11th Sunday of In-Person Services—
August 15, 2021
PRELUDE: Reflection on ST. COLUMBA—Thomas Keesecker
CALL TO RETURN TO OUR SOULS
Pastor: May we know the honor of being a human being.(Jake Swamp, Haudenosaunee/Iroquois)
People: May we share the honor of being a human being.
Pastor: Let us unite a frightened world by acts of kindness
People: Hate has no home here. (a 9 year old Muslim child wrote these words on a sign for a protest at Chicago’s airport when the January 27, 2017 travel ban from Muslim countries was announced)
Pastor: Let hate have no home where you are.
People: Love your enemies. (Jesus)
Pastor Replace apathy with curiosity, violence with community. (Fred Culver)
People: May our capacity for God be reborn.
Pastor: Always remember— what you give you have. (Roman soldier)
People: We praise God!—The Strong One!
HYMN: Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door GTG#728
CALL TO CONFESSION AND COMMITMENT
Pastor: In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart
People: Giving strength to weakness,
Pastor: Courage to fear, hope to despair.
People: There is something in every one of us that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in ourselves
Pastor: It is the only true guide we will ever have.
People: And if we cannot hear it,
Pastor: because we are not listening
People: Then all of our life we will spend our days
Pastor: on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.
People: Listen to the long stillness: New life is stirring.
Pastor: New dreams are on the wing.
People: New hopes are being readied.
Leader: God is at work.
People: This is the season of Promise.
—Howard Thurman
HYMN: Be Not Afraid (sing twice) GTG#243
Illiminated Faith of Jesus—an Illuminated Insights Worship Service
HYMN : We Meet You, O Christ Blue Hymnal #311
THEME 1: Jesus’ Jewish Faith
HYMN: The God of Abraham Praise GTG#49 (text by the luminous Moses Maimonides, Jewish thinker, scholar, astronomer, physician, 12th century, Spain, Morocco, Egypt)— Leoni is a Jewish melody
THEME 2: The Primacy of One’s Relationship with God
HYMN: Spirit of the Living God (sing twice) GTG #288
THEME 3: Jesus’ primary aim—the realization of God’s realm in this world, this life.
HYMN: Seek Ye First GTG#175
THEME 4: The Great Commandment as the highest expression of Jesus’ faith
HYMN: Bring Forth the Kingdom STF#2190
THEME 5: Jesus’ faith represented a reversal of accepted values
A brief time of silence during a kind of arts and spirituality postlude of selected spiritual art works, concluded by the ringing of the gong.
HYMN: The Summons—Will You Come and Follow Me GTG#726
WELCOME
CHORAL ANTHEM: Alleluia! Sing to Jesus—Sondra K. Tucker
Matthew 25 prayer—Lord’s Prayer—
SUNG RESPONSE: Come, Bring Your Burdens to God GTG#851
OFFERTORY: Strength to My Soul— Carol Melton; Jennifer Weiman, mezzo soprano
RESPONSIVE PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Pastor: May we be a guard for those who need protection
People: A guide for those on the path
Pastor: A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
People: May we be a lamp in the darkness
Pastor: A resting place for the weary
People: A healing medicine for all who are sick
Pastor: A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
People: And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
Pastor: May we bring sustenance and awakening
People: Enduring like the earth and sky
Pastor: Until all beings are freed from sorrow
People: And all are awakened.
Pastor: May it be so.
People: And may it be soon – Shantideva, Indian Buddhist sage 700 AD
CLOSING HYMN: Siyahamba—We Are Marching in the Light of God (stanzas 1-4…..marching, dancing, praying, singing)
BENEDICTION
SUNG BENEDICTION RESPONSE: Siyahamba—We Are Marching in the Light of God (Siyahamba!—Zulu/Xhosa stanza) GTG#853
POSTLUDE: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (HYMN TO JOY) —setting, Marianne Kim
Worship next Sunday, Aug. 22 will include a DIALOGUE SERMON between Rev Scott and Micah Rose Emerson, the Presbyterian Urban and Immigrant Ministry Network’s new anti-racist organizer and educator. They have been meeting for over a month to discuss and prepare for this service. Micah is a leader in the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City. Stan Morgan(elder), Rev Scott, Rev. Rodger Nishioka (Village), Rev. Eric Garbison (Cherith Brook, Kim Carter (elder, Linwood), Sandi Moss(elder, Covenant) were leaders of the search team that chose Micah for this work.
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