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Due to having no recorded service this Sunday, you can view the bulletin below:

May 10, 2026
MOTHER’S DAY
TRADITIONAL Service
Union-Congregational Church

Gathering Music                                      

Welcome and Announcements              

Before Call to Worship, liturgist says:
Welcome back to our series on prayer. Today we continue our intentional encounter with the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples discovering how we are formed by asking for what we need, like our daily bread. Jesus offers us assurance that asking God to act in our lives and in the world is a practice of trust and belief that we are not alone in our need. Our prayer for sustenance is both physical and spiritual. The meeting of needs with the power of prayer helps eases suffering. “Petition” is our focus about prayer today. How can intercessory prayer help us become mindful of the needs of the world and remember that God is the Source of All Gifts?

Call to Worship
One: We arrive fully into this moment, Holy One. We open to sense your presence among us. We hear you say,
All: “Seek and you will find.”
One: We need you, Jesus, to help us. We come to you as your first disciples did. We hear you say,
All: “Seek and you will find.”
One: Spirit of Divine Love, come to us with your healing waters. We hear you say,
All: “Seek and you will find.”

Opening Prayer (unison)
God of Easter hope, thank you for gathering us here today. Thank you for showing us, over and over again, that we can trust in your love and presence in times of need. When we forget, and when sometimes it feels as if you aren’t there, help us remember this moment, this place, these people. Help us remember you will never forget about us. Amen.

Opening Hymn: #473 What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Reading of Scripture
Before reading, please say:
Our first reading is from the letter of James, chapter 5, verses 13-16. These are some of the last words the author of James shares with his letter readers. These are words of encouragement to ask for what is needed, leaning into communal support. How might God be calling us to this kind of interdependence this day?

James 5: 13-16
13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

Next, please say: 
Our second reading from Luke 5:15-16 reminds us that Jesus, too, needed to pause in the busyness of his ministry to pray, discerning and asking God for what he and his community needed.

Luke 5:15-16
15 But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds were gathering to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. 16 Meanwhile, he would slip away to deserted places and pray.

After reading, please say, “Here end the readings for today. May God bless us as we learn from these holy words. Amen.”

Message: Holding Each Other Up
 

Hymn: #440 Savior Like A Shepherd Lead Us (1,2,4)

Prayers of the People
The Wide Spectrum of Mothering by Amy Young (Call and Response)
One: To those who gave birth this year to their first child —
All: we celebrate with you
 

One: To those who lost a child this year — 
All: we mourn with you
 

One: To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains — 
All: we appreciate you
 

One: To those who experienced loss this year through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away — 
All: we mourn with you
 

One: To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment — 
All: we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don't mean to make this harder than it is.
 

One: To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms — 
All: we need you
 

One: To those who have warm and close relationships with your children — 
All: we celebrate with you
 

One: To those who have disappointment, heartache, and distance with your children — 
All: we sit with you
 

One: To those who lost their mothers this year — 
All: we grieve with you
 

One: To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother — 
All: we acknowledge your experience
 

One: To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood — 
All: we are better for having you in our midst
 

One: To those who have aborted children — 
All: we remember them and you on this day
 

One: To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children — 
All: we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be
 

One: To those who step-parent — 
All: we walk with you on these complex paths
 

One: To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren, yet that dream is not to be — 
All: we grieve with you
 

One: To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year — 
All: we grieve and rejoice with you
 

One: And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising — 
All: we anticipate with you
 

One: This Mother's Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart, and we have real warriors in our midst. 
All: We remember you.

Time for Silent Prayer
Joys and Concerns 
After each prayer petition, Jacob will say, “God in your mercy”, and the congregation is invited to respond: “Receive our prayer.” 
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer (unison)
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy 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. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

We Offer Our Gifts

*Doxology

Prayer of Dedication (unison)
Holy One, we have heard your promises today that we are not alone in our suffering or our difficult times. With these gifts, we pray that others would feel the same. Help us work together with you to make it so. Amen.

Closing Hymn: #476 I Need Thee Every Hour

Benediction

Sending Music