For Your Meditation - judson memorial church
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For Your Meditation
This will sound very strange, but not to people who are really hip.
… Inspiration is a very strange thing sometimes it just happens like a light.
… And I remember getting a feeling in my body and I said that’s it.
… To be young, gifted, and Black. That’s all.
-Nina Simone
Connecting Community, Remotely
judson.org/worship
July 25, 2021
Minister – Rev. Micah Bucey | Associate Minister – Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly
Preacher: Rev. Michael Crumpler with Steff Reed Liturgist: Jeremiah Bolden
Music Director: Henco Espag Sound Technician: Brendan Reilly
Filming, Compilation, & Editing: André Daughtry
Visual Prelude André Daughtry
Feeling Good by Nina Simone
Welcome Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that this service is taking place in a building that was constructed using the
profits from a corrupt oil company, in a city that grew wealthy by doing business with slave
owners, on land that was stolen from the Lenape people by force. We acknowledge that we
have not atoned for these sins, and for that we ask for forgiveness.
Call to Worship Excerpt from “A Letter to My Nephew,”
James Baldwin's thoughts on his nephew's future—in a country with a terrible history of racism— first
appeared in The Progressive magazine in 1962.
Through the storm which rages about your youthful head today, about the reality which lies
behind the words "acceptance" and "integration."
There is no reason for you to try to become like white men and there is no basis whatever for
their impertinent assumption that they must accept you.
The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them, and I mean that very
seriously. You must accept them and accept them with love, for these innocent people have
no other hope.
They are in effect still trapped in a history which they do not understand and until they
understand it, they cannot be released from it.
Opening Song Hush!
Ancient & Modern Testimony Nina Simone, To Be Young Gifted and Black
& Special Music From: Live at Morehouse College in Atlanta, June 1969
“Quite recently, there was an article in the New York Times on Lorraine Hansberry and a
play downtown off Broadway called "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" produced by her, and
there was a picture of her there. And it was a picture that I have seen many times before, but
photography, as you know, has its own way of communicating just as all memes do.
And all I can tell you is that this picture caught hold of me. And in her eyes- this would sound
very strange -but, not to people who are really hip, she kept trying to tell me something.
I was sitting, sitting on the bed and I remember distinctly saying, I would keep looking at the
picture and keep looking at the picture and of course the memory of being with her many
times kept coming flooding back in my memory.
But I said and I remember inspiration is a very strange thing. Sometimes it just happens like a
light. And I remember getting a feeling in my body and I said that's it, "To Be Young, Gifted and
Black.” That's all. And sat down at the piano at that moment and made up a tune, and it just
flowed out of me.
I knew what I wanted it to say in essence, but I couldn't get the words together so I called up
my musical director and told him what was on my mind, explained to him a little bit about
Lorraine Hansberry because he didn't know her, and he captured the mood and the song was
born less than two days later.
And that's been less than a month ago. So I really think that she gave it to me. That's what I
mean when I say that.”
Ancient & Modern Testimony 2. Excerpt from “A Letter to My Nephew,”
Read by Jeremiah Bolden
I know what the world has done to my brother and how narrowly he has survived it and I know,
which is much worse, and this is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen
and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed
and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know
it.One can be--indeed, one must strive to become--tough and philosophical concerning
destruction and death, for this is what most of mankind has been best at since we have heard
of war; remember, I said most of mankind, but it is not permissible that the authors of
devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.
Now, my dear namesake, these innocent and well meaning people, your countrymen, have
caused you to be born under conditions not far removed from those described for us by
Charles Dickens in the London of more than a hundred years ago. I hear the chorus of the
innocents screaming, "No, this is not true. How bitter you are," but I am writing this letter to
you to try to tell you something about how to handle them, for most of them do not yet really
know that you exist. I know the conditions under which you were born for I was there. Your
countrymen were not there and haven't made it yet. Your grandmother was also there and no
one has ever accused her of being bitter. I suggest that the innocent check with her. She isn't
hard to find. Your countrymen don't know that she exists either, though she has been working
for them all their lives.
This innocent country set you down in a ghetto in which, in fact, it intended that you should
perish. Let me spell out precisely what I mean by that for the heart of the matter is here and
the crux of my dispute with my country. You were born where you were born and faced the
future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason. The limits to your
ambition were thus expected to be settled. You were born into a society which spelled out with
brutal clarity and in as many ways as possible that you were a worthless human being. You
were not expected to aspire to excellence. You were expected to make peace with mediocrity.
Wherever you have turned, James, in your short time on this earth, you have been told where
you could go and what you could do and how you could do it, where you could live and whom
you could marry.
I know your countrymen do not agree with me here and I hear them saying, "You exaggerate."
Interpreting for Our Time “Freedom Summer: To Be Young, Gifted, and Black”
Rev. Michael J. Crumpler in conversation with Steff Reed
Offering & Offertory OFFERINGS WELCOMED! via VENMO @Judson-MemorialChurch
Text JUDSON to 44321 Visit judson.org/give
Power of Love written and performed by Steff Reed
Video compilation from Freedom Summer
Arts and Activism Youth ProgramBenediction Rev. Michael J. Crumpler
Adapted from “A Letter to My Nephew”
We come from sturdy peasant stock, people who picked cotton, dammed rivers, built railroads,
and in the teeth of the most terrifying odds, achieved an unassailable and monumental dignity.
We come from a long line of great poets, some of the greatest poets since Homer.
One of them said, "The very time I thought I was lost, my dungeon shook and my chains fell
off."
We know that the country is celebrating nearly 243 years of freedom.
We cannot be free until they are free.
God bless you, Judson, and Godspeed.
Closing Hymn*During
*Heart of the the Watch Party and
Community Coffee Hour&~Concerns
Celebrations Join Us via Zoom
listed zoom.us/j/89409583117
below
Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly & Rev. Roy Atwood
During this time of “Connecting Community, Remotely”, our usual Agape Communion, Celebrations &
Concerns sharing, and Community Prayer time occurs in our live 11am Sunday Zoom watch party (zoom.us/
j/89409583117). All are welcome to join these weekly gatherings, but if you are unable to join, please do
take time to read over our Celebration & Concerns (listed below), or sit for a few moments in silent reflection,
or raise up a prayer for a concern or thanks. Questions, Celebrations, and Concerns may always be sent to Rev.
Valerie H. Holly at valeriehholly@judson.org..
For a daily helping of community, quiet, and sharing of Celebrations & Concerns, all are invited to our
daily 9am Meditation & Prayer Circle, where you are welcome to join as often or as seldom as you’d like.
www.judson.org/meditation.
*Community Prayer
*Coffee Hour
~ CELEBRATIONS & CONCERNS ~
Prayers for Jean Montrevil, and all those in Haiti.
Please send prayers and positive energy/ thoughts to Allison Squires and her family as they mourn the loss of
her father, David Squires, who passed away on Thursday morning July 22, 2021.
Suresh Diamond asks to lift up the name of Adriana Manousakis. She passed away on 7/19/2014 and was
buried 7/22/2014. She was survived by her three daughters, Katerina, Tatyana, and Alexandra. I went to grad
school with Katerina, and was there for the family during that difficult time.
Jim Fraser and Katherine Hanson ask for prayers for their 40+ years friend Adrienne, her husband John, and
their family as she enters hospice. Also prayers for the family of their friend Jose, who died suddenly while
chatting with one of his many other friends.
Craig and Jane share deep concern for South Africa, especially their friends and former colleagues, who report
that the situation is far worse than reported in the press. There are shortages of many vital commodities,
including flour, oil and petrol. Those who can afford it have private guards. Much of the nation has descended
into anarchy and police are ineffective at best. Comment: This is what happens when a charismatic politician,
rotten to the core, decides he is above the law and defies the courts.
And also your prayers and best wishes to their nephew Ryan Smith, a strong young man beset with a
mysterious heart infection. He is scheduled for open-heart surgery on July 23 at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville,
FL.
Prayers of celebration for successful shoulder surgery for Peggy Halsey, a long time Judson member and lay
leader, now living in Gainesville, Florida. And prayers for a smooth recovery.
Prayers for Rev. S. Faith Holman's mother, Lorraine LeGall, who has colon cancer and is currently
hospitalized in Stockbridge Georgia- near Atlanta, GAPlease raise up some energy of strength, hope, love and light to the Sandwich generation. And for those who are not experiencing the sandwich, please send comfort to their hearts. Josephine and her family appreciate your continued prayers for her dad, Willie Mac Vass, as he continues in his cancer treatments. Lynn Denton and Charlie Kaprelian ask for your prayers as Charlie continues to fight Alzheimer’s. Thank you. The Judson Food Bank and the impact that they bring citywide in providing much-needed relief to underserved families across our city. Many thanks to everyone for all the ways you continue to help us make an impact. The communities that are concerned about taking the vaccine due to historical negative experiences in the hands of medicine. Vaccine hesitancy will need conversations and sharing of our experiences to help move everyone to a place of being able to get the vaccine when one is available to them. May we all continue to work on being safe as this need for care is still high and impacts us all worldwide. To our dear friends at Middle Collegiate Church, all of us at Judson send our continued love, solidarity, and prayers. As they recover from a devastating fire and seek the support of their interfaith and community partners in renewing their hope and rebuilding their home, please, if you can, donate to Middle at middlechurch.org/donate. To the family of Judson community member, Vivian Hamilton, in Honduras and to all in Honduras, Nicaragua, and beyond as they suffer the continuing effects of Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota. Prayers to all who are displaced by the changes of their natural environment as Nature does what is needed. We lift prayers for the United States of America and the future we create as a Union. We lift up those especially in need of good energy and prayers, those navigating mental and physical health, and we shoulder these needs together, knowing that burdens can be a bit lighter when they are carried together, that joys can be more grounded when we celebrate them together. We celebrate and hold in our hearts those on the front lines of this crisis, the healthcare professionals, the essential workers, the store clerks, the postal carriers, the MTA workers, all who serve and clean and make certain that we are fed and sheltered and healthy, especially as we enter new phases of reopening and enter into the next part of the learning in this pandemic journey. We continue to celebrate and hold in our hearts all of the schools: administrators, teachers, support staff and aides, program facilitators, food services, custodial, and transportation. All of the individuals that make up the school community and provide education and social-emotional support to every child and family. To all students, parents and families, we send continued strength and light as we turn the corner on this school year, and move towards SY21-22. We hold those who have lost work, who have lost income, who have lost a feeling of purpose, who have lost loved ones, who fear for their health and for their future. We also continue to celebrate all of you, a congregation of beloved souls who continue to hold one another in astonishing, intimate, and life-giving ways, even while we are physically apart.
Sunday, July 25 Welcome To Judson!
**11AM JMC Virtual Sunday
Service
Video Streaming available online at
THIS WEEK
@ JUDSON
judson.org/worship !
===================================
Together in Faith, Together in
Heart at 1pm
Monday, July 26
No Public Events this day
Every Morning l @ 9am Virtual lll
Tuesday, July 27 Meditation & llll Prayer Circle llll
Pioneers Go East Collective
present: LUCKY STAR (0.3)
8pm RSVP required
Wednesday, July 28 ===================================
No Public events this day
Thursday, July 29
Pioneers Go East Collective
present: LUCKY STAR (0.3)
!
8pm RSVP required
===================================
3:00PM Judson Bible Study
with Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly Judsonista Lulu Fogarty’s weekly
Friday, July 30 art-making activity to
Pioneers Go East Collective supplement Judson Memorial
present: LUCKY STAR (0.3) Church Virtual Sunday School
8pm RSVP required
lessons. All Ages Welcome!
===================================
Saturday, July 31 judson.org/kids
No Public Events this day ===================================
===================================
Pastoral Care:
Black History
is American History judson.org/
Rev. Dr. Valerie H. Holly at black-history-month-2021
valeriehholly@judson.org
917-797-5051 ================================== Theatre is dark until further notice.
===================================
Wellness Resources at Are you watching?
Judson: Are you listening?
https://www.judson.org/covid Are you
To s u b s c r i b e t o t h e J u d s o n
connecting?
Community listserv and stay
connected throughout the week, WWW.JUDSON.ORG
email michelle@judson.org
===================================In-Person Worship Survey The Judson Reopening Working Group is seeking feedback from individuals participating in in-person worship to help improve the worship experience. Please let us know what you think about these issues: Date of Service: ______________________ About seat spacing: • The seats are too close. • The spacing is about right. • The seats can be closer, but we should keep some space. • The seats can be close like they were before COVID. About masks: • We should continue to wear masks for the entire service. • It’s OK if people take their masks off when we’re sitting down and not singing. • We don’t need to wear masks at all. About the audio: • I could hear well all the time. • I could not hear well all the time. Please tell us more: About the video: • I could see the video easily all the time. • I could not see the video easily all the time. Please tell us more: Anything Else? Please let us know anything else that can help us make this a better experience for others. Feel free to continue on the back.
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