Bulletin – Sunday, May 7, 2023 – Fifth Sunday of Easter / 60th Anniversary UCW Service
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Fifth Sunday of Easter
60th Anniversary UCW Service
Approach
Welcome
Call to Worship
One: Women’s Aide and Women’s Missionary Society gathered together.
All: They had a vision.
One: You women and seasoned members gathered.
All: They had a vision.
One: In 1962 United Church Women was born.
All: They had a vision.
One: We gather to celebrate 60 years of service.
All: We have a vision.
Prayer
We celebrate the ladies gone before us, we celebrate the ladies who did the hard work to allow us to be the organization we are today. We give thanks to the families who supported them in their endeavours while eyeing the goodies on the counter—that were going to the church. For their energy, vision, outreach, and pastoral care, we give thanks. Be with us through the challenges of this moment in time. As we celebrate, reflect, and renew our purpose and vision. Amen.
Candle Lighting
I light this candle for all the women who are part of the history of our UCW.
Purpose
To unite women of the Community of Faith for the total mission of the church and to provide a means through which we may express our loyalty and devotion to Jesus in Christian witness, study, fellowship, and service.
Vision
As women of faith, we believe in nurturing Christian spirituality by reaching out through commitment and devotion to all God’s people in the promotion of truth, justice, peace, caring, and respect for all throughout the earth, God’s generous giving and joyful living; and we believe in affirming and strengthening ourselves both individually and together through creative study, prayer, and action.
Hymn – “There’s a Voice in the Wilderness Calling”
There’s a voice in the wilderness crying,
A call from the ways untrod:
Prepare in the desert a highway,
A highway for our God!
The valleys shall be exalted,
The lofty hills brought low;
Make straight all the crooked places
Where God, our God, may go!
O Zion, that bringest good tidings,
Get the up to the heights and sing!
Proclaim to a desolate people
The coming of their King.
Like the flowers of the field they perish,
Like grass our works decay;
The power and pomp of nations
Shall pass, like a dream, away.
But the word of our God endureth,
Whose arm is every strong;
God stands in the midst of nations,
And soon will right the wrong.
God shall feed the flock like a shepherd,
The lambs so gently hold;
To pastures of peace will lead them,
And bring them safe to fold.
There’s a voice in the wilderness crying,
A call from the ways untrod:
Prepare in the desert a highway,
A highway for our God!
The valleys shall be exalted,
The lofty hill brought low;
Make straight all the crooked places
Where God, our God, may go!
The Word
Meditation – “Our Time, Talents, and Treasures of the Past, Present, Future”
Hymn – “Christ Has No Body Now But Yours”
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands but yours.
Here on this earth, yours is the work,
To serve with the joy of compassion.
No hands but yours to heal the wounded world,
No hands but yours to soothe all its suffering,
No touch but yours to bind the broken hope
Of the people of God.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands but yours.
Here on this earth, yours is the work,
To serve with the joy of compassion.
No eyes but yours to see as Christ would see,
To find the lost, to gaze the compassion;
No eyes but yours to glimpse the holy joy
Of the city of God.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands but yours.
Here on this earth, yours is the work,
To serve with the joy of compassion.
No feet but yours to journey with the poor,
To walk this world with mercy and justice.
Yours are the steps to build a lasting peace
For the children of God.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands but yours.
Here on this earth, yours is the work,
To serve with the joy of compassion.
Through ev’ry gift, give back to those in need:
As Christ has blessed, so now be his blessing,
With ev’ry gift a benediction,
Be to the people of God.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands but yours.
Here on this earth, yours is the work,
To serve with the joy of compassion.
Offering / Response – “Your Work O God, Needs Many Hands”
Your work, O God, needs many hands
To help you everywhere,
And some there are who cannot serve
Unless our gifts we share.
Because we love you and your work,
Our offering now we make:
Be please to use it as your own,
We ask for Jesus’ sake.
The Response
Prayers of the People
One: We come today in thanksgiving for the gifts, talents, time, and monetary gifts that have been given by the Women of the United Church over the past 60 years.
One: We give thanks for the groups who preceded the United Church Women—the Women’s Missionary Society, the Women’s Association, the Ladies Aid, and other women’s groups who did important work in their time and place. For the decades long friendships made, the outreach carried out, and the pastoral care work provided—the cards, the Christmas treats, the phone calls, the visits, we give thanks. For the thousands of projects supported by United Church Women over the decades with their hands, voices, and financial assistance, we are grateful. For support for projects beyond our regions, we are grateful. Let us continue to support UCW members who no longer can attend meetings nor help with events. We remember those members who have passed and their many wonderful contributions.
One: We give thanks for the Marthas and Marys of the congregation who work in the ministry of our church in different but needed ways. As we continue to “colour outside the lines” let us give thanks for the past, and continue in hope for the future. Amen.
Hymn – “We Celebrate Our History”
We celebrate our history, rejoice to know our past.
And thank God for those women who to the faith held fast.
They toiled in God’s service, they worshiped, worked and prayed
And following a vision they journeyed unafraid.
In this world of turmoil, the call of God we heed;
And to that call stay faithful, in action, word, and deed.
Thus challenged by our purpose, and struggling on the way,
We journey where God leads us, toward a better day.
We look toward the future, and joyfully we go
With faith into tomorrow the seeds of life to sow.
We follow still that vision, that will not be denied,
The coming of an Eden where all in love abide.
