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 and Theme- Today’s first reading begins with the model of covenant relationship love and the gospel continues the emphasis on love, asking us to love our enemies as well as those who are easy to love. The Greek concept of agape or all-inclusive love may help us to make sense of the daunting instruction in the gospel to be perfect as our God is perfect. We welcome everyone tonight, not just the perfect among us….
Opening Prayer: We come this evening with gratitude to you, Holy One for the reminder throughout scripture that, “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” Through all the joys and suffering of years, through all the ordinariness and surely, in the sudden shocks of life, we treasure our belonging to you, Holy One. As we inhabit agape love with you, may we share it with others the world over. Amen.
Opening Song: The Power of the Dream by Celine Dion
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Deuteronomy (26:16-19)
Moses spoke to the people saying,
“Yahweh, your God, commands you today to observe these decrees and laws. Take care to keep them in your heart and observe them with all your soul. You have received today the promise that Yahweh will be your God, and you will follow God’s ways, listen to God’s voice and keep the commandments.
And Yahweh has today declared,”
“You will be my very own people as I promised, but only if you keep all my commandments; then for praise, renown and honor I will set you high above all the nations, and you will be a people consecrated to me as I promised.”
These are the inspired words from Deuteronomy and we affirm them with Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Spirit of the Living God
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me
Melt me, mold me
Fill me, use me
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me
Gospel Reading: Mathew (5:43 – 48)
Jesus said to his followers:
“You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor — but hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. For God makes the sun rise on bad and good alike; God’s rain falls on the just and the unjust. If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that? Don’t tax collectors do as much? And if you greet only your sisters and brothers, what is so praiseworthy about that? Do not the Gentiles do as much? Therefore, be perfect, as Abba God in heaven is perfect.
These are the inspired words of the gospel writer known as Mathew and we affirm them with Amen.
(pause)
Starter Homily and Shared Reflections
“I will be your God and you shall be my people.” This promise of a love relationship between the Jewish people and the Holy One was a groundbreaking, one in the history of spirituality. Never before had human beings conceived of a monotheistic Holy One who desired a personal relationship with human beings. We are forever thankful to the Jewish people for accepting this idea of covenant love with a Holy One who knows us and loves us as we are.
Impossible as it has proven to be for us humans to keep our side of the covenant, the Holy One remains as self-described to Moses: “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in kindness and faithfulness.”
How hard it is to feel assured of being worth such deep love quite apart from what we do or what we have earned. As a covenant people, we are bestowed grace not because we ‘deserve’ it, but because we are beloved. And we are beloved because of the nature of our Holy One who brings us into being and loves us as we are.
Our human understanding of bringing the covenant to all people comes to fruition in Jesus. Right after proclaiming the Beatitudes, Jesus says to love our enemies and pray for them. He may have in mind the idea of Agape love which is overarching and all-inclusive, above and beyond ethnicity or gender; it is a love of benevolence, empathy, good will, graciousness and compassion. It includes enemies and persecutors. Maybe we know it as divine love.
Which brings us to the last sentence of Jesus’ injunction to “Be perfect as Abba God is perfect.” Maybe this cartoon captures our very human response:
Maybe we need to look to the translation of the word ‘perfect’ to understand; the Hebrew version of scripture employs the word Tamim (tuh-meme) which the Greek biblical translation converted to Teleios (tuh-lay-ose).
Both mean finished or completed in the sense of being refined, mature and in balance. Much different from ‘perfect’. I wonder if Jesus may be referring to the thoughtful and gracious loving across boundaries and despite shortcomings that we understand as living in covenant relationship.
Let us pray our Statement of Faith together
Statement of Faith
All: We believe in one God, 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 God's Word,
bringer of God's healing, heart of God's compassion,
bright star in the firmament of God's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of God's love,
a source of God's wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of God's peace in the world.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
The life of God that is our innermost life,
the breath of God moving in our being.
The depth of God living in each of us.
We believe that God's 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.
Eucharistic Prayer of Belonging
Lynn: As we prepare for the sacred meal we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”
Lynn: We pray for these and all unspoken concerns in our hearts. Amen.
Lynn: We are a covenant people. We are anointed. With open hands let us pray our
Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
All: O Nurturing, Compassionate one, You are always with us. We are grateful for Your constant loving and unconditional presence. At times we forget that You are holding us, attending to us. We fall and You pick us up. You send strangers, friends and family to our aid. We are never without Your Light and Spirit.
We experience great joy and we experience great pain and suffering. You are with us in the joy and the pain and suffering. When we experience Your Presence we long to sing our hymn of praise:
Here in this Place – Holy Holy Holy by Christopher Grundy
All: Creator and Lover of all beings, we cannot grow in the darkness of this world without Your Light. Our desire to be in Your light is a gift from You. Help us keep our hearts and minds open to You through our love and care for each other and all creation.
Lynn: Please extend your hands in blessing as we pray together:
All: This bread and wine is a sign of Your nourishment and a sign of Your great love. Your
Spirit is upon us and we belong to You and one another.
We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, revealing us as one with you, and all creation.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for the supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet. Once again he showed us how to love one another.
All present lift the plate
All: Back at the table, he took the Passover Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, this is my very self.
(pause)
All present lift the cup as we pray
Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink of the covenant
Made new again through my life in you.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
All: Bread and wine is transformed by Your Spirit and we are transformed when we open ourselves to Your Spirit. Every time we share this bread and wine we choose to be transformed. We choose to love as You love us.
As we celebrate and recognize You in this bread and wine we love and recognize you in each other. We are filled with gratitude and joy. Glory and Praise to you both now and forever.
Lynn: Please receive the bread and cup with the words: I walk in the ways of the Holy One
Communion Song: Covenant Hymn by Gary Daigle, Rory Cooney and Theresa Donohoo
Communion Prayer:
All: Source of Love and light, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice. You call us to belong in covenant relationship with you. Ever thankful, we resolve to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity in Your Presence.
Let us 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 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.
The Prayer of Jesus as interpreted by Miriam Therese Winter
CLOSING BLESSING
Lynn: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together
May we love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. May we love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the many people, all the animals, love the plants, love everything. If we love it all, we will perceive the divine mystery in things. May we love the whole world with a love that will be all-embracing and universal. Amen.
(Dostoyevsky from The Brothers Karamazov)
Closing Song: GRATEFUL – A Love Song to the World by Empty Hands
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