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GATHERING WITH HOPE
Call to Worship ~ Shared by the Black Family
One: For our community gathered here, for the spirit that called us together and drew us to this place:
All: Let us give thanks.
One: For moments we have shared with others;
for times when we have reached out across barriers of
distance and fear; for times when others have
reached out to us:
All: Let us again give thanks.
One: For our weaving together out of many separate selves
this hour of celebration and reflection:
All: We give thanks this day.
Singing Our Faith ~ Weave, Weave
by Rosemary Crow
Chorus
Weave, weave, weave us together
Weave us together in unity and love.
Weave, weave, weave us together,
Weave us together, together in love.
1. We are many textures, we are many colors,
Each one diff’rent from the other.
But we are entwined with one another in one great tapestry.
Chorus
2. We are diff’rent instruments playing our own melodies,
Each one tuning to a diff’rent key.
But we are all playing in harmony in one great symphony.
Chorus
3. Moments ago we did not know our unity, only diversity.
Now the Christ in me greets the Christ in thee,
In one great family.
Chorus
The Wide Spectrum of Mothering
Written by Amy Young and Shared by the Black Family
One: To those who gave birth this year to their first child -
All: we celebrate with you.
One: To those who lost a child this year –
All: we mourn with you.
One: To those who are in the trenches with little ones every
day and wear the badge of food stains –
All: we appreciate you.
One: To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away -
All: we mourn with you.
One: To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment -
All: we walk with you.
Forgive us when we say foolish things.
We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.
One: To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and
spiritual moms –
All: we need you.
One: To those who have warm and close relationships with your children –
All: we celebrate with you.
One: To those who have disappointment, heartache, and
distance with your children –
All: we sit with you.
One: To those who lost their mothers this year –
All: we grieve with you.
One: To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your
own mother –
All: we acknowledge your experience.
One: To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests,
and the overall testing of motherhood –
All: we are better for having you in our midst.
One: To those who have aborted children –
All: we remember them and you on this day.
One: To those who are single and long to be married and
mothering your own children –
All: we mourn that life has not turned out the way you
longed for it to be.
One: To those who step-parent –
All: we walk with you on these complex paths.
One: To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren, yet that dream is not to be –
All: we grieve with you.
One: To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year
All: we grieve and rejoice with you.
One: To those who placed children up for adoption –
All: we commend you for your selflessness and
remember how you hold that child in your heart.
One: To those who adopt a child, and to those who are
pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –
All: we anticipate with you.
One: This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst.
All: We acknowledge and remember you.
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