22 March 2022 – Chapel – Drew Theo Chapel

GATHERING MUSIC

“Come Out”
Words: Mark Miller & Tanya Linn Bennett
Music: Mark Miller

CANDLELIGHTING

Pauline E. Nijander

All that we have ever loved
And all that we have ever been
Stands with us on the brink
Of all that we aspire to create:
A deeper peace,
A larger love,
A more embracing hope,
A deeper joy in this life we share.

-Leslie Takahashi

CALL TO WORSHIP

Pauline E. Nijander

As a woman, a lesbian, a transwoman, a student, and so many other things, I am grateful to be welcomed here. I hope that whoever you are; wherever you are on your life’s journey; know that all are welcome in this sacred space where we believe that each person is holy, everyone is loved, and all have gifts to share with the world.

Now, let us join in the spirit of worship.

OPENING PRAYER

Chris Paige

O God of our ancestors,

We believe that where two or three are gathered, you are in our midst. And so we give you thanks for this new day and the chance to gather again in your presence as expressed through the glorious diversity both in this room and watching from around the world.

We, collectively, are the imago dei, the image of God. A kaleidoscopic lens through which we can come to know the unknowable. The sacred other. The stranger in our midst. Going before us like a pillar of fire and a column of smoke to guide us into our own freedom.

We believe God. Help our unbelief. We confess that we have too often calculated that some parts of the body are better and some worse. We have even been ashamed of those parts of our own body that make us uniquely who we are, that bear our histories of struggle.

But the mystery of our relationship with you is written into our bones. In our very embodiment and the ways that we relate to one another.

God we ask you to open our minds to see your image in each mysterious face we see. We invite your wisdom to fill us with recognition of your presence in our midst, especially in those who may seem most strange and unknowable to us. Those who look different, talk different, act differently from what we are accustomed to.

In all humility for the wonder of this opportunity you have given us, we give you thanks and praise.

Amen.

SONG

“From This Bright Hour”
Words & Music: Mark Miller

SCRIPTURE – Psalm 139: 13-18 NRSV

Paola Marquez

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end —I am still with you.