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: Our theme today is the importance of prayer and trust. The picture above shows the trapeze artist reaching out with both hands, she does not grab on to the catcher but trusts that she will be caught.
Let us pray: Holy One, every day we pray for what we need. We pray for all those who have asked us for prayer. Help us to trust that our prayers will be caught at exactly the right moment, and all will be well, all matter of things will be well.
Our God is Here by Chris Muglia
https://youtu.be/0gmfcCV5QJ4 (Please stop @ 2:45)
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Reading 1: A Reading from Richard Rohr
Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts. It is rather a life stance. It is a way of living in the Presence, living in awareness of the Presence. The contemplative secret is learning to live in the now.
God is either in this now or God isn’t at all. If the now has never been full or sufficient, we will always be grasping. (longing for more, something else)
For Jesus, prayer is waiting in love, returning to love. Prayer is an attitude, a stance.
These are the inspired words of Richard Rohr, a disciple of Jesus. The community affirms these words with AMEN
Alleluia (Bridget)
Gospel: A Reading from the gospel of Luke. (translation from the Jesus Seminar)
One of the disciples to Jesus, teach us to pray. Jesus said to them, “when you pray, you should say, Abba, hallowed be your Name. May your reign come. Provide us with the bread we need day by day. Forgive our debts to the extent we have forgiven those in debt to us. And please don’t subject us to test after test but rescue us from the evil one”.
So I tell you, ask—it will be given to you; seek---you will find; knock---it will be opened for you. “Rest assured; everyone who asks receives; everyone who seeks finds; and for the one who knocks it is opened.
These are the inspired words of Jesus, our brother. The community affirms them with AMEN
Shared Homily
The prayer of Jesus that is in this gospel translation is different from the one we pray each week in liturgy. There are many translations of the gospels and of the Jesus prayer. This translation is from the Jesus Seminar. They concluded that Jesus most likely said these words.
They feel certain that Jesus would call God, Abba. Jesus most likely would have said “forgive us our debts” because debt forgiveness in his time was a life and death issue for many. But the phrase that really caught my attention was “provide us with the bread we need day to day”. We know that in the time of Jesus bread literally meant survival, it meant life. Waiting for bread day to day reminded the disciples of the manna that the Holy One sent to the Israelites, just enough for each day.
The disciples watched Jesus go off by himself and pray. They asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus consistently taught and showed them that prayer is being connected and aware of the Holy One in everyday life. Jesus told his disciples and us that we can and must place our trust in Abba. Trust Abba as in the prayer Miriam Therese Winter wrote and we pray almost every week in liturgy “each day you give us all that we need”.
Richard Rohr says prayer is an attitude and life stance. When you and I take on the “attitude” of trust in our prayers what happens to us? Maybe we relax, worry less, and maybe discover the secret of learning to live in the now. Living in the here and now is when we know we are given all that we need.
Let’s take this all one step further. Jesus asks us to trust that all we need will be provided. Richard Rohr says prayer is a life stance. What are we to do with this knowledge? The hard part: we are to act like Jesus, go to the margins, be the one, or the group, or the committee, or the church that provides for those who have daily needs. When we do this, we are following Jesus and our life stance becomes the same as our Abba God.
What are your thoughts? What did you hear? Please unmute and share.
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 a child of the Holy One.
Communion Song:
Bread of Life by Rory Corey video by MTStreck
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 and go to the margins to provide the daily needs of others. May we be like Jesus a shining light and a blessing for all. Amen
Closing Song:
The House That Love Is Building – Sarah Hart
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