Gathering Music
“Welcome”
Led by Brendan Fox
Call to Worship
Beloved, rejoice! We are sustained by God’s presence and love
As we mourn the wounds of God’s children, God weeps with us
As we give thanks for those who have come before us, God gives thanks with us
As we struggle for justice, God struggles with us
As we strive for peace, God strives with us
As we work to build the beloved community, God works with us.
Sustained by God’s love we worship.
Hymn of Welcome
“This is a Day of New Beginnings”
Led by Julian Wamble, Brendan Fox, Hayoung Kang
Reading
Amos 5:21b-24 R
Read by Mark Tarmann
“I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
23
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
24
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Sung Response
“Let Justice Roll”
Led by Mark Miller and Brendan Fox
Reading
Excerpt from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Read by Leah Wandera
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability’ it comes through the tireless efforts of people willing to be co-workers with God…
Sung Response
“Injustice Anywhere”
Mark Miller
Reading
Excerpt from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Read by Paola Marquez
I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi, and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South’s beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. Over and over I have found myself asking: “What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred?
Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?
Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over…the church. But be assured my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise?
Sung Response
“We Resist”
Led by Mark Miller, Isaac Garrigues-Cortelyou, Beth Quick, and Hayoung Kang
Prayer of the Day
Written by Howard Thurman. Led by George Whitfield.
“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace.” Teach me how to order my days that with sure touch I may say the right word at the right time and in the right way — lest I betray the spirit of peace. Let me not be deceived by my own insecurity and weakness which would make me hurt another as I try desperately to help myself. Keep watch with me, O God, over the days of my life, that with abiding enthusiasm I may be in such possession of myself that each day I may offer to Thee the full, unhampered use of me in all my parts as “an instrument of Thy Peace.” Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Led by Mark Miller
Blessing
Let us celebrate the work and legacy
of those whose lives contributed to the civil rights of all people.
Let us encourage the creativity, energy, passion,
gifts, and skills of all those who surround us.
Let us pray for wisdom and peace as we pursue justice,
hope, and love for all people.
And what does God require of us,
but to do justice,
and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with our God?
May the grace of Jesus Christ,
the love God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with all of you. Amen.
Sending
Excerpt from “Let Justice Roll”
From the Carnegie Hall Juneteenth Celebration, 2019.
Worship Notes:
Call to Worship: Adapted by Kelsey Wallace from https://www.presbyterianmission.org/wp-content/uploads/mlk-resources.pdf
Prayer of the Day: The Inward Journey: Meditations on the Spiritual Quest by Howard Thurman (New York: Harper Row, 1961) 104.
Call to Worship: Adapted by Kelsey Wallace from https://www.pcusa.org/media/uploads/racialjustice/mlk-2007-program.pdf
