PAUSE FOR REFLECTION | Barbara Brown Taylor Learning to Walk in the Dark
“The only real difference between anxiety and excitement is the willingness to let go of fear.”
CALL TO WORSHIP | Adaptation for Amos 5:24
Where justice rolls down like a mighty water,
Where righteousness grows like an ever flowing stream,
Where mercy resounds like the waves on the ocean,
Let praises rise high on the songs of all creation.
There is a river that streams from the temple, begins as a trickle but ends in the sea.
As it grows healing it will give, where it flows everything will live.
Let us worship.
OPENING HYMN | “We Are Called”
Come, live in the light
Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord
We are called to be light for the kingdom
To live in the freedom of the city of God
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
Come, open your heart
Show your mercy to all those in fear
We are called to be hope for the hopeless
So all hatred and blindness will be no more
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
Sing, sing a new song
Sing of that great day when all will be one
God will reign and we’ll walk with each other
As sisters and brothers united in love (united in love)
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly (We are called)
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
MINUTE FOR MISSION
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.
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 | Joshua 7:7-8, 14-17
And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”
So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan was at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan river and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Dead Sea was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
THEME READING | Excerpt from “The Bridge in the Jungle”, B. Traven (B. Traven was the pseudonym of Adolfo López Mateos, the President of Mexico (1958–1964)
“A trip to a Central American jungle to watch how Indians behave near a bridge won’t make you see either the jungle or the bridge or the Indians if you believe that the civilization you were born into is the only one that counts. Go and look around with the idea that everything you learned in school and college is wrong.”
SPECIAL MUSIC | “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” Jenn Winquist
SERMON | “Friends Who Care” by Rev. Don Ludwig
RESPONSIVE HYMN | “Here I Am”
I, the Lord of sea and sky
I have heard my people cry
All who dwell in dark and sin
My hand will save
I who made the stars of night
I will make their darkness bright
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night
I will go, Lord
If You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart
I, the Lord of wind and flame
I will tend the poor and lame
I will set a feast for them
My hand will save
Finest bread I will provide
‘Til their hearts be satisfied
I will give my life to them
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night
I will go, Lord
If You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart
I will hold Your people in my heart
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
- Prayers for the family and friends of Karen Wittenburg who touched so many lives.
- The Burnhams would like to request prayers for their family as they mourn the death of Dick’s stepdad, who died Wednesday afternoon. He was 90 and had a good long life until this past year of Covid lockdowns/isolation that worsened his dementia. May he rest in peace.
- Chu Taylor went in for Orthognathic Surgery (Le Fort one osteotomy) and is recovering for the next six weeks – (only liquid diet). Please keep Chu, Kaleigh, and parents Calvin and Francis in prayer.
- Linda Ingala asks for prayers for her dear friend Cathy’s son, Peter Smiley, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. Peter lives in the Seattle area.
- Donna Bekooy’s sister’s health is slowly improving, and she has been taken off of hospice. Donna wishes to express her thanks for the congregation’s prayers.
- Bert Schmidt continues treatment. Please keep him and Sue Chandler, daughter, in prayer.
CORPORATE PRAYER | written by John Shimminger, 2014
Creator God, you are the Spirit and Breath of the Universe. You are the Center towards whom we journey and the Way leading to wholeness. We see your world of abundance and blessing all around us. We hear your call to be your eyes, your ears, your hands, to experience this creation and care for it, expressing our wonder in thankfulness and praise.
We come together as a community of faith and compassion. We open our hearts and minds to you. Come, inspire us, dwell with us, and make us one in your Spirit. A-men.
