Morning Service of Prayer and Reflection
San Francisco Theological Seminary
Tuesday November 7th, 2006
Montgomery Chapel
Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you. – Psalm 82:8
Welcome
Call to Worship (Melinda)
Today is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Today we come before God with anxious minds and hopeful hearts.
Let us remember our God; the Holy Trinity of the Parent, Son, and Holy Spirit, during the trials of today. We are God’s people and God calls us to worship them.
God calls us to worship here and now. Let us worship God!
Scripture – Psalm 82:1-8
Hymn – God of Grace and God of Glory (Verse 1) – VU 686
Reading (Melinda)
And the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace. Men far and near will know the church as a great fellowship of love that provides light and bread for lonely travelers at midnight.”
Hymn – God of Grace and God of Glory (Verse 2) – VU 686
Reading (Andrew)
And Barbara Jordan said: “Now we must look to the future. Let us heed the voice of the people and recognize their common sense. If we do not, we not only blaspheme our political heritage, we ignore the common ties that bind all Americans. Many fear the future. Many are distrustful of their leaders, and believe that their voices are never heard. Many seek only to satisfy their private work -- wants; to satisfy their private interests. But this is the great danger America faces -- that we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region, individual against individual; each seeking to satisfy private wants. If that happens, who then will speak for America? Who then will speak for the common good?
This is the question which must be answered in 1976: Are we to be one people bound together by common spirit, sharing in a common endeavor; or will we become a divided nation? For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future. We must not become the "New Puritans" and reject our society. We must address and master the future together. It can be done if we restore the belief that we share a sense of national community, that we share a common national endeavor. It can be done.
A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good. A government is invigorated when each one of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation. In this election year, we must define the "common good" and begin again to shape a common future. Let each person do his or her part. If one citizen is unwilling to participate, all of us are going to suffer. For the American idea, though it is shared by all of us, is realized in each one of us.”
Hymn – God of Grace and God of Glory (Verse 3) – VU 686
Reading (Josh)
And President Abraham Lincoln said: “Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan---to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
Hymn – God of Grace and God of Glory (Verse 4) – VU 686
Reading (Talitha)
And Cesar Chavez said: The Church we are talking about is a tremendously powerful institution in our society, and in the world. That Church is one form of the Presence of God on Earth, and so naturally it is powerful. It is powerful by definition. It is a powerful moral and spiritual force which cannot be ignored by any movement. Furthermore, it is an organization with tremendous wealth. Since the Church is to be servant to the poor, it is our fault if that wealth is not channeled to help the poor in our world. In a small way we have been able, in the Delano strike, to work together with the Church in such a way as to bring some of its moral and economic power to bear on those who want to maintain the status quo, keeping farm workers in virtual enslavement.
At about that same time, we began to run into the California Migrant Ministry in the camps and field. They were about the only ones there, and a lot of us were very suspicious, since we were Catholics and they were Protestants. However, they had developed a very clear conception of the Church. It was called to serve, to be at the mercy of the poor, and not to try to use them. After a while this made a lot of sense to us, and we began to find ourselves working side by side with them.
When the strike started in 1965, most of our friends forsook us for a while. They ran- or were just too busy to help. But the California Migrant Ministry held a meeting with its staff and decided that the strike was a matter of life or death for farm workers everywhere, and that even if it meant the end of the Migrant Ministry they would turn over their resources to the strikers. The political pressure on the Protestant Churches was tremendous and the Migrant Ministry lost a lot of money. But they stuck it out, and they began to point the way to the rest of the Church. In fact, when 30 of the strikers were arrested for shouting Huelga, 11 ministers went to jail with them. They (the ministers) were in Delano that day at the request of the California Migrant Ministry.
Hymn – God of Grace and God of Glory (Verses 1-4) – VU 686
Prayers of the People (Melinda)
God calls us to be in community and sing and pray in one voice. Even though we may say different things, we all say one prayer. One prayer, many parts. As is custom here at SFTS please end your prayers with “God in your grace” or “God in your mercy” and the community will respond with “Here our prayer.”
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn
Benediction
Participants:
Ms. Melinda Andrew, Liturgist
Ms. Talitha Phillips, Reader
Mr. Andrew Ward, Reader
Dr. Dan Hoggatt, Musician
Rev. Dr. Charles Marks, Chaplain
Mr. Joshua Dunham, Chaplain’s Assistant
Sources:
Martin Luther King’s Sermon “A Knock at Midnight”
Barbara Jordan’s 1976 DNC Keynote Address
Abraham Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address
Cesar E. Chavez’s “The Mexican-American and the Church”
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