8 April 2025 – Chapel – Drew Theo Chapel

Call to Worship

Asa Agooti, written by Cody Beckett

Leader: Creator God gives us a bounty of food that is to be savored and shared with others.
All: We give thanks for the nourishment the earth provides.
Leader: Let us remember that food is a gift from God, not a mere commodity that we can be wasted.
All: We remember that while we are able to buy more food than what we can eat, others go without.
Leader: We are grateful for the ability to have food to eat,
All: And we promise to buy this food wisely, being grateful for what we have, and remembering the impact of our choices.
Leader: We pray for an end to hunger, where no food is wasted and everyone has plenty to eat.
All: We call for justice in the food system.
Leader: God calls us to slow down,
All: To treat food as a gift from God to be used responsibly.

Welcome and Opening Prayer

Josephine Tunda

Leader: Creator God, we give you thanks for the great abundance and nourishment that you provide us through your Creation and through your great love. As we come together to worship you, reveal to us ways we can honour you and your created world. Inspire our worship and shape our lives to reveal your magnificence. Amen.

Opening Song

“They’ll know we work for Justice by Our Love”

-W&M: Peter Scholtes, New W (“Justice x Love”): Mary Shapiro

We are one in the Spirit we are one in our words (2x)
We raise one voice together so the voiceless will be heard
Chorus:
And they’ll know we work for justice by our love by our Love
Yes they’ll know we work for justice by our love
We will walk with each other we will walk hand in hand (2x)
and together we’ll spread the news that hope is in this land….
We will stand for each other we stand side by side (2x)
And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each others’ lives…

Opening Remarks

Dr. Laurel Kearns

Testimonial

Priscilla Youn

Short Address on TERRA activities

Albarka Wakili

Reading

John 6:3-5; 10-13

Josiah Mono

Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?
Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place, so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.

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

Poetry

“Give Back”

written and read by Henry Anyomi

Poem inspired by the following:
“Food is a holy and humbling mystery. Every time a creature eats, it participates in God’s life-giving yet costly ways, ways that simultaneously affirm creation as a delectable gift, and as a divinely ordered membership of interdependent need and suffering and help.” [Extracted from Food and Faith, Norman Wirzba, p. 40, Kindle copy]