In response to the
violence against the mosque in Bloomington, nuclear threats against North
Korea, the gathering of the KKK in Charlottesville, Virginia, and local
structures of division right here in Saint Paul
Written by Revs.
Elizabeth Rawlings and Jennifer Chrien*
Amended for Sunday, August 13, 2017 by Rev. Dr. Joy McDonald Coltvet
Periodically, I will put out my hand to you and you are invited to say this response
We are all siblings, we are all related
Amended for Sunday, August 13, 2017 by Rev. Dr. Joy McDonald Coltvet
Periodically, I will put out my hand to you and you are invited to say this response
We are all siblings, we are all related
Creative and transforming
God,
In the beginning, you
created humanity and declared us very good
We were made in Africa,
came out of Egypt. Our beginnings, all of our beginnings, are rooted in dark
skin. We are all siblings. We are all related. We are all your children.
We are all siblings, we
are all related,
we are all your children.
we are all your children.
Violence entered creation
through Cain and Abel. Born of jealousy, rooted in fear of scarcity,
Brother turned against
brother. The soil soaked with blood, Cain asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?
We are all siblings, we
are all related,
we are our siblings’ keeper.
we are our siblings’ keeper.
When your people cried
out in slavery, You heard them. You did not ignore their suffering.
You raised up leaders who
would speak truth to power and lead your people into freedom.
Let us hear your voice;
grant us the courage to answer your call.
Guide us towards justice and freedom for all people.
Guide us towards justice and freedom for all people.
We are all siblings, we
are all related,
we all deserve to be free.
we all deserve to be free.
Through the prophets you
told us the worship you want is for us to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo
the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke;
Yet we continue to serve
our own interest,
To oppress workers, to
crush our siblings by the neck because we are afraid.
Because they don’t look
like us, act like us, talk like us. Yet, they are us. And we are them.
We are all siblings, we
are all related,
we are not free unless all are free
we are not free unless all are free
In great love you sent to
us Jesus, your Son,
Born in poverty, living under the rule of a foreign empire,
Born in poverty, living under the rule of a foreign empire,
Non-white, dark-haired,
middle-Eastern.
They called him Yeshua,
your Son, Who welcomed the unwelcome, accepted the unacceptable—
The foreigners, the
radicals, the illiterate, the poor, the agents of empire and the ones who
sought to overthrow it, The men and women who were considered unclean because
of their illnesses.
We are all siblings, we
are all related,
we are all invited to be disciples.
we are all invited to be disciples.
The faith of Christ
spread from region to region, culture to culture.
You delight in the many
voices, many languages, raised to you.
You teach us that in
Christ, “There is no Jew or Greek, there is no slave or free, there is no male
and female.” In Christ, we are all one. Not in spite of our differences,
but in our differences.
Black, brown, and white; people
of all genders; citizen and undocumented;
In Christ we are all one.
We are all siblings, we
are all related,
we are all one in Christ, sent out to love and learn from our neighbors.
we are all one in Christ, sent out to love and learn from our neighbors.
As we practice faith, we
confess our sin to you and to one another.
We know that we are in
bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.
We are captive to the sins
of white supremacy, lack of consciousness, internalized oppression,
Which value some lives
more than others,
Which believe some skin
tones are more perfect than others,
Which create fear,
intimidation, and commit violence against those who are already marginalized.
We confess our complicity—the
things we’ve done, the things we’ve left undone—in this sin.
We humbly repent. We ask
for the strength to face our sin, to dismantle it, and to be made anew.
We trust in your
compassion and rely on your mercy
Praying that you will
give us your wisdom and guide us in your way of peace,
That you will renew us as
you renew all of creation in accordance with your will.
We ask this, we pray
this, as this small part of your body…
We are all siblings, we are all related,
all beloved children of
God.
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment