United Church of Gainesville
Sunday, October 30, 2022 
Get Out the Map

Our Livestream begins at 9:15 am. Click here to join.

“We have trained [humans] to think of the Future as a promised land which favoured heroes attain — not as something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever they do, whoever they are.” – C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters

WELCOME – Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan

A MOMENT FOR STEWARDSHIP – Anne Casella

PRELUDE MUSIC – “The Preacher” by Horace Silver – The Jazz Bandits

CALL TO WORSHIP  – Rev. Andy Bachmann

One: The future is coming up!

ALL: The future is now.

One: The future is female.

ALL: The future is bright. 

One: The future is uncertain.

ALL: The future ain’t what it used to be. 

One: The future is inclusive! (may it be on earth as it is on that T-shirt at Target). As we look to our future, as we build it together, we come with feelings of both hope and dread. Resignation and resolve.

ALL: May we listen for voices of wisdom, watch for the guiding of the Spirit, live into solidarity with one another. May our future be one of hope, whatever comes. Amen.  

OPENING SONG – “Just a Closer Walk with Thee’” #38 in the UCG Songbook

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it Jesus if you please,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

I am weak, but Thou art strong Jesus, keep me from all wrong.
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk, close to Thee.

Through this world of toils and snares, If I falter Lord, who cares,
Who with me my burden shares?
Only Thee, dear Lord, only Thee.

When this troubled life is o’er Time for me will be no more.
Then guide me gently, safely on,
To Thy shore, dear Lord to Thy shore.

Repeat verse 1

TIME WITH OUR CHILDREN & BIRTHDAYS

INTERLUDE

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE – Rev. Andy Bachmann

PRAYER RESPONSE – “Let My Prayer Rise (Psalm 141)”
Phillip will play through once and then please join in singing.

Let my prayer rise before you like incense, the lifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice. 

READINGS

Nothing could be more tragic than for [people] to live in these revolutionary times and fail to achieve the new attitudes and the new mental outlooks that the new situation demands. In Washington Irving’s familiar story of Rip Van Winkle, the one thing we usually remember is that Rip slept twenty years. There is another important point, however, that is almost always overlooked. It was the sign on the inn in the little town on the Hudson from which Rip departed and scaled the mountain for his long sleep. When he went up, the sign had a picture of King George III of England. When he came down, twenty years later, the sign had a picture of George Washington. As he looked at the picture of the first President of the United States, Rip was confused, flustered and lost. He knew not who Washington was. The most striking thing about this story is not that Rip slept twenty years, but that he slept through a revolution that would alter the course of human history.  – Excerpt from Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?  By Martin Luther King, Jr.

The forest is mostly dark, its ways
to be made anew day after day,
the dark
richer than the light and more
blessed,
provided we stay brave
enough to keep on going in.  – Wendell Berry

SPECIAL MUSIC/OFFERTORY – “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield, – The Jazz Bandits
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SCRIPTURE READING 1 Corinthians 15:51-57

Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
‘Where, O death, is your victory?’
‘Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ

SERMON – Finding Our Future – Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan

CLOSING SONG

BENEDICTION

ALLELUIA

Special Thanks to The Jazz Bandits for leading us in worship today: Kali Blount (vocal), Jackie Davis (bass), Mary Fukuyama (flute), Ed Haukland (drums), Larry Reimer (trumpet), Myles Sullivan (guitar), Shireen Taha (saxophone) and guest, Ewan Johnson (trumpet).

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Here are the UCG friends celebrating a birthday this week!
Happy Birthday!