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: Lynn
Welcome to all. The church calendar tells us that Easter season is over and today we celebrate letting go of the ascended Jesus. Today can become a starting point for us to rise to the moment, to seize the chance to have Jesus live on in us and in our love. Ours is a moment of trying to comprehend the violence f yet another mass shooting in the US. How do we reconcile ascension and mass suffering?
Opening Prayer: Steve
Gentle and loving God, we celebrate today that the gift of Jesus lives on in our lives and in our love. As co-creators with you, we know all things are possible and yet our hearts break with the families of Uvalde. We are thankful to come together to share eucharist, reveal hope, and explore the opportunities to rise with the eternal Jesus. Amen.
Opening Song: Christ Has No Body Now but Yours by various artists
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Dare to Stand in Your Suffering by Henri Nouwen
I really want to encourage you not to despair, not to lose faith, not to let go of God in your life, but stand in your suffering as a person who believes that she is deeply loved by God.
When you look inside yourself, you might sometimes be overwhelmed by all the brokenness and confusion, but when you look outside toward him who died on the cross, you might suddenly realize that your brokenness has been lived through with you long before you touched it yourself.
Suffering is a period in your life in which true faith can emerge, a naked faith, a faith that comes to life in the midst of great pain. The grain, indeed, has to die in order to bear fruit and when you dare to stand in your suffering, your life will bear fruit in ways that are far beyond your own predications or understanding. . . . consider the verse from psalm 69:”Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up of the pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, Holy One out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me,”
These are the inspired words of Henri Nouwen with the psalm quotation added by
The Henri Nouwen Society and we affirm them. AMEN.
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Second Reading: “Risen Life” by Carlo Carretto
This is what it means to believe in the resurrection:
Every peace treaty is an act of faith in the resurrection.
Every agreed commitment is an act of faith in the resurrection.
When you forgive your enemy
When you feed the hungry
When you defend the weak
you believe in resurrection.
When you have the courage to marry
When you welcome the newly born child
When you make your home
you believe in the resurrection.
When you wake at peace in the morning
When you sing to the rising sun
When you go to work or service with joy
you believe in the resurrection.
These are the inspired words of Carlo Carretto from Blessed Are You Who Believed and we affirm them. AMEN
Lynn: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia
Jesus is our gift and also our giftedness. His love raises us up.
Gospel: Acts: 4-11
On one occasion, Jesus told them, not to leave Jerusalem. “Wait, rather for what God has promised, of which you have heard me speak,” Jesus said. “John baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
While meeting together, they asked, “Has the time come, Rabbi? Are you going to restore sovereignty to Israel?”
Jesus replied, “It’s not for you to know times or dates that Abba God has decided. You will receive power when the Spirit comes upon you; then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”
Having said this, Jesus was lifted up in a cloud before their eyes and taken from their sight. They were still gazing up into the heavens when two messengers dressed in white stood beside them. “You Galileans—why are you standing here looking up at the skies?” they asked. “Jesus who has been taken from you—this same Jesus will return, in the same way you watched him go into heaven.”
These are the inspired words of the author of Acts and we affirm them. AMEN
Starter Homily and Shared Insights
Lynn: What is the human heart to do in a moment such as this; a moment when years of pandemic virus haunt us still, when an escalating war that target civilians in Ukraine drags on, when gun rights are considered sacred and privacy rights are not.
The church calendar for today marks the ascension of Jesus and we composed this liturgy originally on that theme of trying to understand the gospel scene of Jesus transporting into heaven. Yet, events call us to consider ascension in light of other Jesus moments today. At the last minute, we changed the readings to consider the purpose and resurrection that life in Jesus brings.
We look back at Jesus praying alone in Gethsemane while his friends fall asleep. Mathew describes the scene: “Going a little farther, Jesus fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “Abba, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” We can think of the persecution of Christians after Jesus (and Jews ever since Jesus) and all the dark moments in history to know with certainty that our hearts are not the first hearts to despair. Neither do we believe that it is God’s will that suffering and pain afflict us.
The generous love of the Holy One gives us everything we need including free will, independence of thought and sometimes, willfulness that can be humanly misdirected. Suffering is part of our lives. The author of Original Blessing Mathew Fox points suggests, “loss and darkness are necessary to wake us up to a deeper path in our lives.”
We are grownups—we have known moments of fear and despair. We also know that as believers in resurrection, we move on, we move forward and we are changed. Perhaps, wiser, hopefully more empathic and certainly stronger.
Maybe we find that our lives bear fruit” or that we find “a deeper path in our lives” quite unexpectedly. Today, our hearts may be in mourning but may our souls lead us beyond ‘thoughts and prayers’.
What did you hear in the readings? What will you do? What will it cost you?
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.
Steve: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to the friendship 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 the community prayers written in our book of intentions as well as the unspoken concerns in our hearts. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Steve: Please join in the praying of our Eucharistic Prayer with raised hands:
Steve and ALL: As one with You, we gather as a community to celebrate your gift of life pulsating within and around us, in the glories of ocean, sky and mountain and infinite galaxies beyond.
O Birthing God, you allowed, “Let there be Light” and you stirred the waters of creation; you dwell on earth, and in every living being from across all cultures and creeds. We lift up our hearts to you and with thanks and praise we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy
Lynn: Please raise your hands in blessing:
ALL: Ever gentle God, as co-creators, we offer up bread, grown from seed and harvested from soil gifted to us through your Creation. We offer wine, grown from grapes blessed in the sunlight of your radiant Creation. We offer up our lives in loving gratitude and covenant. We celebrate our oneness with all creatures and living things, great and small in your precious family.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus, who showed us so simply, so tenderly, how the world is in our hands. His faith in us, his ability to connect with our best selves remains a shining gift. He had nothing in this world but your love, companions on the journey, and his very self. Together, that was more than enough, and that remains our clarity in the midst of confusion: the miracle of healing, new hope, nurturance, nourishment, liberation and life.
Steve: On the night before he died, Jesus gathered with friends, followers and those closest to him to celebrate the Seder supper. Afterwards, he showed how to humbly love and serve one another by washing the feet of his followers.
All lift 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
Lynn: 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.”
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 saying, I rise with Christ to new hope
Communion Song: Where did Jesus Go? By Sara Thomsen
https://youtu.be/biPM_MTQVgI
Prayer After Communion:
Steve and All: Christ of the Cosmos, we thank you that there are 18 galaxies for every person, that our bodies are made of stardust. You call us, “beloved” and invite us to join the dance of creation in celebration of oneness with all living things.
Lynn and ALL: We rejoice that You, who are more loving than we can imagine or dream of, dwell in mystery beyond all comprehension. We remember that it was you, who said: “Anything I have done in the name of the Holy One, you can do, too…and even more.”
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.
-Interpreted by Miriam Therese Winter
Blessing
Lynn: Please extend your hands in blessing and pray together:
ALL:
May we know the joy of seeing Jesus point The Way.
May we come to know the joy of finding mystery and miracle.
May we be contented in the peace that comes from loving extravagantly
and may we live as LOVE” S one body in the here and now. Amen.
-Adapted from Dawn Hutchings
Closing Song: Candles in the Night by Jan Phillips
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