Opening Prayer: Holy Mystery, we gather in celebration of the world that surrounds us reminding us of the deep and lasting love that has been bestowed upon all of creation. May we be ever aware of the responsibility we have as true stewards of all creation, and of the care and nurturance of all life to which we are called. Amen
Reading: Love Surrounds Us by Bishop Steven Charleston
The signs are all around us. We can see them springing up like wildflowers after the prairie rain. People who had fallen asleep are waking up. People who had been content to watch are wanting to join. People who never said a word are speaking out. The tipping point of faith is the threshold of spiritual energy, where what we believe becomes what we do. When that power is released, there is no stopping it, for love is a force that cannot be contained. Look and see the thousands of new faces gathering from every direction. There is the sign of hope for which you have been waiting. . . .
Hope lets us literally see the presence and action of the holy in our everyday lives. This is not an imaginary desire viewed through rose-colored glasses. It is the solid evidence of the power of love made visible in abundance.
Sometimes, in this troubled world of ours, we forget that love is all around us. We imagine the worst of other people and withdraw into our own shells. But try this simple test: Stand still in any crowded place and watch the people around you. Within a very short time, you will begin to see love, and you will see it over and over and over. A young mother talking to her child, a couple laughing together as they walk by, an older man holding the door for a stranger—small signs of love are everywhere. The more you look, the more you will see. Love is literally everywhere. We are surrounded by love.
Reflection Time (pause for a minute)
Intentions
Holy One, fill us with your wild love that we may embrace and protect each other, those living at the margins, and the natural world.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, reconnect us to our compassion that we may extend our hands to those who need our help in these challenging days.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, help us reorder our society in justice and peace for women and men of all races, abilities, and sexual orientations.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, soothe our frazzled spirits, calm our troubled minds, and strengthen our weary bodies that we may better face the challenges of the coming days.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, in these days of rampant income inequality, remind us of the joy and pleasure to be found both in nature and in each other, lest we too go crazy for power, for things.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love. AMEN.
Closing Prayer:attributed to Howard Shapiro
Eternal Source of Life, I pray in great gratitude this holy day for Love. Love raises the sun and greets me in each drop of water I drink, in each crumb of bread I taste, in each smile and tear I touch, in each child I meet. In a mantle of awe I stand enwrapped. My feet rest upon Earth and my head meets the moon.
O Holy one Who Is Love, Hope, Grace and Breath transform our sadness and doubt into songs for Life.
We pray for our beloved planet and all brothers and sisters.
May healing waters bathe the rivers and oceans.
May small, deliberate actions grow seeds of Earth justice.
May one prophetic note of the smallest birdsong courageously sung on a busy street at dawn inspire leaders to free their voices to speak for the Common Good and future generations.
O God of All Names and Beyond All Names, Whose Face is Love may I and we collectively be the face of Transforming Love in this moment, in this day, in these times. Amen.
Welcome:Welcome, dear friends, as we celebrate the 7th and last Sunday of Easter.Over the past weeks we have witnessed through time and story, the journey of the disciples as they passed through the grief of losing their beloved teacher and leader of their movement, and their shock, disbelief and then recognition and wonder at his continued presence among them.Today we witness a new reality for them, as they are left to carry the movement forward.Let’s think about that reality, and what it means to us, as we carry the movement forward ourselves.
Opening Prayer:Holy One, in this world of noise and distraction we seek to quiet our minds and hearts, allowing your word to instruct us and your presence to fill us.Amen.
First Reading:From the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 1 (condensed by Denise)
[As] they were watching, Jesus was lifted up and disappeared out of their sight into a cloud.While he was going and they were gazing up toward the sky, suddenly two people in white robes stood by them.They said, “You of Galilee, why do you stand looking up at the sky?This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into the heavens, will come again in the same way as you have seen him go.”
This story is passed to us by an ancient writer known as Luke.We respond with Amen.
Second Reading: “Grandma’s Recipes” by Jim Yermin
They’ve all saved Grandma’s recipes…some they know by heart…many in a copy of the book she wrote them in…for it is often amidst her recipes…where memories of her begin.
Whenever they read her handwriting…sort through her ingredients…turn on a mixer…pick up a knife…whenever they bake what Grandma baked…it brings her back to life.
For it is surrounded by Grandma’s recipes…
where aromas of her are strongest…
Where, when they close their eyes and smile,
her memories linger longest.
These are the words of poet Jim Yermin.We affirm his words with Amen.
The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged with the women to meet them.When they saw him, they fell down before him, but they doubted.Then Jesus approached them and said, “God authorized me and told me to commission you.Go, therefore, and make disciples of everyone you meet, far and near. Baptize them in the name of the Creator, and of Jesus the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, instructing them in the practice of the way of life I have lived.And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of time.”
This story is told by the writer we know as Matthew.We affirm these words with Amen.
(pause)
Homily Starter
Since it’s still officially Easter, I think it’s not too late to share an Easter recipe.There it is, on the blog, sitting right at the top of this liturgy.If you can read the terrible handwriting I inherited from my dear father, you will see that it’s a recipe for rice pie; specifically, it’s Aunt Eadie’s Rice Pie.I don’t know who passed the recipe to my aunt, but over the years it has stuck as her recipe.Now, you have never met my Aunt Eadie.She was a woman known for hard work, humor, deep faith, meticulous housekeeping, and a love of horse racing.All four of the Rinaldi sisters were very close, but my mother and Aunt Eadie, being born only 9 months apart, were particularly close.Eadie passed away at the very young age of 48, almost 50 years ago now.And through the years, the remaining sisters continued baking her rice pie for every Easter.My own mom always baked it on Holy Thursday.Now all of the sisters are gone, and it is left for my cousins and me to bake the rice pie for our families.I always bake mine on Holy Thursday.So does my daughter in California.Traditions stick.But wherever we are, or whatever day we bake it, if we follow the simple recipe of our mothers we end up with a tasty and satisfying treat to serve as desert on Easter Sunday.And by the grace that comes with following that recipe, our mothers join us at our tables, no matter how scattered those tables may be. And it is all because Aunt Eadie shared her recipe with the people closest to her.
In today’s first reading, the disciples of Jesus, finding their teacher whisked away, stood looking up at the sky, which, the story tells us, was where he seemed to disappear.I’m not going to weigh in on the historical truth of this amazing story.I’ll leave that to the bible scholars.To me it doesn’t matter at all.What I want to focus on is the recipe Jesus left behind.Because for the people who followed him, his whole life was a recipe for creating the Kin-dom of God right there and then in the lives they lived.He even left an ingredient list, which we know as the Beatitudes.Live this way, do these things, spread the word by living it, and you will make something beautiful.You will grow the Kin-dom, and I will be there with you.That’s the recipe he left for his friends and followers.And like my mother and her sisters, those followers kept the recipe. They lived it, passing it down through story, song, and example, through the ages.And in those stories, and in the way they lived their lives, Jesus was present.And now it’s our turn.The same mandate put to the disciples to “practice the way of life that I have lived” is now before us, as is the promise, “I am with you always.”The recipe is ours now.Let’s get cooking.
What did you hear in today’s readings?Please share your thoughts.
Shared Homily
Let us join in praying ourStatement of Faith
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 for 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 for the community.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
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 you love us as we are. You beckon us to your compassionate heart and inspire us to see the good in others and forgive their limitations. Acknowledging your presence in each other and in all of creation, we sing:
Guiding Spirit, 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 life over death, we choose to be light in dark times.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We are ever aware of your Spirit in us and among us at this Eucharistic table and we are grateful 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 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.
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, the bread of compassion for a suffering world.
(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)
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 with the words: “The recipe is Love”
Holy One, your transforming energy is within us, and we join our hearts with all who are working for a just world.We pray for wise leaders in our religious communities. We pray for courageous and compassionate leaders in our world communities.
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.
Let us pray the prayer of Jesus:
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 and pray our blessing:
May our lives reflect the love expressed in the life of our brother and teacher, Jesus.May we not forget that we are the keepers of his recipe, passed down to us by our ancestors through the ages.May we remember.
Welcome dear Upper Room Community to our weekly Moment of Oneness. In this month of May—a time of blossoming, renewal, and honoring Mary—we gather to celebrate the Divine Feminine: the nurturing, creative, and justice-seeking presence of God alive in each of us and in all creation.
In David Richo’s book: When Mary Becomes Cosmic, Richo refers to Mary as an archetype of the Divine Feminine. She is a universal symbol that awakens the feminine dimension of divine reality—within the cosmos, within human consciousness, and within the spiritual journey.
We begin tonight with a blessing by Maribai Starr, a meditation that uses the breath to connect with our indwelling feminine presence. This breathing meditation creates deeper awareness of ourselves, while also evoking the intimacy and presence of the Spirit.
Opening Meditation: Divine Feminine Blessing by Mirabai Starr
Mary, you are the morning star
rising in the east before dawn to light a pathway.
Reassure us the fullness of day is coming,
be with us as we wait.
With hopeful and expectant hearts
rest with us as the darkness
begins to fade and the glimmer of the sun
radiates the promise of joy.
The ancient ones looked to the stars
to guide them through
the wilderness and desert.
Stand with us at the threshold
between night and day
welcoming the Sun of Justice
to illuminate the world again.
Holy Lady of the Stars
you are woven from light
and you remind us that we too
are made of stardust,
we are formed from the cosmos.
Light our way as we seek
to also bring hope to a struggling world.
Let our hearts bear lanterns
of hope and promise.
Help us to awaken the world to justice and care.
Song Meditation:Ancient Mother – Song by Jan Novotka
