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Transformational Love
Background Music and Peace Prayer Music of Hildegard von Bingen
https://youtu.be/RRNmyj6cocQ?si=axNDcbd1AINsCme_
Welcome to the Upper Room. Our theme today is transformational love—that self-emptying experience which resists the sentimental. Love that opens our hearts to what is real. Love that is a force capable of healing our deepest wounds. As we were planning this liturgy, we were inspired to do something different this week during the shared homily. We would like to spend some time in silence together followed by short one word or one sentence sharing to make more space for listening and responding to divine presence within and among us.
Opening Prayer:
Holy One, you are known by many names. Some call you God, some Allah, some Adonai, some Mother, some Great Spirit, some simply know you as Love. Throughout time and in every tradition those who love you ask for healing of the body, mind and spirit. We long for your transforming love. We come today to listen with the ears of our hearts so that we may grow in compassion, gentleness and strength to be peace and justice in a hurting world. May it be so. Amen
Opening Song: Heal Us Now by Leon Sher video by Donna Panaro
https://youtu.be/niTLAuLDM3g?si=zSkKkJVPeo5i2SaL
R’fa-einu Adonai (heal us, Adonai,)
v’neirafei; (and we will be healed)
Hoshi-einu (Save us)
v’nivashei-ah (and we will be saved)
El karov l’khol korav; (God is near to all who call,)
Akh karov lirei-av yisho. (With help to those who fear God)
We pray for healing of the body.
We pray for healing of the soul.
For strength of flesh and mind and spirit,
We pray to once again be whole.
Eil na r’fa na, (God, please heal, please)
Oh please, heal us now.
R’fu-at ha-nefesh, (healing of the soul)
u-r’fu-at ha-guf, (and healing of the body)
r’fu-ah sh’leimah. (complete healing.)
Heal us now, heal us now.
Hoshia et amekha (Deliver Your people)
u-vareikh et nahalatekha (and bless Your inheritance)
u-r’eim v’nas’eim ad ha-olam. (and tend them and sustain them forever.)
Mi shebeirach avoteinu, (Who blessed our fathers,)
Mi shebeirach imoteinu (Who blessed our mothers,)
Ana Adonai hoshiah na. (Please, Adonai, deliver us!)
We pray for healing of our people.
We pray for healing of the land.
And peace for every race and nation,
Everyone who needs a helping hand.
Eil na r’fa na, (God, please heal, please)
Oh please, heal us now.
R’fu-at ha-nefesh, (healing of the soul)
u-r’fu-at ha-guf, (and healing of the body)
r’fu-ah sh’leimah. (complete healing.)
Heal us now, heal us now
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Adapted from See No Stranger by Valerie Kaur
Love is a form of sweet labor: fierce, bloody, imperfect, and life-giving—a choice we make over and over again. Love as labor can be taught, modeled, and practiced. This labor engages all our emotions. Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love. Anger protects that which is loved. And when we think we have reached our limit, wonder is the act that returns us to love.
[Transformational] love is the choice to labor for others, for our opponents, and for ourselves in order to transform the world around us. It begins with wonder: You are a part of me I do not yet know. It is not a formal code or prescription but an orientation to life that is personal, [communal and global] sustained by joy. Loving only ourselves is escapism; loving only our opponents is self-loathing; loving only others is ineffective. All three practices together make love [transformational] and [transformational] love can only be practiced in community.
These are the inspired words of Valerie Kaur and the community affirms them by saying: Amen.
Second Reading: A Mystical Experience by Thomas Merton
In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness. The whole illusion of a separate holy existence is a dream. . . . This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud. . . . I have the immense joy of being human, a member of a race in which God . . . became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. . . . Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed.
These are the inspired words of the mystic, Thomas Merton and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia by Jan Phillips
https://youtu.be/IC4nbwmQDVw?si=UKPXyYhpbiIpiLdO
Gospel: A reading from the gospel writer known as Matthew (Mt. 5: 20-22, 27-28, 33-34, 37)
I tell you, unless your sense of justice surpasses that of the religious scholars and the Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
You've heard that our ancestors were told, ‘No killing’ and, ‘Every murderer will be subject to judgment’ But I tell you that everyone who is angry with sister or brother is subject to judgment; anyone who says to sister or brother, ‘I spit in your face!’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin; and anyone who vilifies them with name calling will be subject to the fires of Gehenna.
You've heard the commandment, ‘No committing adultery.’ But I tell you that those who look lustfully at others have already committed adultery with them in their hearts. Again, you have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘Don't break your vow; fulfill all oaths made to our God.’ But I tell you not to swear oaths at all. Say ‘Yes’ when you mean ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ when you mean ‘No’. Anything beyond that is from the Evil One.
These are the inspired words of the gospel writer known as Matthew and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
Homily Starter
On this Valentines Day weekend just before Ash Wednesday it seems fitting to look carefully at the kind of love Jesus modeled and taught in today’s gospel reading. Thomas Merton’s mystical experience illuminates what happens when we accept and live into the expansions to the laws that Jesus speaks of in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus challenges his listeners to make changes of the heart. He calls them to become their highest selves. He encourages them to raise their standards so that they can build the kindom on earth.
Valerie Kaur echo’s Jesus when she compares a fierce kind of transformational love to giving birth. The love she speaks of is not for the faint of heart because it involves choosing to labor in love for others, our opponents and ourselves. She emphasizes that all three are necessary.
Two stories that shaped how St. Valentine is remembered can illustrate what Jesus, Valerie Kaur and Thomas Merton teach us about love. One story says Valentine secretly married couples after an emperor supposedly banned marriages for young soldiers. When discovered Valentine was imprisoned and executed. Another says he healed a jailer’s daughter and signed a letter: “from your Valentine.”
In these stories about St. Valentine, we see one who stays true to his values of helping others even when he faces imprisonment and execution. We also see one who treats his opponent with care by healing the jailer’s daughter.
I believe that the wisdom and truths from different religions and cultures are currently becoming more prevalent and visible. This gives me hope as I think about the future. I have been deeply inspired by the Buddhist monks who walked for peace from Texas to Washington D.C. Valerie Kaur a Sikh activist wrote the book that the Upper Room book club is reading. Clergy of many different traditions came together in Minnesota bringing love and prayer to a place of chaos and violence. These actions come from people who have high standards for themselves and are becoming the change they want to see in the world.
May each of us use this Lenten season continue to become who we are in the eyes of God. May we transform our way of living and loving so that we can bring healing and peace to the world.
We invite you now to the silence of your heart. We will pass the bowl. When you have the bowl, please share one word or sentence if you wish. You can always choose to pass. We will invite the people on zoom at two different times to also share.
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
Presider: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we share our intentions beginning with the words, “I bring to the table…”
We pray for these and all the intentions in the silence of our heart.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Presider: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in one voice:
O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us as we set our hearts on belonging to you. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all creation.
You know our limitations and our essential goodness and we know how deeply we are loved. Your compassion inspires us to see the good in others and forgive their limitations. Acknowledging your presence in each other and in all of creation, we sing:
Holy, Holy: Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy
Guiding Spirit, Sophia Wisdom, when opposing forces in us tug and pull and we are caught in the tension of choices, inspire us to make wise decisions toward what is good.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus, and for all our sisters and brothers who have modeled for us a way to live and love in challenging times. Inspired by them, we choose love over hate, we choose to be salt for the earth and light in the world.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We are ever aware of your Spirit in us and among us at this friendship table. We are grateful for this bread and wine which remind us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world.
On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at supper with his companions and 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.
All lift the plate and pray:
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, this is my very self.
(pause)
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.
(pause)
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: “You are deeply loved.”
Communion Song: Somewhere Over the Rainbow by: Yo Yo Ma
(start at 2:20 and stop at 4:58)
https://youtu.be/BJVC4WGYcZ8?si=y9_USIKFp4p771Lv
Prayer after Communion:
Holy One, your transforming energy is within us and we join our hearts with all who are working for healing in our world. We pray for wisdom. We pray for courageous and compassionate hearts as we walk Your path of peace.
We pray for all of us gathered here and like Jesus, we open ourselves up to your Spirit, for it is through living as he lived that we awaken to your Spirit within,
moving us to glorify you, at this time and all ways.
Amen.
Presider: 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
Presider: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing:
You have been fed by the word, the food of the table and the love of your brothers and sisters. May this transforming love strengthen you and give you hope. Through your words and deeds may your life bear witness to the One who calls to the hearts of all. May your name be a blessing in our time. Amen
Closing Song: We Walk for Peace
https://youtu.be/Vyn4KgewDMI?si=nCUy5hx5i41VDep9
