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!
​
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.
​
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.
​
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.
​
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.
Who do we see when we see Jesus Christ?
Worship in August
“Long ago,” begins the Letter to the Hebrews, “God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets.” But in these last days, the author continues, “God has spoken to us by the Chosen One,” the Christ.
So what does this Christ say to us about God? That’s our focus for worship this month. We often know what we don’t want to say about Jesus Christ (and often think it’s easier not to say anything). But as a United Church of Christ, we need to know what we do say about Christ. As we look to a new year of life and ministry together, let’s take time this month to engage that question. The anonymous author of the Letter to Hebrews, written to early Christians in a time not unlike our own, can be a good guide.
Throughout the month, we’ll use both the New Revised Standard translation of the Bible and also the First Nations Version, an Indigenous translation of Christian Scripture.
_JPG.jpg)
Worship This Month
Promise of a New Covenant
August 3
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
We don’t know who wrote the “Letter to the Hebrews,” when it was written or to whom it
was addressed (definitely not “Hebrews” or other Jewish audiences). Evidence points to 2nd or 3rd generation Christians, struggling to keep the faith at the end of the 1st century. Rome still ruled, the Second Coming hadn’t come. Had God abandoned them? Not at all, the author affirms. Instead God had created a new way of connecting with God’s love and life through the life and love of Jesus Christ—a new covenant written on their hearts. (Heb. 1:1-3, 8:8-12)
The Promise of Accessible Holiness
August 10
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
Who is this Holy One? And how can we trust this unseen God with our lives? In this Letter, the Holy One is not some distant deity who doesn’t know human life. Instead, this One can sympathize with our weakness and suffering, This One has known life as we know it, with all its joys and sorrows. Therefore, the author pleads, “let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:14-16) Yes, we can trust God’s promise of Christ’s “accessible holiness.”
The Promise of Things Hoped For (Indian Market Sunday)
August 17
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
Writing to people in a time of oppression and fear, the anonymous author affirmed,
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Or, as
the First Nations version of Christian scripture translates, “Trusting Creator is the solid
ground our hope rests on. It means we can be sure of the things we do not yet see.” (Heb.
11:1-3) Like the first Christians or the First Nations peoples, we may not see the way
ahead in our time. Can we keep their faith that the Holy One is with us on our journey?
The Promise of Strength for the Journey
August 24
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
“We are surrounded by a great cloud of truth tellers,” wrote the anonymous author (First Nations trans.) “who have shown us what it means to trust the Great Spirit. So let us lay to the side everything that weighs us down and the broken ways that so easily wrap around our legs to trip us.” (Heb. 12:1-2) Who are our truth tellers? What weighs us down? And how do we keep going in this journey of life, hope, and faith?
The Work We're Called to Do
August 31
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
“Keep loving each other as brothers and sisters of the sacred family. Do not forget
to be kind and welcoming to strangers.... Keep the ones in prison in your thoughts as
if you were there with them, and those who are mistreated as if you in your own body
shared their suffering.” (Heb. 13:1-3, First Nations) A good message for the Sunday
before Labor Day, followed by a good promise for any day: “For the Great Spirit
has said, ‘I will never leave you or give up on you.’” (Heb. 13:6)