1. Welcome and Opening Remarks
2. How Long, O Lord?
Psalm 13
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
. How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
. and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
. How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
. and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love;
. my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
. for he has been good to me.
Silence
Responsive Prayer
Leader: George Floyd has died—crushed under the knee of racial injustice and white supremacy
All: How long, O Lord, will you forget us forever?
Leader: People of color are dying on the streets, suffering in their homes—suffocating under the weight of injustice and oppression.
All: How long will you hide your face from us, O Lord?
Leader: A pandemic is tearing through our communities, exposing the inequalities in the basic human right to life and health.
All: Look on us! Look on us and answer, Lord our God.
Leader: The systems of our society are broken and unjust, benefiting those with privilege and stealing from those without.
All: How long O Lord? How long O Lord? How long, how long, how long?
Silence
Leader: Let us be God’s lovingkindness. Let us be God’s righteousness and justice. Let us be hope and rebuild the ruins.
All: Let us not wait.
Leader: How long O Lord?
All: Now, now, now is the time! Amen.
3. Comfort and Challenge
Jesus is a man of color. A first century Palestinian Jew living under the tyranny of colonial occupation. He grew up in Galilee—a hotbed of resistance to Roman violence, power and abuse. He was born poor and died poor. He stood with the poor and died with the poor. He stood for justice. He stood for the dignity of every single person—because everyone is precious; we all belong to one another and we all belong to God. But he was hated by those in power who were afraid of losing their privilege. He was misrepresented, falsely made out to be a criminal, beaten, tortured and hung on a cross. Until he couldn’t breathe.
Silence
We follow Jesus—a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Some of us know that grief and sorrow—the burden of oppression, hatred and misrepresentation. We feel it in our bodies; it crushes our hearts and shrouds our lives. But Jesus is with us, and brings comfort that only a fellow sufferer can.
Psalm 34:17-18
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
. he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
. and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Silence
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
Silence
Comfort us, O God.
Comfort the family of George Floyd.
Comfort the families of all who came before George and have been unjustly murdered because of their race.
Comfort all who are so afraid; who feel the weight of oppression because of their race.
Comfort the brokenhearted; comfort the crushed in spirit.
Amen
Silence
Some of us do not know that same grief and sorrow. We have turned a blind eye. We have failed to see and feel the pain of others. We have enjoyed the fruits of privilege and cooperated with injustice. Jesus challenges us:
Matthew 25:42-45
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Silence
Matthew 4:17
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Silence
Matthew 9:13
“Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’”
Silence
Joel 2:12-13
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
4. Taking Responsibility
Remarks followed by Ella’s Song by Sweet Honey in the Rock and a time of reflection.
5. Repentance and Hope
Responsive Prayer
Leader: God of justice, we have resisted you instead of injustice.
All: Forgive us, Lord.
Leader: God of mercy, we have been unmerciful and turned away from those who need us.
All: Forgive us, Lord.
Leader: God of creation, we have built dwellings of self-indulgence rather than cities of peace and inclusion.
All: Forgive us, Lord.
Leader: God of truth, we have been silent when we should have spoken.
All: Forgive us, Lord.
Leader: God of action, we have silenced the prophets who have called us out.
All: Forgive us, Lord. We turn to you. Let your prophets speak. We are listening. Amen
Listen to the Prophets
Isaiah 58:1-12
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Responsive Prayer
Leader: Together we commit to take action to bring down the systems of injustice in our society.
All: I will stand, O God. Now is the time to act.
Listen to the Prophets
Dr. Martin Luther King from a Letter from Birmingham Jail
“First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;” who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.”
Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
Silence
Responsive Prayer
Leader: Together we commit to speak up and speak out wherever we encounter racism.
All: I will not be silent, O God. Now is the time to speak.
Listen to the Prophets
“I Confess” from The Inward Journey; The Writings of Howard Thurman
The concern which I lay bare before God today is
My concern for the life of the world in these troubled times.
I confess my own inner confusion as I look out upon the world.
There is food for all – many are hungry.
There are clothes enough for all – many are in rags.
There is room enough for all – many are crowded.
There are none who want war – preparations for conflict abound.
I confess my own share in the ills of the times.
I have shirked my own responsibilities as a citizen.
I have not been wise in casting my ballot.
I have left to others a real interest in making
a public opinion worthy of democracy.
I have been concerned about my own little job, my own little security, my own shelter, my own bread.
I have not really cared about jobs for others,
security for others, shelter for others, bread for others.
I have not worked for peace; I want peace,
but I have voted and worked for war.
I have silenced my own voice that it may not
be heard on the side of any cause, however right,
if it meant running risks or damaging my own little reputation.
Let Thy light burn in me that I may, from this moment on, take effective steps within my own powers,
to live up to the light and courageously to pay for
the kind of world I so deeply desire.
Silence
Responsive Prayer
Leader: Together we commit to live life with love, kindness and justice towards others.
All: I will be a light. Now is the time to shine brightly.
Silence
6. Closing Song: Beautiful Things