The Elephant in the Church by Mary T. Malone, Theologian adapted by Dennis McDonald
Throughout Christian history it has always been recognized that the home is the place where Christianity is passed on, and that women, mothers and grandmothers, have been the prime evangelists. Now in the twenty-first century, homes may no longer function as centers of evangelization. The old headship of the male husband and father is no longer a reality, and the male leaders of the churches are diminishing in numbers.
And yet the women are still there, and this is the problem. And what of the women down through the centuries? How were they ‘there’. As we have seen, they were there among the first and most faithful disciples, as house-church leaders, apostles, teachers, prophets, and presiders at the agape meal, the initial form of Eucharist. They were there, to men’s great surprise as martyrs and virgins, not having been deemed capable of either role in male theology. They were there as abbesses and founders, writers and preachers, mystics and scholars, reformers and missionaries, not only at home on the continent of Europe, but in far distant lands, again demonstrating virtues of courage and ingenuity that they were not supposed to have. And in our own time women have been there as theological scholars and biblical exegetes, parish leaders and pastoral guides, chaplains in a huge variety of settings, and ministers of the gospel at bedsides and graves, birthing rooms and schools, publishing houses and universities. And all of this has been done entirely on their own initiative, without any official calling from the Church because the Catholic Church does not consider itself capable of calling women. And what have these women believed? How have they lived as Christians? What has been the focus of their spiritual lives? These women, both today and down through the centuries, right from the beginning, have built their lives around the following of Jesus, the living out of the imago dei, the public exercise of compassion and the unique sense of themselves as Godward and God-bearing people. They know that in the depths of their humanity, like Jesus, they discover the signs of divinity. They have learned, as Marguerite Porete, and Teresa of Avila have pointed out, that there is no telling where God ends and we begin, where we end and God begins. They know, as Julian of Norwich did, that there is ‘no wrath in God’, that God is ‘closer to us than our hands and feet’, and that God is as truly Mother as God is Father.
If there is to be a future church...... a necessary first step must surely be to attend to the voices of women throughout history and today.
A Litany of Women for the Church
Holy Mystery, creator of women in your own image, born of a woman in the midst of a world half women, carried by women to mission fields around the globe, made known by women to all the children of the earth, give to the women of our time the strength to persevere, the courage to speak out, the faith to believe in you beyond all systems and institutions so that your face on earth may be seen in all its beauty, so that men and women become whole, so that the church may be converted to your will in everything and in all ways.
We call on the holy women who went before us, channels of Your Word in testaments old and new, to intercede for us so that we might be given the grace to become what they have been for the honor and glory of God.
Saint Esther, who pleaded against power for the liberation of the people, –Pray for us. Saint Judith, who routed the plans of men and saved the community, Saint Deborah, laywoman and judge, who led the people of God, Saint Elizabeth of Judea, who recognized the value of another woman, Saint Mary Magdalene, minister of Jesus, the first evangelist of the Christ, Saint Scholastica, who taught her brother Benedict to honor the spirit above the system, Saint Hildegard, who suffered interdict for the doing of right, Saint Joan of Arc, who put no law above the law of God, Saint Clare of Assisi, who confronted the pope with the image of woman as equal, Saint Julian of Norwich, who proclaimed for all of us the motherhood of God, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who knew the call to priesthood in herself, Saint Catherine of Siena, to whom the pope listened, Saint Teresa of Avila, who brought women’s gifts to the reform of the church, Saint Edith Stein, who brought fearlessness to faith, Saint Elizabeth Seton, who broke down boundaries between lay women and religious by wedding motherhood and religious life, Saint Dorothy Day, who led the church in a new sense of justice,
Mary, mother of Jesus, who heard the call of God and answered, Mary, mother of Jesus, who drew strength from the woman Elizabeth, Mary, mother of Jesus, who underwent hardship bearing Christ, Mary, mother of Jesus, who ministered at Cana, Mary, mother of Jesus, inspirited at Pentecost, Mary mother of Jesus, who turned the Spirit of God into the body and blood of Christ, pray for us. Amen.— Joan Chittister, OSB
Closing Prayer: Whenever Women Gather by Jay Murnane
Whenever women of thought gather
Thoughtful women
Horizons are stretched wider.
Whenever women of heart gather
Compassionate women
Tender-strong eyes open to injustices,
Making connections.
Whenever women of soul gather
Generous women
There is solidarity, and a wide embrace,
A fulcrum of possibility
Which can fell walls,
Set voices free,
Illuminate alternatives
And heal shattered hopes.
Whenever women of wisdom gather
Free women,
daring women,
ingenious women
there is a drumming
in cadence with the song
at the center of all:
a co-creativity
a rumbling
a crumbling
of business-as-usual
and powers that be.
Whenever women of spirit gather
Feisty women
Laboring women
There is a birthing.
There is life,
Sisters!
Closing Song: Woman Spirit by Karen Drucker, video by Mary Theresa Streck and Juanita Cordero
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 Theme
Debra Trees: Welcome Dear Upper Room Community. Each of us is blessed to be here with each other and with ourselves! As we continue to wander on our Lenten Journey, we re-discover today the parable of the Prodigal Child. During Lent, we may be exploring the unknown, stepping out of our comfort zone, and following our calling to seek more. We listen, decide, act, and risk the familiar. What does it mean for us as a model of a contemporary way of being? Can we open our very selves to the possibility of grace and abundance for all?
Deb: Opening Prayer: Source of All, We know that you are with us in all things, and in all the phases of our being. We feel your unending compassion and patience with our growth, change and becoming. Thank you for being our intimate companion, and for letting your love be known to us through the everyday miracles all around us. Help us to continue to witness and to be grateful for your transformation and creative working through our souls. Amen.
Opening Song: Deep Peace By Sara Thompson.
https://youtu.be/5dIAcqaUUz4
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading, from the poet, Amanda Gordon.
...But that doesn't mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge a union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true, that even as we grieved, we grew, that even as we hurt, we hoped, that even as we tired, we tried, that we'll forever be tied together, victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division. Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid. If we're to live up to our own time, then victory won't lie in the blade. But in all the bridges we've made, that is the promise to glade, the hill we climb. If only we dare...
These are the words from "The Hill We Climb," by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gordon, and we affirm them by saying, AMEN.
Alleluia
Gospel
The tax collectors and the outcasts were all drawing near to Jesus to listen to him; but the Pharisees and the scholars found fault. “This man always welcomes outcasts and takes meals with them!” they complained.
So, Jesus told them this parable: “A man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance.’ So the father divided the property between them.
A few days later the younger son got together all that he had, and went away into a distant land; and there he squandered his inheritance by leading a life of debauchery. After he had spent all that he had, there was a severe famine through all that country, and he began to be in actual want.
So he went and engaged himself to one of the people of that country, who sent him into his fields to tend pigs. He even longed to satisfy his hunger with the bean pods on which the pigs were feeding; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more bread than they can eat, while here am I starving to death!I will get up and go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer fit to be called your son; make me one of your hired servants.”’ And he got up and went to his father.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was deeply moved; he ran and threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. ‘Father,’ the son said, ‘I sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer fit to be called your son; make me one of your hired servants.’But the father turned to his servants and said, ‘Be quick and fetch a robe—the very best—and put it on him; give him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet; and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry;for here is my son who was dead, and is alive again, was lost, and is found.’
So they began making merry. Meanwhile the elder son was out in the fields; but on coming home, when he got near the house, he heard music and dancing, and he called one of the servants and asked what it all meant. ‘Your brother has come back,’ the servant told him, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’ This made him angry, and he would not go in. But his father came out and begged him to do so. ‘No,’ he said to his father, ‘look at all the years I have been serving you, without ever once disobeying you, and yet you have never given me even a young goat, so that I might have a party with my friends. But no sooner has this son of yours come, who has eaten up your property in the company of prostitutes, than you have killed the fattened calf for him.’
‘Child,’ the father answered, ‘you are always with me, and everything that I have is yours. We could but make merry and rejoice, for here is your brother who was dead, and is alive; who was lost, and is found.’”
These are the words attributed to the writer, Luke, and the community affirms them by saying, AMEN.
(From: Taussig, Hal. A New New Testament: A Bible for the Twenty-first Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts)
Shared Homily
Tim Perry-Coon: In today’s Gospel reading, we have the familiar Prodigal Son story. It is a story whose main character is the young son who spends his inheritance lavishly, wastefully extravagant. There are two other characters: the father and older son. It is easy to read this as an observer, like watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” every December, a story we already know the ending. Yet, we are not called to observe, but to participate. This is our story. Which character do you represent?
Are you the young son? Of course, I do not expect any of us have had the money this son had. Yet, have you not, at some time, determined it was time to move on, to consider there may be a better path to follow, you were a bit unhappy where you were? Consider, I grew up in the Catholic Church, priest at the altar, attended Mass every weekend, confession once a month. Yet, my faith compelled me to look beyond my familiar pews, and over many years I found my way to this Upper Room community.
Are you the parent in this story? This story is so similar to many Thanksgiving Days, where one goes out to buy, not the fattened calf, but the fattened turkey, and sons and daughters and family and friends are welcomed home to a great feast. You once were gone and now you are here, we are so happy.
Are you the older son, the one who stayed behind, who worked hard for a living? And yet, you were forgotten, mistakenly uninformed about a celebratory homecoming.You have sacrificed, was it worth it?
Stepping back, we can begin to see that this story is a living story. It can change, every time we reflect on it. It changes because you and I have changed. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, “No one steps in the same river twice, because it’s not the same river and we’re not the same person.”
Our poet in the 1st reading says, “We are striving to forge a union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions...” So now the question becomes, can we return to where we once left. We in the Catholic Church are in the midst of 40 days of reflecting on the story of Jesus. We have read the Gospels about his teachings, and how crowds of people flocked to hear him, to touch him. Yet, we know in a couple of weeks what ultimately occurred: Jesus welcomed into Jerusalem, celebrated Passover with his friends, arrested, killed, only to be resurrected among us. Our experience of this Easter will be different from last years’, because we are different. What we have heard and seen in the last 365 days, we cannot ignore. This resurrection will be more profound, more joyous, more hopeful, one that will propel us into the new year ready to spread peace, love and hope.
Who are you in this story? Are you ready to accept what is to come? Please share your thoughts. Unmute yourself to share and mute again when you are done.
Shared Homily.
Deb: Thank you to all for your insights and sharing. May we continue to grow in richness when we are together in community and support our Lenten journey with all that we have to offer. Amen.
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.
Deb:As we prepare for the sacred meal, we voice our intentions beginning with the words, “We bring to the table…..”
Tim: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Tim: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together:
All: 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, in union with all who sing the ancient hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy
Deb: 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, thus 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.
Tim: 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 the body of Christ to the world.
On the night before he faced his own death and for the sake of living fully, 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 within them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift their plate and pray the following:
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat; this is my very self.
All lift their cup and pray the following:
Deb: 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 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.
Please share in the bread and wine with these words: We are the Face of God to Each Other.
Deb: In faith and hope we are sustained; in grace and dignity reclaimed. In praise, we thank you.
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 all are called, participating in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation.
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.
Tim: Let us pray the prayer Jesus:
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)
BLESSING
Deb: Please raise your hands in blessing:
May we continue in extravagant giving and receiving through every opportunity we witness. May we be a partner with the Divine in patient love and acceptance of each other. May we realize that we live the desires of the Divine in our lives. And may we be a blessing in our time. Amen.
Closing Song: Lean In Towards the Light, Carrie Newcomer
phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Infinite Love
Welcome and Theme:Welcome to our liturgy this evening as we ponder the unconditional love and acceptance the Holy One has for each of us.
Opening Prayer:
Holy One, we recognize your infinite love for everything and everyone.We are created by you and of you.There is no separation from you.Even when we turn against one another, even when we turn against you, you are ready to welcome us with open arms.For this we give you thanks and praise.Amen.
Today our first reading is our Gospel, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them Jesus addressed this parable: “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’ So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”
Second Reading, The Prodigal’s Mother Speaks to God, by Allison Funk
When he returned a second time, the straps of his sandals broken, his robe stained with wine,
it was not as easy to forgive.
By then his father was long gone himself,
leaving me with my other son, the sullen one whose anger is the instrument he tunes from good morning on.
I know.
There’s no room for a man in the womb.
But when I saw my youngest coming from far off, so small he seemed, a kid unsteady on its legs.
She-goat what will you do? I thought, remembering when he learned to walk.
Shape shifter! It’s like looking through water— the heat bends, it blurs everything: brush, precipice.
A shambles between us.
Shared Homily
I had my mother’s wedding rings for a short time after she died.I kept them in a small bowl on my dresser.One day I noticed they were gone.Thinking I might have put them in a drawer and forgotten, I looked through all of the drawers in my bedroom.Thinking I might have left them in a purse after having worn them (I had been keeping them on a necklace chain along with a small crucifix she had) I looked through every purse and wallet I had.This was ten years ago and I never did find the rings. To this day I feel their absence in my body.It hurts.To lose something precious is painful.To lose a child, of course, as in today’s gospel, is the worst pain of all.
The story is so familiar to us we might not always hear it in all of its complexity.Take the father for instance.He has lost one son, and by the end of the story he may have lost the other as well.New Testament scholar Amy Jill Levine reminds us just how indulged the younger son is.He squanders his inheritance, falls onto hard times, and realizes that he can work his way back into Daddy’s good graces with religious talk, which he practices over and over again all the way home.Of course he doesn’t have to make it all the way home.His father sees him coming “while he is a long way off” and runs to him, welcoming him home.So Levine reminds us that rather than being a story of repentance, this story is about a child who has sinned and a loving father who welcomes him home.Repentance is not part of this story.There is no change of heart, only the healed heart of a father whose son who had been dead and is now alive again.How does that relate to the complaint of the Pharisees at the beginning of this gospel?They don’t like the idea of Jesus hanging out with sinners.But Jesus is trying to show them how the kin-dom works.He is saying that to bring about the kin-dom we take people as they are.We walk with them.We welcome them to the table in all of their humanity.And if they go off the rails, we wait with open arms for their return.It’s a hard concept, and extremely counter-cultural, even today.Especially today.It is so easy to identify with the older son.The one who had followed all the rules, been so responsible, and when it was time for a big party, was left out in the field.Does the father’s explanation about how his son was dead and is now alive again suffice for the older son?We don’t know.Jesus doesn’t tell us.
Today’s second reading, a poem written in the twenty-first century is from the perspective of the mother of the prodigal.Of course he has repeated his offense.He never really changed.And his mother seems to be much more clear-eyed about both of her sons than their father had been.The mother sees the “shambles” between them.Among all of them really, the surviving members of that family so torn apart by betrayal and jealousy.And yet we sense that she too will open her arms to this lost child.Because to find something so precious as a lost child is life-giving in itself.
This is not an easy parable.The irresponsible younger son is rewarded.The faithful older son left out in the field.There is no repentance, only return, and rejoicing.Only acceptance.Only welcome.Only celebration for having found the one who was lost. Only infinite, unconquered love.When Jesus says “follow me” this is where he is leading.Can we go there?
What did you hear in the readings today?Please 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.
Denise: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we voice our intentions beginning with the words, “We bring to the table…..”
Denise: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Denise: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together:
All: 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, in union with all who sing the ancient hymn of praise:
ALL: 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, thus 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.
Denise: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: Holy One, we recognize your Spirit in the bread and wine on this table. May 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 and for the sake of living fully, 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 within them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift their plate and pray the following:
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat; this is my very self.
All lift their cup and pray the following:
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 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.
Please receive communion with the words, “I am infinitely loved.”
(consume bread and wine)
Communion Meditation:Endless is Your Love, Tom Kendzia
Holy One, 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 all are called, participating in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation.
Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and 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.
Denise: Let us pray the prayer Jesus:
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)
BLESSING
Presider: Let us pray together our blessing:We are a people of utmost value to our creator.Let our value shine so that we see one another as the precious beings we were created to be.And may we go forth to bless the world.Amen.
