Season of Pentecost! Season of Promise, Struggle and Growing Compassion! October 3, 2021
PRELUDE: Fantasia in D minor: Allegro-Georg Philipp Telemann
CALL TO RETURN TO OUR SOULS
What brings you joy?
What slows you down?
What gives you hope?
What makes you think?
What invites you to wonder?
What makes you change?
What voice speaks truth you cannot find words to speak or sing to yourself?
Might it have something to do with the Holy?
Let’s open our minds!
Look now through the God window.
HYMN: God Is Calling through the Whisper GTG#410
RESPONSIVE PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND COMMITMENT
Leader: God of surprises, You call us from the narrowness of our traditions to new ways of being church, from the captivities of our culture to creative witness for justice, from the smallness of our horizons to the bigness of your vision.
People: Jesus, wounded healer, you call us from preoccupation with our own histories and hurts to daily tasks of peacemaking, from privilege and protocol to partnership and pilgrimage, from isolation and insularity to inclusive community.
Leader: O Lord of compassion, we ask for your continued mercy for those who seek shelter, for the refugees and immigrants in our midst. Lord, we thank you for loving the stranger, and we ask you to continue to protect those who are without documentation.
People: Holy, transforming Spirit, you call us from fear to faithfulness, from clutter to clarity, from a desire to control to deeper trust, from the refusal to love to a readiness to risk.
Leader: Clear the way in us, your people, that we might all know the beauty and power and danger of the gospel. Amen.
SILENT MEDITATION concluded by ringing of the gong
AFFIRMING God’s Forgiveness and Grace
Pastor: O God, full of compassion, I commit and commend myself to you, in whom I am, and live, and know. Be the goal of my pilgrimage, and my rest by the way.
People: Let my soul take refuge from the crowding turmoil of worldly thought beneath the shadow of your wings. Let my heart, this sea of restless waves find peace in you, O God.
Pastor: So God heals us of all sin, all brokenness all foolishness and fury and regret. Amen
—adapted from a prayer by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430
SUNG RESPONSE: Take Me to the Water GTG#480
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 19: 7-14 Romans 12:1-13
DIALOGUE SERMON #2 : Racism and Anti-Racism ; Micah Rose Emerson and Rev Scott Myers
HYMN: Bring Forth the Kingdom
WELCOMING
CHORAL ANTHEM: Come, Taste the Joy of the Lord—David Bailes and Douglas Nolan
PRAYER: Matthew 25, Lord’s Prayer, &…
CONGREGATIONAL SUNG RESPONSE Come, Bring Your Burdens to God(sing twice) GTG#851
OFFERTORY: Come unto Me—Willem Coenen; Joshua Stark, baritone
UNISON PRAYER OF DEDICATION
May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free. May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending one another. May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wilderness—the children, the aged, the unprotected–be guarded now and always. Amen.
–Buddhist prayer
HYMN: Soon and Very Soon (stanzas 1-3) GTG#384
BENEDICTION
SUNG BENEDICTION RESPONSE: Soon and Very Soon (stanza 4) GTG# 384
POSTLUDE: Soon and Very Soon—Andraé Crouch, arr. Marianne Kim
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BIOGRAPHY OF MICAH ROSE EMERSON—Dialogue Sermon Partner
Micah Rose Emerson is the 21st Century Program Director for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City. Previously, she was the Regional Manager for the Global Orphan Project. Micah is a film maker, a storyteller and has a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing. The Presbyterian Urban and Immigrant Ministry Network of Heartland Presbytery has hired Micah for its new part time anti-racist organizer and educator position, working in churches and the community.
A columnist for Horizons, the Presbyterian Women’s Magazine, she recently wrote, “ I want to be the best advocate for marginalized people. In order to be the best advocate, I have to build relationships. This is the hardest part of making a difference. I need to be near the people whose voices I am elevating. At this very moment, I am sitting on my front porch after having a conversation with some elders in my neighborhood. They are concerned with violence, speeding cars and the loss of community ties to each other. “Who am I to be sitting on an advisory board with foundation and organizational leaders?” I thought. Beyond that moment of doubt, I have come to realize that I’m a valuable part of this community. My voice matters. I stood with them as they told stories of the old neighborhood, who lived where and what they did for a living, as well as who is currently involved in the shenanigans they are very opposed to. I didn’t have any solutions to offer. I didn’t tell them they were wrong or try to figure out how to fix the ways they feel. I just nodded and tried to hear their hearts. When they decided we were done, I waved and thanked them for taking the time to help me understand their concerns.
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