Prelude- Phillip Herr-Klepacki

Welcome, Announcements, Ringing the Bell, and Lighting the Candle

Call to Worship- “Mother’s Day Proclamation,”by Julia Ward Howe, offered by Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan

Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.”

“Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, disarm! The sword is not the balance of justice.” Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each learning after his own time, the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

Opening Song- “Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness”- #286 

Refrain:

Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness calling and free,
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness,
stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.

Verse 1: You moved on the waters, you called to the deep,
then you coaxed up the mountains from the valleys of sleep;
and over the eons you called to each thing:
“Awake from your slumbers and rise on your wings.”

Refrain

Verse 2: You swept through the desert, you stung with the sand,
and you goaded your people with a law and a land;
and when they were blinded with idols and lies,
then you spoke through your prophets to open their eyes.

Refrain

Verse 3: You sang in a stable, you cried from a hill,
then you whispered in silence when the whole world was still;
and down in the city you called once again,
when you blew through your people on the rush of the wind.

Refrain

Verse 4: You call from tomorrow, you break ancient schemes. From the bondage of sorrow all the captives dream dreams; our women see visions, our men clear their eyes. With bold new decisions your people arise.

Refrain

Prayers of the People – Rev. Talia Raymond
Sung Response- (Please sing twice)

Spirit, Spirit of gentleness, blow through the wilderness calling and free,
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness, stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.

Poem – “Mother and Child” by Louise Glück

We’re all dreamers; we don’t know who we are.

Some machine made us; machine of the world, the constricting family.
Then back to the world, polished by soft whips.

We dream; we don’t remember.

Machine of the family: dark fur, forests of the mother’s body.
Machine of the mother: white city inside her.

And before that: earth and water.
Moss between rocks, pieces of leaves and grass.

And before, cells in a great darkness.
And before that, the veiled world.

This is why you were born: to silence me.
Cells of my mother and father, it is your turn
to be pivotal, to be the masterpiece.
I improvised; I never remembered.
Now it’s your turn to be driven;
you’re the one who demands to know:

Why do I suffer? Why am I ignorant?
Cells in a great darkness. Some machine made us;
it is your turn to address it, to go back asking
what am I for? What am I for?

Scripture: Genesis 37:1-11. Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. This is the story of the family of Jacob.

Special Music- “Any Dream Will Do” by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Offered by Melvin Smith-Lopez and Phillip Herr-Klepacki.

Sermon – “Families, Pharaohs, and Dreamers”- Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan

Closing Song- “Go, My Children, With My Blessing” – #82

Go, my children, with my blessing, never alone.
Waking, sleeping, I am with you; you are my own.
In my love’s baptismal river,
I have made you mine forever.
Go, my children, with my blessing – you are my own.

Go, my children, fed and nourished, closer to me;
Grow in love and love by serving, joyful and free.
Here my Spirit’s power filled you;
here with tender comfort stilled you.
Go, my children, fed and nourished, Joyful and free.

Benediction

Alleluia

Sunday Seminar

No Sunday Seminar this week. 

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Announcements

The UCG Office will be reopening on Monday, May 10. – Office hours will be Monday – Friday, from 9am to 4pm. The office will always be staffed, and you’ll be most likely to find a minister in the office in the mornings, before school pick-up. If you need to speak to someone about something in particular, or at some length, it is always wise to set up an appointment to come in; we recommend email as we’re still being trained on the new phone system! We will, of course, still be asking everyone to mask when they come in.

Greeters for UCG’s Upcoming Services – Are you available to smile lovingly from behind your mask and greet UCG members with your best elbow bump? We need your help extending throughout the month of May. Click here for more information or email Dar Mikula. Thank you for your help with this important job!

Please help keep our church finances healthy while you stay healthy!  Please consider donating online. To GIVE,  click here  to make a one-time donation to UCG -or- to set up a recurring donation schedule via your bank account or credit card. Our budgeted (anticipated) amount of Plate Income for 2021 is $36,000, so we rely on the weekly passing of the plate.  Here  is a video on how to use Shelby Giving.  Thank you for your support!