Friday, July 30, 2021

Upper Room Liturgy: Liturgy of Renewal: I Am The Bread of Life - August 1, 2021 - Presiders: Dennis McDonald, ARCWP and Ellen Garcia


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: Dennis

We welcome you this morning as we ponder the meaning of Jesus’ words, “I am the bread of life”, the first of many I Am statements he will make in the Gospel of John. As we listen to the readings and reflect together, let us keep in mind that we, as members of the Body of Christ, can say, I am the bread of life. If we truly believe this, then what does that mean for a world ravaged with hunger, disease, and a changing environment? Where or how can we bring life to the world?

Opening Prayer: Ellen

O God, Bread of Life, we are hungry for life and love.  You have gifted us with each other on the journey to find You in all things and to be Your love to each other.  Mary our hearts and minds be broken open to Your Word shared in our voices and stories that they may become a banquet, a shelter for the world, a living sign of God.

Opening Song: Companions on the Journey by Carey Landry

https://youtu.be/xncq3W6hXnQ 



LITURGY OF THE WORD 

Reading 1: A reading from the works of Miriam Therese Winter

Dave: It was barely midday, and I was already exhausted. We had set up this makeshift feeding center in Ethiopia for victims of a devastating famine, and they now blanketed the room. Women cradling emaciated children pressed against one another, as each claimed a coveted piece of that hard mud floor.

I was about to assist the nurses attending a dying baby, when one of our Ethiopian aides burst into the room. “Come!” she shouted. “Hurry! They are calling for a doctor. They say there is a dead body beyond the outer wall.”

We had no doctors.

Preoccupied with the emergencies at hand, one nurse said to her, “If he’s dead, he doesn’t need a doctor. Can’t you see? We are busy here.”

The aide persisted. “Someone must certify that the person is dead before they can proceed with a burial. It is our tradition. It must be done before the sun goes down.”

“You go,” the head nurse said to me.

“I can’t do that,” I said. “I’m not qualified.”

“Dead is dead,” she said. “Surely you can handle that. Go make the official pronouncement.”

The body was a long way off, on a sandy beach by a river’s edge, where a very large crowd was waiting. All of them were male. When they saw me, they began to shout in a language I did not understand. Warning signals went off within me. I’m in the middle of nowhere. Nobody knows I am here. We two are the only women in the midst of a hostile mob.

“Why are they so angry?” I asked my companion. “Why are they angry with me?”

One of the men responded, “We are angry because you up there in that camp are the ones who killed this man. Yesterday, he came to beg for food, and you turned him away. Now he has died of hunger, and he died because of you.”

I had to calm this volatile situation. I said, “Let us first be certain he is dead. Then we can investigate why.” They agreed. I approached the body baking in the sun.

As I stood there, staring death in the face, I recognized who the one looking up at me through his unseeing eyes was, and I was horrified. A young adult male, stick-thin, in rags, had indeed come into the compound yesterday, saying he was hungry. He pleaded for a box of biscuits, that staple of intensive feeding centers everywhere. I was about to give it to him when a staff member berated me: “Those biscuits are for the children. There won’t be enough if you start giving them to whoever comes along.” Then she said sharply to the starving man, “Why did you come here? You know you are not allowed. This camp is only for children and those biscuits are for them.”

After she left, I took a biscuit and placed it in the man’s hand.

I barely slept at all that night, for my heart had been filled with remorse. Now the source of my guilt and regret had returned in death, but our status was reversed. He was secure in the embrace of Allah, and I was in need of deliverance.

I prayed for divine guidance, and said to the mob, “This man is indeed dead, but he did not die of hunger. Look, a piece of uneaten biscuit, which I had given to him yesterday, is still there in his hand.” He was indeed clutching that life-giving bread in his lifeless hand. A murmur of appreciation arose and spilled over into prayer. After the young man’s body had been wrapped in a clean new cloth, something amazing happened: A beautiful butterfly -- the first I had seen in Ethiopia in all the times I had been there -- circled the dead man’s body, settled briefly on the cloth that covered his forehead, and then flew away, circling, spiraling upward, until it disappeared.

I saw something invisible but real through the eye of my soul.

Living among the disenfranchised had transformed my perspective. I would never look at religion and society or my own faith traditions in the same way again. I saw more than ever that the spirit of the living God inhabits all creation, even biscuits and butterflies, the living and the dead. When we see life in this way, we behold the secular as sacred, the “other” as part of our self and of one another, and we welcome the outsider in. Any meal that nourishes both body and spirit is a eucharist with a small “e” and potentially transformative to one with eyes to see.

The spirit of God, the spirit of Jesus, earth’s spirit, our spirit is all one spirit.

You, I, we, and they, are no more.

This is what I was graced to see in Ethiopia.

These are the inspired words of Miriam Therese Winter, and we affirm them by saying, Amen. 

Alleluia  

Gospel: John 6:24-35 

Clare Julian: A reading from the author of the Gospel attributed to John. 


The next day, the crowd, which was still on the other side of the lake, remembered that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gotten into that boat with the disciples, but that his disciples had set off alone.  Other boats came out from Tiberias, near the place where hey had eaten bread. So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they, too, got into boats and set out for Capernaum to look for Jesus.


They found him on the other side of the lake and asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”


“I tell you truly”, Jesus replied, “you’re looking for me only because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you witnessed miracles. Don’t work for food that goes to waste, but for food that lasts – food for real life – which the son of Adam will give you ; on him Abba God has put his stamp of approval.”


So they asked him, “What must we do to set about what God wants done?”


“What God wants you to do,” Jesus answered, “is  to believe in the one God sent.”


They asked him, “What miracle are you going to perform so we can see it and come to believe in you? What labor are you going to perform? Our ancestors had manna to eat in the wilderness. As the scripture put it, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”


Jesus responded to them: “I tell you truly, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven to eat; rather, it is my Father who gives you real bread from heaven. I mean this: God’s bread comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”


“Sir,” they said to him, “give us this bread every time.”


Jesus explained to them: “I am the bread of life. Anyone who comes to me will never be hungry again, and anyone who believes in me will never again be thirsty.”


These are the inspired words from the author of the Gospel attributed to John, and the community affirms them by saying, Amen. 


Homily Starter (Dennis & Ellen)

This week’s Gospel flows directly from last week’s story of the loaves and fishes.  After that amazing experience, Jesus and his disciples go to the other side of the lake.  The next morning people go in search of him, wondering what sign or miracle he will provide so that they might believe. We might question, what does it take to convince them, since they had just witnessed the feeding of thousands.  Jesus responds that it is not miracles to watch for but to recognize the deeper understanding that he is “the bread of life”, the one sent to bring love to the world. Similar to last week in Lynn’s homily, there is a comparison to an earlier prophet, Moses, and this reading indicates that Jesus is beyond the physical manifestation of bread, he is the deeper mystical bread, the mystical body that provides spiritual food for the soul, which feeds us for all time.  We are, through our baptism and being followers of Jesus part of that Mystical Body that provides love to the world

Our first reading is a difficult one, speaking of human hunger and the desperation of a young man wanting to obtain something to eat.  Miriam Therese Winters struggles when he appears, wanting to desperately provide it, but is told this can’t be done, only certain ones, in this case children are to receive biscuits. What a moral dilemma this presents to her, and she decides to stand against this “rule” and provides the biscuit. If the story ended there, we would congratulate her for standing in solidarity with the downtrodden, for feeding the hungry. However, the story continues, and the young man dies. Where does that leave us? It leaves Miriam Therese facing an angry, accusatory crowd. What good was a biscuit? Where is the Bread of Life in this scenario? 

When I first read Holy Biscuits in Ethiopia, I felt a bit angry.  Why was the author trying to defend her action, giving only one biscuit to that poor dying man?  And the nerve of her to say “this man is indeed dead, but he did not die of hunger” just because he was clutching a measly piece of biscuit.  Of course he died of hunger!  He had been starving for a long time.  On further reflection though, could it be that this young man did not die of hunger?  That the small action of the author was her being the Bread of Life for him?    That this young man’s spirit was nourished by his interaction with the author, and her life by him?  


In the midst of this young man’s death a butterfly appears, circles, and settles momentarily on the man’s forehead, and then spirals upward. The butterfly, when it appears after death, represents, in some interpretations, the soul of the recently departed.  Jesus proclaims that he is the Bread of Life, the one who brings love to the world.  Miriam Therese, in emulating Jesus, brought love to the young man in the form of a biscuit.  While not saving his life, the biscuit spoke of her recognition of his human dignity, his being a son of the Divine. We don’t know, but I am guessing that he left the camp feeling recognized, feeling loved. And the butterfly provided Miriam Therese the comfort that the man was released from hunger and pain, and spiraling upward into the Love that created him.

I myself am the bread of life.  You and I are the bread of life.  

This bread is spirit, gift of the Maker’s love and we who share it know that we can be one: a living sign of God in Christ.


Do you recognize the Christ within you, moving you to be the Bread of Life, bringing life to the world? 


Statement of Faith:  

Gayle: 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. 

Dennis: 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.


Intentions read


We bring these and all deeply held blessings, cares, and concerns to the table of friendship and peace. 


Liturgy of the Eucharist

adapted from Diarmuid O’Murchu 

Ellen:  With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer together: 

Gracious God, source and sustenance of life, redeeming presence to the pain and brokenness of our world, Holy Spirit, who enlivens and inebriates all that exists, we beseech your healing power upon us and all we pray for today. 
 
Down through the ages, you rescue us from darkness. 
you light up our ways with wise and holy people. You restore our spirits and you revive our dwindling hope. 

May the Spirit of life and wholeness transform us that we may be refreshed in our inner being and be empowered to bring mercy, love, and healing to those whose lives we touch. 
 
For all you bring to our lives, and for all we seek amid 
pain and suffering, we acclaim your love and greatness, 
and we join with all creation to sing our hymn of praise:  

Holy, Holy, Holy – Here In This Place by Chris Grundy

https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ 



Dennis:  

Source of our health and wholeness, healer of body, mind, and spirit, we bring before you the darkness of our world, and the pain and suffering of your people. 
We seek to be healed and made whole; we seek to be reconciled and united; we seek peace in our hearts and in our world.  

Please extend your hands in blessing

We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts the empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses these gifts of bread and wine with the transforming energy of life, to nourish and sustain us in our time of need. 
 

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 lifts the bread.  

Back at the table, he took the Passover Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, this is my very self. 

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. 

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


Receive the bread and cup with the words, We are Bread that nourishes and sustains. 


Communion Meditation: Bread of Life by Rory Cooney

https://youtu.be/l-7SIaTMgtY 



Ellen: 

In faith and hope we are sustained, 
In grace our dignity reclaimed,

In praise we thank our God. 

As we gather around this friendship table, we recall God’s 
blessing and love from ages past, and we celebrate anew 
the gift of life which we share among us at this Eucharistic feast. 
 
The bread we break and the cup we share are symbols of our world of abundance where all are invited to partake of the fullness of life. But that life we often impede by our greed and selfishness, and by our exploitation of other people. 
 
So grant that we may strive to create a world where suffering and pain are diminished, where justice and peace are restored, and where all people can live in health and wholeness, united in acclaiming the God of life, whose abundance is offered to each and to all, until the Kin-dom arrives in the fullness of time. 
 
This prayer we make in the name of our healing and nurturing God through, with, and in whom we offer these gifts, sources of life, love, and goodness, now and forever.  Amen. 


Kathy: 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 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  (Miriam Therese Winter)  

Blessing 

Dennis: Let us raise our hands and bless each other. 

May we continue to be the face of the God to each other. May our companionship make us new each day. May our name be a blessing in our time. Amen. 


Closing Song: Ever by Heatherlyn 

https://youtu.be/neeaR3YGc6I 



Peace ever
Joy ever
Following you
Light ever
Love ever
Radiating through

Hope ever
Faith ever
Strengthening you
Life ever
Breath ever
Nourishing you

And everywhere you go, may you always be home.
And everyone you meet, be messengers of peace.

Let your light shine through
And your hearts ever be true
Move in grace and gratitude
And walk in wisdom, sharin’ all that’s good.

Peace ever
Joy ever
Following you
Light ever
Love ever
Radiating through

And everywhere you go, may you always be home.
And everyone you meet, be messengers of peace.

May we choose courageously
May we hope defiantly
May we love outrageously
And walk on lightly in humility.

May we choose courageously
May we hope defiantly
May we love outrageously
And walk on lightly in humility.

Beauty and Laughter
Ever filling you
Friendship, Affection
Surrounding you

(Words and Music by HeatherlynMusic.com (c) ASCAP 2019)

 

 


Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Moment of Oneness - July 27, 2021

 

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81507551772
Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
To connect by phone dial: +1 646 558 8656



We begin our Moment of Oneness with words from Richard Rohr.

 “The whole Bible is about meeting God in the actual, in the incarnate moment.”


So tonight let us settle in and put aside any anxiety or worry and contemplate the profound miracle of being alive in this body in this moment on this planet!


First reading:

  By Black Elk:  Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux


The first peace, which is the most important,

is that which comes within the souls of people

when they realize their relationship,

their oneness with the universe and all its powers,

and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells 

the Great Spirit, and that its center

is really everywhere,

it is within each of us. 


Glorious, by Mamuse 

https://youtu.be/_LhMUiINlRQ?t=12 



Lyrics
Oh what a day! Glorious!
Gather 'round
There's nothing better
Than a friend
Oh what a day! Glorious!
The smell of rain
Has hitched a ride
Upon the wind
I've got good friends
To the left of me
And good friends
To my right
Got the open sky above me
And the earth beneath my feet
Got a feeling in my heart
That's singin'
All in life is sweet
Oh what a day!
Oh, what a day! Glorious!
All the clouds
Have gathered round
The tops of trees
Oh what a day! Glorious!
Pitter patter
Fallin' rain I can't believe
All that's green
Lifts up its leaves
Singin' water come on in
We've been waiting all these days
Prayin' you would come to quench
Every yearnin' in our bones
Water, life with you begins
Oh what a day
Home is believing
Home has wings of faith
Home is a clear river
Of perceiving
All is well
This is a friendly mystery
Oh, what a day! Glorious!
Baby blue jay
Squawkin' in the cherry tree
Oh, what a day! Glorious!
Deep in the night we had a raccoon robbery
Pitter patter little paws
Have left their footprints all around
Pitter patter evidence
Some fruit has fallen to the ground
Pitter patter sings my heart
At the thought of what's to come
Oh, what a day!
Home is believing
Home has wings of faith
Home is a clear river of perceiving
All is well
This is a friendly mystery
All is well
This is a friendly mystery
Oh, what a day! Glorious!
Under the sky we slept last night
Just you and me
Oh, what a day! Glorious!
The waning moon
Our cycle is almost complete
We've got good friends to the left of us
And good friends to our right
Got the open sky above us
And the earth beneath our feet
Never fear-the birds are singin'
Even endings can be sweet
Oh, what a day!
Never fear--the birds are singin'
Even endings can be sweet
Oh, what a day!

What if…..?      by Kai Siedenburg


What if the leaves,

stirred to singing

by the breeze,

sing with even more joy 

when they notice

you are listening?

What if the small white flower

quivers with delight

when you notice

her tiny

yet honorable

contribution

to the beauty

of this world?


And what if that brief moment 

is all she needs

to know that her life

is worth living,

all her efforts

not in vain?


What if the trees

feel the depth

of your pain,

and are quietly

reaching toward you,

offering solace

with everything

they have to give?


what if the whales

diving into the deep blue

can feel your love

for them, 

even across all that 

open ocean?


What if the water,

weary from

her endless journey,

is replenished by

your gratitude,

which gives her

the strength 

to keep going?


What if the Earth

herself

longs to feel

the caress

of your naked feet

on her warm, brown skin?


And what if the granite mountain,

no matter how remote

feels a quiet shiver of joy

when you are touched

by his majestic beauty?


What if……?


Silent Reflection


Mysteries, Yes     by Mary Oliver 


Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous

 to be understood.


How grass can be nourishing in the 

mouths of the lambs.

How rivers and stones are forever in allegiance with gravity

while we ourselves dream of rising.

How two hands touch and the bonds will 

never be broken.

How people come, from delight or the

 scars of damage,

to the comfort of a poem.


Let me keep my distance, always from those

who think they have the answers.


Let me keep company always with those who say

“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,

And bow their heads.


Silent reflection 


A SUMMER SUNSET PSALM

From  Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim (revised)


Beloved Friend and Earth Designer,

This day’s light is seeping away, 

And dark night crouches

Beneath the amber horizon.


We lift up our hearts to you,

With gratitude for the blessings that fill our lives,

For the gifts we recall and treasures we take for granted.


Refresh us as we drink deeply of your love,

Hidden in each gift that has come our way today.


Let us be ever aware that we are held tenderly in the beauty of your love

As we offer  gratitude for Divine Love that will soon wrap us in sleep

And cradle us in the womb of your peace.

 



Friday, July 23, 2021

Upper Room Liturgy - Sunday, July 25, 2021 - Celebration of Belonging - Presiders: Terri Kersch and Lynn Kinlan, ARCWP


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
:  Lynn and I welcome you to The Upper Room Community Liturgy.  Our theme today is Abundant Generosity.  You will hear of Elisha, a man of God, feeding a hundred people and the well-known Gospel of the loaves and fishes.  But we invite you to expand your vision of this story to focus on the boy with the five barley loaves and two fish.  A boy who, while Philip and Andrew struggled with the staggering task Jesus set out for them, willingly and graciously offers, ‘Here, Jesus, you can have these.’  

Opening Prayer:  As we gather today, may we recognize how richly blessed we are, individually and collectively.  We open our hearts and eyes to the needs of the many.  May we, like the boy with the loaves and fishes, step forward without invitation or hesitation.  Help us share whatever we have not with skepticism but as a radiant reflection of Divine Love and generosity. Amen.


Opening Song  “Room at the Table” by Carrie Newcomer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92OM5bdQ4N4



LITURGY OF THE WORD


Jill: First Reading: Kings 4: 42-44


Elisha returned to Gilgal at a time when there was a famine in the land. A man came from Baal-Shalishah, carrying twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe corn, along with some ears of new corn. “Give it to the people to eat, Elisha said. 

“How can I serve it to one hundred people?’ Gehazi asked.

Elisha replied, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what Yahweh says, “They will eat and have some left over.” Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of God. 


These are the words of Samuel, known as the author of and the Book of Kings and the community affirms them by saying,  Amen.



Brigid: Second Reading: “It’s Rigged” by Rumi


It’s rigged—everything, in your favor.

So there is nothing to worry about.


Is there some position you want,

some office, some acclaim, some award, some con, some lover,

maybe even two or more,

maybe a relationship

with

God?

I know there is a gold mine in you, when you find it

the wonderment of earth’s gifts you will lay

aside as naturally as does

a child a

doll.

But, dear, how sweet you look to me kissing the unreal;

comfort, fulfill yourself in any way possible—do that until

you ache, until you ache,

then come to me

again.

These are the inspired words of the 13th century poet Rumi and the community affirms them by saying, Amen.


Alleluia: Dennis



Bernie: Gospel Reading: John 6: 1-15


Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.  A huge crowd followed, impressed by the signs he gave by healing sick people.  Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down with the disciples. It was shortly before the feast of Passover. 

Looking up, Jesus saw the crowd approaching and asked Philip, “Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat? Jesus knew very well what he was going to do but asked this to test Philip.

Philip answered, “Two hundred days wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a mouthful!”

Andrew then said, there is a young boy here with five barley loaves and two dried fish; but what good is that for so many?”

Jesus said to them, “Have the people sit down.” As many as five thousand families sat down on the grass. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting there; he did the same with the fish, giving out as much as they could eat. 

When they had their fill, he said to the disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked them up and filled twelve baskets with the scraps.

When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “Surely, this is the prophet who was to come into the world.” Sensing that they were about to come and carry him off to crown him as ruler, Jesus escaped into the hills alone.

These are the inspired words of the gospel writer known as John and we affirm them by saying, Amen.

                           ------------------ Pause for silent reflection ------------------


Shared Homily: Lynn 

Today’s gospel is part 3 in a Hebrew trilogy of miracles of feeding the hungry.  In the First Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah in the 9th century BCE, multiplied flour and oil to save a widow and her son from starvation. In today’s reading from Second Kings, the prophet Elisha multiplies 20 loaves to feed 100 during a famine. And ultimately, Jesus multiplies 5 loaves and 2 fish into more than enough for 5,000 families. 


We can’t be sure according to the Jesus Seminar, that the story of the loaves and fishes actually happened as reported even though it is the only Jesus miracle appearing in all four gospels. First century gospel writers used the story to place Jesus in a tradition at the core of Jewish culture; the importance of hospitality and responding to the needs of others. They depicted Jesus as feeding more hungry people than earlier prophets to show that he was greater than any who had come before him. 


What really happened on that hillside in the story of a spellbinding orator and the young boy ? Is it a story of a generous miracle or is it a story about miraculous generosity?


 If it is a divine Jesus miracle, then we are reminded that all things are possible with God. If it is the spontaneous sharing of whatever families have brought for themselves, begun by one young boy, it shows us that we live in a world, “rigged in our favor” as Rumi puts it.  Perhaps, the story is a bit of both with Jesus performing the miracle of empowering thousands to co-create.


Either way, the gospel reminds us of what we know is worth living for:

  • we can learn from the least and youngest among us;
  • We take to heart that life is filled to overflowing with surprising grace, a wealth of astonishing, random beauty and blessings beyond our understanding. 
  • Like the families on the hillside, we are Jesus with each other and for each other. We are blessed to bring Jesus with us to every hillside, to everyone we meet;


In our second reading, Rumi states that “there is a gold mine in you”. Certainly, the boy in the gospel shines with initiative and kindness. But, not every rock in the mine is gold— miners hoist pickaxes and sift gold from silt to uncover gems. It is the work of our lifetime to search for sparks of the divine or to uncover fiery divine nuggets of gold within ourselves and others. 


We are not the sum of our wealth; our time and our hearts are priceless gems aching to be given away. Giving of ourselves requires that others accept help and allow us to shine. Those who are given food in the trilogy of Hebrew stories participate with the givers. The interchange between giver and receiver is a blessed service for both. 


Rumi points out that when each of us finds gold, “we lay aside the wonderment of earth’s gifts” from loaves and fishes to fame and fortune and we take up what is foundational – our relationship with the Holy One.


Terri and I wish you a lifetime of prospecting for the gold mine within and withdrawing to the mountain alone in the gracious company of fellow prospectors like the young boy, Elisha and Jesus. 




Shared Reflections



Suzanne D. - Let us pray our Statement of Faith together


All: We believe in one God, 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 God's Word,
bringer of God's healing, heart of God's compassion,
bright star in the firmament of God's
prophets, mystics, and saints.


We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of God's love,
a source of God's wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of God's peace in the world.


We believe in the Holy Spirit,

The life of God that is our innermost life, 

the breath of God moving in our being.

The depth of God living in each of us.

We believe that God's 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.



EUCHARISTIC PRAYER OF BELONGING


Lynn: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to this table our intentions.


Dennis offers intentions on behalf of the community

  

Terri:   We are a priestly people. We are anointed. With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:


O Nurturing, Compassionate One, 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 – Holy Holy Holy 

 https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ 


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


All: This bread and wine is a sign of Your nourishment and a sign of Your great love. Your Spirit is upon us and 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 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:


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

Take and drink.

Whenever you remember me like this,

I am among you.

 By Your Spirit we are transformed.  Every time we share this bread and wine we choose to be transformed. We choose to love as You love us.


Through him, we have learned how to live.

Through him, we have learned how to love.

Through him, we have learned how to serve. AMEN.

Please receive communion saying: I am richly blessed with the Presence of God.



Communion song: “What Shall I Give to You?”  by Sara Thomsen

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UUTs9qa5h3g&feature=share



Lynn: Loving Source of our being, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice. We live justly, we love tenderly, we walk with integrity in Your Presence.



Sharon: 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.

                                                                - Miriam Therese Winter



Terri - Please raise your hands for our Closing Prayer: 


All:  We leave today with open hearts and hands, recognizing the simplicity of the young boy’s offer of fish and bread, and the abundance generously and freely shared by the Spirit of the Holy One. “What can we offer each other?” is an important question, but as Jesus demonstrates, the more important question is, “Who can we be for each other?” Amen.

 


Closing Song:    “Stand by Me” cover by Acapella Soul



https://youtube.com/watch?v=UUTs9qa5h3g&feature=share