Grace United Church of Christ

Sunday Worship & Communion
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 10, 2020
11 AM

CLICK HERE FOR BULLETIN PDF
or follow along below
 

We Gather

Prelude

"The Church's One Foundation"
Samuel S. Wesley, arr. Steven Scott
Jonas Dawson
 

Welcome

 
Preparing our Hearts 
 

Call to Worship
L: Blessed be God; The blessed and holy Trinity
P: And blessed be God’s Reign, now and forever!
L: This is the day that the Lord has made
P: Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
 

Opening Hymn
“Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone”
(W&S 3104/insert)

 

Opening Prayer
 

 
We Listen

 https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

 First Reading
1 Peter 2:2-10

 
Special Music
"Be Still, My Soul",
Jean Sibelius, arr. Jan Sanborn
Jonas Dawson

 
Gospel John 14:1-14
Rev. Rob Apgar-Taylor
 

Children’s Message

 
Sermon
Rev. Rob Apgar-Taylor




We Respond
 
Pastoral Prayer
 

The Great Thanksgiving


Leader: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Leader: …And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
ALL: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory,
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest. 
Leader: …And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and 
living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:
ALL:  Christ has died
Christ is risen
Christ will come again.
Leader: …Through Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours,
Almighty Father, now and forever.
ALL: Amen.
 

The Lord’s Prayer (in unison)


Sharing of the Elements
 

Blessing after Communion
God of us all, In the gift of bread and cup we celebrate your presence in our church and
in our lives. As your presence unites us in the gift of this holy meal, so we know that in your love we are united wherever we are. Keep true in us that same spirit that has united the Church throughout all generations and bring us soon into physical communion, through that same spirit, which is Christ, the Lord. Amen.
 

 
 We are Sent

 
Announcements
 

Blessing of Women
 

Blessing
 

Closing Hymn
“In All Our Living”
(NCH 499/insert)
 



Dismissal
 

Postlude
"Festive Postlude on 'Truro'"
Thomas Williams (1789), arr. Mary McDonald
Jonas Dawson

~~~~~~~
 

Dear friends, 

I am writing to let you know of an important mission project that Grace Church is involved in and I am looking for your help. 

We have begun Frederick Gives Back, a support outreach for those healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic. They need our support. 

Through seed money from Grace Church and donations, we are partnering with local restaurants to prepare and deliver meals to healthcare workers in Frederick COunty. 

Below, please read the Facebook post about our first delivery of 85 meals to Ballenger Creek Nursing Home, the hardest hit in Frederick County..

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!  Here's how!

Rob and  I are issuing a matching challenge.  We will commit up to $500 to match your collective giving, dollar for dollar!  If you give $50, we will too. 

This extends for one week, through next Friday. So if you can make a donation of any amount, please do so. 

Many thanks for all you do and I am so proud to be your pastor!

Rob + 

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE:
Announcing

"Frederick Gives Back"
A Community Outreach Project of Grace United Church of Christ"

 
Frederick Gives Back is a community outreach project of Grace United Church of Christ in partnership with local volunteers, local restaurants, and local healthcare facilities. Inspired by the Frontline Foods movement, Frederick Gives Back takes a local, uniquely Frederick approach to a national sentiment: giving back to the healthcare workers who are sacrificing so much to help their communities.
 
The project is four-fold:

1. Volunteers work to raise funds, which are then

2. used to engage locally-owned restaurants. With the donated funds, the restaurants will

3. prepare and deliver nutritious meals to local healthcare facilities,

4. thereby providing a show of support to our healthcare workers.

 
At this time, Frederick Gives Back is starting the process to work with Frederick Health Hospital and 7th Street Sandwich Shop to bring our first partnership online. From there, we hope to be able to expand to include multiple restaurant and healthcare partners. We are currently accepting donations to be used for the project.
 
All donations will be made through Grace United Church of Christ, as the organization leading Frederick Gives Back. Grace Church will then be using these donations to pay our restaurant partners.
 

Donations may be made via
PayPal
Under (Optional) Use this donation for:
Click the arrow and choose; 
"Frederick Gives Back" 
from the list of giving programs.

 
Those interested in volunteering or in becoming restaurant partners, please reach out to Trevor Addie-Carter, Project Management Administrator, at trevor.grucc@gmail.com
 
Together we can make a difference!

Trevor Addie-Carter
Chairperson, Outreach Ministry Commission
Grace United Church of Christ
(240)-784-7986
trevor.grucc@gmail.com

May 2020

Dear Friends,

I think we have just experienced the longest April in the history of all Aprils!  Wow, I swear it had 7 weeks. Well, thank you Lord, it is May and the news is looking more positive that this time of stay at home orders and social distancing may be beginning to end. We are not there yet, but even the talks of the end stages are hopeful.

I wanted to take a minute and update you on some things that are happening at Grace Church.  Worship has continued to be a blessing. We never thought 2 years ago, when we talked at council about an audio-visual project, that it would be needed for a time such as this.  Many of you have been worshipping weekly online and I thank you for your many positive responses.  I can’t thank our worship team enough for all their hard work to make this a relatively seamless process.  Mark on the AV board, Jonas on wonderful music, and Sarah for working behind the scenes making sure everything is available for our full participation.  And of course, those who have volunteered to help with reading and singing in Church.  There are several who have offered to come and read or play music in the service.  I so appreciate your gifts and your kindness, please don’t think we didn’t want your participation, but once we went to a stay at home orders, we made the decision to keep the worship team to a very bare minimum. First, that limits those who come in contact with each other, and second that demonstrates to the community that while we are leading worship, we are conscious of keeping it to essential people only.  

Weekly activities like the book club and the Bible Study book group are continuing via Zoom and we are getting nice groups!  I have also had several online meditation sessions which have been well received.  More to come!  I thank Missy, our council Chair for all her work as well as the entire Council for their leadership and help.

I do want to remember the church in your prayers as we navigate this time together. And please, remember your giving to the ministries of the Church.  It is so important. The bills are coming whether we are there in person or by internet.  Please, if you have not yet made your gifts to the church and can, please do give online so that our spending will not leave us in a dire situation.  Many thanks for your faithfulness.

Lastly, remember the "Frederick Gives Back" program that has started at church.  We are working with local health care facilities and local restaurants to provide meals for healthcare workers who are on the frontlines of this fight against Covid-19. There are many who are focusing on the hospital, but we are also looking at what we can do to help those who are being overwhelmed in our nursing homes and rehab centers.

Many thanks for all you are doing to support the ministries of the church at this time.  We need to stay together more now than ever. Your gifts, your generosity, your participation are greatly appreciated and needed. 

Lastly, be assured of two things: 1st: your pastor misses you more than you know.  And 2nd: when this is over… there is gonna be some serious hugging going on!

Much love,    

Rob+

Virtual Book Club

Wednes, May 13
7 PM via Zoom

Book title:
“Lunch with Buddha”

by Roland Merullo

Zoom instructions forthcoming
in separate email each week.

as of April 1, 2020

From Council President, Missy Moxley:

Dear Church Family,

Do you ever get a revelation, or at least clarification, in the oddest places? I do. When I was in the bathroom today, I was reminded of our church family. Knowing that I am partial to whimsical bathroom signage, I received a simple wooden sign from my youngest son for Christmas that reads, "You never know what you have until it's gone.   Toilet paper for instance".   That message really hits home on many levels, and not just because toilet paper is currently a scarce commodity! The closure of our church doors due to the Coronavirus has made me realize how much I miss our church community. Luckily for Grace Church, Mark Edwards and his technological wizardry have enabled us to live stream services via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/gracelivefrederick so it's the next best thing to actually being in church. Thank you to Pastor Rob and our Music Director, Jonas Dawson, for their commitment to providing Grace with a meaningful and much needed worship experience. Technology is also connecting the Church Council via emails and Zoom conferences to address the business of the church. In addition, Zoom chats are allowing Pastor Rob to conduct Lenten studies with parishioners. A newly formed book club will also be using these Zoom capabilities. This pandemic is forcing us to adapt to new technologies as we continue to worship, learn and commune with each other as a community. I am proud to be a part of a congregation that is embracing these changes and growing as a result of them.

"This too shall pass", as my mom always said. When it (the pandemic) does pass and we can once again congregate together at church, I challenge our church family to fully celebrate each Sunday together. Let's greet each other with warm smiles and friendly banter. Who knows? Maybe we can even welcome each other with a handshake and a hug in the near future! Let's conclude Sunday service by sharing in some refreshments and conversation in the Good Shepherd Room. It is my hope that we can fully appreciate the gift we have in one another and the ability to worship God together in an atmosphere of love, friendship and acceptance. In order to make this a reality, we need volunteers to sign up to be greeters and fellowship hosts.   Please contact me (missymoxley@yahoo.com), or Pastor Rob (pastorrob@grucc.com), or Tony Hemler (tonyhemler0@gmail.com) (fellowship hosts), or Jerry Princler (jerryprin@comcast.net) (greeters) or Ricki Schmitz, volunteer coordinator extraordinaire, (swimmer5153@comcast.net) if you would like to volunteer for these duties.

Please contact Pastor Rob if you are in need of financial, spiritual, or any other type of help. Remember, you are not alone, and your church family is here to help.

Also, please remember the church by fulfilling your pledged offering and our mission projects. Although we may not be meeting in the building, the various bills still need to be paid. If you mail payment to the church, please remember to designate if it is for regular offering giving or for special mission giving.

I will close with the wisdom that is on another placard that graces my kitchen sink windowsill, "Wash your hands and say your prayers 'cuz Jesus and germs are everywhere."

God's Peace and Blessings,

Missy Moxley

Council President

as of March 17, 2020

FROM PASTOR ROB

Dear Friends,

As you are aware, we are experiencing an unusual time as the coronavirus seriously impacts our daily lives.  I want to take a moment to address a few things we at Grace Church are doing to face this time head on.  First, I want to thank Pastor Jessica and Church Council for their prompt and effective leadership last week while we were in New Orleans on the mission trip. If you wondered, you elected a very capable church council who just stepped up and led with grace. I am grateful for their leadership!

As you know, the CDC is recommending we practice “social distancing”, which means we do not meet for the foreseeable future. They are saying the next two weeks, but common wisdom is saying this may be significantly longer!  So how does that impact us at Grace Church?  Here is what we are doing:

1)  All worship services are moving online effective immediately!  Please Note: services are NOT cancelled. We will worship each week at 11, just via the internet. There will be readings and a sermon and the regular things you expect in a service, we just won’t be in physical community. As you know, Mark and the AV team have been working very hard to get ready for this and we had intended on live streaming on Easter Sunday. We are just starting it a bit earlier!  

2)  All activities at Church are cancelled!!  All outside groups have been notified as well. This means that there will be no in-person bible studies!  If you are in Disciple, we will resume after the craziness is done. 

3)  We WILL be having an online Lenten Book Study starting THIS Thursday at 7 PM via Zoom.  Zoom is an interactive platform that you can access via computer or cell phone and can participate with video and audio or audio only. (The computer option also has a mute camera function in case you are having a bad hair day!)  How do you join us?  In your browser: ZOOM MEETING INFO WILL BE SHARED BEFORE MEETING EACH WEEK.

4)  If you are at risk due to age or suppressed immune system, do NOT go out in public please!!  If you do not have anyone to help get you groceries or other things, PLEASE let the church know. We have a cadre of volunteers who have offered to help as needed.

5)  AND… At the risk of being indelicate, I’m going to talk money.  Last year we did significant work at closing the budget gap. PLEASE remember your giving to the church during this time!  While we are not legally or safely allowed to be together during this time, the bills are still needing to be paid.  And the crashing markets of recent are going to hit our endowments very hard as well.  I’m just being honest.  PLEASE try to be a faithful to your tithe as you can be.  There will be a letter mailed to every home with a stamped envelope to help make your tithe easier!  You can also use the GIVING tab on our church website at www.grucc.com and give via PayPal or VANCO Giving Plus.

Also: There are people at Church who work in the service industry and as of yesterday, have absolutely NO income until this is over! I personally know one person who has enough savings for 2 months and will then lose their apartment!  I anticipate needing to increase the Good Samaritan fund to help church folk during this time. If you are able to make a donation to that fund, please do. I do feel we will use it.  Remember that closing public places is necessary, but it means servers, bartenders, personal trainers and gym personnel are all without employment!

I think that’s about all, PLEASE be safe, stay home and let people who love you help you if you need it. And know that if you need it, the Church is here to help. Groceries, medications, whatever. There is NO being proud or stubborn about this. We love you and we want you all to be healthy!

Lastly: We have the ZOOM number. It is ours. If you have an idea of a group activity to keep people connected, please let us know!  Why not a book club? One church is offering a craft group that is meeting by internet each week and leaning how to do a craft together! The number is paid for so let’s use it!

We will make it through this. Grace Church is a resilient, vibrant faith community. Please do reach out if you need anything. It grieves my heart that we will not be together in person for the time being. Check in on each other, care for each other.

With much love,

Rob +