Community Worship and Devotion
In this time when our expression of love for one another comes in the act of remaining separate, we long to find ways to still feel connected to our communities. Our Community Worship and Devotion resource is one way we hope to provide meaningful connection.

We invite you to use this worship resource on your own, with your family, or in a virtual worship group to guide your time of prayerful reflection. Find a space in your house to devote to this time. Light a candle to remind you that the spirit of God is with you and that others are gathered in spirit with you, also. If you are meeting with a group, find ways to divide the leadership of the devotion so you not only see other faces but enjoy the sound of many voices.
Most importantly, may you remember and know how loved you are as you read, pray,
sing (if you choose), and listen for God.

Gather
Meditation of Preparation

When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
― Paulo Coelho,  The Alchemist

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
― Emily Dickinson



Call To Worship
Read aloud the Call to Worship below.

God of infinite love and particular compassion, who loves all of us and each of us,
we thank you for the gift of this moment,
and we offer it to you as a gift of praise, of gratitude, of worship.
We bring a patchwork quilt of hopes and fears to this worship,
all bound together by the stubborn belief that what we do in this moment may make a difference in the rest of our lives.
And so we offer this time to you, wanting to believe, daring to believe,
that you would speak, to us.
May the fresh wind of your Spirit blow through this worship
so that we might know your presence. 
More we cannot ask. Less we cannot bear. Amen.
Grace
Hymn of Meditation
Morning Has Broken became widely known when Cat Stevens sang it on his album  Teaser and the Firecat  in 1971, though its first published appearance was actually in 1931. It was originally written by Eleanor Farjeon and was meant to b e a children's hymn. This hymn invites us to be reawakened to the simplicity and beauty of God's world.

Prayers of the People

Included below are the celebrations and concerns of people in your College Park community. Keep them with you this week as you pray - or take a moment in these less-busy, quieter days to extend love with a note or phone call. After reading through these prayer requests, think of others you know who might need some extra support in prayer. Finally, what are some ways you can listen for God's nudging in your own life today? As you conclude this time of prayerful meditation, we invite you to close in the Prayer of Thanksgiving offered below.

Celebrations and Concerns of the Community:
  • Kristy Calvert gave birth to twins Tracy and Trinity on February 3rd at 27 weeks. Both thriving in the NICU at Women's Hospital. Address: 2513 Belmar St, 27407
  • Marjorie Bagley started treatment for breast cancer. Address: 3711 Timberoak Dr, 27410
  • Ed Drew lost a close friend. Address: 2648 Cottage Pl, 27455
  • Melissa Floyd-Pickard's father passed away. Address: 1603 Biscayne Dr, 27410
  • Kristy Reynolds had surgery at Duke Hospital. Address: 3009 Ardoch Dr, 27410
  • Jeff Sasser started treatment for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Address: 3903 Waynoka Dr, 27410
  • Ed Smithey had shoulder surgery on Friday. Address: 3705 Hobbs Rd, 27410

___________________________________________________________________________

Thank you, God, for giving us hearts with the capacity to be compassionate for those who are most vulnerable, and for giving us minds with the ability to be endlessly creative as we work towards taking care of one another during times of crisis.

Thank you, God, for science and medicine and all the helpers who are dedicated to public health.

Thank you, God, for phones and computers and technology that help us stay connected even as we practice physical social distancing.

Thank you, God, for ESPN commentators who remind us that our beloved sports are trivial when we’re facing a public health crisis.

Thank you, God, for rich and meaningful conversations with older family members, friends, and neighbors.

Thank you, God, for unexpected time to be at home with family, take care of house chores, cook, read, journal, draw, play games, make music, watch movies, take walks, rest, and be still.

Thank you, God, for clean water and the spiritual ritual of singing or praying as we wash our hands.

Thank you, God, for pulling back the curtain for us to see more clearly those who are most vulnerable in our society – the elderly, the sick, the poor, the prisoner – and for shining a light on ways we can offer our love, support, and resources to those in need.

Thank you, God, for the gifts of scripture, prayer, meditation, and listening that offers us a sense of your peace in the midst of chaos all around us.

Thank you, God, for the dream of a HUGE PARTY when the threat of COVID-19 passes and we can practice “social re-connecting”!

prayer offered by Kelly Sasser, minister at Watts Street Baptist Church
Hymn of Meditation
Total Praise
Richard Smallwood wrote Total Praise in 1996 when caring for his mother who was struggling with dementia and a friend who was dying of cancer. The song came in a dream. "I felt left by God," Smallwood said. "I was trying to write a pity-party song, but God pulled me into a praise song. God said, 'I want your praise no matter what situation you're in, good or bad.'"

Sam Robson is an audiovisual artist and musician who creates these powerful arrangements of hymns and spirituals.
Grow
Scripture Reading

James 4.8, NIV
Come near to God and God will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners , and purify your hearts, you double-minded.


Reflection - Selah by Michael Usey

So, before the current pandemic, I thought I was washing my hands enough. Shaking hands with people before and after a service, or during the greeting, or before a game with coaches and players, or all the steel & iron one touches in a gym: I touched many others and many surfaces. Turns out, I was not washing my hands near enough.  

On the first day of my unit of Clinical Pastoral Experience (CPE) at University Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, the first thing I learned was how to wash my hands properly. There we were, ten women and men in the men’s bathroom, washing our hands while our supervisor told us what we were doing wrong. It was an odd moment. Not the obsessive hand-washing of Lady MacBeth or Pontius Pilate, nor the careful ten-minute cleansing of a surgeon, but a good one minute scrub. Our supervisors watched us as we thoroughly washed our digits and actually timed us. It was also the day I learned the word nosocomial , something like a disease or infection that originates in a hospital. No one wants a nosocomial infection.

Like many Christian practices, what I know is the right thing to do is not always what I actually do. Knowing what is right or correct does not always translate into actual actions. This is a recurring pitfall of following Jesus: just because I know a thing is crucial or important doesn’t mean I do that thing. I had learned at 23 to wash my hands correctly; since then, not so much--I had gotten slack. Is this always the trajectory of healthy practices and Christian disciplines: starting strong, then tapering off, finishing not with a bang but a whimper? So I’ve resolved again to do what James 4.8 says: to wash my hands literally, and to wash my soul as well.

The word Selah occurs throughout the Hebrew Psalms (and Habakkuk). No one knows what Selah means. Our best guess is that it’s an injection, a Hebrew word found at the verse ends in Psalms and is usually interpreted as an instruction calling for a break in the singing of the Psalm. Selah is used seventy-one times in the Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. R&B artist Lauryn Hill’s song Selah begins, 

Nothing can be done against the truth
No matter how we remain in denial, yeah
Wasting time, replacing time with each empty excuse
But that'll only work a little while.

Selah was used to mean 'pause and consider' in the Babylon 5 episode "Deconstruction of Falling Stars." And I think that’s probably Selah’s best meaning in the Psalms as well.

This time away from all the things is selah , a time to pause and consider. This is our fermata. A fermata is of course a musical term meaning “a pause of unspecified length on a note or rest.” This is a dangerous fermata, certainly--we need to keep washing our hands. This virus will sicken some of us, a few seriously, and perhaps worse. Even so, in this sacred space of no sports, no performing arts, no church gatherings, we can exhale our intense stress. This is a moment we should not waste.

Please do me a solid and consider this: Read a book today, preferably outside, or listen to one. Turn off the computer screen, the TV, the phone, and read something into which someone poured their essence, time, and mind. Read any book you wish: fiction, non-fiction, classic, new, YA, whatever. Don’t read a magazine or an online blog for this; choose a book and read it. Shoot for 20 minutes, or better, an hour. In order to read a book, we have to quiet all the voices within us for a while and attend to what we’re reading. It can be an act of humility.  

Don’t know what to read? We have a half dozen librarians whose job it is to recommend books; they can help (Kari Baumann, Nancy Cravey, Lori Steed, Lisa O’Connor, Keith Burkhead & Deb Calusian) and would love to recommend a good book for you. Both of our book clubs' deadlines have been extended a month until April 28, and we have copies for you at the church. What I’m saying is simply this: Read a book today, outside if possible.

Let us be diligent and faithful to both this communal call to Selah - and to our lenten call to Selah . Not as a way of turning away, but as a way of turning toward with intention - turning inward to see where we are weary and to rediscover what brings our souls joy, turning to God to see where we have grown lacking in our Christian discipline, turning toward each other in genuine love and concern - attuning ourselves to the needs of those around us even as we distance ourselves physically.

This paragraph from the Charlotte’s ministerial council is a good reminder why we should keep this up for such as time as this:

Who are the most vulnerable in our midst? Now isn’t the time merely to fixate on self-protection. We have a responsibility to the aged in our community, and to those with compromised immune systems, to protect, love and serve them in creative ways. Now isn’t the time for hoarding food or supplies or even medical attention. Now is the time to be the generous people that somewhere deep inside we dream of being. As markets continue to reel, those who live on limited resources will face even leaner times. How do we partner with our economically disadvantaged neighbors? We must be a noble community, lifting up those who live on the margins and caring that they endure during these days.

Let it be so with us. Light & love to you, my friends. 
Call, text, or email us if you have needs, or if you just need to connect. Selah.

A final note: We will still be cooking and serving at Greensboro Urban Ministries this Sunday evening (4:30 in our kitchen to cook; 6:15 to serve in our parking lot). We have modified our serving practices to keep a respectful distance for all. Next weekend we will also continue to help with Out of the Garden’s Mobile Market that we staff with Beth David Synagogue at 2:00 at Lindley Park Elementary.

Musical Selection

The text of Mark Miller's choral composition "I Believe" is taken from a prayer that was found etched into the wall of the Auschwitz concentration camp:

I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love even when I don’t feel it.
I believe in God even when God is silent.

We pray you might find comfort in this recording of our combined choirs, from April 1 of last year. Let it remind us that the light continues to shine even in the darkness, we are loved even at a distance, and (as Michael reminded us last week) God is with us even in the silence.

Give
There are many ways to give back in gratitude for all God has done for us – in time, in talents, in financial stewardship – and each of these ways helps support the ministries of College Park.

Our online giving options include billpay through your bank, one-time or recurring payment option through FaithStreet, and venmo. Contact the church office or someone on staff if you need help. 
Go
A few things to remember before you close:
  • Someone from our staff will be present at the church office each day. Please call the office or contact one of our ministers directly if you have questions, concerns or needs during this time. 
  • We have an excellent team of deacon ministers who will be reaching out to you. You can also let them know of any needs or concerns you have.
  • If you do not feel comfortable leaving your home for groceries, medicines, etc., let us do this for you.
  • We encourage you to take all precautions you feel necessary to keep yourself and your family healthy. 
  • In what ways you are able, let this be a time for you (and your family) to rest, slow down, and reflect on the ways you see and experience the goodness of God and others.


Benediction

Friends, remember -
by the goodness of God you were born into this world;
by the grace of God, you have been kept all day long, even until this hour;
by the love of God, fully-revealed in the face of Jesus,
you are being redeemed.