PRELUDE
"The King of Love My Shepherd Is”

Peter Pindar Stearns (1931-2016)

 

Based on the tune Dominus regit me

John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876)

 

INTROIT
“Close Every Door”

from “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”

 

Lyrics by Tim Rice

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, 1968

Michael Sloan

 

HYMN
“For Everyone Born”

1. For everyone born, a place at the table,

for everyone born, clean water and bread,

a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,

for everyone born, a star overhead

 

and God will delight when we are creators

of justice and joy, compassion and peace:

yes, God will delight when we are creators

of justice, justice and joy!

 

2. For woman and man, a place at the table,

revising the roles, deciding the share,

with wisdom and grace, dividing the power,

for woman and man, a system that's fair,

 

 

3. For young and for old, a place at the table,

a voice to be heard, a part in the song,

the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,

for young and for old, the right to belong

 

 

4. For just and unjust, a place at the table,

abuser, abused, with need to forgive,

in anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy,

for just and unjust, a new way to live

 

 

5. For gay and for straight, a place at the table,

a covenant shared, a welcoming space,

a rainbow of race and gender and color,

for gay and for straight, the chalice of grace

 

6. For everyone born, a place at the table,

to live without fear, and simply to be,

to work, to speak out, to witness and worship,

for everyone born, the right to be free,

 

 

Text: Shirley Erena Murray, 1998

Music: Brian Mann, 2006

 

This hymn from a noted New Zealand hymn-writer affirms that God’s hospitality

transcends the barriers erected by human society and that we who have been created in God’s image are called to live in ways that reflect our Creator’s values: justice and joy, compassion and peace.

 

 

 

MUSICAL OFFERING
“All Good Gifts” from “Godspell”

 

Lyrics by Mathias Claudias (1782)

Music by Stephen Schwartz (1971)

Michael Sloan

 

SCRIPTURE READING Matthew 25:31-46

 

SERMON “The Danger of Nothing” The Rev. Joseph Perdue

 

HYMN
“You, Lord Are Both Lamb and Shepherd”

1. You, Lord, are both Lamb and Shepherd.

You, Lord, are both prince and slave.

You peacemaker and sword-bringer

of the way you took and gave.

You, the everlasting instant;

you, whom we both scorn and crave.

 

2. Clothed in light upon the mountain,

stripped of might upon the cross,

shining in eternal glory,

beggared by a soldier’s toss,

you, the everlasting instant;

you who are both gift and cost.

 

3. You, who walk each day beside us,

sit in power at God’s side.

You, who preach a way that’s narrow,

have a love that reaches wide.

You, the everlasting instant;

you, who are our pilgrim guide.

 

4. Worthy is our earthly Jesus!

Worthy is our cosmic Christ!

Worthy your defeat and victory;

worthy still your peace and strife.

You, the everlasting instant;

you, who are our death and life.

 

Text: Sylvia G. Dunstan, 1984

Music: Picardy, French melody, 17th century

 

When it was first published, the author called this text “Christus Paradox,” because so many attributes of Christ stand in tension with each other. Mindful of the works of Sørren Kierkegaard, she drafted it on a commuter bus after “a particularly bad day” of prison ministry.

 

POSTLUDE
“Now Thank We All Our God” (from Cantata No. 79)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Arranged for Organ by Virgil Fox (1912-1980)