Worship at Home for October 25, 2020
Due to the spread of Covid-19, we are taking a sabbatical from our normal Sunday morning gathering, but unity and community are more important than ever before in this season of uncertainty. To help facilitate this, we are providing an online service so that, one in heart, we can worship together even as we maintain distance out of love for our neighbors. This is designed to be used on your own or together as a family or community. We hope this resource is a blessing to you. Remember to check in on friends and neighbors with calls or text, especially the elderly among us and others who are particularly vulnerable. You can also check out the services from 3/15, 3/22, 3/29, 4/5, 4/12, 4/19, 4/26, 5/3, 5/10, 5/17, 5/24, 5/31, 6/7, 6/14, 6/21, 6/28, 7/5, 7/12, 7/19, 7/26, 8/2, 8/9. 8/16, 8/23, 8/31, 9/6, 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, and 10/18.
This Sunday, once again we are connecting as a church body using Zoom video chat. Here’s the schedule and instructions for joining in!
10-10:30 - Connect and informal checking in
10:30-11:00 - Prayers of the People, and Joys and Concerns
[**If you’re newer to Zoom or know that technology can be challenging, try signing on closer to 10:15 am so that we can have plenty of time to help you figure it out before Prayers of the People starts. Paula, who helped organize this, will help you!]
To join in the Zoom event on your computer,
THE EASIEST WAY
1. Go to www.zoom.com
2. Click on "Join a Meeting"
3. Enter meeting ID#: 629 486 4957 and Click "Join"
4. Follow prompts, including entering your name.
5. Here is a video tutorial that will take you through the steps, if you want to view this first: https://youtu.be/L5zzE-HGQko
NOT AS EASY, UNLESS YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE
1. Click on http://princeton.zoom.us/j/6294864957
2. Follow prompts, these can be a bit tricky if you've never used Zoom before.
To join in the Zoom event using your Smartphone/Iphone:
1. Download the Zoom Cloud Meeting app
2. Open the app.
2. Enter meeting ID#: 629 486 4957 and Click "Join"
3. Follow prompts, including entering your name
4. Here is a video tutorial that will take you through the steps, if you want to view this first: https://youtu.be/lO206_NezaY
To dial in by phone:
+1 (646) 558 8656 (New York--please note this may be a long-distance call if you are using a landline)
Then at the prompt, enter meeting ID#: 629 486 4957
NOTE: You do not need to create a Zoom account to sign into a meeting.
Opening Songs
Centering Song
Call to Worship (Psalm 34:1-3)
I will bless the Lord at all times; the praise of God shall ever be in my mouth.
I will glory in the Lord; let the humble hear and rejoice.
Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; let us exalt the name of God together.
Hymns of Adoration
Seeking the Shalom of the City
ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 10/25/2020
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8
In his book “My Grandmother’s Hands”, author Resmaa Menakem explores how racial trauma resides within our bodies and influences our survival reactions. He defines trauma as the body’s protective response to an event that overwhelms the body’s sense of safety. It is a spontaneous protective mechanism used to stop or thwart further or future potential damage. After traumatic situations, a reflexive reaction may be embedded in our bodies. Since the body views its safety or danger as physical visceral sensation, survival instincts may manifest as fight, flee or freeze actions. The body’s form of communication occurs instantaneously using a sense of constriction/expansion, pain/ease or energy/numbness to trigger the lizard part of our brain which evaluates danger and safety. Menakem points out that our cognitive brain doesn’t get the opportunity to evaluate a piece of sensory input unless our lizard brain lets it through. The trauma of “whiteness” culture doesn’t live in our thinking brains but in the nervous system and cells of our bodies.
So along with all the numerous practical ways Menakem outlines to engage a process of repair for black bodies, white bodies and police bodies, what spiritual practices can help to uncover the racial traumatic sensations embedded in our tissues? Lectio divina, according to Cynthia Bourgeault in her book “The Wisdom Way of Knowing”, is traditionally used as a “heart to heart” encounter between your own being and a biblical text. It’s a practice that lends itself to a home setting and to a flexible schedule. With a quiet reading space and maybe fifteen uninterrupted minutes, you are good to go. Your intention is to ingest the passage at a deeper spiritual level and to become aware of whatever arises. I have found this practice helpful for a deeper dive into any text including “My Grandmother’s Hands”. If a paragraph or two is causing a defensive reaction try doing lectio divina with it. Read the chosen passage slowly and aloud if possible. Notice what bodily sensations arise and their location within your body. No judgment or analysis just notice and let them go. Read the passage aloud a second time and notice what emotions are triggered and then let them go. For the third reading, pay attention to any thoughts that get your attention and then let them go. Finish with a few minutes of simply resting in God. May you be blessed with the gentle release of the racial trauma within your being.
Daily morning intention:
Open my heart Loving Presence so that I may feel your Divine guidance to greater awareness of racial inequity and to my antiracist role this day.
(submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)
Call to Confession and Reconciliation
Lord, we do not understand our own actions. We do the very things we hate and yet with you there is forgiveness, with you there is mercy. Hear us as we humbly confess the ways we have gone astray — like lost sheep, seek us out and bring us home.
Merciful God, you reveal your will to us through the Word and by the Spirit, but we refuse to listen and follow. We do the very things we hate and then feel trapped in guilt and shame. We long to know the abundant life Jesus came to give, but neglect to take up his yoke and learn from him. Forgive us for not doing that which we know to do. Forgive us for not being who you call and create us to be. Accept our confession and free us yet again from the burdens we can no longer bear.
(Silent prayer)
Assurance of Pardon (Matt. 11:28-30)
Jesus said: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Friends, believe the good news, through Jesus Christ you are forgiven. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture: Psalm 42:1-6
Elder Jacque Howard
Sermon: “God is Our Help”
Hymn of Response
Prayers of the People & The Lord’s Prayer
Prayers of the People happens each week on Zoom at 10:30am! Use the info at the top of the page to join us. If you missed it, stay tuned for next week’s Zoom info or reach out to Pastor Karen for info on how to join.
Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be Your name
Your kingdom come
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever
Amen.
Offering
Even as we are unable to gather for our Sunday morning worship services, many of the church’s expenses remain the same, and now more than ever we want to have the resources to bless the community around us. Your gracious donation will ensure that Westminster continues to Seek the Shalom of the Capital City of Trenton and beyond.
Westminster can receive donations via a simple text:
Text to 609-438-8828 the word “Give”
Westminster’s online giving number will respond asking how much you’d like to give, and steps to follow
Westminster can receive donations online:
Westminster can receive donations by check:
Westminster Presbyterian Church
PO Box 3719
Trenton, NJ 08629
Prayer of Dedication
Jesus, it is as people called and commissioned by you
And filled with your spirit
That we give generously
Not only our money, but our whole lives
Living sacrifices.
Amen.
Closing Song
Benediction
The Lord be with you
And also with you
La paz de Dios sea con-ti-go
Y tam-bien con-ti-go
Sa-wa-bona
Si-ko-na
Pyeong-hwa
Pyeong-hwa