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 first reading is a beautiful reminder of how to live our lives. If we only remember to bless each other with all good things our world would be at peace.
Let us pray: Holy One, you empowered Jesus to show us how to live. Jesus loved you and showed us how you love us. We lose our way and forget our purpose. May our time together tonight be a time of remembering and knowing we are loved and are a blessing to each other.
Opening Song:
You Shall Be Known by the Company You Keep – MaMuse
LITURGY OF THE WORD
A Reading from Zenju Earthlyn Manual, a Buddhist priest.
“For all Beings” May all beings be cared for and loved, Be listened to, understood and acknowledged despite different views, Be accepted for who they are in this moment, Be afforded patience, Be allowed to live without fear of having their lives taken away or their bodies violated. May all beings, Be well in its broadest sense, Be fed, Be clothed, Be treated as if their life is precious, Be held in the eyes of each other as family. May all beings, Be appreciated, Feel welcomed anywhere on the planet, Be freed from acts of hatred and desperation including war, poverty, slavery, and street crimes, Live on the planet, housed and protected from harm, Be given what is needed to live fully, without scarcity, Enjoy life, living without fear of one another, Be able to speak freely in a voice and mind of undeniable love. May all beings, Receive and share the gifts of life, Be given time to rest, be still, and experience silence. May all beings, Be awake.
These are the inspired words of Zenju Earthlyn Manual, a disciple of the Holy One and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Celtic Alleluia
A Reading from the gospel of the anonymous writer named John
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; but the kind of peace I give to you is not like the world’s peace. Don’t let your hearts be distressed; don’t be fearful.
You have heard me say, I am going away but I will return. If you really loved me, you would rejoice because I am going to Abba God, for Abba is greater than I.
I tell you this now, before it happens, so that when it happens you will believe. I won’t speak much more with you, because the ruler of this world, who has no hold over me, is at hand; but I do this so that the world may know that I love Abba God and do as my Abba commanded.
These are the inspired words of John, a disciple of Jesus and the community affirms them with AMEN
Shared Homily
When I first started wrapping my mind around progressive theology I especially struggled trying to figure out who was Jesus for me. The Church taught us and still teaches that Jesus was this God-man who was like us in all things but sin. That phrase “like us in all things but sin” comes from Paul’s writings and it always struck me as odd, or downright ridiculous. Can you imagine who you and I would be if we had no sin? What would our world be without sin? A world where no one ever “misses the mark”- maybe it would be heaven.
Early in my seminary process I was told that anything Jesus did I could do. Knowing Jesus himself did not have our Christian Scriptures I started studying the Hebrew Scriptures in depth to learn more of what Jesus was taught and how he came to know the Holy One. After all Jesus was raised in the Jewish Faith. I have come to know Jesus as the one who is always showing us and teaching us about our Creator, our Abba God. The One who loves us unconditionally In the Gospel reading tonight Jesus says: “I am going to Abba God, for Abba is greater than I.” Jesus never claimed Godhood, but always pointed to his Abba - our Abba.
Perhaps we were never meant to have faith in Jesus but rather we were always meant to have the faith of Jesus.
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:
Holy, Holy: Here in this Place – 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.
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: God Beyond All Names – Bernadette Farrell
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
Being Kind – Empty Hand Music (Nimo)
https://youtu.be/mJhZ64BvvFU
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