Never confuse movement with action. — Ernest Hemingway
Ken Sehested
Prelude. “Transfiguration.” —Vasari Singers, music by Jeremy Filsell and David Briggs
Call to worship. There is almost always a discordant cacophony—confusion, disorientation, 
turbulence—in the transition from unreflective innocence to the revivifying and reorienting presence of the Spirit’s inaugurating disclosure of Heaven’s intent for Earth’s reclamation.
by Ken Sehested
Prelude. “Hold on, just a little while longer. Everything will be alright.” —The Kuumba Singers & Bobby McFerrin, “Hold On (Just a Little While Longer)”
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Ken Sehested, Circle of Mercy Congregation, 5 July 2026
Text: Zechariah 9:9-12
(“Return to your stronghold, you prisoners of hope”)
Prelude. “One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple / By the Relief Office I saw my people — / As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if / This land was made for you and me.” —“lost” verse to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”
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¶ Read Cameron Vickrey’s brief summary of the Supreme Court’s brutal rulings affecting immigrants’ “protected status” and asylum seekers fate.
¶ You probably didn’t know: Undocumented immigrants paid more income taxes than Amazon, GM, 
IBM and Netflix combined. —SNOPES fact checker
Ken Sehested
Processional. “I'm going to watch you shine / Going to watch you grow / Going to paint a sign / So you'll always know / As long as one and one is two / There could never be a father / Who loved his daughter more than I love you. —“Father and Daughter,” Paul Simon
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Prelude. “Come on and raise your voice above the raging seas / We can't hold our breath forever / When our brothers cannot breathe / Come on and raise your voice above the raging seas / We can't hold our breath forever / When our sisters cannot breathe.” —“All Good People,” Delta Rae
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Read more ›Ken Sehested
Unlike traditional cultures (mostly of the past), Western modernity has few common “rites of passage,” typically during the transition of adolescence from childhood to adulthood. Getting a driver’s license is our substitute, along with school graduations. What follows are two pieces of adaptable commentary.
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Read more ›Ken Sehested
Prelude. “Adonai (Psalm 113:3).” —Hebrew and Arab voices, must by Nathaniel Bassey: “From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised"
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Read more ›Ken Sehested
Prelude. “Lord we praise you / All things were created by you / Everything, everything, all things.” —translation of "Tsohle Tsohle" (“Everything is Everything”), performed by Abel Selaocoe, Bernhard Schimpelsberger, and the Aurora Orchestra
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Read more ›Editor’s introduction. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly declared (as recently as a week ago) his intent to “take Cuba” after crushing Venezuelan sovereignty and attempting the same to Iran. Stan Dotson, along with his spouse, Kim Christman, have lived in Cuba for the past 12 years. They serve as associate pastors at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Havana. Dotson’s sermon is based on Jesus’ declaration, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (See the bottom of this sermon for more context regarding US-Cuba relations.)
Sermon by Stan Dotson
Circle of Mercy Congregation
May 3, 2026
Text: John 14:1-14
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