Today’s service has THREE choices.  You may view the Live Stream on Facebook at this link:   https://fb.me/e/dha8E1wfF , hear it in the church parking lot at 107.1 FM, or join us in person inside (masking preferred). 

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Gathering Music                  Polly Dunford

Welcome and Announcements                Rosie Thompson

Call to Worship (from the 13th Chapter of Hebrews)   Rev. Laura Collins

One: Let mutual love continue.
All: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, 

One: for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
All: We can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can anyone do to me?"

One: Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

All: Let mutual love continue. Amen! 

Opening Hymn       “Be Thou My Vision”                Hymnal #450

  Words are an Irish poem; Music is an Irish ballad.

1)  Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

naught be all else to me, save that thou art;

thou my best thought, by day or by night,

waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

2)  Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true Word;

I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;

thou my soul’s shelter, and thou my high tower;

raise thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

3)  Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise;

thou mine inheritance, now and always;

thou and thou only, first in my heart,

High King of Heaven, my treasure thou art.

4)  High King of Heaven, my victory won,

may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

Readings:

Do not weep and be pained, nor doubt, for all Christ’s grace will be with you and shelter you. But rather let us praise his greatness, for Jesus has prepared us and made us Humans.  …

Jesus answered and said to me, ‘Blessed are you that you did not waver at seeing me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure.’

The Gospel of Mary

We are on the hero's journey when we submit to the deep processes of life and allow them to affect us and bore their necessities into us. We are the hero when we take on the challenges and go through our initiations and transformations, enduring loss and gain, feeling happy and sad, making progress and falling back. The hero is engaged in life. The hero is not the one who displays force and muscle without deep insight or the courage to be. The hero may not look heroic from the outside but may go through powerful developments in a quiet way. The difference is that the real hero engages life and reflects on it. She becomes more and more what he or she is destined to be.

Thomas Moore:  A Religion of One's Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World

Message     “Treasuring the Journey”    Rev. Laura Collins

Prayer Concerns and Joys              Rosie Thompson

Closing Hymn               “Take My Life”       Hymnal #697  

                Words by Frances Ridley Havergal; Music by H.A. Cesar Malan

1) Take my life and let it be        4)  Take my silver and my gold;

consecrated, Lord, to thee;  not a mite would I withhold;

take my moments and my days; take my intellect and use

let them flow in ceaseless praise; every power as thou shalt choose,

let them flow in ceaseless praise. every power as thou shalt choose.

2)  Take my hands and let them move 5)  Take my will and make it thine;

at the impulse of thy love; it shall be no longer mine.

take my feet and let them be Take my heart, it is thine own;

swift and beautiful for thee, it shall be thy royal throne,

swift and beautiful for thee. it shall be thy royal throne.

3)  Take my voice and let me sing 6)  Take my love; my Lord,

always, only, for my King; I pour at thy feet its treasure store;

take my lips and let them be take myself and I will be

filled with messages from thee, ever, only, all for thee,

filled with messages from thee. ever, only, all for thee.

Benediction                       Rev. Laura Collins

Discussion

Shalom *************************************************************************************

Calendar of Service

September 4 - Rev. Lucy Youngblood

(Communion and 1st Sunday Potluck lunch. Bring a dish to share.)

September 11 - Rev. Keith Ray   (Session meets at 12:30 pm.)

September 18 - Rev. Keith Ray

September 25 - Rev. Keith Ray

On Monday, September 12, at 6:00 PM, see “At The River”, a feature-length documentary about a certain time and place in the deep south, at Fourth Presbyterian Church, 703 E. Washington Street, Greenville.  In the Civil Rights era of the 50s and 60s, most Presbyterian ministers stood on the banks of the cultural river of segregation and white supremacy. Some opted not to stir the waters in their congregations and communities by speaking out. However, a few young southern Presbyterian ministers braved those currents through their sermons, community organizing, and participating in marches and protests. They faced dangerous, hate-filled consequences for these actions. "At The River" chronicles their lives and their decisions, as well as director Carolyn Crowder’s firsthand experience as a young white southern girl from Montgomery, Alabama. During those mean and turbulent times these ministers, through their love and example, had a huge impact on her life in helping her overcome her southern racist brainwashing.   

A 60+2 Year Anniversary Celebration and Commemoration of the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology will host an Interactive Conversation with Panelists and the Audience on Sunday September 18, 2022, 4:00 PM in the Benson Room of the Bleckley Inn, 151 E.

Church Street, Anderson, SC.  Refreshments will be served.  No registration required — only an interest in progressive thought.

Featuring a Panel Presentation of Present and Past Board Members:  Betty Gable, Eugenia Hall, Tom Richie, Jim Ross, Stuart Sprague, and Steven Morgan, Moderator.

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If you have not seen Rob Gentry’s anagama in action, you need to see this video that ETV made.  Congratulations, Rob!  It is all very impressive.

ANAGAMA KILN | PALMETTO SCENE

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Remember in prayer: Bonnie Marsden; Linda McFall; Mike Johnston; Shea Marsden; Taylor Bishop (Whitney’s niece); Family and Friends of Terry Ann Hayes; Jason Harding; Steve Hallowell; Pat Weddle; Glenn Burns; Tim and Michael Little-Bell and family; Jackie Moore; Whitney Bishop; Latha and Cheryl Semones; Immigrant families; Victims of all violence, oppression, and injustice; Victims of COVID-19; People of Ukraine;  Victims of mass shootings