Jesus, Dylan and the Signs of the Times: A Eucharistic Liturgy

Church of the Redeemer
Nov. 15, 2015

The songs for this service were chosen by David Krause, Deb Whalen and Brian Walsh. The liturgy was written and curated by Brian Walsh.

All songs are written by Bob Dylan, as are the words of “Father of Night” employed in the “Prayers of the People,” and “Forever Young” employed in the Blessing.

Prelude: “When He Returns”

The iron hand it ain’t no match for the iron rod

The strongest wall will crumble and fall to a mighty God

For all those who have eyes and all those who have ears

It is only He who can reduce me to tears

Don’t you cry and don’t you die and don’t you burn

For like a thief in the night, He’ll replace wrong with right

When He returns

Truth is an arrow and the gate is narrow that it passes through

He unleashed His power at an unknown hour that no one knew

How long can I listen to the lies of prejudice?

How long can I stay drunk on fear out in the wilderness?

Can I cast it aside, all this loyalty and this pride?

Will I ever learn that there’ll be no peace, that the war won’t cease

Until He returns?

Surrender your crown on this blood-stained ground, take off your mask

He sees your deeds, He knows your needs even before you ask

How long can you falsify and deny what is real?

How long can you hate yourself for the weakness you conceal?

Of every earthly plan that be known to man, He is unconcerned

He’s got plans of His own to set up His throne

When He returns

Gathering of the Community

Behold the magnificence of our city.
Not one stone will be left on another.

Behold the stunning progress of history.

Not one stone will be left on another.

Behold our universities of boundless knowledge.

Not one stone will be left on another.

Behold the church in all of its ascending beauty.

Not one stone will be left on another.

Behold that God is on our side.

Not one stone will be left on another.

Not one stone?

Not one stone.

Opening Song: “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall”

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways,
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’,
Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’,
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’,
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’,
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’,
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Collect of the Day

The Proclamation of the Word

Psalm 6

Song: “When the Ship Comes In”

Oh the time will come up

When the winds will stop

And the breeze will cease to be breathin’

Like the stillness in the wind

’Fore the hurricane begins

The hour when the ship comes in

Oh the seas will split

And the ship will hit

And the sands on the shoreline will be shaking

Then the tide will sound

And the wind will pound

And the morning will be breaking

Oh the fishes will laugh

As they swim out of the path

And the seagulls they’ll be smiling

And the rocks on the sand

Will proudly stand

The hour that the ship comes in

And the words that are used

For to get the ship confused

Will not be understood as they’re spoken

For the chains of the sea

Will have busted in the night

And will be buried at the bottom of the ocean

A song will lift

As the mainsail shifts

And the boat drifts on to the shoreline

And the sun will respect

Every face on the deck

The hour that the ship comes in

Then the sands will roll

Out a carpet of gold

For your weary toes to be a-touchin’

And the ship’s wise men

Will remind you once again

That the whole wide world is watchin’

Oh the foes will rise

With the sleep still in their eyes

And they’ll jerk from their beds and think they’re dreamin’

But they’ll pinch themselves and squeal

And know that it’s for real

The hour when the ship comes in

Then they’ll raise their hands

Sayin’ we’ll meet all your demands

But we’ll shout from the bow your days are numbered

And like Pharoah’s tribe

They’ll be drownded in the tide

And like Goliath, they’ll be conquered

Isaiah 21.6-10

Gradual Hymn: “All along the Watchtower”

There must be some way out of here,

said the joker to the thief,

There’s too much confusion,

I can’t get no relief.

Businessmen, they drink my wine,

plowmen dig my earth,

None of them along the line

know what any of it is worth.

No reason to get excited,

the thief, he kindly spoke,

There are many here among us

who feel that life is but a joke.

But you and I, we’ve been through that,

and this is not our fate,

So let us not talk falsely now,

the hour is getting late.

All along the watchtower,

princes kept the view

While all the women came and went,

barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wild captive growls

Two riders were approaching,

the wind began to howl.

Gospel: Mark 13.1-8

Sermon Dr. Brian Walsh

Prayers of the People

(from “Father of Night”)

Father of night, Father of day

Father, who taketh the darkness away

Father, who teacheth the bird to fly

Builder of rainbows up in the sky

Father of loneliness and pain

Father of love and Father of rain
Hear our prayer.

For a world where the darkness is ever growing,

and the promise of the rainbow is so vulnerable.

Hear our prayer.

For all who suffer loneliness and pain,

depression, betrayal and hurt.

Hear our prayer.

(time of silent and spoken prayer)

Father of day, Father of night

Father of black, Father of white

Father, who build the mountain so high

Who shapeth the cloud up in the sky

Father of time, Father of dreams

Father, who turneth the rivers and streams

Hear our prayer.

For those who suffer from racism,

sexism, homophobia and all persecution.

Hear our prayer.

For those whose dreams are nightmares,

and for those whose time is running short.

Hear our prayer.

(time of silent and spoken prayer)

Father of grain, Father of wheat

Father of cold and Father of heat

Father of air and Father of trees

Who dwells in our hearts and our memories

Father of minutes, Father of days

Father of whom we most solemnly praise

Hear our prayer.

For food security in a hungry world,

for climate justice and the healing of creation.

Hear our prayer.

For those whose memories are nightmares,

for those whose hearts can no longer sing praise.

Hear our prayer.

(time of silent and spoken prayer)

Father of night, Father of day

Father, who taketh the darkness away

Hear our prayer.

The Peace

The Celebration of the Eucharist

Offertory: “Chimes of Freedom”

Far between sundown’s finish an’ midnight’s broken toll

We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing

As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds

Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing

Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight

Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight

An’ for each an’ ev’ry underdog soldier in the night

An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

In the city’s melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched

With faces hidden while the walls were tightening

As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin’ rain

Dissolved into the bells of the lightning

Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake

Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an’ forsaked

Tolling for the outcast, burnin’ constantly at stake

An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Even though a cloud’s white curtain in a far-off corner flashed

An’ the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting

Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones

Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting

Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail

For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale

An’ for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail

An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Starry-eyed an’ laughing as I recall when we were caught

Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended

As we listened one last time an’ we watched with one last look

Spellbound an’ swallowed ’til the tolling ended

Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed

For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse

An’ for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe

An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

Eucharistic Prayer

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks

to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Truly it is right to praise you, Holy God
wonderful and beyond all knowing.
You are glorious in splendour and light.
In your goodness and loving-kindness
you breathed your word of love
and all creation sprang forth.

(singing) And we gazed upon