Heart & Soul 5pm Service: A Community of Healing

Date of Service: 
October 9, 2016
 
HEART AND SOUL – A Contemplative Worship Service
Second Sundays 5:00 to 5:45 pm
October 9, 2016
 
To Be A Community of Healing
Cure may occur without healing; healing may occur without cure.
Cure alters what is; healing offers what might be.
Cure is an act; healing is a process.
Cure seeks to change reality; healing embraces reality.
Cure takes charge; healing takes time.
Cure avoids grief; healing assumes grief.
Cure speaks; healing listens.
                                                                                                                                                          ~ Fred Recklau
 
Gathering – Karen Hsu Patterson and Joyce Holmen
 
               Singing:           Come, come, whoever you are, wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
                                         Ours is no caravan of despair. Come, yet again come.                     ~ Jalaluddin Rumi
 
               Chalice Lighting – Mary Romanek
                                       For every time we make a mistake and we decide to start again:
                                                    We light this chalice.
                                       For every time we are lonely and we let someone be our friend:
                                                     We light this chalice.
                                       For every time we are disappointed and we choose to hope:
                                                     We light this chalice.
 
              Singing: Healing Circle                                                                                                             ~ Julia Hikory
 
Contemplation of Ideas
                Let us not rush to the language of healing, before understanding the fullness of the injury and
                 the depth of the wound.
                               Let us not rush to offer a band-aid, when the gaping wound requires surgery and
                               complete reconstruction.
                                             Let us not offer false equivalencies, thereby diminishing the particular pain being
                                             felt in a particular circumstance in a particular historical moment.
                Let us not speak of reconciliation without speaking of reparations and restoration, or how we
                can repair the breach and how we can restore the loss.
                                 Let us not rush past the loss of this mother’s child, this father’s child…someone’s
                                 beloved son.
                                             Let us not value property over people; let us not protect material objects while
                                              human lives hang in the balance.
                 Let us not value a false peace over a righteous justice.
                                   Let us not be afraid to sit with the ugliness, the messiness, and the pain that is life in
                                   community together.
                                               Let us not offer clichés to the grieving, those whose hearts are being torn
                                                asunder.
                 Instead…
                  Let us mourn
                                    Let us lament
                                                Let us weep
                   Let us be silent when we don’t know what to say.
                                    Let us be humble and listen to the pain, rage, and grief pouring from the lips of our neighbors
                                     and friends.
                  Let us decrease, so that our brothers and sisters who live on the underside of history may increase.
                                     Let us pray with our eyes open and our feet firmly planted on the ground.
                   Let us pray with our eyes open and our feet firmly planted on the ground.
                                      May the Spirit that unites us and connects us to our Humanity.
                                               Show us our own complicity in injustice.
                  Convict us for my indifference.
                                     Forgive us when we have remained silent.
                                                 Equip us with a zeal for righteousness.
                    Never let us grow accustomed or acclimated to unrighteousness.                            ~ Yolanda Pierce
 
Homily – Kikanza Nuri-Robins
         
                For the Healing of our World
                LEADER: To bring new life to the land
                                   To restore the waters
                                   To refresh the air
                        RESPONSE: We join with the earth and with each other.
                 LEADER: To renew the forests
                                    To care for the plants
                                    To protect the creatures
                       RESPONSE: We join with the earth and with each other.
                LEADER:  To celebrate the seas
                                   To rejoice in the sunlight
                                   To sing the song of the stars
                       RESPONSE: We join with the earth and with each other.
                 LEADER: To recall our destiny
                                   To renew our spirits
                                   To reinvigorate our bodies
                       RESPONSE: We join with the earth and with each other.
                 LEADER: To recreate the human community
                                    To promote justice and peace
                                    To remember our children
                         RESPONSE: We join with the earth and with each other.
                   ALL: We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery: for the
                   healing of the earth and the renewal of all life.                                             ~ from UN Earth Day 1990
 
Reflection
             Singing: Comfort Me                                                                                                          ~ Mimi Bornstein-Doble
                   Comfort me, comfort me, comfort me, oh my soul. (2 times)
                           Be with me, be with me, be with me, oh my friend. (2 times)
                                    Dance with me, dance with me, dance with me, oh my heart. (2 times)
                  Comfort me, comfort me, comfort me, oh my soul. (2 times)
                  Silence
                  Meditation on a Band-Aid
 
Opening Up
                 Sharing
 
Sending Out
                 Challenge Question
 
                   May you find deep relief in the hope that comes from knowing your own inner strength
                    and the comfort that comes from being loved.                                                           ~ Alexis Engelbrecht
 
                   Hold yourself in the Light
 
                    Whatever the question,
                     The answer is near
                    If you can form the question
                    I can find the answer
 
                      Singing:
                             We would be one as now we join in singing Our hymn of peace to pledge ourselves anew
                              To that high cause of greater understanding Of who we are and what in us is true
                              We would be one in living for each other To show to all a new community.
 
HEART AND SOUL PLANNING COMMITTEE:
Kikanza Nuri-Robins, Karen Hsu Patterson,
Mary Romanek, Joyce Holmen
 
We invite you to the next Heart and Soul service
on November 11, “A Community of Story,” and
to reflect on December's “A Community of Presence.”