Sacred Worship for the UPC Community
June 21, 2020
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
United Presbyterian Church.
From our various spaces, on our various devices,
God meets us here—in our living rooms and at our tables,
Be here in this sacred moment. God is with you. God is with us.
May this homebound worship of saints be blessed, be nourishing, be comforting, be church.
Anti-Creation Narrative (Pharaoh Hardens His Heart) by Lauren Wright Pittman | Inspired by Exodus 5:1-2; 7:8-23
Prelude | Song Without Words: Opus 19, No. 1 | Mendelssohn | Mary Jacq Burck
Allow the prelude to help you pause and be still; to breathe slowly and re-center your scattered senses upon the presence of God. Light a candle to remind you of Christ’s resurrection light.
Invitation to Worship
Listen. We have a story to tell—
A story of a God who longed for justice.
A story of a God who pushed back the waters to make dry land.
A story of a God who would not take “no” for an answer when it came to the safety of God’s
own. For God’s people were suffering.
God’s people were crying out.
God’s people were shackled and bound by oppression.
So God said to Moses, “Speak.”“Let my people Go.”
And Moses spoke—
Over and over again.
Moses stood up for justice,
But over and over again, Pharaoh said no.
Power said no.
The path to justice is never easy, is it?
The path to change is never a straight line, is it?
Moses kept trying.
God kept speaking.
Moses kept listening.
Hope kept breathing.
And when power tried to unravel justice, the people kept dreaming.
God longed for justice.
God still longs for justice.
So let us worship God—
For human injustice will never be strong enough to unravel God’s dream that all might be
free, and all might know love.
Let us worship holy God.
Hymn 469 | Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
Lord, listen to your children praying.
Lord, send your Spirit in this place.
Lord, listen to your children praying.
Send us love; send us power; send us grace. (3x)
Unison Prayer
God, you have asked us to be like Moses—standing up for your people, standing up for justice. But too often we are like Pharaoh—holding onto power, holding onto privilege, saying “no” to change, and unraveling your vision for justice and peace. Forgive us for all the ways we stand on the wrong side of history. Forgive us for the harm we do to your planet, and for the harm we do to your children. Help us to be like Moses. Forgive us when we’re like Pharaoh. Amen.
God, you possess all beginnings and all endings, all failings and risings, all living and dying. All of your people, all of your creation swells with the rhythms of life and death and rebirth. Somewhere in the midst of our sorrows, you are walking, holding hands, lifting up, mending wounds, and breathing new life. We give thanks for and celebrate the joys of life you have blessed us with: family and friends; new relationships and deeper relationships; new life and transformed lives; reconciliation and restoration.
On this day we are especially grateful for the gifts of fathers, the gifts of being a father, and fathers that we miss. We thank you for the many ways that our fathers have shaped us, for their example and their love. Yet we also pray for those who have painful relationships with their fathers; those who are estranged from their fathers and fathers who are estranged from their children. And we pray for those who are unwilling or unable to accept the responsibilities of fatherhood.
God, you created the one human family and endowed each person with great dignity. Aid us, we pray, in eliminating the sin of racism from our hearts, our communities, our social and civil institutions. Fill our hearts with love for you and our neighbor so that we may work with you in healing our land.
Gracious God, all of our prayers are summed up in the longing for your kingdom, that new reality that is emerging all around us. We join our voices together, praying for the coming of your kingdom…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Hymn 472 | Kum ba Yah (Come by Here)
1 Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah!
Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah!
Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah!
O Lord, kum ba yah!
2 Someone’s crying, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone’s crying, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone’s crying, Lord, kum ba yah!
O Lord, kum ba yah!
3 Someone’s singing, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone’s singing, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone’s singing, Lord, kum ba yah!
O Lord, kum ba yah!
4 Someone’s praying, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone’s praying, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone’s praying, Lord, kum ba yah!
O Lord, kum ba yah!
Passing of the Peace
Blessing
Go now to follow the way of Jesus:
see others as he did;
dare to give freely as he did;
and to love unconditionally as he did.
Go, embraced by the Source of life, love and hope;
in the company of the Word of life;
encouraged by the Breath of life. Amen
Change the Light
Godly Play Story | Sara Staton
Offering Our Gifts to God
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