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 whole lives we all follow many rules. Most rules give us a sense of security, or at least a sense of what to expect. How many of our rules really come from God? Let’s tease this out in our readings and sharing tonight.
Let us pray: Holy One, we are here to pray our liturgy together. Spending this time with each other gives us encouragement and support as we go about our lives. This community right here and now is filled with your Spirit, and we are grateful for your presence. Amen.
Opening song:
Fire of Love and Kathy Sherman
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A Reading from the Prophets Isaiah and Micah
(Isaiah 55:8-10)
YHWH says, “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, my ways. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.
(Micah 6:8)
Listen here, mortal: God has already made abundantly clear what “good” is. and what YHWH needs from you: simply do justice, love kindness, and humbly walk with your God.
These are the words of the Prophets Isaiah and Micah. The community affirms them. AMEN
Celtic Alleluia
Gospel: A Reading from the gospel of Matthew (15:10-14)
Jesus called the crowd together and said to them, it’s not what enters your mouth that defiles you—it’s what comes out of your mouth that defiles you.”
Then disciples approached him and said, “do you realize that the Pharisees were offended by what you said?”
Jesus replied, “Every plant that my Abba God in heaven has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Ignore them—they are blind people leading other blind people. And when the blind lead the blind, they all will fall into a ditch.”
These are the inspired words of Matthew a disciple of Jesus. The community affirms them AMEN
Shared Homily:
Jesus is constantly challenging the status quo. The disciples are nervous. Jesus had broken the rules about washing hands and offended the powers that be. The Pharisees were big on rules.
In the Book of Deuteronomy there are many rules about what to eat, how to prepare the food, when and how to eat it. The Pharisees are intent on following the rules while their people are hungry. Focusing and trying to follow rules is often easier than feeding the hungry or caring for one another.
The Roman Catholic Church is focused on rules. One particular harsh rule is who may be invited to the Eucharistic table. At the Upper Room we invite everyone to the table. We come to the table every week to nurture one another and share our thoughts and prayers. Our community gives us encouragement, love, and support. You and I love being together on Zoom or in person. It’s a holy experience. Coming together to nurture and care for each other is wonderful and inspiring but is that enough? We know by the stories of the Pharisees and our own church history that rules and rituals that were so important change and often fade away.
Jesus is still challenging the status quo and this time the status quo is not only the Pharisees and their rules, but the status quo is you and me at the Upper Room.
Jesus is asking us to consider what will we do when we leave the Upper Room? What comes next? The Holy One tells us so clearly in the Isaiah and Micah readings what is expected. Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Following rules are easy, living out what the Holy One calls us to, not so much.
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
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 unconditionally loved.
Communion Song: The House That Love Is Building – Sarah Hart
https://youtu.be/dM69BAgvuXw
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 be rule breakers and shake up the status quo. And like Jesus be a shining light and a blessing for all.
All: Amen.
Closing Song: Be a Light – shortened Thomas Rhett (lyrics ) ft. Keith Urban, Chris Tomlin, Hillary Scott & Reba McEntire
https://youtu.be/Oqiw54l_x-8
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