21 March 2023 – Chapel – Drew Theo Chapel

Gathering Music

“Welcome”

Mark A. Miller & Laurie Zelman

Let’s dream together of the day
When earth and heaven are one
A city built of love and light
The new Jerusalem
Where our mourning turns to dancing
Every creature lifts it’s voice!

Crying welcome! Welcome to this place!
You’re invited to come and know God’s grace
All are welcome, the love of God to share
‘Cause all of us are welcome here
All are welcome in this place

Call to Worship

(adapted from John Indermark)

Leader: Coming from places that have seen better days, Yeeun Kim
All: God bids us to celebrate this day,
a day full of new possibilities.
Leader: Coming with our breath taken away by grief,
All: the Holy Spirit breathes new life within us,
renewing our connection with God and with one another.
Leader: Coming here seeking a hope that will endure,
All: God unbinds that which hold us in death,
speaking in word and song, in prayer and community.

Opening Song

“Spirit, Open My Heart”

Words: Ruth Duck, Music: WILD MOUNTAIN THYME

God, replace my stony heart
With a heart that’s kind and tender
All my coldness and fear
To your grace I now surrender
May I weep with those who weep
Share the joy of kin together
In the welcome of Christ
May we welcome one another.
Write your love upon my heart
As my law, my goal, my story
In each thought, word, and deed
May my living bring you glory

Poem

“Blessing for a Broken Vessel”

by Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace

Carine Ngoy

Do not despair
You hold the memory
of what it was
to be whole.
It lives deep
in your bones.
it abides in your heart
that has been torn
a hundred times.
It persists
in your lungs
that know the mystery
of what it means
to be full
to be empty
to be full again.
I am not asking you
to give up your grip
on the shards you clasp
so close.
but to wonder
what it would be like
for those jagged edges
to meet each other
in some new pattern
that you have never imagined
that you have never dared
to dream.

Scripture Reading – Ezekiel 37:1-14

Adrian Mendoza & Kenia Vanessa Rodriguez

The hand of God came upon me, and they brought me out by the spirit of God and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. They led me all round them; there were very many lying in the valley, and the bones were very dry. They said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O God, you know.’ Then God said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am God.’

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then they said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that these may live.’ I prophesied as God commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

Then she said to me, ‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am God, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, God, have spoken and will act, says God.’