Sunday Morning Worship Guide
Welcome and Announcements
Welcome Music | | “River Flows in You” by Yiruma | Mallory Haney Loo, organist
Welcome | Rev. Kyle Sears
Gathering as Community
Gathering Moment
Consider your favorite character from Moana. What was their moment of triumph? Share your reflections with someone.
Psalm 79:13
We your people, the flock of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
Reflection Moment
Consider a personal moment of triumph. How might you express it as gratitude to God?
Reflection Song | “You’re Welcome” by Lin-Manuel Miranda | Matthew Ian Welch | Mallory Haney Loo
Praying as Community
Psalm 79:8-9
Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins,
for your name’s sake.
Prayers for One Another | Rev. Kyle Sears
“The Current” by Wendell Berry | Christina Whitten Thomas
Having once put his hand into the ground,
seeding there what he hopes will outlast him,
a man has made a marriage with his place,
and if he leaves it his flesh will ache to go back.
His hand has given up its birdlife in the air.
It has reached into the dark like a root
and begun to wake, quick and mortal, in timelessness.
a flickering sap coursing upward into his head
so that he sees the old tribespeople bend
in the sun, digging with sticks, the forest opening
to receive their hills of corn, squash, and beans,
their lodges and graves, and closing again.
He is made their descendant, what they left
in the earth rising into him like a seasonal juice.
And he sees the hearers of his own blood arriving,\
the forest burrowing into the earth as they come,
their hands gathering the stones up into walls,
and relaxing, the stones crawling back into the ground
to lie still under the black wheels of machines.
The current flowing to him through the earth
flows past him, and he sees one descended from him,
a young man who has reached into the ground,
his hand held in the dark as by a hand.
Our Common Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name;
Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, and the power, and the glory are yours forever.
Amen.
Conversations in Community
Sermon | “Cultivating the Soil” | Matthew 13:1-9 and Moana | Rev. Kyle Sears
Reflection Song | “How Far I’ll Go” by Lin-Manuel Miranda| Lighted Window Choir
Reflection and Response
Hymn | “The Seeds of Grace”
The seeds of grace are scattered far
By way of wind and hand
The Sower offers openly
These grains to bless our land.
In weeded plot and wilderness
And busy city street
The seeds of grace are falling free
What welcome will they meet?
The seeds of grace are opening
In water and in fire
The Gard’ner tends each one in time
To give wat they require:
A stream of sun, a mist of rain,
Enrichment for the soil.
The seeds of grace are reaching deep.
What promises uncoil?
The seeds of grace are rising up,
Unfurling shoot and leaf.
The Steward shields them faithfully
To nurture green belief,
To cultivate a tender trust
That strengthens, sweet and slow.
The seeds of grace are flourishing.
What harvest will they grow?
Closing Blessing | Rev. Kyle Sears
Sending Music | “Minoi, Minoi” (Samoan Folksong), arr. by Christopher Marshall | Mallory Haney Loo organist