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Please join us between 4:30 and 4:55 pm 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: We come together this evening to celebrate the many gifts of community membership, knowing that however diverse, we are unified in the one Spirit of God that makes us whole and holy. As we yearn to be like Jesus in using our gifts, we recognize that we can fulfill the promise of scripture as he does.
Let us pray our Opening Prayer: There is a burning bush in each of us, Holy One. It is the flame of Your presence in all our ordinary moments. Your indwelling Spirit makes the days of our lives into opportunities for sacred encounter. Each burning bush moment, each precious epiphany enfolds us more closely within your embrace and makes us whole together as One. Amen. (adapted from Joyce Rupp)
Opening Song: We are One by Earth Mama
Liturgy of the Word
First Reading: First Cor. 12: 12, 27-30
The body is one, even though it has many parts; all the parts — many though they are— comprise a single body. And so it is with Christ. It was by one Spirit that all of us, whether we are Jews or Greeks, slaves or citizens, were baptized into one body. All of us have been given to drink of the one Spirit.
You then are the body of Christ and each of you is a member of it. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members share its joy. Furthermore, God has set up in the church, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then miracle workers, healers, assistants, administrators and those who speak in tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles or have the gift of healing
Do all speak in tongues, or do all have the gift of interpretation of tongues?
These are the inspired words of Paul and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Second Reading: A reading from Circle of Grace by Jan Richardson
Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light
Blessed are you
who bear the light
in unbearable times
who testify
to its endurance
amid the unendurable
who bear witness to
to its persistence
when everything seems
in shadow and grief.
Blessed are you
in whom
the light lives,
in whom
the brightness blazes —
your heart
a chapel,
an altar where
in the deepest night
can be seen
the fire that
shines forth
in unaccountable faith,
in stubborn hope,
in love that illumines
every broken thing
it finds.
These are the inspired words of Jan Richardson and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Celtic Alleluia
https://youtu.be/o1rc7ojQtJU
Gospel: A Reading from the Gospel of Luke (4: 14-21)
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee where his reputation spread throughout the region. He was teaching in the synagogues and all were loud in their praise.
Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. Entering the synagogue on the Sabbath, as was his habit, Jesus stood to do the reading. When the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, he unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
“The Spirit of our God is upon me:
Because the Most High has anointed me
To bring Good News to those who are poor.
God has sent me to proclaim liberty to those held
captive,
recovery of sight to those who are blind,
and release to those in prison,
and to proclaim the year of our God’s favor.”
Rolling up the scroll, Jesus gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he said to them, “Today in your hearing, this scripture passage is fulfilled.”
These are the inspired words of the gospel author known as Luke and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
(Pause)
Shared Homily: Our first reading reminds us how we have more in common with each other than we have differences. The Spirit that moves every person actually rejoices in our distinctions, and our differences which are essential to the whole and cannot overcome our commonality, our unity. Interestingly, it is baptism that signifies us as becoming part of the whole — with no mention of original sin (a doctrine that will not come until centuries later).
Does anyone else sense a contradiction in what Paul offers about our gifts being equally important and honored and the hierarchy he suggests in which apostles and prophets come before lesser miracle workers and healers? The human temptation to hierarchy in Paul’s ancient times remains today, proving that the Spirit and we have more work to do…
Our second reading speaks directly to you and me and offers an admiring view of us as people who use our gifts to make ordinary moments and burning bush moments filled with holy possibility. Can we really believe in our hearts as a chapel and our hope and faith as persistent? When we can, we have the Spirit to light up a moment in time, to spread joy, comfort and hope to our loved ones, acquaintances and strangers. I imagine Jesus must have been like that all the time, even to the end of his earthly life as he comforted the thieves being crucified on either side of him.
No wonder the eyes of everyone in Luke’s gospel are on Jesus who reads Isaiah’s words about “the Spirit of our God is upon me” from Isaiah written five centuries earlier. He sits back down and proclaims “today in your hearing, this scripture passage is fulfilled”. There are two parts of this statement and together, they are astonishing.
The first part, “today in your hearing” indicates that the sharing of community in the good news is essential to its fulfillment. No one, not even Jesus can bear the light into the dark by oneself. The second part of what Jesus says, “the Spirit of God is upon me” traditionally has been taken to mean that he is stating he is the Messiah but it is heard by Jews of Jesus’ time in the context of the rest of Isaiah in which the Servant of God means the “people of Israel as a whole called to teach and enlighten, to be examples of justice and faith’ to all the world. (The Inclusive Bible footnotes in First Isaiah).
To hear Jesus say that the promise of Scripture, the work of liberty, recovery and release and the love of God’s favor is within our grasp when we work together make a lot of sense; it is a big job and we are all of use, each of us needed in such a great and heroic effort.
What did you hear in the readings? Please feel free to share your thoughts.
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
Presider: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we are thankful to be anointed just as Jesus is and we bring our blessings, cares and concerns to this celebration, beginning with the words, “We bring to the table…”
Intentions are offered
Presider: We pray for these and all unspoken concerns in our hearts. Amen.
Let us join with open hands to pray our Eucharistic prayer together:
All: Source of love and light, we join in unity of Spirit, love and purpose with your people everywhere, living and crossed over. With all of Creation across galaxies, we open our hearts and souls to become One.
In Your loving embrace we are liberated from division, fear, conflict, pride and injustice. We are transformed into wholeness which we resolve to bring to all whose lives we touch so that the scriptures and public ministry of Jesus may be fulfilled in our day. With gratitude, we meld ourselves with Your Divine presence which knows all, shelters all and transforms all into love, abundant and eternal.
In one voice, we praise your loving, healing ways and the glory of all Your creation:
Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy
We thank you Holy One, for Jesus, a man of courage whose exquisite balance of human and Divine points our way. We are reassured that Jesus strives with us in our time of need. We yearn with passion to live as Jesus, one with you and your Spirit in peace and abiding love.
May our desire to be One with You join us to all living things. We seek to heal what isolates us and to live in unity with all peoples of every ethnicity, skin color, gender orientation and class. May we have the imaginative sympathy to move with courage beyond the human confines of bias, miscommunication, ignorance and hurt and into the healing place where Divine light shines forth.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We call upon Your Spirit present in these gifts – bread that satisfies our hunger and wine that quenches our thirst – to make us more unified in living the fullness of holy compassion and Sophia wisdom.
Anticipating the likelihood of betrayal, arrest and pain, Jesus wanted more than anything to be with his friends, to share a meal, exchange stories and create fond memories. To strengthen the bonds of friendship that evening, Jesus washed the feet of his companions in an act of love and humility.
After returning to his place at the table, Jesus lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to everyone saying:
Take and eat, this is my very self.
Then he took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace and offered it to everyone saying:
Take and drink. Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you.
(pause)
Let us share the bread and the cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace, using the words, I am Gifted by the Spirit
Communion Meditation: Let Justice Rain by The Many
https://youtu.be/RORyLr9y2Y0
Communion Prayer: As we remember you in this bread and wine, we recognize you in each other. Knowing that Jesus spent his ministry with the marginalized and hurting, the needy and shunned, we seek to remain open to bringing love, dignity and healing to those in need. May we see with the eyes of Jesus, touch with the hands of Jesus and heal with the heart of Jesus. Amen.
Reader: Let’s 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. (adapted by Miriam Therese Winter)
Final Blessing: We are graced by the Presence of the Divine in our lives and our growing awareness of how we can become more like Jesus. May we live in a unity of Spirit even in the midst of pandemic illness and civil discord. May we ourselves be healed and resolved to ‘bear the light’ for others experiencing unbearable hurt and need. May justice spring forth in the light of our lives. Amen.
Closing Song: The Power of the Dream by Celine Dion
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