january 18, 2025

asbcsite
Jan 15
4 min read

Preacher: Rev. John Magisano

Please use this Order of Service to easily follow the service online.

CLICK HERE FOR HYMNS (or scroll to the bottom)

For Your Meditation

“If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom,

it makes it all go easier.” Sojourner Truth

Prelude: Debbie Deane

Chalice Lighting: “Every Day a New Beginning”

based on One Minute Prayers (Harvest House)

I love the morning, Lord. I say with the Psalmist,

In the morning, O Lord, hear my voice. In the morning

I lay my needs in front of you, and I wait.

Thank you for the gift of a new day. I feel the peace of your presence.

Before my mind turns to the demands of the day,

I feel the peace of your presence.

As we light this chalice candle, help us hold on to that sense of peace,

Now and throughout our busy days. Amen.

Opening Hymn: “I Sing as I Arise Today” NCH 83

Welcome & Announcements

Call to Worship: Called to a Revolution

[inspired by New Consciousness by James Gustave Speth & the Beatles]

One: You say you want a Revolution

Well, you know, We all wanna change the world.

All: Decades of discourse… and we are stuck.

All that can’t do what must be done: reach the human heart.

One: You tell me that it's evolution, well, you know, We all

wanna change the world. You say you got a real solution…

All: We need a spiritual awakening, a new consciousness—

One: Well, you know, We'd all love to see the plan…

All: Bring on the prophets, the poets and philosophers.

Bring on the writers, musicians, actors, artists—

Bring on the dreamers! Call on our shared humanity.

Call them to help find a new world!

One: Don't you know it's gonna be alright…

All: It’s really gonna be alright. Alright! Amen!

Prayer of Invocation

Sacred Readings:

Luke 4: 5-8

The Adversary took Jesus up on a high mountain. He had Jesus look at all the nations of the world and said, “I will give You all this power and greatness. It has been given to me. I can give it to anyone I want to. If You will worship me, all this will be Yours.” Jesus said to the devil, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You must worship the Lord your God. God alone will you adore.’”

Luke 4:16-21

Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because the Most High has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

God has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of our Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He said to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Passing of the Peace

Sharing of Our Joys & Concerns/Pastoral Prayer

Offering & Doxology: “For the Fruit of All Creation” NCH 425

Reading: “We Are Not the Resistance” by Michelle Alexander

[excerpt, New York Times, September 21, 2018]

“Every leap forward for American democracy—from slavery’s abolition to women’s suffrage to minimum-wage laws to the Civil Rights Acts to gay marriage—has been traceable to the revolutionary river, not the resistance. In fact, the whole of American history can be described as a struggle between those who truly embraced the revolutionary idea of freedom, equality and justice for all and those who resisted.”

Hymn of Reflection: “’Tis Winter Now; the Fallen Snow” NCH 432

Sermon: You Say You Want a Revolution – Abigail Hastings

Closing Hymn: “We Seek A Mighty Nation” (see below)

and “We Shall Overcome” NCH 570

Benediction: Abigail Hastings

Postlude: Debbie Deane

All Souls Bethlehem Church

An Open and Affirming Congregation

Pastor: Rev. Dr. Boon Lin Ngeo

Ministers: All Members of ASBC

Minister Emeritus: Rev. Bill Nye

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