Peace & Justice
9 Minutes 29 Seconds
This video is meant to honor the life of the George Floyd, whose life was violently stamped out on camera. Onlookers cried out in desperation as they watched George cry out for his mother as he was literally suffocated. We are still crying out. Black people are still being murdered at the hands of police. This video is also in honor of those people and their lives lost at the hands of police AFTER the murder of George Floyd. They were someone’s family too. They carried lineages of powers and well of dreams too. As you look at this...
read moreRolling the Stones Away
The Spring and Summer of 2020 brought us heaviness: pandemic, financial distress, deepening political divisions, and the death of George Floyd which further exposed police violence against black and brown people and rekindled the resistance against systemic racism and white privilege. Any one of these would be heavy. Together they are weighing us down and threatening to crush us. This special service is a liturgical response to the heaviness and is intended to inspire hope and “roll the stones away.” LINK TO VIDEO HERE:...
read moreRefugee Awareness
In response to the UN’s World Refugee Day (6/20), mindful that 1 in 110 people in the world is currently displaced for one reason or another, and in conversation with Scripture, our church held Refugee Awareness Sunday on 6/23/2019. Here is an outline of our liturgy to inspire you and to be adapted for your setting. Words for Contemplation: “As far as I could tell, the world was not going to stop producing refugees. The plain, irreducible fact of good people being made nomad by the millions through all the kinds of horrors this...
read moreBaptized
A short poem for Baptism of Jesus Sunday. Could be used as a call to worship, prayer, or just printed in bulletin/projected. Audio version of the author reading poem along with text version are both below. baptized, i know i am i’ve got the certificate in my safe illustrated baby on the front tied with blue ribbon (if i remember correctly) a signature from my pastor at the time that’s all i know about the moment i was dipped long before i was aware of it my baptism was shaping me into a servant who wins by losing...
read moreGun Violence Vigil
Here is a simple liturgy for a Gun Violence vigil held at Charlotte Congregational Church, Charlotte, VT in December, 2018. The liturgy below may be used in a group, or simply printed on sheets for attendees to use on their own. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.“Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. – Jeremiah 8:11 ~ Welcome. The Judeo-Christian prophetic tradition teaches us that for real change to occur we need both lament and hope through God. Lament is the act of acknowledging what...
read moreCan We Call Evil (& Good & Joy)?
Here are hymn lyrics by Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder set to the hymn tune: Finlandia. Tom wrote this about his work: “The lyrics were inspired by the Amos passage particularly, but Psalm 90 and the Mark passage as well. Most of all it came out of the [10/8/2018] IPCC climate report and the new reality that we have at most 12 years to completely change our society to become the realm of God’s love and justice and well being for all.” You can also find the music and lyrics here formatted to print as a bulletin insert TOM...
read moreShow the Way
Here are hymn lyrics by Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder set to the hymn tune: Aberystwyth (composed by Joseph Parry) which is found in many common hymnals. The lyrics call upon the biblical texts, Mark 6 and Ezekiel 33 and were written to be used in Sunday morning worship at the United Church of Strafford, VT in July of 2018. You can also find the music and lyrics here formatted to print as a bulletin insert TOM REQUESTS THAT YOU CREDIT HIM AND THAT YOU LET HIM KNOW WHEN YOU USE IT AT: rev.thomas.cary.kinder@gmail.com Someone needs to show the way,...
read moreIf the World Has a Heartbeat
The following could be used as a brief Greeting & Welcome or a Call to Worship. It was written in June 2018 as the United States Government, citing Scripture as justification, was separating children from their parents and guardians at the southern border. This is a reminder that we are compelled by our faith in Christ to offer radical hospitality and to welcome the stranger. (Biblical citations below are from the New Revised Standard Version). If the world has a heartbeat it’s this: welcome the stranger. None of us know the mind of...
read moreMLK 2018
Below is a call and response prayer that could be used as a Call to Worship, Pastoral Prayer, Benediction, etc. The text is taken from various MLK quotes and the congregational response is from King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech, after the prophet Amos. One: We now raise the voice of the prophet Martin Luther King whose voice we still need so much: “I have the audacity,” King said, “to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds,...
read moreBurdens Down
Sometimes tragedies trickle and sometimes they flow like a firehose. From late August through Early October 2017, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, earthquakes in Mexico, and a mass shooting in Las Vegas filled our public consciousness and burdened us. In both my church and personal life I experienced these tragic events having a cumulative and withering effect. The prayer below was written to be used in congregational worship to help people “lay their burdens down.” In conjunction with the prayer, you may...
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