Help us accept each other
As Christ accepted us
Teach us as sister, brother
Each person to embrace
Be present Lord among us
And bring us to believe
We are ourselves accepted
And meant to love and live.Teach us O Lord your lessons
As in our daily life
We struggle to be human
And search for hope and faith
Teach us to care for people
For all not just for some
To love them as we find them
Or as they may becomeLet your acceptance change us
So that we may be moved
In living situations
To do the truth in love
To practice your acceptance
Until we know by heart
The table of forgiveness
And laughter’s healing artLord for today’s encounters
With all who are in need
Who hunger for acceptance
For righteousness and bread
We need new eyes for seeing
New hands for holding on
Renew us with your Spirit
Lord free us make us one
Today, with voices rising,
Sing Praises to the Lord,
In Reconciliation
That finds us in accord.
We feel the Holy Spirit
Nudge us to take a stand
To seek God’s Love, not fear it
With open heart and hand.Too many years and ages
Have gone their weary way,
When Bishops, Priests and sages
In hate, condemned the gay –
But people’s minds are growing
And Love can banish doubt,
‘Mong closeted, unknowing
Or those who have come out.Jesus, half God, half human,
Befriended everyone –
The sinner, man or woman,
For what they may have done –
And here, as true Disciples,
We follow Jesus’ lead,
With Loving, pure acceptance,
In heart and mind, indeed.Creator God, we thank Thee
For this, the Church we love
We share with one another
Such Blessings from above –
In Reconciliation,
We Gays and Straight allies,
Alike in dedication,
Make earth a Paradise
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command….This is my command: Love each other.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us….
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
You know me as a person who has strong spiritual beliefs,
Who loves his wife and is committed to his marriage,
Who values family and friends, and
Who feels that being a grandfather is one of the greatest experiences of life.
You know me as a person who loves children and childlike things,
Who is sensitive, caring, and compassionate,
Who believes in personal responsibility, and
Who is committed to working hard and doing a good job.You know me as a person who enjoys good food and fine wines
(plus beer, pizza, and ice cream),
Who brings humor to the workplace and elsewhere,
Who is a cheese-head and enjoys roller blading, and
Who loves animals, especially cats.You know me as a person who is discovering a love for theater and the arts,
Who is learning to express his enjoyment of decorating, colors, fabrics, and textures,
Who wants to be accepted and loved just as he is,
So, do you love me?What if I take a chance and become vulnerable, and disclose my story;
Will you still love me?What if some church members don’t accept part of me;
Will you still love me?What if I need to expose the truth about me, to be at peace with God;
Will you still love me?What if I told you that I like to shave my legs, and wear a skirt;
Will you still love me?
Though I may speak with bravest fire,
And have the gift to all inspire
And have not love, my words are vain,
As sounding brass, and hopeless gain.Though I may give all I possess,
And striving so my love profess,
But not be given by love within,
The profit soon turns strangely thin.Come, Spirit, come, our hearts control,
Our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed;
By this we worship, and are freed.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may some day be restored.Refrain
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love;
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land:We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
And we’ll guard human dignity and save human pride.All praise to the Father, from who all things come,
And all praise to Christ Jesus, God’s only Son,
And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one:
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart,
In my heart; Lord, I want to be a Christian
In my heart, In my heart, In my heart
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heartLord, I want to be more loving in my heart
In my heart; Lord, I want to be more loving
In my heart, In my heart, In my heart
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heartLord, I want to be more holy in my heart
In my heart; Lord, I want to be more holy
In my heart, In my heart, In my heart
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart, in my heartLord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart
In my heart; Lord, I want to be like Jesus
In my heart, In my heart, In my heart
Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart
Bind us together Lord,
Bind us together with cords that cannot be broken.
Bind us together Lord,
Bind us together Lord, bind us together in love.
There is only one God,
There is only one King;
There is only one body, that is why we sing.