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Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome to our Saturday evening liturgy. Tonight we listen with great joy as Jesus reminds us just how universal Blessing is.
Opening Prayer: Holy One, we are gathered as one people tonight. We are open to the blessing that comes from you. We accept your blessing as we pass it on to all those we meet. Amen.
Opening Song: Companions on the Journey, Cary Landry https://youtu.be/DYF0C7fQp64
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: From Brian McLaren’s “Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It”
This coming-into-union, this encounter-without-judgment, this knowing-without-control goes from me to you to us and beyond, to plants and animals and all of the created world. We come to hear the “same music,” the sound of the genuine, flowing through everything, every thing, every thing.
These are the inspiring words of Brian McLaren, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Alleluia: https://youtu.be/IC4nbwmQDVw
Gospel: Luke 11:27-28
While Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.”
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
These are the words of the gospel writer we know as Luke. Let them inspire us as we acclaim them. Amen.
Homily Starter:
In many liturgical readings we read about how Jesus uses the insults thrown at him to create a teaching moment. Healing on the Sabbath. Dining with sinners. The list of his supposed transgressions goes on. Each time he turns the tables on his questioners, his critics, and shows them how rigid and short-sighted they are in their narrow interpretation of the law, reminding them that all laws are subservient to the law of love.
In today’s reading Jesus demonstrates a similar teaching method, but this time he is reacting to a compliment. A woman in the crowd calls a blessing on the mother of Jesus. We might think that a simple “Thank you, I’ll pass your kind blessing on to her” might have sufficed in the moment. But Jesus always seems to see beyond the moment. Blessing, he reminds the woman, along with everyone in the crowd that day, is not confined to those closest to him; not even his own mother. Rather, every person who hears the word of the Holy One and then lives out that word in their lives is blessed. Every single person. There are no secret codes, no special passwords, no identifying markers. This blessing is blind to all that. It is free, and available to all. As Brian McLaren reminds us in the first reading, this blessing, this “coming into union,” flows freely throughout the entire universe!
Let us celebrate today, this blessing. Let us recognize it, accept it, and allow it to pass through us to enliven the Earth and all who dwell on it.
What did you hear in today’s readings? Please share your wisdom with the group.
Shared Homily
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.
Denise: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we voice our intentions beginning with the words, “We bring to the table…..”
Denise: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Denise: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together:
All: O Holy One, you have birthed us in goodness, gifted us with life and cherished us in love. In the heart of our being, your Spirit dwells; a Spirit of courage and vision, a Spirit of wisdom and truth.
In the power of that same Spirit, we lift our hearts in prayer, invoking anew the gift of wisdom and enlightenment, that we may continue to praise and thank you, in union with all who sing the ancient hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Karen Drucker
ALL: Holy One, we see around us the work of your hands, the fruit of your wisdom and love. The unfolding story of creation witnesses unceasingly to your creative power. We, your creatures, often deviate from that wisdom, thus hindering your creative presence in our midst.
Sending among us Jesus, our brother, you birth afresh in our world the power of Sophia-Wisdom, and in the gift of Your Spirit, your creative goodness blooms anew, amid the variety and wonder of life.
Denise: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: Your Spirit is upon us and in the gifts of this Eucharistic table, bread of the grain and wine of the grape. May they 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 and for the sake of living fully, 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 within them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift their plate and pray the following:
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat; this is my very self.
All lift their cup and pray the following:
He then raised high 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.
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.
(consume bread and wine)
Communion Meditation: Canticle of the Feathered Ones https://youtu.be/YmvOW4wzcpg
In faith and hope we are sustained; in grace and dignity reclaimed. In praise, we thank you.
In union with all peoples living and dead, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking wisdom and courage:
- to discern more wisely your call to us in the circumstances of our daily lives;
- to act justly and courageously in confronting the pain and suffering that desecrates the Earth and its peoples;
- to take risks in being creative and proactive on behalf of the poor and marginalized;
- and to love all people with generosity of heart, beyond the labels of race, creed and color.
And may we ever be aware and alert to the new things Your Spirit makes possible in us, as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty, into the fullness of life to which all are called, participating in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation.
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.
Denise: Let us pray the prayer 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 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
(Miriam Therese Winter)
BLESSING
Denise: Let us pray together our blessing:
Holy One, Love is our call. Love is our blessing. Let us open ourselves to both love’s call and love’s blessing each and every day as we listen to your word in the voices of loved ones and strangers alike. Amen.
Closing Song: Can’t Stop the Feeling, Justin Timberlake https://youtu.be/ru0K8uYEZWw
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