24 April 2025 – Chapel – Drew Theo Chapel

Gathering Music

“My Heart is Breaking”
Words: Adam Tice, Music: Mark Miller

Introduction & Call to Worship

Benin Shekawongo

Written by Cassie Montelongo

Leader:
Come, just as you are—
with the weight you carry,
the questions that won’t let go,
the fire in your chest,
the flickers of joy you hardly dare to name.
People:
We come with grief and hope,
with anger and tenderness,
with fear and longing.
Leader:
This is a place to be honest.
To bring your whole self.
To speak what hurts,
and to listen for what heals.
People:
We gather in the presence of the Holy—
Who holds our sorrow,
receives our rage,
and delights in our joy.
Leader:
Let this be sacred ground—
where lament is welcomed,
where fear is not shamed,
where joy is not rushed,
and where love meets us, just as we are.
All:
Come, let us worship—
together, with truth and tenderness.

Song

“Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Words: James Weldon Johnson, Music: J. Rosamond Johnson

1 Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty;
let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies,
let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;
sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
let us march on till victory is won.

2 Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered;
we have come, treading our path thru the blood of the slaughtered,
out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

3 God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
thou who hast by thy might led us into the light,
keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee;
lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee;
shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand,
true to our God, true to our native land.

Reading

Ashley Nyachoto

The Thing Is by Ellen Bass

to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills then lungs;
when grief weights you down like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.

Small Group Time (Grief/Lament)

Is there something you feel you’re not “allowed” to grieve? What would it mean to give that grief space?
How are you moving through your grief?
Express your lament.
How are you feeling grief and lament in your body?

Prayers of the People for Grief/Lament

Bethany Davey

Creator God,
We ache with grief and mourning,
our hearts bear our personal lament,
and the lament we feel with and for one another.
We grieve the chaos and terror of political turmoil,
the burdens and horror inflicted upon one another,
upon human siblings near and far,
upon Earth siblings close and distant.

Comforter God,
We bring our grief, our lament to you, offering our prayers of heartache.

(You are invited to speak a word or phrase of prayer aloud, as you feel so led. Prayers can also be added to the chat, and will be spoken into the space.)

Loving God,
Present in suffering and suffering with, we bring these prayers of pain, grief and lament to you.
Those spoken and unspoken,
those typed and those unexpressed.
May we trust that you bear these things with us, and may we bear those of one another.
Amen.

Small Group Time (fear & anger)

What’s underneath your anger right now—hurt, fear, longing?
How is your anger and fear manifesting itself in your day to day life?
What are your fears and anger? If you have not said them out loud perhaps practice if that feels helpful for you.
How do you feel fear and anger in your body?

Prayers of the People for Fear and Anger

Cassie Montelongo

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Beth Quick

Gracious One, may your Spirit be poured out upon these elements. May this bread and this cup be for us a revival of hope and a renewal of courage as we encounter your presence among the ordinary gifts of life. Through the grace of your sustenance, may Christ be with us.

-m jade kaiser, enfleshed

Small Group Time (Joy and Sustenance)

Who or what reminds you that goodness still exists in the world?
How are you experiencing joy?
How are you caring for yourself?
Who or what made you laugh this week?
How do you feel joy in your body?

Prayers of the People for Joy & Sustenance

Josh Phillips

God we offer praise for the blessings of joy you bestow upon us.
We give thanks for the ways in which your goodness is revealed through our intimate communities and your holy spirit. The joys we celebrate today are evident in the ways you created our bodies; as the holy spirit moves us with joy to dance and sway, lift our voices to sing, shed tears of happiness, and share in bursts of laughter. We give thanks for our Drew Theo Community as well as other communities which sustain and encourage us to embrace our joys and bring its blessings to others.

Hear now the Joys on the hearts of the people as they are invited to share them aloud

(Silence – Allow time for sharing)

Thank you God for the joys shared both publicly as well as those privately etched on our hearts. May the joys shared be kept in our memories as sustenance for our journey from this space. Amen.

Community Song Response

“We Resist”
Words & Music: Mark Miller

Invitation

Rae Guthrie

Blessing

Kirsten Trambley

German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller wrote a poem called, “First They Came,” and it is translated into English as the following:

“When the Nazis came for the communists, I kept quiet; I wasn’t a communist.
When they came for the trade unionists, I kept quiet; I wasn’t a trade unionist.
When they locked up the Social Democrats, I kept quiet; I wasn’t a social democrat.
When they locked up the Jews, I kept quiet; I wasn’t a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to protest.”

Let us not be people who keep quiet, both for things that affect us and affect others. As we’ve centered our work today on the crises brought upon people who migrate and people who are trans and non-binary, go with the courage to speak up and speak out.