Chapel Online

The Regent community gathers for Chapel in person and online on Tuesdays at 11 am (Pacific Time). You can find Zoom login details in the Weekly Announcements email. If you don’t currently receive our Weekly Announcements email, you can subscribe by clicking the 'Subscribe’ button on this page.

If you are unable to join us at that time the recording of Chapel will be available on Moodle.

Welcome and Announcements

Introduction

Call to Worship | Colossians 3:12-17 (NRSV)

12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 Bear
with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another,
forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also
must forgive. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds
everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of
Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the
one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with
gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to
God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

For the Beauty of the Earth

© Words and Music by Conrad Kocher, Vince Ambrosetti and William Henry Monk

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies

   Lord of all to thee we raise
   This our hymn of grateful praise

For the wonder of each hour
Of the day and of the night
Hill and vale and tree and flower
Sun and moon and stars of light

For the joy of ear and eye
For the heart and mind's delight
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight

For the joy of human love
Brother sister parent child
Friends on earth and friends above
For all gentle thoughts and mild

For thyself best gift divine
To our world so freely given
For that great, great love of thine
Peace on earth and joy in heaven

The Greatest Commandment

© 2019 Words and Music by Paul Zach

Love the Lord your God
With all your heart and soul and mind
And love your neighbor as yourself

Let us be known
Let us be known
By the way we love

Love, love, love
The greatest commandment is love

Artist Offering: Despised and Rejected

Christina Rossetti (1830-94)

My sun has set, I dwell
In darkness as a dead man out of sight;
And none remains, not one, that I should tell
To him mine evil plight
This bitter night.
I will make fast my door
That hollow friends may trouble me no more.

‘Friend, open to Me.’—Who is this that calls?
Nay, I am deaf as are my walls:
Cease crying, for I will not hear
Thy cry of hope or fear.
Others were dear,
Others forsook me: what art thou indeed
That I should heed
Thy lamentable need?
Hungry should feed,
Or stranger lodge thee here?

‘Friend, My Feet bleed.
Open thy door to Me and comfort Me.’
I will not open, trouble me no more.
Go on thy way footsore,
I will not rise and open unto thee.

‘Then is it nothing to thee? Open, see
Who stands to plead with thee.
Open, lest I should pass thee by, and thou
One day entreat My Face
And howl for grace,
And I be deaf as thou art now.
Open to Me.’

Then I cried out upon him: Cease,
Leave me in peace:
Fear not that I should crave
Aught thou mayst have.
Leave me in peace, yea trouble me no more,
Lest I arise and chase thee from my door.
What, shall I not be let
Alone, that thou dost vex me yet?

But all night long that voice spake urgently:
‘Open to Me.’
Still harping in mine ears:
‘Rise, let Me in.’
Pleading with tears:
Open to Me that I may come to thee.’
While the dew dropped, while the dark hours were cold:
‘My Feet bleed, see My Face,
See My Hands bleed that bring thee grace,
My Heart doth bleed for thee,
Open to Me.’

So till the break of day:
Then died away
That voice, in silence as of sorrow;
Then footsteps echoing like a sigh
Passed me by,
Lingering footsteps slow to pass.
On the morrow
I saw upon the grass
Each footprint marked in blood, and on my door
The mark of blood for evermore.

The Love of God

Words and Music by Frederick M. Lehman | Original Hebrew lyrics for verse 3 by Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell
The guilty pair bowed down with care
God gave His Son to win
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin

   O love of God how rich and pure
   How measureless and strong
   It shall forevermore endure
   The saints’ and angels’ song

When years of time shall pass away
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall
When those who here refuse to pray
On rocks and hills and mountains call
God's love so sure shall still endure
All measureless and strong
Redeeming grace to Adam's race
The saints and angels song

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And everyone a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky

The Prayers of the People

Introduction to the Saint John's Bible

Cindy Aalders, Library Director, Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity

Scripture | Luke 10:25-37 (NRSV)

25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said,
“what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is
written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor
as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer;
do this, and you will live.” 29 But wanting to vindicate himself, he
asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of
robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half
dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when
he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite,
when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he
saw him he was moved with compassion. 34 He went to him and
bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put
him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of
him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the
innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will
repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do
you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the
robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to
him, “Go and do likewise.”

Homily | Jesus and the Despised Other

Iwan Russell-Jones, Research Professor of Theology and the Arts

Artist Offering: And Can It Be?

©2015 Lyrics by Charles Wesley | Musical arrangement by Dan Forrest

Benediction

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise him all creatures here below
Praise him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Amen

Community Life Update

Jeff Greenman, President; Professor of Theology and Ethics