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
LITURGY OF THE WORD
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 of John (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:
Song: Here in this Place https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ
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.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
Communion Song: Remember by Lauren Daigle https://youtu.be/nThnLyjQgbA
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
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Lauren Daigle / Chris Tomlin / Ed Cash / Jason Ingram / Paul Mabury
Remember lyrics © Essential Music Publishing
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
May we be a blessing in our time. AMEN.
Closing Song: Be the Light
https://youtu.be/8YuWAZmD0aU
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