Welcome to Worship

February 27, 2022
Between You and Me

 Join us here for a live-stream beginning at 9:15am

“You can count on me ’cause I can count on you.”

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS – Rev. Talia Raymond

PRELUDE – “Side By Side” – Mary Caraher, Sue Hartman, and Susan Kirkland with special guests, Sandy Reimer and Talia Raymond

Setting the Stage – Letters Between Friends – Jenny Land and Heidi Stein

OPENING SONG – “Here We Are”                                        

Chorus: Here we are, all together
As we sing our song joyfully.
Here we are, joined together
As we pray we will always be.

Join we now as friends, and celebrate
The community we share, all as one.
Keep the fire burning, kindle it with care,
And we’ll all join in and sing:
        Chorus

Glorify the Lord with all your voices,
Show Him we’re sincere by all our deeds.
Shout the joys of freedom everywhere,
And we’ll all join in and sing:
Chorus

Happy now are those who do their best
To free the troubled world from all its pain.
Let us join with them to free the troubled world
As we all join in and sing:
        Chorus

Let us make the world an Alleluia
Let us make the world a better place.
Keep a smile handy, lend a helping hand
Let us all join in and sing:
        Chorus

TIME WITH CHILDREN – “I Walk with Vanessa” by Kerascoët

INTERLUDE AND OFFERTORY – “Count On Me” by Bruno Mars – Shared by Melvin Lopez and Phillip Herr-Klepacki

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE – Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan

PRAYER RESPONSE – “Let There Be Peace on Earth”

(1) Let there be peace on earth                    (2) Let peace begin with me
And let it begin with me                               Let this be the moment now.
Let There Be Peace on Earth                        With ev’ry step I take
The peace that was meant to be                   Let this be my solemn vow

With God as Creator,                                    To take each moment and live
Family all are we                                          Each moment in peace eternally
Let us walk with each other                           Let there be peace on earth
In perfect harmony.                                      And let it begin with me.

RESPONSIVE READING – Excerpts on Friendship – Donn Smith-Lopez

Leader: “What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it… Friendship is born at the moment when one says to another “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .”   (C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves)

People: “There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my
friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”   (Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey)

Leader: “Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh!” he whispered.  “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” (A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner)

People: “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s Why.”   (John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men)

Leader: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.”  (Rumi)

People: “There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” (Linda Grayson, The Printwick Papers)

Leader: “Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.’ ‘You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous Thing.”  (E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web)

People: “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” (Aristotle)

Leader: “Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”                                                               (Anais Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin)

People: “Human relationships are primary in all of living. When gusty winds blow and shake our lives, if we know that people care about us, we may bend with the wind…but we won’t break.” (Fred Rogers)

SCRIPTURE – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

SERMON – “Interdependence” – Rev. Talia Raymond

SUNG RESPONSE – “Servant Song”

Neighbor, let me be your servant
Let me be as grace to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant, too

We are pilgrims on a journey
We are neighbors on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load

I will hold the grace light for you
In the night-time of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear

I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh’ I’ll laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through

BENEDICTION

ALLELUIA