Hummelstown UCC Podcast

John 15: 1-5, 8-11

OPENING QUESTIONS
Are you connected to Jesus as the “Source” of life? Is it similar to aconnection to others as a source of life and love and flourishing and joy?Why do we resist the simple fact that we already ARE connected to Godand each other? What is scary about the intimacy that is at the heart ofrelationship?

John 14:8-9, 12-15, 25-27

OPENING QUESTION
SWhen it is hard to “understand” what is going on around us, can we find away to move into loving action as an antidote to “stewing” about all of it?What is your relationship to “trusting” the goodness of God, and our owncapacity to love one another?

John 13:33-35, 14:1-7

OPENING MEDITATION
When have you experienced an “embodied love” through someone’sactions? Can you describe how it made you feel?Can you name some examples from your experience of the differencebetween “othering” and “neighboring?”

Jonah 3&4

INVOCATION
Sovereign and Awesome God, we come to worship you, to know you and tobe known by you. Expand our hearts to love fully. Build our courage toreceive the truth. Nurture our spirits to be gracious, merciful, and kind.Transform us in your image and for your glory as we dwell in your presence.

Jonah 1 & 2

OPENING MEDITATION
O God, you are the Ocean, sustaining this earth. O God, you are the River,saving us from pain. O God, you are the Fountain, granting us health andwell-being. We praise you, O God, today, tomorrow, forever.

Ezekiel 47:9-12; Revelation 22:1-7; John 7:37-38

OPENING MEDITATION In the beginning, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God called  them good. Come Holy Spirit and cleanse the waters. The prophet saw a  river flowing from the Temple, and wherever the river flowed, everything  lived. Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the Earth. Jesus cried out, “Let  anyone who is thirsty come to me. Come Holy Spirit and heal your people. 

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 6, 2026

2 Kings 5:1-4, 6, 8-14; Mark 1:4-11; Psalm 104:1-13

OPENING MEDITATION Lily Graham“Living on the water took away the boundaries created by land and customand introversion. Without fences and driveways, the water provided aconstant thread of connection and dependency.”

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 30, 2026

Genesis 15:5-6; Psalm 36:5; Psalm 19:1-6; Matthew 16:1-3

OPENING MEDITATIONWe remember the skies where God chose to reveal God’s presence. Weremember the saints of old who cried to the heavens in pain and hope. Weremember praying to God in the heaven above. We remember the blueskies, the wild winds, and the life-giving rain falling from the sky onto the dryground. We remember and rejoice. Thank you, God, for skies to remember,and for the winds of life to challenge.

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 65:17-19, 24-25; 121: Assurance of God’s Protection A Song of Ascents

OPENING MEDITATION “Song of the Wild”, Norman HabelWill you come back with Me to the birth of the Earth, Before all its life forms evolved?Will you sing with the heavens amazed at the sight A planet with secrets to unfold?Will you sleep with your God in the desert one night And wake with the creatures ofthe sand? Can you fathom the wisdom instilled in their mind To live without water,sun or man? Will you climb high with me to a wild mountain peak And scan thehorizon for snow? Can you sense in the lines of the landscape you see The love ofyour God deep below?

Job 38.1-18; Psalm 104.24-26; Luke 5:1-11

OPENING MEDITATION Norman Habel "View anew the dark blue ocean, whales cavorting, spraying foam; god at play withdeep sea monsters, feeling very much at home. Sing a song of laughing waters,pulsing through the veins of earth."