The music on the viewer, when it is playing, is on media, the movie camera icon on your viewer. There is no need to touch the viewer. Thanks! GATHERING HYMN: "Hallelujah" This evening we will celebrate Holy Communion. During the gathering hymn, please find a bit of bread, a cracker, even a cookie and something you like to drink (we suggest juice or water) and have those at hand for the service. We will consecrate those elements as part of the Communion liturgy for this evening. The United Church of Christ celebrates an open table. That means that anyone wishing to take part in the celebration of Communion is welcome to do so! ANNOUNCEMENTS (Please feel free to type a brief announcement of interest to our community in Nearby Chat.) WELCOME Welcome to First United Church of Christ and Conference Center, Second Life a church with real life standing in the Eastern Association of the Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ. It is truly good to be real in Second Life! And please always know that, "No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here." You may spot someone other than me with a tag including the word "minister" That person is ordained UCC clergy in real life. Before or after worship please feel welcome to invite friends, who hopefully will become our friends! If you're not familiar with our two-island campus, ask one of our Guides to show you around. We have several fun and interesting places to visit here at First UCC. Need some chill time? This is a great place for that too. If you would like a bulletin notecard/copy of the service, please click the red book on the stand near the sanctuary door. Our church is connected to the wider church and the world. That means we support the UCC financially as do all our churches. If you would like to help, there is a donation bowl at the rear of the sanctuary. If you are thinking of a donation you would rather do in real life currency, you are welcome to use the Donation page on our website. http://www.firstuccsl.com Since we are an IRS 501(c)(3) public charity, US donations are deductible. And we thank you! SCRIPTURE: Mark 1:29-39 SERMON: "Even the Silence is a Kind of Prayer" The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. C.S. Lewis said it well, didn’t he? We all need quiet times, but we too often don’t have them. Last week, Pastor Kris preached on a tumultuous story of Jesus hard at work teaching in the synagogue and exorcising a demon. In the passage for this evening, Jesus effects a healing, and spent an evening healing the sick and casting out more demons. But the important message to me, the one that stands out, is found at verse 35: “In the morning, while it was still dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” When found by Simon and others he announced he was ready to resume work. But only after the time or prayer in a deserted place did that resumption happen. There is a message there. We all know that our physical health demands that we take a break from time to time. That is why, in part, the Sabbath observance is so important in the Hebrew tradition. We need time to recharge our batteries. Notice I said batteries, not battery. We have, I believe, a physical battery, and we also have a spiritual one. Let’s begin with the physical one. We need down time, recharge time. If we don’t heed that requirement, we are candidates for membership in the Coronary and Ulcer Club. The "Coronary and Ulcer Club" lists the following rules for members... 1. Your job comes first. Forget everything else. 2. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are fine times to be working at the office. There will be nobody else there to bother you. 3. Always have your briefcase with you when not at your desk. This provides an opportunity to review completely all the troubles and worries of the day. 4. Never say "no" to a request. Always say "yes." 5. Accept all invitations to meetings, banquets, committees, etc. 6. All forms of recreation are a waste of time. 7. Never delegate responsibility to others; carry the entire load yourself. 8. If your work calls for traveling, work all day and travel at night to keep that appointment you made for eight the next morning. 9. No matter how many jobs you already are doing, remember you always can take on more. Do any of those nine seem familiar to you? I thought some might. For many years they described my own life. I do not live that way now. My life is considerably quieter. Yes, being 78 years old has something to do with that! But it also comes from a realization that I can take great delight in my alone time. I have thought in recent years that a sense of needing solitude is what drove me to sell my home in the Pomona Valley of the Inland Empire of southern California and move to a desert community. I do not miss the traffic, crowds and hustle and bustle of my former home. Of course, not everyone can pick up and relocate. But everyone can find quiet time to recharge the batteries. Your quiet time may be just a time to do something different. G. K. Chesterton once mused that Jesus went off by himself in order to laugh. In other words, when he couldn’t stand the kind of ridiculous expectations that his friends and followers kept making of him, eventually he went off to laugh just to keep his sanity. Well, maybe. Certainly, everybody seems to want a piece of him in this picture Mark paints. Maybe he went off by himself just to get some peace and quiet for a change. Who knows? But Mark does tell us what Jesus did in that quiet time. Jesus prayed. So, let’s turn to the spiritual battery. Billy Strayhorn mentioned there was a news clip which appeared in the papers after a power blackout in one city. I don't know if was a misprint, a mistake or if it was true: "During the power failure many people complained of having gotten stuck for hours on escalators." We can't go through our everyday life with Jesus or God switched off. We won't make it. There won't be any power for living. We'll be stuck on the escalator of life and won't have the energy to walk up or down. We need to spend time in prayer. Prayer is our connection to the source of power in life, God. I’ve been asked to do a sermon on prayer, how it works in our lives, and I plan to do that soon. But for now, I just want to point out that Jesus knew that prayer would provide the strength he needed. Jesus knew that. And if Jesus, the Son of God, needed to refuel, to reconnect, to plug in and recharge, what makes us think that we can get along without it? You and I have a source of power and energy just waiting to be tapped. And all you have to do is plug in. Prayer is one way we plug in. East to say. Not necessarily easy to do. Prayer requires intention and focus. That is why we do the community prayers that all our clergy employ in worship in this church. Community prayer is incredibly powerful. Five young college students were spending a Sunday in London, so they went to hear the famed C.H. Spurgeon preach. While waiting for the doors to open, the students were greeted by a man who asked, "Gentlemen, let me show you around. Would you like to see the heating plant of this church?" They were not particularly interested, for it was a hot day in July. But they didn't want to offend the stranger, so they consented. The young men were taken down a stairway, a door was quietly opened, and their guide whispered, "This is our heating plant." Surprised, the students saw 700 people bowed in prayer, seeking a blessing on the service that was soon to begin in the auditorium above. Softly closing the door, the gentleman then introduced himself. It was none other than Charles Spurgeon. Community helps us focus. But solitude can as well. Faith is a social practice, but one that requires solitude. Genesis 2:18 reads: “It is not good for man to be alone.” Daniel 10:8 reads: “I was left alone, and saw the great vision.” Sometimes society, sometimes solitude. Sometimes it is not good to be alone. Sometimes we need to be left alone to see what God has for us to see. The most celebrated movie star of the “Silent Era,” was Swedish actress Greta Garbo (1905-1990). She famously declared her own life’s desire in her epic film “Grand Hotel” (1932), when “Garbomania” reached its peak: “I just want to be alone.” True to her word, Garbo “retired” at age 36 and went on to be a renowned recluse, living paradoxically as a hermit in the social center of New York City until her death at age 84.“Loners” are, in this age of social media, an increasingly rare breed. Consider how often in your day you are actually “alone.” When are you alone? Not when you are at work. Not when you are on the phone. Not when you are on-line. Not when you are awaiting a return text-message. Not when you are watching TV. Not when you are listening to the news. How often are you really intentionally cut off from all outside influences and are genuinely alone? Actual aloneness is about as available as imported glacier water, volcanic artesian water, and Cuban cigars. It is a commodity you can get, but the price can be high. Let me offer a recommendation. Find someplace to be alone each day. And I think it needs to be a time other than your morning shower. You don’t need a plan for that time, at least not initially. You don’t need a ritual, although like Pastor Kris you might find a lighted candle helpful as a reminder of the presence of the God that is truly omnipresent. Just sit and be still. Concentrate on nothing except perhaps the rhythm of your breathing. Let what is dwelling deep inside you have a chance to speak to you. It will. Your spiritual self is omnipresent. It is always with you. It is your personal link to the divine and it wants you to “be still and know.” It’s voice I have found is usually quiet, easily drowned out by the press of activity. Perhaps you will feel in your quiet time a prompt to pray. In her book, “In God’s Presence” Marjorie Suchocki offers a suggestion if you seek solitude for prayer. She wrote, “Sometimes I make appointments with God. God, being the God of all time and eternity, presumably has no constraints on time, but we creatures often do. And when matters of sufficient urgency press upon me that require more than ordinary work in prayer, I find it helpful to suggest something like a 2:00 a.m. session, when interruptions are not apt to occur. Such appointments seem only sensible – and I am deeply grateful for such times. But it occurs to me upon occasion that it is certainly and odd thing to be able to talk with the God of the universe, whether at 2:00 a.m. or any other time.” In the alone time I hope you will seek and find, perhaps you will be prompted simply to be aware of the presence that is always with you. Perhaps you will be prompted to pray. Even the silence is a kind of prayer. And the people of God said… HYMN FOR PREPARING FOR COMMUNION and COMMUNITY PRAYER: "Come to the Banquet" If you have not already done so, and wish to participate in Holy Communion, please get a bit of bread, or a cracker and some juice or water during this song. You may also wish to think about your prayers for our time of Community Prayer following Holy Communion. CELEBRATION OF HOLY COMMUNION This table is open to all who seek nourishment for the soul. You do not need to be a member here, or anywhere else for that matter. Participate in this celebration not because you must, but simply because you may. Participate not because you are fulfilled, but because you are empty and in need of God's mercy and assurance. Participate not to express an opinion, but to seek a presence and to pray for a spirit. PRAYER OF CONFESSION Pray with me. O Holy One, we call to you and name you as eternal, ever-present, and boundless in love. Yet there are times, O God, when we fail to recognize you in the dailyness of our lives. Sometimes shame clenches tightly around our hearts, and we hide our true feelings. Sometimes fear makes us small, and we miss the chance to speak from our strength. Sometimes doubt invades our hopefulness, and we degrade our own wisdom. In these times forgive us and by your boundless grace renew our resolve. We pray in the Savior's name. Amen. ASSURANCE OF PARDON Merciful Lord, grant to your faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve you with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. PLEASE PICK UP AND HOLD THE ELEMENTS THAT YOU HAVE GATHERED. We remember that on the night of betrayal and desertion, Jesus took bread, gave you thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to the disciples, saying: "This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, Jesus also took the cup, after supper, saying: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me" Breathe deeply. Take the elements you gathered and eat and drink. Let us pray. In the strength Christ gives us, we offer ourselves to you, eternal God, and give thanks that you have called us to serve you. Amen. You are invited to type your joys and your concerns in nearby chat at this time. We will lift them to God together as a community of faith. COMMUNITY PRAYER and PASTORAL PRAYER MOMENT OF SILENCE PASTORAL PRAYER Silence amidst the clamor Respite in times of worry A calmness when all unravels. Help us, O God, to find the quiet times. Reach our inmost selves despite the clamor that attempts to drown out the voice from within. And when we know not what to pray prompt us to be still confident in expectation that the presence we need abides. Amen. LORD'S PRAYER God, lover of us all, most holy one. Help us to respond to you. To create what you want for us here on earth. Give us today enough for our needs. Forgive our weak and deliberate offenses, just as we must forgive others when they hurt us. Help us to resist evil and to do what is good. For we are yours, endowed with your power to make your world whole. Amen. BENEDICTION I extinguish our candles; the light goes now with each of you. Depart fed and nourished and ready for the journey in whatever world you sojourn. You will travel not alone but with Spirit company. Return when you feel empty and in need. You journey just exactly as you were created to be the beloved of God. Amen. CLOSING SONG: "One Thing Remains"