The following is the service bulletin for the Online Vigil hosted by Good Samaritan Episcopal Church. The Online Service will take place on Monday, October 2nd, 2017 at 9pm.
We will gather ONLINE by way of Zoom. Please follow these instructions:
1. Download Zoom, a free and easy online meeting program:https://zoom.us/
Go to “Join a Meeting” and enter this code or following this link:
Time: Oct 2, 2017 9:00 PM Eastern Time
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/876485280
*Or Telephone：
US: +1 646 558 8656 or +1 669 900 6833
Meeting ID: 876 485 280
*If you’re not able to access us online, call in using the numbers above.
2. Mute your microphones upon entering the meeting
3. Light a candle
Minister The grace, the love and the communion of God, be with you all.
People And also with you.
Minister Let us pray.
Minister Gracious God, we commend to your loving care all who suffer in body, mind or spirit, especially those who come seeking your healing grace for themselves and for others who are suffering. Give them patience and hope in their distress; strengthen and uphold them in their sorrow; and grant, by your intervention, that all your people may be made whole and know your holy comfort and eternal peace, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous – therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what God will say to me, and what God will answer concerning my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.
Reader Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people
People Thanks be to God
Gospeller A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.
John 11: 17-35 Jesus with Martha and Mary
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
Bethany was a little less than two miles from Jerusalem. Many Jews had come to comfort Martha and Mary after their brother’s death. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary remained in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask God, God will give you.”
Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, the one who is coming into the world.”
After she said this, she went and spoke privately to her sister Mary, “The teacher is here and he’s calling for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus. He hadn’t entered the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were comforting Mary in the house saw her get up quickly and leave, they followed her. They assumed she was going to mourn at the tomb.
When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. He asked, “Where have you laid him?”
They replied, “Lord, come and see.”
Then Jesus began to cry.
Gospeller The Holy Gospel of Christ
People Thanks be to God
A short reflection given by the Minister follows the Gospel reading.
Prayers for the Victims of the Las Vegas Shooting and for the Victims of gun violence everywhere.
Let us remember all who have been harmed by violence.
We acknowledge the strength of those who survived and of those still struggling to heal.
For their sake and for ours, we commit ourselves to building each other up and to healing together.
Let us remember the families and loved ones of those who have died in violent crimes.
We acknowledge their pain and their deep grief.
They too are part of our community and need our love and help towards healing.
Let us remember the perpetrator, and the families of those who commit violent crimes.
We acknowledge that their lives too are devastated and their hopes dashed.
For their sake, and for ours, we remember that pain goes out in many directions from each act of violence.
We will stand up to violence.
We stand together expressing our unity,
Our connection to each other and to God,
Our hope for healing and for transformation.
Let the Spirit of our Creator move through us.
Help us to transform and heal our communities,
And let us begin by transforming ourselves.
We go in peace and with hope. Amen.
We enter a moment of silence for all victims of the Las Vegas Shooting, and may offer up our prayers to God silently or allowed for all who are suffering.
Minister Let us say together a confession of our sins:
God of all mercy, we confess that we have sinned against you,
opposing your will in our lives. We have denied your goodness in
each other, in ourselves, and in the world you have created. We
repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done, and the
evil done on our behalf. Forgive, restore, and strengthen us through
our Savior, friend and brother Jesus Christ, that we may abide in
your love and serve only your will. Amen.
Closing Prayer (Attributed to St. Francis)
Minister God, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
Dismissal
Minister Let us go forth walking the way of Jesus and go in Peace.
People We walk in Peace, thanks be to God.
Note: This service was adapted from the Episcopal Service for Healing in Enriching Our Worship 2 and from the liturgical resource at the North Carolina Council of Churches.
Words and phrasing were adjusted in order to reflect inclusive language and language appropriate for the occasion, by Rev. Erin Hougland.
The Rev. Erin Hougland 