大象传媒

鈥淚 can鈥檛 breathe鈥�
Music 鈥� Walk with Me - IDMC Gospel Soul Choir
鈥楴o longer the same鈥櫬燭he Venerable Rosemarie Mallet, Archdeacon of Croydon聽
No longer the same: From the moment of his pain-filled death I knew things could no longer be the same.I thought of He, George Floyd, who died a terrible, racist and deliberately emasculating death, like too many other black fathers, brothers, sons.聽He is no longer, and his last breathed words have become our rallying cry.聽聽I am no longer the same. At that moment part of me also died on that road, the part that shares my indelible and much-loved skin colour and African heritage,聽deliberately disempowered. I too was pinned on that street and I will use all my breath to call out racial injustice, telling out that Black lives do matter.聽 聽We must no longer be the same: we all need to stop waiting for justice to roll down, and as churches join with others,聽proclaiming that now is the time for change, and to not only say it but actively stand up and speak out,聽 and not to stop doing until we see the changes that need to happen.聽Things are no longer the same.聽聽
The Rt Revd Dr John Perumbalath, Bishop of Bradwell, Church of England
I felt so deeply about the legacies of racism, discrimination, and systemic oppression all over the world. I had seen them around me in this country,聽and I had seen them back in India where I grew up.Then I asked, 鈥淲here is God in all this鈥�?聽We were still in the Easter season and had just celebrated the feast of Ascension but I realised that Good Friday was not a thing of the past.聽聽We crucify God again and again.聽
Prayer for God鈥檚 Lifegiving Breath聽Read by Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, Deborah Akinlawon, Amanda Khozi Mukwashi, Jane (A鈥揕evel Student), Mukami McCrum, Noah (A鈥揕evel Student), Rev Yemi Adedeji聽Gracious and Holy One聽Creator of all things and all peopleWe come to you praying to share in your passion for justice.Justice that will fill our lungs with pure breath, like the air on a mountain top聽We are your people, of equal worth and value聽Take away our fretful preoccupations and nagging preconceptions, that take your breath awayTake away the need to judge and act according to race and ethnicity, which take your breath awayGracious and Holy One give us breath聽
Loving God, hold us as Mary held your sonAnd breathe your life-giving Spirit into us, so that we may be lifted into the place where we are all your children.聽Fill our lungs with your overflowing and gracious breath, so that we may continue on the road towards justice. We pray this for all people, in every place.聽In the name of your life-giving Son, Jesus Christ.聽Amen聽
Hymn: On Christ the solid rock I stand- IDMC Gospel Soul Choir聽Poem 鈥淔or the Love of My People鈥� by Jillian BrownRead by Shermara Fletcher (Principal Officer for Pentecostal, Charismatic and Multi-cultural Relations,聽Churches Together in Britain and Ireland)

For the love of my peopleI will study myselfTo discern who I have becomeI will see how my mind has been influencedFrom the moment of my birth
For the love of my peopleI choose to recognise, respect and utiliseThose gifts that the Creator has given meSo that I may excel in all that I do and amSo that I may be at peace with myself
For the love of my peopleI will challenge myselfPromise myself to changeTo uncover the depths of theBlack woman that I amIn all her gloryWith all her dreams
For the love of my peopleI want to experience my lifeAs a beautiful Black creation of God

Music: 鈥楤lack Beaut茅鈥� by HURU
Scripture Reading: Luke 18:1-8聽 聽The Most Revd and Most Honourable Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York聽 聽Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said,聽"In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.聽In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.'聽For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,聽yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?聽Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Address: Doing Justice:聽 Revd Les Isaac, CEO Ascension Trust聽
The killing of George Floyd was projected onto a global stage.聽It gave a panoramic view of the challenges that black people and many others are facing when it comes to injustice in the 21st-century.聽The killing of George Floyd was not an isolated incident for Black people in America, nor for many people across the globe.Over the years hundreds/ thousands of black men and women and millions of people around the world have been displaced and killed with impunity by the perpetrators.聽聽In a Sunday service just after the killing of George Floyd was broadcast, an elderly woman cried out in prayer because she said ever since she was a child racism and injustice has been in existence, and in her 80s it鈥檚 still here.As I listened to the cry of this 80 year old woman, I remember the quote that said,鈥淎ll that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing鈥漊ltimately the tragedy, is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence of the good people.Martin Luther King Jr.聽聽It would appear that we have lost our sense of anger, outrage and compassion, about the injustices that are taking place around the world in many nations,聽and there is a sense that we have chosen to be silent over the injustices that we can see all around us.聽聽Some Christians have adopted the theology,鈥渓et鈥檚 wait until we get to heaven to experience the justice of the Kingdom of God鈥�.聽I want to remind us that Jesus came to set every captive free, to open prison doors and to declare the year of the Lord.鈥淗e went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read:聽鈥淭he Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.聽He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord鈥檚 favour.鈥濃�滾uke 4:16, 18-19 NIV聽We cannot continue to hide under the cloak of blindness with all of the global cameras and information that we have access to,聽informing us every day of the injustice that鈥檚 happening on our doorsteps and around our world.聽聽It cannot be business as usual for us as the church and society, nation and the world.Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless.聽Not to speak, is to speak, not to act is to act.The kingdom of Jesus it鈥檚 about the whole person, Jesus says,聽鈥淚 have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly鈥� and that includes justice, peace, equality and dignity.聽 It also includes Salvation, hope, forgiveness of sin and life eternal.Jesus said I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly.聽As the church we are called to pray, we are called to lament but we are also called to action.聽 Faith without works is dead.Let us respond to the challenge of Jesus to be a vehicle for change, in bringing justice to all who are oppressed,聽to those who live on our doorsteps, to every corner of our nation and to this global village we all live in.聽
Amen
Music: Encourage Yourself - Davinia Robinson with IDMC Gospel Soul Choir聽聽The Lord鈥檚 PrayerRead by: Revd Aled Edwards, OBE, CEO (Churches Together in Wales),聽Rhea Russell-Cartwright (Racial Justice Lead, Oxfam), Bishop Tedroy Powell (Presiding Bishop of the Church of God of Prophecy), Daud Irfan (Youth President, The Methodist Church), Revd Dr John McPake (Ecumenical Officer, The Church of Scotland), Bishop Delroy Powell (Presiding Bishop, The New Testament Assembly), Bishop Sarah Groves (The Moravian Church in Ireland) Revd Sahr John Yambasu (incoming President of the Methodist Church in Ireland), Minister Maureen Earle (New Dimensions Church, Newport, Wales), The Rt Revd Dr John Perumbalath (Bishop of Bradwell), Bishop Donald Bolt (Presiding Bishop, The New Testament Church of God), The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Sarah Mullally ( Bishop of London),聽 Gavin Calver (CEO, the Evangelical Alliance),聽 Revd Israel Oluwole Olafinjana (Director of the One People's Commission - the Evangelical Alliance)
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,the power and the glory,for ever and ever.Amen.
Benediction: Is there a Balm?聽Led by Bishop Dr Eric BrownLeader: Is there a balm to heal the hurt and pain of racial injustice?聽
The Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of DoverThere is a balm to heal the hurt and pain of racial injustice!聽
I have called my Church to bear witness through its love for one anotherI have called my Church to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before meI have called my Church to model equity and equality -聽In Christ there are no chosen ones, and those who are cast aside;聽there are no 鈥榩rivileged鈥� or 鈥榰nderprivileged鈥�; there is no male or female.聽We are all one in him!There is a balm for you and me
Leader: Is there a balm to mend the wounds and scars of racially motivated violence?聽
His Eminence Archbishop AngaelosThere is a balm.
Crucified Christ, you were beaten, ridiculed, pierced, and suffered grave indignities,Expose the wicked deeds and the plans of the perpetrators of injusticeSovereign Lord, let justice roll down like a river and righteousness like an overflowing stream聽There is a balm for you and me
Leader: Is there a balm to heal the sin sick souls of racists, perpetrators, hostile environments,聽and institutional racism?聽聽
The Rt Revd Paul Hendricks, The Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark聽There is a balm to heal.
The Kingdom of God is not the utterance of politically correct words and prejudice.It is a Kingdom where every tribe, every ethnicity, every nation, every language is listened to, is heard,聽is valued, and understoodThere is a balm for you and me聽
Leader: Is there a balm to heal the weary, the vulnerable, the disenfranchised,聽the underserved, the left out and the left behind?
Revd Inderjit Bhogal OBE, Methodist Church and Church of SanctuaryThere is a balm.
The Spirit of the Lord says come 鈥�Come you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.Come you who are hungry, I am the bread of lifeCome you who are lonely, and I will console and comfort you.There is a balm for you and me聽
Hymn 鈥� Guide me o thou great Jehovah - IDMC Gospel Soul Choir聽聽Blessing聽Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Southwark
Dion-Marie White (Youth Worker) 鈥楴o longer the same鈥櫬營 always understood it was never black versus white, or us versus them, but simply wrong versus right, just versus unjust.I remembered that first and foremost, I am a child of God.聽 I was leaning on the Lord鈥檚 Side.聽God has called me to lead and mentor people, many of whom are black, and if they feel that they can't breathe,聽then it is my role to hold their hand and allow them to inhale and exhale.聽 Their existence, always matters.聽聽It mattered before they were born. It mattered last year.聽 It mattered last month. It mattered last week.聽聽It mattered yesterday. It matters today.聽 And it will matter for all eternity.Even though things are no longer the same, we shall overcome in Jesus鈥� name.We shall remember his name:George Perry Floyd Jr.聽
Music: Turn it around - IDMC Gospel Soul Choir