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
Juanita: Welcome Everyone!
Opening Prayer:
Lindy: Holy Wisdom, we come to you today. Fill us with joy while we are here! Spirit, teach us how to take that wisdom you share with us, and the joy we find in it and in being together … Teach us how to take all this and more with us as we leave this site. Teach us how to spill all this onto our troubled world. Amen
Opening Song: Room at the Table Everyone by Carrie Newcomer
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading:
“ Paul (probably the earliest writer in the New Testament) understood unity and how to get there. Each of us are human…imperfect…have areas that learning to walk the road we make will heal us. Together we are one body, one community…We are One!...and we can do so much more! Becoming a community… Becoming One body is a sacred act.”
These holy words were spoken by Father Richard Rohr. We affirm them by saying Amen.
Alleluia: Alleluia Alleluia I'm So Glad To Tell sung by Barbara Jones
Gospel Reading:
Luke 6: 39-45
Jesus told them a parable: Can a blind man act as guide to another who is blind? Won’t they both fall into the ditch?
The student is not above the teacher. But all students, once they are fully trained, will be on a par with their teacher. How can you look at the splinter in another‘s eye, yet miss the plank in your own?
A tree doesn't produce bad fruit any more than a bad tree produces good fruit. Each tree is known by its fruit. Each tree is known by its yield. Figs are not taken from thorn bushes or grapes picked from briars. Good people produce goodness from the good they’ve stored up in their hearts; evil people produce evil from the evil stored up in their hearts: evil people from the evil stored in their hearts! People speak from the fullness of their hearts.
These holy words were attributed to Luke. We as a community affirm them by saying Amen!
(a moment of silence)
Shared Homily
Statement of Faith
Juanita: Let us now make our Statement of Faith:
Juanita and Mary Theresa: 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.
Bringing Prayers and Concerns to the Table
Juanita: Holy One, You reside within us, and we, within You. Hear us now as we bring our concern and our gratitude to this, our table.
Feel free to speak of your concerns, beginning with the words I bring to the table..”
We pray also for each thing for which we are grateful and for all unspoken concerns. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer
Lindy and ALL: Please join us in praying the Eucharistic prayer together:
O Holy One, you have birthed us in goodness, gifted us with life and cherished us in love. In the heart of our being, your Spirit dwells; a Spirit of courage and vision, a Spirit of wisdom and truth.
In the power of that same Spirit, we lift our hearts in prayer, invoking anew the gift of wisdom and enlightenment, that we may continue to praise and thank you. With grateful hearts we sing:
Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy
https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ
Holy One, we see around us the work of your hands, the fruit of your wisdom and love. The unfolding story of creation witnesses unceasingly to your creative power. We, Your creatures, often deviate from that wisdom, hindering your creative presence in our midst.
Sending among us Jesus, our brother, you birth afresh in our world the power of Sophia-Wisdom, and in the gift of Your Spirit, Your creative goodness blooms anew, amid the variety and wonder of life.
Juanita: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: 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 just, inclusive and pour out loving-kindness onto the world.
Juanita: 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. To fix that memory clearly within them, he bent down and washed their feet.
(All lift your plates and pray the following:)
When he returned to his place at the table, and while they were eating Jesus took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them saying:
“Take and eat; this is my Body
(All lift your cups and pray the following:)
Lindy: He then raised high 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.”
What we have heard today with our ears, we will live with our lives. As we share communion, we will become communion, both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.
Take this bread and wine with the words “As we receive communion, we become communion.”
(consume bread and wine)
Communion Song: How Can I Keep From Singing.
How Can I Keep From Singing? arranged by Gwyneth Walker
https://youtu.be/LXYAu7c38NQ
Juanita and ALL: In union with all peoples living and dead, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking wisdom and courage: to discern more wisely your call to us in the circumstances of our daily lives; to act justly and courageously in confronting the pain and suffering that desecrates the Earth and its peoples; to take risks in being creative and proactive on behalf of the poor and marginalized; and to love all people with generosity of heart, beyond the labels of race, creed and color.
And may we ever be aware and alert to the new things Your Spirit makes possible in us, as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty, into the fullness of life to which we are all called, participating in the wise and wonderful work of building community and co-creation.
Like Jesus, we will open wide all that has been closed around us, and we will live compassionate lives, living as Jesus lived, that we can awaken to your loving Spirit within and pour that loving-kindness out, first onto those around us, and then onto the whole wide world.
Lindy and All: Let us pray as Jesus taught his friends to pray:
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
(Miriam Therese Winter)
(a moment of silence)
Great Spirit Prayer
Juanita and Mary Theresa:
Oh, Great Spirit,
Whose voice we hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to all the world.
Hear us! We need your strength and wisdom.
Let us walk in beauty, and make our eyes
ever hold the red and purple sunset.
Make our hands respect the things you have made and our ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make us wise so that we may understand
the things you have taught us.
Let us learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.
Help us remain calm and strong in the
face of all that comes towards us.
Help us find compassion without
empathy overwhelming us.
We seek strength, not to be greater than our sisters and
brothers, but to fight our greatest enemies: ourselves.
Make us always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
our spirits may come to you without shame.
(Translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887, adapted by Lindy Sanford-Martinez )
Final Blessing
Lindy…. May our presence and intentions infuse every space around us with the perfume of Joy, Hope, Peace, Faith and Love. May we be a blessing on our world in our time. Amen.
Closing Song: For the Beauty of the Earth by Andra Moran
