UNION CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF HANCOCK
Open and Affirming of ALL God’s Children
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 15, 2022
Deacon-led Service—Mental Health Sunday
This service will be in the sanctuary and on Zoom at 10:00 a.m.
Join us for Zoom Coffee Hour beginning shortly after the service ends.
(Find the link below and in your email in-box.)
10:00 a.m. Sunday Worship Service followed by Zoom Coffee Hour
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 882 8024 5071
Passcode: 402851
To view the service on Facebook after it has been uploaded
(type this into your web browser) Hancock UCC Maine @ Facebook or click below
You may also click on this link to find the service on our YouTube page.
Emotional health can lead to success in work, relationships and health. In the past, researchers believed that success made people happy. Newer research reveals that it’s the other way around. Happy people are more likely to work toward goals, find the resources they need and attract others with their energy and optimism — key building blocks of success.
What You Can Do
We all face trauma, adversity and other stresses. Here’s a roadmap for adapting to life-changing situations, and emerging even stronger than before.
· How to help children and teens manage their stress [https://www.apa.org/topics/child-development/stress]
Left unchecked, long-term stress can contribute to a long list of physical and mental health problems.
· Caring for Yourself and Your Family Members [https://www.apa.org/pi/about/publications/caregivers/consumers/self-family-care]
There are resources available for family caregivers to get support.
Getting Help
A collection of articles, tips sheets and links to research to better understand psychotherapy, how it works and how you can get started.
· InfoAboutKids.org [https://infoaboutkids.org/] A web resource center for behavioral science-based information on children, youth and families developed by leaders of seven divisions of the American Psychological Association.
Hot Lines in Maine
Silent Prayer
God, we thank you for the hope of a new day and a fresh start. We give thanks for the reminder that “it’s okay to not be okay” and that it’s better to tell the truth about what’s really going on for us, to get support and help, than to suffer in silence and alone. We thank you God that you never give up on us even when we feel like giving up on ourselves. We thank you that we can hold onto hope one day at a time. We are grateful for this faith community, where we can experience sacred welcome, inclusion, support, and engagement for mental health. Bless us with the power of your Holy Spirit as we share your love with others in our mission to end the stigma and shame of mental illness. Amen* Indicates points in the service when we stand in body or spirit
Announcements
Prelude The Shepherd Psalm arr. Gilbert Martin
Welcome
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me, Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
*Call to Worship
One: We gather in the presence of the One who abandons no one.
All: Come Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Comforter.
One: All are welcome in this sacred place, made holy by Your presence with us.
All: Open our hearts and minds this day. Guide us into healthy and loving relationships with all your children.
One: We gather as God’s beloved people, leaving no one outside.
All: Spark us with a word of life and radical belonging—a message that we share with others as we seek to live out Christ’s love.
One: We call on the name of God, who creates, redeems, and sustains us.
All: Amen
*Passing of the Peace (ASL) - Lighting of the Peace Candle & Prayer for Peace & Justice
*Hymn We Are One in the Spirit R. #386
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, And we pray that our unity may one day be restored: And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land:
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love.
We will work with each other, we will work side by side, We will work with each other, we will work side by side, And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride: And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love.
*Invocation (spoken in unison)
O God, come into our places of worship this day and enliven us. Come into each heart, each prayer, each story, each song, each life here today so that we may live and love with purpose, courage, and beauty. Give us hearts and minds to perceive the grace of the differences of our embodied experience, to resist what excludes and diminishes, and to dismantle what acts as barriers to flourishing together in love and justice. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen
Children’s Message
New Testament Reading (Christian Scriptures) John 13:31-35
Special Music – Choir For Where Love Is, There Is God arr. Douglas Wagner
Tune: Beach Spring
Message Doug Kimmel & Robin Long*Hymn Help Us Accept Each Other (vs. 1-3) R. #376
Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us and bring us to believe:
we are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live.
Teach us, O Lord, your lessons, as in our daily life
we struggle to be human and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some,
to love them as we find them or as they may become.
Let your acceptance change us, so that we may be moved
in living situations to do the truth in love;
to practice your acceptance, until we know by heart
the table of forgiveness and laughter's healing art.
Litany of Naming
One: On this mental health Sunday, we join in this Litany of Naming.
All: As a congregation we are glad to lift up our voices and our spirits to break the silence that often happens when we are confronted with mental illness.
One: As a faith community, we name the gifts and the often unnamed experiences which come to those who live with a mental illness such as major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia, substance abuse, addiction, historic and generational trauma, racial trauma, grief, and eating disorder. We name:
All: the hope which upholds our spirit through honest sharing;
One: the pain when people turn away because of fear;
All: the courage to speak in a safe place, the way that Jesus spoke truth with love;
One: the strength from being with others who listen compassionately;
All: the isolation that comes when no one knows what to say;
One: the realization that mental illness and brain disorders can be managed;
All: the exhaustion that comes from living with a mental illness, as well as for those who are caregivers;
One: the welcome of mental health as part of our church’s ministry and outreach;
All: the wisdom that comes when we become educated about mental health;
One: the spirituality that comes when we walk alongside those who show both resilience and vulnerability in their lives affected by mental illness;
All: we receive these gifts which we have named, those that are welcomed and those that are challenges. We come before you, our God, knowing we are not alone and that you will show us a way to be and to live. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen
Prayers of the People – Sharing Joys & Concerns
Lead Me Lord
Lead me Lord, lead me in thy righteousness, make thy way plain before my face.
For it is thou Lord, thou Lord, only, that makest me dwell in safety.
Offering
Welcoming our Tithes and Offerings – We long to be members of the beloved community. We desire to experience God’s kin-dom on earth as it is in heaven. And so, we share what gifts we can, laughter, love, hope, tears, time, talents, and treasures, to do our part, trusting that the kin-dom is close when we are working together in community.
Offertory Our Heart’s Sweet Joy Linda Moeller Trad. German Melody
*The Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God for all that love has done; Creator, Christ, and Spirit, One. Amen
*Prayer of Dedication (spoken in unison)
May these gifts help to build the community of care and compassion that we hope to create. May they be a legacy of justice, hope, faith, and most importantly, love. Amen
* Hymn Amazing Grace B. #547
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.
T’was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; T'is grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.
My God has promised good to me,
Whose word my hope secures;
God will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days
to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.
*Blessing
One: Accompany us as we pledge ourselves to:
All: Honor one another in the stories and ideas we share…Seek to dismantle barriers that prevent the kind of communion you call us to be as your Church, in which people with mental health challenges are full participants. And strive to co-create a culture of mutuality characterized by loving respect, partnership, and belonging among all.
*Sung Benediction Go With Us, Lord R. #336
That in your Spirit strong and true our lives may be our gift to you.
Postlude The Heavens Declare Benedetto Marcelo
(Please remain seated for the Postlude)
Please visit Hancock (Maine) UCC on Facebook
or visit this link to our PayPal account: paypal.me/hancockucc
or mail offerings to:
Union Congregational Church, PO Box 443, Hancock, ME 04640 (Attention: Treasurer)
207.422.3100 207.323.6743
Many thanks to those who helped make this service possible –
in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
Deb Riley – Music Minister
Mary Angela Davis, Nick Davis, Phoebe Devenish, Phil Devenish,
Jeanne Edwards, Peggy Emigh, Pat Summerer – Choir
Robin Long & David Wildes – Deacons
Gina Tansey – Liturgist
Cynthia Wood – Graphics Minister
Ron Schwizer – Audio-Video Support
Vicky Espling – Office Secretary
TJ Mack – Settled Minister
You – The Body of Christ
Resources:
Worship Ways (ucc.org)
"Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, License #A-738532. All rights reserved.”
Spirit of the Living God
Words and Music - ©1963 Jubilate Music
Contributors: Daniel Iverson and Michale Baughen, Daniel Iverson
Help Us Accept Each Other (BARONITA) - Fred Kaan/Doreen Potter
Words and Music - ©1975 Hope Publishing Company
Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound
Public Domain
Go with Us, Lord
Words - ©1990 Hope Publishing Company
Contributors: Mary Jackson Cathey
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