Second Sunday of Easter Worship Service

Dear Friends in Christ,

You are cordially invited to participate in our 2nd Sunday of Easter Worship Service on Sunday, April 19th at 9:30 a.m. or at a time of your choosing.

Worship Instructions: In order to give Pastor Liz a well needed vacation, this week’s service will be a little different. Please proceed through the service below at your own pace. When it is time for songs and the reflection, watch the included videos.

Our thanks to Rev Libby Tigner (Associate Conference Minister for Southern Association SCNC UCC) for sharing her message this week.

If you’d like to download the worship service, you may do so here.

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Worship Service On-Line

Second Sunday of Easter

April 19, 2020

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista, UCC

www.chulavistachurch.com

Welcome and Opening Prayer

Call to Worship: Psalm 95:1-7

Prayer of Invocation: Generous God, we thank you for your presence with us in all our lives. As we worship you this morning, even from our own homes, we are reminded of the many times we have doubted and feared. Today banish our fears with the memory of the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Remind us again that through all our troubles, doubts, and fears, your power, mercy and love are with us. Amen.

Hymn of Adoration: “Crown Him With Many Crowns”

Crown Him with many crowns,

The Lamb upon His Throne

Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns

All music but it’s own!

Awake, my soul and sing

Of Him who died for Thee;

And hail Him as they matchless King

Through all eternity.

Crown Him the Lord of life,

Who triumped o’er the grave.

Who rose victorious to the strife,

For those He came to save.

His glories now we sing,

Who died and rose on high:

Who died eternal life to bring,

And lives that death may die.

Prayer of the People and Lord’s Prayer

Scripture Reading

John 20:19-31 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Message:  Rev Libby Tigner

Closing Song “How Great Thou Art”

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed;

Chorus

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my savior God to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow in humble adoration,

And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Chorus

Benediction:  Pastor Liz Aguilar

May the resurrected Christ fill you with His peace even as you doubt.

May His love move you to share his peace with others.

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Announcements and Reminders

Please remember to continue sending in your pledges and offerings to the church: Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista, UCC, 276 F. St., Chula Vista, CA 91910.

Please continue to pray for one another and for all of God’s children around the world, that might be affected by the Corona Virus. Please pray that God helps scientist to develop a vaccine and that more tests would be made available. Please also pray for those who are struggling financially at this time. Lastly, please remember to reach out to one another through phone calls and cards. You are not alone! 

Caravaggio: Doubting Thomas

Maundy Worship Service

Dear Friends in Christ,

I hope that you have been having a blessed Holy Week, even in the midst of our continued “lock-down” time.  Please remember that we will not have our usual Wednesday night reflection. Instead, you are cordially invited to participate in our Maundy Worship Service on Thursday, April 9th at 7 p.m., when we will be remembering Jesus’ Last Supper with His disciples. To prepare for worship on Thursday night, we ask that you have ready some bread and some juice that you can share with those who share your home. Then, please download the worship service which is attached, here.

https://www.facebook.com/chulavistaUCC/videos/533812550898593/
Even if you don’t have a Facebook account, you can view the live stream here at 7:00 PM on Thursday. https://www.facebook.com/chulavistaUCC/

Then on Sunday, at 9:30 a.m., you are invited to join us in a joyful Easter worship! You will be receiving Sunday’s worship service by email and/ or on our web page by Saturday. You can find the worship service liturgies and services (live) on our web page www.chulavistachurch.com or on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/chulavistaUCC, at the times listed above. Invite your family and friends to worship with us, as well!

We look forward to being together across the miles as we remember and thank Jesus, for His sacrificial love, for all of us.

See” you soon,

Pastor Liz

Worship: Palm Sunday

https://www.facebook.com/chulavistaUCC/videos/244618360027204/
Even if you don’t have a Facebook account, you can view the live stream here at 9:30 AM on Sunday.

You are invited to worship with Pastor Liz and her mom, Esther, tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. for our Palm Sunday live-stream worship service. You can find the live stream on Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista Facebook page or you can check back here, tomorrow afternoon to watch the worship service. Please follow along the communion liturgy and sing with us, the two hymns for Palm Sunday. Make sure to have some bread and juice prepared ahead of time so that you and your family can participate in communion together. We know that this is not the way we usually celebrate Palm Sunday but we do so from our homes, knowing that Christ will still be praised!

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Celebration of Holy Communion

Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020

Communion liturgy written by Rev. Maren Taribassi. Used with permission from the author.

Invitation
For Holy Communion this morning,
I invite you to lend Christ your table.

On the first day of Holy Week long ago,
people throughout Judea arrived
at the dusty gates of Jerusalem,
primed with “Hosanna” in their hearts
and Jesus asked to borrow a donkey.

On the Thursday that followed,
Jesus rented or was given
John Mark’s mother’s Upper Room
to celebrate the Passover with the disciples.

On the afternoon of the resurrection,
Jesus was invited into a house in Emmaus
and used the bread of that hospitality
to break and bless.

Lend Christ your table, your bread, your cup and your heart,
for, as the disciples told the person who loaned the donkey,
“The Lord has need of it.”

Prayer of Consecration
Leader: We are one bread, one body, one cup of blessing. Though we are many throughout the earth and this church community is scattered, we are one in Christ. In your many kitchens, and living rooms, rest your hands lightly upon these elements which we set aside today to be a sacrament. Let us ask God’s blessing upon them.

Unison: Gentle Redeemer, there is no lockdown on your blessing and no quarantine on grace. Send your Spirit of life and love, power and blessing upon every table where your child shelters in place, that this Bread may be broken and gathered in love and this Cup poured out to give hope to all. Risen Christ, live in us, that we may live in you. Breathe in us, that we may breathe in you.

Words of Remembering
Leader: We remember that Paul the apostle wrote letters to congregations throughout places we now call Greece, Turkey and Macedonia, and they were the first “remote” worship resources. Our online service has a long heritage. The Communion words sent to the church at Corinth were these:

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Sharing of the Elements
Leader: Let us in our many places receive the gift of God, the Bread of Heaven.
Unison: We are one in Christ in the bread we share.

Leader: Let us in our many places receive the gift of God, the Cup of Blessing.
Unison: We are one in Christ in the cup we share.

Prayer of Thanksgiving
Leader: Let us pray in thanksgiving for this meal of grace, rejoicing that, by the very method of our worship, we have embodied the truth that Christ’s love is not limited by buildings made with human hands, nor contained in human ceremonies, but blows as free as the Spirit in all places.

Unison:
Spirit of Christ, you have blessed our tables and our lives. May the eating of this Bread give us courage to speak faith and act love, not only in church sanctuaries, but in your precious world, and may the drinking of this Cup renew our hope even in the midst of pandemic. Wrap your hopeful presence around all whose bodies, spirits and hearts need healing, and let us become your compassion and safe refuge. Amen

Hymns for Palm Sunday

All Glory Laud and Honor                                               #249, Red Hymnal

All glory loud and honor to Thee, Redeemer, King.
To whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
Thou art the King of Israel, Thou David’s royal Son,
Who in the Lord’s name comest, the King and blessed one!

To Thee before Thy Passion, they sang their hymns of praise;
To Thee, now high exalted, our melody we raise;
Thou didst accept their praises accept the praise we bring,
Who in all good delightest, Thou good and precious King!

Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart                                                #394, Red Hymnal

Rejoice ye pure in heart, rejoice, give thanks and sing;
Your festive banner wave on high, the cross of Christ your king;
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, give thanks and sing.

Then on, ye pure in heart, rejoice, give thanks and sing;
Your glorious banner wave on high, the cross of Christ your King;
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, give thanks and sing.