Gathering Music

“How Can I Keep From Singing”

Rev. Taylor Bean, University Chaplain

Welcome and Call to Worship

Bishop Weaver

Hymn of Welcome

“Blessed Be the Name of the Lord”

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out, I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s ‘all as it should be’
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

You give and take away, you give and take away
My heart will choose to say Lord, blessed be Your name

Scripture

Isaiah 43:1-2, 5-7, 18-19

Rev. Dr. P. Kimberleigh Jordan

1 But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.

5 Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
6 I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
and to the south, “Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

18 Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
19 I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.

Response

“Hananim”

Hananim, Hananim
Be a light on our path (x2)

Poem

Dr. Morris Davis

“i thank you God, for most this amazing” by e.e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any–lifted from the no
of all nothing–human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Response

“Hananim”

Hananim, Hananim
Be a light on our path (x2)

Homily

Dean Tanya Linn Bennett

Response

“La Lucha”

Lydia Munoz

En la lucha hay vida
En la lucha esperanza!
En la lucha hay vida
Siempre hay, siempre hay esperanza!

Cantamos en la lucha
Cantamos por la justicia
Cantamos por nuestras vidas
Siempre hay, siempre hay esperanza!

Table Liturgy

Invitation

Leader: Christ invites all of us to this table. Before we gather here,
We leave our cares in confession before God and each other.

Unison Prayer of Confession

All: Holy One, you have made us to be people of new things. People
who walk confidently, in faith, towards open doors and fresh
beginnings. We confess that we hesitate. We confess that we
forget that wherever we go, you travel with us. Remind us that
your imagination is bigger than our dreams can ever be. Remind
us that you pour courage and goodness into our hearts making us
strong enough to live boldly into all new things. God of Grace,
may it be so. Amen.

Words of Assurance

Leader: Believe the good news of the gospel: In Jesus Christ you are forgiven.

Many: Thanks be to God!

The Passing of the Peace

The Great Thanksgiving

One: The Israelites wandered in the wilderness, desperate and afraid.
They worried and waited. They even cursed their newfound freedom. God made a way for them through the water, and rained down bread from heaven, and gushed up water from the desert—all to protect and care for them– but they still felt alone and scared. It was a day for new dreaming. But the people wanted what was familiar and comfortable.

Many: God said, “Do not remember the former things, or consider
the things of old. I am about to do a new thing. I have done everything else for you. Do you believe? Do you trust that I will do a new thing again?”

One: God led us out of the wilderness into the land of plenty. We made
homes and grew gardens. We built families. We had survived a time of scarcity and God delivered into a time of abundance. It was a day for new dreaming. But we got comfortable and what was once new became familiar. We wandered away from God and God’s goodness.

Many: Led by our own ideas and desires, we set aside the ones who
were weak or sick, hungry or alone. We closed our doors and shut our hearts. We wandered.

One: When we had gone far enough, God said, “From this time
forward, I make you hear new things, hidden things that you have not known before. Your former ways belong to the past; now I declare new things.” And God made a new thing. God spoke a Holy Truth into the soul of a divine human being, and Jesus came to call out to us, to call us back from wandering.

Many: Our God who creates all things now makes a new thing.
And so we sing out in wonder and awe at the glorious and marvelous work of the Holy One.

“Sanctus”

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might
Heaven and earth are full of your glory
Hosanna in the highest
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord
Hosanna in the highest (x3)

One: We heard Jesus calling. We stopped wandering just long enough
to wonder about what Jesus wanted us to do. Sometimes we even dreamed along with Jesus. But Jesus called us to live a new way, embracing all God’s creation with Love and Joy. We got uncomfortable. We were not ready for this new thing. And so we gave Jesus away, God’s Truth in human form.

One: Before Jesus was taken, he invited us to the Passover table.

He blessed the bread and we shared it.
He blessed the cup and we drank it.

And he told us to do this always to remember the Truth that came
to us and will come to us again. We wander away from God, but God never leaves us. God proves that, no matter what we do, Truth cannot be silenced, Goodness overwhelms Evil, and Love defies Death. We cannot understand, but we can sing out our gladness for the mystery that is God’s faith in us and our faith in God.

“Memorial Acclamation”

Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again
Hosanna in the highest (x3)

One: God does a new thing. God pours out the Spirit onto this
everyday food and it becomes extraordinary. God pours out the Spirit on us, everyday people, and we become the body of Jesus the Christ, dreaming together as one of a new day.

Many: Do we see it? Do we hear it?

One: This is a day for new dreaming. And the dream begins here at the
table of forgiveness and blessing where we are set free from
wandering and awed into wonder at all that God makes new.

All: AMEN

“Lord’s Prayer”

Our God, in heaven, holy is your name
Your reign come, your will done, on earth as in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And help us forgive as we have been forgiven
In the time of trial, lead us into light
For yours is the kin-dom, and the power, and the glory forever
Our God, in heaven, holy is your name

Consecration of the Elements

Blessing

Dean Javier Viera

Sending

“All My Days”

You know my words before they’re said
You know my needs and I am fed
You give me life you know my ways
My strength my path for all my days!

If I should fly beyond the dawn
The darkness will not overcome
If I lie down in deepest night
Still you are there my Lord, my light!

Our every thought each word we say
The whole of time the present day
Are held within your mighty hand
Too wonderful to comprehend!

O, mend my heart and free my voice!
From sin released I will rejoice
O, search me, Lord! My spirit cries
And let my song of praise arise!

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Worship Notes:

e.e. cummings. “i thank you God, for most this amazing.” Complete Poems 1904-1962 Edited by George James Firmage. New York: Liveright, 2016.

Table Liturgy: Tanya Linn Bennett © 2011 (Used by permission)