phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-865
Welcome.. Our Upper Room community is always changing and growing. Each week in our sharing we ask so many questions. We support and comfort one another as we share. Rarely do we actually find definitive answers to our questions. (I wrote this before the elections, we may be asking, now what God, now what?)
Peace Prayer
Opening Song: A Gathering of Spirits by Carrie Newcomer (MT video)
https://youtu.be/zGLFtOFPqHU?si=HQhd8zEONT0_Knyf
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A Poem “Stripped By God” by Cynthia Langston Kirk
What would happen if I pursued God—
If I filled my pockets with openness,
Grabbed a thermos half full of fortitude,
And crawled into the cave of the Almighty
Nose first, eyes peeled, heart hesitantly following
Until I was face to face
With the raw, pulsing beat of Mystery
What if I entered and it looked different
Than anyone ever described?
What if the cave was too large to be fully known,
Far too extensive to be comprehended by
one person or group,
Too vast for one dogma or doctrine?
Would I shatter at such thought?
Perish from paradox or puzzle?
Shrink and shrivel before the power?
Would God be diminished if I lived a question
Rather than a statement?
Would I lose my faith
As I discovered the magnitude of Grace?
O, for the willingness to explore
To leave my tiny vocabulary at the entrance
And stand before you naked
Stripped of pretenses and rigidity,
Disrobed of self-righteousness and tidy packages.
Stripped of all that holds me at a distance from you
And your world.
Strip me, O God,
Then clothe me in curiosity and courage.
We affirm these words with AMEN!
Second Reading: A reading from the Prophet Micah
God has already made abundantly clear what “good” is, and YHWH needs from you:
Simply do justice, love kindness, and humbly walk with your God.
We affirm these words with AMEN!
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia – MTVideo
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel of Matthew (25:34-40)
Come you blessed of my Abba God. Inherit the kindom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me; naked and you clothed me. I was ill and you comforted me; in prison and you came to visit me. Then you will ask, ‘When did we see you hungry and feed you, or see you thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in, or clothe you in your nakedness? When did we see you ill or in prison and come to visit you? The truth is, every time you did this for the least of my sisters and brothers you did it for me.
The community affirm these words with AMEN!
Shared Homily
In 325 AD at the request of Constantine, the Roman Emperor, the Roman Catholic Church developed the Nicene Creed. The Church set for the next 1700 years plus exactly what we were to believe. Dogma and doctrines were added. The creed, dogmas and doctrine boxed us in. The Church claimed the Truth. In effect the Roman Catholic Church declared they had the answers to the questions.
In the book Living the Questions by David Felten and Jeff Procter-Murphy they write: “To say you ascribe, without question, to a dogmatic set of beliefs that were developed and set in stone by someone else is easy. The bigger challenge is to follow a story that is always evolving, one in which the ending is not yet written.”
Each week when we share in the Upper Room, we raise so many questions. We worry we cannot do enough to help our community or world. There is so much suffering and chaos, and we do not have the answers. We feel powerless and sometimes hopeless.
David Felten and Jeff Procter help make our path a little clearer; “the bigger challenge is to follow a story that is always evolving, one in which the ending is not yet written.”
Our story at the Upper Room is evolving. Our focus in life is “being in a relationship with the Holy One and each other. This relationship changes us into more and more compassionate beings. It’s the journey that’s important. We are all on the journey, but we are also on different parts of the journey. We are all evolving. It’s what we learn on the journey and how we relate to God and others that matters most.” We each chose this journey, our individual path, and we say Yes with our choices. We do not know what that Yes means at least not yet!
Our lives are filled with many questions. The big question that shows up here almost every week is what are we to do?
Can we move beyond needing answers and move to the heart of the message? The heart message may be living out or struggling to live out what we hear in Micah and Matthew and written in Cynthia Langston Kirk’s poem and so many other scripture passages and readings we share here in the Upper Room. Take care of each other, including the stranger and the marginalized. Work for justice, love, and walk humbly with our God. The struggle continues. We have each other and our “story is evolving.”
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.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Prayers of the Community
As we prepare for this sacred meal, we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.
We pray for these and all those we carry in our hearts. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer
Let us pray our Eucharistic prayer with open hearts and hands:
We are grateful for our brother Jesus teaching us the way of compassion through entering into the suffering of others. May we care for ourselves as Jesus cared for us, seeing humanity through the eyes of “Love”. Through his loving eyes we are healed and we open our hearts to the pain and suffering of others.
Because of your empowering unconditional loving Presence Beloved, we are aware of your presence in and among us. Your love radiates from our hearts, minds, and bodies. The nurturance of ourselves and one another empowers your embodied presence. “We are not the survival of the fittest but the survival of the nurtured.” (Cozolino)
With joy and gratefulness today and always, we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy Music by John Bacchus Dykes, Words by Peter Mayer video by Denise
Holy One, you speak to our hearts and say “I don’t need anything from you for me to love you - I don’t need you to evolve for me to love you - I don’t need you to grow for me to love you - I don’t need you to succeed for me to love you - I will stay with you in any circumstance. I was here at the beginning, I am here in the middle, I will be here in the end. There is nothing you can do to lose me.” “Just your being is love to me”.
We thank you for Jesus who heard the Divine voice of deep love for him as “this is my beloved son”. Jesus showed us a path to comforting ourselves as the Divine Beloved would comfort us and as we would nurture our own children, family and friends. May we hear God’s voice as Jesus did to love and forgive ourselves so that we may more fully love and forgive each other.
Please extend your hands in blessing
Your Spirit that is present in us at this Eucharistic table. We are grateful for the bread and wine that remind us of our call to be the light of Christ to the world.
All: On the night before he faced betrayal and death, Jesus shared supper with his friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
lifts plate
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, go and love with one another.
lift the cup
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.
(pause)
Let us share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace.
Please pass the bread with the words: We are part of the same story.
Communion Song: Compassion (Change the World) by Andrew Witt
Post-Communion Prayer
Holy One, your love transforms us so we love and heal each other. We resolve to love as Jesus loved. Jesus loved the marginalized, the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, the immigrants, the stranger. Amen.
Prayer of Jesus
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy One, you are 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 that 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. Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
BLESSING
Please extend your hands in blessing.
May the many blessings of the Holy One always comfort and inspire us.
May we support and love each other as we walk this amazing journey.
May we be a light in the world and a blessing in our time. AMEN.
Closing Song: Anthem by Tom Conry
