Gathering Music

I Choose Love
Words: Lindy Thompson, Music: Mark Miller

In the midst of pain, I choose love.
In the midst of pain, sorrow falling down like rain,
I await the sun again, I choose love.

In the midst of war, I choose peace.
In the midst of war, hate and anger keeping score,
I will seek the good once more, I choose peace.

When my world falls down, I will rise.
When my world falls down, explanations can’t be found,
I will climb to holy ground, I will rise.

In the midst of pain, I choose love.
In the midst of pain, sorrow falling down like rain,
I await the sun again, I choose love.

Call to Worship

Bethany Davey

(From enfleshed)

God is calling us
Out of the places we hide
Out of insecurity
Out of shame
Out from under that which silences love and justice.
Come out, people of God!
Though we may be afraid
Though we will be at risk
Though the cross stands as a threat
God calls us to courage!
Our God is a god of resurrection. Of new life after devastation. Of hope in the grip of evil.
And so we dare to proclaim, with pride and faith, our truths:
We believe in the power of love.
We believe in solidarity with the suffering.
We believe we are each valuable.
We believe that our togetherness is transformative.
The world is longing for Holy truths that reveal, voices that speak real words of hope.
Come out, people of God!

Opening Song

Queerfully and Wonderfully Made
Words & Music: Mark Miller

Heaven rejoiced at my birth
made in God’s image
a child of sacred worth
through an age of doubts & fears
and of thoughts too deep for tears
I have come this far by grace
and I won’t stop now

‘cause I am queerfully
& wonderfully made
my body mind and soul
can’t be replaced
You can have your say
but I know who I am today
I am queerfully
& wonderfully made

Heaven rejoiced at your birth
made in God’s image
a child sacred worth
through an age of doubts & fears
and of thoughts too deep for tears
You have come this far by grace
and you won’t stop now

‘cause you are queerfully
& wonderfully made
your body mind and soul
can’t be replaced
no two of us the same
we can truly claim
we are queerfully
& wonderfully made!

Heaven rejoiced at our births
made in God’s image
filled with sacred worth
through an age of doubts & fears
and of thoughts too deep for tears
we have come this far by grace
and we won’t stop now

‘cause we are queerfully
& wonderfully made!
Our bodies minds and souls
can’t be replaced
You can have your say
but we know who we are today
You think you know our parts
But you don’t know our hearts
No two of us the same
Yes, we can truly claim
we are queerfully
& wonderfully made!

Opening Prayer

Nate Roark

From enfleshed

Leader: Passionate One, your love for us was so great that you queered every boundary working against our ability to perceive you. When we imagined you as ‘beyond us,’ in the heavens, distant from our ordinary life, you took on flesh like ours and queered the boundaries between divinity and creation. You revealed to us that you are within us, around us, and between us. Open our hearts, O God, to the sacredness that resists boundaries that confine. In the Incarnate One we pray,
Amen.

Scripture Reading

Dorothy Jayne Smith

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Luke 17:11-19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

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

Sermon

Rev. Kaleigh Rasmussen

Musical Response

Child of God
Words/Music: Mark Miller

No matter what people say
Say, or think about me
I am a child, I am a child of God!

No matter what people say
Say, or think about you
You are a child,
You are a child of God!

No matter what the world says
Says, or think about me
I am a child, I am a child of God!

And there is no thing
Or no one who can separate
They can’t separate
You from the truth that
You’re someone you are family
You are meant to be
A child, a child of God

No matter what the church says
Decisions, pronouncements on you
You are a child,
You are a child of God!

And there is no thing
Or no one who can separate
They can’t separate
You from the truth that
You’re someone you are family
You are meant to be
A child, a child of God

Blessing

Nate Roark

From enfleshed

O God of intimacy and delight, you have created us in splendor, clothed us in majesty and knitted us with specks of glory and gold.

You have breathed life into our sacred bodies and invited us to commune with you, as we are, without shame.

God who delights in color and curve, who shaped hips and shoulders with intentional grace. Help us to remember that we are works of art and worthy of celebration.

God of the cosmos and creation, strengthen our voices to name that which is good, holy and embodied.

Embolden us to find pleasure in our bodies and our beauty outside of the lens of what others have deemed pure. For in you there is freedom and choice.

God of desire and yearnings, continue to reveal your sacred presence in all that we do and wrap us in your divine care.

Strengthen us to count the blessings of our expression as a gift and not be moved by those who count bodies as a means to control.

God of nebulas and nature, you dance between mystery and matter. Teach us to trust the wisdom of the songs of our flesh.

Unbind us from theology that shames. Let our consent be sacred, our boundaries blessed, our joy unashamed, and our connections rooted in love.

In the name of God our Mother, Christ our Holy Lover and God’s Breath of Becoming we pray. Amen.

Sending Song

I’m Coming Out Sing Along Video