ANNOUNCEMENTS

Music Sunday begins at 10:00 a.m. and includes a baptism!  Wednesday Bible Studies meet at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Men’s Studies meet Thursday night at 7 at the Bayport UMC and Saturday morning at 7:30.

OPENING SONG:  “What a Beautiful Name” (By Voices of Lee)

CALL TO WORSHIP

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!
SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS!
COME INTO GOD’S PRESENCE WITH SINGING!
Enter God’s gates with thanksgiving in your hearts,
AND ENTER GOD’S COURTS WITH PRAISE!

UNISON PRAYER

LORD, AS NEW LIFE BLOSSOMS AROUND US,
MAY WE BE NOURISHED BY YOUR HOLY RAIN.
MAY YOUR SEEDS BLOSSOM IN OUR HEARTS,
AND MAY YOUR SPRING RISE IN OUR SOULS.  AMEN.

WORDS OF ASSURANCE:  2 Corinthians 9:10, Good News Bible

God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

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 trespasses,
As we forgive those
Who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For thine is the kingdom,
And the power,
And the glory forever.
Amen. 

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
(Add your own prayers at the beginning or end)

Thank you, Lord, for today’s baptism!  We pray your blessing upon Grace, her parents Lauren and Dan, and her brother Harrison.  May the event be one of thanksgiving and joy!

We pray for the people of Ukraine ~ for those who are mourning, those who are injured,
those whose families have been separated, those who are fighting, those who have fled
and those who cannot leave.  Bless the nation with your Spirit and intervene with your divine hand.

We thank you that Janet did not need surgery and is now in a rehabilitation center.  We ask your blessing of patience and healing be upon her as she recovers.  Be with those in our church and community who have been recently diagnosed with COVID.  May their symptoms be light and their recovery be swift.  Be with Deb T.’s mom as she deals with setbacks from a recent illness and injury; help her oxygen levels to stabilize.

We pray for others in our church family who are going through times of need:  for Pat, Jim, Joanna, Sue, Joan, Mary, Lois, Dannie, Kathleen, Liz, Diane, Laurie and Ruth; for all members of our extended family who are suffering; for this nation and for the world.

We come to you now in silent prayer …

Lord, as you know what is written in our hearts, attend now to our spirits, we pray in your name, Amen.

SCRIPTURE LESSON: Proverbs 22:6

Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it. ~ NIV

Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their life. ~ Good News Bible

SUNDAY SERMON:  “Pandemic Babies!” (Print only this week)

First of all, congratulations Dan and Lauren on your pandemic baby!  Pandemic babies are more rare than pre-pandemic babies, as 3.7% fewer babies have been born in the past few years.  But there are also some other differences between pandemic babies and pre-pandemic babies.

Believe it or not, the oldest pandemic babies are now two and a half years old!  This means they are still in diapers and missed the whole toilet paper shortage.  They also didn’t complain when the supermarket ran out of Grape Nuts.

Pandemic babies have grown up thinking that a mask is just another part of our clothing.  Many of them have spent their early years without as many other babies to play with.  On the other hand, pandemic babies have had extra time with their families, who in many cases were working from home.

One of my friends told me yesterday that he saw a pandemic toddler go up to a fire hydrant and put his hand under it, thinking it was a soap dispenser.

Pandemic babies were born into a time when America was politically divided.  They will have no memories of the times when we all listened, compromised and got along.  They may read about such things in history books, but they might not believe it, because they have also grown up in an era of “fake news” and “alternative facts.”

In similar fashion, since pandemic babies were not around before the pandemic, the pandemic is all they know.  Life is just life.  Depending on their parents, they have either started to grow up nervous or confident, cautious or cavalier.

The healthiest pandemic babies have already started to learn some of the following things:
There are little joys to be found everywhere in life.
Mommy and Daddy adore them.
Little things are not worth being upset about.
You don’t have to crawl forever.
God is real, God is good, and God loves them.

Another friend told me yesterday that after 9/11, people started worrying about bringing babies into the world.  My response was that maybe this was true, but it was also true after Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis and World War II.  There’s always something.  The pandemic is just “the new something.”

This being said, pandemic parents are hopeful and brave.  Or maybe they were just bored, because during the pandemic, some people finished watching everything they wanted to see on Netflix and might have said, “Hey, let’s make a baby!”

Babies are statements of faith.  New parents hope that things in the world will improve, and maybe that their babies will grow up to be part of the improvement.

In the 21st year of the pandemic, which will be 2039, our pandemic babies will start graduating from college.  If we raise them with faith and hope, they may look back on the years they were born and say, “Wow, they set the bar really low, but we think we can do better.”  And off they will go to change the world.  And Dan and Lauren, you probably don’t want to think this far ahead, but some of them will start to make their own babies, or at least order them on Amazon.

Pandemic babies have no idea what “the new normal” is, nor do they have any desire to “return to normal.”  To a pandemic baby, there is no such thing as “the good old days.”  They will have to make their own good, new days.

The last pandemic babies were born from 1918-1920.  They were teenagers during the Great Depression.  And yet, they became part of what we still call “America’s greatest generation.”  Perhaps because they saw how bad things could be, they displayed a sense of civil pride, devotion to community, helping their neighbors, working as a team.  The pandemic babies of the early 20th century became the best of us all.

And so, there is hope for this generation as well.  We might not always call them pandemic babies, or COVID kids, but parents will tell them stories and show them photos on their iPhone 49s, and instead of saying that they used to walk 2 miles to school, they will say that they went to school and work in their own houses and had to order lots of take-out food.  And the pandemic babies, all grown up, will roll their eyes and say, that doesn’t seem all that bad.

Children are resilient, and few children retain many of their earliest memories.  If the pandemic ends in the next few years, none of the pandemic babies will remember it.  The rest of it is up to us.  If we spend the next few years being hopeful, faithful and joyful, they will learn how to be hopeful, faithful and joyful.  If we continue to insist that the world can be changed, they will grow up wanting to change the world.  If we teach them that God is with us, they will remember that God is with them as well.

Dan and Lauren, this is what you’ve done today.  You’ve told Grace, “you are a child of God.”  You’ve told her that her name means something incredible, that God is with us, and will continue to see us through every crisis as he has in the past, from now throughout her life and on to the end of time.  You may have noticed that her name was in the words, “Baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, through which we become heirs of life eternal.”  As your daughter grows in age, may she also grow in spirit, and may she and Harrison become part of the next greatest generation and be examples of faith, hope and love to us all.  Amen!

OFFERING

We’ve got another happy, upbeat service for you this week, as we will celebrate a baptism along with music from the band!  We will have a mix of Christian hits from Hillsong and Crowder, reggae from Bob Marley, rock from The Animals, Foo Fighters and more!  Join us at 10 a.m. and be blessed!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Confirmation Sunday begins at 10:00 a.m. preceded by a breakfast for the confirmands and their families at 9:00.  Wednesday Bible Studies meet at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Men’s Studies meet Thursday night at 7 at the Bayport UMC and Saturday morning at 7:30.  Next week is Music Sunday!

OPENING SONG:  “Thunder/Awesome God”

CALL TO WORSHIP

Come and worship, people of all ages!
CHILDREN AND YOUTH, JOIN YOUR ANCESTORS!
May every generation praise the Lord,
AND MAY THEIR SONGS INSPIRE OTHERS TO SING!

UNISON PRAYER

LORD JESUS,
WE THANK YOU TODAY
FOR THE WITNESS OF OUR YOUNG PEOPLE,
WHO HAVE CHOSEN TO BECOME YOUR FOLLOWERS
AND TO BECOME MEMBERS OF OUR CHURCH.
MAY WE DO ALL IN OUR POWER
TO INCREASE THEIR FAITH,
FORTIFY THEM WITH HOPE,
AND ENCOURAGE THEM IN LOVE.
AMEN.

WORDS OF ASSURANCE:  Acts 2:17, NIV

In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

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 trespasses,
As we forgive those
Who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For thine is the kingdom,
And the power,
And the glory forever.
Amen. 

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
(Add your own prayers at the beginning or end)

Thank you, Lord, for Alexander, Brayden, Brendon, Daniel, Isabella, Makenzie, and Steffani, who are joining the church this morning!  May their faith continue to grow throughout their lives, and may they always feel the blessings of the Holy Spirit!

We pray for the people of Ukraine ~ for those who are mourning, those who are injured,
those whose families have been separated, those who are fighting, those who have fled
and those who cannot leave.  Bless the nation with your Spirit and intervene with your divine hand.

Bless Janet H. in her struggle to be rid of a blood clot on the brain; we pray that she might be stabilized and healed without surgery.  Be with those in our church and community who have been recently diagnosed with COVID.  May their symptoms be light and their recovery be swift.  Be with Deb T.’s mom as she deals with setbacks from a recent illness and injury; help her oxygen levels to stabilize.

We pray for others in our church family who are going through times of need:  for Pat, Jim, Joanna, Sue, Joan, Mary, Lois, Dannie, Kathleen, Liz, Diane, Laurie and Ruth; for all members of our extended family who are suffering; for this nation and for the world.

We come to you now in silent prayer …

Lord, as you know what is written in our hearts, attend now to our spirits, we pray in your name, Amen.

SCRIPTURE LESSON:  1 Timothy 4:12, Good News Bible

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

SUNDAY SERMON (Print only this week)

Today is Confirmation Sunday, and our seven confirmands will all be speaking in church, sharing a prayer, statement of belief, or mini-sermon.  They have been attending church throughout the school year, meeting as a class, and participating in service projects.

Two weeks ago, they took a confirmation test that was unlike any other.  Remembering that the Bible was written because people shared and remembered stories in groups, we asked the class to work as a team and to write down everything they could remember, from creation to heaven.  After 45 minutes, we asked their parents to come in and write down anything they thought their kids had forgotten.

The results were amazing, and rather amusing.  The youth did great, the parents not so great!  This isn’t such a surprise, as the youth had been in classes all year.  But it also highlights a few things about church communities:

1) The oldest people are often the most knowledgeable, but not always.  Sometimes God works through young people; they can even be teachers and leaders, like David, Samuel, Timothy, and the boy who volunteered his bread and fish to feed thousands.  In fact, Jesus tells his disciples that they must become like children in order to enter the Kingdom of heaven.  Children are always aware that they don’t know everything, so they are eager to learn in order to grow.  They have ideals that older people often abandon.  They are always ready to believe in love.

2. Churches are teams.  The Confirmation Class took their test as a team because faith does not exist in a vacuum.  We need each other for support and encouragement, and to help each other remember teachings and stories.  In the same way, confirmation is not just an event for youth, but for their families.  If parents stop attending church, usually their children do as well; but if families attend together, their faith can grow as one.  Extending the idea even further, churches are comprised of intergenerational families who rise or fall based not on the sum total of their individual faith, but of their communal faith.  To paraphrase a famous statement, the church that prays together stays together!

3. If we want our churches to remain vibrant, we are called upon to recognize our young people as equals; on this day, our confirmands become full members of our church.  This year’s class has impressed me with their faith, love, optimism, enthusiasm, caring for others and volunteering spirit.  If this were our own Christian resume, we’d be overjoyed!  Our youth remind us of the best in ourselves, the ideals we once had or still have, and the reason we became Christians in the first place.  Given all that is going on in the world, and the crisis of the global church, the faith of our confirmands is an extension of the Good News, a breath of fresh spiritual air.

We are truly blessed this morning!  Thank you, Jesus, for sending us such encouragement!  Amen.

OFFERING