A Reconciling Congregation
224 Forest Home Drive, Ithaca, NY 14850 + (607) 257-4329
Virtual Sunday Worship
THE CHAPEL'S MISSION STATEMENT
Embracing God’s will for our community through education, compassion, and justice.
What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.”
~ Micah 6:8 ~
July 5, 2020
Click HERE to join us for Zoom Worship at 10 a.m.
(site opens at 9:45 for "visiting")
Meeting ID: 988 3448 7312
~or~ call +1-646-558-8656 (New York)
Greetings and Announcements
Carol Hockett
Certified Lay Servant, Pastor Parish Relations Committee Chair,
Congregational Care Team Member
Time with Young Christians
Kristy Shuck, Soprano
B.A. 2019: Music Education/Vocal Performance, Ithaca College
Prelude
Maria Rabbia, Chapel Music Director
Call to Worship
Lord Jesus Christ
who reached across the ethnic boundaries
between Samaritan, Roman and Jew
who offered fresh sight to the blind and freedom to captives,
help us to break down the barriers in our community
enable us to see the reality of racism and bigotry,
and free us to challenge and uproot it
from ourselves, our society and our world.
John Bucki, S.J.
Hymn
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
thy justice like mountains high soaring above
thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all, life thou givest, to both great and small;
in all life thou livest, the true life of all;
we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
and wither and perish, but naught changeth thee.
Thou reignest in glory; thou dwellest in light;
thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
all laud we would render: O help us to see
‘tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.
Gospel Reading
Luke 7:11-17
Jean Snow
Liturgist, Usher, Congregational Care Team and Hospitality Team Member
Sharing Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayers
Lord’s Prayer
Sara Haefeli, Lay Leader
Special Music
Kristy Shuck
Sermon
The Healing Spirit
Hymn
O Christ, The Healer
O Christ, the healer, we have come
to pray for health, to plead for friends.
How can we fail to be restored,
when reached by love that never ends?
From every ailment flesh endures
our bodies clamor to be freed;
yet in our hearts we would confess
that wholeness is our deepest need.
How strong, O Lord, are our desires,
how weak our knowledge of ourselves!
Release in us those healing truths
unconscious pride resists or shelves.
Grant that we all, made one in faith,
in your community may find
the wholeness that, enriching us,
shall reach the whole of humankind.
Benediction
Postlude
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pledges
Thanks to all of you for sending in your offerings to Forest Home Chapel, 224 Forest Home Drive, Ithaca, NY 14850. It makes a big difference!
Food Ministries
We are also continuing to support Kitchen Cupboard and Foodnet Meals on Wheels, so if you would like to designate offerings for these important local food ministries, please include that information on the memo line of a separate check.
July Outside!
Get-Together: Elizabeth Mount has graciously invited all Chapel friends to a masked, socially distanced garden party at their large, beautiful garden in mid-July ~ stay tuned for date and time!
Invite Others to Zoom Church
Please feel free to invite friends and family, near and far to our Zoom worship each week. Simply forward the invitation email and they can click on the link. Just let me know so we can "admit" them from the Zoom waiting room. RD.
SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES
Zoom Book Discussion
At the End of July we will start a zoom book discussion of the first two Chapters of How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X Kendi.
We can start a second wave of discussion in late August, since the book is back-ordered.
Anti-racism includes: beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism.
What Is White Privilege?
Unfortunately, defining white privilege must often begin with defining what it’s not. Otherwise, only "the choir" listens; the people you actually want to reach check out. White privilege is not the suggestion that white people have never struggled. Many white people do not enjoy the privileges that come with relative affluence, such as food security. Many do not experience the privileges that come with access, such as nearby hospitals.
And white privilege is not the assumption that everything a white person has accomplished is unearned; most white people who have reached a high level of success worked extremely hard to get there. Instead, white privilege should be viewed as a built-in advantage, separate from one’s level of income or effort.
Francis E. Kendall, author of Diversity in the Classroom and Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race, comes close to giving us an encompassing definition: “having greater access to power and resources than people of color [in the same situation] do.” But in order to grasp what this means, it’s also important to consider how the definition of white privilege has changed over time… (excerpt from the Upper New York Conference website (unyumc.org) section on "Imagine No Racism."
Reconciling Congregations Celebrate Supreme Court Ruling
On Sunday, it was perfectly legal in a majority of the United States to fire someone for being gay, bisexual or transgender. On Monday, it wasn’t.
The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-to-3 decision that “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.”
The decision concerned the cases of
-
a skydiving instructor who was fired in 2010 after telling a client he was gay
-
a child aid worker who was fired in 2013 after joining a gay recreational softball league
-
a funeral home director who was fired, also in 2013, after coming out as transgender
“From a historical perspective, this ruling is a tremendous advance for L.G.B.T.Q. people,” he told me over email. “In the twentieth century, countless queer people lost their jobs in factories, government agencies, and corporate offices when their employer learned they were gay.” The fear of losing a job or career was one of the most powerful threats forcing people to try to pass as straight at work and to spin elaborate lies about their lives and relationships outside of work." (George Chauncey, leading scholar on LGBTQ issues)
Wendy Millroy, Chapel Reconciling Congregation's Coordinator and Elizabeth Mount, Chapel Gardener celebrated the Supreme Court ruling by adding multicolored flags and ribbons to our front garden marquee.
