Taizé, A Time of Prayer
Commemoration of 400th
Anniversary of
Africans Landing in English North America
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Opening Meditation:
Leader: Be still and know that
I am God
People:
Be still and know that I am God
Leader: Be still and know that
I am
People:
Be still and know that I am
Leader: Be still and know
People:
Be still and know
Leader: Be still
People:
Be still
Leader: Be
People:
Be
[Sung in English]
Psalm
137 (1-6), Lament over Destruction of Jerusalem
By
the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.
“You may choose to look the other way
but you can never say again that you did not know.”
On
the willows there
we hung up our harps.
For
there our captors
asked us for songs,
and
our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’
“You may choose to look the other way
but you can never say again that you did not know.”
How
could we sing the LORD’s song
in a foreign land?
If I
forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
Let
my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I
do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
“You may choose to look the other way
but you can never say again that you did not know.”
[Response
from abolitionist William Wilberforce, speech to British Parliament, 1791]
Silence
[Sung in English]
The Reading: Luke 4: 16-21
16 When Jesus
came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the
sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17and the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found
the place where it was written:
18 ‘The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
20And he rolled up the scroll,
gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue
were fixed on him. 21Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this
scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Silence
Intercessions (from the Union of Black Episcopalians)
Sanctus Bell
to be rung three times after each intercession
Lector: As we commemorate the
400th Anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in Virginia in 1619, the
church invites us to give thanks for the resilience and cultural contributions
of people from the African diaspora. Therefore, let us offer our prayers to our
Loving, Liberating and Life-giving God. (pause)
Repairing God, help us to lift every
voice and sing, ‘til earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of Liberty
for all your children, that our divisions may cease and we may be one. By your
might;
People: Lead us into the light.
Sanctus Bell is rung
three times
Lector: Reconciling God, we
have come over a way that with tears has been watered, we have come, treading
our path through the blood of the slaughtered, give us grace to see in each
other the face of Christ. By your might;
People: Lead us into the light.
Sanctus Bell is rung
three times
Lector: Resilient God, keep us
forever in your path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God,
where we met you in gift of friend and stranger, in the crucible of fortitude
and struggle, that we never forget the ancestors who have brought us thus far
by faith. By your might;
People: Lead us into the light.
Sanctus Bell is rung
three times
Lector: Restoring God, yet
with a steady beat, our weary feet have come to the places for which our
parents sighed, inspire us with the energy to run with perseverance the race
that is set before us, keeping our eyes fixed on you. By your might;
People: Lead us into the light.
Sanctus Bell is rung
three times
Lector: God of Hope, stony the
road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, born in the day that hope unborn had
died, revive in us your people that sense of hope that never fails so that we
can make new this old world in the name of Jesus our brother. AMEN.
(Said in unison)
God, Creator, bring us new life.
Jesus, Redeemer, renew and strengthen us.
Holy Spirit, Sustainer, guide us and give us your peace. AMEN.
Prayers
Around the Cross –
Those who
wish to make their silent prayers around the cross are invited to move to the
seats located there and return to your seat when finished.
Concluding Prayers
Collect for the African
Diaspora
God of our weary years, God of our
silent tears, you who have brought us thus far on the way; Give us grace to
honor the lives of your precious children, enslaved in body yet free in mind.
May we forever stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before and make no
peace with oppression, that children of slaves and former slave owners may one
day live in harmony; through Jesus Christ our liberator, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, One God for ever and ever. Amen.
(From Compline, Book of Common Prayer) Said together
Lord, you now have set your servant free *
to go in peace as you have promised;
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
and the glory of your people Israel.
and the glory of your people Israel.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
World without end. Amen.
Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping;
that awake
we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.
we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.
v.3
- Someone’s singing, Lord…. v.4 – Someone’s praying,
Lord…..
V. Let us depart in peace.
R.
Thanks be to God!
Commemoration
of 400th Anniversary of
Africans
Landing in English North America
This month marks the 400th anniversary of
the arrival of the first persons of African descent into the English-speaking
North America. Presiding
Bishop Michael Curry and Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia Bishop James B.
Magness have invited Episcopal churches to take part in a national action to
remember and honor the first enslaved Africans who landed in English North
America at the Jamestown colony in 1619 by tolling their bells for one minute
on Sunday, August 25, 2019 at 3:00 pm ET.
The
Presiding Bishop declared that this commemoration is “part of our continued
work of racial healing and reconciliation.” He called Episcopalians to “join
together with people of other Christian faiths and people of all faiths to
remember those who came as enslaved, who came to a country that one day would
proclaim liberty. And so we remember them and pray for a new future for us
all.” – Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
St.
Richards has no bell tower. But we are a people who seek justice and
reconciliation. In order to honor the calling of our Church to commemorate this
day, we have incorporated the sounding of the sanctus bells we use each week in
our eucharists as a part of our Taize liturgy this evening. We lift our voices
to join with the sounding of the bells together with our Church and with our
countrymen and women of all faiths in remembering this event which would irrevocably
change and shape the country and the people we have become.
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Harry Scott Coverston
Orlando, Florida
If the unexamined life is
not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it religious or
political, is not worth holding. Most things worth considering do not come in
sound bites.
For what does G-d
require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with
your G-d? (Micah 6:8, Hebrew Scriptures)
Do not be daunted by the
enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly
now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to
abandon it. - Rabbi
Rami Shapiro, Wisdom of the
Jewish Sages (1993)
© Harry Coverston
2019
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