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/Theme: (Suzanne) Good morning to all. We are so happy to celebrate this liturgy together with community members from near and far. It is an honor for Dave and I to facilitate today’s gathering. Today’s theme is our call to compassion.
Opening Prayer: (Suzanne) Compassionate Spirit, untangle those knots of bias within us, so that we may see with your eyes and open our hearts to the wounded souls among us. Empower us to accept the challenge to understand and show compassion to all – even those with whom we do not agree,
Opening Song: Go Light Your World (Fountainview Academy)
https://youtu.be/FcD9uhRC3Ew
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: YHWH will once again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as God delighted in your ancestors and prospered them if you obey YHWH, your God, and keep the commandments and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and return to YHWH with all your heart and soul.
For this Law that I give you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you need ask yourselves “Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?” Nor is it beyond the sea so that you need to wonder,“Who will cross the seas for us and bring it back to us, so that we may hear it and keep it? No, the word of God is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so that you can keep it.
These are the inspired words from the Book of Deuteronomy (30: 10-14) and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Second Reading: In Jesus’s vision, there is an unexpected catch to achieving this ideal world: God will not bring about the kingdom on earth. Jesus places the responsibility for creating God’s kingdom here on earth squarely on our shoulders. We have been blessed with all the abilities and resources needed to accomplish this wonderful vision of life. We have the wherewithal to act. The peace and blessing of “the kingdom of heaven” is ours to create. The decision to do so rests entirely on us, not on a mythical heavenly god. What Jesus envisioned, and what we too envision, is a world of compassion, a world of justice and mercy, a world of generosity and sharing, a word of love and connectedness. Let us galvanize and sustain our efforts to live this vision. It is within our grasp.
These are the inspired words of Michael Morwood from his book Prayers for Progressive Christians and the community affirms them by saying Amen.
Alleluia
Gospel: Jesus replied, “There was a traveler going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, who fell prey to robbers. The traveler was beaten, stripped naked and left half-dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road; the priest saw the traveler lying beside the road, but passed by on the other side. Likewise, there was a Levite who came the same way; this one, too, saw the afflicted traveler and passed by on the other side.
“But, a Samaritan, who was taking the same road, also came upon the traveler and, filled with compassion approached the traveler and dressed the wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then, the Samaritan put the wounded person on a donkey, went straight to an inn and there took care of the injured one. The next day the Samaritan took out two silver pieces and gave them to the innkeeper with the request, ‘Look after this person and if there is any further expense, I’ll repay you on the way back.’
“Which of these three, in your opinion, was the neighbor to the traveler who fell in with the robbers?”
The answer came, “The one who showed compassion.”
Jesus replied, “Then go and do the same.”
These are the inspired words of the gospel writer known as Luke (10: 25-37) and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Homily Starter
The story of the Good Samaritan is so well known that it is easy to think that we’ve heard it all before and we know that the central message is to show compassion to others in need. After all isn’t that what being a “good Samaritan” is all about? But as we all know Jesus rarely lets us off that easy. There is always more going on in his stories than we might expect.
In order to begin, I needed to know the Samaritans and found that they were a people who experienced episodes of suppression, displacement and enslavement over the centuries. Despite this, most first-century Jewish people regarded Samaritans as ignorant, superstitious, and outside of God’s favor and mercy. Samaritans were referred to as "half-breeds.” The Samaritans regarded themselves as true descendants of ancient Israel, showed little respect for the Jewish people of Jerusalem and tried to undermine them. The Samaritans had developed their own version of Judaism based on the God of Israel, but with their own adapted worship practices and their own version of the Torah. In around 400 BCE, the Samaritans built their own temple which was later destroyed by the Jews. The rivalry was intense, long-standing and promoted by both parties. By the time of Christ, the Jewish people hated the Samaritans so much they crossed the Jordan river rather than travel through Samaria.
With this in mind, consider what the audience listening to this story might have been predicting was going to happen after they heard that the priest and Levite passed by the injured man. Most likely they were waiting to hear that a compassionate Jewish man, with no recognized stature, would save this injured person. But Jesus disrupts their expectations and instead tells them that it is a compassionate Samaritan. The Rabbinic literature suggest that only Israelites are your neighbors but Jesus is suggesting that this injured man --who is a total stranger-- is your neighbor and this Samaritan is not only also your neighbor but someone whose compassion you should emulate.
So, it appears that the good deed in this story is not the main point but rather the doer of the good deed. Perhaps this story is a reminder that in the Kin-dom of God those in positions of authority and prestige will be last and the despised will be first. Maybe it is another reminder that we are not called to be bound by external laws but by an internal moral code based on compassion and love, where through our kindness to all, no one is considered “other.” As the first reading so beautifully reminds us, the voice of the Divine is not a remote voice—not up in the sky or across the sea-- and we do not need anyone to explain it to us because it is written in our hearts. As Michael Morwood notes, it is up to us to engage in this vision of a world that could be. Like, Jesus, we must disrupt.
Finally, the gospel may be a reminder that through grace, God uses all people to be co-creators of the earth. Nadia Bolz-Weber writes that God helps us to see others the way God sees us, so that we can do things that we did not believe we could do. She writes that our weakness is fertile ground for a forgiving God to make something new and something beautiful and allows us to experience the unexpected joy in participating in the building of a better world.
Shared Homily
Statement of Faith
(Reader): Please join in proclaiming our statement of faith:
All: 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.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
Presider (Suzanne): As we prepare for this sacred meal, we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns beginning with the words, I bring to the table.
Intentions shared
Presider (Suzanne): We bring these and all deeply held blessings, cares, and concerns to the table of friendship and peace.
Presider (Dave): With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer together.
O Holy One, you have been called by many names by many people in the centuries of our planet’s life. Yet, no name truly defines you or describes you. We celebrate you as the marvelous, loving energy of life who caused us and our world to be. We celebrate you as the Source of light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and all-ways care.
All are welcome at this Eucharistic meal of remembrance around this friendship table.
God beyond our words, God of every simple truth, God of each and all of us, we gather to give thanks. We gather to open our awareness to the goodness of all of creation, to remember our responsibility to serve.
We open this circle to the memory of all of the joyful troubadours and faithful servants who have gone before us, and joined with all that is alive, we lift up our lives and sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Holy is Your Name - The Many
https://youtu.be/T8rCjcmxWPs
Presider (Suzanne): 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 of creation.
On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at the Seder supper with his companions and 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 their plate as the community prays the following:
When he returned to his place, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and offered it to them saying:
Take this bread and eat it;
This is my very self.
(pause)
All lift their cup as community prays the following:
Presider (Dave) Jesus then raised a cup of blessing, spoke the grace and offered the wine 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.
(pause)
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives. As we share communion, we will become communion, both loves nourishment and love’s challenge.
Please receive the bread and cup with the words: “You are a Compassionate Being”
Communion Meditation: Bridge over Troubled Waters (Brian McKnight & Josh Groban) https://youtu.be/r3XY4cF7pe4
(pause)
Presider (Suzanne): We are willing to do everything Jesus did, to re-create the living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and liberates, of a joy that generates hope, of a light that illumines people and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity.
So, we trust you to continue to share with us your own spirit, the spirit that animated Jesus, for it is through his life and teaching, all honor and glory is yours, O Holy One, forever and ever. Amen.
Reader: Let us pray together the prayer of Jesus:
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
The Prayer of Jesus as interpreted by Miriam Therese Winter
BLESSING
Presider (Suzanne): Please raise your hands as we bless all who are here and those who are with us in Spirit.
All:
May each of us know the wisdom and compassion modeled by our brother Jesus.
May we accept our call to minister – to those who are easy to love and those who challenge us into radical loving.
May we grow in awareness of the empowering energy that draws us together, so that we truly know that we are all one.
Amen.
Closing Song: Compassion (Change the World) by Andrew Witt.
https://youtu.be/Tw_pUMqEZ_E
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