november30, 2025

asbcsite
Nov 30, 2025
4 min read

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Boon Lin Ngeo

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

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Prelude Debbie Deane

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

Chalice Lighting “We Meet on Holy Ground” (excerpt)

from In the Holy Quiet: Meditations by Richard S. Gilbert

We meet on holy ground,

Brought into being as life encounters life,

As personal histories merge into the communal story,

As we take on the pride and pain of our companions,

As separate selves become community.

May our souls capture this treasured time.

May our spirits celebrate our meeting

In this time and in this space,

For we meet on holy ground.

Opening Hymn: “Come, Sing A Song With Me” SLT 346

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship: Psalm 99 Awaken

by Christine Robinson in Psalms for a New World https://doubterpsalms.blogspot.com

One: Awaken to the awesome mystery of God Who cradles the earth and all her peoples

,All: Who planted the laws of justice and mercy in our hearts, Who nurtured and nudged the saints of the ages and the teachers of the people.

One: Forgiving them their faults, mistakes, addictions, and selfishness, And invited them to grow and change.

All: Awaken to this awesome mystery—

Follow it all your days.

Prayer of Invocation

Sacred Readings:

Exodus 1: The Hebrew Midwives, Shiphrah and Puah

The king of Egypt had a talk with the two Hebrew midwives; one was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. He said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, if it’s a boy, kill him; if it’s a girl, let her live.”

But the midwives didn’t do what the king of Egypt ordered; they let the babies live. The king of Egypt called in the midwives. “Why didn’t you obey my orders? You’ve let those babies live!”

The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; they’re vigorous. Before the midwife can get there, they’ve already had the baby.”

Proverbs 31: This woman was full of good works…

Her price is above rubies…

“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

[fun fact: Proverbs 31: 10-31 is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet]

Passing of the Peace

Sharing of our Joys and Concerns: Open to the Congregation

Prayers of the People/Pastoral Prayer

Offering

Doxology: “Tis a Gift to Be Simple” SLT 16

Reading: Co-creating in Freedom and with Consent

Texas Representative James Talarico on the Joe Rogan Experience, July 18, 2025

In Genesis, God creates life by breathing life into the first human being, which we later call Adam. Life starts when you take your first breath. And that is actually the mainline position in Judaism, that that’s when life starts. And the last story I would go to is the story of Mary, mother of Jesus. Mary is probably my favorite figure in the Bible—she’s an oppressed peasant teenage girl living in poverty under an oppressive empire as a Jew. And she has a vision from God that she’s going to give birth to a baby who’s going to bring the powerful down from their thrones. But I say all this in the context of abortion because God asks for Mary’s consent, which is remarkable. The angel comes down and asks Mary if this is something that she wants to do, and she says if it is God‘s will, let it be done, let it be. Let it happen. So to me that is an affirmation in one of our most central stories that creation has to be done with consent. You cannot force someone to create. Creation is one of the most sacred acts that we engage in as human beings. But that has to be done with consent, it has to be done with freedom, and to me that is absolutely consistent with the ministry and life and death of Jesus. And so that’s why, and that’s how, I come down on that side of the issue. Again, I’m very open for my fellow Christians to disagree with that, and they may have scriptural passages they point to, but that’s a debate we should be comfortable having.

Hymn of Reflection: “Spirit of Life” SLT 123

Sermon: A Life Well-Lived: The Arlene Carmen Story Abigail Hastings

Closing Hymn: “Beloved Saints and Mentors”

(“I Cannot Think of Them Dead”) SLT96

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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