This is part of the worship series,
"Grief Over Injustice, Hope for Wholeness”
Introduction
Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5
Palm/Passion Sunday | Good Friday | Easter Sunday
Week five: Racism
Barely a year prior to this series on justice, an unmarked mass grave was uncovered at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. More such discoveries were made in the following months, and those events were very much in our mind as we planned this service. We felt it appropriate to open with a land acknowledgment as we reflected on injustices against Indigenous peoples. Revelation 7 speaks of all nations, tribes, and tongues around the throne of God, but we lament the lack of diversity within our own congregation and the expectation put on people to assimilate to one way of worshiping. We lamented in prayer the many ways insidious racism permeates our own lives. As a response to the sermon, we chose a Korean hymn as a prayer for unity and reconciliation among all people of all nations.
GATHERING
Welcome
Opening Prayer: Land Acknowledgement
Creator God,
Today we gather as one people to worship your great and glorious name,
and we do so recognizing that this city is situated upon the traditional territories of the ____________—
lands they continue to steward.
We seek a new relationship with the original peoples of this land—
one based on honor and respect.
May love guide us in right actions as we seek to transform our personal and institutional relationships with Indigenous friends and neighbors. Amen.
—adapted from a prayer by Meadowlands CRC
God Greets Us
God’s People Greet Each Other
Call to Worship
“See How Good It Is (Psalm 133)” Kimbrough
“King of Kings” Ligertwood et al.
RENEWAL
Call to Confession
In this service we acknowledge before God the sin of racism. Admitting to acts of racism and repenting of them do not define our identity. Jesus determines who we are—each and every one of us. The act of worship is itself an act of protest against the social caste system. It tells people from all nations and all walks of life who they really are in Christ and who our neighbors are in Christ.
Jesus prayed that we would have unity, and we pray that for ourselves today too. We pray that we would not look for what divides us, but seek what unites us.
Prayer of Confession
God of every nation, tribe, and tongue,
We lament the ways we have used dehumanizing language and made disparaging jokes at the expense of other cultures.
We lament the history of residential schools across our nation, the cultural genocide that took place there, and the ways this has impacted our indigenous brothers and sisters for generations.
We lament senseless attacks on racial and religious groups—the places of worship attacked, the families and individuals run down on sidewalks, the targeted vandalism, police brutality, gang violence, and profiling.
We lament the ways we have made God into an image of whiteness by failing to acknowledge God’s image in the theology, worship, and cultures of the global church.
We lament our lack of imagination and courage in directly confronting and dismantling systemic racism with the excuse that the church should focus on piety and evangelism.
Let us be humble and listen to the pain, rage, and grief pouring from the lips of our neighbors and friends.
May God give us grace and strength to resist lies, arrogance, injustice, racism, and oppression in all forms.
God, in your mercy,
Show me my own complicity in injustice.
Convict me for my indifference.
Forgive me when I have remained silent.
Equip me with a zeal for righteousness.
Never let me grow accustomed to unrighteousness.
Amen.
Song
“Man of Sorrows—What a Name” Bliss
Assurance of Pardon
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove your evil deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;
learn to do good;
seek justice;
rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
plead for the widow.
Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
If your sins are like scarlet,
will they become like snow?
If they are red like crimson,
will they become like wool?
—Isaiah 1:16–18 NRSVUE
Song
“Kwake Yesu nasimama / Here on Jesus Christ I Will Stand” Kenyan Traditional adapt. Scheer
Children are dismissed for Children’s Worship.
WORD
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture
Ephesians 2:11–22
Message
“No Longer Foreigners or Strangers”
Song of Response
“오 소 서 / Come Now, O Prince of Peace” Lee
Prayers of the People
We Give Our Offerings of Thanks
SENDING
Call to Discipleship
Revelation 7:9–12
God’s Parting Blessing
Song
“Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory” LaValley
