The livestream will be hosted on the Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer's Facebook page at 3pm PST on 4/27/2019. After the service an archive of the service will be posted here.
Pluralism Service
Grace Evangelical Lutheran
Saturday, April 27, 2019
3 PM
Welcome to worship at Grace!
Welcome to long-time Lutherans, Christians from every tradition, and people new to faith. Welcome to all who have no church home, want to follow Christ, have doubts, or do not believe. Welcome to new visitors and old friends. Welcome to people of every age and size, color and culture, every sexual orientation and gender identity, socio-economic status, marital status, ability and challenge. Welcome to believers and questioners, and to questioning believers. This is a place where you are welcome to celebrate and sorrow, rejoice and recover. This is a place where lives are made new.
Special Welcome to Newcomers
Welcome to our small community of faith. While we are small in numbers, we have big hearts and a desire to grow. In order to help you follow along, we have included all the materials you need for worship in this bulletin.
Bathrooms are downstairs and can be found by exiting the doors near the communion railing.
Today’s service was created by the Rev. Dr. Susan Strouse. If you have any questions about the service or about Grace, you contact Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer at pastor@gracesf.com.
Welcome and Intention Setting The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer
By calling ourselves progressive Christians, we mean we are Christians who affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide but one of many ways to experience the Sacredness and Oneness of life, and that we can draw from diverse sources of wisdom in our spiritual journey. - #2 of The 8 Points of Progressive Christianity
Shalom
Salaam
Namaste
Merry Meet
Peace Be with You
Come to the Circle of Life:[1]
Come to the circle, the circle of Life,
Come to the circle of Life,
Come to the circle, the circle of Life,
Come, dance and sing,
Come, Dance and sing!
Center within,
Center around,
Circle every where.
Edge without bounds,
Edge that expands,
Circle every where.
Come to the circle, the circle of Life,
Come to the circle of Life,
Come to the circle, the circle of Life,
Come, dance and sing,
Come, Dance and sing!
Greeting:
The wonder of Divine Creativity, the justice and truth of Love Incarnate, and the wisdom of Breath within Our Breath be with you all.
Prayer of the Day:[2] Divine Creativity, Ground and Source of All Being: Look upon your planet Earth divided. Help us to know that we are all your children, that all nations belong to one great family, and all of our religions lead to you. Multiply our prayers in every land until the whole Earth becomes your congregation, united in your love. Sustain our vision of a peaceful future and give us strength to work unceasingly to make that vision real. Amen
First Reading: Psalm 148[3]
Praise to you from the sky’s boundary
Praise to you from the mountain’s crown
Praise to you from winged angels
From all the hosts of heav’n and earth
The stars and their unimaginable brightness
The heavens in their silent dome
And the waters beyond those heavens
All wordlessly praise your unnameable name
For by your timeless speech,
All is created—why should it be?
And all is established endlessly,
Your unsayable saying that none can unsay
All life of earth is your praise
And the life of the sea and all unknowable depths
Fire and hail, snow and cloud
Tornado and hurricane—all is your speaking
Mountains and hills, fruit trees and cedars
Wildcats, cattle, buzzards, birds
Kings and their subjects, princes, judges. Young men, young women, old men, boys– All are your name’s praising For your unspeakableness alone is what is
Your brightness lights the earth and sky
Raises us up, blares out the note,
From your people’s trumpet
An exultant blast for all who struggle with you
And are close at hand.
Second Reading: “The Call of This Moment”[4]
The call of this moment and of all moments is to seek the light and to face the darkness within and without with unflinching honesty and unswerving devotion to journey at least a little each day toward enlightenment – living in love, fearless, joyous, and free – in service to this glorious and wounded world.
Gospel Reading: John 13:31-35[5]
A meal together with Jesus leads to feeding others. Loving Jesus leads to feeding “Love one another.” The way forward is through love and the “one another” is not just fellow followers of Jesus but all creation, beginning where we are and expanding to the human and non-human communities. Our love mirrors God’s love for us. Our love also reflects God’s love for all creation in its diversity and calls us to the same all-encompassing love.
Once Judas left, Jesus said,
“Now is the Human One glorified and God is glorified as well.
If God has been glorified,
God will in turn glorify the Human One and will do so very soon.
My little children,
I won’t be with you much longer. You’ll look for me,
but what I said to the religious authorities, I say to you: where I am going,
you cannot come.
I give you a new commandment: Love one another.
And you are to love one another the way I have loved you.
This is how all will know that you’re my disciples: that you truly love one another.”
Dialogue and Reflection on the Readings: The Rev. Dr. Susan Strouse and Ishaq Pathan
Deputy Director, Islamic Networks Group (ING)
Chant:[6]
Show us the Way of compassion
The Way of joy and peace
Show us the Way of compassion
The Way of joy and peace
Show us the Way
Show us the Way
Show us the Way of life.
Communion:[7]
The universe is the Body of God.
Amen. Indeed it is so.
Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them into the Mystery.
Let us give thanks to the Source of Life.
It is right to join creation in thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, Holy One, for you have made your home in our midst, and at this table we give thanks for your justice, love, peace and freedom.
At this table we give thanks for friends and strangers, together in community in this safe place.
V1 A place at the table. And all are invited.
We give thanks for the unfolding of matter, mind, intelligence, and life that has brought us to this moment in time.
We celebrate our common origin with everything that exists.
V2 We celebrate the mystery we experience and address as “God,” ground and sustainer of everything that exists, in whom we live and move and have our being.
V1 And we acknowledge this mystery embodied in every human person, aware that each one of us gives God unique and personal expression.
God is everywhere present. In grace-filled moments of sharing. In carefully created communities of loving solidarity.
We are one with everything, living and non-living, on this planet.
Connected. Interrelated. Interdependent.
V2 Webs of life within a web of life!
And so we join our voices with people of every time and place, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, forever praising you and singing:[8]
Holy, Wholly, Holy One! Wholly, Holy, Wholly One!
All the universe is full of your Glory. All the universe is full of your Love.
Holy, Wholly, Holy One! Wholly, Holy, Wholly One!
Blessed is the One who comes in your name.
Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!
Holy, Wholly, Holy One! Wholly, Holy, Wholly One!
Among friends, gathered round a table, Jesus took bread and having blessed it, broke it and gave it to the disciples saying, “Take and eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, Jesus took a cup of wine, and having given thanks for it, poured it and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This cup is the new relationship with God, sealed with my blood. Take this and share it in remembrance of me.”
V1 We break this bread for the broken earth, ravaged and plundered for greed.
May there be healing of our beautiful blue and green planet.
V2 We break this bread for our broken humanity, for the powerful and the powerless trapped by exploitation and oppression. May there be the healing of humanity.
V1 We break this bread for those who follow other paths: for those who follow the noble path of the Buddha, the yogic path of the Hindus; the way of the Eternal Guru of the Sikhs; the namelessness of the Tao, for the creation-centered indigenous religions; the Baha’i vision of unity; and for the children of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar—the Jews and the Muslims.
May there be healing where there is pain and woundedness.
V2 We break this bread for the unhealed hurts and wounds that lie within us all.
May we be healed.
Bread broken. Wine poured out, for the life of the world. Come, taste of this same bread and wine . . . the cup of peace and of new life for all. A sign of love for the community of hope.
Prayer of Jesus:[9]
The risen Christ is in our midst, so with Christ we pray . . . Heavenly Mother, Heavenly Father, Holy and blessed is your true name.
We pray for your reign of peace to come, We pray that your good will be done, Let heaven and earth become one.
Give us this day the bread we need, Give it to those who have none.
Let forgiveness flow like a river through us, From each one to each one to each one.
Lead us to holy innocence Beyond the evil of our days
Come swiftly Mother, Father, come!
For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy – Forever your name is All in One. Amen.
Prayer
We give you thanks, O God, that you make your home with us, bringing heaven to earth in this holy meal. Fill us with your Spirit as we go from here, that we may wipe away tears, tend to those in mourning and pain, seek the healing of the nations, and bring to earth the presence of your Love.
Amen
Blessing
Chant: Now We Go in Peace[10]
Now we go in peace
Now we go with hearts of gladness
We have seen the signs of New Humanity
Now we go in peace
Now we go with hearts of gladness
Promises from you of All That We May Be.
Old things pass away. Behold the new is come.
Dreams and visions of the Spirit that We Are All One.
Dismissal:
Go in peace. Heal the world.
Thanks be to God.
Fellowship and Peace: All who are able
Participants are invited to spend time together after the service sharing food, wisdom and support.
License to use the images in this bulletin was purchased through Shutterstock or available for use through common copyright.
Chants of Kristopher Erik Lindquist used with permission.
[1] from Chants for Meditation and Celebration by Kristopher Erik Lindquist, KELmusic.com, 2009.
[2] by Helen Weaver, from Earth Prayers from Around the World by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon, HarperOne, 2009.
[3] from Opening to You: Zen-Inspired translations of the Psalms by Norman Fischer, Penguin Books, 2003.
[4] “The Call of This Moment” From Light Reading by Charles P. Gibbs, p. 52, CreateSpace, 2015. An Episcopal priest, Charles Gibbs served for 17 years as the founding executive director of the United Religions Initiative, a global network of people from diverse religious and spiritual traditions united in service to the Earth community.
[5] The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality, Sheed & Ward, 2009.
[6] from Chants for Meditation and Celebration by Kristopher Erik Lindquist, KELmusic.com, 2009.
[7] adapted from “A Liturgy for Holy Communion: Celebrating Pluralism” in Why Weren’t We Told by Rex A. E. Hunt, pp. 236-239 and http://www.rexaehuntprogressive.com/liturgy_collection/year_a_liturgy_collection/year_a_lenteaster/pluraleaster4a752017.html
[8] from Chants for Meditation and Celebration by Kristopher Erik Lindquist, KELmusic.com, 2009.
[9] by Parker Palmer, Quaker, founder and Senior Partner of the Center for Courage & Renewal
[10] from Chants for Meditation and Celebration by Kristopher Erik Lindquist, KELmusic.com, 2009.