BULLETIN
February 23, 2025  — 4th  Sunday of Black History Month

Anthem   Lift Every Voice and Sing.   AA-540

Procession Hymn   Great is Thy Faithfulness    AA-158
Opening Prayer
Opening Meditation  From “Black Liturgies” by Cole Arthur Riley
Inhale   We honor this breath
Exhale   We behold the beauty.
Inhale    I deserve more.
Exhale    I claim more.
Inhale    This flesh is sacred.
Exhale    I contain the divine.g
Collect  Lectionary Insert
Hebrew Scriptures    Genesis   (47:13-25)
Canticle   Psalm 107:1-43
New Testament  Acts  (5:1-11)
Gospel Hymn  Standing on the Promises of God     AA-373
Gospel  Luke (8:1-15)
Sermon by The Reverend Petr Jarrett-Schell
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     From “Black Liturgies” By Cole Arthur Riley
Creator God, We confess every attempt to steal and grant dignity, as if it’s some-thing we have dominion over. We have lost ourselves in a world of anti-Blackness, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, and misogyny. We have amplified the cool and confident and alienated those who feel strange or awkward. In demeaning others, we mistakenly believe that our own self-worth make by magnified, but in doing so we only become less human. We have not become bigger but smaller. Not safer, but more afraid. Every effort to diminish the worth of another has only distanced us from the truth of our own dignity. Forgive us. And remind us of who we are, what we’re made of, that a collective image of God is dwelling in and through you. May we forgive ourselves and become faithful keepers of our cosmic birthright to beauty, justice and belonging. Amen.

Forgiveness From “Black Liturgies” By Cole Arthur Riley
Let your soul receive this rest: The God who became seamstress, the God who knelt in the garden to make clothes for Eve and Adam. covers you now. As the divine meets your shame with tenderness, you are freed to stand before the earth, neighbor, your God, and yourself. Amen.
Peace
The flowers on the altar are given to the glory of God and in loving memory Margaret E. Livingston whose birthday would have been February 22nd by her son Michael Livingston and daughter Averi Gray and their families.
Offertory Hymn    Tis’ So Sweet to Trust In Jesus   AA-368
If would like to make your offering electronically, you can do so at: www.calvarydc.net/donate
Doxology  Praise God, From Whom All Blessing Flow   AA-650
The Eucharist   Our eucharist prayer was composed by the Rev. Amanda Barbee and Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown
The Lord be with you
And also with you
Lift up your hearts
We lift them to the Lord
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
It is right to give God thanks and praise
It is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks, God of majesty and mercy. For you have called forth the creation and raising us from dust by your breath . We bless you for the beauty and bounty by which each of us was wonderfully made in your image. We thank you God for the gift of the people of Zimbabwe, Mali, Ghana, Uganda, Congo, Kenya, Libya, Senegal, Nigeria, Togo, Zambia, Haiti, these United States and all the many other places not mentioned but acknowledged for your astounding creation.
It is in our rejoicing that we give thanks for your creation of these, your Black children for their contributions to our being; inventors, physicians, teachers, scholars, laborers, artists, poets, politicians, activists, family and community members, all your children of ebony grace who made the world we know. Above all, we give thanks for the gift of Jesus, your son and our Savior. Because we are thankful we join our voices together with angels and saints in that eternal hymn:

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.

Christ was born fully human and fully divine. He shares in our joys and sorrows. He shared in the joy of our resilience despite the deathly terror of the African enslavement, and shared in the sorrow that his gospel didn’t compel transformation and quick abolition. He shared in the joy of the Emancipation Proclamation but equally shared in the sorrow of a people who have worked so hard to override, overturn, and recreate that which it was designed to eradicate. Yet and still he offered his life in obedience and trust in God.
On the night that he was wrongfully incarcerated, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it into pieces without the suggestion of privilege or supremacy. He gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, Jesus lifted the cup to those in need of liberation and empowerment, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.”
Therefore, in remembrance of him, we proclaim this mystery of faith