19 November 2024 – Chapel – Drew Theo Chapel

Gathering Music

“They’ll know we are Christians by our Love”
Words: Peter Scholtes

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord;
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord;
And we pray that all unity will one day be restored.

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand;
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand;
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land.

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will work with each other, we will work side by side;
We will work with each other, we will work side by side;
And we’ll guard human dignity and save human pride.

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Opening Prayer

Rae Guthrie

ALL: Our Father

Leader:
God – Our Father and Mother,
Creator of all of us in your wonderful, diverse human family, loving all of us as your children, men and women, black and white, Palestinian and Jew, sending Jesus who resisted empire, paid with his life, and was resurrected to empower all of us with life in abundance, inspiring us with his creative and prophetic spirit;
ALL: Hallowed be your name –
Leader:
You revealed your name in a blaze of fire from the midst of a bush, calling Moses to liberate his people from the oppression of slavery, to face Pharaoh with God’s word of warning.
You revealed your name as “hearing the cry of the oppressed,” as “God being with them now and in the future,” Yahweh;
ALL: Your kingdom come –
Leader:
Your new just world, where no one fears a checkpoint, where no woman is stopped on the way to the hospital, where no child is taken in the middle of the night, where no farmer is violated by colonists, where no peaceful protester is shot by a military sniper, where no citizen is hit by a rocket;
ALL: Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven –
Leader:
Your will, revealed in the Torah, in the words and deeds of Jesus’ and the Apostles,in the Qur’an, the book of our Abrahamic brothers and sisters, your world of love and justice and mercy and care, inspiring Jews, Christians, Muslims and people of all faiths to resist injustice, racism and inequality and to work for peace, healing and a new beginning, and for the common future of Jews and Palestinians in the Holy Land.
Help the Jewish people heed the prophets of justice in antiquity and today, guide the West to stop supporting Israel’s violation of international law and human rights;
ALL: Give us this day our daily bread –
Leader:
Let no one die of hunger, with enough food for everyone.
Liberate the Palestinian economy from the strangulation of occupation.
Lead us to a financial and political order directed towards the well-being of people and earth, cooperative forms of working, sharing and caring;
ALL: And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors –
Leader:
Break the dominance of the owners of capital and weapons, pushing whole societies into the slavery of debt.
Empower us to discover the power of forgiveness, a new beginning in all dimensions, forgiving the oppressors and establishing new lines of communication, loving even enemies, enabling their liberation from the evil of dominance and oppression;
ALL: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil –
Leader:
All of us are tempted by the lust for power: men over women, parents over children, white over black, educated over non-educated, politicians over civilians, and all other forms of domination;
At this moment we are tempted to lose hope, as the Israeli government, together with the power of empire, violates international law by annexing, once again, land that is not theirs, deepening the apartheid system in the Holy Land, heaping violence upon violence;
May civil society and the governments of the West awake to this lawlessness and cease their financing of the occupation through military aid and trade agreements;
Let cooperation proceed only when international law is followed and human rights restored, strengthening the hope and resilience of the Palestinian people;
Especially we pray for Christians and the churches around the world to hear this Cry for Hope and Call for Decisive Action.
May they realize that We cannot serve God and the oppression of the Palestinians.
Grant that their silence end, that they act faithfully for the rights of the Palestinians, that they stand up against the misuse of the Bible for justifying the theft of Palestinian land.
ALL: For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen

Chapel Introduction

Nate Roark

Opening Song

“O Come, All Ye Faithful: Palestinian Liberation”

O come, all ye faithful
Those who care for justice,
O look ye, o look ye at Bethlehem.
Come and behold it,
Under occupation.

O come, let’s not ignore it.
O come, let’s not ignore it
O come, let’s not ignore it –
Tell the world.

Sing, all ye people
Sing in indignation
Be with the citizens of Bethlehem.
Sing out for justice,
Freedom from oppression.

O come, let’s not ignore it,
O come, let’s not ignore it,
O come, let’s not ignore it –
Tell the world.

O come, all ye faithful
Those who care for justice,
O look ye, o look ye, at Bethlehem.
Come and behold it,
Under occupation.

O come, let’s not ignore it,
O come, let’s not ignore it,
O come, let’s not ignore it –
Tell the world.

Opening Prayer

Anthony Plaag

A Collect for a Free Palestine

Liberating Christ, by your holy resurrection we know that all systems of sin, death, and hierarchy have been defeated and all of creation has been made anew. O Crucified One, liberate all crucified peoples of the world from the crosses that crucify them, especially Palestinian people who are being crucified by Colonization, Occupation, and Genocide. Help us to know Lord that you too are up on that cross with the Palestinian people, suffering an unjust death at the hands of an unjust Empire.

Do not allow us to look away from your crucifixion in Palestine, O Lord. Discomfort us Lord, when we hear your cries in Gaza’s children. Disturb us, Holy Liberator, when we see your crucified body in the arms of countless Palestinian Mothers. Enrage us, Holy Disruptor, when we see you lying amid the rubble of bombed out hospitals, schools, libraries, churches, mosques, and family homes. O Holy Judge, sicken us when we turn away from the carnage of American tax dollars and the Military Industrial Complex. Nauseate us, Dear Christ, by the at least 44,630 Palestinians, including 16,765 children, in Gaza who have been crucified by the weight of American tax dollars and by the violent might of Western imperialism.

Crucified God, arm us with the hope to fight for a better world; a world where all crucifixions end and all crucified people go free. Equip us with the courage to share in your crucifixion through actions taken in solidarity with crucified people. Create for us, a Free Palestine; where Palestinian families thrive free from the tyranny of Military checkpoints, American Bombs and settler-colonialism; Where Palestinian children have futures with limitless possibilities; Where Palestinian refugees can return to their ancestral homeland; Where Palestinian Elders can grow old together in their homes; Where all Palestinian people of faith can worship freely; and lastly, where no person has to suffer Genocide ever again.

In your most holy and liberating Name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Scripture Reading Isaiah 2:4 NRSVUE

4 God shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.

Reflections

Drew University’s Students for Justice in Palestine Budoor “B” Al-Aydi and Amineh Al-Aydi

Musical Reflection

“Who would Jesus Bomb?” Jordan Smart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE-yXDsmaKQ

Blessing

Cassie Montelongo

From Mona el-Zuhairi, CPT Hebron

Leader: for our tired land, for the uprooted trees, for the forcibly abandoned hills
All: we pledge to work for justice
Leader: for the cross-generational trauma among Palestinians and the oppressed
All: We pledge to work for justice
Leader: for the refugees dream to return home
All: We pledge to work for justice
Leader: for all people who are longing for peace, love and justice, for the children who want to dream, for safe paths and life with dignity.
All: called by equality, I pledge to work for justice for us all