by Tom Sine
Church of the Apostles in Seattle on June 14th designed to Awaken * Confront * Transform
Christine and I viewed this very moving Zoom interracial worship experience unlike anything we had ever experienced. The powerful music was drawn from rich African sources. Here is a brief sampling of some of the elements of this worship service led by Rev Ivar Hillesland and Pastor Katherine GrayBuck.
Ivar invites you to attend the Zoom Worship Experience at Church of the Apostles at 5 pm (PST).
What is offered below is a sampling of the material in this service to give you a taste of a much more interracial worship than we had experienced before. Regrettably, all we are sharing here are some segments of the worship service.
We would welcome your feedback to this small offering of this Zoom Worship Service. We will share them with Rev Ivar and Katherine.
Opening Song: A Change Is Gonna Come
Sam Cooke, Everton Bonner, John Christopher Taylor
I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh, just like a river, I’ve been running ever since
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change’s gonna come, oh, yes, it will
It’s been too hard living, but I’m afraid to die
‘Cause I don’t know what’s up there above the sky
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change’s gonna come, oh, yes, it will
And I go to the movies, and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me, don’t hang around
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change’s gonna come, oh, yes, it will
Then I go to my brother
I’d say brother, help me, please
But he winds up knockin’ me
Back down on my knees
There been times that I thought I wouldn’t last for long
Now I think I’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change’s gonna come, oh, yes, it will
Welcome
Theme Confront – (from A.C.T. Now to End Racism campaign)
Why we are commemorating 5th anniversary of Emanuel 9
The act of listening through singing the music of other cultures with humility
Reminder about white guilt
A Confessional Litany and Lament Commemorating
Nine Who Were Slain at Mother Emanuel AME Church, June 17, 2015
From ELCA resources for Commemoration of Emanuel 9
They were doing
what we are called to
as they engaged in bible study.
It was Wednesday night—
a stranger walked in,
and these people welcomed him and prayed together:
the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Kibwe Diop Sanders, the Rev. Daniel Lee Simmons, the Rev. Myra Singleton Quarles Thompson, and the honorable state senator and pastor of the church, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney.
This stranger wanted to ignite a “race war,”
he said, after he shot and killed them,
denying them the very humanity he claimed for himself,
claiming rights and privileges associated with “whiteness.”
Now we are grieved, once again in pain,
burning and anguished, lamenting the horror of evil unleashed.
And so we cry out,
Have mercy, O God, have mercy on us.
Sorrow and heartache have come to us.
Death and mourning have visited us.
We feel far from you, O God, and distant from one another.
And so we cry out,
Have mercy, O God, have mercy on us.
Evil besets us in our land.
We acknowledge that our nation is socialized in ways that promote and normalize
Colonialization. We cry out against the horrors and agonies of racism.
And so we cry out,
Have mercy, O God, have mercy on us.
The privileged of our nation have benefited from practices that dehumanize indigenous peoples.
We have claimed as “discovery” lands that were not ours. These lands have been stolen and the nations, that were the original occupants of these lands, slain.
And so we cry out,
Have mercy, O God, have mercy on us.
Tribalism has led to the denial of your presence, O God.
Present generations,
the children whose ancestors were kidnapped and sold into slavery,
those forced to labor not on their own behalf,
still suffer and struggle to live in freedom
while the children of colonizers,
live out of “white privilege,”
denying the fullness of your presence in all people.
And so we cry out,
Have mercy, O God, have mercy on us.
Assaults born of greed and murder continue propping up
white privilege that is institutionalized in our church and nation,
preventing us from recognizing
the twin evils of racism and nationalism
still perpetuated among us.
And so we cry out,
Have mercy, O God, have mercy on us.
Open our eyes, O God, open our hearts.
Open our ears, O God, open our minds.
Help us to behold one another as you behold us.
Help us to be more firmly rooted
in the practices of the gospel—so that, when we pray,
the way we live will make real the dream of your beloved community
within and among us.
And so we cry out,
Have mercy, O God, have mercy on us.
With the help of your mercy and grace,
lead us to think, believe, and change.
May your gospel’s transforming power
by the working of the Holy Spirit
be present in us, in our churches,
in our nation and all the nations of the earth.
May it be so. And the people said, “Amen.”
Amen.
Opening Song: I Want Jesus To Walk With Me
African American Spiritual
Led by Matt Quarterman
I want Jesus to walk with me;
I want Jesus to walk with me;
all along my pilgrim journey,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
In my trials, Lord, walk with me;
in my trials, Lord, walk with me;
when my heart is almost breaking,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
When I’m in trouble, Lord, walk with me;
when I’m in trouble, Lord, walk with me;
when my head is bowed in sorrow,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
Collect
Let us pray.
O Holy One, Friend of the enslaved and oppressed,
You did not enter our world in an ethereal, beautiful Body
To give a few tidbits of wisdom.
You were incarnated as an enfleshed, exhausted,
And eventually executed human being.
Teach us, Liberator of your Faithful,
To take the side of the oppressed, as you did.
Point us to the example of Moses, of your prophets, of Christ,
Who with boldness and truth
proclaimed that the lives of the exploited matter. Amen.
From A booklet of uncommon prayer, collects for the #BlackLivesMatter Movement
For the full service, click here.
Used with Permission from Rev Ivar Hillesland