3 April 2025 – Chapel – Drew Theo Chapel

Gathering Music

YouTube Videos
Sweet Honey in the Rock – Fannie Lou Hamer
Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Stayed on Freedom Sung By Fannie Lou Hamer

Welcome

Prof. Traci West

Opening Prayer

Steve Kim

Leader: Gracious God, Righteous Hand of Justice, Loving God, thank you for this great privilege to gather and worship you. We come to you with great hope, for you are not God of condemnation but God of justice.

People: We pray that this worship will be a moment in which you reveal a path of righteousness and faithfulness so that we may all be called into faithful ministries that include standing for justice.

Leader: As we enter into this time, we collectively pray for people who are facing oppression and feeling isolated throughout the world.

People: We pray that they may find shelter and strength in you. As you listen to their cries, continue to answer prayers in ways that we may not understand.

Leader: As we hear the stories, testimonies, and scripture today, may God transform us and instill courage in our hearts that we may know justice and love intimately. Help us to stand with and stand for others instead of abandoning, shaming, or attacking them.

All: Lead us to be re-united by you, in Love, Holy Spirit. Amen.

Story

Mourning as Protest: Remembering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

Prof. Traci West

Song

“If I Can Help Somebody” by Mahalia Jackson

Dee Jackson (a capella)

Scripture Reading: Luke 4:18-19

Steve Kim

18 ‘The Spirit of God is upon me,
because God has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of God’s favor.’

Amos 5:23-24

Steve Kim

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

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

Story

Whites in Birmingham Jail

Andrew Rounds

Prayers of the People

Felistas Mahachi

Leader: Holy and Just God, we come into Your presence this day with the names and stories of those who will not sit quietly in the face of harm, injustice, and persecution. We pray to You for those who stand in defiance, those who dare to hope, and those who have sacrificed so much for justice.
Leader: We pray for all whose homes and lands have been taken by war, for communities torn apart by violence, and for all those who suffer beneath the weight of oppression. (All invited to name places)
Leader: We pray for workers who demand decent wages, for women and girls demanding dignity, for trans and gender expansive leaders demanding equality, for Indigenous peoples reclaiming their rights, and for migrants seeking safety. (All invited to lift up names)
Leader: We pray for those who speak truth to power, who bristle at the threat of arrest or exile for justice’s sake, who set aside any semblance of silence in the face of cruelty. (All invited to lift up names)
Leader: We pray for groups, communities, peoples who are working to resist systemic harm, injustice, oppression and persecution. (All invited to lift up names)
Leader: Dear God, you recognize the names called and uncalled. Lord, Holy Spirit, third person, move in us — that we are not mere spectators but also co-laborers in the work of justice. Please grant us voices that speak truth, feet that march in solidarity, and hearts that are tender but unafraid. In the name of the One who turned over tables and announced good news to the poor, we pray. Amen.

Choir Anthem

Story

Fannie Lou Hamer in Winona, Mississippi Jail

Arnold Kamdem Penlap, Samuel Blay

Story (Spoken Word)

Pauli Murray: This Body/Not Meant for Me/Must Be Mine

Nate Roark

Song

“Come Out/ Satan We’re Gonna Tear your Kingdom Down”

Satan, we’re gonna tear your kingdom down 2x
You’ve been building your kingdom all over this land
Satan, we’re gonna tear your kingdom down

Mothers are gonna pray your kingdom down 2x
You’ve been building your kingdom all over this land
Satan, we’re gonna tear your kingdom down

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Abraham Sudeep Oommen, Sam Smith

Prayer of Confession
All: Lord of justice and mercy,
We confess that we have turned away from the suffering of our siblings neglecting the cries of the oppressed and resisting the call to confront injustice. We acknowledge that we have misused and misinterpreted the histories of liberation, elevating heroic narratives while overlooking the agency of those weak—
children, the uneducated, the dispossessed—
whose resilience and resistance have shaped the course of justice.
Transform our vision, O God, that we may embrace a Spirit of democracy—
one that transcends the limiting boundaries of color, class, and caste.
Grant us the wisdom to see justice not as an abstract ideal,
but as an embodied practice of solidarity and love. Renew within us the faith to believe in the power of collective action, the courage to claim our equality and shared, rightful spaces. Amen.
Words of Assurance
Leader: In Christ, we are forgiven and empowered, called to be co-workers in the sacred struggle for justice and liberation. Amen.
Leader: On the night when Jesus was arrested, the night before he was executed by the empire, his body violated and hung on a cross, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and shared it with his disciples, saying:
“This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
After supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and said:
“This cup is the new covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

As we partake in this holy meal, we proclaim that we stand in an unbroken movement of resistance—standing in solidarity with the oppressed, with the assurance that Christ is present in our struggle, and that justice is not a dream but God’s promise.

All: Christ was crucified by the empire.
Christ rose from the powers of death.
Christ walks with us in the struggle for justice. Amen

Pass the bread: Take, eat, re-member Christ’s freedom faith.
Pass the Cups: Take, drink, re-member Christ’s freedom-faith

Prayer after communion
(adapted from Prathia Hall, “Freedom Faith”)

All: May we be infused with God’s power to fashion “fear into faith, cringing into courage, suffering into survival, despair into defiance, and pain into protest.” Amen.

Communion Song – “Only Love” (Martin Luther King/Mark Miller)

Contemporary Stories

Felistas Mahachi, Sam Smith, Abraham Sudeep Oommen

Blessing

Sam Smith

“A Non-Traditional Blessing”: by Sister Ruth Marlene Fox

Leader: MAY GOD BLESS YOU with discomfort,
at easy answers, half-truths,
and superficial relationships
so that you may live
deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for
justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears,
to shed for those who suffer pain,
rejection, hunger, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and
to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you
with enough foolishness
to believe that you can
make a difference in the world,
so that you can do
what others claim cannot be done,
to bring justice and kindness
to all our children and the poor.
All: Amen.