PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
“When day comes, we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”
– Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb
CALL TO WORSHIP | Warren Aney, “Soon” (2021)
If we continue on the right path, we shall soon say:
All lives matter now: Black and white and brown, Asian and native, Gay and straight, Rich and poor.
We all can now live and love together; Be appreciated and productive.
Creating and sharing, helping and protecting everyone, family, friend and neighbor, stranger and foreigner. We have overcome.
OPENING HYMN | One Voice Children’s Choir, “Memories”
MINUTE FOR MISSION | Responsive Chorus
There are so many exciting ways that God is working through each of us and in this community. As we consider our receiving and our giving to the works of ministry in this place and in the world, may we remember that we belong to God.
Let us sing
Through all our living, we our fruits must give.
Good works of service are for offering.
When we are giving, or when receiving,
We belong to God.
We belong to God.
We belong to God.
We belong to God.
HEBREW READING | 2 Corinthians 5:16-20
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to herself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to herself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And God has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making her appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
THEME READING | Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
“I cannot pinpoint a moment when I became politicized, when I knew that I would spend my life in the liberation struggle. To be an African in South Africa means that one is politicized from the moment of one’s birth, whether one acknowledges it or not…His life is circumscribed by racist laws and regulations that cripple his growth, dim his potential, and stunt his life…I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments, produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, From henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.”
THEME VIDEO | “The Hill We Climb” Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate
TESTIMONY | “Reflection on Reconciliation” By Calvin Taylor
CONVERSATION ON RECONCILIATION
What are some examples or lessons learned that you would like to share?
SPECIAL MUSIC | “His Daughter” By Molly Kate Kestner, performed by Jason Sabino
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
- Prayers for the family of long time member Jacqueline (Jacque) French who passed away January 7. Let’s hold Cheryl, her granddaughter, and the entire family in our thoughts and prayers. Visit a memorial page for Jacque here.
- Karen Wittenburg lost her mother, Catherine Boyd on January 22. Catherine was 92. Karen continues treatment for cancer. She is currently at her home and continues to increase her activity.
- Bert Schmidt – please keep him and Sue Chandler, daughter, in prayer.
- Bob Buell continues to be in hospice.
- Please keep the PNC (Pastor Nominating Committee) in prayer as they discern the future of Southminster.
CORPORATE PRAYER | Affirmation of Faith, “Peace and Justice” written by Erica VanEssendelft, Office of Social Justice, Christian Reformed Church
Our Father and Mother in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We come before you, Lord, crying out in a violent land, crying for peace. Conflict is tearing people apart. Our brothers and sisters suffer around the world. We share their pain. As refugees search for a home in foreign lands, guide them. As world leaders try to dialogue peacefully, give them wisdom. As strangers knock on our doors, help us to welcome them. You are the Almighty, the Prince of Peace! Give us hope for tomorrow. May your peace flow like a river through a dry land. Amen.
