Welcome to chapel! This form of online worship has been adapted for the Columbia Seminary community in response to COVID-19 and our collective need to worship from home. It is available to everyone who desires to participate and share in our love for God, creation, and neighbor. As the Spirit moves, please invite neighbors or friends beyond the CTS community to worship with us. All chapel services can be found on the Columbia Current.
Instructions: Move through the service at your own pace with prayerful awareness of the siblings in Christ with whom you worship and the power of the Holy Spirit that makes our worship together possible across distances. Videos will automatically play in full screen. When they are complete, exit from the video and move on to the next worship element when you are ready. If videos are taking too long to load, consider lowering the quality of the video by clicking the gear icon on the lower right side of the video. There are no designated times to stand, sit, or kneel. You may respond with your body as you feel most comfortable and are called to do so. It may be helpful to identify a sacred space from which you will worship or arrange a space in your home with objects or items so as to create a worshipful environment. Wherever you are, may you sense God's presence with you and among us.
Accessibility: Please use the zoom and audio controls of your browser/computer/phone to adjust to your needs. The videos have closed captioning available, click on the cc icon to enable this feature. If you experience any barriers to accessing this service or if you desire to help with chapel planning and leadership, please email worshiplifeservice@ctsnet.edu. Thank you for collaborating with us in this holy experiment.
Let us worship God.
Prayer of the Day: "Migratory God"
Let us prepare our hearts for worship as we pray aloud or silently the prayer "Migratory God."
Scripture: 1 Kings 17:8–16
Dr. Brennan W. Breed
Brennan Breed (he/him/his) serves as Associate Professor of Old Testament and Director of the Quality Enhancement Plan at Columbia Theological Seminary and Theologian-in-Residence at First Presbyterian Church in Marietta, Georgia. He is author of the book Nomadic Text (Indiana University Press, 2014) and co-author of Daniel: A Commentary (Old Testament Library: Westminster John Knox, 2014) with Carol Newsom. Brennan is currently writing on Ecclesiastes and the history of the early Hellenistic era in the Levant.
Sermon: "Overflowing Sustenance in a Time of Scarcity"
Prayers of Intercession
Let us pray.
For those of us who are far from home, for refugees, immigrants, exiles, Lord, we pray.
For those of us who are going through trials, who need help and compassion, Lord, we pray.
For all of us gathered here, that we may remain attentive to all who are entrusted to us, Lord, we pray.
That we know your presence with us in all anxiety, Lord, we pray.
That we may learn to share more fairly the resources of our planet among all, Lord, we pray.
That a sense of wonder at the beauty of creation may remain alive in us, Lord, we pray.
That we may find light and courage in the mystery of communion that is the Church, Lord, we pray.
[ Pray aloud or silently The Lord’s Prayer in a version and language that is close to your heart.]
God, our peace, you never abandon us.
And the Holy Spirit always opens a way forward,
the way which consists in casting ourselves into God as into the depths.
And astonishment arises;
these depths are not an abyss;
they are God-fathomless depths of compassion and innocence.
Amen.
Hymn: "Will You Let Me Be Your Servant"
Sharing the Journey: Cooking
As we share the journey together, we testify to God’s sustaining presence and encourage one another by reflecting on spiritual practices that sustain us.
Blessing: "The Peace of the Earth"
The peace of the earth be with you,
the peace of the heavens too;
the peace of the rivers be with you,
the peace of the oceans too.
Deep peace falling over you;
God’s peace growing in you.
El Refugio is a ministry of hospitality and visitation serving immigrants at Stewart Detention Center and their loved ones. The organization hosts visiting families, sends visitors to be present with detainees, and educates the community to increase awareness of immigration detention and advocacy for justice for immigrants.
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Worship Notes
"Migratory God" written and read by Phuc Luu. © The Work of the People. Used with permission.
Scripture reading by Dr. Rebecca F. Spurrier.
Sermon by Dr. Brennan W. Breed.
Prayers of the People from Prayer for Each Day, Taize, GIA Publications, Inc., Chicago, 1998.
"Will You Let Me Be Your Servant" sung by Erin M. Tolar. Text: Richard Gillard, 1977. alt. Music: Richard Gillard, 1977; arr. Betty Pulkingham. Text and Music © 1977 Universal Music - Brentwood Benson Publishing. Used by permission under OneLicense No. A-712628.
Sharing the Journey by Ashley Lewis.
"The Peace of the Earth" video by John L. Bell. Text: Guatemalan traditional. Trans: Christine Carson. Tune: Guatemalan traditional Arr: John L. Bell Trans & Arr © 1998 Christine Carson & WGRG, Iona Community, Scotland. GIA Publications, Inc., w.ww.giamusic.com. Used by permission under OneLicense No. A-712628.
Image curation and service layout by Christópher Abreu Rosario. Images used under Creative Commons agreements and/or through Unsplash, Pixabay, or Flickr. Individual image information below.
Office of Worship Life Team: Dr. Rebecca Spurrier, Kathy Tessin, Christópher Abreu Rosario.
Credits:
Created with images by Kranich17 - "bird migration geese flying" • Finding Dan | Dan Grinwis - "This photo was captured on an adventure across the beautiful Namibian landscape, in Africa. Endless rolling dunes shadowed shapes onto the sand as far as the eye could see. The only trace of life is left in the wake of footprints briefly following your lead, before being swept away by the wind. What a beautiful place." • Sander Weeteling - "Rainy forest path" • Ian Kiragu - "Liberty" • Michael Shannon - "Sunset at La Jolla Beach, San Diego " • Anastase Maragos - "Street photography in Omonia, Athens, Greece. Check me out on Instagram: @VisualsByRoyalZ" • xandro Vandewalle - "Exploring the beautiful Ayutthaya" • Andrew Neel - "Our boots splashed through puddles as we approached the Stone Mountain lookout. We stepped out of the forest and into, what felt like an alien world. The sweeping view of the Blue Ridge Mountains that we had expected was hidden behind a wall of fog; the bare rock face the mountain had become known for was all that was visible. It felt as though we were walking on the moon. Illustrations from the “The Little Prince” that I had read as a kid came to mind. Curious to see what the edge of the world looked like, we ventured out, daring to go only so far before turning back." • Kyle Glenn - "In the Wild" • Sven Huls - "Grain portrait" • Danny Howe - "Clear Direction" • Joshua Earle - "untitled image" • Alasdair Elmes - "untitled image" • pauldaley1977 - "lost child boy" • Leon_Ting - "montenegro hiking hiker" • Sorin Gheorghita - "Woman hiking in the woods." • Roland Denes - "untitled image" • Mikita Yo - "https://www.instagram.com/mikita.yo/" • analogicus - "fog dawn landscape" • Chuan - "untitled image" • James Beheshti - "Toronto: SOS by Ann Hirsch & Jeremy Angier - 25 figures cling to inner tubes on the water, each figure represents more than one million refugees in the world." • Katherine Gu - "Is your soul missing too?" • Ozan Safak - "Life is a theater scene. It depends on you whether to be or not to be." • Joanna Nix-Walkup - "You see my face- not my story" • Pavel Anoshin - "Grange man" • Mason Wilkes - "Crosswalks" • Satterwhite.B - "Stranger 2" • russpetcoff - "100 Strangers Project #1" • john.purvis - "Street Portrait 18: Mollie" • mac.rj - "313.365 : Photographing Strangers" • Thomas Leuthard - "Strangers..." • grisha_21 - "Stranger" • Irene Strong - "Tajik boy..." • Evan Dvorkin - "untitled image" • Jimmy Chang - "Woman beneath trees and sun" • Glodi Miessi - "Snaps taken from the annual Notting Hill Carnival, celebrating Black-British culture and history through dance, food and music." • F. Montino - "a Stranger" • d26b73 - "Stranger #6" • Luis Quintero - "untitled image" • milliepants - "woman" • Juan Encalada - "During my time in my masters program in UX Design I worked with many talented designers from a variety of backgrounds. In a Service Design for Social Innovation module, I had the pleasure of working with Ruifu Huang (Jimmy). Jimmy is a thinker. Someone who always asks why and tries to look at things from another angle, often offering a different perspective. He is hardworking and dependable, someone you definitely want on your team. Near the end of the project I decided to take team pictures in the Design School so that we could capture the moment and cherish the memories." • Two Roses - "Old Woman" • chris_hau - "Turkish Man" • Christopher Campbell - "untitled image" • Maatla Seetelo - "untitled image" • Bernhard_Staerck - "refugees sea human"