TO WATCH THE WORSHIP GO HERE:
A Word of Introduction
You might not be standing next to your friends right now. You might not understand why that is. You might not have been treated well in the process of entering this space, you may indeed be unjustly divided, and you may and you might feel that you are on the “wrong” side of the wall compared to everyone around you.
The boarders you see outlined at the end of the wall which divides us here are just a few examples of places where these experiences are not only intensified, but a reality for daily life. Also written on the wall are experiences often had without physical boundaries. All of these culminate in division between brothers and sisters in Christ.
Throughout our worship, we will be focusing on the experience of division in our lives and in the lives of our neighbors. Trusting in the God who recognizes this division and works in the midst of it, we come to this wall hungering for the promises and unity of the Triune God to be made known in our lives.
Order of Service for Chapel
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Call To Worship – Border Poem
Dear Mommy,
You always taught me to make everyday a good day
It was so much easier when I could hug you in the morning
I wrap my arms around you
Put my ear to your breast & listen
I hear your heartbeat while feeling my own
Knowing once you held them both in your body
No two people could ever be closer
You always taught me to make everyday a good day
It was much easier when I would run to you
With bloody knees because I was going too fast
You put your hand to my face
Wipe away my tears with your thumb
And with your magic touch the pain went away
You always taught me to make everyday a good day
It was so much easier when I would crawl in bed with you
Burrowing into your belly & wrapping my arms around you
Trying to be one again
Wanting to climb into your womb when I sleep
Because I know you will be there when I wake up
A good day is much harder to come by without you
My arms ache from holding myself too tightly when I sleep
And no matter how much I squeeze they still feel empty
Mommy, I can see you but I can’t feel you
I want to put your hand to mine & see if they fit the same way
I want to wake up & know that you will be there
I want to get in trouble just so I can hear you say my full name again
I want to do more than see you
Mommy I want to feel you again
Because a good day is much easier when you are around
But I don’t get to touch you anymore
I get to see you through a fence
Through a border
That keeps me from hearing your voice each day
Keeps me from holding my hand out to yours
Regulates me from hugging you
Begs me to break the law in order to be with you again
You always taught me to make everyday a good day
Today is a good day
Today I got to see you with my eyes instead of my mind
Today is a good day
Today I got to spend 2 more minutes with you before the guard pushed me away
Today is a good day
Today I held my tears in long enough you didn’t have to see me cry
Today is a good day
Today I called you Mommy & it felt like a name instead of a memory
Written by: E. Salinas, April 1, 2014 – Written for Worship at the Wall
Let Streams of Living Justice
1 Let streams of living justice
flow down upon the earth;
give freedom’s light to captives,
let all the poor have worth.
The hungry’s hands are pleading,
the workers claim their rights,
the mourners long for laughter,
the blinded seek for sight.
Make liberty a beacon,
strike down the iron pow’r;
abolish ancient vengeance:
proclaim your people’s hour.
2 For healing of the nations,
for peace that will not end,
for love that makes us lovers,
God grant us grace to mend.
Weave our varied gifts together;
knit our lives as they are spun;
on your loom of time enroll us
till our thread of life is run.
O great weaver of our fabric,
bind church and world in one;
dye our texture with your radiance,
light our colors with your sun.
3 Your city’s built to music;
we are the stones you seek;
your harmony is language;
we are the words you speak.
Our faith we find in service,
our hope in others’ dreams,
our love in hand of neighbor;
our homeland brightly gleams.
Inscribe our hearts with justice;
your way—the path untried;
your truth—the heart of stranger;
your life—the Crucified.
Scripture
Is. 42:14-21
For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant. I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.” Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD? The servant sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but she does not hear. The LORD was pleased, for righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law and make it glorious.
Col. 1:9-14
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to God’s glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. The Lord has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Sermon – Lauren Blatt & Trena Montgomery
Throughout history we have always made sure to oppress some group of people… even multiple groups at one time. We drew borders in our early years as citizens of the new English colony. We made sure we fenced off plots where the indigenous people already living in North America could now live.
In the West Bank, the Israelis have constructed, and continue to construct a wall to keep the Palestinians away. To fence the Palestinians in while little by little taking the land that they have away from them.
On the border of Mexico and the United States there is a wall that keeps people from coming to the United States from Mexico. Armed men stand at the borders to enforce the law.
A lo largo de la historia siempre hemos asegurado de oprimir a algún grupo de personas… incluso varios grupos a la vez. Dibujamos fronteras en nuestros primeros años como ciudadanos de la nueva colonia Inglés. Nos aseguramos de vallado parcelas donde los indígenas las personas que ya viven en Norteamérica ahora podrían vivir.
En la Cisjordania, los Israelís han construido, y seguir construyendo un muro para mantener distancia entre los Palestinos. Para hacer una frontera alrededor los palestinos mientras poco a poco toma la tierra que tienen lejos de ellos.
En la frontera de México y Estados Unidos hay una pared que mantiene a la gente
de venir a los Estados Unidos desde México. Hombres armados se sitúan en las fronteras para hacer cumplir la ley.
There is a boundary between North Korea and South Korea in which shots were just fired over the other day. There is unrest and one group is saying I am in charge and I have power… because of this you do not have power and you consequently have little autonomy.
There was a boundary in Berlin, Germany separating people. There are still walls in Ireland separating neighborhoods of nationalists and neighborhoods of unionists.
Hay una frontera entre Corea del Norte y Corea del Sur en el que los tiros fueron solo disparó sobre el otro día. Hay disturbios y un grupo está diciendo que estoy a cargo y tengo poder … debido a esto usted no tiene el poder y que por consiguiente tienen poca autonomía.
Había un límite en Berlín, Alemania separar a las personas. Todavía hay paredes en
Irlanda que separa los barrios de los nacionalistas y los barrios de los sindicalistas.
These are just a few examples of tangible walls that people have constructed to keep other people away, or out, or in…
There are invisible walls drawn all over our world. We had an invisible wall separating the North and South of the US during the time of slavery, and I am not convinced that this wall doesn’t still exist.
There are invisible walls throughout Africa, South America and Asia that separate the indigenous populations from the colonists. In Rwanda there was a stark invisible, but very real wall between the Hutus and the Tutsis. Invisible borders in Darfur. Walls between the different racial groups in South Africa.
Estos son sólo algunos ejemplos de muros tangibles que las personas han construido para mantener otras personas de distancia, o hacia fuera.
Hay muros invisibles procedentes de todo el mundo. Tuvimos una pared invisible
que separa el Norte y el Sur de los EE.UU. durante la época de la esclavitud, y no estoy convencido de que este muro no sigue existiendo.
Hay muros invisibles de África, Sudamérica y Asia que separan las poblaciones indígenas de los colonos. En Ruanda se produjo un marcado muro invisible, pero muy real entre los Hutus y los Tutsis. Fronteras invisibles en Darfur. Las paredes entre los diferentes grupos raciales en Sudáfrica.
Still there are real walls in almost every place separating the rich from the poor. Or like in India there are walls all around society placing people in closed spaces depending on their place in the caste system.
I guess that’s the nature of power. For me to have power I must take power from another. For another to have power over me he or she must take power from me.
Power can be defined in many ways.
Kenneth Boulding said, power is “the ability to change the future.”
Todavía hay paredes reales en casi todos los lugares que separa a los ricos de los pobres. O como en la India hay paredes a su alrededor la sociedad poniendo a las personas en espacios cerrados dependiendo de su lugar en el sistema de castas.
Supongo que esa es la natura del poder. Para mí tener la energía que debo tomar el poder de otra. Por otra es tener poder sobre mí que él o ella debe tomar el poder de mí.
El poder se puede definir de muchas maneras:
Kenneth Boulding dijo, el poder es “la capacidad de cambiar el futuro.”
There has been a distinction between three kinds of power– “power over,” “power to” and “power with.”
The first kind of power,
“Power over” is the ability to dominate another person or group–as in “I have power over her. This means, “I have the ability to make her do what I want her to do.” Power-over usually comes from force and threat. If the subordinate fails to do what he or she is asked to do, the dominant person will use force to make the subordinate person comply.
Ha habido una distinción entre tres tipos de poder – el “poder sobre”, “poder a “y” poder con”.
La primera tipo de poder:
“Poder sobre” es la capacidad de dominar a otra persona o grupo – como en “tengo
poder sobre ella. Esto significa que, “tengo la capacidad de hacer que ella haga lo que yo quiero que ella hacer.” Poder sobre generalmente proviene de la fuerza y la amenaza. Si el subordinado no hacer lo que él o ella se le pide que haga, la persona dominante utilizará la fuerza para hacer que la persona subordinada cumplir.
The second kind of power,
“Power to” is the ability to do something on one’s own–it refers to one’s abilities. Sources of this kind of power are intellect, resources, knowledge, stamina, etc. These resources give some people the power to accomplish things that others cannot.
Finally,
“Power with” is similar to “power to” in that it reflects ability, but “power with” is the ability to work with others to get something done by cooperation. This is the power of consensus–the power of people working together to solve a common problem.
El segundo tipo de poder:
“Poder a” es la capacidad de hacer algo en el propio mismo – se refiere a sus capacidades. Las fuentes de este tipo de poder son el intelecto, los recursos, el conocimiento, la resistencia, etc. Estos recursos dan algunas personas el poder para lograr cosas que otros no pueden.
Finalmente:
“El poder con” es similar a “poder para”, ya que refleja la capacidad, sino “poder con” es la capacidad de trabajar con otros para hacer algo por la cooperación. Este es el poder del consenso – el poder de las personas que trabajan juntos para resolver un común problema.
In the situations of walls invisible or visible, tangible or intangible someone takes power over another and the only way we have a chance at changing that is by taking up power with the oppressed.
We are so wrapped up in ourselves that we do not always see injustice or recognize our privilege. As Isaiah writes, “The servant sees many things, but does not observe them; the servants ears are open, but she does not hear.”
It is essential that we take time to listen to the stories of the oppressed so that we might hear them and our eyes be open to injustice in our world. — Even that doesn’t quite seem like good news because we know ourselves; we know how often we fail.
En las situaciones de paredes invisibles o visibles, tangibles o intangibles alguien toma poder sobre otro y la única manera que tenemos una oportunidad de cambiar eso por la adopción de “sobre con” los oprimidos.
Estamos tan absortos en nosotros mismos que no siempre vemos la injusticia o la reconocemos nuestro privilegio. Como escribe Isaías: “El sirviente ve muchas cosas, pero no observa ellos, los sirvientes oídos están abiertos, pero no escucha”.
Es esencial que nos tomamos el tiempo para escuchar las historias de los oprimidos para que podamos pudiera oírlos y nuestros ojos estén abiertos a la injusticia en nuestro mundo. – A pesar de que no lo hace bastante parecer una buena noticia porque nos conocemos a nosotros mismos, sabemos como fallamos.
Like the author of Colossians writes, “the Lord has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
God walks with us on our journey and we are empowered by the Holy Spirit through our baptisms to go out and do something. We are fed at the table with the body and blood of our savior To challenge the world’s systems of oppression and power because we know that that is what our God does. God sends Jesus to turn the system on its head—To reverse honor and shame, to reverse the understanding of submission and dominance. God changes everything with the cross…and with the cross God continues to change us!
Al igual que el autor de Colosenses escribe: “el Señor nos ha librado de la potestad de las tinieblas y nos ha trasladado al reino del amado Hijo de Dios, en quien tenemos la redención, el perdón de los pecados”.
Dios camina con nosotros en nuestro viaje y estamos capacitado por el Espíritu Santo a través de nuestros bautismos a salir y hacer algo. Estamos hartos de la mesa con el cuerpo y la sangre de nuestro Salvador para desafiar los sistemas del mundo de la opresión y el poder porque sabemos que eso es lo que nuestro Dios hace. Dios envía a Jesús a su vez la sistema en su cabeza – Para invertir el honor y la vergüenza, para revertir la comprensión de la sumisión y la dominación. Dios cambia todo con la cruz … y con la Cruz, Dios nos sigue a cambiar!
Accompaniment is of the utmost importance. We need to walk with the oppressed to truly live out our duty as Christians. To love all the ones who the world has called “least of these” and God will always walk with us.
We know that by conducting this service that many of you will have more questions than answers and that’s good. We also recognize that all the visible and invisible walls in the world will not come crumbling down because of this service – but it’s one step at a time and awareness is the first hurdle that we all must jump.
El acompañamiento es de la mayor importancia. Tenemos que caminar con los oprimidos a vivir de verdad con nuestro deber como cristianos. Amar a todos los que el mundo se ha llamado “más pequeños” y Dios siempre caminará con nosotros.
Sabemos que mediante la realización de este servicio que muchos de ustedes tendrán más preguntas que respuestas, y eso es bueno. También reconocemos que todo lo visible y lo invisible muros en el mundo no vendrán derrumbarse a causa de este servicio – pero es un paso a la vez y la conciencia es el primer obstáculo que todos debemos saltar.
Amén
Amen
Hymn of Day – We Are Called
1 Come! Live in the light!
Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!
We are called to be light for the kingdom,
to live in the freedom of the city of God.
Refrain
We are called to act with justice,
we are called to love tenderly;
we are called to serve one another,
to walk humbly with God.
2 Come! Open your heart!
Show your mercy to all those in fear!
We are called to be hope for the hopeless
so hatred and blindness will be no more. Refrain
3 Sing! Sing a new song!
Sing of that great day when all will be one!
God will reign, and we’ll walk with each other
as sisters and brothers united in love. Refrain
Prayers of Intercession – Healing of the Nations
Meditation/Offering Reflection – (Yara bba ssalami in background)
Prayers
Cards going around saying:
The Wall, as well as the Occupation itself, comprises a wide range of violations to international law. A major violation of the Apartheid Wall is the unilateral demarcation of a new border in the West Bank that amounts to effective annexation of occupied land (United Nations Charter, art. 2.4).
634 checkpoints or other military obstructions including trenches, roadblocks, metal gates are under Occupation control.
The consequences of the buffer zone have been severe. 25% of the most fertile agricultural lands in Gaza are not useable. 15% of Gaza farmers are deprived of work, joining the ranks of the unemployed and becoming dependent on the food aid.
Barriers won’t stop people from wanting a better life. And in some cases, they’re willing to pay the highest price for the opportunity.
Borders everywhere attract violence, violence prompts fences, and eventually fences can mutate into walls.
The 1,951 mile U.S.-Mexico border is the busiest in the world.
During the Six Day War in 1967, which saw hand-to-hand fighting on the Temple Mount, the Old City and the city walls transferred to Israeli control.
David Hassellhoff performed his hit “Looking For Freedom” while standing on the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13 1961 as a way of
separating the three zones controlled by France, Britain and America from
the zone controlled by the Soviet Union.
The Wall (between Palestine and Israel) is being built deep within the West Bank as it zigzags throughout 10 out of the 11 West Bank districts. The Wall, on this path, de facto annexes nearly 50% of the West Bank and completely destroys all continuity of life in the region.
A wall along the U.S.-Mexico border prompts divided feelings: it offends people. It comforts people. And it keeps expanding.
After the 9/11 attacks, homeland security was again thrust into the spotlight. Many ideas were tossed around during the next few years on what could be done to permanently secure the border.
The Wall is the continuation of the Zionist/Israeli expansionist agenda of stealing Palestinian land and forcibly expelling residents—the Wall’s path equates to the de facto annexation of nearly 50% of the West Bank and almost all of the Israeli settlements.
The Gaza Strip, with a population of some 1.5 million people in 365 km2 is one of the most densely populated places on the globe. It is a prison that has been completely surrounded for years by walls and razor wire.
During the Apartheid Era in South Africa: Non-white people of South Africa were forced to live in specific areas, robbed of their citizenship, and provided with inferior services like health care and education (Invisible, but real walls).
Most non-Jewish children attend schools that are “separate and unequal” in comparison to those attended by Jewish Israeli children.
Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza have even fewer rights and freedoms than those with Israeli citizenship. They have no political voice in Israel, even though Israel effectively rules their lives.
Special regulations require Palestinians to obtain permits even to approach the wall in some areas, while Jewish people are able to enter these same areas unrestricted.
There are an estimated half a million illegal entries into the United States each year.
The Rwandan Genocide, an invisible fence, was a genocidal mass slaughter of Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority.
Meal – Dr. Carvalhaes
L: The Lord be with you.
A: And also with you
L: Lift up your hearts.
A: We lift them to the Lord.
L: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
A: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
L: It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our Savior Jesus Christ. You call your people to cleanse their hearts and prepare with joy for the paschal feast, that, renewed in the gift of baptism, we may come to the fullness of your grace. And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, and all of the undocumented people around this country, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
A: Holy holy holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory, Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
L: God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, God of our painful crossings,
you have brought us this far along the way, while and many died on the way.
In times of bitterness you did not abandon us, In times of abuse around the borders we called on your name.
and you guided us into the path of love and light.
In every age you sent prophets to make known your loving will
for all humanity.
The cry of the poor has become your own cry;
our hunger and thirst for justice is your own desire.
In the fullness of time, you sent your chosen servant
to preach good news to the afflicted, to break bread
with the outcast and despised, to welcome and give shelter to the foreign and the immigranat, and to ransom those in bondage to prejudice and sin.
In the night in which Jesus crossed the borders and was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread,
and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples,
saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, in the midst of the desert, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink,
saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
For as often as we eat of this bread and drink from this cup
we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Remembering, therefore, his death and resurrection,
we await the day when Jesus shall return to free all the earth
from the bonds of slavery and death, and all the borders will come down.
Come, Lord Jesus! And let the church say, Amen.
Amen.
Send your Holy Spirit, our advocate, to fill the hearts of all, especially the undocumented
who share this bread and cup with courage and wisdom
to pursue love and justice in all the world, especially those living around borders of death, hatred and injustice.
Come, Spirit of freedom! And let the church say, Amen.
Amen.
Join our prayers and praise with your prophets and martyrs
of every age, along with those who died and we say Presente! that, rejoicing in the hope of the resurrection,
we might live in the freedom and hope of your Son.
Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, now and forever
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Communion
Wine is poured into chalice. Bread and canteen are passed over the fence. Then, both sides commune simultaneously, passing wine and bread to one another. Dr. Carvalhaes, please announce this pattern so that everyone knows what is going on.
Song – Eat This Bread
“Eat this bread, drink this cup,
come to me and never be hungry.
Eat this bread, drink this cup,
trust in me and you will not thirst.”
Post Communion Prayer –
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son. Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred that infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and, through our struggle and confusion, work to accomplish your purposes on earth; so that, in your good time, every people and nation may serve you in harmony in your heavenly kin-dom; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Poem (same as beginning)
Blessing –
Go in communion with the hands that you touched.
Go strengthened by the wine and bread we shared.
Go having seen the body of Christ broken but not divided.
Go in righteous refusal to be separated from brothers and sisters.
Go in witness to walls yet unseen.
Sending Song – Lead Me, Guide Me
Refrain
Lead me, guide me, along the way;
for if you lead me, I cannot stray.
Lord, let me walk each day with thee.
Lead me, O Lord, lead me.
1 I am weak and I need thy strength and pow’r
to help me over my weakest hour.
Help me through the darkness thy face to see.
Lead me, O Lord, lead me. Refrain
2 Help me tread in the paths of righteousness,
be my aid when Satan and sin oppress.
I am putting all my trust in thee.
Lead me, O Lord, lead me. Refrain
3 I am lost if you take your hand from me,
I am blind without thy light to see.
Lord, just always let me thy servant be.
Lead me, O Lord, lead me. Refrain
Dismissal
Let Streams of Living Justice, Text: William Whitla, Music: Gustav Holst © 1989 William Whitla; We Are Called, Text and Music: David Haas; Eat This Bread, Text: Taizè Community, Music: Jacques Berthier; Lead Me, Guide Me, Doris Akers © 1953 Doris Akers, admin. Unichappel Music. Reprinted by permission, OneLicense.net license #A-716657; all rights reserved.