Worship At United
Coming together for worship at United is like finding water in a dry and thirsty land. That’s why we do so, not only on Sunday mornings but midweek, too!
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Like a stream in the desert, worship can refresh and renew us. Each week it offers us God’s new life and hope, for ourselves and for this world. At United, worship is the center of our life together, from which everything else flows: outreach, education, care, among others.
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Whether on Sunday mornings, midweek, or other times, worship at United offers that new life in different ways. Sometimes – especially in the Sunday 8:30 AM service and the midweek contemplative services – worship is like the deep, still waters that God promises in the 23rd Psalm. In the later Sunday service, worship can be like a living stream, offering life in all kinds of ways. Similarly, like on Mardi Gras and Fiesta Sundays, worship is a river, full of life and surprises.
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At United, we believe all of us – regardless of age – need the living waters of worship. That’s why children and younger youth join in the first part of the late service each Sunday and why Children’s Ministry always begins with prayer and song. It’s also why we offer a number of “intergenerational” services for all ages throughout the year.
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We hope you’ll join us in worship at United. Together may we be renewed by the waters of life God offers us each week.
Angels in the Wilderness
Holy Week With United
The journey from Palm Sunday to the Last Supper and Calvary and finally to Easter morning is peopled with human beings making human decisions. Many of those decisions were cruel beyond imagining, made from desperate fear. But there were other choices, too, rooted in love and faith. Jesus kneeling before his disciples (all of them) to wash their feet. The women choosing to follow him all the way to the cross. Joseph of Aramathea risking his life and leadership to give Jesus a proper burial.
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All of them were “angels in the wilderness.” Holy Week invites us to remember them—and to let their commitment give us the love and courage we need to be angels for others in this wilderness time of our own world.
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Worship This Month
Midweek Communion in Lent
Feb 25-
April 1
12:15 to 12:45PM
Do you yearn for silence or an opportunity to breathe, pray, replenish? Starting Wednesday, Feb. 25, United offers a Lenten Noontime Communion (12:15- 12:45). All welcome to recharge and renew. (Through Holy Week: April 1)
Called to New Birth - Second Sunday of Lent
March 1
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
Nicodemus was a spiritual leader whose spirit had run dry. He came to Jesus under the cover of darkness to find out who this new prophet was and what he was about. (John 3:11-7) Instead Nicodemus finds out who he is – i.e., someone who needs to be born anew in God’s love.
Call by a New Thirst - 3rd Lent
March 8
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
(Daylight Savings starts!)
Walking from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus ends up at a well in Samaria (hostile territory), thirsty and with no bucket. He asks a woman for a drink. (John 4:5-42) Their encounter crosses multiple boundaries – gender roles, religion, ethnicity, etc. It also mixes up actual H2O, and the living water God offers. What do we thirst for?
Called to New Vision - Joyous Lent
March 15
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
One Sabbath, Jesus heals a man born blind and gets crossways with the religious leaders. They cross-examine the man about Jesus’ sin in breaking the Sabbath law. The man responds, “I don’t know if this man (Jesus) is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” End of story—sort of. (John 9:1-41)
Called to New Understanding - 5th Lent
March 22
The 11th Chapter of John’s gospel is traditionally known as “Lazarus Raised from the Dead.” It could also be titled “Jesus Raised to New Life.” Lazarus’ sister Martha affirms that Jesus is the Messiah, but she also tells him her brother wouldn’t have died if Jesus had come sooner. Even Jesus had to face his own failings. It comes with being human.
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
Called to a New Decision - Palm Sunday
March 29
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
The service moves from the triumphant entry into Jerusalem into the beginning of the Passion story. The turning point is when the religious leaders, terrified by the crowd following Jesus, admit “What can we do? The world has gone after him.” (John 12:9-19.) Their only answer is to kill not only Jesus, but also Lazarus. What would it have taken to make a different decision? What would we have chosen faced with the same fear?
Maundy Thursday
April 2
7:00pm
We share the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet, even Judas’ and Peter’s. We share the Last Supper and then United youth and adults lead us deeper through Jesus’ Passion, gradually extinguishing seven candles, until the service ends with no benediction and we, like the disciples, scatter into the darkness.
Good Friday
April 3
Creation Care
9:00 -11:30am
Worship
12:00pm
As we gather to engage this hard story, we pray for ourselves, our loved ones, and all God’s people living under the shadow of violence and injustice. We pray, too, for God’s crucified creation and for the strength to love this world as God so loved—and still loves. The Sanctuary will also be open until 3:00 pm for private prayer.
Easter Sunday - The Angel Rolled the Stone Away
April 5
6:30am Outdoor Sunrise Communion
10:00am All Age Celebration
King Herod, Pilate, and the whole Roman Empire thought Jesus’ story ended on the treeless hill called Calvary. The Empire’s soldiers rolled a stone in front of the tomb so no one could “steal” the body. But no empire and no rock could keep God’s new life from bursting forth. In the words of a Negro spiritual, “the angel rolled the stone away!” Who have been those angels in our lives? And what do we need to be “stone-rollers” in our time?
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From start to finish, Easter Sunday is filled with Hallelujahs. We sing Alleluia to the sunrise at 6:30 and conclude the 10:00 service with the “Hallelujah Chorus.” All welcome all the time!