17 September 2026 – Chapel – Drew Theo Chapel

Gathering Music

“Shall We Gather At the River?”
Words & Music: Robert Lowry

Shall we gather at the river,
where bright angel feet have trod,
with its crystal tide forever
flowing by the throne of God?

Refrain:
Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
the beautiful, the beautiful river;
gather with the saints at the river
that flows by the throne of God.

Ere we reach the shining river,
lay we every burden down;
grace our spirits will deliver,
and provide a robe and crown.
(Refrain)
Soon we’ll reach the shining river,
soon our pilgrimage will cease;
soon our happy hearts will quiver
with the melody of peace.
(Refrain)

Gathering Words

Kirsten Trambley

(Adapted from B.J. Beau, based on Jeremiah 17:5-10, Psalm 1)

Leader: Blessed are those who trust God.
People: They are like trees planted by water, sending out roots by the stream.
Leader: They have no fear of summer’s heat, nor do they wither in the sun.
People: In the year of drought they are not anxious, for their lives bear the fruit of righteousness.
Leader: Come to the waters of life. We have come to worship and to send forth our roots into streams of God’s living water.
All: Amen.

Reading

Benin Shekawongo

“Practice Resurrection”
Excerpts from poem by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

Opening Song

“Harvest of Love”
Words: Laurie Zelman, Music: Mark A. Miller, OneLicense #A-729109

In our sorrow, we journey head down.
In our sorrow, we journey head down.
In the dust of defeat, with our hearts at our feet,
We are planting our seeds in the ground.
We are planting our seeds in the ground.

May we offer our lives as the ground.
May we offer our lives as the ground.
Now our fears we forsake,
Let the seeds stir and wake.
May they grow in the peace
that we’ve found.
May they grow in the peace
that we’ve found.

It’s a mystery – who knows
How the harvest grows?
With our hands and our tears in the soil,
From the ground feel it rise,
Filled with joy and surprise.
‘Til the laughter like water flows!
‘Til the laughter like water flows!

So give thanks and rejoice at the sound!
So give thanks and rejoice at the sound!
For the song rises still,
And our arms God will fill.
Oh the harvest of love will astound
Yes the harvest of love will astound!

Scripture Reading

Youngeun Kim

Psalm 1

1 Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
or sit in the seat of scoffers,
2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

4 The wicked are not so
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous,
6 for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

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