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 A LITURGY FOR WORSHIP AND CELEBRATIONOPENING WORDS—John 4.24 t God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” SONG OF PRAISE (Click Here For Music) —v. 1 Anders Nyberg (b. 1955) —vv. 2, 3 Andrew Maries (b. 1949) —South African traditional Verse 1: We are marching in the light of God, we are marching in the light of God We are marching in the light of God, we are marching in the light of God We are marching, we are marching, Oh. We are marching in the light of God. We are marching, we are marching, Oh. We are marching in the light of God. Verse 2: We are living in the love of God, we are living in the love of God. We are living in the love of God, we are living in the love of God. We are living, we are living Oh, we are living in the love of God, we are living, we are living Oh, we are living in the love of God. Verse 3: We are moving in the power of God, we are moving in the power of God. We are moving in the power of God, we are moving in the power of God. We are moving, we are moving, Oh, we are moving in the power of God, we are moving, we are moving, Oh, we are moving in the power of God. PRAYER FOR WORSHIP Almighty God, we come to worship you today with open hearts and open minds. We want to hear and receive what you have to say to us in this service. Speak to us today as you spoke to those who went before us. Tell us the stories of your wonders and greatness. We are ready to hear them. Remind us once again of your grace and love. Help us teach your goodness to our children and the next generation. Amen. READING—Exodus 15.21c-27 And Moses made the Israelites journey onward from the Sea of Reeds [22] and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and did not find water. And they came to Marah and [23] could not drink water from Marah, for it was bitter. Therefore is its name called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying [24], “What shall we drink?” And he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD [25] showed him a tree, and he flung it into the water, and the water turned sweet. There did He set him a statute and law, and there did He test [26] him. And He said, “If you really heed the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and hearken to His commands and keep all His statutes, all the sickness that I put upon Egypt I will not put upon you, for I am the LORD your healer.” [27] And they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they encamped there by the water. —Alter, Robert. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. W. W. Norton & Company.  CONTEMPORARY READING This first experience of freedom is a bitter one, as the Israelites learn what it means to be bought with a price. They were freed from Egypt but now belong to YHWH. They used to serve Pharaoh, but now they must serve YHWH and this God has the ability to inflict plagues as well as to heal. Moreover, over, their first experience of freedom reminds Israel that there is much to learn about this God. After all, what kind of God leads thirsty people to water they cannot drink? The story of Exod. 15:22-27 is evocative for African Americans, whose first taste of freedom was a bitter one. The promise of forty acres and a mule was an empty one, and like the experience of Israel in the wilderness, newly freed slaves were arguably less safe than they were in slavery. The experiences of Reconstruction caused African Americans to ask, "Where is the land of promise?" The ongoing challenges lenges to the African American community raise the question "Are we there yet?" and, more importantly, tantly, "Will we ever get there?" The provisional supply is satisfactory as a temporary plan, but many members of the African American community feel it has become a permanent way of life as African Americans, like Israel in the wilderness, move from one crisis to another. The ongoing challenges lenges to the African American community raise the question "Are we there yet?" and, more importantly, tantly, "Will we ever get there?" The provisional supply is satisfactory as a temporary plan, but many members of the African American community feel it has become a permanent way of life as African Americans, like Israel in the wilderness, move from one crisis to another. This and other accounts of murmuring raise questions about the ability of God's people to trust God's provision. The word that is translated as "murmur," rib, has a legal context that speaks to the pursuit of what one is due legally. The very word murmur speaks to God's obligation of provision and presence to Israel. The murmuring accounts form a motif in scripture-one that is very much a part of many Africana religious traditions. The centrality ity of music to the people of the African continent makes for a tradition that embraces the practice of corporate murmuring. The community cries out, moans, and laments when there is a need, with the full expectation that God will answer. In fact, this act of crying out is a reflection of the strength of the bond between the people and God. The people cry to God because they understand that there is no greater power and no greater love. The rib comes from an intimate relationship. It is fraught with difficulty and frustration, but it is a bond like that between spouses or between parent and child. It is for that reason that Jeremiah describes the wilderness ness as a "honeymoon" for God: "I remember your devotion, your love as a bride, how you followed me in a land not sown" (Jer. 2:2). The wilderness experience in Exodus picks up on a motif that is prevalent throughout scripture-namely, namely, the desert being a place of encounter with God. In Genesis 12, Abram begins his sojourn in the wilderness, where he has multiple encounters with God. In Genesis 16 and 21, Hagar encounters God in the wilderness. Jacob, Abraham's grandson, also has multiple encounters with God in the wilderness derness (Genesis 28 and 32), and Moses meets God in the wilderness of Sinai. Now, the entire people of Israel are taken from bondage into the wilderness for an extended period of formation that is rooted in Israel's utter dependence on God. The wilderness then is a place that is literal and metaphorical. It is the place of isolation and trial, but it is also the place of intimacy, where God places a mark on his bride. This mark is one born out of suffering. Belonging to God means sharing in the redemptive suffering of the world, and in the ketub- bah there is no prenuptial agreement. Here the reality ity of being chosen by God comes into focus. God chooses people because we could not and would not willingly choose to share in redemptive suffering. The experiences of African Americans and the Israelites make clear that the encounter and experience ence with God is the foundation for the covenantal relationship that enabled both communities to remain people of faith in the face of a harsh environment. ment. One prominent example of the covenant is the Ten Commandments or Decalogue ("ten words"). —Hugh R. Page Jr.. The Africana Bible: Reading Israel's Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora. READING—Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  SONG OF CELEBRATION (Click Here For Music) —Joan Baez, Billy Bragg, Bruce Cockburn, Guy Davis, Ruby Dee, Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris, Larry Long, Scarlett Lee Moore, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Toshi Reagon, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Pete Seeger, Dar Williams —Afro-American Spiritual 1). We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome someday! Oh, deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome someday! 2). We'll walk hand in hand. 3). We shall all be free. 4). We shall live in peace. 5). The Lord will see us through. READING—John 8.31-33 31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” LITANY—A Christian Affirmation of Juneteenth Leader: As we commemorate freedom as African Americans, let us not forget the trials and tribulations faced by our ancestors forced into slavery for hundreds of years. People: Thanks be unto God for granting freedom and giving us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord! Leader: Let us continue to emphasize the importance of education and the advancement of the African American race. People: Thanks be unto God for granting freedom and giving us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord! Leader: God has granted us freedom, let use it wisely, guard it carefully, and embrace it totally. People: Thanks be unto God for granting freedom and giving us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord! Leader: Allow this Juneteenth celebration to serve as a reminder of our tenacity, our ability to hold on to hope and to our God. People: Thanks be unto God for granting freedom and giving us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord! Leader: Let all people of all religions come together and acknowledge a period in our history that shaped and continues to negatively influence American society. People: Thanks be unto God for granting freedom and giving us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord! We are more than conquerors through Jesus who loves us so. Leader: Allow other ethnic groups to be sensitized to the conditions our ancestors endured and help them to understand why racism and bigotry cannot have the last word. People: Thanks be unto God for granting freedom and giving us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord! We are more than conquerors through Jesus who loves us so. Leader: Let all African Americans continue to hope for a better tomorrow while remembering and rejoicing over our triumphant heritage. People: We will not forget the “Middle Passage.” We will continue to tell our ancestral story of bondage that gave way to freedom, both physically and spiritually. We shall forever strive to advance the Kingdom of God through liberation and excellence. All: Thanks be unto God for granting freedom and giving us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord! We are more than conquerors through Jesus who loves us! —http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org SONG FOR HEALING (Click Here For Music) —Fred Kaan (1965) —ST. THOMAS attrib. to John Francis Wade (c. 1743) 1). For the healing of the nations, Lord, we pray with one accord, for a just and equal sharing of the things that earth affords. To a life of love in action help us rise and pledge our word. 2). Lead us forward into freedom; from despair your world release, that, redeemed from war and hatred, all may come and go in peace. Show us how through care and goodness fear will die and hope increase. 3). All that kills abundant living, let it from the earth be banned: pride of status, race, or schooling, dogmas that obscure your plan. In our common quest for justice may we hallow life’s brief span. 4). You, Creator God, have written your great name on humankind. For our growing in your likeness, bring the life of Christ to mind that by our response and service earth its destiny may find.  PRAYER OF REMEMBRANCE Holy God of Liberation and Justice, we thank You for this day. We bless You for your unfailing love, care, and concern for all who have been and are marginalized, oppressed, and enslaved, throughout human history up to this very day. Today we give You special thanks for your unfailing love, care, and concern for the descendants of enslaved Africana people in America. We remember and lift up [our ancestors] [all the souls] who were forcibly taken from Africa, taken from their families and tribes and villages and lands. We remember and lift up [our ancestors] [all the souls] who chose the Atlantic Ocean as their grave instead of enslavement in an unknown land. We remember and lift up [our ancestors] [all the souls] who arrived and survived on these shores even as their humanity was denied, their bodies were abused, and their labor was exploited. We remember and lift up all the souls whose lives were brutally ended by enslavers and their descendants out of entitlement, anger, envy, resentment, spitefulness, fear, bigotry, racism, and sheer, unbridled evil. We remember and lift up all the souls who survived in the face of and in spite of the heinous horrors of enslavement and those who enslaved them. Thank You for the strength, tenacity, ingenuity, wisdom, perseverance, and resilience with which You imbued them. Thank You for bringing them through the eras and times of enslavement, Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and fights for civil rights. We thank You for how those attributes continue to live on in us descendants in spite of systems and people who still seek their destruction. And while we acknowledge and are grateful for this day as the first national observance of Juneteenth in America], we praise You for always acknowledging and loving us as your children and always desiring our full emancipation and our full flourishing. As we remember and lift up those in the American context, we also remember and lift up all people of African heritage around the world who suffer marginalization, oppression, and enslavement because of the color of their skin. God, we pray for your justice, liberation, and love to meet them in their circumstances so that they may be fully free to live safely and abundantly in this life. Loving and Liberating God, may your vision, love, care, and concern for all people of African descent be fully realized in our lifetime. Help and strengthen us to partner with You in working to make it so. We offer this prayer, and ourselves, to You in the name of the Liberating Christ, who with the Holy Spirit abides with You forever, Holy One, Holy Three. Amen. —https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library SONG OF SOLIDARITY (Click Here For Music) —Amanda Bradshaw (arrranger) —African-American Spiritual 1). Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of liberty. Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies; let it resound loud as the rolling sea. 2). Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of liberty. Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies; let it resound loud as the rolling sea. 3). Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us; sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on, till victory is won. 
CLOSING PRAYER Faithful God, we are grateful for all the ways You met and spoke to us in this worship service. May all that You have spoken take deep root in the soil of our souls and find expression in our words and deeds. Keep before us the love, care, and concern You have for all people and, on this day, especially for the descendants of enslaved Africana people in America. Help us to remember that we have a holy responsibility to see and treat them as You do: worthy of regard, respect, honor, and care, today and every day. Grant us the courage and strength not to grow weary or abandon this holy responsibility, and may we be your hands, your feet, and your voice in this world to accomplish it. We offer this prayer, and ourselves, to You in the name of the Liberating Christ, who with the Holy Spirit abides with You forever, Holy One, Holy Three. Amen. —https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library  |
Those who believe they believe in God,
but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt,
and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God('s )self.
―Madeleine L'Engle