Gathering Music

May I Be Filled

may I be filled with joyful loving kindness
may I be calm and at peace
may I be safe, may happiness surprise me
may I be awake and free.

may you be filled with joyful loving kindness
may you be calm and at peace
may you be safe, may happiness surprise you
may you be awake and free.

Call to Worship

“They”

One:
This person I know
Wants to be called a they.

It could bring us much closer
To see them that way.

It’s a strange thing to think
And harder to say,

But they is so happy
When the effort is made.

For all the theys and thems
It is this that I pray,

All:
We be kind and accepting
And just let them be they.

May We Be Filled

may we be filled with joyful loving kindness
may we be calm and at peace
may we be safe, may happiness surprise us
may we be awake and free.

Scripture Reading

Romans 12:15-18 NRSV

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

One: Hear what the spirit is saying
Many: We are listening

Genesis 1:26 NRSV

26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

One: Hear what the spirit is saying
Many: We are listening

Galatians 3:28 NRSV

28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

One: Hear what the spirit is saying
Many: We are listening

Sung Response

“Child Of God” (v. 1 and 2) words & music by Mark Miller

Poem “A Queerification” by Regie Cabico 
 
queer me    
shift me    
transgress me  
tell my students i'm gay   
tell chick fil a i'm queer 
tell the new york times i'm straight   
tell the mail man i'm a lesbian  
tell american airlines 

i don't know what my gender is  
like me
liking you
like summer blockbuster armrest dates
armrest cinematic love
elbow to forearm in the dark   
humor me queerly   
fill me with laughter  
make me high with queer gas     

decompress me from centuries of spanish inquisition
& self-righteous judgment
like the blood my blood  
that has mixed w/  the colonizer
& the colonized   
in the extinct & instinct to love 
bust memories of water & heat
& hot & breath
beating skin on skin fluttering   

bruise me into vapors   
bleed me into air   
fly me over sub-saharan africa & asia & antarctica 
explode me from the closet of my fears  
graffiti me out of doubt    
bend me like bamboo  
propose to me  
divorce me  

divide me into your spirit 
& shadow me  w/ fluttering tongues
& caresses  beyond head 
heart chakras  
fist smashing djembes  
between my hesitations   

de-clothe me    
de-gender me in brassieres
& prosthetic genitalias  
burn me on a brazier   
wearing a brassiere   
in bitch braggadocio soprano bass   

magnificat me in vespers
of hallelujah & amen   
libate me in halos
heal me in halls of femmy troubadors   
i am not afraid to love you    

implant dialects as if they were lilacs  
in my ear  
medicate me with a lick & a like
i am not afraid to love you  
so demand me      
reclaim me    
queerify me

Sung Response

“Child of God” (v. 3 and 4) words & music by Mark Miller

Blessed Are They

Alex Carney

One: Blessed are the queers
Many: For they break down the boxes which society puts us in
One: Blessed are the femmes
Many: For they demonstrate beauty and compassion
One: Blessed are the butches
Many: For they show us how to stand up for our communities
One: Blessed are the drag queens
Many: For they show us how to be unapologetic
One: Blessed are the genderless
Many: For they reject the norms of this world and become closer to the divine
One: Blessed are they who are “they”
Many: For they help us become “us”

Sung Response – Choir

“No One is an Island”

Love Feast

One: We come to this table to share our food and our lives

Many: We come to break bread together and open ourselves to each other.

One: We come to express faith and gratitude – our holy thanks.

Many: May the holy be present among us.

One: May the divine bless this food and fellowship.

Many: As we give thanks for this abundance we remember those who do not have enough.

One: May we extend the blessing we receive to those who are longing for it.

Many: May the nourishment of our bodies, hearts, and minds at this table leave us with a hunger for justice.

All are invited to come forward, share in the food, and greet one another with signs of peace as they do.

One: Behold the fragments of our feast. Our meal is ended but abundance yet remains.

Many: Let us carry this love and abundance into the world.

Blessing

Dr. Althea Spencer Miller

Sending

“We are Family” – Sister Sledge

Worship Notes:

Love Feast: adapted from http://www.katrinasdream.org/wp-content/uploads/Liturgury-for-the-Love-Feast.pdf