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
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Welcome to our Saturday evening liturgy. Tonight we ponder the places where we recognize the risen Spirit of God.
Opening Prayer
Holy One, we come with open hearts this evening, seeking to know you. Help us to recognize your Spirit as What Is. Help us to love your Spirit by loving your dwelling place, which is all of Creation. Amen.
Opening Song Arise, The Three Altos https://youtu.be/pYgJqEmbE38
First Reading:
From “Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer,” Richard Rohr
The purpose of prayer and religious seeking is to see the truth about Reality, to see what is. And at the bottom of what is is always goodness. The foundation is always love. Here is a mantra that we might repeat throughout our day: “God’s life is living itself in me. I am aware of life living itself in me.”
We cannot not live in the presence of God. We are totally surrounded by God, even as we read these words. This not some New Age idea; recall St. Patrick’s (c. 373–c. 463) blessing, “God beneath you, God in front of you, God behind you, God above you, God within you.”
Once I can see the Mystery here, and trust the Mystery even in this piece of clay that I am, then I can also see it in you. We are eventually able to see the divine image within ourselves, in each other, and in all things. Finally, the seeing is one. How we see anything is how we will see everything.
These are the inspired words of Richard Rohr, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Alleluia (Eightfold) – Jan Phillips shortened
Gospel: John 20: 19-26
On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked where the fearful disciples were,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the him.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Holy One has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen Jesus.”
But he said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Homily Starter:
Often I have heard or read this gospel and focused on doubt. Poor Thomas! He must have run out for a few sandwiches and drinks, and missed the big event! But in preparing for today’s liturgy I was drawn in another direction. Jesus enters the locked room, greets his friends, wishes them peace, and breathes on them. And as he gives that breath, they are filled with the Spirit of God, just as he himself is filled with that same Spirit. This is the Pentecost story as told by John. Luke’s more familiar version in his Acts of the Apostles may be more dramatic, with the violent wind and tongues of fire. But it tells of the same Spirit, the Spirit that dwells within each of us, indeed within every creature in this vast universe; the Spirit that is “God’s life”, as Richard Rohr reminds us, “living itself in (us).” So this Easter season let us remember that life. The life of God, the Spirit of the Divine that lives deep inside each of us. Let us celebrate that life. Let us celebrate it in ourselves. Let us celebrate it in the best friend sitting next to us. Let us celebrate it in every friend and companion, even those we have not yet met. Even those who are different. Even those so far away they may only be imagined. For this life is our common ground. This is the life of the Kin-dom.
Shared Homily
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.
As we prepare for the sacred meal, we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. 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 concerns. Amen.
Liturgy of the Eucharist
adapted from Diarmuid O’Murchu
With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer together:
Gracious God, source and sustenance of life, redeeming presence to the pain and brokenness of our world, Holy Spirit, who enlivens and inebriates all that exists, we beseech your healing power upon us and all we pray for today.
Down through the ages, you rescue us from darkness.
you light up our ways with wise and holy people. You restore our spirits and you revive our dwindling hope.
May the Spirit of life and wholeness transform us that we may be refreshed in our inner being and be empowered to bring mercy, love, and healing to those whose lives we touch.
For all you bring to our lives, and for all we seek amid
pain and suffering, we acclaim your love and greatness,
and we join with all creation to sing our hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy
(Words and music by Karen Drucker) https://youtu.be/kl7vmiZ1YuI
We are holy, holy, holy.
We are holy, holy, holy.
We are holy, holy, holy.
We are whole.
Spirit Divine, Come to Me,
Healing Love, healing Me.
Open my heart, allow me to see,
Beauty and love, lives in me.
You are holy, holy, holy.
You are holy, holy, holy.
You are holy, holy, holy.
You are whole.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
Source of our health and wholeness, healer of body, mind, and spirit, we bring before you the darkness of our world, and the pain and suffering of your people.
We seek to be healed and made whole; we seek to be reconciled and united; we seek peace in our hearts and in our world.
We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts the empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses these gifts of bread and wine with the transforming energy of life, to nourish and sustain us in our time of need.
As we gather around this friendship table, we recall God’s
blessing and love from ages past, and we celebrate anew
the gift of life which we share among us at this Eucharistic feast.
The bread we break and the cup we share are symbols of our world of abundance where all are invited to partake of the fullness of life. But that life we often impede by our greed and selfishness and by our exploitation of other people.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for 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 plate and pray:
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 and pray:
Then he took 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.
(pause)
We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity.
Please receive communion saying: “Your Spirit is my life.”
Communion Song: The Deer’s Cry, Lisa Kelly
Prayer After Communion
In faith and hope we are sustained,
In grace our dignity reclaimed,
In praise we thank our God.
Grant that we may strive to create a world where suffering and pain are diminished, where justice and peace are restored, and where all people can live in health and wholeness, united in acclaiming the God of life, whose abundance is offered to each and to all, until the Kin-dom arrives in the fullness of time.
This prayer we make in the name of our healing and nurturing God through, with, and in whom we offer these gifts, sources of life, love, and goodness, now and forever. Amen.
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 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
Let us raise our hands and bless each other.
May we continue to be the face of the God to each other. May our companionship make us new each day. May our name be a blessing in our time. Amen.
Closing Song: Closing Song: I Am the One, Janis Ian https://youtu.be/83CKYR9uyFI
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