WELCOME!
Whoever you are, and wherever you may be on your journey, you are welcome here.
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We're glad you landed here and we hope that it will be the start of a colorful relationship.
We hope that it will be a relationship that will begin with you getting to know us, and lead toward us getting to know you. At the Belchertown United Church of Christ (BUCC) we believe that the stuff of faith is found in community; folks working and laughing and crying and singing and worshiping together, making a difference in the world. If that's a good place to start, click the TICKET below and let the ride begin! |
CHURCH HAPPENINGS
BUCC CELEBRATES VIRTUAL PALM SUNDAY
STOP BY THE CHURCH, THIS SATURDAY, 4-4-20,
FROM 10AM - 2PM FOR SELF-SERVE PICK UP OF:
PALM FRONDS & VIRTUAL COMMUNION KIT
18 PARK STREET (IN FRONT OF THE PARISH HOUSE)
Stop by this Saturday, in the church parking lot, to prepare for our Virtual Palm Sunday Service by obtaining some palm fronds and a communion kit (juice/crackers). Then join us this Sunday at 9:30am via the internet.
To Join the Service
By Computer
Please click (control + click) on the following link, by 9:25am, and
follow the prompts:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/715073542?pwd=UWlLWGNobVdTVWhwRGhHclVFZ2p2UT09
By Phone
(253) 215 8782 -or- (301) 715 8592
Meeting ID: 715 073 542, followed by #, (no participant code - #)
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VIRTUAL, SOUP & SPIRITUALITY WEDNESDAY
Wednesday - 4/1/20 - 6:30pm via ZOOM
Join Bob Stephens, on-line or over the phone, as he leads a discussion that further explores the prior Sunday’s sermon topic, this week:
IT’S TIME TO PLACE YOUR FAITH IN JESUS
Jesus brings Lazarus back from the dead and restores the faith
John 11 1-45
To Join the Session
By Computer
Please click (control + click) on the following link, by 6:25pm, and
follow the prompts:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/715073542?pwd=UWlLWGNobVdTVWhwRGhHclVFZ2p2UT09
By Phone
253 215 8782 US -or- 301 715 8592 US
Meeting ID: 715 073 542, followed by #, (no participant code - #)
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5th Sunday in Lent - Virtual Sunday Service
Please Join Us this Sunday, Online, via ZOOM
March 29, 2020 - 9:30am
To Join the Service
By Computer
Please click (control+click) on the following link, by 9:25am, and follow the prompts:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/715073542?pwd=UWlLWGNobVdTVWhwRGhHclVFZ2p2UT09
By Phone
+1 253 215 8782 US – or-
+1 301 715 8592 US
Meeting ID: 715 073 542, followed by #
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Order of Worship
3-29-20
Lay Leader - Bob Stephens
WELCOME/ANNOUNCEMENTS
OPENING SONG - Bridge over Troubled Waters
SCRIPTURE: John 11 1-45 (Selections)
MESSAGE: Time to Put Your Faith in Him!
OFFERING OUR GIFTS (Well, kind of…)
PRAYERS AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
CLOSING SONG – What the World Needs Now
BENEDICTION
VIRTUAL PASSING OF THE PEACE
Page 2
Bridge over Troubled Water Simon & Garfunkel
When you're weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all (all)
I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
When you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you
I'll take your part, oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Sail on silver girl
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
Oh, if you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
John 11:1-45 (Selections) Contemporary English Version (CEV)
The Death of Lazarus
11 1-2 A man by the name of Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on the Lord’s head and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick. 4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “His sickness won’t end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.”
Jesus Brings Lazarus to Life
17 When Jesus got to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was only about two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many people had come from the city to comfort Martha and Mary because their brother had died.
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will live again!”
25 Jesus then said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. 26 And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?”
38 Jesus was still terribly upset. So he went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone rolled against the entrance. 39 Then he told the people to roll the stone away. But Martha said, “Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell.”
40 Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?”
43 When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face.
45 Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw the things that Jesus did, and they put their faith in him.
What the World Needs Now Burt Bacharach
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No not just for some but for everyone
Lord, we don't need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross
Enough to last 'til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some but for everyone
Lord, we don't need another meadow
There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine
Oh listen, lord, if you want to know
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some oh, but just for every, every, everyone
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
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Please take a moment and enjoy the following message from Eric Johnson. Eric thanks for your insights!
Reflections on John 9:1-41 (During Covid 19)
Lent, Week 4
Our Opportunity to See
Good morning everyone, we’re in an unprecedented place in our lives. Everything we knew, everything we’ve taking for granted over the past years of our lives, has suddenly been taken away. Covid 19 is causing increased panic and worry across the community, indeed across the world, but we need to look on this, our moment in history, not as a negative but as an opportunity. I’ve been reading a lot of personal stories from teen and adults dealing with social distancing, and while they are all missing some major life event, many of them also comment on the benefits they’re experiencing because of this disruption to our daily lives.
In the reading for today, the fourth day of Lent, John 9:1-41, we get the story of a blind man, a man who was thought to be a sinner by the community and forced to beg for his living, whom Jesus gave sight to. But before he did, his disciples wanted to know the cause of this man’s blindness. There were rumors. Some thought it was something he had done, his own sins leading to his being born blind. Others thought his parents were to blame, their sins lead to their son’s lack of sight. We see the same arguments and complaints in this news today. The question of why this happened, and we have rumors: government conspiracies, top secret experiments gone wrong, someone eating an unusual animal, contamination of folk medicine treatment. We are looking, like Jesus’ disciples, for someone or something to blame. It’s natural to want to see something that disrupts the way of life as a punishment, as some indictment of the world’s choices, and indeed we’ve made some poor choices as a species. But the cause of this virus or how long it’s going to take to get life back to what we are familiar with isn’t what really matters right now.
I want to draw your attention to Jesus’ response to his disciples when they asked why the man was blind. He said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:3-5). He was saying the man’s blindness was nobody’s fault, this man’s blindness was to provide a moment of clarity to the world and give people, the pharisees in particular, a chance to see God’s light and His work. The irony here is that the only person who was able to see God’s work was the blind man. The pharisees were too focused on their own way of life to notice the power of God in Jesus’ actions, they simply complained that he worked on the sabbath, the blind man’s own parents, when confronted by the pharisees, refused to acknowledge God’s work because they were afraid of the consequences. It wasn’t the cause of the man’s blindness that was the point of John’s story, it wasn’t even the act of curing the blindness, as miraculous as that was, but instead it is from the reaction to the cure that we can get our lesson.
One of the news stories I read recently about the social disruption caused by Covid 19 sticks in my mind when I read the story of the blind man. This young girl, fifteen years old, wasn’t bothered by the quarantine, or the closing of schools, I mean how many teenagers actually like school? You see, she had made a habit, like most teenagers, of avoiding people, especially her parents. Most of us can probably remember being that teenager, or having that teenager in our lives. Probably some of us introverts were feeling the same way at the beginning. For this fifteen year old, it only took a couple of days to realize that she was looking at things the wrong way. Instead of focusing on what she had lost—the ability to go out with friends, the consistency of her daily routine—instead, she was able to see this as an opportunity. She reconnected with her mother, learning to cook and bake, literally making the bread they would break together in a strengthening of their family relationships strained by the sometimes overwhelming pull of contemporary life. She was able to appreciate others and learn something about her mother and herself. I think it’s in those moments that we can truly see God’s light in all of this. It’s not the event, or the outcome, but our reaction to those things that we can learn from.
While many of us may be experiencing a huge disruption in our daily lives, while many of us may find ourselves alone or without work or without the security we have grown used to, remember Jesus’s response to his disciples, “I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see” (John 9:39). Look around, and even in this difficult time, it is not hard to see God’s light. It could be something as simple as the cashier at the grocery store who showed up for work, despite the risk of infection, to make sure that people can still have access to their food. It could be the early hours that stores have put in place to help the members of our community who are most at risk, or the schools and community groups handing out food to those in need. We are truly blessed, even in this time of social disruption and social distancing, that we have a community that refuses to be blind to the needs of others, a community that sees those in need and steps up to help.
So think about how you are using your time during this pause in our busy lives. How are you going to react to this moment in history. We have been given a chance to take a step back and reflect on the lives we’ve been living, on the schedules we’ve made our traditions. When all this is over, are we, like the pharisees going to continue to cling to the traditions of the past, or will we take this moment to reflect on what it really means to see the light of God that is always around us, especially in times of struggle. So remember, in this moment of need, don’t be blind to the light of God shown in even the simplest things. While we may not be able to control what’s going on in the world, we can control, like the blind man did when learning Jesus was the one who returned his sight, the way we respond to what is happening. We are not without control, we are not without community, and we are not without the light of God.
God bless you all, stay safe, stay healthy, and use this gift of time so that when we look back on our moment in history, we can all be proud of how we were not blind to God’s work in our own lives and the lives of those around us.
Worship - Sundays at 9:30am
Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month.
We practice an open table. All are Welcome!
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
REMINDER: Remember to bring your BUCC Lenten Journals and Scallop Shell Necklaces with you to services throughout Lent!
DATES AVAILABLE: Got inspiration? Is the Lenten season scratching an itch? Then lead a Sunday worship service! Sundays in January are available. Please let a Deacon or Council member know when you are ready and if any guidance is needed.
SEEKING DONATIONS – Emily Shattuck is running in the April 26, 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon to raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Team for Cure. Please take a moment to visit her website https://endurance.themmrf.org/2020London/Emily4Dad2020 and help fight the battle to find a cure
Helping Hands Cupboard Food Distribution
Every Third Thursday of the month (4pm-7pm) - Join us downstairs in the Parish House for our monthly distribution, as we can always use an extra set of helping hands! For more details please contact Bob Stephens (bstephenshome@gmail.com or 860 558-6351).
Sunday Rides
If you would be able to provide a ride for people without vehicles on the occasional Sunday, or if you need a ride to church, please contact a Deacon (see below).
Deacons of the Month
Please feel free to contact the Deacons about membership, hospital or shut-in visitation or for other spiritual concerns. Deacons: Tom Shattuck (tshattuck@charter.net)
FROM THE CHURCH OFFICE:
CHURCH OFFICE HOURS: 9am-2pm, Tues through Fri
Belchertown United Church of Christ
18 Park St., P.O. Box 603, Belchertown, MA
Church office email: belchertownucc@yahoo.com
Website: www.belchertownucc.org “Friend” us on Facebook: Belchertown
