29 April 2025 – Chapel – Drew Theo Chapel

Gathering Music

“When There’s Trust in the Room” – Mark Miller

Call to Worship

Lerato Pitso

Adapted from Libby D. Stoddard

Leader: We have come into this room of hope,
where our hearts and minds are opened to the future.

People: We have come into this room of justice,
where we set aside our fear to name freely every oppression.

Leader: We have come into this room of love,
where we know that no lives are insignificant.

All: We have come into this room of song,
where we unite our voices
in the somber and the beautiful melodies of life.

Opening Song

“Stand by Me” – Charles Albert Tindley (UMH #512)

A Blessing

Sam Smith

Adapted from Andrea Hawkins-Kamper

Blessed are we who gather with open hearts, together, in this space, today.
Blessed are we: the chalice-lighters of resistance, justice, love, and faith.
Blessed are we: the heretics, the outcasts, the walkers of our own way.
Blessed are we: the border-crossers, the refugees, the immigrants, the poor, the wanderers who are not lost.
Blessed are we: the transgressors, the trespassers, the passers-by, the cause-takers, the defiant, the compliant.
Blessed are we: the hand-extenders, the sign-makers, the protestors, the protectors.
Blessed are we: the friend, the stranger, the lonely, the hidden, the visible, the authentic.
Blessed are we who rise in solidarity, blessed are we who cannot, blessed are we who do not; blessed are we who try and try again.
Blessed are we: for this is our Beloved Community, and this is who we are.

All: Amen.

Scripture Reading

Daniel 3:24-30 (NRSVue)

Maggie Wolford

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” 25 He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the fourth has the appearance of a god.” 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not scorched, and not even the smell of fire came from them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.” 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

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

Sermon

“The Fourth One”

Rev. Dr. Dong Sung Kim

Musical Response

“Lean on Me” – Kirk Franklin

*Repeat
I am here You don’t have to worry
I can see your tears
I’ll be there in a hurry when you call
Friends are there to catch you when you fall
Here’s my shoulder, you can lean on me