Celebrating diversity, independent thought, & faithful action - MAY 3, 2020 8410 Little River Turnpike Annandale, VA 22003-3710 - Little River ...
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~celebrating diversity, independent thought, & faithful action~
MAY 3, 2020
8410 Little River Turnpike Annandale, VA 22003-3710
(703) 978-3060 ~ office@lrucc.org
www.lrucc.orgWELCOME!
We are glad you are worshiping with us today! Since our founding in the 1950s, we at Little River United
Church of Christ (UCC) have been called by God to celebrate diversity, independent thought, and faithful
action. This call led us to become racially integrated in the segregated Virginia of the 1950s. That same call
led us in 2001 to become open to and affirming of LGBT folks, including full access to the rites of ordination
and marriage. Today, we build on our heritage of proclaiming God’s radically inclusive love to our
congregation, neighborhood, and world by nurturing individual and congregational spirituality, serving our
community, and advocating for all God’s creatures and creation. We’d love to have you join with us in these
sacred tasks! You may make your presence known by emailing us at office@lrucc.org. Welcome!
WORSHIP CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS
In response to Governor Northam’s mandate that all nonessential businesses close to the public, Little River
will be offering online worship at least through June 7th. Since these will be different worship experiences
than what we usually do, expect to see some changes. We’ll try to keep as much continuity as possible,
recognizing that online worship requires adjustments from in-person worship.
This is hard on all of us, but please do offer and receive as much patience, grace, and forgiveness as possible
right now. God is with us, even when we cannot all be together!
SERVICE CREDITS
The Call to Worship for today was adapted from Surah al-Fatiha verse 1; the opening of the Quran. The
remaining liturgy was written by Pastor Alexis.
COMMUNICATIONS AT LITTLE RIVER UCC
Little River UCC produces a weekly e-newsletter, Current Tidings, and periodically sends out Alerts (emails
with significant, time-sensitive information). All submissions for the weekly Bulletin, Current Tidings, and
online Currents should be submitted to the office by Wednesdays at noon. We also send out a monthly print
newsletter, Current Reflections. To receive any of these communications, please send an email to
currents@lrucc.org or call the church office to give us your contact information.
STAFF AND PARTNERS
Rev. Alexis Kassim, Associate Pastor (571) 217-8326 | alexis@lrucc.org
Craig Stapert, Director of Music craig@lrucc.org
Ashton Streavig, Children and Youth Choir Director ashton@lrucc.org
Kathy Heyman, Office Administrator kathy@lrucc.org
Roberta Croll, Communications Coordinator roberta@lrucc.org
John Davis, Sexton/First Friday Coordinator john@lrucc.org
Yris Saenz, Liana Berbichasvili, Child Care Providers office@lrucc.org
Rev. Dr. Verne Arens, Pastor Emeritus
Rev. Hubert S. Beckwith, Founding PastorSERVICE OF CELEBRATION AND WORSHIP
MAY 3, 2020
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
PRELUDE I Know That My Redeemer Lives arr. R. Haan
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
CALL TO WORSHIP Brian Payne
One: We begin in the Name of God, Everlasting Mercy, Infinite Compassion:
All: For this new day, we give God thanks and praise!
One: We gather in the Name of the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
All: For being our help and our refuge, we give God thanks and praise!
One: We look to You, our Guide and way-maker:
All: Continue to lead us along the path You have blessed. Amen.
HYMN Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee HYMN TO JOY
UNISON PRAYER OF CONFESSION
All: Merciful God, whose care never ceases, we come to you as we are.
We are tired from trying to do more than we can manage.
We are anxious about problems that go unresolved.
We are worried about the future and events beyond our control.
We are oblivious of broken relationships that need to be restored.
For mistakes we cannot undo,
For tasks left undone,
For our waning energy to pray as we should,
We ask for your understanding and pray for your forgiveness.
In your mercy, restore and revive us! Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
One: God is always ready to pardon and equip us for new life.
God teaches us, strengthens us, and fills us with all we need so we can continue to grow in faith
and love.
Friends, believe this Good News of the Gospel!
All: Amen.
ANTHEM
TIME FOR CHILDREN Little River Puppet Theater
SCRIPTURE Mark 2:1-12SERMON Rev. Alexis Kassim
CALL TO OFFERING
You can give your offering to Little River UCC by mailing a check to church, or by visiting the Donate Online page on our
website. To give to the Congregation Action Network’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund, visit our “Action and
Outreach” page or click here. Thank you.
OFFERTORY Trio J. Krebs
THANKSGIVINGS AND CONCERNS
Please feel free to share your Thanksgivings and Concerns at this time. You can also email them to alexis@lrucc.org, and
you can also use the online submission form by clicking here. Thank you.
PASTORAL PRAYER
We invite everyone to join our new midweek prayer calls to check-in with each other and to pray on Wednesdays at
12:00pm. We will use Zoom for these calls. If you would like to join in, please email office@lrucc.org to get the Zoom
invitation.
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION
Every Communion Sunday that we are social distancing, we invite you to donate your gifts of non-expired, non-perishable
staple food items, baby items, and toiletries directly to Fairfax FISH (www.fairfaxfish.org) and/or ACCA’s food pantry
(www.accacares.org). Both are used to help those in need in our community.
INVITATION
WORDS OF INSTITUTION
SHARING THE BREAD AND SHARING THE CUP
Have your own bread and juice, or whatever spirits you would like, ready to share in communion together.PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
All: Bountiful God, we give you thanks that you have refreshed us at your table
by granting us the presence of Christ.
Strengthen our faith, increase our love for one another,
and send us forth into the world in courage and peace,
rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
HYMN
BENEDICTION
One: May the love of God, the grace of our savior Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you now and always.
All: God be with us until we meet again. Amen.
POSTLUDE All' Offertorio D. Zipoli
TODAY
Virtual Coffee Hour Sundays at 11:00 am
Now that we are worshiping on Zoom, coffee hour will begin after the service has concluded. We will give
you a few minutes after the postlude concludes to grab some coffee or a snack, then come back for a time
of fellowship! You will not need to log-in to a different Zoom meeting for coffee hour.
THIS WEEK AND BEYOND
Wednesday Prayer Call Wednesdays at Noon
Every Wednesday at 12:00 pm, Pastor Alexis will lead a midweek call via Zoom for LRUCC members and
friends to check-in and pray together for about half an hour. Feel free to grab your lunch, or anything you’d
like to share. If you would like to join us, please email us at office@lrucc.org to get the Zoom invitation.
Meditation Group Meeting Sundays at 9:00 am
The Little River Meditation Group will meet every Sunday via Zoom Video Conferencing during this time
of social distancing. All are welcome to join in at 9:00 am as the group explores meditation as a contemplative
practice that helps to quiet the mind. Meetings will end at 9:50 am, just in time for participants to make it to
the online worship services. Below is the information to join the meeting. Questions? Contact Sallyanne
Harper at Saharper1@verizon.net.Shared Online Worship Service May 17 at 10:30 am
Five Potomac Association congregations will have a shared online worship service on Sunday, May 17, at
10:30 am via Zoom to honor UCC Mental Health Sunday and to celebrate the Churches Against Medical
Debt campaign. Christ Congregational UCC, Silver Spring MD; Cleveland Park Congregational UCC,
Washington DC; Hope UCC, Alexandria VA; Little River UCC, Annandale VA; and Westmoreland
Congregational UCC, Bethesda, MD will participate. The guest preacher will be Rev. David Finnegan-Hosey,
Chaplain at Barton College, and author of “Grace is a Pre-Existing Condition: Faith, Systems, and Mental
Healthcare.” We hope you will join in this wonderful opportunity to worship and work for justice with other
UCC congregations in our area!
To take part in the online service, use Zoom. If you would like to join us, please email us at office@lrucc.org
to get the Zoom invitation.
LRUCC will have its own abbreviated coffee hour following the service from 11:30 am to 12:00 pm.
MORE CHURCH NEWS
Little River UCC Response to the Coronavirus
Due to the situation with COVID-19, Little River UCC will be closed to ALL in-person meetings and
gatherings until further notice. This includes LRUCC-sponsored groups and community-use groups, worship
services, and special events. The church office will also remain closed to the public until further notice, but
mail is being received and opened remotely. We will continue to monitor the recommendations of public
health and county officials, and will be updating our plans accordingly. Please continue to check our website
and Facebook page for updates. If you need to communicate with a staff member, please contact us at
office@lrucc.org.
Meet Our Summer Intern - Dawn Jefferson
Dawn Jefferson lives close by in Alexandria with her wife and has just finished her second year at Yale
Divinity School (YDS) to earn a M.Div. and seek ordination in the United Church of Christ. She is a native
New Yorker from Westchester County who has enjoyed returning to the East Coast after a 4-year stint living
in Oakland, CA, teaching English, and serving as a dean at a private school in San Francisco. Dawn looks
forward to spending another summer in Northern Virginia with her family and friends, many of whom she
knows from her time living in Annandale for 12 years while having taught and been an administrator at The
Potomac School in McLean. Dawn first became enamored with Virginia during her time at The University
of Virginia, where she graduated with a double major in English and American Studies. She has worked in
hospital and school settings while earning a masters in Religion and Education at Teachers College, and spent
several summers in Vermont completing another masters degree in English at Middlebury Colleges’ Bread
Loaf School of English. All of which has heightened her passion for living, learning, and working in small
communities to strengthen intergenerational ties and to nurture spiritual kinship.
Dawn has spent the last year in seminary researching the practical theology of dementia and has devoted
much of her time considering the intentional ministry we offer to older adults. Having been a caregiver for
her own parents for the last several years, she understands the challenges and lessons of continuing care and
its intersections with parish visitation and pastoral care ministry. Her experience with clinical pastoral
education at Goodwin House in Falls Church last summer truly informed her present research. While at
YDS, Dawn is also a member of the Andover Newton Theological Seminary community where she serves
with the student steering committee, helps to facilitate weekly eucharist services, and now leads a weekly
Zoom bible study. She enjoys singing and worship, poetry, drama, and film. In her spare time, she loves to
explore technologies that connect communities and hopes to visit more national parks when they reopen.Dawn is eager to intern at Little River UCC this summer and for the opportunity to meet and serve the
congregation for her supervised ministry experience directed by Pastor Alexis. Presently, a member of the
Spring Glen UCC in Hamden, CT, Dawn plans to return to Virginia after graduation in 2021.
Endowment Fund Committee
The Endowment Fund Committee met on April 22 via email. Fran DuRocher provided a Treasurer’s report
that showed contributions of $1,150 during the first quarter of 2020. Total contributions are now $341,843.
Dividends were $1,578. Capital gains were $3,084. Disbursements for proposals approved at the annual
meeting were $11,400. The market value of the Fund as of March 31 was $438,344, a decrease over the
quarter of $85,384. This is a reduction of 16.3 percent, consistent with the recent decline in the stock market.
The new kitchen stove has been installed and was used once before the building was closed. This was funded
by the innovative ministries/capital projects portion of the Endowment Fund for 2020.
The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for July, when the team expects to determine the amount that will
be available for disbursement in 2021.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK OF MAY 3, 2020
Sunday, May 3 9:00 Meditation Group Meeting - via Zoom
10:00 Sunday Worship - via Zoom
11:00 Virtual Coffee Hour - via Zoom
Monday, May 4 No LRUCC-sponsored Events
Tuesday, May 5 1:30 Little River UCC Staff Meeting – via Zoom
Wednesday, May 6 No LRUCC-sponsored Events
Thursday, May 7 No LRUCC-sponsored Events
Friday, May 8 No LRUCC-sponsored Events
Saturday, May 9 No LRUCC-sponsored Events
Sunday, May 10 9:00 Meditation Group Meeting - via Zoom
10:00 Sunday Worship - via Zoom
11:00 Virtual Coffee Hour - via ZoomYou can also read
