North Anderson Community Church, Presbyterian

Gathering with Rev. Dr. Steve Morgan

Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 10:15 a.m.

Today’s service may be viewed on Facebook Live Stream at this link in the comfort of your own home or in person at the woods stage.  Join us!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Gathering Music                Polly Dunford            

Welcome and Announcements     Diane Lee

Events and things to know about with our heads

Call to Celebration in the Woods      “When I Am Among the Trees” by Mary Oliver

(Modified without permission to the plural form)

When we are among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness.

we would almost say that they save us, and daily.

We are so distant from the hope of ourselves,

in which we have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around us the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, “Stay awhile.”

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,

“and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine.”

Sharing of Concerns 

Notes of Personal Joys and Sorrows, Gladness and Sadness 

to know about with our hearts

    (Persons will be invited to place rocks in creation waters to represent their concerns.)

 

Celebration Song of Life  “What a Wonderful World”       Handout

    by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele; Arranged by David Johnson

From One World, Many Voices songbook, Interfaith Center at the Presidio, 2002.

Used by permission from Abilene Music, Range Road Music and Quartet Music. All rights reserved.

1)  I see trees of green, red roses too, 

I see them bloom for me and you, 

and I think to myself

What a Wonderful World.

2)  I see skies of blue and clouds of white,

the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night,

and I think to myself

What a Wonderful World.

3)  The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky are also on the faces of people goin’ by,

I see friends shakin’ hands, sayin’ “How do you do!”  They’re really sayin’ “I love you.”

4)  I hear babies cry, I watch them grow.

They’ll learn much more than I’ll every know

and I think to myself  What a Wonderful World.

Yes, I think to myself  What a Wonderful World.  

Wisdom Lesson for the Day     Exodus 12:1-14

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months…Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each household… Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Message Thoughts       Rev. Dr. Steve Morgan

What Happens When We Question Supernatural Theism?

       

Solo Song of Response (while Giving our Gifts)  “Let the Mystery Be” by Iris DeMent

      Thomas Fellow, soloist; David Johnson, guitar; Laurie Gentry, ukulele

Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from
Everybody is worrying 'bout
Where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be.

Some say once you're gone you're gone forever
And some say you're gonna come back
Some say you rest in the arms of the Savior if in sinful ways you lack
Some say that they're coming back in a garden
Bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
I think I'll just let the mystery be.

Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from
Everybody is worrying 'bout
Where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be.

Some say they're going to a place called glory
And I ain't saying it ain't a fact
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory
And I don't like the sound of that
I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
But I choose to let the mystery be.

Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from
Everybody is worrying 'bout
Where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be

I think I'll just let the mystery be

 

Departing Song  “Let Love Be Real”                Handout

    Tune is Londonderry Air, Words by Michael Forster 

1)  Let love be real, in giving and receiving,

without the need to manage and to own;

a haven free from posing and pretending,

where every weakness may be safely known.

Give me your hand, along the desert pathway,

give me your love wherever we may go:

as God loves us, so let us love each other,

with no demands, just open hands and space to grow.

2)  Let love be real, not grasping or confining,

that strange embrace that holds yet sets us free;

that helps us face the risk of truly living,

and makes us brave to be what we might be.

Give me your strength when all my words are weakness,

give me your love in spite of all you know.

3)  Let love be real, with no manipulation,

no secret wish to harness or control;

let us accept each other’s incompleteness,

and share the joy of learning to be whole.

Give me your hope through dreams and disappointments,

give me your trust when all my failings show.

Sending Away Thoughts   A Franciscan Blessing

Discussion What do you think?

                                                        

Shalom   (“May you be well and whole and in communion with all creation.”)

         Shalom, my friends, Shalom, my friends, Shalom, Shalom.

        Till we meet again, Till we meet again, Shalom, Shalom                        

Reprinted with permission under One License #A-625711.  All rights reserved.