Watch Night Service Liturgy

Greeting: Tonight is a night to celebrate freedom from bondage and

oppression.
Tonight we reclaim the truth that our lives have always
mattered.
Tonight we remember the cost in courage, lives, and human
anguish to give us our birthright of freedom.

Tonight we thank Jesus and all those who have followed the
Divine example, making it possible for us to have so much to
celebrate.
Tonight we accept our responsibility to protect and expand those
same freedoms for those still oppressed and for those who will
come after us.

Hymn: “Come, Let Us Use the Grace Divine” 606 UMH

Opening Prayer:
Spirit of Freedom, we do not realize where You have been, and
we rarely recognize where You are going. You are unstoppable.
You are beyond human control. You created us in Your image,
with free will to choose the life we are going to live in this world.
Unloose the bonds of our internalized racism, sexism,
nationalism, and every other falsehood that cause us to deny our
own personhood. Show us the truth, You who are the whole
Truth and nothing but the Truth. Teach us about ourselves and
the dignity of every creature, that we might all bring glory to
Your Holy Name. Amen.

Litany of Thanksgiving:
Let us give thanks to God for our freedom.

Thank You for proclaiming as steadfast “Yes” when all the world
has consistently shouted “No”. You say “Yes” to human dignity,
when You heard the cries of babies separated from their mamas.
You say “Yes” to sacred worth, when others were yelling, “No,
you are less than human, less than a beloved child of God.”

We open our hearts to Your “Yes”!

Thank you for forming all of us into a beloved community, when

others were preaching that we do not belong. You never
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 discriminate, because You are the one who made the color of our
skin, and You fell in love with it. You do not discriminate,
because You are the one who made the texture of our hair, and
You fell in love with it. You do not discriminate, because we are
all Your children, called by Your name, and are all members, by
the blood of Jesus, in the same family.

We open our hearts to Your beloved community.

Thank you for inspiring hope. They laughed and mocked as

Jesus was being lynched, just as others laughed and mocked
through the ages, those with little power. Our cause was
proclaimed hopeless, but just as Jesus arose from the dead
sharing eternal hope, we too arise. They knock us down, yet we
arise. They may shame and denigrate, yet we arise. They
arrest us, imprison us, yet we arise. They bomb Christian
churches and murder our children, yet we arise. Thank you for
the hope that will not disappoint.

We open our hearts to hope.

We thank you, that on our darkest days, you are with us and
never leave us. In the dark, stinking holds of ships, and prison
cells You never left us. When we were hungry, and cheated, You
were there and felt it all. In fact, whatever evil we have
experienced, it was not done just to us, but it was done to You.
And You counted it all joy to stand with us, and with all who are
oppressed and stripped of their full personhood.

We open our hearts to joy.

Thank you for freedom: Freedom to be ourselves; Freedom to

love ourselves; Freedom to be families; Freedom to become
who You have called us to be. Thank you for the freedom to
learn, and to grow: Freedom to question; freedom to create
something new; the freedom to dream new dreams and to have
a vision of a better future, not just for ourselves but for
generations to come.

We open our hearts to freedom. Amen

Prayer of Illumination:
We open our hearts to Your Holy Word. Let it be a personal
word, whispered in our ears, Your gentle voice, calling us into
 your loving embrace. Let this be a fresh moving of Your Great
Spirit. Use it to transform the way we think, the way we
perceive, the way we believe, and the way we live as we strive
to follow Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture: II Corinthians 4:7-12

Proclamation:
Beloved community, we have been set free from sin and have
been embraced by God. Through the sacrament of baptism, we
have been joined to the divine family and have been made part
of the covenant community of which Jesus Christ is the open
door. Jesus spilt his own blood, that we might gain membership
without any other price. We have the Divine assurance of our
salvation, of our new life in Christ, the author and perfecter of
our faith. In response to this undeserved gift, we seek to follow
in the ways of compassionate love, and restorative justice
exemplified in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We do not want to take our freedom in Christ for granted, so it is
only right that we from time to time, renew our commitment to
this work of liberation. So today, just as those before us, we
come before the Lord, to examine our lives and renew our
commitment to follow in the ways of freedom, mercy and grace.

Covenant Service

Invitation:
Accept the freedom that God has given you to resist evil in
whatever form it might present itself. Experience more fully the
freedom of the family of God: freedom to think, freedom to love
and be loved, freedom to forgive and to be forgiven, freedom to
take up the responsibilities of a mature member of the
community of faith. The work of liberation continues. Some the
tasks necessary to nurture freedom seem easy and pleasant, but
other tasks are dangerous and demanding. We cannot be
uninvolved, because Christ is involved. We must look at our
participation in this cause of Christ.

Let us, come to Christ in prayer:

I am Your child, a member of Your own family.

I will not act like a stranger.
I will be open to Your direction and respond to the needs
revealed to me by the Spirit of Grace.
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 God wants to use your life to transform the world.

Life Giver, Freedom Bringer, use me in whatever ways You

need.
I trust You completely: I will do anything necessary, even
if it means suffering for Your cause. Place me at the front
of the line with You, or if You want, You can send me
home. Give me an abundance of resources, or give me the
bare minimum, because I trust You. I believe You are
with me when I have everything I think I need, and that
You are with me when I have nothing at all. I have faith
in You, in Your cause, and in Your method of universal
love, and so I place my life completely at Your pleasure
and disposal.

We cannot do this alone. We are completely dependent upon

the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Without You, we cannot
love our enemies. Without You, we cannot bring others joy.
Without You, we cannot bring peace to those who are troubled.
Without You, we cannot show patience with the slow progress of
others. Without You, we cannot respond to others with
kindness. Without You, we live in a world of scarcity. Without
You, we cannot be faithful to our commitments. Without You,
we cannot be gentle with those who have suffered trauma.
Without You, we cannot enjoy the freedom to make healthy
decisions. Because of You, we have become a part of Your
good and perfect gift to the world.

To open ourselves to this reality we must enter into four holy

disciplines:

First, we need to dedicate our lives to full inclusion and go to

where those who are not like us dwell. We need to listen to each
other’s stories and experience each other’s pain. We need to
laugh together and learn to dance to new rhythms. You desire
for us all to become one as You are one.

Second, we need to force ourselves to move toward the pain,

the injury and the harm revealed to our hearts in the lives of
others. We must ask the Lord to heal us of our callousness, and
give to us renewed hearts of compassion. We must train
ourselves to hear the voice of God’s judgment on our behavior,
so we can become instruments of God’s transforming love.
 Third, we need to nurture a willingness to be uncomfortable in
order to be faithful witnesses for the change God is working for
in every society. This uncomfortable truth is a Divine prophetic
word spoken to our hearts and moving us towards the change
God desires in us and in our society.

Fourth, we need to strive to become each day people who exude

relentless hope. To be witnesses for a God who is present and
active, redeeming the world, and setting every person free. God
desires our positive witness and enthusiastic belief in the
Kingdom of God come upon the earth.

Let us prepare to renew our covenant with God and each other.
In a posture of openness to God; let us pray:

Covenant Prayer:
Faithful and True, I want to be just like You, but I are not
there yet. Forgive me for not only my lack of
understanding, but my unwillingness to change. Thank
You for not giving up on me, help me to better recognize
the needs of others, and the freedom You have given me
to be a blessing and not a curse, so that all might join me
in bringing glory to Your holy name.

God desires that we get rid of all our idols.

I renounce them all: my racism, my ethnocentrism, my

nationalism, my sexism, and every other way that I have
pretended to be god. I acknowledge the gift of my
undeserved privilege, that I have used unintentionally and
intentionally to harm others. Every gift I have is not my
own, but Yours for the salvation of the world.

God invites us to become one with Christ and one with each
other.

I do not want the world to see me, but Christ in me. I will
allow them to experience Christ’s forgiveness as I forgive.
I will allow them to experience Christ’s mercy, as I show
mercy. I will allow them to experience Christ’s
restorative justice as I work to restore the lives of those
who have been traumatized.

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Grace is the only way to come to a liberating relationship with
the Divine.

Jesus, I accept Your sacrifice for me, showing me such

unmerited favor. I come before you as a sinner. I have
harmed the lives of others through the misuse of my
privileges and resources. I have harmed others with my
words, my thoughts and my actions. The opportunity to
walk beside You is far more than I deserve. I do not want
to bring You shame. I seek to become the servant of all
and the master of none. I promise to listen to others,
because I cannot speak for them. This life is not about
me, it is about all of us in You.

You need to be aware that there will be suffering.

Jesus, I want to join with You in solidarity with all who

suffer injustice and oppression. I will be there with You
to wipe tears from their eyes. I will be there with You as
You support those who grieve. I will be there with You
when You raise Your voice so that the voiceless can be
heard.

God has given us love as the rule of your life.

You are love, make me love too. I love You with all of my
heart, all of my soul, all of my mind and all of my
strength. I want join with you in extending unmerited
favor to everybody with no one left out nor left behind.

God knows and searches your life.

You know that we journey together, because You have

always been with me. You know where I have failed You
and others, and You have celebrated every time I have
gotten it right. You know that we are making progress,
even if it seems too slow.
I want to keep becoming better.
Thank You, Light, The Light of the World, and
Enlightenment.
Thank You, Love, Lover, and Sacred Embrace.
Thank You, Wisdom, Word, and Holy Conversation.
 Let these promises and good intentions bring forth the
fruit of righteousness to Your glory now and forever more.
Amen.

Hymn: “Here I am Lord” 593 UMH

Dismissal with blessing: