1. a doorway into life . . .
WORSHIP WITH CAPITOL HEIGHTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1100 Fillmore St.
Denver, Colorado 80206
May 28, :30 am MT USA
Memorial Weekend During Easter Season

2. “ Nelia shares how one man, after taking a shower, said to her ‘in a kind of confession, This morning I felt so ashamed I have to ride the bus an hour and a half to get here to get a shower I felt so bad for the people who had to sit next to me on the bus because I knew they had to smell my stink. It feels so good to get a shower. It feels so good to have that smell washed off me.’ Or, in the words of another man, ‘I feel like a human being again!’ . . .
“By recognizing the showers as baptism, the Open Door carries on the legacy of prophets charged with announcing the reign of God in word and deed. The connection between water and the justice struggle has long been established: the prophet Amos announced, ‘Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream’. John came out of the wilderness baptizing and proclaiming the nearness of God’s reign; and King saw with sacramental vision even the fire hoses intended for harm as waters of baptism establishing communities of justice. In a movement that many identified as the black church on the streets, King attributes the victory of the Birmingham campaign (and thus the Civil Rights Act) to the power of baptism. ‘[Police Commissioner] Bull Conner didn’t know history’, he says. ‘He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn’t relate to the transphysics that we knew about We had known water. If we were Baptist or some other denomination, we had been immersed. If we were Methodist, and some others, we had been sprinkled, but we knew water.’”

3. But let justice roll down like waters,
Our blue light shines with prayers for healing for all who struggle with AIDS.
Our light amid barbed wire shines with prayers for healing and freedom
for all with chronic illness, severe pain, and under oppression,
and for all who suffer from spread of violence.
We always light a candle in prayer for Shalom,
the fullness of peace and well-being.
Our opening -
The work of prayer is gaining God’s eye in seeing the world;
let us share this God’s eye view
and thus, this prayer:
But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
And remember, Jesus said of his calling,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free . . .
and in expressing his purpose in ministry, he added -
Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing . . .
THE LORD OF THE DANCE Hymn 302

4. for those that continue to touch and heal and bless -
Let us pray - for those hands that have nurtured our lives and gone before us,
for those that continue to touch and heal and bless -
Blessed be the works of Your hands, O Holy One.
Blessed be these hands that have touched life.
Blessed be these hands that have nurtured creativity.
Blessed be these hands that have held pain.
Blessed be these hands that have embraced with passion.
Blessed be these hands that have tendered gardens.
Blessed be these hands that have closed in anger.
Blessed be these hands that have planted new seeds.
Blessed be these hands that have harvested ripe fields.
Blessed be these hands that have cleaned, washed, mopped, scrubbed.
Blessed be these hands that have become knotty with age.
Blessed be these hands that are wrinkled and scarred from doing justice.
Blessed be these hands that hold the promise of the future.
Blessed be the works of Your hands, O Holy and Loving One.
Into Your hands, O God of all creation, we entrust life, our lives and that of all we love - we see all in Your hands that bring fulfillment and life eternal, amen.
Our prayer continued - OPEN MY EYES THAT I MAY SEE, Hymn 324

5. The Morning Offering with this Musical Reflection -
The Gospel - Luke 11:33-52
The Morning Offering with this Musical Reflection -
 "Hark, I Hear The Harps Eternal" Gilbert M. Martin
(based on the early American melody "Invitation") words Traditional
A Reflection on Having Eyes to See
Beyond A Dream, a response . . .
words and music by David Yantis
If you look beyond a dream to a time when the world wasn’t cold
to hunger, to suffering, to need, and you found beyond a dream there were those
with their hearts filled with love, who reached out to answer that need.
Why then can’t that time be now? Why then can’t that time be now?
If you look beyond a dream to a place where the labor of love
had laid bare the seeds of distrust, and you found beyond a dream there were those with their hearts seeking peace, who made hate a thing of disgust.
Why then can’t that place be here? Why then can’t that place be here?
If you look beyond a dream to a land where we all stood with pride
defending our right to be free, and you found beyond a dream there were those
with their hearts born of hope, who struggling had found unity.
Why then can’t that land be ours? Why then can’t that time be now?

6. Let us join in prayerful remembrance, naming names . . .
Our prayer continues in celebrations, concerns, opportunities and reflections . . .
THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine; this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine; this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine; everywhere I go I’m gonna let it shine;
everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Now that we have hope, we’re gonna let it shine; now that we have hope, we’re gonna let it shine; now that we have hope, we’re gonna let it shine.
We will now rejoice, we’re gonna let it shine; we will now rejoice, we’re gonna let it shine; we will now rejoice, we’re gonna let it shine.
Sending forth - The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord’s smile of life be lifted upon you to shine into your own smile;
the Lord’s peace govern your words and deeds
till they are full of that gift of peace, amen.

7. Debra and Sonya provide leadership for this gathering of the children.
Please join us for fellowship in our downstairs social hall immediately following the worship, if you can stay.
Today’s Dialogue at 11 is both a Bible Study and Theological Reflection looking again at our worship themes for May and the grounding of our lives in Gospel being.
Children gather as well at 11 for faith explorations involving children from both of our church communities, Capitol Heights and the Ten-Thirty Community.
Debra and Sonya provide leadership for this gathering of the children.
Next Sunday is the Festival of Pentecost. Our practice has been that the 1st Sunday of June is an Ecumenical Sunday with worship at 11, but this year that has been moved to June 11, so next Sunday we gather at our regular time of 9:30, with worship then and a Dialogue at 11 to continue reflection on the meaning of Pentecost.