Gathering Music
“Welcome”
Words: Laurie Zelman, Music: Mark A. Miller
OneLicense #A-729109
Let’s walk together for a while and ask where we begin
To build a world where love can grow and hope can enter in.
To be the hands of healing and to plant the seeds of peace,
Singing welcome
Welcome to this place.
You’re invited to come and know God’s grace.
All are welcome, the love of God to share,
‘Cause all of us are welcome here; all are welcome in this place.
Let’s talk together of a time when we will share a feast,
Where pride and power kneel to serve the lonely and the least,
And joy will set the table as we join our hands to pray,
Singing welcome,
Welcome to this place.
You’re invited to come and know God’s grace.
All are welcome, the love of God to share,
‘Cause all of us are welcome here; all are welcome in this place.
Let’s dream together of the day when earth and heaven are one,
A city built of love and light, the new Jerusalem,
Where our mourning turns to dancing, every creature lifts its voice!
Crying welcome!
Welcome to this place.
You’re invited to come and know God’s grace.
All are welcome, the love of God to share,
‘Cause all of us are welcome here; all are welcome in this place.
Welcome & Introduction of WoMA
Rutendo Makarau
Gathering Words
Jennifer Lundberg
Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese”
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Opening Song
“It is Well With My Soul”
Words: Horatio G. Spafford, Music: Philip P. Bliss
- When peace, like a river,
Attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot,
Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, with my soul.
It is well, it is well, with my soul. - Though Satan should buffet,
Though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded
My helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul. - My sin, oh, the bliss
Of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross,
And I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul. - And Lord, haste the day
When my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trumpet shall resound,
And the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Opening Prayer
Vimbai Zvimba
From Revised Common Lectionary Prayers Proposed by the Consultation on Common Texts
Shepherd God,
You call us into a rhythm of work and rest that our lives may be the better for it. So shape our leisure and our labor, that the world will recognize us as Jesus’ disciples and our ministry as what you would have us do.
Amen.
Scripture Reading – Psalm 23
(The Message)
Carrie-Lee Farnham
1-3 God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.
4 Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.
5 You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.
6 Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.
Matthew 11:28-30
(The Message)
Praise Mapanda
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Leader: The Word of God for the people of God.
All: Thanks be to God.
Song
“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”
Words: Elisha A. Hoffman, Music: Anthony J. Showalter
- What a fellowship,
What a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness,
What a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Refrain: Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
- O how sweet to walk
In this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path
Grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Refrain
- What have I to dread,
What have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace
With my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Refrain
Introduction of Speaker
Jennifer Lundberg
Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly
Currently, Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly has been working as a Pulpit Supply Minister. Prior to that, Dr. Holly began her work in 2013 as a Community Minister at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village in New York City, where she then held several ministerial and pastoral positions until June 2023. Prior to her work at Judson Memorial Church, Dr. Holly was Senior Pastor at Unity Fellowship of Christ Church located in Brooklyn, NY from 2006-2014. As Senior Pastor, Dr. Holly supervised the ministerial staff and taught the diaconate students. Dr. Holly also managed Unity’s community food pantry and HIV/AIDS education programs.
Before working in full time ministry, Dr. Holly was employed as a Clinical Social Worker. Dr. Holly held positions as Director of Employee Assistance Programs and in-patient/ out-patient substance abuse programs. In addition, Dr. Holly has functioned as the Social Work Manager of New York State Family Treatment Court and Social Work Manager of North General Hospital Out- Patient HIV/AIDS Clinic. She taught biblical and theological education on-site to incarcerated women at Danbury Federal Correctional Facility from 2018 until the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Finally, Dr. Holly has been an adjunct professor at the College of New Rochelle, DC 37, and Empire State College.
Dr. Holly has a Master of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Ministry degree both from New York Theological Seminary. The focus of Dr. Holly’s doctoral study was the impact of educational opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women – especially theological education. In addition, she has a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University School of Social Work.
Sermon
Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly
Musical Response
“On Eagle’s Wings”
Words & Music: Michael Joncas, OneLicense #A-729109
- You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord
Who abide in God’s shadow for life
Say to the Lord, “My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!”
Refrain: And God will raise you up on eagles’ wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of God’s hand.
- The snare of the fowler will never capture you
And famine will bring you no fear
Under God’s wings your refuge, God’s faithfulness your shield
Refrain - You need not fear the terror of the night
Nor the arrow that flies by day
Though thousands fall about you, near you it shall not come
Refrain - For to the angels God’s given a command
To guard you in all of your ways
Upon their hands they will bear you up
Lest you dash your foot against a stone
Refrain
Litany of Release
Jennifer Nelson
(Everyone is invited to look at the pebble they picked up on the way in.)
Leader: For the belief that our worth is measured in how depleted we’re willing to become, at work, at home, at church, anywhere someone needed us,
People: We release it.
Leader: For the voice, ours or someone else’s, that says a woman who names her limits doesn’t love enough, doesn’t try hard enough, doesn’t have enough faith,
People: We release it.
Leader: For the guilt that shows up the moment we consider saying no, to a request, to a role, to someone else’s version of who we should be,
People: We release it.
Leader: For every time we called exhaustion “faithfulness,” and called silence about our own pain “strength,”
People: We release it.
Leader: For the weight of holding a family together, a household running, a marriage steady, a body moving, when no one asked if we had the strength left to hold it,
People: We release it.
Leader: For the comparison that creeps in when someone else’s life looks lighter than ours,
People: We release it.
Leader: For the parts of ourselves we’ve kept quiet because we weren’t sure this room, or any room, was safe enough to say them out loud,
People: We release it.
(Invite everyone to think about what they need to release (they can say it out loud if they choose) and place the pebble in the vase during communion or after service.
Leader: May what we’ve named here stay here. We are not carrying it back out with us.
ALL: Amen, May it Be So.
Sacrament of Holy Communion
Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly Presiding, Stewards: Janice Marie Beauchamp and Eulynis Matthias-Fridie
Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 NRSVUE
23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,
“This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
This new covenant is a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you,you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you
have love for one another.”
Blessing
Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly
Final Remarks
Rutendo Makarau
Sending Song
“Draw the Circle Wide”
Words: Gordon Light, Music: Mark A. Miller, OneLicense #A-729109
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
No one stands alone,
we’ll stand side by side.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide
Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still.
Let this be our song: no one stands alone. Standing side by side,
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide
In your sadness and in your grief
From all the pain
It seems there’s no relief
We will hold you
Until the storm subsides
We’ll draw the circle,
draw the circle wide!
Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still.
Let this be our song: no one stands alone. Standing side by side,
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
