Sunday Bulletin
Celebration Service January 15 , 2023 – 9:30 am
Lyrics and music for the hymns, when legally sharable,
are available by clicking on the title of each hymn.
Prelude “Arioso” Richard Peek
Introit “Still Our Restless Minds”
Welcome & Announcements
Call to Worship
Sisters and brothers, rejoice. We live sustained by God’s presence and love.
Thanks be to God.
As we mourn the wounds of God’s children,
God weeps with us.
As we give thanks for brothers and sisters who have lived in faith,
God gives thanks with us.
As we struggle for justice,
God struggles with us.
As we strive for peace,
God strives with us.
As we work to build the beloved community,
God works with us.
As we offer our gifts to all,
God blesses us.
Sisters and brothers, rejoice.
Sustained by God’s presence and love we worship God.
Hymn* “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” #153
Unison Prayer
Lord our God, you have revealed yourself as One who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among people.
Be present with your church, Lord, as we respond to your call. Open our eyes to the downtrodden. Fill us with compassion for the plight of the alien, the refugee, and the immigrant. So may your justice roll down like waters, your righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Lead our footsteps to stand with the poor, that we might stand with you. Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Children’s Message
Psalm 146 Lay Reader: Bidi Wheelwright
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the Lord their God,
Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free; and opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, and loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers, and upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!
The Gloria Patri* #35
Glory be to The Father, and to The Son, and to The Holy Ghost
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end, Amen, Amen
Anthem “Mighty Lord, Thy Faithfulness Abideth Ever” Lotti
Prayers of the People
Hymn “Sing of God Made Manifest” #176
Reading Matthew 2:13-23
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[a]
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Message “A Family on the Run” Rev. Dan Haugh
Mission Moment CRVAN Rachel Cogbill
Offering
Offertory “Abide With Us, Lord Jesus” Marpurg
Click here to make an online donation
Doxology*
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise him all creatures here below.
Praise him above you heavenly hosts,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Offertory Prayer*
Communion
Hymn* “O for a World” #683
“We Three Kings” (verses 1 – 4) #172
Benediction*
Closing “Seven-fold Amen” Stainer
Postlude “Jubilate Deo Omnis Terra” Benoit
Closing*
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CLICK HERE to join our Fellowship Meeting at 11:00 am
Calendar of Events
We encourage the use of masks for anyone feeling unwell or for those who would prefer to have a mask on. As a congregation, we respect those who chose to wear a mask out of personal concern/safety.
We will continue to live stream our services through our website www.stowecommunitychurch.org.
Monday, 1/16 Noon AA weekly meeting in Fellowship Hall
Tuesday, 1/17 4:30 Youth Ministries skating at Spruce
8:00 AA weekly meeting in Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, 1/18 Noon AA weekly meeting in Fellowship Hall
5:30 choir rehearsal in Organ Loft
Happy Birthday this week to:
Patrick Lacey, Lynne von Trapp and Eleanor Williams today, 1/15
Johannes von Trapp on 1/17
Carrie Alario, Olivia De Rienzo and Calvin Jennings on 1/18
Barbara Percy and Riley Stafford on 1/21
Announcements
The flowers today are in loving memory of Richard I. Johannesen, Jr, whose memorial service was here yesterday.
The ushers today are Karen Monsen and Jean Mudgett . Thank you for helping today.
Mission of the Month: Central Vermont Refugee Action Network (CVRAN) Today we welcome Rachel Cogbill from the Central Vermont Refugee Action Network for our Mission Moment. CVRAN is dedicated to making our communities welcoming, safe places for asylum seekers, refugees, and migrant workers. CVRAN's mission is to help these new Vermonters settle, work, and thrive in Central Vermont. https://cvran.org/ The January 17th CVRAN Event at the Montpelier Senior Center at 5 p.m. is below:
The Montpelier Senior Activity Center and the Central Vermont Refugee Action Network are holding a joint event, CVRAN: Getting Involved, on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, from 5 to 6:30 pm in the activity room at the Senior Center. CVRAN provides housing, financial, medical, legal, and educational support, as well as friendship, to asylum seekers and refugees living in our communities. We invite you to come hear our panel of volunteers, refugees and asylum seekers talk about what we do, who we serve, and how you could get involved. Refreshments will be served. (In case of inclement weather, the event will be held the following Tuesday, January 24. Cancellation information would be posted on the CVRAN website, cvran.org.)
Join the Greater Stowe Interfaith Coalition in community as we honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., with a reception and concert program today, January 15 at 6 p.m. at the Stowe Village Inn on Mountain Road. All proceeds will be in support of the Lamoille Community House 365 Campaign.
Discover the gifts of the labyrinth!
Do you want to take your reflection/prayer/meditation
practice to the next level? Using a canvas labyrinth, this workshop
will teach you all you need to know to begin enjoying
the many benefits of the labyrinth. You will then be
able to take your newfound labyrinth practice home
to continue the journey, Saturday 1/21, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm in Fellowship Hall.
The annual Congregational Meeting of the Stowe Community Church will be held in person and via livestream immediately following the 9:30 am service on Sunday, January 22nd. The meeting will include the election of officers for 2023, approval of the 2023 budget, approval of a few bylaw changes and any other business that may come before the congregation.
Church Fellowship Hour
All SCC members and friends are invited to join together for an online church fellowship hour on Sundays beginning at 11:00am today. During these winter months, this provides an opportunity to connect and socialize after church from the safety and comfort of home. Each week we will be able to connect with friends unable to attend church, see old friends now living afar, meet new friends and get to know our online community. .
Brew a pot of coffee or tea, grab your favorite mug (and maybe a tasty treat) and join us online on Sundays! The link is available at the top of this page, and also in this week’s Quest.
SCC Ski Day February 6th!
Reserve the date Monday, February 6th!
We're planning another SCC Ski Day. So all you skiers and riders plan to join Pastor Dan for a morning of skiing on Mount Mansfield! Like last year we will visit the Mountain Chapel for a brief gathering. With the way our weather has been, we may be praying for snow!
During January, we are asking for prayers for our Stewardship Campaign and Committee.
Our Stewardship Campaign is a time when members and friends of our church are asked to pray about their giving and make a financial commitment (pledge) for the next 12 months. For long-time contributors, we thank you for your dedication and commitment to our church. For new members and friends, this is your chance to pledge and join us in fulfilling God's mission for our church.
Your financial commitment or pledge is important so that we can budget accordingly at our annual meeting at the end of January.
Please join us in praying for our campaign and the members of this important committee - Nancy Biscone, Christian Cobaugh, Chris DeRienzo, Maggy Dunphy, Nancy Jeffries Dwyer, and Bidi Wheelwright.
If you, or someone you know, would like prayers for comfort or healing, the members of the Prayer Team are ready to support you. Please fill out the prayer request form in the bulletin and put it in the offering plate or hand it to an usher to deliver to the office.
Please do not forget our neighbors in need by donating food for the Lamoille Community Food Share. Non-perishable items can be put in our two bins, one in the Narthex and one in the hall downstairs. Thank you.
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Music Notes by Karen Miller
Prelude: Richard Maurice Peek (b.1927) graduated from Michigan State University and became organist of the Covenent Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1952. He was a music editor for the Brodt Music Company in Charlotte and wrote and published a number of organ pieces for church service use. His “Arioso” was published in 1982. A quiet, brooding piece in A Minor, it features a prominent soprano solo line that appears throughout the piece with contrasting interludes until the final chord in A Major.
Anthem: “Mighty Lord, Thy Faithfulness Abideth Ever” is one of many anthems by Antonio Lotti (1667-1740). Lotti was an Italian composer and organist, who began his musical career as a chorister in St. Mark’s choir in Venice. He became chief organist there in 1704 and choirmaster in 1736. His early composing was principally for the theater as he wrote 24 operas between 1693 and 1717, but after 1719 he wrote only church music. This choral piece is written in three parts, with the tenor-basses singing together. It has a fugal style with the principal phrases passed between voices.
Offertory: Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718-1795) was an enterprising sort who held a variety of positions in the course of his life. He is known as an editor, writer, and critic but is also believed to have worked in a secret military post – in Paris and Hamburg. For a time he was also “Director of the Prussian Lottery.” He knew J.S. Bach and wrote the preface for the second edition of Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue.” Also a music theorist, Marpurg wrote a treatise on fugue in 1754. He composed many short chorale based works of which his “Christus, Der Ist Mein Leben” (Abide with Us, Lord Jesu) is one. This three voice work features a canon between the soprano and bass line with running eighth notes in the middle voice.
Postlude: Luxembourg monk, organist, and composer Dom Paul Benoit (1893-1979) spent most of his life at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Maurice et Saint-Maur in Clervaux where he wrote a large quantity of organ music, only half of which is published. His music is possessed of a joyous serenity stemming from a deep faith, and this hopefulness pervades even his darker works for Easter week. His “Jubilate Deo Omnes Terra” is a majestic and triumphal postlude.
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