Gathering Music

Ayúdanos, oh Dios
Words and Music: Mark Miller, OneLicense #A-729109

Ayúdanos, oh Dios,
Concédenos tu paz.
Ayúdanos, oh Dios,
Concédenos tu paz.

Ayúdanos, oh Dios,
Concédenos tu paz.
Ayúdanos, oh Dios,
Concédenos tu paz.

Oh, help us, save us,
Grant us peace, O God!
Ayúdanos, help us,
grant us peace, O God!
Ayúdanos, oh Dios,
Concédenos tu paz.

Call to Worship

Rin McLaughlin

Adapted from enfleshed

Leader: Let all who yearn for connection,
all who hunger for justice and thirst for bodily renewal
come and be replenished.
People: With hope and expectation, we bring all that our soul’s desire.
Leader: Let everyone weary from isolation
or overwhelmed by life’s troubles
come and find rest in God’s care.
People: All those who come seeking community are received in Holy Embrace.

Leader: May the presence and provision of God be manifest among us
that all may have what they need.
All: We come to give, we come to receive, we come to grow in love.

Opening Song

“We Resist”
Words/Music: Mark Miller, OneLicense #A-729109

We Resist, we refuse to let hatred in!
We rise up, we won’t back down!
We’re in this ‘til the end.

Pray for your enemies!
Welcome the stranger!
Show love to your neighbor!
We’re in this ‘til the end.

Embodied Prayer

Carolina Alderete

Scripture Reading

Carine Ngoy

John 4:5-15

5 So Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

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

Sermon

“This is the Way”

Rev. Dr. Melanie Johnson-Debaufre

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Rev. Dr. Melanie Johnson-Debaufre
Servers: Yireh Ha, Albarka Wakili

Adapted from Rev. Sarah A. Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org

Leader: Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them to the Lord.
Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
All: It is right to give God thanks and praise.

Leader: God of the lost and the found,
surely it is right for us to give our thanks and praise;
for day after day we look for you,
and day after day we find you:
in the laugher of children,
in the sun rising over the horizon,
in the flowers of spring.

Our seeking does not go unanswered,
and for that we are grateful.

When we are looking for reason to hope,
you give us sunshine after snowstorms, and candles flickering in the window.
When we’re seeking peace,
you give us music that centers us, community that comforts us.
And when we’re seeking justice,
your life reminds us that everyone is welcome at your Table, and none shall be turned away.

For all these reminders we are deeply grateful.
And yet, gracious God, our seeking does not stop.
For even though your fingerprints are all over this world,
we are not yet at your promised day.

So in addition to our gratitude, we also pray today for conviction.
Do not let us get comfortable with half-hearted seeking.
Do not let us grow numb to the suffering of this world.
Make us relentless in our pursuit of justice—
relentless in our consoling of the grieving,
in our welcoming of the stranger,
and in the feeding of the hungry.

O God, pour out your Spirit on this ordinary bread and cup.
May this meal be Christ for us, and the nourishment we need to continue seeking you in the world. Until your promised day, we will pray.

All: Amen.

Sharing in the Bread and Cup

“Sing Alleluia to the Lord”
Words: Linda Stassen-Benjamin, OneLicense #A-729109

Sing alleluia to the Lord.
Sing alleluia to the Lord.
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
Sing alleluia to the Lord.

Lift up your hearts unto the Lord.
Lift up your hearts unto the Lord.
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
Sing alleluia to the Lord.

Go into all the world with love.
Go into all the world with love.
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
Sing alleluia to the Lord.

Communion Anthem

“I Choose Love”
Words: Lindy Thompson, Music: Mark Miller, OneLicense #A-729109

Seminary Choir

Blessing

Rev. Dr. Melanie Johnson-Debaufre

Sending Song

“Everlasting God”
Words & Music: Brenton Brown & Ken Riley, OneLicense #A-729109

Strength will rise
As we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord,
we will wait upon the Lord. (Repeat)

Our God!
You reign for ever,
Our Hope,
Our strong Deliverer!

You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won’t grow weary

You’re the defender
Of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on
Wings like eagles