Worship at Home for
January 31, 2021
Due to the spread of Covid-19, we are taking a sabbatical from our normal Sunday morning gathering, but unity and community are more important than ever before in this season of uncertainty. To help facilitate this, we are providing an online service so that, one in heart, we can worship together even as we maintain distance out of love for our neighbors. This is designed to be used on your own or together as a family or community. We hope this resource is a blessing to you. Remember to check in on friends and neighbors with calls or text, especially the elderly among us and others who are particularly vulnerable. You can also check out the services from 3/15, 3/22, 3/29, 4/5, 4/12, 4/19, 4/26, 5/3, 5/10, 5/17, 5/24, 5/31, 6/7, 6/14, 6/21, 6/28, 7/5, 7/12, 7/19, 7/26, 8/2, 8/9. 8/16, 8/23, 8/31, 9/6, 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1, 11/8, 11/15, 11/22, 11/29, 12/6, 12/13, 12/20, 12/27, 1/3, 1/10, 1/17, and 1/24.
Prayers of the People on Zoom at 10:30am!
To join in the Zoom event by online computer,
THE EASIEST WAY
1. Go to www.zoom.com
2. Click on "Join a Meeting"
3. Enter meeting ID#: 629 486 4957 and Click "Join"
4. Follow prompts, including entering your name.
5. Here is a video tutorial that will take you through the steps, if you want to view this first: https://youtu.be/L5zzE-HGQko
or
NOT AS EASY, UNLESS YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE and A ZOOM ACCOUNT
1. Click on https://princeton.zoom.us/j/6294864957
2. Follow prompts, these can be a bit tricky if you've never used Zoom before.
or
To join in the Zoom event using your Smartphone/Iphone:
1. Download the Zoom Cloud Meeting app
2. Open the app.
2. Enter meeting ID#: 629 486 4957 and Click "Join"
3. Follow prompts, including entering your name
4. Here is a video tutorial that will take you through the steps, if you want to view this first: https://youtu.be/lO206_NezaY
or
To dial in by phone:
+1 (646) 558 8656 (New York--please note this may be a long-distance call if you are using a landline)
Then at the prompt, enter meeting ID#: 629 486 4957
NOTE: You do not need to create a Zoom account to sign into a meeting.
Opening Songs
Centering Song
Call to Worship
We gather in this sacred space,
to offer our thanks to God with all our hearts.
We gather with this community of faith,
to follow Jesus, who longs to lead us into life.
We gather in these moments,
to learn all we can of grace from the Holy Spirit.
Rev. Thom M. Shuman
Hymns of Adoration
Seeking the Shalom of the City
ANTIRACIST ADJUSTMENT FOR THE WEEK of 1/31/2021
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8
How can we cultivate the graces of compassion, humility and accountability as highlighted by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes in “I Bring the Voices of My People”? She suggests that we can strive to see ourselves with compassion, while embracing our full imperfect humanity, and that we seek the shared truths that emerge from our lives and the experiences of others. From my perspective, there are forces that keep up locked into an “us versus them” way of thinking that impedes our efforts. One is inherent to our biology and the other to our socialization.
Our vagus nerve is the unifying organ of our entire autonomic nervous system. It is where we experience our felt senses of compassion and fear, among other emotions which make us human. One of its purposes is to receive fight, flight or freeze messages from our lizard brain and spread them to the rest of our body. Its other purpose is to receive and send the opposite message that we are safe and can relax. It does not however connect to our thinking brain. In “My Grandmother’s Hands”, Resmaa Menakem calls this our soul nerve (page 148). When we encounter an unfamiliar body, our body goes on alert until our lizard brain discerns, ASAP, whether the other is safe or dangerous. One shortcut to this determination is how closely this body matches mine. The lizard brain then tells the body to either relax in recognition or constrict in self-protection. (page 96)
As part of our socialization in the United States, we are exposed to various social identity groups which assist in the lizard brain’s rapid determination of safe/dangerous body meetings. This link https://www.alma.edu/live/files/3899-social-identity-definitionspdf offers some examples which can be called upon using obvious visual perception. Attached to each group are unconscious assumptions and stereotypes acting as systemic forces to cloud our shared humanity. In her Tedx Talk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD5Ox5XNEpg author Debby Irving explores her story of race and the misperceptions she acquired while growing up in her white suburban bubble. Which identity groups/stereotypes resonate with your experience?
As you settle your body after this week’s offering, remember to pay attention to the sensations that arise in your body and to where they are located. Do you feel agitation, constriction, release, pressure, energy, numbness, relaxation, warmth, coolness, softness, tightness? Accept any discomfort and notice when it changes. Stay present with your experiences of ambiguity and uncertainly. No judgment or analysis, just observe and then move your body to release any remaining energy if needed. (“My Grandmother’s Hands “ page 168)
Please feel free to forward any thoughts to me at the email listed below or by requesting to join the private Facebook group Antiracist Adjustments with the following link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1819196591561542/?ref=share .
Blessings as you continue your antiracism spiritual practice. (submitted by Pat Deeney, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ, pjdeeney@hotmail.com)
Call to Confession and Reconciliation
Though we think we know it all, our lives reflect how little we respect others, how often our words and actions damage those around us. Let us come to our God, with our prayers as well as our hearts, so we may be healed with forgiveness.
We come on this holy day, God our God, to speak of how we live. Politicians, celebrities, talk show folks have become our so-called gods. Our choices often cause those around us to trip over our anger and slip on our pride. The words we speak to others show how we really want nothing to do with you.
Forgive us, Holy God, and have mercy on us. May we silence our fears, so words of hope may be spoken. May we give thanks not only with our hearts but with the grace we can share with others. May justice and peace be the tools we use as we serve beside Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Rev. Thom M. Shuman
Assurance of Pardon
We know who God is – the One who comes to love us, to forgive us, and to save us.
Thanks be to God. We will spread this good news, and share this grace and hope, with everyone we meet. Amen.
Rev. Thom M. Shuman
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Reading by
Lexi Aligarbes
Sermon by Pastor Karen Hernandez-Granzen
Hymn of Response
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be Your name
Your kingdom come
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever
Amen.
Offering
Even as we are unable to gather for our Sunday morning worship services, many of the church’s expenses remain the same, and now more than ever we want to have the resources to bless the community around us. Your gracious donation will ensure that Westminster continues to Seek the Shalom of the Capital City of Trenton and beyond.
Westminster can receive donations via a simple text:
Text to 609-438-8828 the word “Give”
Westminster’s online giving number will respond asking how much you’d like to give, and steps to follow
Westminster can receive donations online:
Westminster can receive donations by check:
Westminster Presbyterian Church
PO Box 3719
Trenton, NJ 08629
Prayer of Dedication
Jesus, we hear your voice calling us
To love
To serve
To give
These gifts are our response to your call
Keep our hearts and ears open to continue to listen
Today and every day
Amen
Closing Song
Benediction
The Lord be with you
And also with you
La paz de Dios sea con-ti-go
Y tam-bien con-ti-go
Sa-wa-bona
Si-ko-na
Pyeong-hwa
Pyeong-hwa