For our online celebration this week we will joining with a wide diversity of American Christians in observing Juneteenth, which is a day set aside to remember when the last community of enslaved Americans learned of their emancipation. Given all of the conversations around race and white supremacy that are happening in our congregation, in our communities, in our nation and in our world right now, it seems important to make this observation this year—and perhaps to institute an observation of Juneteenth as an annual event at MPC.
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View June 21st Celebration online
- Marcia will provide us with a prelude, “A Charge to Keep I Have” by Lowell Mason, arr. George Brandon
- Talitha will welcome us,
- Members of the Hoffman-Paul family will call us to celebration,
- Our opening hymn will be “Guide Me O, Thou Great Jehovah” (words below),
- Barbara Wrigley and Sherrill Figuera will lead us in a prayer for peace from their home in North Carolina,
- Talitha will teach a Godly Play story,
- Susanne Lea will read Isaiah 55,
- Ben will preach a sermon,
- Our Special Music is “Hashivenu”, brought to us by Kim Rankin, Anna Santos, and Julia Taylor Dunbar
- Talitha will lead us in a pastoral prayer,
- Our Closing Hymn is “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (again, see below),
- Bill Neely will make some announcements, and
- Ben will lead us in a charge and give a benediction.
GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH
- Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but Thou art mighty, Hold me with Thy pow’rful hand. Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more; Feed me till I want no more.
- Open now the crystal fountain, Whence the healing stream doth flow; Let the fire and cloudy pillar Lead me all my journey through. Strong Deliv’rer, strong Deliv’rer, Be Thou still my Strength and Shield; Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.
- When I tread the verge of Jordan, Bid my anxious fears subside; Death of death and hell’s Destruction, Land me safe on Canaan’s side. Songs of praises, songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee;
LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING
- Lift ev’ry voice and sing ‘Til earth and heaven ring Ring with the harmonies of Liberty Let our rejoicing rise High as the list’ning skies Let it resound loud as the rolling sea Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us Facing the rising sun of our new day begun Let us march on ’til victory is won
- Stony the road we trod Bitter the chastening rod Felt in the days when hope unborn had died Yet with a steady beat Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered Out from the gloomy past ‘Til now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
- God of our weary years God of our silent tears Thou who has brought us thus far on the way Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light
- Keep us forever in the path, we pray Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee Shadowed beneath Thy hand May we forever stand True to our God True to our native land
The Charge (say together) Go out into the world in peace. Have courage; hold on to what is good. Return no one evil for evil. Strengthen the faint-hearted, support the weak, and help the suffering. Honor all people. Love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.