Only a Resource Not the Service
Worship at Home for the
Happy Mothering Sunday
&
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Good Shepherd Sunday
May 8, 2022
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.
Join us for Prayers of the People on Zoom informally at 10:00 and formally at 10:30am!
To join in the Zoom event by online 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
or
NOT AS EASY, UNLESS YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE and A ZOOM ACCOUNT
1. Click on https://princeton.zoom.us/j/6294864957
2. Follow prompts, these can be a bit tricky if you've never used Zoom before.
or
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
or
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
Siblings in Christ,
If you lift your net and it is empty,
Come here!
We’ll cast it out again into Christ’s abundance.
If you open your eyes but do not recognize the Holy One,
Come here!
We’ll find the Risen Christ here among us.
If your life is filled with mourning,
Come here!
Christ is leading a dance of joy.
Come here, siblings in Christ!
To give blessing and honor and glory to God!
Hymns of Adoration
Seeking the Shalom of the City
ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 4/25/2021
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8
Our “whiteness culture” has its roots in control--the control of indigenous peoples and their land and of the bodies of stolen African peoples. Over time, whiteness has sought to control the right to vote, where money is allocated, the neighborhoods where people can buy houses, what schools can be attended, the criteria for citizenship, and anyone or anything that is perceived to be a threat to its dominance. It seeks to control the feared elements in society so that there is no discomfort or unpredictability.
In her book “White Fragility” Robin DiAngelo explores the feelings of racial discomfort that arise for white people during antiracist education when it requires anything that is inconvenient or uncomfortable. When feelings of discomfort arise, the individual perceives the situation as being unsafe and becomes defensive, withdrawn or flees the encounter. Building the racial stamina required to challenge the status quo is thus a critical part of the work for white people. Racial discomfort is inherent to an authentic examination of whiteness. By avoiding this discomfort the status quo is protected.
So how does one get comfortable with discomfort especially when that discomfort is pushing all our fear buttons? I believe the Bible offers some guidance on fear, and that Jesus many times counseled his followers to “fear not for I am with you”. The reality is that we cannot control everything, and that we can control our intentions, responses and where we are placing our attention. In her book “Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening”, Episcopal priest and theologian Cynthia Bourgeault provides a guide to this contemplative prayer practice which strengthens our surrender muscle. Our intention during this practice is to willingly consent to the presence and action of God within us. In our designated time with the Divine, when thoughts arise you simply release the thought and bring yourself back into alignment with your original intention which was to maintain that bare, formless openness to God. It is meditation based entirely on return, ten thousand times if necessary. Practicing the release of control of our thoughts during this time of silence builds our capacity to release our need to control the world around us.
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.
Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below or by requesting to join the private Facebook group Antiracist Adjustments with the following link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1819196591561542/?ref=share .
Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice. (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)
Call to Confession and Reconciliation
It is in our confession where we realize our desire for God and our hope for God’s mercy. It is in admitting the truth of our lives that we take the first step toward wholeness and healing. So let us make our confession
God of all the saints, God of all the sinners, hear our prayer.
We would be saintlike – holy, good, patient, loving.
But we end up feeling more like sinners – full of failures of morality, selfish, mean.
Perhaps You see us simply as human – as beloved, and flawed, and trying, and failing, and succeeding.
In all of this, forgive the wrong that we have done, and the bless the good we have accomplished.
Keep on loving us, and helping us, and molding us more and more into the image of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Written by Beth Merrill Neel
Silent Confession
Assurance of Pardon
Friends, hear this Good News: the love of God is beyond measure, and you are
included in that love. Know that you are forgiven and thus freed to love and serve.
Alleluia! Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Giver of all good things,
let your grace flow through us;
a generous stream,
unstoppable, refreshing, abundant.
We release these gifts into your river of love,
flowing out to all the world. Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture: Psalm 23
Sermon by Pastor Karen
Hymn of Response
The Lord’s Prayer
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, we hear your voice calling us
To love
To serve
To give
These gifts are our response to your call
Keep our hearts and ears open to continue to listen
Today and every day
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