9 February 2023 – Chapel – Drew Theo Chapel

Gathering Music

Call to Worship

Leksmana Leonard

(adapted from enfleshed)

Leader: Like a blazing fire,
All: may the Holy One bring renewal.
Leader: May we partner with everything that kindles justice.
All: Let the Spirit turn embers of love into a holy blaze.
Leader: May courage burn in the hearts of the faithful.
All: Even through terrains of grief,
and lands of despair,
Leader: God calls us to us:
All: Do not be afraid.
Leader: What must die will come alive again,
All: bearing fruits of peace
Leader: and harvests that nourish.
All: Come, Spirit, Come.

Opening Song

“We’ve Come This Far By Faith” – Albert Goodson

First Reading – Matthew 10:34-38

Esther Inuwa

34 ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Leader: The Word of God for the People of God.
All: Thanks be to God.

Seminary Choir

“Beloved” – Mark A. Miller

Second Reading – Luke 19:41-44

Isaac Minkah

41 As Jesus came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’

Leader: The Word of God for the People of God.
All: Thanks be to God.

Sermon

“Yearnings about Peace, Swords and Pieces”

Rev. Dr. Althea Spencer-Miller

Musical Response

“Swords Into Plowshares”

Mark A. Miller

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Rev. Dr. Althea Spencer-Miller

(adapted from enfleshed)

Leader: God is with you!
People: God is with you!
Leader: Loving One, close to us as breathing yet reaching into eternity, we give you thanks. You have shown yourself to us as parent, creator, lover, and friend.Your outpouring of radical love has brought forth life among us.
Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with all of creation, all of heaven and earth who forever sing this hymn:

All: Holy, holy, holy One, God of Love and Light. Heaven and Earth are full of your glory! Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is the One who comes in your name, O God. Hosanna In the Highest.

Leader: Blessed are you and blessed is your child, Jesus Christ. He showed us the ways of justice and mercy, turning the norms of society upside down. He welcomed and empowered the outsider and stood in resistance to the powers of oppression. Like so many among us today, Christ’s choice to live his truth and challenge oppression put him at risk.

And yet, on the night in which death, hatred, and betrayal would seek to have the last and lasting word, Christ remained centered in radical peace and showed us love embodied by washing the feet of his beloved’s and serving them at your table.

At the table he took the bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread saying “take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks to you and said “drink from this all of you this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And so in remembrance of these, your acts of love in Jesus Christ we offer ourselves and all of who we are in union with Christ’s offering as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

All: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Leader: Pour out your holy spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and cup. Make them be for us the Body of Christ, that we might become interdependent with each other as Christ’s body, reflecting your diverse image in the world.

By your spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other and in each other’s struggles, until we feast at your heavenly banquet. Through your beloved Jesus Christ, with the love of the Holy Spirit, in your church, all love and devotion is yours, O God.

All: Amen.

Sharing in the Bread and Cup