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:
Welcome everyone to our Saturday liturgy. Today we consider how Jesus invites us to adopt a new and expansive outlook on life. His public ministry is about transforming and reinterpreting scripture and legalisms that can sometimes confine and suffocate our search for the Spirit of God.
Opening Prayer:
We rejoice today in the beauty of mid-summer, the flourishing of flowers, crops and the unfurling of warm red sunsets. As the seasons change, so too do the ways we seek out what is sacred and holy about living in Christ. May we grow in our willingness to be present to the revelation and the possibility of the Holy One. May we refresh ourselves in openness to change so that all the world can shine in our eyes as new. Amen.
Opening Song: Lost Words Blessing by Spell Songs Video created by Denise Hackert-Stoner
LITURGY OF THE WORD
A reading from “Radical Renewal: the problem of wineskins today” by Howard Snyder
God is a God of newness. God is not static or stationary. The story of God’s people in the Bible and the history of the Christian church shows just the opposite. In every age the true biblical gospel is a message of newness, of radical renewal. God has not stopped doing new things. The Bible says, “We wait for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness is at home” (2 Peter 3:13) and. “I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them” (Ezekiel 11:19).
Many prophecies about “new things” were fulfilled in part with the coming of Christ and the birth of the church, the new community. But the prophetic fund has not been exhausted.
Unfulfilled prophecies and untapped promises of new things remain. We try to contain the new wine of the gospel in old wineskins-outmoded traditions, obsolete philosophies, creaking institutions, old habits. But with time the old wineskins begin to bind the gospel. Then they must burst, and the power of the gospel pours forth once more. Human nature wants to conserve, but the divine nature is to renew.
These are the inspired words of Howard Snyder and we affirm them. Amen
A reading from “Why so Many Souls?” by Meister Eckhart
When were you last really happy?
Let that experience ferment,
bring it to mind once
in a while.
Surely in the genesis of that past moment, when you danced,
you would not have wanted a constable
to have knocked
on your
door.
Or have said, “You just entered
A restricted ground.”
Why are there so many stars and souls,
with no end in sight for
them?
Because nothing can interrupt God
when God is having
fun.
creating!
These are the words of the 13th century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart and we affirm them. Amen.
Celtic Alleluia
A Reading from the gospel of Mathew 9: 14 - 17
The disciples of John the Baptizer came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that while we and the Pharisees fast, your disciples don’t?” Jesus replied, “How can the guests at a wedding feast mourn while they are still all together? The time will come when the guests will be left alone; then they will fast.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth onto an old cloak because the patch will pull away from the cloak and the tear will get worse. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins—if they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out, and the skins will be ruined. No, the put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.
These are the words of the gospel writer known as Mathew and we affirm them. Amen.
Shared Homily
Even the humblest person walks around her part of the earth thinking she knows quite a bit; especially we human beings who have earned the wisdom of many years. And yet we are frequently surprised; surprised by people, by events and of course, by the Holy One. Jesus spent his life refusing to conform to expectations.
He changed the rules, he disregarded rules and did so to reach, to grasp for, to reveal the divinity in every person he encountered. He surprised everyone —the followers of John the Baptist, the Pharisees, the apostles and disciples who traveled for three years with him, sinners and plutocrats, Herod and Pilate and Roman centurions.
Today’s gospel shows Jesus having little patience for ritual fasting. It will have its time and place but he also insists that there is a time for feasting. Of course, this is a thinly veiled reference to the idea that Jesus will soon be gone and his followers need to make the most of the time they have.
Now, Jesus is not a hedonist seeking to party simply because the weekend is here … he wants us to celebrate the surprising possibilities and newness that can be found in every age, in every ancient story prophetically told anew. Jesus compares us to unshrunken cloth, too brand new to be sewn into any old old cloak. We are like new wine, bubbling and fermenting, likely to burst any old, used wineskin.
We who can adapt ancient scripture stories for new times, we who can live with ferment and surprise – are the ones of whom Jesus speaks. As Snyder writes in the first reading, “the prophetic fund has not been exhausted, God has not stopped doing new things”.
So, am I closer to the constable in Eckhart’s poem, protecting and conserving “restricted ground”? Or am I becoming one of the souls, one of the countless stars with vision of no end in sight? I dearly hope I am not the one who is interrupting God to ask about fasting when God is having fun creating.
What did you hear in these readings? Did you find any phrases that grab at 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.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
A Prayer for Being Embraced in God’s Gentle Wisdom
Lynn: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns and intentions. Please voice your intentions beginning with the words, “I bring to the table…..”
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions in our hearts. Amen.
Let us pray our Eucharistic prayer with open hearts and hands:
All: Holy One, we yearn to be close to you and to live in the embrace of your gentle wisdom. Your divine grace leads us away from our anxieties, fears and distractions and toward all that is blessed and joyous so that we might live in the Spirit and serve the cause of equality and inclusion.
Each of us is divinely created in Your image. We are precious to you and to each other because of who we are. We are beloved and blessed in your unconditional love, quite apart from how we act or fail to act. We resolve to look upon all our sisters and brothers as precious and deserving so that we can live in harmony and peace
Thankful for Jesus who treated all of Creation with respect and abundant love, we resolve to follow his example to be a light in the darkness. We recognize Your loving Presence here with us today and always, and we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy
All: Dearest Holy One, there are times when we feel scarcity and emptiness even though we know You love us more than our human imagination can grasp. May we have the presence of mind to live in Your love. We strive to see You reflected in every person we meet. Guide us in sharing our gifts and in being open hearted so that we may accept help from others.
We thank you for Jesus, who knew what it was like to be an outsider in occupied and foreign lands. May his presence prompt us to bring gospel kindness and understanding to the divisions and conflicts of our time.
Lynn: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: We call upon your Spirit that is present in us at this Eucharistic table. We are grateful for the bread and wine that remind us that we are called to renew and to be renewed with the love of God who is in everything, everyone and everywhere. We thank you for Jesus, beacon of love and wisdom, offering us a perspective of openness and service to all our brothers and sisters.
On the night before he faced betrayal and death, Jesus shared supper with his friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift the bread
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, this is my very self.
All lift the cup
Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
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. Each time we share this bread with one another we choose to be transformed. We choose to love as you love us.
Holy One, your transforming grace inspires us to follow our consciences and bring comfort to wherever people are in need. We pray for willingness, patience and persistence to fresh ourselves and to remake the world anew. We choose to love as Jesus loved, to discern the better angels of our nature with hearts open to your Spirit.
Please receive the bread and wine with the words: I shine with the love of Christ
Communion Song: Let Go of the Shore by Karen Drucker
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy One, you are 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. Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
All: 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.
BLESSING
Presider 1: Please extend your hands in blessing.
ALL: May the beauty and joy of Creation continue to astound us
May the Presence of the Divine comfort and inspire us
May we be the face of the Holy One in all we say and do, and
May we be never tire of all things becoming new again.
AMEN.
Closing Song: I am Willing by Holly Near
https://youtu.be/watch?v=tnmRoNeezWA
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.