Order of Worship
Let us be as open vessels that God’s spirit may enter.
The Community Gathers: Experience God’s presence in the assembly. Please greet one another with joy and welcome new friends into our community of love.
You are welcome here…come and worship!
Focus: “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
– Harriet Tubman
Opening Music: Shed a Little Light (James Taylor)
-Michelle Currie & Jen Comeau
Welcome:
Call to Worship
Leader: God of our ancestors and God of our dreams,
we gather today to remember that you have created us
all in your image and in your likeness
All: And so, we still have the courage to dream the impossible.
Leader: We remember how you spoke into the darkness and created light. We remember the ways you have delivered your people through trials and tribulations since the beginning of time, right up until this present moment
All: And so, we still have the courage to dream the impossible.
Leader: You have comforted your people through the middle passage, racism, segregation, loss of identities and unjust laws
All: And so, we still have the courage to dream the impossible.
Leader: God you have been the guiding light along the paths of Hope and Love leading toward a beloved community where all are equally seen and radically loved
All: And so, we still have the courage to dream the impossible.
Leader: We gather today remembering your presence amongst us and the call to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with you and our neighbors.
Opening Hymn: We Shall Overcome #379 vs. 1,2,3 &4
Invocation: God of our weary years and God of our silent tears,thou who has brought us this far on the way, we invite your presence into our midst as we pay tribute to all who have labored for justice, equality and love. We pray that in this moment you would strengthen us to continue to work for the fulfillment of the dream that the Rev. Dr. King Jr. shared. Help us to labor so that every valley is exalted, every hill and mountain made low, the rough places are plain, and the crooked places made straight so that the glory of the Lord is revealed, and all may see it together. Let your love guide us to see one another as fully human with diverse hues, colors, ethnicities and cultures, and respect the content of their character. Let your spirit strengthen us for the work of today and tomorrow until all God’s children can say with full conviction, “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God All-Mighty, I’m free at last.” Amen.
Lord’s Prayer:
Readings: Isaiah 60: 1-5, Psalm 82, Amos 5 -Dick Bennett
Sermon: Women of the Dream Rev. Paula Norbert
Music: Meditative Instrumental ~ (Arr. Michelle Currie)
-Michelle Currie
Musical call to Prayer: (two times) Hush now in quiet peace, be still your mind at ease. The Spirit brings release, so wait upon the Lord.
Prayers of the People:
Offertory: Precious Lord, Take My Hand (Thomas A. Dorsey)
-Ada Goff
Doxology: Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise God all creatures here below. Praise God above ye heavenly hosts, Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Prayer of Dedication:
Closing Hymn: We Are Called #749
Benediction
God, we see you at work still creating a just world for all.
We leave empowered by the fresh winds of change
and the dream that is before us to be God’s hands, and feet and heart in this world today, tomorrow and forever. Amen.
Go In Peace:
Martin Luther King, Jr by Gwendolyn Brooks
A man went forth with gifts.
He was a prose poem.
He was a tragic grace.
He was a warm music.
He tried to heal the vivid volcanoes.
His ashes are reading the world.
His Dream still wishes to anoint
the barricades of faith and of control.
His word still burns the center of the sun
above the thousands and the
hundred thousands.
The word was Justice. It was spoken.
So it shall be spoken.
So it shall be done.
+ Gwendolyn Brooks
*This service quotes from Our God is Marching On, and Letter from Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King, Jr.
I Still have a Dream: Service Prayers by the Rev. Trayce Potter.