Hope Persists: A Call and Response

Good morning. I was planning this week on using today’s passage from first Corinthians as the jumping off point for a message examining the difference between unity and silence. How, throughout the history of the world as well as the church, under structures of violence, marginalized communities have been told that they need to find common ground with their oppressors. And this idea is passed off as a virtue. I wanted to talk about how a lack of conflict is not always actually peace, but rather might just be the effective silencing of oppressed voices by the dominant culture.

So, you’ll see a quote from Audre Lorde in your bulletin that speaks to this. But the more I sat and studied, the more I kept coming back to several conversations I’ve had over the last couple of weeks with people feeling overwhelmed by the constant onslaught of difficult news from around the world. It’s something we’ve even talked about in our services recently. Australia burning, the suffering in Puerto Rico, the erosion of our democratic process, a doomsday clock that was moved even closer to midnight this week…it can just get overwhelming, and can erode our sense of hope for the future.

So, rather than continue with the message I WAS writing, I thought today might be a good day to partake in a liturgical call and response around the idea of hope and courage amidst difficult times. And so I changed the call to worship at the last minute to reflect the larger call and response we’ll be conducting later in the service. So, that said, will you please join me in this morning’s call to worship?

God is our strength and our redemption.
People: Of whom shall we be afraid?
No rulers nor authorities can overcome those who trust in God.
People: Let all who long for Justice come together!
In the community of God, there are no hierarchies of dominance.
People: No one is left alone before their oppressor.
Love tends to every aching body.
People: All displays of evil are revealed as deceit.
Let the Spirit renew our courage that we might live by this Wisdom.
People: Praise be to God who leads us in the ways of Love.

Like I said at the start of the service, there are those of us who are feeling a little overwhelmed by the state of the world. So, I hoped that perhaps a period of prayer, meditation, and call and response was potentially what we might need today. Where we speak to the Divine, as well as speak to one another, through united voices and united hearts. So, that said, I ask that you join me in this time that I hope will be valuable to your spirit.

The Beloved be with you.

People: And also with you.

When the night grows long, and people of hope grow weary, 

People: we remember that our lives depend on one another. 

When we grieve. When we are afraid. When we no longer know what to feel.  We remember the divine community is our sanctuary.

People: There is no depth of doubt or despair we can’t bring to God and one another. 

The Divine Spirit is here, sharing in our struggles, bearing witness to our fears.

People: Our God does not abandon us. 

Let us pray:

Our Deliverer, when we find ourselves in pits of despair, faith and hope can be a struggle. We wonder what’s possible. We fear our hopes will be dashed. We worry that even your grace will fail us. But you, God, are patient with our impatience. Meet us tenderly in all the parts of us that are not yet ready to trust in the promises of Love. Accompany us in our distress until we know peace again. Beloved, meet us in the middle of all of it - inviting us not to turn away from the sadness or allow ourselves to become numb to the injustices, but to dwell in the midst of it. Your presence gives us a space to pause, to break the cycle of violence, media coverage, and growing frustrations. In you, we are invited to be present to the pain of the world and to the parts of it we hold in our own bodies. Give to us the courage to remain soft in this hard world. Amen. 

Those who have known the strains of human life, the heavy burdens of injustice, or the perils of uncertainty, come and tell again the story of God. Let your hearts be made alive with memories of restoration. Let your mouths be filled with testimonies of hope. 

People: Our spirits are renewed through Sacred witness. We remember the prophets - their truth offers freedom. We remember the life of Jesus - his love transforms. We remember the saints who persisted - their courage compels. 

We welcome the calming and compassionate presence of the Divine into our midst. The compassion of the Divine has persisted throughout the ages. In the face of violence, oppression, tyranny, and injustice, the Christ chose to take on flesh, to not only experience it all with us, but to liberate us into new ways of living and loving. 

People: In the person of Jesus, we witnessed love enfleshed. It was vulnerable. It was present. It was courageous. And it was unwilling to believe things have to be this way. 

Jesus - deeply tender towards those whose lives cried out for compassion, showed us how to live in a world where power is imbalanced and violence is common. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ you have shown us that violence and death never have the last word. 

People: Life persists. Hope persists. Love persists. 

Let us pray:

Divine Presence, it is from you that we learn to hunger for justice. We give you thanks for the ways you sustain us in the work of creating a world free from violence, free from the damaging effects of global climate change, free from toxic masculinity and white supremacy, free from homophobia, free from oppressive forces that seek only to dominate, consume, and destroy. Amen. 

In Psalm 40, the psalmist writes:

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog. Do not, O Lord, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever. For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, until I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.

People: Open your ears to our lament. Weep with us when we weep. Listen! We are calling to you. 

In the person of Jesus, you walked a world where the powerful were not held accountable, the poor were made vulnerable, and violence was used as a tool of fear and control. The same spirits of destruction and fear that exist today hovered over your life as well. You know the grief we bear. 

For the unspeakable loss of life and loss of nature in Australia,

People: our hearts are broken. 

For the unbearable destruction and ongoing suffering in Puerto Rico, 

People: our sense of hope is challenged. 

For the forces of political and cultural dominance who seek to control and manipulate,

People: bring your justice, O God! 

For those who live unhoused, who live in poverty, who live in a constant state of economic trauma, not only around the world but right here in our community,

People: there are no words for the depths of our despair.

For the spirit of fear that can hover over our daily lives,

People: Be our place of refuge, O God. 

Divine Presence, we wonder what it will take for meaningful change to occur. 

People: Wherever there is inaction, put your people into motion. Bring forth justice, O God. 

Let no heart be settled, no mind be at peace that has the ability to make a positive change but instead chooses inaction. For all the harm that has been done, and for that which is still to come, may your Spirit provoke repentance and movement. 

We grieve, we ache, we long for change because we believe your Creation should not be this way - we have a sense of something better. 

People: Thy Kin-dom come. 

A world not constantly on fire. 

People: Thy Kin-dom come. 

A world without white supremacy. 

People: Thy Kin-dom come. 

A world without misogyny.

People: Thy Kin-dom come. 

A world where difference is embraced, not feared.

People: Thy Kin-dom come. 

A world that does not take refuge in violence. 

People: Thy Kin-dom come. 

A world where our sacred spaces are our shelter. 

People: Thy Kin-dom come. 

A world where our leaders operate with compassion, integrity, and a sense of justice.

People: Thy Kin-dom come. Amen.

Henri Nouwen wrote:

"Hope means to keep living amid desperation, and to keep humming in the darkness. Hoping is knowing that there is love. It is trust in tomorrow. It is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises. In the midst of a gale at sea, it is to discover land. In the eyes of another it is to see that she understands you. As long as there is still hope there will also be prayer. And God will be holding you in [their] hands."

Amen.