Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday and Epiphany Worship and Meal

 

Conversation, Community, Communion,

Common Meal, Celebration and Committment:

The Welcome Table

Free. Universalist. Christian. Missional. Community

Following in the radical spirit of Jesus focused on deeds not creeds, we invite you to join us in service to our community throughout the week. Our Welcome Table of Worship is also open to all who welcome all, regardless of belief or denomination, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, economic status, or political affiliations. We don’t think Jesus would have it any other way.

Free because we are non-creedal. We don’t give theological tests for admission but encourage you to test us and try us to see if this way and this imperfect community is for you. Universalist because we believe God is Love For All and In All, and All who abide in Love abide in God, for all time and that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Christian because the generous compassionate way and story of Jesus and the church formed in response to his way and story, while not exclusively so, is our primary pathway opening us up to the presence of God. Missional because we are sent to serve others more than ourselves. Community because we are made not as autonomous individuals but as a people of God.

Invocation
Today is the day which God has made:
Let us rejoice and be glad therein.
What does the Eternal require of us?
To live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

Covenant
This is our covenant as we walk together in life in the ways of God known and to be made known, wherever we are, together or apart:
In the light of truth, and the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather in freedom, to worship God, and serve all.

Songs Of Centering and Community
Spirit of Life, Dona Nobis Pacem, I Know This Rose Will Open, Gathered Here, Morning Has Broken, Love Will Guide Us, Over My Head, Joyful Joyful, Immortal, Invisible, Tis A Gift To Be Simple, O Life That Maketh All Things New, Wake Now, My Senses, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,  All Creatures of the Earth and Sky.

 Study and Conversation

John 2:1-11

2On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.²Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.³When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”⁴And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”⁶Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.⁷Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.⁸He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it.⁹When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”¹¹Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Reading and Conversation By Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Hymnal

Prayer of Response

            O God, all people are your Beloved,

            across races, nationalities, religions, sexual orientations

            and all the ways we are distinctive from one another.

            We are all manifestations of your image.

            We are bound together in an inescapable network of mutuality

            and tied to a single garment of destiny.

            You call us into your unending work

            of justice, peace and love.

            Let us know your presence among us now:

                        Let us delight in our diversity

                        that offers glimpses of the mosaic of your beauty.

                        Strengthen us with your steadfast love and

                        transform our despairing fatigue into hope-filled action.

            Under the shadow of your wings in this hour

            may we find rest and strength, renewal and hope.

            We ask this, inspired by the example

            of your disciple, Martin Luther King, Jr.,

            and in Jesus’ name.                                                                 Amen.

Prayers

Eternal Spirit, we come with hungry hearts, waiting to be filled: Waiting to be filled with a sense of your presence; Waiting to be filled with the touch of your spirit; Waiting to be filled with new energy for service; We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.

Loving Creator, we confess what seems always with us: broken things within us that seem never to mend, empty places within us that seem always to ache, things like buds within us that seem never to flower.

God of everlasting hope and forgiveness, help us to be open to your Presence within us, mending and tending to our aching hearts and to our hurt and wounded land. Help us to listen to others, and empower us to be your hands of action and healing, sowing seeds of compassion and justice into our families and communities and to support all those in need in our one world which you made and called good.

Pastoral Prayer
Let us pray for those who weep, and for those who cause their weeping. Hear our prayer, O God. For those who are without food, clothes, and a place of shelter this day and everyday. Hear our prayer, O God. For those who live without hope and meaning. Hear our prayer, O God. For those who live in fear or sickness. Hear our prayer, O God. For those who make gods of things and of themselves, Hear our prayer, O God. For those who are working to serve others this day, Hear our prayer, O God. For those travelling today, Hear our prayer, O God. For those in harm’s way, in homes and on battlefields, Hear our prayer, O God. For those who are finding their way again to love and laughter, Hear our prayer, O God. And for the great mission of God to bless the poor, to pardon the imprisoned, to bring sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to provide hospitality to the resident aliens, to clothe all, to visit the sick, and to proclaim the year of the Lord and end all debts, Hear our prayer, O God.

Lift Up Names For Prayers

Eternal Spirit of Life and Love and Liberation, may we be open to your presence in our lives, in all our joys and sorrows, fears and faith, dreams and disappointments, hurts and hopes, those shared openly with others, and those shared only with You.

Everlasting Hope that holds us up, so that we may go hold others, we give thanks for all that has blessed us, and all that has brought us to this day of Life’s Celebration.

Universal Love, continue to show us the way home to our own true hearts, our duties, and to the service of creating a better world for all. Help us to see anew the sacredness placed right before us, right beside us, right within us. Especially are we thankful for the food we are about to eat, for all the hands which prepared it, and brought it to share with us, and for the good earth from which it came. May we use this meal for the nourishment of our body and soul that we may be refreshed in Your Spirit for the service to Your World.

Deepest Source of All, may our prayers be times of listening as well as speaking. May we be open to what Life yet speaks to us of truth, joy, and goodness.

God beyond all human naming, yet as close as our breath and beating hearts, we bring today these reflections of our minds, these meditations of our hearts, these prayers of our souls. And as Jesus taught to all those who would follow in his radical, inclusive, compassionate and transforming way, feeling free to use the words you were taught in the diverse faith traditions, or the words You have chosen for the spirit of the prayer, we say

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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Songs of Response: Find A Stillness, Amazing Grace, Glory Glory Halleluia, Precious Lord, O God Our Help in Ages Past, There Is More Love Somewhere, We Shall Overcome, Gonna Lay Down My Sword and Shield, I’ve Got Peace Like A River

Communion:

O God, in the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather at this welcoming table open to all, remembering how Jesus gathered people from all the walks of life, stranger and friend and enemies, gave thanks to you, offered all the bread of life and the cup of blessing and proclaimed a covenant of love for all in your name. We remember too the wonder of his life, as we remember the wonder of all of Creation given unto us and how all are One. We remember the agony of his death, and all the terrors and the tyrannies that oppress people today. And we remember the power of resurrection, the mystery of faith in the everlasting Spirit, the triumph over fear. Help us to remember to practice resurrection everyday, as we remember all those who have given Love the ultimate trust and the last word and who have worked to create the beloved community of renewed and abundant life. Help us to remember with this meal especially all those who are hungry, and may we treat all our meals as sacred and to be shared. Take us, bless us, so that even in and with our brokenness we may serve others. Amen.

Jesus said I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And they said, Lord, when did we do this? And he said, You did this for me when you did it for the least of these.

Here is the bread of life, food for the spirit. Let all who hunger come and eat. Here is the fruit of the vine pressed and poured out for us. Let all who thirst now come and drink. We come to make peace. We come to be restored in the love of God. We come to be made new as an instrument of that love. All are worthy. All are welcome.

“Let Us Break Bread Together”

Passing the Bread of Life and the Cup of Hope

Common Meal

Songs of Commitment: I’m on My Way, We’ll Build A Land, Guide My Feet, We’re Gonna Sit At The Welcome Table

Benediction
Let us go out into the highways and byways.
Let us give the people something of our new vision.
We may possess a small light, but may we uncover it, and let it shine.
May we use it to bring more light and understanding
to the hearts and minds of men and women.
May we give them not hell, but hope and courage.
May we preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.

“Go Now In Peace”