Gathering Music
“Christ Has Broken Down the Wall”
Words & Music: Mark Miller, OneLicense #A-729109
Christ has broken down the wall
Christ has broken down the wall
Let us join our hearts as one
Christ has broken down the wall
We’re accepted as we are
We’re accepted as we are
Through God’s love all is reconciled
We’re accepted as we are
Cast aside your doubts and fears
Cast aside your doubts and fears
Peace and love freely offered here
Cast aside your doubts and fears
We will tear down the walls
We will tear down the walls
God has called us one and all
Christ has broken down the wall
Call to Worship
Yaheli Vargas- Ramos
(adapted from Woodworking Pastor)
Leader: We gather here, where God would teach us
People: to be more compassionate, to be more loving.
Leader: We gather here, where Jesus would teach us
People: the wisdom to choose forgiveness, the language of hope, so we may speak to all.
Leader: We gather here, where the Spirit imparts wisdom
People: so we might know how to share grace, so we would learn to welcome in this place.
Opening Song
“Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Words: James Weldon Johnson, Music: J. Rosamond Johnson
- 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. - 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 forebears 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. - 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.
Opening Prayer
“The Hardest Blessing”
Daeun Hong
(From Jan Richardson, janrichardson.com)
If we cannot
lay aside the wound,
then let us say
it will not always
bind us.
Let us say
the damage
will not eternally
determine our path.
Let us say
the line of our life
will not always travel
along the places
we are torn.
Let us say
that forgiveness
can take some practice,
can take some patience,
can take a long
and struggling time.
Let us say
that to offer
the hardest blessing,
we will need
the deepest grace;
that to forgive
the sharpest pain,
we will need
the fiercest love;
that to release
the ancient ache,
we will need
new strength
for every day.
Let us say
the wound
will not be
our final home—
that through it
runs a road,
a way we would not
have chosen
but on which
we will finally see
forgiveness,
so long practiced,
coming toward us,
shining with the joy
so well deserved.
Scripture Reading
Matthew 18:21-35
Esther Inuwa
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my sibling sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him, 25 and, as he could not pay, the lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your sibling from your heart.”
Leader: The Word of God for the people of God.
All: Thanks be to God.
Sermon
“The Commodification of Forgiveness”
Rev. Dr. Hilary McKane
Musical Response
“I Choose Love”
Words: Lindy Thompson, Music: Mark A. Miller, OneLicense #A-729109
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.
Blessing
Rev. Dr. Hilary McKane
Sending Song
“Child of God”
Words & Music: Mark Miller, OneLicense #A-729109
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!
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 world says
Says, or think about me
I am a child, I am 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
Drew Theo Chapel 