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
Our theme tonight is “Who do you think you are? I think we all grow up and grow old asking ourselves that question.
Let us begin with our opening prayer:
Holy One, these last few weeks have been very hard. Our hearts are heavy with the knowledge of so many suffering in Ukraine, and in many other places. We feel powerless, and sometimes overwhelmed. We know you are present in our lives and in the lives of all who are suffering. We are your children and we are blessed and grateful. Amen
Beauty in You – Karen Drucker
https://youtu.be/m5Jz6gLDOhg
LITURGY OF THE WORD
A Reading from Marianne Williamson
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of G-d. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the Glory of G-d that is within us. It’s not just in some of us it’s in everyone and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear our own presence automatically liberates others.
May the words of Marianne Williamson touch your heart and lead you to increased self-love. Amen
Response: Spirt of the Living God
A Reading from the gospel of the anonymous writer called John
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?
Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family
and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
Some of them even wanted to arrest him,
but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”
So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
“Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him
and finds out what he is doing?”
They answered and said to him,
“You are not from Galilee also, are you?
Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Then each went to his own house.
May the words of this Gospel increase our love for all. Amen
Shared Homily
In the Gospel today, the crowd is asking who is this man? I want to know who is in “the crowd” and who is asking? We know for certain the Roman guards were in the crowd. The guards were there to make sure there were no protests or problems that would concern Rome. We know there had to be some learned people in the crowd. They were aware of the scriptures and knew that the Messiah had to be of the line of David and come from Bethlehem. We know that the Pharisees were at least nearby and aware of what Jesus was teaching. They knew he was from Galilee. All those “in charge” all those “in the know” were being challenged by Jesus words. But who else was in the crowd? I imagine some of Jesus’ family, friends, and neighbors might have been in the crowd. How about the disciples? Were they not there too? And what about those who had been healed by Jesus, surely, they were in the crowd. Someone yelled out he is a prophet another he is the Christ. Isn’t it strange that no one yelled out he is a healer a “miracle worker.” Or he is a teacher who welcomes sinners to his table. Why not yell out who does he think he is?
I have come to believe Jesus knew who he was. Not a G-d, not the Second Person of the Trinity, but a child of G-d who was not afraid to let his light shine.
The last line of this gospel reading says “then each went to his own house.” When we go home after gathering together, let us remember that we are the sons and daughters of G-d and as the first reading reminds us, we were born to let our light shine too.
What did you hear? Or as Dawn Hutchings said to us in her seminar, What needs doing?
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
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….”
We pray for these and all unspoken prayers and blessings. Amen.
We are a priestly people. We are anointed. With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
All: O Nurturing, Mothering 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
https://youtu.be/cVWY9ourooI
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.
Please extend your hands in blessing
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 lift the bread)
All: Back at the table, he took the bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, this is my very self.
(All lift the cup)
ALL: 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.
Bread and wine are 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.
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 the bread and cup with the words: I am a child of the Holy One.
Communion Song: How Could Anyone Ever Tell You by Shaina Knoll video by Denise Hackert-Stoner
Communion prayer:
Loving Source of our being, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice. We live justly, we love tenderly, we walk with integrity in Your Presence Amen.
Let us pray together the prayer of 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 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
BLESSING
Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together
May we continue to be the Face of God to each other. May the certainty of our connectedness to one another and all creation ignite us to love more fully. May we stand together in the suffering and like Jesus be a shining light and a blessing for all.
All: Amen.
Closing Song
Be a Light – Thomas Rhett (lyrics ) ft. Keith Urban, Chris Tomlin, Hillary Scott & Reba McEntire
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.