00 pm)
Quarterly Ladies’ Lunch The ladies of St.
John’s are gathering for lunch and fellowship
at Stone Soup Café in Cooper-Young
immediately following service today. If you’d
like to carpool, please meet outside of the
hospitality room. Contact Rae-Anne Pitts with
any questions.
Call for Pet Photos We are still taking
submissions of pet pictures to be featured in
our sermon series slideshows. Email photos to
Annie ([email protected]).
St. John's welcomes
everyone. Our hearts, minds,
and doors are open to people of
all ages, races, nationalities,
sexual orientations, gender
identities, theological identities,
economic status, disabilities,
and sojourn on the way to
recovery and wholeness. We
are a diverse community whose
discipleship to Jesus Christ is
demonstrated through our deep
commitment to servant
ministry. Welcome Home!
TODAY’S USHERS:
Lloyd Hearn, Mike Coop,
Charles Garisson, Herb Levy
TODAY’S COUNTERS:
Glenda Smith
THE ENTRANCE
Words of Welcome
Prelude
arr. Mark Hayes
“Sweet By and By”
+ Call to Worship
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.
Let us worship now our God, the creator and sustainer.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all that
God does for us.
Let us worship God, who crowns us with steadfast
love and mercy.
The Lord works vindication and justice for all
who are oppressed.
Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless God’s Holy name.
+ Processional Hymn—UMH 122
+ Please stand as
you are able.
ROEDER
“God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale”
A profound theological statement in disarmingly simple words and tune,
all of the images are biblical, with a theme “Thankful to Serve.” The text
is meant to provoke answers to why and how God’s creatures are to serve
him. What must we accept to serve God?
+ Prayer of the Day
O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things,
our brothers the animals to whom You gave the earth as their home in
common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have
exercised the high dominion of humanity with ruthless cruelty so that
the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to You in song, has
been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone
but for themselves and for You, and that they love the sweetness of life
even as we, and serve You better in their place than we do in
ours. Amen.
+ Congregational Response—UMH 62
This hymn is
derived from the
“Canticle of the
Sun,” written by
Francis of Assisi
during a time of
great pain,
suffering, and
impending death.
Francis, with his
profound love of
God’s creation, was
able even in
adversity to join
with nature in the
praise of God.
+ The Peace
The peace of Christ Jesus be with you always.
And also with you.
Let us offer one another signs of reconciliation and love.
— Please be seated.—
Rev’d Johnny Jeffords
Rev’d Renee Dillard
Rev’d John Kilzer
Matthew Bogart
Zachary Ferguson
Lyn Stewart
Kristen Berning
Annie Hunter
Bill Dozier
Robert Phillips
Rose Holmes
Senior Minister
Discipleship Ministries
Recovery Ministries
Music/Worship Ministries
Children/Youth/Young Adult Ministries
Church Administrator
Office Staff
Communications/Volunteer Development
Building & Maintenance
Custodian
Housekeeper
Blessing the Animals
Jan Richardson
SENDING FORTH
+ Invitation to Journey
+ Hymn of Response—TFWS 2008
THE ASH GROVE
“Let All Things Now Living”
+ Benediction
+ Postlude
.
arr. Matthew Bogart
“Victory In Jesus” a Reprise
You who created them
and called them good:
bless again these creatures
who come to us
as a blessing
fashioned of fur
or feather
or fin,
formed of flesh
that breathes with
your own breath,
that you have made
from sheer delight,
that you have given
in dazzling variety.
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
Sharing our beloved pets: Garret Golembeski-Bogart
Joys and Concerns
Congregational Call to Prayer
Bless them
who curl themselves
around our hearts
who twine themselves
through our days
who companion us
in our labor
who call us
to come and play.
Bless them
who will never be
entirely tamed
and so remind us
that you love
what is wild,
that you rejoice
in what lives close
to the earth,
that your heart beats
the heart of these creatures
you have entrusted
to our care.
Litany on Behalf of God’s Creatures
Gracious God, you created the earth and all that is in it and proclaimed
it good. All this belongs to you, and yet we harm your creation.
Forgive us, we pray, and help us to be champions of all those who
suffer, so that we may be channels of your goodness.
Hear us, O Lord!
We give you thanks, O God, for the life and witness of the prophets
who remind us of your true purpose and for those special people who
minister with tenderness to all living beings.
Hear us, O Lord!
We give you thanks, O God, for animals who live in our homes, on
farms, in the wild, and in heavens of refuge. Make us ever aware of
our stewardship of creation, and help us to be faithful in caring for all
you have created.
Hear us, O Lord!
We pray today for animals who are mistreated in any way…for
those who are tortured, deserted, abused, exploited and used for
unnecessary experimentation, and for any whose lives are spent in
extreme confinement. Help us to stop abuse in any form. Open our
mouths to the defense of the defenseless, and above all, open our
lives to your ways.
Scripture Reading: Genesis 2:7-8; 18-20a —NRSV
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a
living being. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east;
and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Hear us, O Lord!
We ask forgiveness for the part we have all played in systems that
employ violence and promote hardness of heart.
Hear us, O Lord!
We remember before you our companion animals who have died.
We remember at this time also, those animals who are lost or
separated from their owners.
Hear us, O Lord!
.
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I
will make him a helper as his partner.” So out of the ground the LORD
God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and
brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever
the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave
names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the
field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.
Homily
Rev’d Dr. Johnny Jeffords
“Acceptance ”
The Blessing
Eugene M. Bartlett
wrote both text and
music for Victory in
Jesus in 1939. The
text is a personal
statement of
salvation through
the redeeming blood
of Christ. Singers
readily identify with
the themes of the
“precious blood’s
atoning” and “the
old redemption
story” which gives
“victory in Jesus.”
The triumphant tune
HARTFORD, named
for the Arkansas
town where Bartlett
lived, encourages all
to join in singing
this popular hymn of
assurance.
O sweet maker of all, we ask your blessing on every creature
gathered here today, the large and the small. May they live
peacefully in praise of you. Bless us all to love your creation, and
revere its sacredness. We ask this blessing in the name of the one
who taught us to pray:
Hymn of Reflection—UMH 560
ACCEPTANCE
“Help Us Accept Each Other”
Vs. 1 & 3
Offering
John Rutter
“For the Beauty of the Earth”
Summer Choral Ensemble
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 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, the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.
Anthem
Eugene M. Bartlett
“Victory in Jesus”
UMH 370
Walk-Up Choir
+Doxology—UMH 95
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.
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