 |
| Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash |
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
Good evening, dear friends. Welcome to our liturgy in which we remember that each of us is known by our creator, and called to become active participants in the salvation of this world by hearing and following our model, Jesus.
Opening Prayer:
Holy One, we are gathered tonight in prayer and celebration as your beloved family. You know each of us by name. We are in your heart. Help us to bring your great love to bear on this world so that with you, we can lead it and its people into your loving embrace.
Opening Song:
Love is Here, The Many
Liturgy of the Word
First Reading: A reading from the Book of Jeremiah 1:4-5
The word of the Holy One came to me, saying:
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I dedicated you,
a prophet to the nations I appointed you.
These are the inspired words of the prophet Jeremiah and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Alleluia
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel attributed to Luke (Lk 4:21-30)
Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”
He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'”
And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.
These are the inspired words of the Gospel writer known as Luke, and the community affirms them by saying, Amen.
Homily Starter
Today’s gospel begins like a feel-good story about a home-town boy who has done well. Jesus’s ministry is off to a grand start. After his baptism and his time of reflection in the desert he has returned to Galilee. He has been teaching all around the area and the crowds have been appreciative. But back home in Nazareth things take a turn. Somehow, underlying their vocal praise and wonder at his eloquence, Jesus must have sensed something else in the crowd; some expectation for him to perform, to show them some wondrous acts, to give them something. And he responds by denying them any of that.
Notice, Jesus proclaims that the Isaiah scripture in which the poor will receive good news, prisoners will be freed, the blind will see, and oppression will cease is fulfilled in their hearing it. He doesn’t claim that the passage is fulfilled specifically in him. It is fulfilled in their hearing. Jesus, even in these early days, senses that his ministry is more about opening the way to the Kin-dom than it is about himself. It is about leading the way, not being the way. The kind of salvation he is beginning to preach is participatory, reciprocal. It’s about all of us, in every age, turning the world. Turning it toward the Divine vision it was created to be. This was obviously not welcome news at the time. It requires a lot of work, maybe some changes in lifestyle, maybe some uncomfortable conversations. But Jesus never wavered from that message. Do we hear his message today? How do we respond?
What did you hear in today’s readings? Your sacred insights are valued here.
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)
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.
Prayers for the community.
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Denise: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.
All: 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 – Karen Drucker https://youtu.be/kl7vmiZ1YuI
Denise: 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:
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: We All Have Gifts to Share, Susan Kay Wyatts
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.
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
Denise: Let us raise our hands in blessing pray together:
Blessing: 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, and if we stray along byways of our own choosing, turn us around and bring us home.
Amen.
Closing Song: God’s Eyes, MaMuse
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.