Sunday Bulletin

Prelude           “Adagio” from Suite Modal                Boehm

Introit             “Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty”                

Call to Worship                                 
A Litany for the World

Hymn           “The God of Abraham Praise”     #24

The Lord’s Prayer

Unison Prayer
God, let your justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs
dry. May we who have such abundance be honest and fair with all
your people, especially the poor. Let peace and justice rule every
mountain and fairness flow as a river that never runs dry. May we
be as helpful as rain that refreshes the ground, to those who are
treated unjustly. Let the wholeness and fairness of your kingdom
live forever like the sun and the moon. God, let your justice and
fairness flow like a river that never runs day. Amen

The Lord’s Prayer

Children’s Message

Reading Psalm 72

“Stories from the Road to Civil Rights”

Reading Isaiah 58:6-12

“Stories from the Road to Civil Rights”

Reading Luke 4:14-19

“Stories from the Road to Civil Rights”

Am I Awake by Noah Aronson
Am I Awake? Am I prepared? Are you listening to my prayer?
Can you hear my voice? Can you understand?
Am I awake and prepared?

Prayers of the People – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
God of Righteousness, Grant us your life-giving presence.
Guide us in our time of worship, and remain with us as we
step out into the world, that we may face injustice with
courage and love. May we come to see that the end we seek
is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its
conscience. The timing may feel off; the end of the road might
be out of sight, yet we trust in your holy presence. How long?
Not long, because no lie can live forever. How long? Not long,
because you still reap what you sow. How long? Not long.
Because the arm of the moral universe is long, but it bends
toward justice. How long? Not long, because you are our God,
and all may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. Amen

Hymn           “Let There Be Peace on Earth”     #677

Offering                                 
Offertory         Special Music                                     Rabbi David
Offertory:  “I’m On My Way To Freedom Land”
I’m on my way to Freedom land,
I’m on my way to Freedom land,
I’m on my way to Freedom Land
I’m on my way (praise God) I’m on my way. 

Verse 1: Gonna ask my sister to come with me…
Verse 2: Gonna ask my brother to come with me…
Verse 3: I’m on my way and I won’t turn back…

Doxology*                                                                            #46
Offertory Prayer*

Hymn           “We Shall Overcome”     #630

Benediction      

Closing           “This Little Light of Mine”

Postlude        “Fugue in G Minor”          J.S. Bach

Calendar of Events

Monday, 1/19            Noon AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
Tuesday, 1/20           7:30 AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, 1/21     Noon AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
                                  5:30 Choir Rehearsal in Organ Loft
Thursday, 1/22 3:15 Cherub Choir Rehearsal in Sanctuary
4:00 Youth Choir Rehearsal in Sanctuary

Happy Birthday this week to:
Carrie Alario, Olivia DeRienzo Savarino, & Calvin Jennings, today 1/18
Andrea Carey on 1/20
Barbara Percy, and Riley Stafford on 1/21
Ashley Finlen-Copeland on 1/22
Mena Spaulding on 1/23
Joshua Ziegler on 1/24

Announcements

The ushers today are Meg Scotti and Penny McGaughy.  Thank you for helping today.

YOU ARE INVITED!!  to the Second Annual MLK Mitzvah Day
Service • Community • Soup Supper
Who: All ages — JCOGS & wider community
What: A day of hands-on Tikkun Olam in honor of Dr. King
When: Monday, January 19
Where: UCC Morrisville & JCOGS
Why: To live Dr. King’s call: “What are you doing for others?”
See the schedule on the table in the Narthex and on the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall.

Stewardship Update
As of January 12, 2026 we have received pledges for a total of $137,082.  Our goal is $325,000, and we are now at 42% of our goal.  Sincere thanks to all of you who have already pledged.  What a thrill it would be to announce at our January 25, 2026 Annual Congregational Meeting that we have met our goal. 

There will be a pledge card inserted in the bulletin for the next three weeks for your convenience.   Sincere thanks, Nancy Money, Stewardship Chair

Annual Congregational Meeting — Save the Date

Please join us for the Annual Congregational Meeting on Sunday, January 25, beginning at 10:45 a.m. (immediately following worship). Your presence—in person or online—and your vote are vitally important as we help shape the direction of Stowe Community Church in 2026. We strongly encourage you to show up, participate, and vote on key leadership and agenda items. We are excited to hear your voices—because our church is all about you.

The meeting will last approximately one hour, followed by refreshments and fellowship.

Highlights include:

• Pastor Dan’s sabbatical (May 12 – September 8) and what church life will look like during his absence

• Congregational votes on the 2026 Church Budget

• Election of the 2026 slate of church officers

• An update on our 2026 Stewardship Campaign

• A stand-alone fundraising project for the much-desired LULA Lift in 2026

• Launch of our new online Membership Directory (please contact us if you’d like to be included)

• Save the Date: March 7 Church Vibrancy Event, presented by UCC with Paul Nickerson

• Launch of the Planned Giving Campaign

We hope to see you there!

Green Note for January: “Is a River Alive?”  by Gene Bernat

Its All Connected, Its All Alive….Stowe is an environment of spectacular beauty and a unique mountain environment and each hill, valley and notch has its own tributary of flowing water both large and small. These flows in turn connect to larger flows, our named brooks and streams… large rivers and lakes and, eventually,  the sea. Each of us residing here or visiting are connected to these flows physically, emotionally and aesthetically. We are also connected to them bodily in less poetic ways… To read the rest, see the Quest.

SCC Ski and Ride Day February 2nd!
Our first SCC Ski and Ride day for the season will be on Monday, February 2nd at the Stowe Mountain Resort. We will gather by the Sunrise Six-Pack lift at 9:00 am. We’ll join Pastor Dan for skiing and riding on mostly Intermediate terrain. Invite friends to join us. At 11:00 Pastor Dan will lead a short service at the Mountain Chapel weather permitting! Again, all are invited to attend. We’ll wrap up the day at the Round Hearth at 1:00 pm for lunch or apres-ski. Even if you don’t ski or ride, you can meet us there to socialize!

SCC XC Ski Day February 7th!
XC Ski Day at the von Trapp Family Lodge Ski Center Saturday, February 7th at 1:00 pm. Please join Lynne Von Trapp, Meg Scotti, and Dan for a cross-country ski day. 
Afterwards, we are meeting at the von Trapp Kaffeehaus. 
Thanks to the von Trapp Family Lodge, this will be a complimentary ski afternoon. Ski rentals would be extra. 
Hope to see you there! 
Please contact megscotti@mac.com or 802-363-3720
If you are interested or have any questions. 

Musical Notes by Karen Miller

  Prelude:  Flor Peeters (1903-1986) was a popular organ educator for numerous American students wanting to study abroad.  He was the youngest of eleven children in a musical family where most of its members played musical instruments.  At age eight he was deputizing for his eldest brother at the local church.  He studied at the Lemmens Institute in Mechelen and then was appointed assistant organist (to his organ teacher) at St. Rombouts Cathedral in Mechelen at age twenty.  He succeeded his teacher as full organist and served there a total of sixty-three years.  He taught at several conservatories and through his work he influenced organists and composers in Europe and North America.  He gave over 1,200 recitals world-wide and wrote over 550 organ works.  He also published works about the organ, how to play it, and anthologies of old Flemish organ music.  His "Adagio" is the third section of four in his "Modale Suite".  It displays Peeters' use of Gregorian chant and vocal polyphony in his organ writing.

  Postlude:  J. S. Bach (1685-1750) held several musical positions in the course of his life before becoming cantor of St. Thomas's in Leipzig.  Wherever he was employed, his compositions reflected the needs of his current position.  While Kapellmeister at the court of Anhalt-Cothen, his employer, the prince, was not interested in religious works but rather instrumental compositions.  Here Bach wrote violin concertos, sonatas, suites, and the Brandenburg concertos.  He also composed some of his best keyboard works.  The writing of his "Fugue in G Minor" is probably from this period.  In typical fugue fashion, the theme is introduced in the soprano line, then passed to the alto, then tenor, then bass.  A complexity of interweaving these voices continues to the end.