phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome to The Upper Room Liturgy, as we gather in community and love. As we gather, I invite you to listen to a familiar Gospel in a new light. What kind of life was Jesus calling his followers to? And why? And what might the same lesson mean for us?
Opening Prayer
Holy One, open our minds and our hearts as we gather to listen to your Word. Amen.
Opening Song: Berakah, The Blessing by Jan Novotka https://youtu.be/awJwUf6fq7k
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: From “A Mythical Life,” by Jean Houston as excerpted in Sophiawakens, April 14, 2021
Jean, a high school student, heartbroken over her parents’ impending divorce, had taken to running everywhere.
Then, one day…
on 84th Street and Park Avenue, I ran into an old man and knocked the wind out of him. This was serious. I was a great big overgrown girl, and he was a rather frail gentleman in his seventies. But he laughed as I helped him to his feet and asked me in French-accented speech,
“Are you planning to run like that for the rest of your life?”
“Yes, sir,” I replied, thinking of my unhappiness. “It sure looks that way.”
“Well, bon voyage!” he said.
“Bon voyage!” I answered and sped on my way. About a week later, I was walking down Park Avenue with my fox terrier, Champ, and again I met the old gentleman.
“Ah,” he greeted me, “my friend the runner, and with a fox terrier. I knew one like that many years ago in France. Where are you going?”
“Well, sir,” I replied, “I’m taking Champ to Central Park. I go there most afternoons to … think about things.”
“I will go with you sometimes,” he informed me. “I will take my constitutional.”
And thereafter, for about a year and a half, the old gentleman and I would meet and walk together as often as several times a week in Central Park.
He had a long French name but asked me to call him by the first part of it, which as far as I could make out was Mr. Tayer. The walks were magical and full of delight. Mr. Tayer seemed to have absolutely no self-consciousness, and he was always being carried away by wonder and astonishment over the simplest things.
He was constantly and literally falling into love. I remember one time he suddenly fell on his knees in Central Park, his long Gallic nose raking the ground, and exclaimed to me, “Jeanne, look at the caterpillar. Ahhhhh! ”
I joined him on the ground to see what had evoked so profound a response.
“How beautiful it is,” he remarked, “this little green being with its wonderful funny little feet. Exquisite! Little furry body, little green feet on the road to metamorphosis.”
He then regarded me with interest. “Jeanne, can you feel yourself to be a caterpillar?”
“Oh, yes,” I replied with the baleful knowing of a gangly, pimply-faced teenager.
“Then think of your own metamorphosis,” he suggested. “What will you be when you become a butterfly? Un papillon, eh? What is the butterfly of Jeanne?”
What a great question for a fourteen-year-old girl, a question for puberty rites, initiations into adulthood, and other new ways of being. His comic-tragic face nodded helpfully until I could answer. “I …don’t really know anymore, Mr. Tayer.”
“Yes, you do know. It is inside of you, like the butterfly is inside of the caterpillar.”
These words tell of Jean Houston’s first meeting with priest, paleontologist, and mystic, Teilhard de Chardin. We acknowledge her words with Amen.
Alleluia (Eightfold) – Jan Phillips
Gospel: Luke 6:27-38
Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say,
love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as a parent is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”
This is the Gospel as told to us by the ancient writer we know as Luke. We acknowledge his words with Amen.
Homily Starter: In today’s Gospel, Luke passes down one of the most memorable teachings of Jesus: Love to the extreme. Love to the point of what may appear to be folly. Love. Love. And then, Love.
I imagine the people hearing his words, taking them in, and wondering how they might possibly live them. And I can’t blame them at all. If I’m honest, I must admit that I wonder myself, so many centuries later. To love my enemies, those who would do me or my loved one’s harm? That seems like an unreachable goal.
Like many of Jesus’s sermons, this one is easy to hear but so, so difficult to live. Why is this? Could it be that we are still developing the mechanisms we need to live the lesson? To reference the beautiful example that Teilhard gave to Jean, are we caterpillars? Have we not yet metamorphosed? Can we hear about the thrill of flying, but lacking wings, are we unable to leave the ground? I wonder.
It takes a huge leap of faith to develop wings. A caterpillar almost completely dissolves inside its cocoon as the change begins. It gives up one life to gain another. And if it survives the change, it flies.
I wonder if Jesus is calling his followers to take that leap. I wonder if we, in our own time, are being called to take that leap. Like caterpillars, are we being asked to give up all that we are comfortable with to become what we are called to be? Are we being asked, as Jean was asked by Teilhard, to find the butterfly within ourselves? And I wonder, if we do take that leap as individuals, will our flight of love; enormous, all-encompassing, valiant, compassionate love, change the whole world? Is that what Jesus meant by our “reward?” Is the reward of love life itself? Abundant life for every living being?
So, I ask you today, what do you think? What would be the cost of such a leap? Is the cost worth the reward? If so, how do we begin our metamorphosis?
Shared Homily
Statement of Faith:
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
Prayers of the Community
As we prepare for the sacred meal, we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your prayers beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”
We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
adapted from Diarmuid O’Murchu
With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer together:
Gracious God, source and sustenance of life, redeeming presence to the pain and brokenness of our world, Holy Spirit, who enlivens and inebriates all that exists, we beseech your healing power upon us and all we pray for today.
Down through the ages, you rescue us from darkness. You light up our ways with wise and holy people. You restore our spirits and you revive our dwindling hope.
May the Spirit of life and wholeness transform us that we may be refreshed in our inner being and be empowered to bring mercy, love, and healing to those whose lives we touch.
For all you bring to our lives, and for all we seek amid
pain and suffering, we acclaim your love and greatness,
and we join with all creation to sing our hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: (Words and music by Karen Drucker)
Source of our health and wholeness, healer of body, mind, and spirit, we come before you as we are. We thank you for these bodies, in all their strengths and frailties. We thank you for our minds, ever enquiring, ever expanding in your knowledge. We thank you for our hearts, strengthened in your love, yet ever breakable. We know you love us as we are, even as you call us to become even more.
Please raise your hands in blessing:
We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts the empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses these gifts of bread and wine, and all here present, with the transforming energy of life.
As we gather around this friendship table, we recall God’s blessing and love from ages past, and we celebrate anew the gift of life which we share among us at this Eucharistic feast.
The bread we break and the cup we share are symbols of our world of abundance where all are invited to partake of the fullness of life.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet. Once again, he showed us how to love one another.
All lift the plate and pray:
Back at the table, he took the Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, this is my very self.
All lift the cup and pray:
Then he took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity.
Please receive communion saying: “I am becoming.”
Communion Song: Behold Now the Kingdom – John Michael Talbot https://youtu.be/TWd0OE5jaoA
Prayer After Communion
In faith and hope we are sustained,
In grace our dignity reclaimed,
In praise we thank our God.
Grant that we may strive to create a world where suffering and pain are diminished, where justice and peace are restored, and where all people can live in health and wholeness, united in acclaiming the God of life, whose abundance is offered to each and to all, bringing your Kin-dom into being.
This prayer we make in the name of our healing and nurturing God through, with, and in whom we offer these gifts, sources of life, love, and goodness, now and forever. Amen.
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
O Holy One, who is within, around and among us,
We celebrate your many names.
Your Wisdom come.
Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us,
Each day you give us all we need;
You remind us of our limits, and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us, now and forever. Amen
(Miriam Therese Winter)
BLESSING
Let us raise our hands and bless each other.
May we live our lives knowing that we are not finished. May we hear and respond to the voice that calls us into the future, which waits for us. May we love, may we love, may we love. Amen.
Closing Song: Canticle of the Turning by Rory Cooney
