july 6, 2025

asbcsite
Jul 2, 2025
5 min read

Guest Preacher: Raquel Irizarry

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

CLICK HERE FOR HYMNS (or scroll to the bottom)

For Your Meditation: “You cannot separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless they (original words “he” and “his”) have their freedom

Our opening Prelude invites you into a time of quiet reflection.

Prelude: Debbie Deane

Chalice Lighting: Beacon of Freedom by Tracy Johnson

We kindle our chalice flame this morning (afternoon, evening)

Awakening the fire of our ancestors in our hearts

Beacon of freedom held out to light the wayLight of reason illuminating the pathSpark of courage igniting our Spirits

Aglow with hope for all we endeavor to do together

Holy flame of times past, brighten this present moment

That we may be the Love that is our center and our foundation, both.

Blessed be.

Opening Hymn: Morning Has Broken

Welcome & Announcements:

Call to Worship: Hopefulness in Bad Times from “You Can’t be Neutral on a Moving Train” by Howard Zinn

One: To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

Many: What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.

One: If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently,

Many: This gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

One: And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future.

Many: The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

Many: May it Be So!

Prayer of Invocation:

First Sacred Reading: The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame …

Passing of the Peace

Sharing of Our Joys & Concerns/Pastoral Prayer

Offering & Doxology: We Give You But Your Own - NCH # 785

Second Sacred Reading: Acts 12 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

James Killed and Peter Imprisoned

12 About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. ²He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. ³After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.) ⁴When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. ⁵While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.

Peter Delivered from Prison

⁶The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. ⁷Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. ⁸The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹Peter^[^a^] went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. ¹¹Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹²As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. ¹³When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.” ¹⁶Meanwhile Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the gate they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷He motioned to them with his hand to be silent and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, “Tell this to James and to the brothers and sisters.” Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. ¹⁹When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

The Death of Herod

²⁰Now Herod^[^b^] was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body, and after winning over Blastus, the king’s personal attendant, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. ²¹On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them. ²²The people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a mortal!” ²³And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents. ²⁵Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to^[^c^] Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name was Mark.