UNITED CHURCH OF GAINESVILLE
Moving Mountains
Sunday Worship Service
April 23, 2023 9:15am
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WELCOME – Rev. Talia Raymond
EAT LOCAL, GROW HOPE GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT – CIA Committee
PRELUDE – Mark Burlingame
A WORD ABOUT HOPE FOR EARTH DAY
Hope is not optimism. Optimism assumes the best, and assumes its inevitability, which leads to passivity, as do the pessimism and cynicism that assume the worst. Hope, like love, means taking risks and being vulnerable to the effects of loss. It means recognizing the uncertainty of the future and making a commitment to try to participate in shaping it. To hope is to recognize that you can protect some of what you love even while grieving what you cannot — and to know that we must act without knowing the outcome of those actions. — Rebecca Solnit
OPENING HYMN – Garden Song #17 UCG Songbook
Chorus:
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 these seeds I sow. Someone warm them from below til the rain comes tumbling down.
1. Pullin’ weeds, pickin’ stones,
we are made of dreams and bones.
I feel a need to grow my own for the time is near at hand.
Grain for grain, sun and rain, find my way through nature’s chain.
As I tune my body and brain to the music of the land. (Chorus)
2. Make your rows, straight and long, temper them with warmth and song. Mother earth will make you strong
if you give her love and care.
See that crow, watching hungrily, from its perch on yonder tree.
In my garden I’m as free
as that feathered thief up there. (Chorus)
TIME WITH THE CHILDREN and BIRTHDAYS – Renée Andrews and Suzanne Byrne
INTERLUDE – Chorus from Garden Song #17 UCG Songbook
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 these seeds I sow.
Someone warm them from below til the rain comes tumbling down.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE – Rev. Talia Raymond
SPECIAL MUSIC AND OFFERTORY – Climb Ev’ry Mountain by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Adriane Isenberg, vocalist and Mark Burlingame, piano
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SCRIPTURE READING
REFLECTION – “The City Girl Organic Farmer” – Pam Smith
RESPONSIVE SONG – Chorus from the Garden Song #17 UCG Songbook
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 these seeds I sow.
Someone warm them from below til the rain comes tumbling down.
MEDITATION – “Touch the Earth” – Mark Burlingame
READING
”Having hope and maintaining hope is a chore. And that’s something we should be honest about. Right, it’s work. It is not easy to be hopeful all the time. That’s the beautiful part about having people around you who are encouraging and who are constantly reminding you that you are built for this moment, that you are meant for this moment, that you’re right for this moment.” — Tarana Burke, in conversation with Ai-jen Poo
RESPONSIVE HYMN – God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale #32 Black Hymnal vs.1-3
RESPONSIVE ECO-BEATITUDES – led by members of the Board of Parish Ministry and the Climate Care & Creation Justice Task Force
One: Blessed are we when we treasure the wisdom of the earth, receiving survival strategies whispered underground by bristlecone pine and sequoia, returning the praise songs of nuthatch and titmouse, flocking together with the murmuration maps of bees and bats and butterflies, and pollinating possibilities for living in these beautiful ruins.
All: Woe to us when losses of profit are considered more costly than losses of habitat, health, or home. Holy confrontation with corporations that harm is the faithful labor of Love.
One: Blessed are we when our daily actions and interactions align with dreams for collective flourishing, and pattern our days with the small, the slow, and the simple, moving through the world gently, with gratitude, attentive to beauty, savoring the lifeforce that flows freely through it all.
All: Woe to us when we privatize natural resources, when we hoard and steal the gifts of the land, or conceal patterns of colonization. The only way to planetary healing is through return, reparations, and repair.
One: Blessed are we when our grief propels us toward protection, our wild love for the world motivating our every dream. No escape, no denial, but holding what is in our cupped hands and broken open hearts, our prayers poured forth like libations of lament, remembrance, and promise.
All: Woe to us when we cross the boundaries of the earth; when we continue to push, extract, and consume in willful refusal of glaring devastation, and need for rest. Unsustainable practices diminish and destroy the rhythms of life.
One: Blessed are we when we remember we’re “we,” not “me,” or “us and them,” bound to each other cellularly and socially, holding and being held in the web of relations, honoring each species extinction as a death of divinity, each oil spill opening our veins, each pipeline poisoning our precious lifeblood, each encounter, an opening for the medicine of care.
All: Woe to us when we do not choose solidarity, when we protect ourselves at the expense of others, or silo our struggles as if they are inseparable. For climate justice must be gender justice must be racial justice must be disability justice must be a matter of leaving all domination behind.
By Rev. Anna Blaedel and Rev. M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed
RESPONSIVE HYMN – God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale #32 Black Hymnal vs.4-6
BENEDICTION
ALLELUIA
POSTLUDE
Here are our UCG friends celebrating a birthday this week!
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Sunday Seminar – “Last Chance to Voice Your Opinion on the Creation Justice Covenant” – Join members of the Creation Care and Climate Justice Task Force for a discussion of our Creation Justice Covenant. Our hope is to get your thoughts and feedback before it comes to the congregational meeting for a vote. Join us in Reimer Hall or Zoom. Zoom Meeting ID: 829 6457 0385 Passcode: 1624
For Andy’s Farewell Celebration, we are creating a very special guest book. Please join us in Seminar A TODAY immediately following the first service to sign Andy’s book and drop off some memorabilia (think a wallet-sized photo or another flat object). You may also email or send your memorabilia to Heidi Stein or 715 NW 40th Terrace, Gainesville, Florida 32607. All items must be received on or before April 23rd. Andy’s book will also be available for signatures at his celebration on April 30th.
Calling all puzzle lovers – Stop by the Puzzlers’ Table in front of Seminar B today. Take home some puzzles this week, a great substitute for TV watching, and good for your brain! You can bring puzzles to swap, or not; we have plenty to share.
Art in the Library Reception – Join UCGer, Diana Tonnessen in between the services to view her artwork in the Library today.
Eat Local, Grow Hope Global – The Compassion in Action Committee asks you to continue shopping with our partners at local farmers’ markets throughout April and plan to celebrate our collaboration with local partners to improve food security by joining our Break-Fast soup and salad potluck, a live event at UCG on Thursday, May 4 beginning at 6pm. Childcare with a kid-friendly supper will be provided upon request. We are tabling TODAY and April 30 for the potluck sign up in the Courtyard.
Young Adult (YA) lunch is TODAY. If you are older than high school age and younger than 30ish, please join us at the fountain after the 11:15 service is over. We will go to a nearby place to grab a bite together. For more information contact Judy Parsons.
Andy’s Farewell Celebration – Join us April 30 for ONE service at 10 am as we celebrate Andy Bachmann’s tenure as our minister at the United Church of Gainesville. THEN, join us at First Magnitude Brewing Company at 12:30pm for Andy’s Farewell Celebration. Special music will be provided by the Hogtown Pickers at 1:30 and Stella Bachmann’s band Breakfast for Dinner at 2:30.
- A Camp Highlands Foundation scholarship fund to enable a child(ren) from the Lac Courte Oreilles band of the Ojibwe tribe to attend camp (Andy has been working to strengthen connections between Highlands and local indigenous communities), OR
- A Pilgrimage Support Fund to help enable the continuation of Andy’s commitment to pilgrimage as an avenue for spiritual exploration, growth, and rejuvenation.
10:00am Worship – Rev. Andy Bachmann
10:30am United Tribes Time
11:00am Fellowship & Beverages
12:15pm Young Adult Lunch (attending Andy’s party)
12:30pm Rev. Andy’s Farewell Party @ First Mag
The Capital Campaign Visioning Task Force is in the process of gathering input from UCG congregants on their hopes and dreams for UCG in the future, and how different projects might contribute to bringing these dreams to reality. We encourage you to take this survey on proposed projects by the end of April. Here is a link to the survey: https://bit.ly/capsurvey23.
Youth Work Tour Fundraiser – UCG TEAL logo tumblers are still available for $22 in the front office for purchase. Proceeds go towards the Youth Summer Work Tour in June. Thank you for your support!
The Food 4 Kids program was selected by the Blooming 4′ Good program to receive $1 in donations for every $12.99 Bloomin’ 4 Good bouquet sold at Winn-Dixie; 1459 NW 23rd Avenue, Gainesville FL. Please consider purchasing a bouquet for the remaining month of April to benefit our Food 4 Kids program. Thank you!
Visitors’ Coffee with Rev. Bromleigh on Sunday, May 7 at 10:15am – If you’ve been visiting UCG and would like to learn more about the church, please join us at a visitors’ coffee, where Rev. Bromleigh and members of the Board of Membership will be available to answer questions you may have.UCG Supper Club – The last supper club of the season will be on Sunday, May 21 at 6:30 pm. Once again, Jim and Lisa McElwee-White are welcoming the entire group to their lovely home on Kanapaha Prairie and Barbecue King, Jim White, will be firing up his smoker to prepare pork. All of the sides will be vegetarian so there will be plenty for the vegetarians to eat as well. Please contact Anne Casella (256-5960) or Kimberly McCollough (378-8371) if you would like to participate. The deadline to sign up is Sunday, May 14.
April 21 COVID Update – According to the CDC, Alachua County residents have a low risk of serious illness from COVID-19 (the Green Zone). Hospital admissions have decreased. However, the presence of COVID in all the County’s wastewater samples show that the virus is still being passed around. Masks are not required and are optional for people with medical risks.
