News & Events
Live-stream worship, Sunday, January 31, 2021
LGUMC live-stream worship service with Pastor Kate Conolly. Los Gatos, California. Also included: Gail Hybarger, Joyce Rhodes, Gareth Williams, Greg Cook, Cindy Cook, and Pam Parisi. Thank you to the Flower Committee for altar and flower arrangements. www.LGUMC.org
Worship
January 31, 2021
“When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for you to stand upon or you will be taught to fly.”
~ Patrick Overton
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV
“The willingness to show up changes us, it makes us a little braver each time.”
~ Brené Brown
“Love creates a communion with life. Love expands us, connects us, sweetens us, ennobles us. Love springs up in tender concern, it blossoms into caring action. It makes beauty out of all we touch. In any moment we can step beyond our small self and embrace each other as beloved parts of a whole.”
~ Jack Kornfield
Announcements
Moment for Mission
Live Oak Nutrition Center
Call to Worship
God of the open road,
God of the twisting path,
God of the narrow and upward way,
your people are gathered for worship!
In this hour, give us provision for the journey,
courage and faith and compassion,
and endurance to face any hardship.
Open our eyes to see you walking beside us,
protecting us, encouraging us, loving us.
Let us worship our God of Loving Kindness.
Hymn
“O God, Our Help in Ages Past” ~ UMH #117 vs. 1, 2
Time for Kids
Pastor Kate
Scripture Lesson
Ruth 3:1-13
Message
Pastor Kate Conolly
“Risky Business”
Offering Prayer
God, we give you thanks for the gift of your steadfast love and for giving us role models such as Ruth and Boaz. Help us to live a life of generosity, mercy, and compassion, as they did. Bless what we give this day and help us be faithful in the use of all our resources. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn
“Great is Thy Faithfulness” ~ UMH #140 vs. 1, 3
Sending Forth
We’ve heard God’s story of Hesed through the lives of Ruth and Boaz—
a story of love and faithfulness,
of mercy and compassion.
As God’s people, we are called to bring this story to the world,
to tell and re-tell it by our words and our actions,
so that others may hear and join the story, too.
So go from here with joy and courage,
strengthened and sustained in your storytelling
by the grace of God,
the love of Jesus Christ,
and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wednesday’s Catch-up, January 27, 2009
This week’s Wednesday’s Catch-up is with one of LGUMC’s mission projects. See their new social-media video. For more info. go to www.GracePreschoolLosGatos.com
Bulletin
January 24, 2021
“You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.”
~ Michelle Obama
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”
~ Anne Lamott
“Darkness comes. In the middle of it, the future looks blank. The temptation to quit is huge. Don’t. You are in good company… You will argue with yourself that there is no way forward. But with God, nothing is impossible. He has more ropes and ladders and tunnels out of pits than you can conceive. Wait. Pray without ceasing. Hope.”
~ John Piper
“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”
~ Nelson Mandela
Prelude
Kevin McCullough
Call to Worship
Songs
Time for Youth
Robbie Frederiksen, Youth Ministry Director
Scripture Lesson
Read by Tom Waldrop
Ruth 2:17-23
Message
“Glimpses of Future Hope”
Offering Prayer
We give our offering hopefully,
hoping that you can use these gifts
hoping that these gifts can further your kingdom
hoping that your kingdom will come.
Your kingdom, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
The Lord’s Prayer
Song
Sending Forth
May the God of hope,
the God of “Hesed” – of loving kindness,
the God of second chances,
the God of resurrection
bless you with strength and courage
today, and all the days of your life.
Amen.
Postlude
Kevin McCullough
Bulletin
Sunday, January 17, 2021
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
~ Mother Teresa
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”
~ Helen Keller
“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.”
~ Bill Widener
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Prelude
Joyce Rhodes, organ
Call to Worship
What mysteries there are in God’s world!
We, so sophisticated, stand in awe at the wonders of the natural world.
We look at the tiniest of seeds and wonder what will happen
From that small seed will grow a large shrub.
Although we consider our gifts to be small and insignificant,
God will use our gifts in miraculous ways.
Praise the God of small seeds and mighty power. Amen.
— written by Nancy C. Townley
Hymn
“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” ~ UMH #133 vs. 1, 3
Time for Kids
Shelley Ahn-Wong, Children’s Ministry Director
Scripture
Ruth 2:1-16
Message
Pastor Kate Conolly
“From Little, God Can Bring Much”
Offering Prayer
Ever-faithful God,
we long to be faithful givers,
modelling ourselves on you
who gives everything to us.
May your Spirit of abundance,
which gives more than we ask or imagine,
grace these gifts for your kingdom
in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Offertory
Joyce Rhodes, organ
Hymn
“For the Healing of the Nations” ~ UMH# 428 vs. 1, 4
Sending Forth
Imagine what a mustard seed of faith
might do this week in your life and
the life of our community.
Not a quart,
nor a gallon,
nor a truckload.
Just a mustard seed.
Imagine.
Now go and live out that grace.
Yes! Let it be so! Amen!
~ from the Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Postlude
Joyce Rhodes, organ
LGUMC live-stream worship service, Sunday, January 10, 2021
LGUMC live-stream worship service with Pastor Kate Conolly. Los Gatos, California. Also included: Gail Hybarger, Kevin McCullough, Ren Geisick, Mark Eastland, Greg Cook, Cindy Cook, and Pam Parisi. Thank you to the Flower Committee for altar and flower arrangements. www.LGUMC.org
Pastor Kate’s message of recent Washington DC events
Pastor Kate has a message in light of the events in Washington on Wednesday. And she invites you to join her in prayer for our nation and our leaders.