A Service of Worship for
August 23, 2020


It's very important [for people to view Jesus as black]
 because you've got a lot of white images of Christ. 
In reality, Christ was not white, not European. 
That's important to the psychic and to the spiritual consciousness of black people
​who live in a white society 
in which their lord and savior looks 
just like people who victimize them.
 God is whatever color God needs to be 
in order to let people know they're not nobodies, 
they're somebodies.

James H. Cone
Worship notes are included at the bottom of this page.
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Full worship service video for August 23. 
Adult Education - TODAY,  10AM
Laura Mitchell will lead a discussion on race, culture, and identity. As we look within to see who we are, what we believe, and those things we hope for, we can look out to see how that affects those around us. We will look at Toni Morrison and her book, The Bluest Eye to see what she said about issues that still affect us today. As we open a safe space of equitable sharing, we will look at how we can become the change that is needed in our world today. Will we be allies or saviors in our world to affect change? 
​Zoom links are available on the Online Gatherings page on our website: https://www.covenanthouston.org/covenant-gatherings.html
Prelude
"Air" from Water Music, George Frederic Handel, Patrick Parker, organ.

​Call to Worship

Opening Prayer
Maker of the universe,
fashioner of the stars,
who dwells within time and beyond time,
hear this prayer:
 
if I have failed to perceive you
when you have appeared
in the face of a friend,
if I have neglected to feed you
when you have come
with the hunger of a stranger,
if I have not embraced you when you have sought me out
of a sister or brother’s poverty,
if I have not laughed and played with you
when you greeted me with the delight of a child,
forgive me.
 
Open my eyes, my hands, my arms, my heart
to know your appearing and to celebrate
the flesh-shaped mystery of Emmanuel,
God with us.
 
Make my heart a dwelling place ready to receive you
in even the bleakest spaces,
to delight at your appearing even as the animals
who made welcome for the birth of wonder.


​Scripture Lesson: Matthew 16:13-28

​Time for Children

​Call to Confession
Unison Confession
O Holy and Haunting Presence
whose spirit moves quietly
but surely
in the sound and fury of the world
and of our lives,
you know us
as rushing water knows the rock
and releases its beauty
to reflect new light.
 
Open us
to the insistent abrasiveness of your grace,
for we often trivialize love
by abandoning the struggles
which accompany its joys
and rejecting the changes
which lead to its fulfillments.
 
Release us
from the dark fury
of assuming we are unloved
when the day calls for sacrifice
and the night for courage.
 
Release us
from the ominous fear
of thinking some sin
or failure of ours
can separate us from you
when life demands hard choices,
and the battle, high risks.
 
Release us
from the dangerous illusions
of independence
when the human family summons us
to the realities and promises
of interdependence
among races, sexes, nations.
 
Release us
from being possessed
by riches we do not need
and grievances that weary us
when you call us to share
our very selves
with neighbors
and to reflect for the world
the light of the kingdom
within us.

​Music
"Sicilienne," Gabriel Fauré, composer Susan Wegner, cello; Patrick Parker, piano.
Proclamation
This proclamation is a compilation of voices from our community: Linda Day, Bill Kline, Jeff Nobles, John Preston, Nancy Preston, Beverly Rodgers, and Ann Stout.
​
​Prayer
Holy one,
Sometimes we wonder who you really were, who you really are. Sometimes we are not sure how to follow in your footsteps. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by your compassion. It says in the Gospels over and over that you “looked on the crowds with compassion.” Sometimes, I struggle to look at myself with compassion, not to mention my family, my neighborhood, my world.

Help us to see that this task of following, while difficult, is not impossible. Help us to remember your love.

Yes, Jesus loves me. Now, Jesus, help me to love others.

We pray this day for our country and our world. We are all grieving. The loss of life is staggering. We are grieving not only for those who have died but also for lost jobs, losses in our natural world, losses of predictability, the loss of homes, and the list goes on and on. We pray for the people in Iowa where tornadoes have changed lives forever and have demolished the livelihood of so many. We pray for courage and resiliency for those facing wildfires in California, especially for those in danger’s path and those who are suffering renewed trauma because of losses suffered in previous years. We pray for everyone in the paths of the two tropical storms forecasted to enter the Gulf of Mexico by early next week. We need your example of peace in the storm.

Yes, Jesus loves me. Now, Jesus, help me to love others.

We pray for the work of anti-racism. We pray for ourselves and each other. We pray that we will be more receptive to the ways we must change and less defensive. We pray that we will be open to the stories we need to hear and that we will find ways to be part of positive change. We pray that we will speak up and out for people of color. We pray for the safety of people of color.

Yes, Jesus loves me. Now, Jesus, help me to love others.

Some students and teachers and staff have returned to schools in person, some have returned online, and some are still in summer for a few more days or weeks. We pray for all students, all teachers, all staff, all parents. This school year feels overwhelming. 

Yes, Jesus loves me. Now, Jesus, help me to love others.
Amen
- Laura Mayo

​​Invitation

​Prayer of Dedication
A transformed version of the Jesus tradition,
 adapted for our day, would lay less emphasis
  on believing things about Jesus
   and more emphasis
            on imitating Jesus.
 
It would be a practice system
 rather than a belief system.
 
We will attempt to follow this practice
 because we believe it to be good for us
  and for the world.
 
The test of our faith will not be
 the metaphysical convictions
  we hold in our minds concerning Jesus,
   but the evidence our lives will offer
            of our commitment to his practice
            of subversive love.

​Affirmation of Faith
By calling ourselves progressive,
we mean that we are Christians who
 
Have found an approach to God
through the life and teachings of Jesus;
           
Find more grace in search for understanding
than we do in dogmatic certainty--
more value in questioning than absolutes;
 
Form ourselves into communities
dedicated to equipping one another
for the work we feel called to do:
striving for peace and justice among all people,
protecting and restoring the integrity of all God’s creation,
and bringing hope to those Jesus called
the least of his sisters and brothers; and
 
Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly,
and entails selfless love,
conscientious resistance to evil,
and renunciation of privilege.

​Benediction

Postlude
"Simple Gifts," arranged for solo viola by Jacy Grannis. Based on a classic shaker melody.
Worship Notes

The worship leader is Joyce Courtois.

The Call to Worship is Blessing for Knowing by Jan Richardson. 

The Opening Prayer is from “Sacred Journeys: A Woman’s Book of Daily Prayer.”

The Unison Confession is from Guerillas of Grace, a poem, “Release Me”, by Ted Loder. 

“Sicilienne” is played by Susan Wegner, cello; Patrick Parker, piano.

The Prayer of Dedication is adapted from Doubts and Loves: What is Left of Christianity by Richard Holloway. 

The Affirmation of Faith is adapted from “The 8 Points” of The Center for Progressive Christianity. 

​The postlude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola.

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