Season of Pentecost! Season of Promise, Struggleand Growing Compassion!
October 17, 2021
In Person and Online Services
PRELUDE: For Me to Live Is Jesus— Johann Pachelbel
UNISON CALL TO RETURN TO OUR SOULS
This is what compassion does:
It challenges our assumptions!
Our sense of self limitation!
Our sense of being at the center of everything!
Our lack of empathy for the vulnerable and marginalized.
Or, conversely, when suffering, this is what compassion also does:
It diminishes our sense of worthlessness,
Of not having a place in the world,
Our feelings of loneliness,
Estrangement.
Be compassionate whenever possible.
It is always possible.
HYMN: O for a World GTG#372
RESPONSIVE PRAYERS OF CONFESSION AND COMMITMENT
(plain text, leader—bold text, congregation )
It is certain that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. (James Baldwin)
If you wish to strive for peace of soul and happiness, then believe; if you wish to be a disciple of truth, then inquire. (Friedrich Nietszche)
Hate is a wasteful emotion. Most of the people you hate don’t know you hate them. And the rest don’t care. (Medgar Evers, voting rights leader, 20th century martyr)
Never forget where you come from, And always praise the bridges that have carried you over. (Fannie Lou Hamer)
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (Jesus of Nazareth)
I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger, because I knew— Slavery is the next thing to hell. (Harriet Tubman)
Brief Silent Meditation concluded by ringing of the gong, then this Unison Prayer:
Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive?Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.
–Henri Nouwen, Dutch priest, writer, professor
HYMN: Jesus, We Are Here/Jesu, Tawa Pano GTG#392
Bible readings: Jeremiah 17: 7-11 Ephesians 6:10-24
SUNG RESPONSE: Break Thou the Bread of Life GTG#460
SERMON: A New Word With an Timeless Truth!
HYMN: Lord, When I Came into This Life GTG#691
WELCOMING
CHORAL ANTHEM: Savior, Teach Me Day by Day— Raymond Weidner
PRAYER: Matthew 25 prayer—Lord’s Prayer—
CONGREGATIONAL SUNG RESPONSE: Come, Bring Your Burdens to God(sing twice) GTG#851
OFFERTORY SOLO: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand—arranged by Margaret Bonds; Neal Long, tenor
Offering link
A PRAYER OF DEDICATION—(adapting a poem by Mary Oliver)
You might see an angel anytime and anywhere.
Of course you have to open your eyes to a kind of second level, but it’s not really hard.
The whole business of what’s reality and what isn’t has never been solved and probably never will be.
So I don’t care to be too definite about anything. I have a lot of edges called Perhaps And almost nothing you can call Certainty. For myself, but not for other people.
That’s a place you just can’t get into, not entirely anyway, other people’s heads. I’ll just leave you with this.
I don’t care how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. It’s enough to know that for some people angels exist, and that they dance.
May this be so. And may it be soon.
May their message arrive on time! In time!Amen.
HYMN: I Want Jesus to Walk with Me GTG#775
BENEDICTION
SUNG BENEDICTION RESPONSE: I Want Jesus to Walk with Me (stanza 1) GTG#775
POSTLUDE: Prelude in E major, op. 28, no. 9–Frederic Chopin
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