⏰ NEW WORSHIP TIME - 9:30 AM PT ⏰ - Order of Worship for June 15, 2025: Peace with Justice Sunday

Call to Worship - Those of you joining us from home are invited to light a candle to welcome the presence of the Holy Spirit

Good, Good Father - El Dorado

Welcome - Stephen Folds

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing - Charles Wesley, 1739 - El Dorado

Passing of the Peace: Through the act of passing the peace of Christ, we offer our sincere desire to love our neighbor.
You are invited to greet one another in the live stream chat on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. 

NO CLASS THIS WEDNESDAY! Class will resume June 18

Statement for Los Angeles on the Care of Immigrants

June 7, 2025

This week I’ve been paying attention to the places across our city, state, and country where our immigrant neighbors are being detained. I’ve seen reports of ICE going into neighborhoods, court buildings, stores, and schools, and separating families. Have you, too, heard the children’s cries for “mama”, or the mother’s cries for her children as she is forced into a van? These are my people, for I too come from an immigrant family. And I am brokenhearted by what I see.

The immigrants targeted are not criminals, but people who showed up for court because they have been following the laws, people who went to work, children who went to school. Immigrants are people who work hard at being citizens of the heart and they make the USA and our state a better place.

As we have been working together to protect, to show up, and to get our voices heard, there is both a sense of hopelessness and courage. And in the struggle, en la lucha, I thought of this scripture from Psalm 34:17-18:

The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
He rescues those who are crushed in spirit.

Tonight, I am calling on all Christ-following people, and on all tenderhearted people, to stand with those who are being ripped apart from their families. Speak to your politicians. March in peaceful protest. While you are there, make sure everyone is safe and responds in peace. Be witnesses on the streets so that the horror does not happen under cover. Pray for those whose cries you hear. Pray for the ICE agents to lay down their weapons. Pray for the leaders of our world, asking that they would seek peace above all. Pray for justice to prevail, because we all know that without justice, there is no peace. Attend prayer vigils. Hold one in your church or your neighborhood. Act, pray, and rise up where you see injustice and harm.

And tonight, I am calling for those in power to remove their weapons of warfare from our loving neighborhoods, our peaceful cities, and our welcoming states. Use your power for good, and not for evil. Protect those who suffer, including the immigrant brothers, sisters, and neighbors among us. Use your time and your expertise to pass laws to correct the unjust system we have inherited. Stop the harm that comes from our own governmental system. Do good. Do no harm. Stay in love with the people you work for.

The Psalm above reminds us that God hears us when we are crying out for help. God draws close to those whose hearts have been broken. God works with us to protect those who need help from those who do harm.

We are not alone. God is with us. I am praying for all of us as we respond to hate with love, to violence with loud cries, and to harmful deeds with acts of justice. Together, and with God’s help, we can have courage in even moments like these.

Grace y paz,
Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank
Resident Bishop of the Los Angeles Area
The United Methodist Church

Know Your Rights:

You have constitutional rights:

• DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door.

• DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent.

• DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING without first speaking to a lawyer. You have the right to speak with a lawyer.

• If you are outside of your home, ask the agent if you are free to leave and if they say yes, leave calmly.

• GIVE THIS CARD TO THE AGENT. If you are inside of your home, show the card through the window or slide it under the door.

I do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.

I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door.

I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights.

I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.

These cards are available to citizens and noncitizens alike.

CALL TO PRAYER: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty- El Dorado

Joys and Concerns: Prayers of the People We believe that the best way to bear our burdens is to share them with one another. You welcome to share your joys and concerns so that our community can hold these things in our hearts as we lift them to God together. 

You are invited to share your prayers in the Facebook Live Chat, or on the YouTube Live chat.

Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 35:28, NRSV

Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
    and of your praise all day long.

New Testament Lesson: Romans 5:1-5, NRSV

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and weboast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

One: This is the word of God for us, the People of God.
All: Thanks be to God!

Sermon: O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing, Rev. Dr. Mandy McDow, preaching

The Immigrant’s Creed - Rev. Daniel Medina, South Georgia UMC, 2017

I believe in almighty God, who guided his people in exile and exodus, the God of Joseph in Egypt and of Daniel in Babylon, the God of foreigners and immigrants.

I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galilean, who was born away from his people and his home, who had to flee the country with his parents when his life was in danger, and who, upon returning to his own country, had to suffer the oppression of the tyrant Pontius Pilate, the servant of a foreign power. He was persecuted, beaten, and finally tortured, accused and condemned to death unjustly. But on the third day, this scorned Jesus rose from the dead, not as a foreigner but to offer us citizenship in heaven.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the eternal immigrant from God’s kingdom among us, who speaks all languages, lives in all countries, and reunites all races.

I believe that the Church is the secure home for all foreigners and believers who constitute it, who speak the same language, and have the same purpose.

I believe that the communion of the saints begins when we accept the diversity of the saints. I believe in the forgiveness, which makes us all equal, and in the reconciliation which identifies us more than does race, language or nationality. I believe that in the resurrection, God will unite us as one people in which all are distinct and all are alike at the same time.

I believe in life eternal beyond this world, where no one will be an immigrant or undocumented but all will be citizens of God’s kingdom that has no end. Amen.

- From FIESTA CRISTIANA, a United Methodist resource for Hispanic worship

El Credo del Inmigrante

Creo en Dios todopoderoso, quien guio a su pueblo durante el éxodo y en el exilio, el Dios de José en Egipto y de Daniel en Babilonia, el Dios de los extranjeros y los inmigrantes.

Creo en Jesucristo, el galileo desplazado, que nació lejos de su hogar y de su gente; que tuvo que huir de su país con sus padres porque su vida corría peligro, y cuando regreso del exilio tuvo que sufrir la opresión del tirano Poncio Pilato, servidor de un imperio extranjero; que fue perseguido, injuriado y finalmente torturado; fue acusado y condenado a muerte en un juicio injusto. Sin embargo, al tercer día, ese Jesús despreciado resucitó de la muerte, no como extranjero sino para ofrecernos la ciudadanía de los cielos.

Creo en el Espíritu Santo, el inmigrante eterno del reino de Dios entre nosotros, quien habla todas las lenguas, habita en todos los países y reúne a todas las razas. Creo en la Iglesia como un hogar seguro para todo extranjero y creyente que la forman, quienes hablan un mismo idioma y tienen el mismo propósito.

Creo que la comunión de los santos comienza cuando aceptamos la diversidad de los santos. Creo en el perdón que nos hace a todos iguales, y en la reconciliación que nos identifica mucho más que la raza, el idioma o la nacionalidad. Creo que Dios, en la resurrección, nos reúne a todos como a un solo pueblo en el que todos somos distintos pero iguales al mismo tiempo.

Creo en la vida eterna más allá de este mundo, en la cual nadie será inmigrante o indocumentado sino todos ciudadanos del reino de Dios que no tendrá fin.

- Tomado de Fiesta Cristiana, un recurso de la Iglesia Metodista Unida para la adoración

Rev. Daniel Medina serves as pastor of Nueva Vida United Methodist Church in Macon, GA and associate director of Connectional Ministries for Hispanic Ministries.

HOLY COMMUNION

All are welcome to come forward to be  anointed individually.
If you like, you may come as an individual, or with your spouse or partner, children, or with friends and family of choice. All are welcomed. All are loved. 

Invitation to the Table: As we understand the Body of Christ to be inclusive, we understand God’s table of grace and fellowship can extend into our homes. As you’re able, bring your own elements to this time.

Bread, Juice, Coffee, Muffins… the Body of Christ is comprised of wonder and mystery. Today, we celebrate that God can reach us where we are, even if we are not together.

The Great Mystery of our Faith
All: Christ has died
Christ is risen. 
Christ will come again.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, 
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 
on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our trespasses, 
as we forgive those who trespass against us. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
for ever and ever. Amen.

MUSIC: Because He Lives (Amen) - El Dorado

Benediction

And remember:
God is with you,
God is for you, 
God refuses to be God without you. 
And may all of God’s people say: Amen!

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