March 7 YouTube Livestream – Turning the Tables

This week we are taking the first steps toward in-person worship during this, the third Sunday of Lent. You’ll notice a big change to our livestream worship as well. We’ll be streaming live on YouTube instead of Facebook Live.

Please subscribe to our channel to receive notifications whenever we go live.

Here’s this week’s order for worship:

PRELUDE – Anna DiVesta

*CALL TO WORSHIP – Pastor Dan
One: We have gathered in the presence of God our Creator, who
sets before us the ways of life and death.
All: We have gathered in the presence of Jesus the Christ, who
calls us to accept the cost of discipleship that we may
know its joy.
One: We have gathered in the presence of the Spirit, who
sustains us in trial and rejoicing.
All: In our living and in our dying, we belong to God, who
knows us, loves us, and cares for us exactly as we are.
Let us worship God.

*HYMN – Come Just As You Are – worship booklet, p. 36

1. Come just as you are; Hear the Spirit call.
   Come just as you are; Come and see, come, receive; Come and live forever.

Life everlasting, and strength for today;
Taste the Living Water, and never thirst again.

2. Come just as you are; Hear the Spirit call.
   Come just as you are; Come, receive, Christ the King Come and live forever more.

*UNISON PRAYER OF INVOCATION – Pastor Dan
Wise and Compassionate God, we are drawn to this holy place, in part, because we realize that our knowledge alone is not enough to give life meaning. The pieces of our lives need a center.
As people who are seeking to live as your faithful disciples, we are in the process of growing to recognize your Cross as the center, Jesus. On the Cross, you displayed total unselfishness. At Calvary, you went the distance for us. You always place serving others above everything else. The truth is, Jesus, this example of yours scares us, because we are intimidated by what you may ask of us. Yet we long for the wholeness which only you provide. This longing is so deep that we continue seeking to follow you regardless of the risks.
We come to you this moment, Christ Jesus. Make yourself known to us, we pray. Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

RESPONSE – Let the Words of My Mouth – #417

Let the words of my mouth, and my heart’s meditation Be acceptable to Thee, O Lord
Let the words of my mouth, and my heart’s meditation Be acceptable to Thee, O Lord.
In Thy sight, In Thy sight, May my heart’s meditation be right.
Let the words of my mouth, an my heart’s meditation Be acceptable to thee, O Lord.

GOD’S WORD – 2 Corinthians 1:19-20 – Pastor Dan

CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP: GOD IS INVITING – Sue Wilson

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE – Jo Ann Moody

SPECIAL MUSIC – How Beautiful

GOD’S WORD – John 2:13-22 – Pastor Dan

SERMON – Pastor Dan

PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer (debts… debtors)

HYMN – We Are the Reason – #245

We are the reason that He gave His life,
We are the reason that He suffered and died.
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give,
to show us the reason to live.

We are the reason that He gave His life,
We are the reason that He suffered and died.
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give,
to show us the reason to live.

*BENEDICTION – Pastor Dan

*POSTLUDE – Anna DiVesta

A different Advent for 2020

Everything looks different this year – and Advent is certainly no exception at Ivy Chapel United Church of Christ. Of course we wish we could celebrate the love, hope and joy of the season together, but at this time health and safety are most important.

We’re doing our best to continue the traditions that are such an important part of this season.

Our annual Christmas Cantata was held on Dec. 13. Shouts of Joy: A Christmas Concert for 2020 featured beautiful memories of past Christmas and Cantata celebrations. Thank you to Anna and Aaron DiVesta who worked overtime to bring together this special musical experience.

Our annual Christmas Pageant had several twists this year. Of course, it was all virtual – but it was also an all-church event. Thanks to Tara Lowry for adapting The Attic Christmas, a book that was near and dear to her family, and for her work editing the video.

The joy of Christ’s Birth, celebrated on Christmas Eve, starting with a special musical prelude.

https://www.facebook.com/IvyChapel/videos/727219154900032/

A Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Stay safe and healthy as we all navigate this familiar yet unusual season. We sincerely hope our virtual services are helping you find your way toward peace and love this year, and we look forward to when we can worship together again.

As always, please reach out to us if you have any questions or comments.

August 30 Livestream!

Last week, your Ivy Chapel worship team experimented with a new way (for us) to create a more engaging, communal online worship. We produced a short live online worship with special music, a prayer and a children’s message.

This week, we’d love for you to join us online for a full, live worship service. 

The service will start at 10 a.m. (or a little after – you know Ivy) on Ivy Chapel’s Facebook page. You do notneed to have a Facebook account to watch.

Head to www.facebook.com/IvyChapel. You can use your smart phone, tablet or computer.

If you have an account and are logged in, you should be all set. If not, it will seem like Facebook is demanding you to login, but you can ignore these boxes and scroll down the page. You may need to click on “not now” if it asks you to login again.

As you scroll down the page, if we’re live, you’ll see the video. Click on the video to join the live worship in progress. You can click on the small icon with two diagonal arrows to expand the video to your whole screen.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it to the live worship. We will post a link to the video here on the Ivy Chapel website later in the day.

If you do tune in, please let us know what you think.