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| Image by Larisa Koshkina on Pixabay |
Please join us between 9:30 and 9:55 am via Zoom
Here is the Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155
phone-in for (audio only).
Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome and Theme
Lindy: Welcome! It is wonderful to see each of you. Our theme today is ‘Seeing Rising Brightness in the Struggle Around Us!
Opening Song: Lean in Toward the Light | Carrie Newcomer
https://youtu.be/fxAUmNjWaIs?t=11
Opening Prayer
Susan:
Holy One, we know you are here with us, always! In times of stress we don’t remember, hear, feel or see the brightness of your supporting compassion for us. Often we have no idea how we can help those who need it most! Like the sacred children we are we have much to learn. Teach us first to listen and then to do ….
Liturgy of the Word
Bill Roylance First Reading:
A reading from Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.”
These are the inspired words of Martin Luther King, Jr. and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Dennis Alleluia
Second Reading: Reading: Isaiah 60, 1-5 adapted
Dennis: A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah
“Arise, be enlightened, Your light is come, and the glory of the Holy One is rising within us. Chaos has covered the earth, and its people. The Ancient One shall arise upon us, and that Love will be seen upon us. All of us shall walk in that rising brightness. Lift up your eyes and see all of us are gathered together. We are coming together! Our daughters will rise up at our sides and our sons will come from afar. Then we will see, and our hearts will swell with wonder. The strength of the sea shall come to us all. “
These are the inspired words attributed to Isaiah and adapted by Lindy Sanford we affirm them by saying, Amen.
(Pause)
Homily Starter: Lindy
Advent and Christmas has been an unusual and wonderful celebration with many of us this year. Our focus in Advent was the joy knowing that there is a Sacred Child within us as well as within Jesus of Nazareth.
Violence, harsh policing, and poverty are severe in the United States. Poverty is increasing all around us! 16 million families with children don’t have enough food to eat.
Gaudete Sunday was a focus on joy and relief from thinking of the pandemic and that it is growing faster than this world has ever known.
Martin Luther King reminds us that change comes with much effort.
All this leaves us feeling overwhelmed. We don’t think of ourselves as a strong people. We forget that each time we write a card to someone who is self-quarantined, lives in a nursing home, or is hospitalized, we bring them a smile or a moment of belonging. Each time we feed a wild and hungry bird we make the world a better place. Each time we recycle a piece of paper or metal we found on the ground we make this earth a cleaner, healthier place. Each time we thank someone who is wearing a mask at work or encourage someone who is cleaning they will take more pride in their humble work. Doing so together you both make the world a better place.
When we tell a store manager that you appreciate the healthy environment you see in her shop, we are encouraging companies to fight this pandemic with us. Teachers and guidance counselors work hard to help children continue to love learning in these difficult times. Our kind words energize them when they are so very, very tired. Words of gratitude strengthen those who risk their lives to provide medical care as well.
Isaiah says, “Chaos has covered the earth and its people.” Oh, it is true … today our earth, covered with that chaos, is very, very large. Still when we hear the Wind whisper that every kindness is important...and we live the Love and Truth in that, all of us will walk in rising brightness. It will strengthen us and spread that brightness every day that we do.!
(pause)
Share your words of wisdom gathered from these readings.
Susan: We thank each of you for your inspired words.
(pause)
Let us now pray together our Statement 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.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Bill: As we prepare for this sacred meal we remember that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, our gratitude and our cares and concerns.
Dennis: Prayers for the community.
Bill: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Oh Great Love, we know that You hear us. Amen.
Lindy: With open hands and grateful hearts let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer as one: (written by Jay Murnane)
O Holy One, you are continually creating the universe, continually giving birth to all of us. We sense the need to do the same, to set ourselves free from a sense of emptiness and barren hopelessness.
We celebrate you as the Source of light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and all-ways care. We give thanks, and join with your vision of harmony and peace, we sing:
Here in This Place: https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ
Bill
Your wisdom invites us to draw on our tradition, as old as the stars, shining through Sarah and Abraham, Simeon and Anna, shining through your prophets in every age and every culture. We join that enlightening, enlivening tradition with what we are as we risk fidelity to a dream.
Filled with your spirit, we, like Jesus, can give birth in our day to your living word for the sake of hope enfleshed in creativity and confrontation, healing and reconciliation, justice, universal and unconditional love.
On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at the table 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 bread)
Susan:
When he returned to his place, he took the bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to the saying Take and eat, this is my very self.
(All lift cup)
Lindy
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. (pause)
Susan:
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.
We are one Cosmic Holy Family. Please receive communion.
Communion Meditation Song: May the Long Time Sun by Sara Thomsen
Prayer after Communion:
Bill: Holy One, we are grateful for the gift of Your Spirit, always drawing beauty and balance out of chaos. And like Jesus…
Standing where he stood,
and for what he stood,
and with whom he stood,
we are united in your Spirit,
and worship you with our lives,
All: Amen.
Susan: 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
Lindy: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing for each other together.
May we embrace the rich gifts of our Christmas Season.
May we shine the light of hope to a world experiencing fear and division. May we become a beacon of peace in a world thirsty for peace and justice. May we experience and radiate the gift of joy that provides relief and release of suffering and
May we come to know and live the unconditional love of the Holy One.
All: AMEN
Closing Song: Canticle of the Turning
https://youtu.be/F9QeTmRCpW4
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