Creating the Beloved Community: 
Service Prayers for Martin Luther King, Jr., Weekend

Isaiah 62:1-5   Psalm 36:5-10    1 Corinthians 12:1-11    John 2:1-11

Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls 
as well as a quantitative change in our lives.
 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Call to Worship

Leader:	Our Mother-Father God 
	has made us to be One Body with many members. 
All:	United and uniting. This is our calling.

	God calls us to share our diverse gifts 
	activated by the one and same Spirit .
   		   United and uniting. This is our redemption. 

	God longs for us to be united in love 
	and to manifest the Spirit in our different ways. 
	United and uniting. This is our worship.

	Let us gather in this hour to offer praise and worship 
	to our Holy God, who challenges us 
	and calls us to create the Beloved Community.

Invocation
 	
	O God, all people are your Beloved, 
	across races, nationalities, religions, sexual orientations 
	and all the ways we are distinctive from one another. 
	We are all manifestations of your image. 
	We are bound together in an inescapable network of mutuality 
	and tied to a single garment of destiny. 
	You call us into your unending work 
	of justice, peace and love.
	Let us know your presence among us now:
		Let us delight in our diversity 
		that offers glimpses of the mosaic of your beauty.
		Strengthen us with your steadfast love and
		transform our despairing fatigue into hope-filled action.
	Under the shadow of your wings in this hour 
	may we find rest and strength, renewal and hope.
	We ask this, inspired by the example 
	of your disciple, Martin Luther King, Jr., 
	and in Jesus’ name. 						Amen.
		
Prayer of Confession	
	
	O God, we long to co-create with you the Beloved Community 
	which looks to the common good; privileges all equally, 
	and creates societal systems 
	which celebrate the humanity and the gifts of all. 
	And yet we focus on our differences, envy each other’s gifts, 
	devalue manifestations of you, O God, that are not like our own.

	Perhaps our sin is a slow wait for justice: 
		We allow the voices of brothers and sisters 
		who do not look like us, love like us, or worship like us
to be silenced. 
		We have told them to wait for freedom, justice and equality.
		We foster in them a denigrating sense of nobodiness.  	Lord, have mercy.
	
	Or perhaps we have kept silence ourselves 
		in the face of their struggle for full human life.
		For it is not solely hateful words and actions, 
		but also appalling silence that follows the path of oppression.    Christ, have mercy.

	Perhaps our sin is to give in to weariness, discouragement, bitterness: 
		You have called us to be drum majors for justice, peace and righteousness, 
		Yet the work of peace and justice overwhelms us at times,
To build with God the Beloved Community seems impossible, 
		and we grow weary. 
		We cry, “Peace, peace,” 
		but there is no peace within us or around us.
		We find ourselves on the path 
		of hatred and oppression, violence and war.  		Lord, have mercy.
	
Assurance of Pardon

	Sisters and brothers, God is at work in us and with us!	
God has promised:
		“I will not keep silent and I will not rest 
		until the vindication of my beloved people 
		shines out like the dawn and their salvation like a burning torch. 
		My people shall no more be termed ‘forsaken’ 
		and their land shall no more be termed ‘desolate.’”
	We remember that you have given your Beloved people a new name: 
		“My delight is in them.” 

	Thank you, God for delighting in us even now, 
		for forgiving us our slow action, our silence and our weariness, 
		for empowering our work 
		and inviting us once again 
		to create with you the Beloved Community you long for.

	Offering Invitation

	Brothers and sisters, who we are and yet becoming as individuals 
	shows God’s presence in the world. 
	That divine presence is reflected 
	even more fully, powerfully, and transformatively 
	as we unite in Beloved Community. 
	Let us bring ourselves, our gifts, and our resources together 
	that God may be glorified.

Dedication

	O God, we commit to use all our gifts
	 --wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, 
	working of miracles, prophecy, discernment, 
	tongues, administration, hospitality, 
	and finances-- 
	in the service of acting as co-workers 
	with you and each other 
	for peace and justice to flow like a mighty stream.
 
Benediction
	
		Let us go forth to celebrate and strengthen 
		our inescapable network of mutuality, 
		and become the radiant hope needed in the world. 
		As we go forth in this mutuality, 
		may we experience our God rejoicing over us and with us. 
		Let us go forth confident that
		unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. Amen!

	Phrases from the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. have been woven into the prayer texts.  They are identified by italics.  Texts of King’s work are available in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by James M. Washington; © 1986 Coretta Scott King.  A brief essay on King’s understanding of the term “Beloved Community” is available at http://www.wilpf.org/mlksbelovedcommunity .

Creating the Beloved Community: Service Prayers for Martin Luther King, Jr., Weekend was written by the Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson, Founder and Director of the Center for Spiritual Light, New York City.

Copyright 2014 Local Church Ministries,  Faith Formation Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH  44115-1100.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved.