The Sower by Vincent Van Gogh 1888
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
Announcements: Dennis McDonald
Welcome/Theme: Joan C
Good morning and welcome to the Upper Room based in Albany, NY! For those of you who may be joining us for the first time, we are an intentional Eucharistic Community without walls, thanks to the technology of Zoom. While you will be muted for most of our prayer time together, please sing out loud, and pray alongside those whose voices we will hear today. If you have a speaking part, “unmute” yourself and remember to re-mute at the end of your part. At the homily time, there will be an opportunity to share a brief reflection on the Word proclaimed. Please save the “kudos” and “atta-girls” for the end when our formal prayer and worship is over.
Today is the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. We have celebrated all the special events in the life of Jesus and the major feasts of the Church calendar. Ordinary Time is really our time—a time to celebrate our Gospel living. Today’s liturgy is entitled “Kin-dom Seeds” based on today’s Gospel. So let’s center ourselves and begin our prayer in song!
Opening Song Kingdom of God by Jon Guerra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMs-BF_5ioU
Oh that I could see your face
How I’m longing for the day
Brighter sun of holy grace
Make my heart a holy place
Blessed are the poor who have nothing to own
Blessed are the mourners who are crying alone
Blessed are the guilty who have nowhere to go
For their hearts have a road to the kingdom of God
And their souls are the songs of the kingdom of God
And they will find a refuge for theirs in the kingdom of God
Beauty shining from your face
Always longed to see this place
Is there somewhere I can stay?
Even just a couple days?
Blessed are the poor who have nothing to own
Blessed are the mourners who are crying alone
Blessed are the guilty who have nowhere to go
For their hearts have a road to the kingdom of God
And their souls are the songs of the kingdom of God
And they will find a refuge for theirs in the kingdom of God
The Lord is a shepherd, we shall not want
In valley or pasture, we shall not want
Our cup runneth over and over
For now and forever
For now and forever
Liturgy of Word
First Reading Ezekiel 17:22-24 proclaimed by Dave Debonis
This is what YHWH says:
I will take a shoot from the top of a cedar and plant it.
I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a lofty and high mountain. I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israel.
It will grow branches, bear fruit, and become a splendid cedar.
All kinds of birds will nest in it. They will find shelter in the shade of its branches.
All the trees of the countryside will know that I am YHWH who stunt tall trees and make low trees grow. I dry up the green tree and I make the dry tree flourish. I, YHWH have spoken, and I will do it.
These are inspired words of the prophet, Ezekiel, and the community responds: AMEN!
Psalm Response Ps 92: 1-2, 4-5, 12-14 Margaret & Ed Dilgen
It is good to praise you YHWH,
and celebrate your Name in song, Most High—to proclaim your love in the morning
and your fidelity through the watches of the night. All: I am anointed with fine oil!
Your deeds, YHWH, fill me with joy;
I shout in triumph over the work of your hands.
How great are your works, YHWH! All: I am anointed with fine oil!
The just flourish like a palm tree, and grow as tall as the cedars of Lebanon;
transplanted in the house of YHWH, they flourish—still full of sap in old age,
they shall produce abundant fruit. All: I am anointed with fine oil!
Second Reading Mark 4:26-34 proclaimed by Phillis Sheppard
From a boat, Jesus began to preach while the crowd remained onshore.
The reign of God is like this:
A sower scatters seed on the ground, then goes to bed at night and gets up day after day. Through it all the seed sprouts and grows without the sower knowing how it happens. The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the ear, and finally the ripe wheat in the ear. When the crop is ready, the sower wields a sickle, for the time is ripe for harvest.
Jesus went on to say, What comparison can we use for the reign of God? What image will help to present it? It is like a mustard seed which people plant in the soil: it is the smallest of all the earth’s seeds, yet once it is sown, it springs up to become the largest of shrubs, with branches big enough for the birds of the sky to build nests in its shade.
Using many parables like these, Jesus spoke the message to them, as much as they could understand.
These are inspired words of the Mark, an evangelist, and the community responds: AMEN!
Mustard Flowers – Napa Valley
Shared Homily (starter Jim)
Homily starter – June 13, 2021
We have returned to Ordinary Time and back to Mark’s Gospel. From its onset, the message is God’s reign is at hand. Today, Mark has Jesus teaching his disciples about God’s kin-dom using two “seed” parables. What are we to take away from this story? How does it relate to kin-dom living?
Let us remember the context of his writing, the earliest of the so-called Canonical Gospels. His audience is mainly Jewish followers of Jesus who have been expelled from the Temple, and the Roman occupiers are either on the brink of destroying the Temple or have already done so. This was not the first time that the Jewish people were living under occupation by foreign forces, and it was the second time the Temple was destroyed. So these were messy and dangerous times, certainly not neat and tidy.
Was Mark trying to bolster their hope by telling this story about the sower not knowing how the seed grows, yet produces the crop at harvest time solely by God’s design? And what was Jesus trying to convey by comparing God’s kin-dom to a small mustard seed that once sown invites birds to find shelter and build nests?
My friends, it’s no secret that we (USA Americans) are very finicky about our lawns. We spend nearly 40 billion dollars each year on lawn care, and the average homeowner probably spends 6+ hours mowing during the warmer months, all to produce perfectly manicured lawns devoid of dandelions and crabgrass. We like neat and tidy lives, and homes with curb appeal. John Dominic Crossan says that the mustard plant is not pretty and tidy, but rather messy and has a way of taking over a garden; certainly not an ornamental like the cherry blossom or crab apple that we would choose for a landscaping design. So what are we to make of this mustard image?
Scripture scholars tell us that the parables are meant to comfort the afflicted and conflict the comfortable. There is a great deal of messiness in our world: poverty, hunger, homelessness, wars, and even the pandemic we have recently experienced across our planet. Is this the mustard seed part of kin-dom? And if so, what should be our response?
We know that Jesus’ disciples were hoping that he was the Messiah, the one who would restore Israel to glory. Was Jesus saying God’s kin-dom would be like mustard plants and not cedar trees? Certainly this is in contrast to our first reading, where Ezekiel had a vision of Israel being restored to glory like the majestic cedars of Lebanon. But note the similarity of each reading with its emphasis on the birds finding welcome shelter in its branches.
Each time we pray the Our Father, we ask for the kin-dom to come. So what are we to do about the mustard plants? I would suggest that you and I fertilize the kin-dom soil with our own seeds of justice, mercy, forgiveness, understanding and compassion. Let us not forget that at our Baptism, we were anointed with oil to be the Christ presence. Our giftedness, our seeds can and will transform our world. Whatever we do, may all creation find in us a welcome sheltering embrace.
So, what did you hear and what will it cost you to sow your kin-dom seed(s)?
Liturgy of Eucharist
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.
Joan C: As we prepare for the sacred meal, Dennis will give voice to all the blessings,
cares, and concerns we bring to our tables.
[Dennis will end with: O Holy One, you know our needs before we even speak. Yet, we must speak, if only to remind ourselves of our call to care for the least among us. With your grace, may we act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly as we respond to the needs of our world. Amen]
Jim M: Let us pray the Eucharistic prayer together:
God beyond all our words and images,
as we gather to give thanks for life,
we open our minds and hearts to the goodness of all creation.
You invite us to be co-creators and “kin-dom” makers and so,
we remember our responsibility to serve.
We open our circle to include all the joyful troubadours and faithful
servants who have gone before us. Joined with them and all creation, we lift our voices and sing:
Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy
HOLY ONE, may your presence here open our minds
may your Spirit among us help us to find you are rising up now
like a fountain of grace from the holy ground
here in this place, here in this place.
Holy, holy, holy God of love and majesty
the whole universe speaks of your glory
from the holy ground here in this place, here in this place.
Terri K: 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.
[extend hands in blessing]
We are ever aware of your Spirit in creation. Intensify your Spirit anew in these simple gifts of bread and wine and in us, that we might truly be the Christ presence in our world.
On the night before he faced betrayal and death, Jesus shared supper with the people closest to him. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly, he bent down and washed their feet like the least household servant.
[lifting bread]
Joan C: When he returned to his place at the table, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and offered it to them saying: Take and eat,
this is my very self. [pause]
[lifting cup]
Then Jesus 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]
Jim M: Let us eat, drink and be nourished by this food that was once seed. As we do so, may we be mindful of our call to be both sowers of seed and seed-bearers!
Communion Song Here is My Life by Joe Wise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsHM7_XZT5A
Refrain: Here is my life
Myself the bread that I bring
Here is my soul
My wine the song that I sing
Take it for gift and take it for granted
Sprung from the seeds that I’ve washed and I’ve planted
So long ago …. and even til now …. even til now ….
Bread from the fields from my friends
And bread from the lean years
Bread from my youth and my loves
And bread from the green years
This much is ready now
This much is ready now
This much is ready now
Bake it as your own …. Refrain
Wine of my joys and my dreams
And wine of my good times
Wine of my won’t and my will
My did and my should times
This much is ready now
This much is ready now
This much is ready now
Pour it as your own …. Refrain
Bread from the highlands of life
And bread from the valleys
Bread from the good things we’ve known
That nobody tallies
Now we are ready Lord
Now we are ready Lord
Now we are ready Lord
Bake us as your own …. Refrain
Deven H: Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
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.
(Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter)
Sandy D: O Holy One, we recognize our call and are willing to do everything Jesus did.
By your own in-dwelling Spirit, may we re-create the living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and liberates,
of a joy that generates hope and a light that illumines people and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity. By living this way, we give honor and glory to you, the Creator, now and forever. Amen!
Rosie S: Let us extend our hands in blessing one another, as we pray:
God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. (Rom 5:5)
Go forth, aware of our call to be the Face of God in the world. May we trust that the seeds we sow will produce a rich harvest of generosity, mercy, forgiveness, courage, kindness, respect, love and understanding. In so doing, may we be a blessing in our time! AMEN.
Closing Song Planting Seeds: A Song of Life by Danile Nahmod & Nimo Patel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AmqYcWjBmc
I spent a long time runnin’
I never knew then, what I know I know now that the fruits they always comin’
But you can’t go around just knockin’ them down
It takes a long time to showin’
We plant the seeds then, and we look at them now
But the roots are always growin’ no matter if I’m there or never around
Whatever grows will grow, whatever dies will die,
Whatever works will work, whatever flies will fly
Whatever fails will fail, what’s meant to soar will soar,
I am planting seeds nothing more
It’s like your whole life you’ve been training for this moment
And when the times comes you just disown it.
Meaning you just surrender don’t control it,
Not interested in the clay pots and moldin’
Or sitting next to the path, tryin’ to unfold it
Or waiting for the fruits to fall down toward ya’
You let it go and now your flowing feeling quite gorgeous
So you take steps away instead of towards it
What a rush, feeling freedom with nothing to hold
We’ve been taught that what we touch will always turn to gold
But now we’re learning when we let it go, it overflows
With no credit to take cuz no credit is owned
A higher power working deeper when the seeds are sowed
And when the seeds are true, then they’re seeds of gold
But the real gold is joy, when life starts to flow
And when it does, you just smile, cuz now you know!
I spent a long time runnin’
I never knew then, what I know I know now that the fruits they always comin’
But you can’t go around just knockin’ them down
It takes a long time to showin’
We plant the seeds then, and we look at them now
But the roots are always growin’ no matter if I’m there or never around
Whatever grows will grow, whatever dies will die,
Whatever works will work, whatever flies will fly,
Whatever fails will fail, what’s meant to soar will soar,
I am planting seeds nothing more
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.