Worship At United
Coming together for worship at United is like finding water in a dry and thirsty land. That’s why we do so, not only on Sunday mornings but midweek, too!
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Like a stream in the desert, worship can refresh and renew us. Each week it offers us God’s new life and hope, for ourselves and for this world. At United, worship is the center of our life together, from which everything else flows: outreach, education, care, among others.
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Whether on Sunday mornings, midweek, or other times, worship at United offers that new life in different ways. Sometimes – especially in the Sunday 8:30 AM service and the midweek contemplative services – worship is like the deep, still waters that God promises in the 23rd Psalm. In the later Sunday service, worship can be like a living stream, offering life in all kinds of ways. Similarly, like on Mardi Gras and Fiesta Sundays, worship is a river, full of life and surprises.
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At United, we believe all of us – regardless of age – need the living waters of worship. That’s why children and younger youth join in the first part of the late service each Sunday and why Children’s Ministry always begins with prayer and song. It’s also why we offer a number of “intergenerational” services for all ages throughout the year.
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We hope you’ll join us in worship at United. Together may we be renewed by the waters of life God offers us each week.
Worship in March
From Mountaintops and Mardi Gras
to Ashes and Lent
Lent starts in the wilderness across the Jordan and leads to the wilderness of Golgotha. It also challenges us to find our home all along the way—whether within our own souls, our nation, or our Earth home. Lent worship also leads to the April 12 Lensic concert (sponsored by the United Church) of Brad Ellingboe’s cantata “A Place Called Home,” the night before Palm Sunday.
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Worship This Month
Cleaning House - Ash Wednesday
March 5
12:00Noon
(livestreamed)
7:00pm
“Is this not the fast I choose,” God asked through the Prophet Isaiah, “to feed the hungry and clothe the naked?” (Isaiah 58) To do that, we need to clean house, so the Psalmist calls, “Create in me a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within me.” We do that on Ash Wednesday, turning to ashes that which keeps us from God’s new life. Dr. Jacquelyn Helin is the guest pianist.
Home in the Wilderness - First Lent
March 9
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
“As a deer thirsts for streams,” the Psalmist (Ps. 42) confessed, “so my soul longs for God.” Jesus knew such thirst in his 40 days in the desert. (Luke 4:1-13) “When you share Passover,” Moses told the people, “include the aliens and strangers.” Like those outsiders, Jesus seldom had a safe place to call home. Perhaps he learned, as we must, that the wilderness itself is our home. Daylight Saving Time begins, please set your clocks forward.
Midweek Communion in Lent - Wednesdays
March 12,19,26
12:15-12:45
“As a deer thirsts for streams,” the Psalmist (Ps. 42) confessed, “so my soul longs for God.” Jesus knew such thirst in his 40 days in the desert. (Luke 4:1-13) “When you share Passover,” Moses told the people, “include the aliens and strangers.” Like those outsiders, Jesus seldom had a safe place to call home. Perhaps he learned, as we must, that the wilderness itself is our home. Daylight Saving Time begins, please set your clocks forward.
Home in Here, Now, and Hereafter - Second Lent
March 16
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
What is God’s house like? “It’s a stronghold,” wrote the Psalmists. “A shelter.” “A place of beauty and peace.” Jesus added, “It’s like a mother hen gathering her brood.” (Luke 13:31-35) What’s our vision of “the house of the Lord”—both in the hereafter and the here and now? Rev. Ben Larzelere is guest preacher.
Home in the Steadfast Love - Third Lent
March 23
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
"Come to the waters, all who thirst," proclaimed Isaiah. “Come, you who have no bread, and eat.” (Isaiah 55:1-9) “You have been my help,” cried the Psalmist (Ps. 63), “and in the shadow of your wings, I sing for joy.” Both prophet and psalmist found their home in the steadfast love of God – and both call us to create home for others.
A New Home, A New Creation - Joyous Lent
March 30
8:30am Contemplative Communion
10:00am
When the religious leaders chastised Jesus for eating with tax collectors and other “bad people,” Jesus told them about a child who left home and got lost. When he finally returned, he learned the depth and breadth of his father’s love. (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32) When discord threatened the young church in Corinth, the apostle Paul called his community into that love to be “a new creation” in Christ, to let Christ’s new life transform their lives. (2 Corinthians 5:16-21) He called it “the ministry of reconciliation” – finding a home in one another’s hearts because we have found a home in God’s heart.