We held virtual worship on Sunday, August 30, 2020! You can watch the recording on our Facebook Page, or you can watch below.
WELCOME
God’s call is to all to bring hope and change
when all around despair and chaos reign.
God’s call is to speak, God’s call is to act,
God’s call is to us.
We worship and serve.
For such a time as this,
God’s call is to all!
For such a time as this,
God’s call is to speak out!
For such a time as this,
God’s call is to do justice and love mercy!
For such a time as this,
God’s call is to bring change!
For such a time as this
God’s call is to me!
PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE
“Who knows?
Perhaps you have come
to royal dignity
for just such a time as this.”
God of time and eternity, you have time to wait with us.
To wait with us as we worry and fret,
to wait with us as we dawdle and dither,
to wait with us as we waken up
to your precious gift of time, given to us.
We confess that often we do not honor time as it deserves.
When it drags, we become impatient.
When it races, we become anxious.
When it is full we long for space.
When it is empty we long for activity.
God, in our waiting,
help us to view time as the gift that it is.
May we find ways to sit with you,
to acknowledge you present with us.
When days seem endless and lonely
and when hours seem to race by,
help us to carve out space
to check in with you as time rushes on.
And, as we recognize you in every moment,
may we take time to reveal your presence to others.
God of time and eternity, you have time to wait with us.
May we make time to wait with you. Amen.
YOUNG PEOPLE’S MESSAGE Danielle Sturgeon
HEBREW SCRIPTURE Book of Esther
This happened in the days of Xerxes, the same Xerxes who ruled over one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia. In those days when King Xerxes sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers.
On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he commanded . . the seven eunuchs who attended him, to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing the royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the officials her beauty; for she was fair to behold. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command conveyed by the eunuchs. At this the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him.
[A court sage] said, “For this deed of the queen will be made known to all women, causing them to look with contempt on their husbands, since they will say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’ This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will rebel against the king’s officials, and there will be no end of contempt and wrath!
***
Now there was a Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai . . Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor mother; the girl was fair and beautiful, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter.
When Esther was taken to King Xerxes in his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, the king loved Esther more than all the other women; of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
***
After these things King Xerxes promoted Haman . . and advanced him and set his seat above all the officials who were with him. And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and did obeisance to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance. Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?” When they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s words would avail; for he had told them that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance to him, Haman was infuriated. But he thought it beneath him to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, having been told who Mordecai’s people were, Haman plotted to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
***
When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; he went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth . . .
Mordecai also gave [Esther’s eunuch] a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people . . .
“Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
********
Haman went out that day happy and in good spirits. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, and observed that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was infuriated with Mordecai . . . Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go with the king to the banquet in good spirits.” This advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made . . .
REFLECTION For Just Such a Time as This: Three Women, Three Ways
MUSIC A Prayer music & photos
by Kathryn Parker
PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
For such a time as this, God give us courage.
For such a time as this, God give us vision.
For such a time as this, God give us hope.
For such a time as this, God give us joy.
For such a time as this, God give us the assurance
of your Spirit among us,
enabling us to serve you in the world.
SHARING PRAYERS
LORD’S PRAYER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE God Be with You Till We Met Again music & photos
by Kathryn Parker
