United Church of Christ

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

February 7, 2021 Zoom Worship

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

PRELUDE There is a Balm in Gilead African-American Performed by Abraham Boyd at The Riverside Church Spiritual

There is a balm in Gilead 2 Don’t ever be discouraged, To make the wounded whole; For Jesus is your friend; There is a balm in Gilead And if you lack for knowledge, To heal the sin-sick soul. He’ll ne'er refuse to lend. [Refrain]

1 Sometimes I feel discouraged 3 If you cannot preach like Peter, And think my work’s in vain, If you cannot pray like Paul, But then the Holy Spirit You can tell the love of Jesus Revives my soul again. [Refrain] and say, “He died for all!” [Refrain]

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS Rev. Eric Sherlock

CALL TO WORSHIP1 Deborah Daily *(Ase (or às̩e̩ or ashe; pronounced ah-shay) is a West African philosophical concept through which the Yoruba of Nigeria conceive the power to make things happen and produce change.)

One: In a beginning before humans were formed and nature knew God’s great presence, the Spirit moved over the universe. All: Ashe! The earth is the Lord’s and is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for God has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.

One: In quiet peace God created humans, women and men, colorful, balanced and creatively diverse and the beauty of God’s love filled the earth All: Ashe!

One: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. In honor of Black History Month we remember names because of the ancestors who made a way out of no way with God before them, beside them, and lovingly guiding succeeding generations: Nana Yaa Asantewa of Ashanti, Taharqa, ruler of Napatan Kush, Queen Nzingha, West African military ruler, Mansa Musa I, Emperor of the West African Islamic Empire All: Ashe!

One: Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, Gabriele Prosser, Nate Turner and Denmark Vesey, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Jerena Lee, WEB DuBois, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King, Jr., Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Ella Baker. These and more represent the great cloud of witnesses. Their spirits linger with us creating new generations of warriors, preachers, prophets, teachers, activists, organizers, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters of the African Diaspora. All: Ashe! After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed with palm branches in their hands.

One: Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord! All: Ashe and Amen.

PASSING THE PEACE Mary Courtenay One: Peace be with you. All: And also with you. One: Let us greet one another with waves and smiles and pass the peace of Christ using the chat feature.

OPENING HYMN Oh Christ the Healer, We Have Come

1 Call to Worship for Black History Month was written by Rev. Dr. Velda Love, Minister for Racial Justice UCC. Copyright 2020, Justice and Local Church Ministries, Faith INFO Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115-1100

TIME WITH CHILDREN Rev. Todd Atkins-Whitley

SCRIPTURE LESSON Mark 1:29-39 Mary Courtenay

SERMON Confronting Our Demons Pastor Eric

ANTHEM I Shall Not Walk Alone & The Blind Boys of Alabama

Battered and torn When I'm tired and weary still I can see the light and a long way from home tattered and worn I reach for Mother Mary but I must kneel to fight and I shall not walk alone

Friend of mine Beauty that what can't you spare we left behind I know some times how shall we it gets cold in there tomorrow find

When my legs no longer carry Set aside and the warm wind chills my bones our weight in sin I reach for Mother Mary so that we and I shall not walk alone can live again

Hope is alive When my legs no longer carry while we're apart and the warm wind chills my bones only tears I reach for Mother Mary speak from my heart and I shall not walk alone break the chains that hold us down —Ben C. Harper and we shall be forever bound

TIME OF PRAYER Pastor Todd Sharing our Joys and Concerns (Email your requests to Pastor Eric or type them in the chat window.) All: Hear our prayer

Pastoral Prayer The Lord’s Prayer (using these words or the words most familiar to you) Our Loving God, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. Amen

TIME OF GIVING Deborah Daily Invitation to Giving During this time of virtual worship, we invite you to give online via our web site and clicking “Donate” in the upper right of the screen. Doxology Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise God, all creatures here below; Praise God above, ye heavenly host; Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost. Amen Offertory Prayer

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

INVITATION2 Brothers, Sisters, and Siblings, this is the mighty feast, the joyful feast, the holy feast of and for the people of God. This table represents a level of welcome, inclusion, and imagery which can only be experienced through the power of the Holy Spirit. We have come from all walks of life. We have come from a life of privilege. We have come from a life of poverty. We have either come from a life of oppression or we are oppressors. We have come as financially stable. We have come with nothing. We have come with opportunity and new mercies. The one thing we all share at this table is that we come.

Our prayer is that we come together because we are invited not by the church or the leaders but by Jesus Christ himself. This is God’s table. Our Savior invites all who trust him to come.

SURSUM CORDA One: God be with you. All: And also with you. One: Lift up your hearts. All: We lift them to God. One: Let us give thanks to God. All: It is right to give our thanks and praise.

THE GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING It is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks, God of majesty and mercy. For you have called forth the creation and raising us from dust by your ruach. We bless you for the beauty and bounty by which each of us was wonderfully made in your image. We thank you God for the gift of the indigenous people of Zimbabwe, Mali, Ghana, Uganda, Congo, Kenya, Libya, Senegal, Nigeria, Togo, Zambia, and Haiti. There are many other places not mentioned but acknowledged for your astounding creation.

It is in our rejoicing that we give thanks for your creation of these, your Black children for their contributions to our being; Dr. Shirley Jackson for fiber-optic cable, for Lewis Latimer for carbon filament (inner light bulb), for Marie Van Brittan Brown for closed-circuit television security, for Otis Boykin for the pacemaker, for Lonnie Johnson for the Super Soaker and thermoelectric energy converters, for Charles Drew for the blood bank, for Marian Croak for VoIP, for Lisa Gelobter for animated Gifs on the web, for Philip Emeagwali—a drop out—for the world’s fastest computer, for Jesse Wilkins, Jr., for the math behind gamma radiation, for Garrett Morgan for the gas mask and the traffic signal, for Mary and Mildred Davidson for women’s feminine products, the walker, and the tissue holder, and for Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, an American immunologist at the forefront of the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. Above all, we give thanks for the gift of Jesus, your son and our Savior.

Because we are thankful we join our voices together in praise

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna in the highest!

Christ was born fully human and fully divine. He shares in our joys and sorrows. He shared in the joy of our resilience despite the deathly terror of the African enslavement, and shared in the sorrow that his gospel didn’t compel transformation and quick abolition. He shared in the joy of the Emancipation Proclamation but equally shared in the sorrow of a people who have

2 Black History Month Communion Liturgy borrowed and adapted with gratitude from More Light Presbyterian Network. Special thanks to authors, Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown and Rev. Amanda Barbee. https://mlp.org/document/black-history-month- communion-liturgy/

worked so hard to override, overturn, and recreate that which it was designed to eradicate. Yet and still he offered his life in obedience and trust in God.

We bless you, O God, for the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit leads us into truth, fights for justice and equality, continues to gather us as believers even in the face of adversity, and moves us to be empowered by your love. It is the movement of the Holy Spirit that allows us to trust in the life, death, and resurrection which reconciles us to you.

We pray O Lord, that as we take this bread and this wine as a gift from you that we may celebrate with joy and hope of the redemption won for us in Jesus Christ. Please pour out your blessings on this bread and this cup as we remember you, your gifts, and your mystery. Help us to be forever mindful that Black Lives Matter and are beloved by you.

Great is the mystery of faith.

Dying you destroyed our death, Rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory.

SHARING THE BREAD AND CUP On the night that he was wrongfully incarcerated, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it into pieces without the suggestion of privilege or supremacy. He gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way, Jesus lifted the cup to those in need of liberation and empowerment, saying, “This cup is the new covenant, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.”

Every time you eat this bread of equity and drink this cup that pours freedom, you proclaim with your life the saving death of the risen God until he comes again.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION O God, with gratitude and praise you have blessed and fed us in this sacrament, united us with Christ, and given us hope in the face of turmoil, to remind us that we are not alone. Make us children of remembrance so that history lives on in us. Send us forth with purpose and in your power, blessed, transformed and bent toward the arc of justice for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.

CLOSING HYMN Guide My Feet African-American Spiritual 1, 6 Guide my feet while I run this race, yes, my Lord! Guide my feet while I run this race, yes, my Lord! Guide my feet while I run this race, for I don’t want to run this race in vain! (race in vain!) 2 Hold my hand… 3 Stand by me… 4 I’m your child… 5 Search my heart…

BENEDICTION Pastor Eric

POSTLUDE Lead Me, Guide Me Doris M. Akers Paul Taylor

Lead me, guide me, along the way, Help me tread in the paths of righteousness, For if you lead me, I cannot stray. Be my aid when Satan and sin oppress. Lord, let me walk each day with Thee. I am putting all my trust in Thee. Lead me, oh Lord, Lead me. Lead me, oh Lord, lead me.

I am weak and I need Thy strength and pow’r I am lost if You take your hand from me, to help me over my weakest hour. I am blind without Thy Light to see, Help me through the darkness Thy face to see, Lord, just always let me Thy servant be. Lead me, oh Lord, lead me. Lead me, oh Lord, lead me.

Worship Notes

Rev. Dr. Velda Love serves as the Minister for Racial Justice for the United Church of Christ. Prior to joining the national UCC staff, Dr. Love was an adjunct professor at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. Some of the course subjects she taught were “Race and Reconciliation: Chicago Cultural Immersion,” “Sankofa: Journey to Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation,” “Civil Rights Then and Now: Race, Gender and Social Activism,” and “The Public Witness of the Church.” Rev. Dr. Love also served as Director of Justice and Intercultural Learning in the Office of Diversity’s Collaboratory of Urban and Intercultural Learning at North Park University. Her work included collaborating and consulting with various academic schools and divisions as well as with individual faculty and staff to develop curricular and co- curricular opportunities designed to support and encourage greater integration of students’ in-class and out-of-class experiences with an emphasis on social justice related issues. The office promoted a deeper awareness, understanding and study of racial equity, social transformation through active engagement in the City of Chicago. Rev. Dr. Love has a master’s degree from North Park Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry degree from Chicago Theological Seminary. She authored the UCC’s Sacred Conversations to End Racism, a Restorative Racial Justice Journey curriculum was created to address and dismantle racism within the Christian Church and society.

There Is A Balm in Gilead is a traditional African American spiritual. The date of composition is unclear, though the song dates at least to the 19th century. A version of the refrain can be found in Washington Glass's 1854 hymn The Sinner's Cure. There is an allusion to the song in Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven (1845). The “balm in Gilead” is a reference from the Old Testament, but the lyrics of this spiritual refer to the New Testament concept of salvation through Jesus. In the Old Testament, Gilead was the name of the mountainous region east of the Jordan River. This region was known for having skillful physicians and an ointment made from the gum of a tree particular to that area. Many believed that this balm had miraculous powers to heal the body. In the book of Jeremiah, God tells the people of Israel that though many believe in the mysterious healing power of this balm, they can’t trust in those powers for spiritual healing or as a relief of their oppression. [See Jeremiah 8:22, 46:2, 11.] He reminds them that He is ultimately in control, and only He can relieve their suffering. In the New Testament, God answers the suffering of His people by sending His own son to take our place. Jesus becomes our “balm in Gilead.” It is Him we are called to turn to in our times of trial for healing and comfort. We sing this song with that assurance: no matter our hardships or supposed shortcomings, Jesus loves us enough to take our suffering upon Himself. Since the text was written, probably sometime in the early nineteenth century, it has remained mostly unaltered. There is one verse found in some hymnals and not others: “Don’t ever feel discouraged, for Jesus is your friend, and if you lack for knowledge He’ll not refuse to lend.” This verse is most applicable when the song functions as a call to witness for Christ no matter how unqualified we may feel. (Source: Hymnary.org)

Grammy award-winning guitarist Ben Harper is an American singer- and multi- instrumentalist. Self-taught as a child, Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his -playing skills, vocals, live performances, and activism. A native of California, Harper grew up listening to blues, folk, soul, R&B, and reggae. He started playing guitar as a child and began to perform regularly as a preteen. During his adolescence, he focused heavily on the acoustic slide guitar, which eventually became his signature instrument. His third , 1997's , pushed his blues- oriented alternative folk into the middle mainstream, becoming a mainstay at college radio and making inroads at adult alternative radio. The song featured as today’s anthem is from this album.

Harper toured through Europe in 2004 with the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the two acts entered Capitol Records' basement studios after the tour's commencement to lay down ten tracks together. The resulting collaborative album (issued under the names of both Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama), , was released in September 2004 and earned the 2005 Grammy award for Best Gospel album and a Grammy for Harper for Pop Instrumental Performance for “11th Commandment.” In 2014, Harper won a Grammy award for Best Blues Album for Get Up! With 15 studio and seven overall grammy nominations, most reacently snagged a nomination in 2019 for “.” Harper is known for his philanthropy. He has supported Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit that aims to fund music education in disadvantaged U.S. public schools. He has also been active with Amnesty International Blue Planet Run Foundation, Clothes Off Our Backs, Collaboration Foundation, and Comic Relief. He participated in the 2004 Vote for Change tour to benefit Moveon.org. Harper is part of No Nukes, which stands against the expansion of nuclear power.

The Blind Boys of Alabama have the rare distinction of being recognized around the world as both living legends and modern-day innovators. They are not just gospel singers borrowing from old traditions; the group helped to define those traditions in 20th century and almost single-handedly created a new gospel sound for the 21st. Since the original members first sang together as kids at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in the late 1930s (including Jimmy Carter, who leads the group today), the band has persevered through seven decades to become one of the most recognized and decorated roots music groups in the world. Touring throughout the South during the Jim Crow era of the 1940s and 1950s, the Blind Boys flourished thanks to their unique sound, which blended the close harmonies of early jubilee gospel with the more fervent improvisations of hard gospel. In the early 1960s, the band sang at benefits for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and were a part of the soundtrack to the Civil Rights movement. But as the years passed, gospel fans started to drift away and follow the many singers who had originated in the church but were now recording secular popular music. And the Blind Boys, who refused many offers to ‘cross over’ to secular music, also saw their audiences dwindle. However, the Blind Boys persevered and their time came again, starting in the 1980s with their starring role in the Obie Award-winning musical “The Gospel at Colonus,” which began a new chapter in their incredible history. It’s almost unbelievable that a group of blind, African-American singers, who started out touring during a time of whites-only bathrooms, restaurants and hotels, went on to win five Grammy® Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and to perform at the White House for three different presidents. Few would have expected them to still be going strong—stronger than ever, even—so many years after they first joined voices, but they’ve proved as productive and as musically ambitious in recent years as they did in the beginning. In 2001, they released Spirit of the Century on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label, mixing traditional church tunes with songs by Tom Waits and the Rolling Stones, and won the first of their Grammy Awards. The next year they backed Gabriel on his album Up and joined him on a world tour, although a bigger break may have come when David Simon chose their cover of Waits’ ‘Way Down in the Hole’ as the theme song for the first season of HBO’s acclaimed series The Wire. Subsequent Grammy-winning albums have found them working with the likes of Ben Harper, Robert Randolph, Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Allen Toussaint and Willie Nelson. Since they released their debut single, "I Can See Everybody’s Mother But Mine," on the iconic Veejay label in 1948, the Blind Boys have been hailed as "gospel titans" by and have collaborated with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Prince and Lou Reed, and performed on some of the world's most prestigious stages. The New York Times said that they "came to epitomize what is known as jubilee singing, a livelier breed of gospel music," adding that "they made it zestier still by adding jazz and blues idioms and turning up the volume, creating a sound…like the rock 'n' roll that grew out of it." The New Yorker simply called them "legendary." The Blind Boys' live shows are roof-raising musical events that appeal to audiences of all cultures, as evidenced by an international itinerary that has taken them to virtually every continent. The Blind Boys of Alabama have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 75 years and shows no signs of diminishing.(Source: blindboys.com)

More Light Presbyterians, the organization that published today’s Communion liturgy, engages over 230 congregations and thousands of individuals in the Presbyterian Church (USA), enabling Presbyterians to lead LGBTQIA+ service and advocacy in communities nationwide. More Light’s mission has always been to empower and equip individuals and congregations to live into their welcome for LGBTQIA+ people.

Contributions of African-Americans (featured in the Communion liturgy)

Guide My Feet Today the spirituals continue to have a special relationship to the African-American community, not as a historical artifact but as a living symbol. The spiritual is the foundation upon which all other distinctly African-American forms of music, from jazz to rhythm and blues, have been built. While we have certainly come a long way, ongoing forms of discrimination and prejudice continue to make suffering, and a belief in the an eventual alleviation of that suffering, still a very present part of the African-American experience. That experience is told through the spirituals. One particularly distinctive element of the spiritual, and many subsequent forms of Black music, is “call-and- response.” Call-and-response is just what it sounds like: within a song, the leader sings one line and the other singers repeat or respond to that line. For instance, in “Guide My Feet,” another spiritual often sung by Kuumba, the entire song is composed of the soloist singing “Guide my feet,” “Hold my hand,” or various other requests followed by the choral response, “While I run this race.” On the surface this structure may seem repetitive, but when sung, it creates a powerful motif of unity and a joint plea to God flung up to heaven by the slaves. And because like the slaves, the ancient Israelites of the Bible had been oppressed, analogies between slaves’ plight and that of the Israelites became a prevalent theme in Negro spirituals. For instance, the spiritual, “Go Down Moses” directly appealed to this similarity of experience. The Negro spiritual is not just a sorrow song but also contains an irrepressible sense of triumph and a belief that in the end, “everything is gonna be alright.” Source: Kamala S. Salmon, The Legacy of Negro Spirituals from The Harvard Crimson

Doris M. Akers (1922–1995) wrote both text and tune of this African American gospel hymn, Lead Me, Guide Me in 1953 in Oakland, California. The text is an earnest plea for an intimate walk with God, who is asked to lead, guide, and protect the believer. The deeply personal stanzas emphasize that divine guidance is essential because of our lack of strength, our blindness, and Satan's temptations. Only God can lead us on the narrow path and through all the complexities and challenges of earthly life. Like many of the psalms, this text pours out in prayer the yearning of the individual Christian, a prayer that reminds us of these words of the psalmist: Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness; make thy way plain before my face. For it is thou, Lord, thou, Lord only that makest me dwell in safety. —Psalm 4:8; 5:8 (KJV) as set to music by Samuel S. Wesley Lead Me,Guide Me was first published in 1953. Elvis Presley recorded Lead Me, Guide Me in the 1970s. Akers had an active career as singer, choir director, and songwriter. She wrote her first song at age ten and since that time has composed more than three hundred gospel songs and hymns including There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in this Place. Akers received many awards including back-to-back "Gospel Music Composer of the Year" in both 1960 and 1961. In 1992, Akers was honored by the Smithsonian Institution as “the foremost black gospel songwriter in the United States.” In 2001, she was inducted posthumously into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and in 2011 into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Upcoming Gatherings

• No Youth Group gathering tonight. • Second Hour Coffee Chat, 11:00am https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3290290990?pwd=elA2ZytGckNXYzNtaGFpcFlLbXhaQT09 Meeting ID: 329 029 0990, Passcode: 989 • Pastor Eric’s Community Coffee Hours, Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3290290990?pwd=elA2ZytGckNXYzNtaGFpcFlLbXhaQT09 Meeting ID: 329 029 0990, Passcode: 989Meeting ID: 838 0442 3154, Passcode: 311752

Announcements

To assist us in learning more about the contributions of African- American people to our communities, society, and culture as well as provide a way of deepening our journey through the season of Lent, DCC’s Anti-Racism Team has prepared a calendar of daily tasks, meditations, and learnings.

You can download and print the calendar here. [You can also share this post on Facebook.]

Click here to access a variety of Anti-Racism resources—including book lists for adults, children, and families; workshops; community events; podcasts; films; and more.

Second Hour Coffee Chat Today at 11:00am, hosted by Kristin Chambers & Bill Armstrong

The DCC Antiracism Ministry Team invites you all to join us during second hour today, from 11:00am to Noon for a Coffee Chat. This is an informal space for dialogue with some members of the team where we welcome you to bring your questions and reflections on antiracism work. We envision this to be a time to learn from each other, and if desired, brainstorm ways to find answers to the questions we bring forth to the discussion. Feel free to join us today! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83804423154?pwd=ZUVLSTkrZXNTQitxNi9aSnduZDh6Zz09 Meeting ID: 838 0442 3154, Passcode: 311752

Pastor Eric’s Community Coffee Hour You are invited to join Pastor Eric on Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. for an informal, open space gathering we are calling “Pastor’s Community Coffee Hours.” During this continued time of physical distancing, some of us may need a little extra dose of connection, conversation, and community. You are welcome to join Pastor Eric and other DCC members for casual conversation with your favorite cup of coffee or tea. Feel free to drop in for 5-minutes or spend the entire hour with us in this virtual space to talk about whatever is on your heart and/or mind. Zoom link is below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3290290990?pwd=elA2ZytGckNXYzNtaGFpcFlLbXhaQT09 Meeting ID: 329 029 0990, Passcode: 989

This year, Hope Solutions will present our annual fundraising gala, Ruby Slippers-There’s No Place Like Home in the comfort of your own home on Saturday, February 27th, 2021. Ruby Slippers will be virtual and live-streamed from the Ruby Slippers Gala website. There will be a live and silent auction with fabulous items to bid on, inspirational message from a Hope Solutions’ resident, feature of local musicians, Children’s Choice Award, Community Art Project, and Virtual Red Carpet! CLICK HERE to register and help spread the word by sharing the Ruby Slippers Gala Facebook Event link with your friends, family, and colleagues from coast to coast and around the world. Our Mission: Hope Solutions heals the effects of poverty and homelessness by providing permanent housing solutions and vital support services to highly vulnerable families and individuals.

The season of Lent invites us into the journey of Jesus toward the cross—the way of suffering. Lent points beyond itself—to resurrection—but invites us to take the journey of suffering alongside Jesus: to note with specificity the grief and trauma associated with the state of our own human-ness; the conditions of the road we take; and the barriers that keep us from right relationship with others and with God.

Last year we spent some time in the wilderness, to be in our thoughts, to engage in introspection about our lives and our need of God. This year, aware perhaps more than ever of the suffering in our own lives and the lives of others, we address with no subtlety the trauma—the suffering—- that white supremacy inflicts upon the human condition; no one is absent from it.

Our Lenten journey begins this year with our traditional Ash Wednesday Service on February 17 at 7:30pm via Zoom. (We will use the same link as worship.)

To aid in our individual and communal Lenten journey, a group of DCC folks is preparing “Lent-in-a-Bag” for each household. The bags will contain ashes, family resources, and items for weekly spiritual practice during the season of Lent.

Pastor Eric and Pastor Todd will be distributing these bags at DCC on Thursday, February 11 between 1:00pm and 4:00pm.

Everyone who is able is invited to drive over and pick up your bag. (It will be good to see you...albeit masked and from a distance!) [Alternatively, bags can be picked up from boxes on the sidewalk between 9:00am and 2:00pm on Friday, February 12 and Tuesday, February 16.]

If you are unable to pick up yours, they will be delivered to you or, if you live out of the area, mailed to you before February 17.

Ministers—The Entire Congregation

Church Staff The Rev. Eric Sherlock Mary-Marie Deauclaire Senior Pastor Handbell Director The Rev. Todd Atkins-Whitley Elizabeth Setlak-von Thury Associate Pastor Office Manager John Kendall Bailey Nicole Doyle Music Director Nursery Attendant

The DCC Prayer Team prays daily for those in need of prayers. If you would like to submit a prayer request for yourself or someone else, contact a pastor or send an email to [email protected]. All requests are kept confidential unless specified otherwise.

Sonna Dhamrait, Dayspring Preschool Director dayspringpreschool.org

Danville Congregational Church United Church of Christ 989 San Ramon Valley Blvd., Danville, CA 94526-4020 Phone: (925) 837-6944 danvillechurch.org