We continue to look at ways to keep our faith community connected to each other and to Jesus. If you have ideas, please reach out to us or Linda Fratzke, Connie Ingerson, or Mary Helen Garoutte. In this interesting time, we are open to exploring new ways of being church!
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
In Person Worship Update
Dear Friends-The Worship and Music Committee met today and it was decided to postpone in-person worship until further notice. Instead of setting a date that we might be able to have corporate worship again, we decided it was better to continue to monitor the situation until such time we can safely meet again in person. We hope and pray that it is soon! We also discussed the health and safety protocols we will need to have in place when we do have in-person worship again.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Holy Humor Sunday
Hi, Friends-Here is the Holy Humor Worship Service from the Methodist Church with Sally Wiens preaching. From what we understand, they ended up recording the service twice because of technical difficulties the first time around! Enjoy your Sunday!
https://youtu.be/Qlrlm1k16u8
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Easter services
Dear Beloveds of Christ,
one to have a chance to celebrate the resurrection at their own church.
For those hesitant to use an embedded link, please go to Youtube and search 'Easter Worship 2020 Zion Lutheran First Presbyterian and St. Peter's Episcopal La Grande OR'
During the service, Pastor Roberta leads what is called a Spiritual Communion. It is used in the Episcopal church for those times that people cannot actually gather. There is a corporate prayer for people to join in at the end of this post.
Tomorrow morning, the Blooming Cross will be up by 9:00 AM on the lawn near the corner of Washington and 6th. Bring a flower to hang on it anytime up until 5:00 PM. There will be extra flowers, but if they go as fast as the palms did, you may want to make sure you bring at least one! We will ring the church bell at 9:00 AM so be listening for that. Throughout the day we will come down and take a pictures of the cross to see the progression of the 'blooming.' We will also email out a final picture to share with everyone.
Last but not least, our PC(USA) denomination has put together a special Easter service. The link for that is https://www.pcusa.org/?utm_
In Google, type in 'PCUSA Easter Worship Service' and it should be your first option of search results.
Christ is Risen!
He is Risen, Indeed!
Happy Easter from the whole Hudson Family!
The invitation to a Spiritual Communion
A
spiritual communion is a personal devotional that anyone can pray at any time
to express their desire to receive Holy Communion at that moment, but in which
circumstances impede them from actually receiving Holy Communion.
The
presider invites the following prayer to be said by all.
In
union, dear Lord, with the faithful at every altar and table of your church,
where your blessed body and blood are being offered to the Father, I desire to
offer you praise and thanksgiving. I present to you my soul and body, with the
earnest wish that I may ever be united to you. And since I cannot now receive you
sacramentally, I receive you spiritually into my heart. I unite myself to you,
and embrace you with all of my soul. Let nothing ever separate me from you. Let
me live and die in your love. Amen.
Adapted from the A Form of Spiritual Communion of
the Diocese of Malaita of the Anglican Communion
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Hi, Friends-You could call this the Holy Week of experimentation! Some things worked great. Others, not so great. We are learning so we extend these offerings to you with grace and humility.
Maundy Thursday-We were going to try a live feed of some kind for this, but ran into too many difficulties. So, attached is a liturgy we composed for at home use. Also, due to the situation we are in that does not allow us to be together for communion, our denomination has said virtual and at-home communion is allowed. We invite you to participate as you feel comfortable with those parts. We were planning on having the service at 6PM, but feel free to participate as your schedule allows. Also, we recorded Laura singing the two songs that are part of the service. The links are:
For those hesitant to click on links, go you Youtube and search "Laura sings they will know we are Christians FPC Maundy Thursday," and "Laura sings What Wondrous Love is This? FPC Maundy Thursday."
Good Friday-Here is our Ecumenical service! We each had a last words of Christ that we gave a brief meditation on. Again, some sound and visual issues but it came together pretty good. This service was planned for Friday at 7PM, but again, watch as you feel free.
Youtube search "La Grande Ecumenical Good Friday Service"
Info about Easter will come soon!
May these days between now and Easter fill you with the mystery of Christ's saving grace.
Blessings,
Keith and Laura
Maundy Thursday Home Worship 4.9.2020
Please prepare for this service by gathering a candle
and lighter; a bowl of water and a towel; enough small cups, juice, and bread
which can be broken to be shared with all home participants. Decide which
participant(s) will lead each prayer. Bold
print indicates all participants speak together.
Light your candle at this time as a sign of Christ’s
presence with you and our connection with each other in him. Leave it burning
until the conclusion of the service.
Opening Words
In the growing darkness we
gather.
Our Lenten journey has
brought us here.
Jesus, our Teacher and Lord, sets before
us
a towel, a bowl, bread, a cup.
He gives us an example
and a commandment ever new:
to love one another as he has
loved us.
This is how everyone will know we are
his disciples,
when we love each other.
Song: They Will
Know We are Christians by Our Love v. 1-2
(See the link in the email to
a You-Tube recording of this song)
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
and we pray that all unity may one day be restored:
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our
love,
yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
All praise to the Father from whom all things come
And all praise to Christ Jesus, God’s only Son,
And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one.
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our
love,
yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
Call to Confession
Even among Jesus’ closest
disciples, not all were clean.
On this night of all nights,
we confess the ways
we disappoint, deny, and even
betray Jesus, our Teacher and Lord.
Our confession of sin is made
in the sure knowledge
that Jesus is able to wash us
in forgiveness and love.
Unison Prayer of Confession
Holy God, you have called us to serve others as Christ
has served us, but we have not followed Christ’s example. We turn away from
people in need. True humility eludes us, and we hide our vulnerability before
others. You have commanded us to love one another as you have loved us, but we
do not love so generously. On this Holy Thursday, we confess that we are
capable of denying you and betraying you and one another, no less than the
first disciples. Forgive us, merciful God, and cleanse us of all our sin; then
guide us to walk with you always. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
Disciples of Christ, having
loved his own who were in the world,
Jesus loved them to the end.
Jesus knows us fully
and offers love and forgiveness
unconditionally.
In gratitude for the grace
given to us,
and as a witness to our faith in Christ,
we will love one another.
The peace of Christ be with
you.
And also with you.
Use bowl of water and the towel and to cleanse one
another’s hands; participants with no available partners, simply dip your hands
in the water and dry them off with the towel, in the awareness that you are
joined in the Spirit to all others engaged in this hand-washing act today, as
we remember Jesus washing the disciples’ feet and how Jesus cleanses us from
sin.
Prayer for Illumination
Gracious God, pour out your
Holy Spirit upon us, that we may see the light of your Word in the darkness of
our lives. And seeing, may we understand;
understanding, may we do all
that you ask. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Scripture Reading : Scripture Reading
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that
his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved
his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had
already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And
during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his
hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the
table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then
he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe
them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who
said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You
do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter
said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you,
you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet
only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘One who has
bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean.
And you are clean, though not all of you.’ For he knew who was to
betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had
returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you?
You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I,
your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as
I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater
than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent
them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
…Jesus
said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in
him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in
himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a
little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to
you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one
another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another.’
Meditation: What are You Hungry For?
The
Passover Feast Jesus celebrated with his disciples was a remembrance of the
deliverance from slavery in Egypt God had brought the Jewish people. It is
significant that it was on that night when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet to
offer them a new symbol of God’s radical, self-giving love. It is significant
that it was amidst the Passover celebration that Jesus offered the bread and
cup of the Lord’s Supper, a sacrament of how that self-giving love brings our
ultimate liberation.
After
nearly four weeks of social distancing and quarantining, I am hungry to be delivered
from the captivity of the COVID-19 virus—I’m guessing you are, too. I’m hungry to reconnect with you, the
community of human beings through which I have known Christ’s love most
profoundly. I’m hungry for the liberating love of Christ to be experienced by
people all over the earth, not only that all people would receive the saving
knowledge of Jesus, but also that human beings would learn to live each day,
here and now, following the way of Christ’s radical love, serving one another
with humility, generosity, and grace.
What
are you hungry for? What message do you yearn for from Jesus? What assurance,
what hope, what inspiration or encouragement does he have for you tonight?
Jesus
invites us to love one another as we have been loved by God: in that love, all
our hungers are met, and we are empowered to feed one another as Christ’s hands
and feet on this earth. Amen.
Prayer of Intercession and Preparation for the Lord’s
Supper
God
of power and might, on the night of Passover, you commanded your people to be
ready to go in a hurry; to be dressed, with sandals on their feet, and a
walking stick in hand as they ate a special meal. We pray for people everywhere
who long for freedom, who are ready, eager to do as you have commanded. Bring
down oppression’s rule; overturn unjust laws; break the chains of those
enslaved. Without delay, may we enter a new place where all lives are honored
and all voices heard.
God of tenderness and compassion, on the night before he
died, Jesus set a table for his disciples. They took off their sandals and sat
down in the presence of their Teacher and Lord, who washed their feet, one by
one. We pray for people whose feet are tired and dusty from hard labor; for
those whose backs are bent by care and worry; for those laid low by illness or
guilt or grief. Wash away the tiredness of our bodies and souls. Hold gently in
your healing hands the broken places in our lives and relationships. Be our
company in isolation, our source of hope in despair, and the way forward at
every dead end.
God of all good gifts, thank you for setting a table of
welcome for everyone; for making room whether we are faithful or faithless or
failures. We pray that all who are hungry will find enough to eat and clean
water to drink, as we share and live more responsibly. Teach us to sit down
with enemies, sharing common meals and common hopes. Make us true servants of
yours for the sake of the world. Teach us to love as you love for the sake of
the world.
Now, gracious God,
pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and these gifts of bread and cup that they
may be for us the body and blood of Christ. May sharing them remind us
that we are to be Jesus’ body for the world. Unite us through the Spirit with
Christ and one another, all of us who celebrate alone/together that we are part
of Christ’s body. Amen.
Invitation and Institution
This the Lord’s table and it
is offered to you for strength. On the night when he was betrayed Jesus
took the bread and broke it and after giving thanks he said,
“This is my body, given for you. Do this
in remembrance of me.”
Please break the bread and pass it to each person. All
eat together.
In the same way Jesus took
the cup saying:
“This cup is the new covenant sealed in
my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink
it, do this in remembrance of me.”
Remembering God’s boundless
love revealed in Jesus Christ, we break this bread and share this cup and
commit ourselves to live for Jesus in joy and praise.
Pour and share and partake cups of juice.
Closing prayer
God of abundance, with this bread of life and cup of
salvation you have united us with Christ, making us one with all your people.
May we demonstrate your redeeming love to the world as we proceed with you
through Good Friday and ponder your demonstration of courage that enabled the
cross to be transformed from an instrument of punishment to an instrument of
God’s love. Amen.
Song: What
Wondrous Love is This
(See the link in the email to
a You-Tube recording of this song)
1. What wondrous love is
this, O my soul, O my soul;
What wondrous love is this, O
my soul.
What wondrous love is this,
that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the heavy cross for
my soul, for my soul
to bear the heavy cross for
my soul!
2. To God and to the Lamb I
will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb I will
sing;
To God and to the Lamb who is
the great I am
While millions join the
theme, I will sing, I will sing,
While millions join the
theme, I will sing!
3. And when from death I’m
free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free,
I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free,
I’ll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity, I’ll
sing on, I’ll sing on;
And through eternity, I’ll
sing on!
Sending:
From this night we go into the
days of Christ’s crucifixion and death.
Let us blow out our candles together as
we depart,
awaiting the resurrection in grief and
penitence, trust and hope. Amen.
All blow out their candles.
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Palm Sunday Service
Here is the service for Palm Sunday. Feel free to watch it when you would like, but we encourage you to wait until Sunday morning at 9:30am.
Also, the palms are out until 6pm today. They will be out at 9am tomorrow morning until 6pm. Send us your pictures of you and your family with the palms!
Blessings,Keith and Laura
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