Gathering Music
“La Lucha” – Words/Music: Mark A. Miller
En la lucha hay vida
En la lucha esperanza!
En la lucha hay vida
Siempre hay, siempre hay esperanza!
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!
“Together We Serve” – Words/Music: Daniel Charles Damon
Together we serve united by love
Inviting God’s world to the glorious feast
We work and we pray through sorrow and joy
Extending your love to the last and least
We seek to become a beacon of hope
A lamp for the heart and a light for the feet
We learn year by year to let your love shine through
Until we see Christ in each person we meet
We welcome the scarred the wealthy the poor
The busy the lonely and all who need care
We offer a home to those who will come
Our hands quick to help our hearts ready to dare
Together by grace we witness and work
Remembering Jesus in whom we grow strong
Together we serve in Spirit and truth
Remembering love is the strength of our song
Call to Worship
Maeve Perrin
L: We come from far and near to this community of faith.
P: Lord, draw us together in celebration of your love.
Choir: Singing verse 1 of “Gather Us In”
L: We are young, older, middle aged.
P: We are rich, comfortable, poor, struggling,
Choir: singing verse 2 of “Gather Us In”
L: Now is the time of Celebration! God is with us!
P: Now is the time of Rejoicing! God’s love is poured over us!
ALL: singing verse 4 of “Gather Us In”
Opening Prayer
Maeve Perrin
(adapted from enfleshed)
Leader: God, the suffering of the world can be overwhelming. The way of empire makes refugees of your beloveds and wreaks havoc on the ecosystems of Earth. When we are in pain, may we find comfort in knowing that you are with us; you weep with us, you work alongside us, and you love us.
All: Amen.
Song of Preparation
“Cuando El Pobre” UMH 434 (Vs. 1-2)
From the Hebrew Bible – Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Aung Lin
22A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
2The rich and the poor have this in common:
the Lord is the maker of them all.
8Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of anger will fail.
9Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
22Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate;
23for the Lord pleads their cause
and despoils of life those who despoil them.
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
From the Epistles – James 2:1-10, 14-17
Jacqualine Chipongo
2My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’, 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that is promised to those who love God? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 9But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Musical Offering
“When the Fig Tree Fails to Blossom” – Gambrell/Miller
Seminary Choir
When the fig tree fails to blossom
And no fruit is on the vine
When the fields are bare as deserts
And our hope is hard to find
When a song of celebration
Seems entirely out of place
When our lives are stretched to breaking
Hanging by a thread of grace
CHORUS
We will rejoice We will rejoice
in the Lord in the Lord
We’ll rejoice in the Lord in the Lord
When the sun and moon are shaken
And the heavens lose their light
When we think we are forsaken
There’s a comforter in sight
For the day is surely coming
When these labor-pains have passed
We will greet the new creation
And with all the saints at last
CHORUS
Sermon
“The Poor”
Dean Tanya Linn Bennett
Musical Response
“Stand in Awe” – Bret Hesla
Stand in awe of the one who hears the cry of the poor
Stand in awe of the one who will provide
Stand in awe of the one who hears the cry of the poor
For they shall eat and be satisfied
Sacrament of Holy Communion
Dean Tanya Linn Bennett
Communion Servers: Adrian Deepak, Terri Leone
Christ invites to this table all who seek justice, show kindness, and walk humbly towards light and love. All are welcome here. Before we come to be filled, may we empty ourselves of what keeps us distanced from God and from each other.
All: God of grace and God of glory, you who tell creation’s story, you who call us by name, make us bold for your work of mercy and compassion. Set aside our fears and en-courage us to stride forward together to rattle the gates of exclusion and oppression, and to be the body of Christ, alive in Your world. Amen.
Leader: God is with us.
All: Thanks be to God.
Leader: We break open our hearts.
All: God enters in and we give thanks
Leader: It is good and a joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty
God, maker of heaven and earth.
In your time the seasons of all things come and go.
You formed us in your image and made us to care for your world.
By Your command, bread falls to earth, water springs forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand becomes a pool, the grass like reeds and rushes.
From Your heart, we have received blessing on blessing.
So we sing our praise joining the unending hymn.
Singing: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest!
In Your time, you sent the One, Jesus, who our sake became poor.
He refused bread for himself, only to feed the hungry.
He broke bread with the outcast, and drove the greedy from the temple.
Through him You gave birth to this body of the faithful, delivering us,
redeeming us, promising us again…
Singing: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
Hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest!
On the night that Jesus was taken away, he took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and
said, Is not this the fast that we choose, to share our bread, our bodies, with the hungry.
And they ate.
Then, he took the cup, blessed it, passed it and said, this is my blood, the very essence
of life running through me, take and drink.
And they drank.
We remember. We remember that this is the fast that we choose. To share our bodies
and our life essence with those who sit at the gate, those who beg under the table, the
ones Jesus came to be.
Singing: Amen. Amen. Amen.
Hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest!
Lord’s Prayer (sung)
Consecration
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator [a] shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
Blessing
Dean Bennett
Sending Song
“Rule of Life” – Edward Bonnemere
Do all the good you can
By all the means you can
In all the ways you can
In all the places you can
At all the times you can
To all the people you can
As long as ever you can
Drew Theo Chapel 