Please join us between 4:30 and 4:55 pm via Zoom
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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.
Opening Song: Come Be In Our Hearts, Sara Thomsen
https://youtu.be/gwxldz6oH2w
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Spirit of the Living God: https://youtu.be/R3967aJi6UU
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:
Holy, Holy, Holy Karen Drucker https://youtu.be/kl7vmiZ1YuI
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.
Closing Song: God’s Eyes, MaMuse
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