The Call to Worship

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Amen.

Brave Space by Micky ScottBey Jones

Together we will create brave space

Because there is no such thing as a “safe space”

We exist in the real world

We all carry scars and we have all caused wounds.

In this space

We seek to turn down the volume of the outside world,

We amplify voices that fight to be heard elsewhere,

We call each other to more truth and love

We have the right to start somewhere and continue to grow.

We have the responsibility to examine what we think we know.

We will not be perfect.

This space will not be perfect.

It will not always be what we wish it to be

But

It will be our brave space together,

And, we will work on it side by side.

The Shared Story

In Rage and Solidarity | A Litany by @Blackliturgies

God whose friends fell asleep, 

Whose friends fell asleep to your pain in the garden—

we confess that many of us have fallen asleep to the pain of Asian people in our midst. 

Be near to every Asian person whose pain and trauma is so often ignored, is so often dismissed. 

Help us to bear witness to their tragedies and make space for them in our hearts and minds and cravings for justice. 

May those who fear today be met with divine protection. 

Cover them in a peace that allows them to still grieve in the way we were meant to. 

May those who are angry, be met with a holy rage, 

guide them to people who will not demand their complacency or their emotions to be subdued, 

but who remind them they are worthy of fighting for, of crying for. 

It is not well, and we will say so together. 

Remind us today, their grief will not be erased. 

Inhale: My story belongs.

Exhale: My pain will not be erased. 

Tiny Desk Performance by Kirk Franklin

The Message

Conversation Series | Jesus Christ(s)

When we think of Jesus or the Bible, we inevitably think of a finished conversation. The development Jesus is over with, and the definitions are set in stone. This notion of final and fixed closes our ears to the poetics of Paul and other New Testament authors. A poetic drawn out of rich Jewish tradition, the community's needs, and the Christ event. Throughout the next four weeks, we will experience the generative theological project of Christ through the various poems written about him in the New Testament so that we, the church, can continue walking in it.

Message | The Cosmological Christ

We cannot start from the beginning. We can only start from new beginnings where we create meaning and art out of experiences shaped by traditions. The Bible is no different. Paul created new meanings out of his Jewish tradition to create room for New Creation in the form of an expanding community. Listen carefully to Colossians 1:15-20 and you will hear Genesis 1 whisper to you. A story that began in primordial chaos ended with the possibility of new life and the creation of God's image-bearer. But now we have Rome and Christ, order did not last.

Paul reverses the poem of Genesis by beginning with the image-bearer, Jesus, who will bring the world out of Roman order and into a life-giving community. The re-creation brings life through inclusion, not coercion, and introduces a little chaos into the Roman peace by championing one who inhabits the bloody cross rather than wields it.

Formational Learning

What stood out to you from the liturgy? Were there any points of curiosity, clarity, confusion, conviction, or conflict that emerged as you walked through these stories?

(Head)

The author of Colossians used the creation story in Genesis 1 as a launching point to tell a more expansive and generative story. What changes when the Bible becomes the first word in our story rather than the last word in a debate?

(Heart)

Name a time when you were exposed to a new reading of scripture. What was that experience like for you? What feeling came up? Was it life giving or scary?

(Hands)

Who are some voices you can listen to or read now in order for you to expand your list of “right” voices?

Announcements 

• We have a Slow-Cooker Spirituality group that meets online at 9:30am PST every Thursday. This coming week we will be sitting in Philippians 2:1-11.

  • Using the Head, Heart, Hands questions, spend some time reflecting on the passage and writing down what emerges for you.
    
    (Head) What do I think about what I read?
    
    (Heart) What do I feel as I am reflecting?
    
    (Hands) What do I do to respond?

• Every week we try to get to know our community better, and others who are connected to FōS, through our Shared Story segment in our liturgy. If you have a creative gift or something that you found meaningful to you that you would like to share with the community, please send us an email at hello@fos.church

• Last, one of the ways we invest in the future of FōS is through tithes and offering, generous giving. You can give online at www.fos.church/partner. Make sure to follow the instructions.

Our Benediction

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.*

*Claiborne, Shane. Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (p. 52). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.