Today’s service has THREE choices.  You may view the Live Stream on Facebook at this link:  https://fb.me/e/3FoAPmeQr, hear it in the church parking lot at 107.1 FM, or join us in person inside (masking preferred). 

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Gathering Music for Reflection and Settling             Polly Dunford

Welcome and Announcements                 Sarah Shumpert

Opening Hymn “O Young and Fearless Prophet”                      Handout

Words by S. Ralph Harlow; Music by William Lloyd

1)  O young and fearless Prophet of ancient Galilee:

your life is still a summons to serve humanity,

to make our thoughts and actions less prone to please the crowd,

to stand with humble courage for truth with hearts unbowed.

2)  O help us stand unswerving against war’s bloody way,

where hate and lust and falsehood hold back your holy sway;

forbid false love of country, that turns us from your call

who lifts above the nation the neighborhood of all.

3)  Create in us the splendor that dawns when hearts are kind,

that knows not race nor station as bound’ries of the mind;

that learns to value beauty, in heart, or mind, or soul,

and longs to see God’s children as sacred, perfect, whole.

4)  Stir up in us a protest against unneeded wealth;

for some go starved and hungry who plead for work and health.

Once more give us your challenge above our noisy day,

and come to lead us forward along your holy way.

Readings from Prophetic Voices              Rev. Dr. Steven Morgan

Long Guns

Then came Oscar*, the time of the guns,

And there was no land for a man, no land for a country,

      Unless guns sprang up

      And spoke their language.

The how of running the world was all in guns.

The law of a God keeping sea and land apart,

The law of a child sucking milk,

The law of stars held together,

      They slept and worked in the heads of men

      Making twenty-mile guns, sixty-mile guns,

      Speaking their language

      Of no land for a man, no land for a country

      Unless… guns… unless… guns.

There was a child wanted the moon shot off the sky,

      asking a long gun to get the moon,

      to conquer the insults of the moon,

      to conquer something, anything,

      to put it over and run up the flag,

To show them the running of the world was all in guns.

There was a child wanted the moon shot off the day.

They dreamed… in the time of the guns… of guns.

Carl Sandburg – 1919

(*Oscar F. Mossberg [1866–1937], American gun manufacturer)

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place;

 for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Matthew 26.52  NRSV

Message                           Rev. Dr. Steven Morgan

Rev. Morgan, Sir, so, you say the traditional narrative of the meaning of the story and message of Jesus we were taught and have believed is wrong and is actually just a product of historical, social, political, theological, and institutional processes. If so, then what was the historical man Jesus really all about and what were his teachings really about?

Three Vignettes – Strong Arm Power vs. Subversive Power

1. Matthew 17:14-21

[After Jesus’ disciples are unable to cure a boy...] Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (NRSV)

1. Matthew 5:38-41

“But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well, and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” (NRSV)

1. Luke 19:28-40

Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt…. Untie it and bring it here. … Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Prayer Concerns and Celebrations            Sarah Shumpert

Prayer of Response         Rev. Dr. Steven Morgan

Closing Hymn     “Blowin’ In the Wind”                  Handout

Words and Music by Bob Dylan

1)  How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?

Yes, and How many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly before they’re forever banned?

The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind, the answer is blowin’ in the wind.

2)  How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?

Yes, and How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?

Yes, and How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?

The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind, the answer is blowin’ in the wind.

3)  How many years can a mountain exist before it’s washed to the sea?

Yes, and How many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free?

Yes, and How many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn’t see?

The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind, the answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Closing                                Rev. Dr. Steven Morgan

Discussion

Singing of Shalom      (meaning - “May you be well and whole and in communion with all creation.”)

        Shalom, my friends, Shalom, my friends, Shalom, Shalom.

       Till we meet again, Till we meet again, Shalom, Shalom.

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Calendar of Service    

August 28 - Rev. Laura Collins

September 4 - Rev. Lucy Youngblood

Communion and 1st Sunday Potluck lunch. Bring a dish to share.

September 11 - Rev. Keith Ray

September 18 - Rev. Keith Ray

September 25 - Rev. Keith Ray

  

On Monday, September 12, at 6:00 PM, see “At The River”, a feature-length documentary about a certain time and place in the deep south, at Fourth Presbyterian Church, 703 E. Washington Street, Greenville.  In the Civil Rights era of the 50s and 60s, most Presbyterian ministers stood on the banks of the cultural river of segregation and white supremacy. Some opted not to stir the waters in their congregations and communities by speaking out. However, a few young southern Presbyterian ministers braved those currents through their sermons, community organizing, and participating in marches and protests. They faced dangerous, hate-filled consequences for these actions. "At The River" chronicles their lives and their decisions, as well as director Carolyn Crowder’s firsthand experience as a young white southern girl from Montgomery, Alabama. During those mean and turbulent times these ministers, through their love and example, had a huge impact on her life in helping her overcome her southern racist brainwashing.   

A 60+2 Year Anniversary Celebration and Commemoration of the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology will host an Interactive Conversation with Panelists and the Audience on Sunday September 18, 2022, 4:00 PM in the Benson Room of the Bleckley Inn, 151 E.

Church Street, Anderson, SC.  Refreshments will be served.  No registration required — only an interest in progressive thought.

Featuring a Panel Presentation of Present and Past Board Members:  Betty Gable, Eugenia Hall, Tom Richie, Jim Ross, Stuart Sprague, and Steven Morgan, Moderator.

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Remember in prayer: Linda McFall; Mike Johnston; Shea Marsden; Taylor Bishop (Whitney’s niece); Family and Friends of Terry Ann Hayes; Jason Harding; Steve Hallowell; Pat Weddle; Glenn Burns; Tim and Michael Little-Bell and family; Jackie Moore; Whitney Bishop; Latha and Cheryl Semones; Immigrant families; Victims of all violence, oppression, and injustice; Victims of COVID-19; People of Ukraine; Victims of mass shootings