Worship3

January 19, 2025 — Martin Luther King Sunday

Procession Hymn We’re Marching to Zion AA-590
Opening Prayer
Opening Meditation From “Black Liturgies” by Cole Arthur Riley
Inhale God is born
Exhale I can rest in the beauty
Collect Lectionary Insert
Hebrew Scriptures Kings (17:8-16)
Canticle Psalm (40:1-7)
New Testament Romans (12:9-18)
Gospel Hymn We’ve Come This Far by Faith AA-412
Gospel Luke (4:16-27)
Nicene Creed BCP pg. 358
Calvary’s Mission Statement (composed by Yvonne Lee)
We, the members of Calvary Episcopal Church, believe in taking the journey of God’s love and service to those who know Christ, and those who seek Christ.
Prayers of the People Lectionary Insert
Confession BCP p.360
Peace
The flowers on the altar are given to the glory of God, and in loving memory of Freddie Sherman by his wife, Ruby Sherman and son DeMichale Sherman and granddaughter Keisha Sherman.
Offertory Precious Lord, Take My Hand AA- 471
If would like to make your offering electronically, you can do so at: www.calvarydc.net/donate Doxology Praise God AA-650
The Eucharist Our eucharist prayer was composed by the Rev. Dr. Gayle Fisher-Stewart
Celebrant: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Celebrant: Lift up your hearts,
People: We lift them to the Lord.
Celebrant: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give God our thanks and praise.

Celebrant: Because you sent your beloved Son to redeem us from sin and death, and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life; that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing. Blessed are you, O God, who sets the table of creation and invites us to feast with you in a cosmic celebration of love and desire. As we again await, Immanuel, God with us, we thank you for Jesus, whose life, prayer, and ministry opened our eyes to the glory of life and fueled our hunger for your long anticipated reign of justice, mercy, and peace. You call all people to follow your paths of justice and peace, beating their swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks. In the light of your holy Word we look for the day when nations shall not lift up sword against nations, or learn war any more. Therefore, with the entire company of heaven, and with your people on earth who live in this hope, we praise you and join in the never-ending hymn:
People: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Celebrant: We thank you for Christ’s passionate solidarity with the suffering of all the earth; for as he bore in his own body the wounds of creation, he embraced us in our brokenness and gathered us into his wholeness so that we might know ourselves beloved and serve with him as priests forever in an all-embracing Eucharist. Blessed is our brother Jesus, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; who, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, blessed it and said:
People: “This is my body which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”
Celebrant: In the same way, Jesus took the cup after supper and said:
People: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it, to remember me.”
Celebrant: So, as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
People: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Celebrant: Here in this place, we celebrate the life that death could not hold, the life that Jesus has shared among his community through the centuries, and shares with us now. Made one with him, and thus, with each other, we lay before you these gifts of bread and wine, tokens of our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, for here we offer and present to you ourselves, our bodies, minds and spirits, to be a holy and continuous sacrifice to you,
People: Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, Holy Spirit Come.
Celebrant: Come and brood over these bodily things, this bread and this wine. May they be for us the body and blood of Christ; healing, renewing, and making us whole.
People: Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, Holy Spirit Come.
Celebrant: Come and embrace us with your life-giving power that as bread and wine are made one with us, we may become one with you; bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh.
People: Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, Holy Spirit Come.
Celebrant: Come and make your gathered people the real presence of Christ for the world, living our prayer and praying our life until heaven and earth are reconciled, and all are free as Christ is free.
People: Glory be to you, O God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; one God and Mother of all creation; as in the beginning, so now, and forever. Amen!
Lord’s Prayer BCP pg. 364
Celebrant: Lamb of God
People: You take away the sins of the world.
Celebrant: Lamb of God
People: You take away the sins of the world
Celebrant: Lamb of God
People: Grant us your peace
Celebrant: These are the gifts of God for you, God’s people. This is the Lord’s table. Come, when you are fearful, to be made new in love. Come when you are doubtful, to be made strong in faith. Come, when you are regretful, and be made whole. Come, everyone; there is room for all!
Communion Hymn There is A Balm in Gilead AA-524
Post-Communion Prayer Be at peace. May you access the fulness of a joy that allows for both an interior solemnity and a levity. May you learn to be at rest with yourself, able to access a peace that carries memory but isn’t chained to the past. And may you laugh, allowing the mystery of joy to steady you always and keep you from despair. Amen.
Announcements
Final Hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness AA-158
We are blessed to have Susan Walls lead our music service today.

January 19, 2025

Today’s scriptural translations are by drawn from “A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church” By Dr. Wil Gafney,

Collect
Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last: Grant that your church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may strive to secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

A Reading from the First Book of Kings (17:8-16)

The word of the HOLY ONE to Elijah was, “Get up, go to Zarephath, which is part of Sidon, and settle there; watch now, I have commanded a widow woman there to provide for you.” And Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. Then he came to the gate of the town, and look! a widow woman was there gathering sticks; so he called to her and said, “Bring me, please, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” She went to bring it, and he called to her and said, “Bring me, please, a bit of bread in your hand.” Then she said, “As the HOLY ONE your God lives, if I had a cake. There is only a handful of flour in a jar, and a little oil in a jug. Now look, I am gathering two sticks, then I will go home and prepare the oil and flour for myself and for my child; we will eat it, and we will die.” Then Elijah said to her, “Fear not; go and do as you have said, only make me a little cake of it and bring it to me first, then make something for yourself and your child afterwards. For thus says the HOLY ONE the God of Israel: The jar of flour will not empty and the jug of oil will not decrease until the day that the HOLY ONE grants rain upon the earth.” She went and she did as Elijah said, and she and he, and her household, ate for many days. The jar of flour did not empty and the jug of oil did not decrease according to the word of the HOLY ONE that God spoke through Elijah.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Psalm 40:1-17
I waited expectantly for the SAVING GOD;
she inclined toward me and heard my cry.
She raised me up from the roaring pit, out of the muck and mud
and settled my feet upon a rock, making firm my steps.
She put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and reverence, and put their trust in SHE WHO IS WORTHY.
Blessed is the woman who makes the MAGNIFICENT ONE
her trust,
who does not turn to the proud, to those who turn to lies.
Many are the things you have done,
you, MAJESTIC ONE my God;
your wonders and your thoughts toward us none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and name them, they would be beyond counting.
Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
instead, my ears you have dug open for me.
For burnt offering and sin offering
you have not asked.
Then I said, “Here am I come,
as in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
To do your will, my God, is my delight;
your teaching is in my belly.”
I have proclaimed the good news
of vindication in the great congregation. Look!
My lips I have not restrained, JUST GOD, you know it is so.
Your vindication I have not hidden within my heart,
of your faithfulness and your salvation have I spoken;
I have not concealed your enduring love
or your faithfulness from the great congregation.
May you, MOTHER OF ALL, withhold not your mother-love from me;
let your enduring love and your faithfulness always keep me.
Be pleased, FAITHFUL GOD, to deliver me;
LOVING GOD, hasten to help me.
May they rejoice and be glad in you,
all who seek you; may they say continually,
“Great is the GLORIOUS ONE!” those who love your salvation.
Though I am poor and needy, may the Sovereign take thought for me.
My help and my deliverer are you;
my God, do not delay.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

A Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans (12:9-18)
Let love be sincere. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Love one another as family; lead the way in showing honor to one another, in zeal not idle, fervent in spirit, serving the Messiah. In hope rejoice, in suffering endure, in prayer persevere. Take part in meeting the needs of the saints; practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not think highly of yourself , sit with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but contemplate what is good in the sight of all persons. If possible for you, live peaceably with all.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Luke (4:16-27)
Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been nurtured and went, according to his practice on the day of the sabbath, to the synagogue. And he stood up to read. Then was given him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was writ- ten: “The Spirit of the Most High is upon me, because God has anointed me to proclaim good news to those who are poor. God has sent me to preach liberation to those who are captives and recovery of sight to those who are blind, to liberate those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Most High’s favor.” Then Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down and every eye of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. Then he began to speak to them, saying, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” Then Jesus said to them, “Of course you all will quote me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you all will say, ‘The things we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown.'” And Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in their hometown. But I speak truth to you all, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land. Yet Elijah was sent to none of them, rather to Zarephath in Sidon, to a widow woman. And there were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you Lord Christ

Prayers of the People
Let us pray for our own needs and the needs of others in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God. For the Church, that we may live and teach the gospel of love. Holy One of God,
Hear us, we pray.
For our parish families, that we who gather to hear the Lord’s teaching may fully respond to all that God asks of us. Holy One of God,
Hear us, we pray.
For this nation, and for the members of Congress and legislatures, that they will hear and understand the needs of the powerless and marginalized, as they develop priorities and solutions. Holy One of God,
Hear us, we pray.
For all who are prophets, that they may understand the mind and heart of God, and awaken new insights for the renewal and growth of both the Church and society. Holy One of God,
Hear us, we pray.
We especially remember those persons on our hearts and minds by name either silently or aloud.

We invite you to offer your prayers, either aloud, or in silence.

For those who live in the shadows of fear, violence, and poverty, that, in Christ, they may find healing, hope, and peace.
Hear us, we pray.
For those who have died, that God will strengthen them in grace and compassion. Holy One of God,
Hear us, we pray.
Lifting our voices with all creation, with Mary, the God-bearer, Paul the Apostle, and all the saints, let us offer ourselves and one another to the living God through Christ.
Glory to you, O Lord Our God.
Holy One of God, you come to teach us with authority and to set our spirits free. Hear our prayers and give us strength and courage as we proclaim your truth by word and deed. Glory to you forever and ever. Amen.