Gathering Music

Centering Breath Prayer

Rae Guthrie

Adapted from Cole Arthur Riley, Black Liturgies

INHALE: There is power in this breath.
EXHALE: There is agency in this body.

INHALE: God, how long?
EXHALE: Justice is coming.

INHALE: We will not feel guilty for hope.
EXHALE: We’ll accept nothing less than freedom.

INHALE: I will not make excuses for evil.
EXHALE: Consequence is holy.

Opening Song

Opening Prayer

Janice Marie Beauchamp

Adapted from Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart

Leader: Open unto us, courage for our fear
Open unto us, hope for our despair
Open unto us, peace for our turmoil
Open unto us, joy for our sorrow
Open unto us, strength for our weakness
Open unto us, wisdom for our confusion
Open unto us, forgiveness for our sins
Open unto us, tenderness for our toughness
Open unto us, love for our hates
Open unto us, Thy Self for our selves
O God, our God, open unto us!
All: Amen.

Scripture Reading – 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Kenia Mendoza

15Now I would remind you, siblings, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. 3For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

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

Music

Sermon

“Building on the Defiant Faith We Have Received”

Dr. Traci West

Musical Response

Blessing

Dr. Traci West

Sending Song