Hummelstown UCC Podcast

Matthew 14:13-21; Psalm 17:1-7, 15 Genesis 32:22-31




Open wide the window of our spirits, God, and fill us with light; open wide the door of our hearts that we may receive and entertain you with all our powers of adoration and love.



-Jamie Norwich McLennan

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43; Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24; Genesis 28:10-19

“It’s wonderful to climb the liquid mountains of the sky. Behind me and before me is
God and I have no fears.”
-Hellen Keller

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23; Genesis 25:19-34

“We are part of this family and we will not be divided by any person.”
-Keith Boykin

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30; Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
ONE: to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas where storms show Thy mastery,
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. In the name of Him who pushed
back the horizons of our hopes and invited the brave to follow.
MANY: Amen.

-Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
adapted from a prayer by Sir Francis Drake

Matthew 10:40-42; Psalm 13 Prayer for Deliverance; Genesis 22:1-14

Come and create a place setting. Imagine or remember a time you hosted a
family gathering, a house guest, or a special dinner party. What were the elements
of preparation? What was your task? How do you like to help? Draw or write about
your favorite foods on the paper. How do your efforts help to make your guest feel
comfortable and loved?


Welcomed by name Create a name tag. What is your given name and what do
you prefer to be called? Have you ever been called the wrong name, or had your
name mispronounced?
How does that feel? How does it feel to have someone greet you by name? Can
you return the gesture of kindness here at church?


Practice hospitality Look, write down or discuss all the ways welcome is shown at
this church. What about our church building and worship, what signs, words, or
practices express welcome? How are visitors treated? Why are these efforts
important? What else could you do to welcome newcomers and long time friends
alike?

Matthew 10: 24–39; Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17; Genesis 21:8-21

Hear these words of grace and assurance taken from the words of trans artist, Déjà
Baptiste: You are not alone. You are not the first or the only. There is a lineage you
are inheriting. It is your courage, your faith, your spirit that sets you apart. We are not
doomed – we are not cursed. We are the blessed ones, the blessing. We are
blessed to know our spirits are not only bound in our flesh; that bodies, like names,
are expressions manifesting the soul we bear outside of time and beyond infinity.
There is a lineage here. We heard and nurtured our ancestors’ dreams and came
forward to create and dream, imagine and plant, live in the physical what is
celebrated and cherished and renewed in the spiritual. Receive these words and
receive the assurance of God’s full embrace of love and acceptance. Amen.

Matthew 9:35-10:8; Genesis 18:1-15

“The kingdom of God is a metaphor of transformation into more creative, more
conscious, more caring, loving and fulfilling life with the fellow beings.”
-Amit Ray

Matthew 9:18-26; Psalm 33:1-12; Genesis 12:1-9

“The world will give you that once in awhile, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings
and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life.”
-Sue Monk Kidd

Genesis 1:1-2:4

“The richness, beauty and depths of love can only be fully experienced in a climate
of complete openness, honesty and vulnerability.
-Anthony Venn Brown

Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 104:24-34; Acts 2:1-21

“Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours, yours are the
eyes with which He looks compassion on this world, yours are the feet with which He
walks to do good, yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world. Yours
are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are His body. Christ has no
body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours, yours are the eyes with
which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but
yours.”

-St. Teresa of Ávila