June 22nd, 2025 - Season of Pentecost

We offer you a warm welcome, and as is our practice, we remember that the land on which we meet is, was, and always will be native land. We acknowledge those indigenous tribes to Oklahoma: the Wichitas, Caddos, Plains Apaches, and the Quapaws, as the original custodians of the land in this place. We grieve the violence done to native language, culture, and personhood, and seek to honor the sovereignty and dignity of native peoples.

We are so glad you've joined us, whether in person or online. Please take a moment to tell us you are here by using the sign-in button below.

One: Good morning, and Welcome to Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ, where no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey . . .

All: You are welcome here!

One: We know what God desires of us: that we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.

All: We gather to remind each other that we know our assignment and that it is always the right time to practice what we preach.

One: So come, let us reason together, so that we more faithfully do the good that is ours to do.

All: Because we believe that God is still speaking, our hearts and minds are open, ready to receive a word of hope and grace on this day!

God Is Here! As We Your People Meet, Hymn 70
New Century Hymnal

[Please rise in body or in spirit.]

One: "May the peace of Christ be with you."
All: "And also with you!"

Type your new text here.

There Is a Happy Land
arr. K. Lee Scott
Carolyn Sargent

For the joys of this congregation, let the people say: Thanks be to God.

Let us say together the Lord’s Prayer, a translation by members of this congregation:

All: Our Creator, who is in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For you reign in the power that is love, now and always, Amen.

Bring Him Home
Claud-Michel Schonberg
Riordan Banks with Carolyn Sargent

God on high
Hear my prayer
In my need
You have always been there

He is young
He's afraid
Let him rest
Heaven blessed
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home

He's like the son I might have known
If God had granted me a son
The summers die
One by one
How soon they fly
On and on
And I am old
And will be gone

Bring him peace
Bring him joy
He is young
He is only a boy

You can take
You can give
Let him be
Let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home

Rev. Dr. Lori Walke

Then they arrived at the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on shore, a man from the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had not worn any clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, shouting, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me,” for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding, and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd stampeded down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they became frightened. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then the whole throng of people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Rev. Dr. Lori Walke

God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending, Hymn 565
New Century Hymnal

[Please rise in body or in spirit.]

One: May God grant to us the grace to never sell ourselves short, the courage to risk something big for something good, and the wisdom to know that the world is too small for anything but love. So let us go in peace, pray for peace, wage a little peace, and love one another.

ALL: Every single other. Amen.

What Does the Lord Require?
Jim Strathdee

Part 1: What does the Lord require of you? What does the Lord require of you?

Part 2: Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God. Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God.

Part 3: To do justice, and love kindness and walk humbly with your God. To do justice, and love kindness and walk humbly with your God.

[Sung in a round, Part 1 begins the response, joined the second time by Part 2, then by Part 3, and then a fourth time through. For those in-person, it is our tradition for the congregation to stand and turn towards the center aisle during the benediction response so that we might "send each other forth" to embody what we sing.]