Worship at Home for November 15, 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, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1, and 11/8.
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, 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
Call to Worship:
Leader: God whispers to each of us: you are my beloved, created in love for love.
People: My spirit answers, Here I am, Lord. Speak to me anew.
Leader: God breathes on us the Holy Spirit, knitting many members into one body, the body of Christ.
People: Together we answer, “Here we are Lord. Come, Holy Spirit.”
Leader: God has yet more vision for the people. Who will work for God to extend God's kingdom into our hurting world?
People: Here we are Lord. Empower us for your work.
Leader: God calls the small, and helps them do great things. God calls the weak, and reveals their hidden gifts. God calls the rejected, and opens their eyes to their worth.
People: Here we are Lord, humble and waiting.
Leader: Then let us gather, old and young, small and great, to dream God's dreams, receive God's power, and do God's deeds.
All: Here we are Lord. Shine the light of your love on us. Kindle your Spirit within us. Work your redeeming will in us, that all the world may be one through the power of your love.
Hymns of Adoration
SEEKING THE SHALOM OF THE CITY
ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK of 11/15/2020
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8
(Excerpts from the First United Methodist Church of Austin Lenten “Racism Interruption” Series)
Three selections from the daily Lenten “Racism Interruptions” series are provided each week for ongoing prayer and meditation. I have arbitrarily listed them on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule. You are free of course to view them in whatever manner speaks to you. (With your cursor on the day’s selection, depress the Ctrl key and click to follow the link which will open in the Chrome browser.) Obviously we will not be posting our reflections to the FUMC Facebook Group. Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below. Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice.
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
As you sit with this week’s readings, remember to pay attention to the sensations that arise in your body and to where they are located. Do you notice agitation, constriction, release, pressure, energy, numbness, relaxation, warmth, coolness, softness, tightness? What statements resonate and which ones challenge? No judgment or analysis, just notice and let them go.
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)
The “Election Defenders” served as an additional means to assist voters at the polls and to deter potential violence on Election Day.
Westminster's Election Defenders Crew:
Sunyoung Yang, A-Team Leader
Peter Crooke
Paula Alekson
Cherry Oakley
Rev. Karen Hernandez-Granzen
Call to Confession and Reconciliation
Holy God, you know us better than we know ourselves, and you see us more clearly. How impossible it seems that we could ever hide anything from you, or even try to hide something; but we do. Sometimes we pretend to be better than we are. We do things we know will hurt others and act as though we are blameless. But we aren’t. We are complicit, and we are guilty, and we are broken. So we ask for your forgiveness, because you love us more than we can imagine, and you can make us whole beyond our wildest dreams. This we ask in the name of Jesus, who came to show us the way. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
New every morning is God’s love for us, and so we are bold to proclaim the Good News: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
All: Thanks be to God!
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture: Mark 10:35-40 NIV
Sermon: So You Want to Be Somebody?
by Rev. Liz Alexander
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