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
Julie Good afternoon and welcome! We are so happy to have you join us this afternoon as we celebrate our liturgy together. Today we are inspired anew by Jesus’ example of radical inclusivity and compassionate love.
Opening Prayer: Holy One, you command us to rest and you inspire us to love more fully, more deeply than ever before. Let us feel your presence as we rest and as we feel the strength of compassionate love, today and always. AMEN.
Julie: Please join us in our opening meditation by singing Loving Kindness.
Opening Song: Loving Kindness by Karen Drucker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLwm68BlH_4
Liturgy of the Word
Readings
A Reading from Deuteronomy (5:12-15)
Observe the Sabbath day. Keep it holy, as God has commanded you. Six days you will labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath, a day of rest, to your God. You will do no work that day: neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female worker, nor your ox, nor your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing among you. Your servants, both male and female, will rest, as you do. Remember, you were slaves in Egypt and God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. This is why God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
These are the inspired words of an ancient Israelite lawmaker and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Alleluia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC4nbwmQDVw
Gospel
A Reading from the Gospel attributed to Luke (13:10-17; 14:1-6)
One Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. Also there was a woman who, for eighteen years, had an ailment caused by a spirit. She was bent over double, incapable of standing up straight.
When Jesus saw her, he called her over to him and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.
The leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, “There are six days for working. Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”
Jesus in reply said, “You hypocrites! Does not each one of you untie your ox or your donkey from the manger on the Sabbath to water it? Shouldn't this daughter of Sarah and Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be loosed from her bond on the Sabbath day?” At these words, Jesus’ accusers were humiliated. The people, by contrast, were delighted with all the wonderful things Jesus was doing.
On yet another Sabbath, Jesus went to dine at the home of a leading Pharisee. Those gathered there were observing him carefully. Also there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and to the Pharisees, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?” They kept silent and did not respond. After Jesus healed the man, he sent him away. Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Who among you, if your child or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull them out on the Sabbath day?” Again, they were silent. They were unable to answer his question.
These are the inspired words of the anonymous storyteller we call Luke and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Shared Homily
Julie: Rest. God had to command the Israelites to rest. I guess it’s not just us 21st century Americans who don’t understand the concept. And yes, yes, I’m including myself in that. I overdo it seven days a week too. But in our secular culture, working every day isn’t seen as breaking the law the way it was for Jesus. For Jesus, simply healing on the sabbath prompted criticism from the Pharisees even though the people were happy about what he was doing.
And what exactly was he doing? In the first story, he cured a woman so that she could stand up straight, in the synagogue, in worship. Could that be a coincidence? I mean he could have just as easily cured her on the street.
As you may know, I use readings from the Catholic Comprehensive Lectionary from the Women’s Ordination Conference. Their notes for this gospel point out that this reading, the story of the bent over woman, is not part of the canonical lectionary, meaning people don’t ever hear it in church. Could that be because the story of a woman standing up in worship to the delight of the people and the displeasure of the religious leaders could be a little dangerous? You know, give people ideas about women being ordained? I think it’s very telling when the radical inclusivity and the compassionate love of Jesus, Jesus, upon whom our entire religion is founded, are too radical to be read in church.
What did you hear? What will you do? What will it cost you? Please unmute and share your thoughts and insights on today’s readings.
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
(Written by Jay Murnane)
Julie: 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 prayers for the community.
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.
Blessed are you, Holy One, source of all creation. Through your goodness you made this world and called us to be Your co-creators. We give thanks for the diversity and beauty of life around us and within us.
We open our awareness to the goodness of all of creation and we remember our responsibility to serve. You invite us to build the earth into a community of love rooted in justice. You placed confidence in us, for you made us and you know that we are good.
In joy and in thanksgiving we join with all the faithful servants who have gone before us and we sing:
Holy Holy Holy by Karen Drucker
We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, and revealing us as one with you and all of creation.
He lived among us to show us who we are and challenged us to know you. He taught us the strength of compassionate love.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We are grateful for your Spirit at our Eucharistic Table and for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet, so that they would remember him.
(All lift their plates and pray the following:)
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.
(pause)
(All lift their cups and pray the following:)
Then he took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
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 become Communion both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.
You are called, consecrated and chosen to serve.
Please receive Communion with the words: I embrace my call to love.
Communion Meditation/Song: At This Table by Idina Menzel
Prayer after communion:
Julie: Holy One, 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.
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.
All: Amen.
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
Blessing
Julie: Let us raise our hands in blessing pray together:
May we continue to be the face of God to each other. May we love compassionately and live fully. May we call each other to extravagant generosity! May we walk with an awareness of our Call as companions on the journey, knowing we are not alone. May we, like Jesus, be a shining light and a blessing in our time! AMEN.
Closing Song: I Will Follow Him
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