We welcome you to our celebration of thanksgiving and wonder at the miracle of creation. Let us begin by meditating on the infinite beauty of all that is.
Opening Mediation: The Known Universe by the American Museum of Natural History
Reading:a synthesis of Genesis, Scientist and Poets
Reader 1: In the beginning God created the heavens and Earth. Earth was barren, with no form of life. Darkness covered the abyss while a mighty wind swept over the waters.
The entire cosmos began as a pinprick - a sextillion ton pinprick that erupted as a single ultimate density of being, thundering forth into the beauty of existence. From this nourishing abyss flared forth all that ever was, is now, and ever will be
God said, “Let there be light, and there was light. God saw how good the light was. God then separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness, “night.”
Particles named photons bathe the day with scintillating waves – an electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays – some will be detectable by the human eye.
Reader 2: the second day, God said, “Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters to separate one body of water from the other.” And so, it happened: God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it God called the dome, “the sky.”
Primordial heat from Earth dissipates, the lighter gases float into the stratosphere. Erupting volcanoes spew elemental gases into the air – nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, helium, neon. Trapped in Earth’s troposphere by gravity, gases, most notably oxygen, make life, as we know it, possible.
Reader 3:On the third day, God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin so that the dry land may appear. And so, it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin and the dry land appeared. God called the dry land Earth, and the basin of the water – SEA.
Icy asteroids and comets smash into young Earth pouring forth water – plentiful water of rising tides, and glaciers, roaring waterfalls and morning dew.
God said, “Let Earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on Earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. And so, it happened: Earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on Earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. God looked at this new creation. It was good.
One thousand million years ago, vegetation transformed the energy of Sunlight into food for animals to eat. Sunlight to plant food to oxygen - photosynthesis – life, as we know it, is possible.
Reader 4:On the fourth day, God said: “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years, and shed light upon Earth.” And so, it happened: God made two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night.
Our Sun transforms four million tons of itself into energy each second of every hour and day – without ceasing. Sun’s energy is poured into every plant, every animal, every living thing. . . our Sun . . .one of 300 billion stars in the Milky Way . . . pours itself out with flagrant generosity sustaining all life on Earth.
Every night, a sphere of soft light waxes and wanes reflecting our Sun ~ moonlight.
God also made the stars placing them in the dome of the sky, to shine on Earth, to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God looked at what was done.
Luminous spheres of plasma, clouds of gas and dust gather in vast islands, held together by gravity to form countless galaxies of stars and nebulae.
Reader 5:On the fifth day, God said: “Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on Earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky.” And so, it happened: God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems, and all kind of birds. God saw how good it was, and God blessed them saying, “Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
Ocean dwellers from worms to whales, sky flyers, reptiles, dinosaurs flourished in the lush Jurassic period with its warm, wet climate 200 million years ago.
Reader 6:On the sixth day, God said: “Let Earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds.” And so, it happened: God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle, and all kinds of creeping things of Earth. God saw how good it was.
And the animals came – out of the depths, onto the land, into the sky. They came by fin, and foot and feather to live, to thrive to breed, to die.
God said: “Let us make humans in our image, after our likeness. We will let them care for the fish in the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the ground.” Humankind was made in God’s image; God made men and women. God blessed them saying: “Have children; fill the earth and take care of all the living creatures. Watch over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.”
Fossil specimens give evidence that anatomically modern humans developed in Africa, 350,000 years ago. Some humans migrated out of Africa 70,000 years ago. Humans have children, nearly eight billion people fill the earth today.
Reader 7: On the seventh day, God said; “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over Earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and I have given the green plants as food for everything else that breathes: the animals of the land, and the birds of the air.” God looked at everything that had been made and found it very good.
A human being is part of the whole, called by us “Universe” . . . The human experiences the self as separated from the rest. This is an . . . optical delusion of consciousness, a kind of prison . . . our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” Albert Einstein
We humans are cousins to everything and related to every non-living thing in existence. There is no “us and them.” There is only one universe, one home, one exquisite creation.
Reader 1: And on this day...
Fashioned by the nurturing energy of our loving God, enfolded in the ever-widening circle of compassion and wrapped in God’s immutable, inexplicable love - Behold our ever - expanding universe.
Amen.
Compiled from various sources and paraphrased by Sr. Mary Navarre 2020
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
Dave:Welcome and Theme: Our Liturgy today challenges us to recognize that viewing religion as adherence to norms and traditions, rather than a quest for a just world for all, creates little light in the darkness of our world.
Terri:Opening Prayer: Holy One, you have anointed us. Help us to find the wisdom and courage to listen beyond the words of the commandments to the message of your heart.Help us to lose our religion of words and find something new - that unspoiled religion James speaks about – a religion that leads us to the honoring and service of others.
Opening Song: You Have Anointed Me written by Mike Balhoff (Dameans)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOYfShuCdrg
Liturgy of the Word
Sharon B. First Reading from James:
My dear sisters and brothers:Every worthwhile gift, every genuine benefit comes from above, descending from the Creator of the heavenly luminaries, who cannot change and is never in shadow. God willingly gave birth to us with a word spoken in truth, so that we may be, as it were, the first fruits of God’s creatures.
Humbly welcome the word which has been planted in you, because it has power to save you. Act on this word—because if all you do is listen to it, you’re deceiving yourselves.
Pure, unspoiled religion, in the eyes of our Abba God, is this: coming to the aid of widows and orphans when they are in need and keeping oneself uncontaminated by this world.
These are the inspired words of the writer known as James and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Alleluia
Rudy: Gospel Reading:Mark: 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
The Pharisees and some of the religious scholars that had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. They had noticed that some of the disciples were eating with unclean hands - that is without ritually washing them.The Pharisees and Jewish people, in general, follow the traditions of their ancestors and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow. Moreover, they never eat anything from the market without first sprinkling it. There are many other traditions that have been handed down to them, such as the washing of cups and pots and dishes.
So, these Pharisees and religious scholars asked Jesus “Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of our ancestors but eat their food with unclean hands?” Jesus answered, “How accurately Isaiah prophesized about you hypocrites when he wrote:
‘These people honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless; the doctrines they teach are only human precepts.’
You disregard God’s commandments and cling to human traditions.”
Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and try to understand. Nothing that enters us from the outside makes us impure; it is what comes out of us that makes us impure. For it is from within - from our heats that evil intentions emerge. “
These are the inspired words of the Gospel writer known as Mark and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Dave: Homily Starter:
The first reading is attributed to James, an early Jewish Christian, but, in truth, there is lack of agreement regarding who actually created these writings and when. Still, to me, the message of the first reading is an inspired one.
James writes that all of the most cherished and meaningful gifts in our lives come from the Divine and those gifts begin with the Word.It is through living the word that we become saved. As has been discussed in previous liturgies, being saved is not about receiving some reward after death, but rather refers to removing any barriers to our relationship with the Divine so that we can renew this earth by serving others. And, in what I thought was a striking moment of clarity, James writes that in God’s eyes religion comes down to aiding the orphan and widow. It seems almost too simple, but isn’t that really what religion should be all about: reaching out to those in need.
In the gospel, Jesus is questioned by the scribes and Pharisees regarding the fact that some of the disciples do not honor the long-held custom of washing hands before eating. The context in which this interaction is occurring is important. First, the religious leaders who are questioning Jesus are from Jerusalem, the place where Jesus will die. Biblical scholars note that Mark includes this detail in the reading to signal the danger that looms. Second, Jesus knows that this questioning about hand-washing is not sincere but rather an attempt to suggest that he deems himself above the law. Jesus’ words are not intended to discredit or minimize the importance of following Jewish laws but rather represent his objections to the Scribes and Pharisees’ tendency to circumvent the true meaning of the laws while publicly proclaiming their adherence to them. In fact, in a different section of that same passage, Jesus says to the Pharisees “You nullify God’s word in favor of the traditions you have handed down.”According to the authors of The Five Gospels, Jesus’ words that there is no need to worry about what is outside us as a threat but rather what is in one’s heart can be interpreted more broadly to signal that following Jesus is to challenge “the everyday, the inherited, the established” and those social norms thought to be sacrosanct.
Joel Marcus (quoted in an article by Matt Skinner of Working Preacher) notes that the misuse of tradition “turns it into an enemy of God, contorts it into a way of excusing injustice and blinds those afflicted by it to their own culpability for the evils that trouble the world.” Jacob Strauss, in his article entitled The Trouble with Dogma, writes that although religion is often a source of hope, comfort, joy and love, “the substitution of dogma for reality has caused unconscionable death and destruction throughout history and continues to prevent progress all over the world.”
To what reality and dogma might Strauss be referring? Is it the reality that the Church’s teaching against all forms of birth control has had the most dramatically negative impact on the most vulnerable, exposing those living at the margins to HIV and unremitting poverty? Or, perhaps it is the church’s continued stand that homosexuality is inherently wrong, even though we are all made in God’s image? And of course, the long-standing tradition of the church to deny the ordination of all who are called—be they women or men, gay or straight, married or single-- even though we are all a priestly people and the world is in desperate need of healers. We’ve all heard the explanations and excuses for this dogma and recall the words of Isaiah: “These people honor me with their lips while their hearts are far from me.”
In his time, Jesus reminded all who would listen—including the powerful-- that adherence to traditions and laws must be rooted in a desire to bring justice to all people. Today, we are called to do the same.
Terri: Closure
Josie: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
(Written by Jay Murnane)
Terri: 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.
Community Member: Prayers for the community
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Terri: 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 – Here In This Place by Chris Grundy
Dave: 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.
All lift their plates and pray the following:
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 their cups and pray the following:
Terri: 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.
You are called, consecrated and chosen to serve. Please receive Communion.
Communion Meditation/Song:Who will speak If We Don’t by Marty Haugen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ70EZqlCys
Joyce: 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.
All: Amen.
Ed: 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
Terri:Let us raise our hands in blessing pray together:
Holy One, hold us, envelop us in compassion because we are not yet who you made us to be.When we are tempted to fill up the empty spaces with things that create a deeper emptiness, lead us into the fullness of your grace.Let us walk with you today and every day, as priestly people; and if we stray along byways of our own choosing, turn us around and bring us home to the service of others and justice to all.Amen.
To connect by phone dial: +1 646 558 8656“Let there be light”
Opening Prayer: My Beloved Mystery of Light and Compassion, allow me to be present in this moment and to receive the grace of this moment, to courageously permit it to flow through me. Fill me up with your light so that I may see the path ahead of me and those you have put along my path to ignite a light upon all with compassion and service.
Reading: No such thing as Simple Acts of Compassion by Caroline Myss from Intimate Conversations with the Divine
There is no such thing as a simple act of compassion or an inconsequential act of service, is there Lord? Everything we do for another person has infinite consequences, for that person and for us. The light from stars long ago exploded can be seen in the celestial realm, traveling in all directions, with nothing to stop its journey. I believe that it is the nature of our sacred light. We journey forever, even after our form implodes from exhaustion. Still, our light will continue. Particles of our light sparkle with every choice we make, every idea we have, every gift of love we share. We are living sparklers setting off eternal flames, reigniting another person’s weakening ability to love, or to try again, or to get up and walk another step. There is not such things as a small spark. When I hold that image in my head, Lord, my soul is filled with awe. We can so easily do so much for so many. It takes so very little effort to generate a spark of light from within, and it goes on forever within the soul of another human being. And so much darkness fades away. You have designed this Universe to favor the power of the light – of that I have no doubt.
Silent Reflection:
Affirmations and Intentions:
Beloved Creator of all light, we thank you for the light you blessed us with this day through the encounters we have had with all beings. May we always be present to those encounters. Let there be light.
Holy, compassionate One, we thank you for all care givers today who cared for the sick shining a light on their suffering. May we be aware of the suffering around us that we can shine our light upon. Let there be light.
Merciful God, we thank you for all those today who sacrifice themselves to aid those fleeing oppression and violence. May we aid in any way we can those courageous ones. Let there be light.
God of Hope and Abundance, we thank you today for all those who provided nourishment to the hungry. May we share our own abundance with all those in need without hesitation and with love. Let there be light.
Divine Mystery, we thank you for the evolving Earth home that you have gifted us with. May we protect it and respect it every day. Let there be light.
Sacred Friend, we thank you for our families, friends and this community of worship today who enrich our lives and bless our interconnectivity. May we each day recognize and be a strong loving connector in this holy cosmic web. Let there be light.
Silence to add your own intentions.
Closing Prayer:Grace by Caroline Myss
“Lord, grant me the grace of Compassion, and the Courage to act on the authority of that grace. I know this is not a silent grace. It is a grace of action, and it will not allow me to be still when facing human suffering. But if I hope to be treated with Compassion by others, I must open my heart to serve others in kind. I cannot live in fear of the power of this grace.”
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
Lynn: Welcome and Theme: Faith in the Divine is a search for comfort and an acceptance of challenge; comfort and challenge the ingredients of living through good times and tough times, facing the unknown and the unknowable with love and a sense of balance and trust. Our readings are part of a tapestry woven across the centuries showing how prophets saints and mystics live our faith at once unchanging and yet always in formation.
Kathie: Opening Prayer:Holy One, has there ever been a time when our world was not in trouble? Chaos seems to be our middle name. But we know You are ever present to each of us. Holding us and carrying us from one difficult moment to the next.We are in awe of Your love for us and are forever grateful.Amen.
Opening Song: “How Great Thou Art” by Jim Brickman
A Reading from “Reflections on Julian of Norwich” by Rev. Lindsay Ross-Hunt
Julian of Norwich, a 14th century mystic, wrote during a time of great suffering and uncertainty characterized by the 100 Years War and three outbreaks of bubonic plague, the pandemics of her time. Against this backdrop, she is best known as the author of the prayer, “all shall be well and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
Looking at the suffering around her, Julian saw not the punishment of God but the love of God extending into every nook and cranny to meet and find us in it. When she insists that “all shall be well”, it is not the Hallmark-card statement of someone putting on rose colored glasses or sticking their head in the sand pretending that all this bad stuff will go away, but the voice of one who has deeply experienced suffering and tried to make sense of it. And the way she does so is through a brutally honest trust in the love of God.
It strikes me that hers is a prayer we can lean into even when we don’t see it or feel it. It is not a descriptive statement of now, but a hopeful statement of what shall be.
We know now that our lives may never fully return to the way they were before the pandemic of our time. Just as 9-11 forever changed the way we navigate and experience airports, this pandemic will alter the way we do church. And yet, how we do church is not the church—we are.
And we will navigate these uncharted waters as saints have done before us, leaning into the wind of the Spirit as she carries us forward into whatever is next. For as Julian reminds us, that which God has created “lasts and ever shall” for even in the littlest thing, there are “three properties: The first is that God made it. The second is that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps it. “
God keeps us and God will keep the church, even if and when it looks different than it did before. And “all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
These are the inspired words of Lindsay Ross-Hunt, a priest with an Episcopal church in Washington State and the community affirms them by saying, Amen.
Dennis:Alleluia
A Reading from the Gospel ofJohn (6:59-61, 66-69 and 7:1, 6-9)
Jesus taught in a synagogue in Capernaum saying,
“I myself am the living bread come down from heaven.
If any eat this bread, they will live forever;
the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
This not the kind of bread your ancestors ate as manna in the
desert for they died.This is the bread that comes down from
heaven and if you eat it you shall never die.”
Afterward, many disciples remarked, “We cannot put up with this kind of talk. How can anyone take it seriously?”
Jesus was aware that many were murmuring in protest. “Is this a stumbling block for you?” he asked. “It is the Spirit that gives life; the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Yet among you there are some who don’t believe.”
From that time on, many of the disciples broke away and wouldn’t remain in the company of Jesus. Jesus then asked the twelve, “Are you going to leave me too?”
Simon Peter answered, Rabbi, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe: we’re convinced that you are the Holy One of God.
So, then Jesus went walking about Galilee. The annual Sukkot pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem was near but he had decided not to go because certain Temple authorities were conspiring to kill him. He told the others, “Now is not the right time for me. Go up to the feast yourselves. I am not going because my time is yet to come”. Having said this, he stayed in Galilee.
These are the inspired words of the gospel writer known as John and the community affirms them by saying, Amen
Lynn: Homily Starter
Julian of Norwich is a premier example of sustaining faith in the midst of suffering. The first reading explains how her relationship with the Holy One depends on a “brutally honest trust” and a relentless search for the love of the Holy One in everyone and everything.
In the first reading, Rev. Ross-Hunt acknowledges that there may be times when we don’t feel the love of the Hoy One; human nature by definition includes times of despair, grief, anger and cynicism. Ross-Hunt advises us to lean into Julian’s thread of hope that all SHALL be well…if not in this moment, then in the next.
For as likely as we flailing humans might be to lose our way, we are able to find our way back—through deep reserves within ourselves, by prayer and with the help of each another. We own the sacred ability to prove resilient, to remain resourceful and to rise again, inspired by God’s love that carries us and rescues us. Faith makes sense of randomness in our lives; it literally brings us to our senses.
We see the faith of the apostles in the gospel when they choose to stay with Jesus even as others break away. The teaching of Jesus, infused with love and comfort as it is, is also meant to be a dangerous challenge to the status quo and the powers that be. Jesus bewilders.
Jesus preached peace in occupied land by a militaristic colonial empire;
he insisted on the equality and value of every person in a highly stratified society;
he second-guessed religious authorities and offered startling views of faith such as the idea of heaven in the here and now, within our grasp.
he ran away from popularity and fame, wanting his ministry to be about vision and change and not personality. Jesus stood up at the risk of his reputation and his life. In today’s gospel he is a fugitive, anticipating that assassination is only a matter of time.
Jesus remains just as vital in our American empire as he was in the Roman empire. The ‘Come Follow Me’ invitation is a challenge to act publicly with hope and vision even when the world laughs and rejects us for it.Rev. Ross-Hunt suggests we are called to “navigate these uncharted waters as saints have done before us”. Let’s not underestimate the rigor or the cost of 'Come Follow Me’.
The faith journey is a long and winding road. Those who left Jesus in Capernaum may have returned another day, seeing the message in another light. They broke away but maybe Jesus’s teaching changed them as they went on their way. Trust in God is an inspired choice that requires participants, not spectators. Faith is enriched by our companions and our own wisdom; it need not be a prescribed routine nor a uniform exercise.
As the first reading and our Upper Room experience indicates, “God keeps us and God will keep the church, even if and when it looks different than it did before.” No matter how much comfort we need and how much challenge we take on, we rest safely in the assurance that on our faith journey, “all manner of things shall be well.”
Shared Homily – all are welcome and encouraged to share
their thoughts on the readings
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
Lynn: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to the table our prayers and intentions:
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Kathie: 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:
Lynn: 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.
All: 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.
Community lifts the plate
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.
Community lifts the cup
Kathie: 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.
We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace.
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 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.
In the darkest hour, when I cannot breathe Fear is on my chest, the weight of the world on me Everything is crashing down, everything I had known When I wonder if I'm all alone
I remember, I remember You have always been faithful to me I remember, I remember Even when my own eyes could not see You were there, always there
I will lift my eyes even in the pain Above all the lies, I know You can make a way I have seen giants fall, I have seen mountains move I have seen waters part because of You
I remember (I remember) I remember (I remember) You have always been faithful to me I remember (I remember) I remember (I remember) Even when my own eyes could not see You were there, always there
I can't stop thinking about I can't stop thinking about I can't stop thinking about Your goodness, goodness I can't stop thinking about I can't stop thinking about I can't stop thinking about Your goodness, goodness I can't stop thinking about I can't stop thinking about I can't stop thinking about Your goodness, goodness I can't stop thinking about I can't stop thinking about I can't stop thinking about Your goodness, goodness
I remember, I remember You have always been faithful to me I remember (I remember) I remember (I remember) Even when my own eyes could not see You were there, always there, with me
Lynn: Loving source of our being, you call us to live the gospel of peace and justice. With trust in the comfort and the challenge of our relationship with you, we will live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity in your presence.
BLESSING
Please extend your hands in our final blessing.
ALL: May the Fire of Love ignite our hearts and radiate
through us.
May the Spirit truth and justice burn within us.
May we continue to be the face of the Holy One, and
