Upper Room Sunday Liturgy, July 28, 2026 - Presider: Lynn Kinlan

Zoom:   https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155  
phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-865

Welcome: Welcome everyone to our hybrid celebration of Pride and Inclusion Sunday in which we affirm our support for any and all peoples who are marginalized, oppressed and persecuted for the sacred desire and right to belong to our human family. 

We begin with our prayer: 

Opening Prayer: 

Beloved Spirit: Thank you for seeing, knowing, and loving us in the full mystery and unfolding of our being. Through you, we remember that the yearning of our souls to know our true selves, true identity, and true love is stronger than any conditioned voice of doubt. May we be blessed with the grace to accept and support all people in erasing oppression, exploitation and prejudice from their cultures. We pray for rising justice for all. Amen 

Opening Song: For Everyone Born by the Beyond the Walls Choir

https://youtu.be/cdOvOXEiss0?si=eL1VlsDOqQ3gLHD7

LITURGY OF THE WORD

Reading 1: Excerpt from The Christian Roots of Speaking Truth to Power by Chris Watkin

We’re accustomed with the phrase “Speaking truth to power.” It implies truth and power aren’t the same thing, that truth comes from the margins of power. But consider how peculiar that assumption is.  Why on earth would truth not be the same as power?

Those on the margins have a different view of things, a different experience of the world that can be a powerful critique of the status quo. There is a mystique about being an outsider with insight to see anew and the courage to be different, to go against the flow and face persecution.

Yet, there are liberal and conservative versions of margins in our society, each claiming the mystique of outsider with insight. This leads to a fracturing of opposing groups righteously clamoring for the right to be speaking truth. Even voices from the margins can have blind spots and prejudices and ulterior motives. 

This is why we need to be sure to clothe our speech and our motivations in the truth of the Divine biblical voice, the moral voice that is truly from the outside, truly from the margins. 

From the Bible’s beginning, the center of power is not the center of truth. Prophets, lowly shepherds and a Christ child birthed in a barn are the ones who speak truth and act with love and integrity. When Jesus chooses disciples, he doesn’t assemble a cabinet of politicians and public speakers to forward his message. He chooses fishermen and a tax collector. Marginal characters, all. And yet somehow, the message of God’s kingdom takes roots over centuries.

God truly is outside our contemporary cultural status quo in a way no human voice from the margins can be. God’s voice from the margins is different is because of the extraordinary way the Bible messes with power structures. The biblical voice from outside is both a voice from the margins and a voice of power. Jesus is the ultimate model of how to critique the status quo because his voice is both marginal and powerful. 

These are the words of Chris Watkin, a Religious Studies Professor in Australia and we affirm them with Amen.

Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia by Christopher Walker

https://youtu.be/4cs8NDVM3Vk

Gospel: A Reading from the Gospel of Mathew 8:1-4

 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he 

said, “Be clean!” Immediately, the man was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you don’t tell anyone. Go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded as a testimony.  

These are the words of the ancient gospel writer known as Matthew and we affirm them with Amen.

(Pause to consider readings)

Shared Homily

Today is the last Sunday of Pride month during which we honor the”’ contributions LGBTQ+ identity, history, and the ongoing fight for equality. Because sacredness of belonging is a human right across all marginalized communities and cultures, we extend our inclusive celebration today to all those who hunger and thirst for justice. 

Sadly, oppression, shunning, persecution and exploitation are a common enough injustice from the time of Jesus to today. Equally as common however, is the heroic stance of the brave and just to stand up and speak truth to power as Jesus did. 

We stand on the shoulders of midwives who refused Pharoah’s command to kill newborn males and we are inspired by early followers of Jesus who hid underground in catacombs to keep the faith. In modern times, we celebrate the bravery of suffragettes who chained themselves to the White House gates and were force fed during hunger strikes in prison (1906-1917). 

We remember the Stonewall rioting (1969) in which the LGBT community stood up to police violence and harassment to claim their right to live in the light. We honor the Marchers on Bloody Sunday claiming the dignity of walking the bridge to Selma, protesters in Tianamen Square (1989) and the Minnesota citizens who in the name of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, rose up to oust ICE from their streets. These and so many more give us reason to hope and persist.

But hope and persistence are not enough. Love must also be part of the mix. 

Speaking up and standing up when it is unpopular or illegal is not simple nor is the resolution likely to be quick.  A DEI consultant, Dr. Anita Wilson puts it well: “Justice is not a one-time goal but an ongoing effort that requires dedication and love. When we treat justice as a labor of love, we honor the past and bring a more equitable future for everyone.”

Advocacy bathed in love and humility, in the teachings of Jesus and/or another Divine source is the approach most likely to endure. The holy and sacred respect of love transcends boundaries of class, race, culture, poverty and wealth.  Jesus touching the incurable leper reminds me of Princess Diana lovingly holding a baby with HIV and how people were either gob smacked or appalled. Love can be very powerful and persuasive. Love does not burn out, it will not shrink to resignation, and it does not multiply resistance like anger can do. 

Meanwhile, persecution and inequality thrive in the dark and grow contagious in the silence. Recent polls show that Republican support for gay marriage has dropped by 18 points in the last four years. (55% down to 37%). Political independents also experienced a six percentage point decline. Democratic support remains unchanged at 87 percent. Because Democrats outnumber Republicans, the overall support of gay rights remains a majority of 65% down from 71%fouryears ago.  

It is crucial to resist the forces of cruelty and hate with tolerance and love, to insist that human rights are sacred rights.  

Sources:

Igielnik, Ruth. “ Republican support for same-sex marriage has fallen by 18 percentage points since 2022” Republican support for same-sex marriage has fallen by 18 percentage points since 2022. - The New York Times. 24/06/2026.

Polite-Wilson, Anita. “Justice as an Ongoing Commitment” Justice as an Ongoing Commitment. 09/27/2024.

Watkins, Chris. “The Christian Roots of Speaking Truth to Power” The Gospel Coalition. 24/08/2024. www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/mandate-mystique-margins/

Prayer of Support for Pride Sunday. Unitarian Universalist Association

 Let us pray our Statement of Faith together

Statement of Faith

All: 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 Divine 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 Divine wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of Holy One’s peace in the world.

We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,

The life of the Divine that is our innermost life, 

the breath of the Holy One moving in our being.

The depth of Spirit 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 bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.  Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”

We pray for these and all unspoken concerns and blessings. Amen.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:

Source of Infinite Love, You are always with us. We are grateful for Your constant loving and unconditional presence. At times we forget that You are holding us, attending to us. We fall and You pick us up. You send strangers, friends and family to our aid. We are never without Your Light and Spirit.

We experience great joy and we experience great pain and suffering. You are with us in the joy and the pain and suffering. When we experience Your presence we long to sing our hymn of praise: 

Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy

https://youtu.be/uXyu57tR2gk

Creator and Lover of all beings, we cannot grow in the darkness of this world without Your Light. Our desire to be in Your light is a gift from You. Help us keep our hearts and minds open to You through our love and care for each other and all creation.

Please extend your hands in blessing

This bread and wine are signs of Your nourishment and a great love. Your Spirit is upon us. We belong to You and one another.

We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, revealing us as one with you, and all creation.

On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for the Seder 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 bread. 

All: Back at the table, he took the Passover Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, share and love one another.

All lift the cup:

Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:

Take and drink of the covenant

Made new again through my life in you.

Whenever you remember me like this,

I am among you.

Bread and wine are transformed by Your Spirit and we are transformed when we open ourselves to Your Spirit. Every time we share this bread and wine we choose to be transformed. We choose to love as You love us, infinitely and inclusively.

What we have heard with our ears we will live in our lives; as we share communion, we will become communion, both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge. 

Please receive the bread and cup with the words You are/ I am the Beloved of the Holy One

Communion Song: All Belong Here by The Many

https://youtu.be/sJBEwqBfw3I?si=ZZwmbNIJPnkFHTSR

Post-Communion Prayer

All: Loving Source of our being, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice. Though we may meet resistance we resolve to live as Jesus lived, speaking truth to power, compassionately and persistently. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity in Your Presence. 

Let us pray together the prayer of Jesus:

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 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.

                       -The Prayer of Jesus as adapted by Miriam Therese Winter

                                         BLESSING

Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together:

• - May we keep calm and carry on.
• - May we know the terrific love of the Holy One 

        and keep learning how to share it with others.

• - May we “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone  

    who asks of us the reason for the hope we have, 

                   and do so with gentleness and respect.”  (1 Peter 1:12)                    Amen

Closing Song: Love Large by Earth Mama

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ehQRPknqtg

Upper Room Saturday Liturgy, June 27, 2026 - Presider: Denise Hackert-Stoner

Zoom:   https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155  
phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-865

Welcome, friends, as we gather in prayer and thanksgiving, as a beloved community.

Opening Prayer:  Holy One, open our minds and hearts to your truth.  Allow us to hear you, to see you, to live in your Divine Love, just as our brother Jesus did.  And as we strive to live as he did, help us to become more and more the people you created us to be.  Amen.

Opening Song:  Ancient Words, Michael W Smith    https://youtu.be/gqtEtqmjHf4?si=0uuXwka2di8A30Xc

LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading: From Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi

Our conscious need for mercy is our only real boarding pass. The ego doesn’t like that very much, but the soul fully understands.  

In different ways, we humans falsely divide the world into the pure and impure, the totally good and the totally bad, the perfect and imperfect. It begins with dualistic thinking and then never manages to get beyond it. Such a total split or clean division is never true in actual experience. We all know that reality is a lot more mixed and “disordered” than that; so, in order to continue to see things in such a false and binary way, we really have to close down. That is the hallmark of immature religion. It demands denial, splitting, and mental pretense. It moves from the first false assumption of purity or perfection toward an entire ethical code, a priesthood of some sort, and various rituals and taboos that keep us on the side of the seeming pure, positive, or perfect — as if that were even possible.  

I mean this next point kindly: Organized religion is almost structurally certain to create hypocrites (the word literally means “actors”), those who try to appear to be pure and good, or at least better than others. Jesus uses the word at least ten times in Matthew’s Gospel alone! We are unconsciously trained to want to look good, to seek moral high ground, and to point out the “speck” in other people’s eyes while ignoring the “log” in our own (Matthew 7:3–5). None of us lives up to all our spoken ideals, but we have to pretend we do in order to feel good about ourselves and to get others of our chosen group to respect us.  

These are the words of priest and theologian, Richard Rohr.  We affirm his words with Amen.

Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker

https://youtu.be/o1rc7ojQtJU

Gospel:  Matthew 8: 5-10, 13

When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” 
He said to him, “I will come and cure him.”
The centurion said in reply,
“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes;
and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes;
and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven,
but the children of the Kingdom
will be driven out into the outer darkness,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

And Jesus said to the centurion,
“You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.”
And at that very hour his servant was healed.

This story, passed down from our ancestors, is told by an ancient writer we know as Matthew.  We affirm his words with Amen.

Homily Starter:

The centurion is a man who understands rules.  He’s a mid-level officer in the Roman army, one who both receives and gives orders.  Being an army officer, he knows well how to adhere to regulations.  And being a perceptive and caring human being, he is sensitive to the regulations that others follow.  Even when those “others” are subject to the force of his own command.  

So, when his servant falls ill, the centurion goes to Jesus, the healer everyone is talking about.  He could order Jesus to follow him and enter his home, where the servant is lying.  But he knows that for Jesus, a Jewish teacher, the gentile centurion’s home would be considered unclean.  So, rather than putting Jesus in that difficult situation, the centurion asks Jesus to heal the servant from a distance.  And Jesus is impressed.  He is impressed with the faith of this outsider who represents all that the Jewish people hate and fear.  He is impressed with the humility of a man who is willing to set aside his own significant power out of respect for the religious regulations of a subjugated person.  He is impressed with the love of this powerful man for his servant.  

And the Jewish bystanders who are standing there witnessing this remarkable incident?  Jesus loves them.  He has just wrapped up the great discourse of his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.  Those teachings were meant just for these, his people.  But he also knows them, and sees their shadow side, which can manifest in hypocrisy.  Three times in the sermon on the mount, and many other times in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus refers to hypocrisy.  As Richard Rohr reminds us, it is often religion itself, with its dualistic way of looking at life, that can lead people to act like hypocrites. So, this centurion, who represents the power and greed of the Roman occupiers, in his dialogue with Jesus, becomes a lesson in humility and authenticity.  This is the gift of Jesus, to see inside a person, any person, to recognize both the light and the shadow dwelling within that person, and to love the whole person.  No need for hypocrisy.  That centurion is probably not a perfect person.  He is part of an occupying force.  He follows orders that lead him to subjugate his fellow human beings.  But there is good in him, and Jesus sees it.  

We are, each one of us, whole people, made of light and shadow.  And just as we are, in all our complexity, we are worthy.  Worthy of the Love who made us, and worthy of the precious gift of our lives.  No need to pretend to be perfect.  No need to point out the flaws of others to make ourselves appear better by comparison.  No hypocrisy.  Just Love.  

What did you hear in today’s readings?  Please share your thoughts.

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 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 prayers for the community. 

Prayers for the community.

We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen. 

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

(Written by Jay Murnane)

Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.  

Blessed are you, Holy One, source of all creation. Through your goodness you made this world and called us to be Your co-creators. We give thanks for the diversity and beauty of life around us and within us. 

We open our awareness to the goodness of all of creation and we remember our responsibility to serve. You invite us to build the earth into a community of love rooted in justice. You placed confidence in us, for you made us and you know that we are good.  

In joy and in thanksgiving we join with all the faithful servants who have gone before us and we sing:

Holy, Holy, Holy by Karen Drucker video by Denise

https://youtu.be/kl7vmiZ1YuI

We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, and revealing us as one with you and all of creation.

He lived among us to show us who we are and challenged us to know you. He taught us the strength of compassionate love.  

Please extend your hands in blessing.

We are grateful for your Spirit at our Eucharistic Table and for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world. 

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, so that they would re-member him.

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) 

 

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) 

What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives.  As we share communion, we become Communion both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.

Please receive Communion with the words, I am worthy.

Communion Meditation/Song:  You Say, Lauren Daigle https://youtu.be/sIaT8Jl2zpI?si=yj9bR_Z7YjuK93_D

Prayer after communion: 

Holy One, we are willing to do everything Jesus did, to re-create the living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and liberates, of a joy that generates hope, of a light that illumines people and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity.

We trust you to continue to share with us your own spirit, the spirit that animated Jesus, for it is through his life and teaching, all honor and glory is yours, O Holy One, forever and ever.  Amen.

 

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 raise your hands in Blessing:  

May we see each person, and ourselves, with the eyes of Jesus:  light and shadow, strength and weakness, trial and error, and completely worthy of love.  May we bless and be a blessing in our own time.  Amen.  

Closing Song: Look in the Mirror by Carmen Boyle video by Denise https://youtu.be/BF_eU_NjuW8?si=lcBpC1e_KVnLxcda