A Service of Worship for
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Full worship service video for August 9.
Adult Education - TODAY, 10AM
For Adult Education, Bob Tucker will present Part 2 of his talk on The Invention of Christianity. This is a follow-on to his June 21 presentation. Zoom links are available on the Online Gatherings page on our website: https://www.covenanthouston.org/covenant-gatherings.html With this link you can make a donation to Covenant through PayPal or a credit card.
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Prelude
"Traumerei" from Scenes from Childhood, by Robert Schumann, Patrick Parker, piano. Call to Worship Opening Sentences Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up. Scripture Lesson: Genesis 32:3-31 Time for Children Call to Confession Unison Confession
This season we dedicate ourselves to wrestling with our shadows conversing with our ‘other’ voices and meeting our inner adversaries that we might wrest from them a blessing for ourselves and our world. Music "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown" by Erik Routley, Eric Avera, tenor. Proclamation |
Prayer Show us your face in these long nights, oh God. Help us to see you in the faces of our brothers and sisters and siblings, in the faces of strangers and friends. Help us to take on new names where they are needed. Names like connection, ally, compassion, antiracist, humanitarian, environmentalist, bold, kind. Help us to hold on, to keep struggling, to refuse to return to the normalized injustice of before. We pray this day for the people of Beirut, Lebanon who are reeling after an explosion leveled their port injuring thousands and leaving at least 135 people dead. Residents are grieving and beginning the work to rebuild from the devastation. We hold them in our prayer. We remember in our prayer this day that August 6 marked seventy-five years since the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan and then three days later on Nagasaki. The suffering continues. War and bombs will never bring lasting peace. The pandemic has starkly revealed the economic, racial, and social inequalities of the status quo. We pray for change. We pray for health. We pray for leadership. We have seen that people of color and the poor have borne the brunt of this crisis: much higher rates of virus infection and morbidity as well as greater economic devastation. Help us to be part of changes that must be made, help us to know that we cannot go back to the way it has been - we cannot continue to accept injustice. Hate crimes especially targeting our Asian and trans siblings continue to rise. We pray for those who hate. Change us all, oh God. Create in us compassion and love. We celebrate those using voices and votes; money and positions of power; difficult conversations and connections for mercy, for love, for justice. We celebrate those unwilling to turn away. We celebrate those willing to listen and to learn. We celebrate those working for change. In this silence we offer our personal celebrations and concerns. In these days of so much grief and so many difficult decisions and so much pain, we hold tight to you, seeking your face. We pray this in your love. Amen - Laura Mayo Invitation
Prayer of Dedication I cannot release the questions; with every step they multiply, and yet they carry a wisdom of their own. God of mystery, help me to hold the questions, lead me to live them, bless me to bless them for disturbing my path. Affirmation of Faith True faith means you are not looking for a quick fix or a victory overnight. You do the right thing regardless of the consequence – because you want to be a decent and compassionate person before you die! Benediction Postlude "Adage Cantabile" from Pathetique Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, Patrick Parker, piano. |
Worship Notes
The worship leader is Jay Hooker.
The Call to Worship is by Vassar Miller.
The Opening Sentences are by Anne Lamott.
The Unison Confession is by Jeremy Rutledge.
“Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown” sung by Eric Avera, Tenor.
The Prayer of Dedication is from Night Visions by Jan L. Richardson.
The Affirmation of Faith is from Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom by Cornel West.
The worship leader is Jay Hooker.
The Call to Worship is by Vassar Miller.
The Opening Sentences are by Anne Lamott.
The Unison Confession is by Jeremy Rutledge.
“Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown” sung by Eric Avera, Tenor.
The Prayer of Dedication is from Night Visions by Jan L. Richardson.
The Affirmation of Faith is from Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom by Cornel West.
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