Gathering Music

The Servant Song – TFWS 2222
Verse 1
Siblings in Christ, let me serve you
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant too

V2
We are pilgrims on a journey
We’re together on this road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load

V3
I will hold the Christlight for you
In the nighttime of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear

V4
I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh I will laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through

V5
When we sing to God in heaven
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony

Call to Worship

Yajenlemla

(adapted from Katherine Hawker, Liturgies Outside)

The first shall be last.
We come to worship as we are.
The last shall be first.
We come with confidence.
The first shall be last.
We come with questions.
The last shall be first.
We come celebrating success.
The first shall be last.
We come burdened by failure.
The last shall be first.
We come fearful of the future.
The first shall be last
and the last shall be first.
We come to be turned rightside up, or to be turned inside out.
The first shall be last
and the last shall be first.

Opening Song

All Who Hunger – TFWS 2126
Verse 1
All who hunger gather gladly
Holy manna is our bread
Come from wilderness and wandering
Here in truth we will be fed
You that yearn for days of fullness
All around us is our food
Taste and see the grace eternal
Taste and see that God is good

V2
All who hunger never strangers
Seeker be a welcome guest
Come from restlessness and roaming
Here in joy we keep the feast
We that once were lost and scattered
In communion’s love have stood
Taste and see the grace eternal
Taste and see that God is good

V3
All who hunger sing together
Jesus Christ is living bread
Come from loneliness and longing
Here in peace we have been led
Blest are those who from this table
Live their lives in gratitude
Taste and see the grace eternal
Taste and see that God is good

Opening Prayer

Chantel Makarawa

(adapted from John van de Laar at Sacredise)
O God –
Free the score-keepers in our world and in our hearts
Restore the fallen in our world and in our hearts
Strengthen the merciful in our world and in our hearts
Heal the broken in our world and in our hearts
Uplift the lowly in our world and in our hearts
Bring down the tyrants in our world and in our hearts
Erase the lines of division in our world and in our hearts
Create a Christ-guided humanity in our world and in our hearts
And use us to make it so.
Amen.

Scripture Reading – Matthew 20:1-16

Catey Miller

20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
20:2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
20:3 When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace;
20:4 and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
20:5 When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same.
20:6 And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’
20:7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
20:8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’
20:9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.
20:10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.
20:11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,
20:12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
20:13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
20:14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.
20:15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.””

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

Song of Preparation

What Are We Searching For? – Chris Shelton/Mark Miller
Verse 1
What are we searching for?
What do we hope to find?
We long for more and more
But feel no peace of mind
O god, break through our endless greed
And meet our need with rest in you
With rest in you

Verse 2
We long to win the prize
We long to be the best
We strain and agonize
Until we are obsessed
And round and round the cycle spins
But no one wins; no peace is found
No peace is found

Verse 3
God help us find the pearl
That ends our endless quest
That frees us from the swirl
Of storms by which we’re pressed
That gift you give that sets us free
Our selves to be, our lives to live
Our lives to live

Responsive Scripture – Luke 1:46-53

Shin-Young Kim

Leader: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
All: for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s servant.
Leader: Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed…
All: God’s mercy is for those who fear God from generation to generation.
Leader: God has shown strength with God’s arm;
All: God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
Leader: God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
All: God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
Leader: The Word of God for the people of God.
All: Thanks be to God.

Sermon

Dr. Gladson Jathanna

Musical Response

We Resist

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Tanya Linn Bennett
Servers: Samuel Ndungu, Katherine Rollo

(Liturgy adapted from enfleshed)

Community of saints,
beloveds of God,
we are invited to come and gather at the table of love and liberation,
to feast on the dreams of God,
to be nourished by but a taste of what God desires to do among us.

God calls us from institutional halls of power,
From shelters and the streets;
God calls us from classrooms and pulpits,
Gay bars and prison cells.

God calls us as we are, from wherever we are,
to come and be in solidarity with Christ,
who lives and loves on the margins.

God whispers “come”
and live abundantly,
turning from all that claims blessings
flow from money, power, or control.

Come, and
love relentlessly;
following Christ on paths of uncertainty,
taking risks for one another,
calling down unjust power from its throne
and lifting up the lowly,
the impoverished,
the burdened.

To answer the call of Christ is to find ourselves
no matter our social location,
choosing to align ourselves with the causes
of the marginalized, the oppressed,
the outcast, and the isolated,
with the faith that
together,
we might enflesh new possibilities
of healing,
of connection,
of freedom from all that destroys.

When these are the desires of our hearts,
we open ourselves to God.

Blessed are those, Jesus said, who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.

And so let us come to the table,
expectant,
eager,
open
to tasting the rich blessings of heaven
born from unexpected places, and people, and experiences.

In this meal,
we remember the life, death, and resurrection of
the One who still takes on flesh among us today.

On the night he would be arrested,

Jesus gathered his friends and companions.
In the midst of a tense and dangerous time,
they found each other at table,
connecting over the story of God-enfleshed among them.

And as they did so, Jesus took bread, gave thanks to God, broke the bread and shared it with his disciples saying,

“Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over, he also took the cup, gave thanks to God, and shared it with his disciples, saying,

“Drink from this, all of you; this is the cup of the new covenant. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And so we pray,
Come Holy Spirit,
Breath of God,
Renewer of life,
settle on these gifts and all who gather here,
that we might be transformed in our remembrance
of your radical love,
your eternal embrace,
and your grace that makes all things news.

For the sake of our shared lives,
the life of this land on which we live,

and the lives of those yet to come,
nourish us and renew our hope
that soon Christ may rise again among us.

Amen.

Blessing

Dr. Gladson Jathanna

Sending Song

Canticle of the Turning
My soul cries out with a joyful shout
That the God of my heart is great
And my spirit sings of the Wondrous things
That you bring to the ones who wait
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight
And my weakness you did not spurn
So from east to west shall my name be blest
Could the world be about to turn?
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears for the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

Though I am small, my God, my all, you
Work great things in me
And your mercy will last from the Depths
Of the past to the end of the age to be
Your very name puts the proud to shame
And to those who would for you yearn
You will show your might
Put the strong to flight
For the world is about to turn
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

From the halls of power to the fortress tower
Not a stone will be left on stone
Let the king beware for your
Justice tears ev’ry tyrant from his throne
The hungry poor shall weep no more
For the food they can never ears
There are tables spread, ev’ry
Mouth be fed
For the world is about to turn
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

Though the nations rage from age to age
We remember
Who holds us fast
God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grasp
This saving word that out forebears
Heard is the promise which holds us bound
‘Til the spear and rod can be
Crushed by God
Who is turning the world around
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!