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 Opening Prayer: Julie: Welcome to you all as we gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus. This is such a special time, a time of grace, and Annabella and I are so happy to share tonight’s liturgy with you.
Holy One, these long nights of December are dark and cold and yet we know the light is coming, to warm our bodies and our souls. Thank you for the gift of Jesus and the gift of each other, of our community. May we take care of each other as we walk the path of love. AMEN.
Peace Prayer: Julie: Thank you for taking time out of the busyness of the season, of the world, to gather with us. As we make the transition from the world out there to sacred space, I invite you to take a deep breath in and then slowly exhale. Let this song wash over you as you settle in a little more deeply.
“Sweet Secret Peace” by Neil Finn
Real and right and true, the sky is blue
Everlasting arms up-holding you
Sweet secret peace
Sweet secret peace
Beautiful are you, your hands on you
All you feel is real and right and true
Sweet secret peace, secret
Sweet secret peace
Real and right and true will turn into
Secret peace inside the heart of you
Sweet secret peace
Sweet secret peace, ooh
Sweet secret peace
Sweet secret peace
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading
A reading from A Course in Miracles, Chapter 7, The Gifts of the Kingdom. XI. The State of Grace
1. The Holy Spirit will always guide you truly, because your joy is His. This is His Will for everyone because He speaks for the Kingdom of God, which is JOY.
Following Him is therefore the easiest thing in the world, and the only thing that is easy, because it is not of the world. It is therefore natural.
The world goes against your nature, being out of accord with God’s laws.
The world perceives orders of difficulty in everything.
This is because the ego perceives nothing as wholly desirable.
By demonstrating to yourself there no order of difficulty in miracles, you will convince yourself that, in your natural state, there is no difficulty at all, because it is a state of grace.
2. Grace is the natural state of every Son of God. When he is not in a state of grace, he is out of his natural environment and does not function well. Everything he does becomes a strain, because he was not created for the environment that he has made. He therefore cannot adapt to it, nor can he adapt it to him. There is no point in trying.
A Son of God is happy only when he knows he is With God. That is the only environment in which he will not experience strain, because that is where he belongs. It is also the only environment that is worthy of him, because his own worth is beyond anything he can make .
These are inspired words from A Course in Miracles and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Second Reading
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
When Paul reached Antioch in Pisidia and entered the synagogue, he stood up, raised his hand for silence, and began to speak. “Fellow Israelites,” he said, “and you others who revere our God, listen to what I have to say! The God of this nation Israel chose our ancestors, made our people great when they were living as foreigners in Egypt, then through divine power led them out. Then God deposed Saul and made David their ruler, with these approving words: ‘I have selected David ben-Jesse, a person after my own heart, who will carry out my whole purpose.’ To keep this promise, God has given Israel a savior, one of David’s descendants—Jesus, whose coming was heralded by John when he proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the whole people of Israel. Before John ended his ministry, he said, ‘I am not the one you think I am; the one who is he coming after me, I’m not fit to undo the sandals on his feet.’”
These are the inspired words of the anonymous storyteller we call Luke and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Alleluia: Lynn K.
Gospel
A reading from the gospel of Matthew.
The family record of Jesus the Christ,
descendant of David, descendant of Abraham:
Abraham begot Isaac; Isaac begot Jacob;
Jacob begot Judah and his sisters and brothers;
Tamar and Judah begot Perez and Zerah;
Perez begot Hezron; Hezron begot Ram;
Ram begot Amminadab; Amminadab begot Nahshon;
Nahshon begot Salmon; Rahab and Salmon begot Boaz;
Ruth and Boaz begot Obed; Obed begot Jesse,
and Jesse begot David, the ruler.
Bathsheba—who had been the wife of Uriah—and David became the father of Solomon;
Solomon begot Rehoboam; Rehoboam begot Abijah;
Abijah begot Asa; Asa begot Jehoshaphat;
Jehoshaphat begot Joram; Joram begot Uzziah;
Uzziah begot Jotham; Jotham begot Ahaz;
Ahaz begot Hezekiah; Hezekiah begot Manasseh;
Manasseh begot Amon; Amon begot Josiah
Josiah begot Jechoniah and his sisters and brothers
at the time of the Babylonian captivity.
After the Babylonian captivity, Jechoniah begot Shealtiel;
Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel; Zerubbabel begot Abiud;
Abiud begot Eliakim; Eliakim begot Azor;
Azor begot Zadok; Zadok begot Achim;
Achim begot Eliud; Eliud the father of Eleazar;
Eleazar begot Matthan; Matthan begot Jacob;
Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary.
And from her Jesus was born Jesus.
Thus there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David,
fourteen generations from David to the Babylonian captivity,
and fourteen generations from the Babylonian captivity to the Messiah.
This is how the birth of Jesus came about.
When Jesus’ mother, Mary, was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together,
she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph, her husband, an upright person unwilling to disgrace her,
decided to divorce her quietly.
This was Joseph’s intention when suddenly the angel of God appeared in a dream and said, “Joseph, heir to the House of David,
don’t be afraid to wed Mary;
it is by the Holy Spirit that she has been conceived this child.
She is to have a son, and you are to name him Jesus—‘Salvation’—because he will save the people from their sins.”
All this happened to fulfill what God has said through the prophet:
“The virgin will be with child and give birth,
and the child will be named Immanuel,”—
a name that means “God is with us.”
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of God had directed,
and they went ahead with the marriage.
He did not have intercourse with her until she had given birth;
she had a son, and they named him Jesus.
These are the inspired words of the anonymous storyteller we call Matthew and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
(pause)
Shared Homily: Annabella
Reading through the lectionary for Christmas, I see the focus on the birth of Jesus, the Incarnation of the Christ. In the gospel, we read: The virgin will be with Child and give birth. And the Child will be named “Immanuel,” which means “God with Us.”
Taking a deeper look, we are invited to contemplate the life of Jesus, whose name means ‘Salvation’ coming to save people from their sins. In the Acts of the Apostles, we read “God has given Israel a Savior, one of David’s descendants, whose coming was heralded by John. When he proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the whole people of Israel. “
Today, I would invite us to consider Grace, the gift of Grace, the state of Grace and how Jesus exemplifies for us, Being in, and Being Grace. What emerged for me in the liturgical readings was an invitation to get curious about Grace, the gift of Grace, receiving of Grace, giving of Grace, being in Grace. What is Grace? What does it mean to be in Grace? What is the state of Grace?
We start with what is Grace?
I was struck in the second reading, Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 13, the sentence from St. John the Baptist, …”Behold, one is coming after me. I am not worthy of unfastening the sandals on his feet.’ How many of us walk around with that thought, all of our lives. And so, I thought, Grace.
Richard Rohr , in a recent meditation, Hope for Our Humanity, tells us that the genealogy of Jesus reveals that God chooses to work us as we are, using our weaknesses, even more than our strengths, to fulfill the divine purpose. To be in the Will of God, is to fulfill the divine purpose and that is, to be in a State of Grace.
The reading today, from A Course in Miracles, describes it “Following him is therefore, the easiest thing in the world, and the only thing that is Easy—because it is not of the world. It is therefore natural.
Grace is the natural state of every Son (and Daughter) of God. When he is not in a state of Grace, he is out of his natural environment, and does not function well. Everything he does becomes a strain. A Son of God is happy only when he knows is with God. This is the only environment in which he will not experience strain because that is where he belongs.”
Jesus exemplifies this throughout his life. Jesus experiences Grace as a birthright.
What does it mean to be in the state of Grace?
A Course in Miracles notes “by demonstrating to yourself there is no order of difficulty in miracles, you will convince yourself that it is your natural state . There is no difficulty at all because it is a state of Grace.”
To be in a state of Grace is to be in truth, to be in the truth that God is Love. To be in a state of Grace is to know this, walk in this. To be in state of Grace is, for me, to accept and to surrender, which means to surrender to the will of God ,which is, for me, to walk through life, knowing that it is really about Love. Love is at the Center of the Universe.
As Richard Rohr notes, in same meditation, to be in Grace means we do not gloss over the weaknesses we confront , both within ourselves and without. In these times of division between political parties, in this cleave between our collective health and individual liberties and even in the discord we see between our family members, the incarnation of Jesus Christ is a reminder of how to walk in the State of Grace.
Paraphrasing here, Rohr says, “Here, in Christmas in 2021, we are asked to acknowledge that we and our world are broken. Even our homes have become places of physical and psychological violence. It is only God, through Jesus Christ, in Grace, who can make us whole again.”
In closing, and finally, Ilia Delio reminds us that with the birth of the Baby, Immanuel, we are called to be a new people, born into the life of the spirit. The power of the incarnation awakens us to the gift of life , the gift of Grace. We must first receive the gift of Grace, accept it, trust in it, then extend it to others.
We may once have been unfit to unfasten his sandals, however, through his birth, we are made fit. We are heirs to his Grace. We are made whole and stand in a field of miracles.
Grace waits for our invitation. Will we call?
What did you hear?
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
Annabella: As we prepare for this sacred meal we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. As bearers of LIGHT and HOPE, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your intentions beginning with the words, “I bring to the table…..”
Annabella: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Julie: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
(written by Jay Murnane)
Julie: Holy One, you are continually creating the universe, continually giving birth to all of us. We sense the need to do the same, to set ourselves free from a sense of emptiness and barren hopelessness.
We celebrate you as the Source of light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and all-ways care. We give thanks, and joined with your vision of harmony and peace, we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here In This Place" by Christopher Grundy
Annabella: Your wisdom invites us to draw on our tradition, as old as the stars, shining through Sarah and Abraham, shining through your prophets in every age and every culture. We join that enlightening, enlivening tradition with what we are as we risk fidelity to a dream.
Filled with your spirit, we, like Jesus, can give birth in our day to your living word for the sake of hope enfleshed in creativity and confrontation, healing and reconciliation, justice, universal and unconditional love.
Holy One, we dare again to dream the ancient dreams and open ourselves to marvelous visions. There are mountains of arrogance to lower, valleys of fear and separation to fill in, to create a community and communion that stretches throughout our consciousness and around our world.
Julie: In this way, working to renew the face of the earth, we are opened up to your Spirit, the Spirit of light and life and love born in Jesus.
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.
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:
Annabella: 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.
Let us share this bread to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace with the words: You are an incarnation of the Divine.
Communion Meditation:
Mary Did You Know?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdHWawutC7A
Julie: Prayer after Communion:
Holy One, we are grateful for the gift of Your Spirit, always drawing beauty and balance out of chaos. And like Jesus…
Standing where he stood,
and for what he stood,
and with whom he stood,
we are united in your Spirit,
and worship you with our lives,
All: AMEN.
Jean T: Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy one who is within, around and among us.
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come; your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us,
now and forever, Amen.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
BLESSING
Annabella: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together.
May we continue to be the face of God to each other. May we call each other to extravagant generosity! May we, like Jesus, be a shining light and a blessing in our time!
All: AMEN
Julie: Even though Bridget and Chris Shaw couldn’t be with us tonight, we can still enjoy their beautiful music. As our closing song plays, we invite each of you to light a candle, either in your home or here in person, and let the light of our community shine like a star this dark night.
Closing Song: Light a Light by Bridget and Chris Shaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTrY3g0vl88
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