ORDER OF WORSHIP

Sunday, October 27, 2019

*Please rise in body or in spirit. 

Gathering Music

Words of Welcome Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs

Ringing of the Bell

PRELUDE (9:00/11:00) Round and Round (traditional round) The Earth Is Our Mother (Cherokee song) Tulla Wallace, soloist

Prelude (4:30) Eintritt (Entry) — R. SchumannCall to Worship Bob PeskinLighting the Chalice

*Opening Hymn (18) What Wondrous Love*

Responsive Affirmation Brave Space — Micky ScottBey Jones

Together we will create brave space

Because there is no such thing as a “safe space”

We exist in the real worldWe all carry scars and we have all caused wounds.

In this spaceWe seek to turn down the volume of theoutside world,

We amplify voices that fight to be heardelsewhere,

We call each other to more truth and love

We have the right to start somewhere and continue to grow.

We have the responsibility to examine what we think we know,

We will not be perfect.This space will not be perfect.

It will not always be what we wish it to be

ButUnison: It will be our brave space together, and we will work in it side by side.

Silence

Embracing Meditation

Minister's Prayer

Anthem (9:00/11:00) Amo (Love) — N. Gutiérrez 

Todo, todos, se han idoSólo me acompañan mis recuerdosCon los cuales unos ratos yo lloroY en ocasiones logro a sonreirLos amo

Everything, everyone, has leftI am accompanied only by my memoriesWith which sometimes I cryAnd sometimes I manage to smileI love them (or I love you, or I love you all)

Anthem (4:30) The Sky Above the Roof — R. Vaughan Williams

CHILDREN’S RECESSIONAL (11:00) Children’s Blessing — Jason Shelton

May your mind be open to new learning. May your lips bring truth into the world. May your heart know love, and your hands do the work of justice, as you go your way in peace, as you go your way in peace. 

Reading excerpt from The Fire Next Time — James Baldwin

Reflection My History and Yours

Interlude

Offering (9:00/11:00) Con amores la mi madre (With love my mother) — J. Anchieta

Con amores, la mi madre, con amores m´adormi.Así dormida soñaba, lo qu´el corazón velaba,Qu´el amor me consolaba, con mas bien que merecí.

With love my mother, with love she lay me to sleep.And that way I dreamed of what was weighing on my heart.Her love consoled me, with more goodness than I deserved. 

Offering (4:30) Morgen! — R. Strauss

Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinenund auf dem Wege, den ich gehen werde,wird uns, die Glücklichen sie wieder eineninmitten dieser sonnenatmenden Erde...und zu dem Strand, dem weiten, wogenblauen,werden wir still und langsam niedersteigen,stumm werden wir uns in die Augen schauen,und auf uns sinkt des Glückes stummes Schweigen...

And tomorrow the sun will shine againand on the way that I will go,she will again unite us, the happy onesamidst this sun-breathing earth,and to the beach, wide, wave-bluewill we still and slowly descendsilently we will look in each other's eyesand upon us will sink the mute silence of happiness...             

Sung Response Turn the World Around

We come from the mountain (ocean, fire, heartland, story, mountain)
Living in the mountainGo back to the mountain
Turn the world around.

Dedication

Reading excerpt from Praise Song for the Widow — Paule Marshall

Interlude

Sermon Forgive Us Our Debts

*Closing Hymn (139) Wonders Still the World Shall Witness

Benediction

POSTLUDE Asbchied (Farewell) — R. Schumann

Throughout the centuries people in the public realm have had to be accountable for their destructive or immoral behavior. Some refused to apologize, while others lied and schemed about their illicit deeds. Others have apologized but to what aim? Explore the dimensions of public apologies. Is the common good enhanced or diminished by public apologies and what constitutes the difference?

Sometimes, forgiveness in the world outside depends on forgiveness in the world inside, on the delicate grace of self-acceptance, on a turbulent courage that one might call "deepest hope." Sometimes our own best efforts fail us and fail us well...right into the open arms of a noble gift.

We enter into the spirit of the Jewish High Holy Days contemplating the story of Jonah the reluctant prophet. But we won’t focus so much on his reluctance as on his inability to forgive.