Lived Prayer - Richard Foster

I Sent You - David J Wolpe

Call To Worship: Justice, Love, Mercy (based on Amos 5:24)

God, you have told us what is required: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with you.

Spirit, move us to surrender our apathy and to move into action, so that justice rolls like ocean waves.

Jesus, help us to surrender our self-centeredness so that redemption pours out like a rushing river.

Holy Trinity, make us willing to give of ourselves to your creation. Thank you for continually moving within, around, and through us through the flow of your unforced rhythms of grace.

For this, we give you praise.

Benediction: Being Like Jesus In Our Lives (based on Luke 6:27-35)

May we strive to follow Jesus' example in everything that we do.  May we challenge injustice with compassion and solidarity.  May we show inclusive love for all; welcoming those who are marginalized and dehumanized.  

Like Jesus, may we work to bring out the best in everyone and everything. 

God, Life Of The Universe - Responsive Call To Worship

Reader: God who created all of us in your image
ALL: ... fill our hearts with your love.

Reader: Spirit who breathes into all things holy breath of Life,
ALL: ... give us life in you.

Reader: Jesus, who became flesh and lived among us ...
ALL: ... give us grace for when we fail.

Reader: Loving God, Life of the universe ...
ALL: ... we give you thanks and praise.

Responsive Benediction: Being Like Jesus In Our Lives (based on Luke 6:27-35)

based on As We Leave Worship by Roger Courtney

Reader: In our lives, may we:

All: ... show love and compassion for others ...
 challenge injustice with radical love ...
forgive others ...
work to heal broken lives and broken relationships ...
and work to follow Jesus in everything we do ...

Hiroshima: The Anti-Transfiguration - Brian Zahnd

When “Little Boy” (the name given the bomb) shone like the sun over Hiroshima, thousands of little boys and girls were burned in atomic fire and poisoned by radioactive rain. The bombing of Hiroshima is the anti-Transfiguration.

70 years ago today an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Those who experienced it and lived to tell about it, all described it in similar fashion: It began with a flash brighter than the sun.

It was August 6, 1945. According to the church calendar it was also the Feast of the Transfiguration.

When Jesus was transfigured on Mount Tabor his face shone like the sun, and when he came down the mountain a little boy was healed. When “Little Boy” (the name given the bomb) shone like the sun over Hiroshima, thousands of little boys and girls were burned in atomic fire and poisoned by radioactive rain. The bombing of Hiroshima is the anti-Transfiguration.

The Transfiguration was a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. Hiroshima was a turning point in human history. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima was the world’s first use of a weapon of mass destruction. In this seaport city of 250,000 people, 100,000 were either killed instantly or doomed to die within a few hours. Another 100,000 were injured.

When I read Hiroshima in 1972 I knew I was reading of an unspeakable evil. I knew that Auschwitz and Hiroshima were to be spoken of in the same breath. How could I not know this? I read of people with charred skin and eyes melted in their sockets. I read of fires burning with such fury that they created windstorms. I read of black radioactive rain and how those who in desperation drank it doomed themselves to an agonizing death. I read of hell on earth — for there is no other way to describe it. Dante could not have dreamt greater horrors.

The face shining brighter than the sun that saves the world is not “Little Boy” over Hiroshima or “Fat Man” over Nagasaki, but the Son of Man shining over Tabor. When Jesus was transfigured, God spoke from heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to him!”

Militarists can concoct arguments to rationalize killing 200,000 civilians with two bombs. Biblicists can point to God-sanctioned killing in the Old Testament. But what does Jesus say? "Love your enemies."

Hiroshima Day and Transfiguration Day. They are the same day. Transfiguration and anti-Transfiguration. Which one will we bless?

The full article is available here

What Counts is the Spirit of Love - Henri J. Nouwen

Pro-Life Or Just Pro-Birth - Sister Joan Chittister