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| photo by Denise Hackert-Stoner |
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
First Sunday of Season of Creation
Welcome and Theme:
Denise: We welcome each of you to the first Sunday in our Season of Creation, which we will celebrate throughout the month of September. Today we will meditate on hearing and listening; to one another and to the whole of creation.
Opening Prayer: From Appreciating OM: The Sound of the Universe by Roger Gabriel, and from the Prologue of John’s Gospel
Thaeda: Imagine, if you can, a time before the Universe existed. Imagine a field of Pure Consciousness, an eternal silence. Not an empty silence, but one filled with the potential for everything.
Denise: In the beginning
Thaeda: At some point, Pure Consciousness decided it wanted to have an experience but, as nothing else existed, it could only experience itself. Because all experiences are based on contrast, Pure Consciousness had to move within itself to experience itself. Now, movement creates friction, and friction creates noise, so Pure Consciousness experiencing itself created a sound.
Denise: In the beginning was the Word.
Thaeda: So this sound, which was OM, is what we experience as the Universe in which we live.
Denise: In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God.
Thaeda: As the initial vibration of OM emerges from the unmanifest, it diversifies into all the different vibrations of the Universe, which manifest as the world we know. OM, therefore, contains within it all the mantras, sounds, and vibrations of the Universe. Everything in the Universe is a manifestation of OM and ultimately a reflection of Pure Consciousness from which it emerged. OM is the collective sound of the Universe, the Primordial Sound.
Denise: In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God.
Opening Song
One Voice, Shaina Noll https://youtu.be/coxgTrFLbSo
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Generous Listening by Marilyn Nelson
A conversation can be a contest,
or a game of catch with invisible balloons.
They bounce between us, growing and shrinking,
sometimes floating like cloud medicine balls,
and sometimes bowling at us like round anvils.
You toss a phrase and understanding blooms
like an anemone of colored lights.
My mind fireworks with unasked questions.
Who is this miracle speaking to me?
And who is this miracle listening?
What amazingness are we creating?
Out of gray matter a star spark of thought
leaps between synapses into the air,
and pours through gray matter, into my heart:
how can I not listen generously?
These are the inspired words of Marilyn Nelson and the community affirms them by saying, Amen.
Second Reading: Psalm 19: 1-4, adapted
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of God’s hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech; they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
This is the inspired song of the ancient psalmist. And we affirm it by saying: Amen.
Alleluia
Gospel: Mark 7:31-35
Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
These are the inspired words of the Gospel writer we know as Mark, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Homily Starter and Shared Homily: Denise
Forty years ago, the neighborhood where I live was full of young parents and their children. We were all friends and enjoyed sharing stories about our adventures as we learned the ropes of parenting. I still remember a story my friend told me about the day her daughter Amy, around three at the time, walked into the kitchen from her playroom and told her mom that she was bored. My friend was surprised that Amy was bored, but suggested that she get out a puzzle to play with, which Amy did. A few minutes later, though, Amy again wandered into the kitchen, complaining of being bored. Again and again, my friend suggested different toys, games, and activities that Amy could engage in. But each time, Amy would respond a short time later with “I’m bored.” Finally, my friend, losing patience, reminded Amy of all the nice things she had to play with, and that she had no reason to complain of being bored. Poor Amy simply responded, “I want something to drink!” And my friend realized that her three year old daughter, experimenting with language and new words, was all that time trying to say that she was thirsty!
Oh, to be heard, to be understood! And Oh, to truly listen!
When Jesus reached into the deaf man’s ears, opening them for the first time, not only did the man hear, but he also spoke in a way that others could understand him. He could hear and be heard. He could listen and be listened to. He could understand and be understood.
In 1878 an amendment was proposed in Congress for women to have the right to vote. It was a small voice that spoke of this right. It took until 1920, over forty years, for this voice to be heard and acted upon.
One month after the Union army’s victory ended slavery in 1865, Frederick Douglass reminded us that “Slavery is not abolished until the Black man has the ballot.” His voice rang out, but was he heard? It wasn’t until 1965, one hundred years after Douglass’s address, that the Voting Rights Act was finally passed. One hundred years….
Today voices are ringing out all over the world about the danger we are placing ourselves and our planet in by our continued enslavement to fossil fuels. Are we hearing? Are we listening?
Voices all over the world are crying out for environmental justice as the air they breathe is tainted, the water they drink polluted, and their land is in turn burning or flooded. Are these voices being heard?
In all of the voices calling out from every corner of the earth, if there is one underlying message, might it simply be, “hear me?”
Jesus’s command to the man as he placed his fingers in his ears and placed his own spit on the man’s tongue was “Be opened!” Are we open to the cries of the earth and one another? Do we speak so that others can understand? Do we hear one another? Do we listen?
Thaeda and I are listening. We want to hear what you have to say. Please share your thoughts on today’s 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.
Denise: 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
Denise: We bring these and all deeply held blessings, cares, and concerns to the table of friendship and peace.
Denise: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in one voice:
O Holy One, you are always with us. In the blessed abundance of creation, we gather to celebrate Your nourishing gift of life. May our hearts be open as You invite us to participate in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation. May we be ever aware of Your Spirit within and among us as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty into the fullness of life.
We are grateful for Your Spirit whose breath inspired the primal waters, calling into being the variety and abundance we see around us. Your Spirit sustains and animates our every endeavor, inviting us to act in wisdom and in truth.
In gratitude and joy we embrace our calling and we lift our voices to proclaim a song of praise:
Here in this Place by Chris Grundy
Thaeda: As a community, we gather in the power of your Spirit, refreshing wind, purifying fire, and flowing water, for the variety and diversity of Creation. We seek to live as Jesus taught us, wise and holy as Spirit-filled people, courageous and prophetic, ever obedient to your call.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We invoke Your Spirit upon the gifts of this Eucharistic table, bread of the grain and wine of the grape, that they may become gifts of wisdom, light and truth which remind us of our call to be the body of Christ to the world.
On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at the Seder 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. When he returned to his place, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and offered it to them saying:
All lift their plate as the community prays the following:
Take this bread and eat it;
This is my very self.
All lift their cup as community prays the following:
Thaeda: Jesus then raised a cup of blessing, spoke the grace and offered the wine 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.
In union with all people living and dead, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking wisdom to discern more wisely your call to us in the circumstances of our daily lives.
We seek to act justly and courageously in confronting the suffering that desecrates the Earth and its peoples; to take risks in being proactive on behalf of the marginalized who suffer the environmental injustices of fouled air, tainted water, and a poverty of parks and public spaces that bring people together to enjoy nature. We pray for inspiration to act with the harmony and unity and synthesis that is modeled for us by the trees of the forest, and the stars of the evening.
Holy One, your transforming energy is always moving within us and working through us. Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live compassionate lives,
for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Spirit within,
Moving us to glorify You, O Holy One,
At this time and all ways.
Amen.
Thaeda: We are called to live the Gospel of Creation in harmony and gratitude with all our sisters and brothers across the Earth. We will live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity in Your Presence. Please receive communion with the words, “The voice of the Holy One is within you.”
Communion song: Abide, Carrie Newcomer
Denise: Divine Spirit, you call to us in the voice of the wind, the song of the cricket, the thunder of rushing water, and in the voices of our fellow human beings. Open our ears so that we can listen with open hearts as you call us into that loving embrace that is your presence in creation .
Denise: Let us pray as Jesus taught us with an eye toward this Season of Creation:
Generous Creator, the intricate and elegant biodiversity of our world is your hallowed autograph on our lives, on our souls and in our hearts.
We yearn for the wholeness of being in harmony with Your will and with all living things.
Each day we draw on your creative, life-giving energy with gratitude and awe as we find nourishment in, seed and field, river and forest.
May we be stewards and co-creators with you in caring for the gifts of Your Creation.
We acknowledge our shortcomings, especially our neglect of the environment. We seek to be reconciled with those we have hurt and we resolve to do better.
With your unfailing wisdom and the wind of Your Spirit, inspire us that we may reach out and love one another and care for the world, our home.
Strengthen us to work for local and global justice so that we may one day reap a harvest of equality and fairness as if they were wildflowers, propagating spontaneously, unerringly and in surprising abundance. Amen.
Denise: Let us pray together our closing blessing:
Creator most generous and kind, your gift of Earth and sky reveals your omnipotence and glory. May we go forward boldly to live in the glory.
May we treat all of Creation as sacred. May we listen to its sounds and to the voices of one another as we discern the best path to an equitable distribution of the resources we share with our sisters and brothers across the globe. Let us live as if the future depends on it. Amen.
Closing Song: Cricket Symphony: A Wonder of Nature by Jim Wilson https://youtu.be/jk5gibBg-4g
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