Upper Room Sunday Liturgy, October 2, 2022 - Presiders: Jim Marsh and Mary Theresa Streck

Sunflower by Rich Broderick

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 and Theme: (Jim) Season of Creation 2022

Opening Prayer

MT: Holy One, for the sacred earth its scents and sounds and sights we give you thanks. For the holy heavens their heights and depths and breadth we give you thanks. May we love the earth and cherish her fecundity. May we love the rivers and obey their ancient purity. May we love the skies and honor their infinity, all for one another.

Opening Song: Of the Earth by the Many

https://youtu.be/FDW_YEokpxE

Here we are

We are here

Living our lives on the earth

Here we are 

We are here

Humans of earth, of the earth

Made of love, made to love.

Loving earth as we love ourselves

All of life, all creation

Loving earth as we love ourselves

All of life, all creation

From living soil

We were formed

You breathed into us living souls

From living soil

We were formed

You breathed into us living souls.

So here we are

Together here

People of earth, of the earth

Made of love, made to love

Loving earth as we love ourselves

All of life, all creation.

Loving earth as we love ourselves

All of life, all creation.

First Reading: A Message for the World on the Care of Creation

Reader 1: Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Listen to the voice of creation. If we learn how to listen, we can hear in the voice of creation a kind of dissonance. On the one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of our beloved Creator; on the other, an anguished plea lamenting our mistreatment of this our common home.

The sweet song of creation invites us to practice an “ecological spirituality” (Laudato Si, 216) attentive to God’s presence in the natural world. It is a summons to base our spirituality on the “loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion.” In this Season of Creation, we pray once more in the great cathedral of creation, and revel in the “grandiose cosmic choir” made up of countless creatures, all singing the praises of God. Let us join St. Francis of Assisi in singing” “Praise be to you, my Lord, for all your creatures.” (Canticle of Brother Sun). Let us join the psalmist in singing, “Let everything that breathes, praise the Lord! (Ps 150).

Reader 2: Tragically, that sweet song is accompanied by cries of anguish. In the first place, it is our sister, mother earth, who cries out. Prey to consumerist excesses, she weeps and implores us to put an end to our abuses and to her destruction.

Then too, there are all those different creatures who cry out. At the mercy of a “tyrannical anthropocentrism” (Laudato Si, 68) completely at odds with Christ’s centrality in the work of creation, countless species are dying out and their hymns of praise silenced.

There are also the poorest among us who are crying out. Exposed to the climate crisis, the poor feel even more gravely the impact of drought, flooding, hurricanes and heat waves that are becoming ever more intense and frequent. Likewise, our brothers and sisters of the native peoples are crying out. As a result of predatory economic interests, their ancestral lands are being invaded and devastated on all sides, “provoking a cry that rises up to heaven.” (Querida Amazonia, 9)

Reader 3: Finally, there is the plea of our children. Feeling menaced by shortsighted and selfish actions, today’s young people are crying out, anxiously asking us adults to do everything possible to prevent, or at least limit, the collapse of our planet’s ecosystems.

“Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or secondary aspect to our Christian experience.” (Laudato Si, 217)

These are the inspired words of our brother, Francis, the Bishop of Rome, and we affirm them by saying: AMEN!

Gospel Reading: A Reading from the Gospel of Luke (Luke  17:5-10)

Reader: The apostles said to Jesus: Increase our faith!

Jesus answered, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Uproot yourself and plant yourself in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

If one of you had hired help plowing a field or herding sheep, and they came in from the fields, would you say to them, ‘Come and sit at my table? Wouldn’t you say instead, ‘Prepare my supper. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink afterward’? Would you be grateful to the workers who were just doing their job?

It's the same with you who hear me. When you have done all you have been commanded to do, say ‘We are simple servants. We have done no more than our duty.’”

These are the inspired words from the gospel writer called Luke, and we affirm them by saying: Amen!

Homily Starter: Jim

We gather just days after hurricane Ian wreaked havoc, hitting this country twice, with devastating winds and rain, causing death and widespread destruction. Mary Theresa, Joan and I own second homes in Florida. I also have several friends and family who live in Florida. In the days leading up to Wednesday, I had several calls about the impending storm and my concerns since the location of my condo was forecasted to take a direct hit. Some said we need to pray, surely not a bad thing. But pray about what? A well intentioned relative truly believes that God spared her family by praying. I don’t believe that …. not for the folks in Ft Myers, Punta Gorda and so many other places that see only destruction. Didn’t their prayers count?   

Science and environmentalists have been warning us for 50 years about the dangers of global warming and climate change. We have just experienced the worst hurricane in our history—certainly brought about by the irresponsible behavior of humans.

In our Gospel reading today, the disciples ask Jesus for more faith. This passage follows Jesus’ admonition about not causing someone to stumble, and if a sister or brother sins against you, to forgive seven times if need be. We know that forgiving can be hard; could this be why they asked for an increase in faith? And how does Jesus respond? He says if you have faith the size of a mustard seed (a very, very small seed indeed) that is enough and you can do the impossible, like uproot a mulberry tree that is large, sturdy tree which has an extensive root system. 

What is faith and how does it relate to our first reading and the Season of Creation? St. Paul tells us that faith, hope and love are the virtues that last. They are intertwined and intimately connected. Life is good is a simple statement of faith. Faith is the lens through which we see the world and enables us to face all of life’s possibilities and challenges. It’s the way we live, move and relate to all that is around us, not an assent to doctrines or dogma. 

In his book, Original Blessing, Matthew Fox reclaimed the essence of the Jewish creation myth recorded in Genesis. God loves all that God creates …. It is good, very good! Since that time, Matthew has said that we humans have lost a sense of the sacred. Our self-centeredness has alienated our connection to the earth, allowing us to rob, deplete and destroy creation with our consumerist, capitalist market mentality. 

When Jorge Bergoglio was elected Bishop of Rome, he chose the name Francis. He was certainly expected to reform the church curia. Did he hear the same voice as his sainted mentor, “Rebuild my church.” Early on in his papacy, there was rumor that he intended to address the environmental issues plaguing our world. He did this precisely in his encyclical, Laudato Si, in 2015 (using the very words of St Francis’ canticle). Did he also hear a voice saying ‘restore my creation?’ In our first reading today, Pope Francis is urging us to listen to the cries of creation, to practice an ecological spirituality, and to take decisive action in restoring creation as good stewards. He raises this to the level of vocation, in other words, it’s more than just a job.

Shortly we will consecrate—make sacred together—bread and wine. In these sacramental signs, do we see the sun, the rain, the seed, the rich soil, the agrarians and migrants, the poor, children and elders who may worry about their next meal. Jesus knew the connections, hence he could say, “This is my body, my blood.”

As sister death was approaching, St Francis called his brothers together so he could impart his blessing to each one. He expressed his gratitude that God, the Holy One, had shown him what was his to do; and he prayed that God would show each of them what they were to do in living the Gospel. 

Our faith informs us and prayer changes us. My friends, while there is still time, let us do good. May each of us then be able to say “we have done no more than our duty” as faith-filled servants!

So, what did you hear in these readings today? 

Response to Word:  Celtic Alleluia  Dennis McD - cantor

Now with the strength of your Word, send us forth as your servants, to care for each other and all of creation.

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.

Prayers for the Community

Jim: As we prepare for our sacred meal, let us give voice to our blessings, cares and concerns and those of our world, beginning with the words, “I bring to the table…..” 

  [for those on ZOOM, remember to unmute and then mute again]

We pray for the cares and concerns written in our Community Book of Intentions, (pause) and all the unspoken intentions in our hearts. Amen.

Liturgy of the Eucharist

MT: With open hearts and hands, we pray our Eucharistic prayer (please pray silently)

Holy One,

The ageless mountains are full of your glory, the vast seas swell with your might, the shining skies expand beyond our imagining.
So we pause to praise. We wait in wonder. We listen to learn of the mountain glory within us, of the sea force in our veins, of love’s shining infinity.
And with grateful hearts, we sing:

Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy

https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ 

Jim: Holy One, we praise you for the variety and diversity of Creation: for the fruitful earth, refreshing wind, purifying fire and flowing water. We seek to live as Jesus taught us, wise and holy stewards of your creation.

[extend hands in blessing]

We are ever aware of your Spirit in us and among us at this Eucharistic table and we are grateful for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world. 

We join the lineage of Your prophets of justice and peace and as Your daughters and sons, we continue to work with Your grace as we walk forward in the footsteps of our compassionate brother, Jesus.

On the night before he died, Jesus did more than ask us to remember him.  He showed us how to live in humility and generosity when he washed the feet of his friends.

[lifting 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.

  [lifting cup]

MT: 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.

This is the bread of life and the cup of blessing, simple gifts from the earth. As we savor God’s goodness, may we be nourished to live as responsible stewards of creation.

All: 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. 

Please receive Communion with the words: You are a steward of Creation.

Communion Meditation: Brother Sun (Giving Glory) -Liz Vice from The Porter’s Gate, Climate Vigil Songs

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbLI_8kTyPY 

Brother sun, sister moon
Your light shines from the heavens
Giving glory, all the glory
To the Maker

Gentle wind, welcome home
You've been traveling with your song
Singing glory, all the glory
To the Maker

Hallelujah, hallelujah!
Singing glory
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
Singing glory to the Maker
Hallelujah!

Sweetest rain, serenade
Pouring down from the heavens
Bring all your blessings, every blessing
From the Maker

Hallelujah, hallelujah!
Singing glory
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
Singing glory to the Maker
Hallelujah!

Hallelujah, hallelujah!
Singing glory

All you people, join in the song
There is work to be done
For the glory, all the glory
Of the Maker

Prayer after communion

Jim: Holy One, we are aware of your Spirit within us and our community, the same Spirit that filled Jesus.  And is through following his life and teaching, his loving and healing that we honor You and each other and all creation. Amen.

Let us pray as Jesus taught us:

O Birther! Father- Mother of the Cosmos

Focus your light within us - make it useful.

Create your reign of unity now-through our fiery hearts and willing hands.

Help us love beyond our ideals and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.

Animate the earth within us: we then feel the Wisdom underneath supporting all.

Untangle the knots within, so that we can mend our hearts' simple ties to each other.

Don't let surface things delude us, but free us from what holds us back from our true purpose.

Out of you, the astonishing fire, returning light and sound to the cosmos. May it be so. -Translation by Neil Douglas-Klotz

Blessing [extend & raise hands and pray together]

MT: May the blessings of sun and moon enlighten our eyes,
the blessings of east and west guide us on our way, and strengthen our will and our loving. May the blessings of earth, air, fire and water fills us with heaven, stir us with flames of compassion and mercy for each other and all creation. Amen.

Closing Song: All Things Bright and Beautiful by John Rutter and sung by the Tabernacle Choir

https://youtu.be/kPjDZ4_4TRQ

All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
'Twas God that made them all

Each little flower that opens
Each little bird that sings
God made their glowing colors
And made their tiny wings

All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
'Twas God that made them all

The purple headed mountains
The rivers running by
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky

The cold wind in the winter
The pleasant summer sun
The ripe fruits in the garden
God made them every one

All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
'Twas God that made them all

God gave us eyes to see them
And lips that we might tell
How great is the Almighty
Who has made all things well

All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
'Twas God that made them all

Moment of Oneness: Season of Creation 2022 - The Elements: Water

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81507551772
Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772

To connect by phone dial: +1 646 558 8656

Prayer: All praise be Yours, Holy One, through Sister Water,

So useful, humble, precious and pure. Amen.

St. Francis of Assisi

The Element of Water

We are water-beings.  Our evolution, as that of all life, can be traced to our watery beginnings.  Even today our bodies are, by percentage, more than half water.  And the earth on which we live is more than three-quarters water.  So when we say that "water is life" we are not exaggerating. Perhaps it is due to water's essential nature that it is seen as primordial.  In so many of the world's creation myths water is present even before creation itself.  In the Native American story of the Sky People, when Sky Woman falls to earth it is to a watery world she comes, and then the mud that forms the earth is brought from beneath that water.  Water is also primordial in our own Genesis story.  God creates earth by separating the water.  But the water was already there.  In that sense water, like Sophia Wisdom, existed before creation and was present with God at creation.  

Water is the element that holds everything else together.  It is our common bond.  It is our blood, just as it is the sap running in trees, the tide rising and falling in oceans, the streams rippling over the stones that were also shaped by water.  Water is life.  We cannot live long without it.  

Reading:  From Loren Eiseley, "The Immense Journey: The Flow of a River"

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.... Once in a lifetime, perhaps, one escapes the actual confines of the flesh. Once in a lifetime, if one is lucky, one so merges with sunlight and air and running water that whole eons, the eons that mountains and deserts know, might pass in a single afternoon without discomfort. The mind has sunk away into its beginnings among old roots and the obscure tricklings and movings that stir inanimate things. Like the charmed fairy circle into which a man once stepped, and upon emergence learned that a whole century had passed in a single night, one can never quite define this secret; but it has something to do, I am sure, with common water. Its substance reaches everywhere; it touches the past and prepares the future; it moves under the poles and wanders thinly in the heights of air. It can assume forms of exquisite perfection in a snowflake, or strip the living to a single shining bone cast up by the sea.   

Prayer of Thanksgiving for Water

Holy One, we thank you  for Sister Water. 

We witness Water’s power to shape earth’s canyons and coastlines. Water surrounds us with warmth and safety in our mother’s womb. 

We thank you.

Water blesses the earth with rain and sustains our life. She cleanses and refreshes us, washing over us in gentle streams. 

We thank you.

Water awes us with her beauty 

As waves crash against rocks or gently roll onto the shore, 

As she cascades down a waterfall 

Or blankets a mountain with a soft white cloak, 

As she reflects the beauty of the sky and trees in her clear lakes 

Or shrouds a valley in an early morning mist. 

Holy One, we thank you for Sister Water. 

Blessing of Water

Spirit of Living Water, 

you hold all of creation in your womb 

and spring us forward onto the earth at birth. 

Spirit of the Tides, 

remind us of the rise and fall of your rhythms 

so that we may discover them deep within our beings. 

Spirit of Greenness, 

bring moistness and vigor to our lives 

so that we might savor the experience of your energy 

moving through us out into the world. 

Blessings of water be upon us. 

May we be carried by the flow of the great river of life. 

May we discover a hidden spring within, gushing forth, 

May we be carried to the shores of the sacred and renewed. Amen.

(adapted from Water, Wind, Earth & Fire by Christine Valters Paintner)

Closing Song: Water is Life, Sara Thomsen

https://youtu.be/5rkDa7-vQvQ

Upper Room Sunday Liturgy, September 25, 2022 - Presiders: Mary Ann Matthys and Kim Panaro

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

SEASON OF CREATION

Welcome and Theme (Mary Ann)

Welcome to the Upper Room. Today we continue our celebration of the Season of Creation. Today we celebrate living water. “Let us bless the grace of water-the imagination of the primeval ocean where the first forms of life stirred. Water: vehicle and idiom of all the inner voyaging that keeps us alive. Blessed be water our first mother.”

(blessing by John O’Donohue)

Opening Prayer: (Kim)

“We praise you Sister Water, who fills the seas and rushes down the rivers-who wells up from the earth and falls down from heaven-who gives herself that all living things may grow and be nourished.” (From Brother Sun, Sister Moon: St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures by Katherine Paterson)

Opening Song: Sing the Water Song

https://youtu.be/KC2FHciQ0sU

LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading (Mary T.)

A reading from the book, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching 

Let us look at a wave on the surface of the ocean. A wave is a wave. It has a beginning and an end. It might be high or low, more or less beautiful than other waves. But a wave is, at the same time, water. Water is the ground of being of the wave. It is important that a wave knows that she is water, and not just a wave. We, too, live our life as an individual. We believe that we have a beginning and an end, that we are separate from other living beings. That is why the Buddha advised us to look more deeply in order to touch the ground of our being, which is nirvana. Everything bears deeply the nature of nirvana. Everything has been “nirvanized.” That is the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. We look deeply, and we touch the suchness of reality. Looking deeply into a pebble, flower, or our own joy, peace, sorrow, or fear, we touch the ultimate dimension of our being, and that dimension will reveal to us that the ground of our being has the nature of no-birth and no-death.

We don’t have to attain nirvana, because we ourselves are always dwelling in nirvana. The wave does not have to look for water. It already is water. We are one with the ground of our being. Once the wave realizes that she is water, all her fear vanishes. Once we touch the ground of our being, once we touch God or nirvana, we also receive the gift of non-fear. Non-fear is the basis of true happiness. The greatest gift we can offer others is our non-fear. Living deeply every moment of our life, touching the deepest level of our being, this is the practice of prajña paramita. Prajña paramita is crossing over by understanding, by insight.

These are the inspired words of Thich Nhat Hanh and we affirm them by saying: Amen

Wisdom Words about Water

(Reader 1)

Water is the mirror that has the ability to show us what we cannot see. It is a blueprint for our reality, which can change with a single positive thought. All it takes is faith, if you're open to it. 

~Dr. Masaru Emoto

Pause for Chime

(Reader 2)

Among our Potawatomi people, women are the Keepers of Water. We carry the sacred water to ceremonies and act on its behalf. “Women have a natural bond with water, because we are both life bearers,” my sister said. “We carry our babies in internal ponds and they come forth into the world on a wave of water. It is our responsibility to safeguard the water for all our relations.”  

             ~Robin Wall Kimmerer

Pause for Chime

(Reader 1)

But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong. 

               ~Lao Tzu

Pause for Chime

(Reader 2)

He said to me: “it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

               ~Revelation 21:6

Pause for Chime

Gospel Acclamation: Dennis

Gospel (Dennis) A reading from the Gospel attributed to John (4:4-14)

Jesus had to pass through Samaria. He came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. 

 A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies,) So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you—a Jew—ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) 

 Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”  “Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water? Surely. you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” 

Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again.  But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give them will become in them a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”

These are the inspired words from the gospel writer called John and we affirm them by saying: Amen

Shared Homily (Mary Ann)

The woman at the well was in a dry place in life.  We all have them.  Those times when we feel disconnected from other people, from communities, from the Divine.  The Samaritan woman was in a dry place.  She came to get water in the middle of the day after all the other women had gone for a reason…Jesus saw her.  A woman who had had five husbands and was currently living with a man she was not married to.  Do you think she wanted this life?  No!  Like so many women throughout time she was caught in circumstances and making the best out of a dry patch in life, and so when Jesus talked about Living Water she was interested. 

 

Water is life giving in and of itself.  

Living Water implies something more than meets the eye.  

Living Water is a concept as ancient as life itself. 

The water we experience today is the same water that was present on the Earth during the lives of our mothers, our grandmothers all the way back to the origin of the universe itself.  Earth recycles water, filtering it, cleansing it, purifying it.  Water in turn works for us by clearing energy, cleansing us, nourishing us.  We are at a place where science has been able to affirm the assertion that water is alive.  Water carries consciousness.  Water responds to thoughts, words, emotions.  Water comprises 70 percent of the human body and 70 percent of the planet Earth’s surface.  Masaro Emoto of Japan has done extensive work studying water and water consciousness.  His work shows that water responds to music, the environment, words, thoughts and emotions.

What if the life in the water is the essence of the Divine within every living cell?  Thich Nhat Hahn talks about nirvana.  He says we do not need to look for or try to attain nirvana because we are always dwelling in nirvana.  We are one with the essence of the Divine and in the moment that we realize this, all our fears vanish.  I imagine the Samaritan woman gazing into Jesus’s eyes in that moment when she realized she was looking at the Christ.  In that moment she stepped into the wave of Living Water he offered her, and her circumstances no longer mattered…her fears fell away.  She went and shared the news with the people in her town and they in turn came to believe in Jesus.  Water ripples forth.  It begins as one drop, then becomes a wave and then an ocean.  Imagine that we, here at the Upper Room, are a wave within an ocean of goodness spreading through the world.  We are waves of impact.  We carry Living Water to a thirsty world.  May it be.

Statement of Faith (Connie F.)

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

Kim:  As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to the table our prayer of intentions:

 Kim: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen. 

Mary Ann: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in one voice:

O Holy One, you are always with us. In the blessed abundance of creation, we gather to celebrate Your nourishing gift of life. May our hearts be open as You invite us to participate in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation. May we be ever aware of Your Spirit within and among us as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty into the fullness of life. 

We are grateful for Your Spirit whose breath inspired the primal waters, calling into being the variety and abundance we see around us. Your Spirit sustains and animates our every endeavor, inviting us to act in wisdom and in truth.

In gratitude and joy we embrace our calling and we lift our voices to proclaim a song of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy

https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ

Kim:  As a community, we gather in the power of your Spirit, refreshing wind, purifying fire and flowing water, for the variety and diversity of Creation. We seek to live as Jesus taught us, wise and holy as Spirit-filled people, courageous and prophetic, ever obedient to your call.

Please extend your hands in blessing.

We invoke Your Spirit upon the gifts of this Eucharistic table, bread of the grain and wine of the grape, that they may become gifts of wisdom, light and truth which remind us of our call to be the body of Christ to the world.

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. When he returned to his place, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and offered it to them saying:

All lift their plate as the community prays the following: 

Take this bread and eat it;

This is my very self.

(consume bread and pause)

All lift their cup as community prays the following: 

Mary Ann: 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.

(drink and pause)  

Communion song: The River by Josh Groban

https://youtu.be/-uoKsEqFppo

In union with all peoples living and dead, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking wisdom to discern more wisely your call to us in the circumstances of our daily lives. 

We seek to act justly and courageously in confronting the suffering that desecrates the Earth and its peoples; to take risks in being proactive on behalf of the marginalized who suffer the environmental injustices of fouled air, tainted water, and a poverty of parks and public spaces that bring people together to enjoy nature. We pray for inspiration to act with the harmony and unity and synthesis that is modeled for us by the trees of the forest, and the stars of the evening.

Holy One, your transforming energy is always moving within us and working through us. Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live compassionate lives,

for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Spirit within,

Moving us to glorify You, O Holy One,

At this time and all ways.

Amen.

Kim: Let us pray as Jesus taught us with an eye toward this Season of Creation:

(Diane G.)

Generous Creator, the intricate and elegant biodiversity of our world is your hallowed autograph on our lives, on our souls and in our hearts. 

We yearn for the wholeness of being in harmony with Your will and with all living things. 

Each day we draw on your creative, life-giving energy with gratitude and awe as we find nourishment in, seed and field, river and forest. 

May we be stewards and co-creators with you in caring for the gifts of Your Creation.  

We acknowledge our shortcomings, especially our neglect of the environment on this Creation Sunday. We seek to be reconciled with those we have hurt and we resolve to do better.  

With your unfailing wisdom and the wind of Your Spirit, inspire us that we may reach out and love one another and care for the world, our home.

Strengthen us to work for local and global justice so that we may one day reap a harvest of equality and fairness as if they were wildflowers, propagating spontaneously, unerringly and in surprising abundance. Amen.

Mary Ann: We are called to live the Gospel of Creation in harmony and gratitude with all our sisters and brothers across the Earth. We will live justly, love tenderly and walk with integrity in Your Presence.

Final Blessing

Mary Ann: Let us pray together our closing blessing:

Creator most generous and kind, your gift of Earth and sky reveals your omnipotence and glory. May we go forward boldly to live in the glory. 

May we treat all of Creation as sacred and discern the best path to an equitable distribution of the resources we share with our sisters and brothers across the globe. Let us live as if the future depends on it. Amen.

Closing Song: Let Go of the Shore by Karen Drucker

https://youtu.be/HwWFZk4DI-w