Gathering Music

Juan Martinez Benavides

Ven al banquete – OneLicense #A-729109

CHORUS
Ven, ven al banquete.
Ven a la fiesta de Dios.
Here the hungry find plenty,
here the thirsty shall drink.
Ven a la cena de Cristo,
come to the feast.

VERSE 1
Like the child whose fishes and loaves
Fed the multitude
In the Lord, the little we have,
Broken and shared become abundant food

(Repeat chorus)

VERSE 2
Hay que darse a morir para cosechar,
las semillas de libertad y resurrección,
la promesa de vivir.

(Repeat chorus)

Welcome

Felipe dos Anjos Pereira

We welcome you to this circle of prayer to honour life. Acknowledging the pain that goes from North to South, honoring the liberation that comes from South to North, calling for solidarity from East to West, we invite you to join us in the liminal space where spirits meet, Mother Earth dances, Wisdom fulfills us, and God guides us through playful joy and communal tenderness. Today, we celebrate Latinx, Chicanx, Mestizxs, brown, black, and indigenous life. Today, we call for justice and love, the end of wars and borders. Today, we invite you to de-link and travel between worlds. Welcome!

Opening Prayer

Dr. Elaine Nogueira-Godsey

Prayer of the Four Directions and Mother Earth and Father Sky

The West reminds us of the wisdom of maturity with the approaching of the sunset. It is the time of parenthood, responsibility, and good sense – the time to teach, acknowledge, and give thanks.

You have sung us into existence. Let us now face West (all face West, pause) and pray that the Spirit of Creator may again breathe over the waters making them pure, making them fruitful. Let us pray:

All: We pray that we too may be purified so that life may be sustained and nurtured over the entire face of the earth. (all face center, pause)

The North holds the hard, cleansing wisdom of the time of winter and white hair; the elders breathe through the sacred pipe, the grandparents who, on life’s great circle, are closest to the little children. You have sung us into existence. Let us face North (all face North, pause) and let us pray:

All: May the air we breathe be purified so that life may be sustained and nurtured over the entire face of the earth.

(all face center, pause)

From Mother Earth comes all that has life. (Bend and touch Mother Earth and say): You have sung us into existence. Let us kneel or symbolically touch Mother Earth and let us pray:

All: May we walk gently upon the Earth and leave our footprints softly on what we touch.

We raise our hands toward Father Sky. In love, Father Sky embraces all the Earth with His love.

(Raise your hands and extend your palms toward the sky.)

You have sung us into existence. Let us raise our hands to Father Sky and pray:

All: May we see the vastness of Your arms and feel Your embrace of love at all times. Amén.

Source: Native American Sunday: A Liturgy for Worship, Northern Great Lakes Synod, 2021.

Opening Song

Gather at the River – OneLicense #A-729109

Gather at the river, children,
time to come and see,
justice and community growing,
all God’s people free.

Refrain:
When in faith, with grateful hearts,
we open wide the doors,
love and healing will abound,
now and evermore!

Listen to the stories, children,
of God’s love and light,
as the touch of Jesus offers
blessing and new sight.

Refrain

Go and share the good news, children,
love is meant for all,
reconciliation is coming,
can you hear the call?

Refrain

Opening Prayer

Cassie Montelongo

Oh Great Creator, we come before you in a humble manner. We pray for all our relations in nature, all those who walk, crawl, fly, and swim, seen and unseen, and to the good spirits that exist in every part of creation. May there be beauty above us. May there be beauty below us. May there be beauty in us and beauty all around us. We ask that this world be filled with peace, love, and beauty. Amén!

Source: Medicine Grizzly Bear. Native American Sunday: A Liturgy for Worship, Northern Great Lakes Synod, 2021. https://nglsynod.org/dataarchive/ngls/pdf2021/NativeAmericanSundayNovember21,2021revised.pdf

Scripture Reading

Yaheli Vargas-Ramos

Prayer for Wisdom
May God grant me to speak with judgment and to have thoughts worthy of what I have received, for God is the guide even of wisdom and the corrector of the wise.
For both we and our words are in God’s hand,
as are all understanding and skill in crafts.
For it is God who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,
to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements,
the beginning and end and middle of times,
the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons,
the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars,
the natures of animals and the tempers of wild animals,
the powers of spirits and the thoughts of human beings,
the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots;
I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,
for wisdom, the fashioner of all things,
taught me.

Wisdom of Solomon 7.15-22

Introduction to Dr. Carvalhaes

James Riofrio

Rev. Dr. Claudio Carvalhaes is the Professor of Worship in the Practical Theology area of studies and the Marilyn Seven Chair on Religion and the Arts faculty chair at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Carvalhaes is a globally recognized liturgical theologian and artist who has consistently invited students and communities to engage in embodied practices of worship and resistance that reimagine the sacred in public life.

Sermon

“Learning to See”

Dr. Claudio Carvalhaes

Biblical text: Mark 8: 22-26

Musical Response

Fellipe Dos Anjos

Milagre – OneLicense #A-729109

Tá na cara
Tá no instante
Entre a piada e o sorriso
Tá no cheiro do café

Tá no tempo
Tá no tom de azul do céu
Quando abre o dia
Tá no canto do pagé

Tá nos filhos
Tá nas linhas que sustentam a memória
Tá na história e tá na fé

Tá no instinto
Tá na luz que acende debaixo da porta
Tá nos livros e até
Nos conflitos
Tá nos ritos
O milagre que a vida é

Tá na cara
Na barriga que abriga outra pessoa
Tá na cheia da maré

Tá no cosmos
Tá no átomo que mora na poeira
Tá em se manter de pé

Tá nos sonhos
Na mecânica encantada dos abraços
Tá na urgência de saber

Tá no engano
Tá nos planos de viagens impossíveis
Tá em mim
Tá em você

Tá no mundo
Tá em tudo
O milagre que a vida é

It’s plain to see
It’s in the moment
Between the joke and the smile
It’s in the scent of coffee

It’s in time
It’s in the shade of blue in the sky
When the day breaks
It’s in the shaman’s chant

It’s in our children
It’s in the threads that sustain memory
It’s in history, and it’s in faith

It’s in instinct
It’s in the light shining from beneath the door
It’s in books, and even
In conflicts
It’s in rituals
The miracle that life is

It’s plain to see
In the belly sheltering another soul
It’s in the rising tide

It’s in the cosmos
It’s in the atom dwelling in the dust
It’s in standing tall

It’s in dreams
In the enchanted mechanics of embraces
It’s in the urgency to know

It’s in illusion
It’s in plans for impossible journeys
It’s in me
It’s in you

It’s in the world
It’s in everything
The miracle that life is

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Dr. Francisco Pelaez-Díaz

Kenia Vanessa Mendoza
Adrian Mendoza

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Creator God, you revealed to us your Creation on earth.
The waters flowed, and the winds blew.
You set the cosmos into motion and created living beings.
You gave life to the plants and the sea creatures and the land animals.
You put into flight the birds and insects, and you made people to walk on the ground.

You blessed us all and called us good.
But when our love failed and we turned away,
You revealed a love for your people and all of Creation that never ends.
And so we praise you, with all the company of saints and sinners, singing your unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory
Hosannah in the highest.
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosannah in the highest.

You continued to reveal your love for us in your son, Jesus, who came to live among us and move as a human on this Earth. When he dined with his friends, just before he was to be executed, he reminded them of your love revealed in the gifts of bread and juice before them on the table.

He took the bread in his hands, gave thanks to you, broke it, and shared it with his friends, saying the familiar words, “Take, eat. This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” And when the supper was over, he took the cup, again gave thanks for it, and shared it with all who gathered, reminding them, “Drink this all of you. This is the cup of my covenant with you, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Together we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Still-creating Spirit,
Be poured out on those gathered here and on these gifts from the field in bread and juice. As we receive them into our bodies, make us your body. Unite us with those who have come before us in your kin-dom and with those who will come after us, now and always. Amen.

Prayer after Receiving:

Creative God, we thank you for revealing your love to us in bread and juice. We recognize your presence in us and all around us, and we ask that you continue to reveal your love for all Creation to the ends of the Earth through our lives. Make us your people and use us to reveal the inbreaking of your kin-dom here and now: a world of justice and peace. Amen.

Written by Rev. Laura Baumgartner, Seattle, WA (ancestral homelands of the Duwamish and Coast Salish peoples), an elder in the Pacific Northwest Conference, serving Haller Lake UMC. She is involved in the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement.

Blessing

Kenia Vanessa Mendoza and Maria Carolina Alderete

Sending Song

La Lucha – Mark Miller – OneLicense #A-729109

Spanish
Direct translation to English
En la lucha hay vida,
en la lucha esperanza.
En la lucha hay vida,
¡siempre hay, siempre hay esperanza!

¡Cantamos en la lucha!
¡Cantamos por la justicia!
Cantamos por nuestras vidas,
¡siempre hay, siempre hay esperanza!
In the struggle there is life,
in the struggle there is hope.
In the struggle there is life;
there is always hope!

We sing in the struggle!
We sing for justice!
We sing for our lives;
there is always hope!