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: We welcome you to our celebration of the first Sunday in the season of Advent. Let us open our hearts and minds to the call that this season offers, the call that invites us to shine! Let us ponder the Divine light within us and one another as we light the first candle of our Advent wreath.
Opening Prayer / Peace Prayer / Lighting of Advent Candles
Advent Candle Lighting Blessing Prayer
Jean T: Like our ancestors, we honor the cycles and the seasons that remind us of the ever-changing flow of life. Ritual acts give life meaning—they honor and acknowledge the unseen web of Life that connects us all.
Ann lights candle as prayer is read:
As we light this first candle let us keep in mind that the Promised One moves among us every day, often un-noticed and unappreciated. Our hope lies in seeing the Promise of the Holy One as it shines in us, and in our neighbors; in friends we know and in friends we have not yet met.
And so we respond: Let us kindle the light of hope!
Jean: Indeed, let us welcome the light within each other!
Opening Song: In the Stillness, the Many https://youtu.be/knaEnlvPu3U
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5 (Inclusive Bible, adapted)
This is what Isaiah ben-Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
In the last days, the mountain of the Temple of the Holy One
will be established as the most important mountain
and raised above all other hills—
all nations will stream toward it.
Many people will come and say:
“Come, let us climb the Holy One’s mountain
to the Temple of the God of our ancestors,
that we may be instructed in God’s ways and walk in God’s paths.”
Instruction will be given from Zion
and the word of God from Jerusalem.
Our Beloved will judge between the nations
and render decisions for many countries.
They will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
one nation will not raise the sword against another,
and never again will they train for war.
O house of Leah and Rachel and Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of our God!
These words from the prophet Isaiah, passed through the millennia, are inspiring us today. We affirm these words by saying Amen!
Second Reading: Romans 13:11-14
Brothers and sisters:
You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
These words are from Paul, an apostle of Jesus. We affirm these words by saying Amen
Alleluia: Dennis
Gospel: Matthew 24:37-44 (The Inclusive Bible)
The coming of the Promised One will be just like Noah’s time. In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, having relationships and getting married, right up to the day Noah entered the ark. They were totally unconcerned until the flood came and destroyed them. So it will be at the coming of the Promised One. Two people will be out in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two people will be grinding meal; one will be taken and one will be left. Therefore be vigilant! For you don’t know the day your Savior is coming.”
Be sure of this: if the owner of the house had known when the thief was coming, the owner would have kept a watchful eye and not allowed the house to be broken into. You must be prepared in the same way. The Promised One is coming at the time you least expect.
These are the words of the gospel writer known as Matthew. We affirm them by saying Amen.
Homily Starter:
It seems that for all human history we have needed saving. Isaiah speaks to a nation surrounded by enemies, led by a young and feckless king who makes unwise alliances with some of those enemies, while the people drift farther and farther away from the covenant that is their very identity. Jesus speaks to that same nation, some seven hundred years later, when there is no king, and the land is occupied by a powerful foreign country. His people are divided, arguing about how best to survive as oppressed people and how best to practice their religion. Sound familiar?
Both Jesus and Isaiah promise a savior. For Isaiah, this Messiah will deliver the people and the land back to God. There will be no more wars because the whole world will stream to Jerusalem and become one whole nation. Everyone will “walk in the light of God.” Jesus also promises a special coming. The Promised One will come when least expected, and this saving moment might be easy to miss if we are not paying attention. We need to be awake, and be prepared. We need to keep watch. We need to keep the lights on, as Paul reminds us. Because this is something we really do not want to miss out on.
I want to share a story. When my daughter Emily was in sixth grade she was walking down our street on her way to her friend’s house when a neighbor stopped her. This neighbor, Brenda, looked Emily in the eye and told her “You are the most beautiful girl in the whole neighborhood.” I don’t know what else was said in the conversation. I think that’s the only part that Em remembers. But it was enough. For a little girl on the cusp of puberty, feeling awkward and at loose ends with herself these words changed something in her. Suddenly she felt noticed. Emily has never forgotten those words from a kind neighbor who didn’t have to say anything to her that day. That was a small salvation. Brenda offered it. Emily was ready for it. Both walked in the light of God that day.
Salvation sometimes comes in “biblical” proportions. Waters part. The dead rise. Those moments are hard to miss. But if we open our eyes to the light in every small gesture: a kind word, providing food for someone, listening with an open mind and heart; if we see all of these small acts as flashes of salvation, then we become not mere spectators, not just people waiting. We become participants in salvation.
In this, the darkest time of the year, let’s be ready for the light when we see it. Let’s allow that light to brighten a path to salvation: both for the opportunity to give it and for the blessing to receive it. It may come when we least expect it. Like lightening emblazoning the sky for a fraction of a second and then disappearing, it may present itself only for a moment. Let’s not miss out. Let’s shine in the light of our God.
What did you hear in today’s readings? Please share your thoughts.
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
Christina: As we prepare for this sacred meal we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. As bearers of LIGHT and HOPE, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your intentions beginning with the words, “I bring to the table…..”
Christina: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Denise: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
(written by Jay Murnane)
All: Source of All That Is, we seek you in this season, when the earth is resting and preparing for new life. Like the earth, we long for new life and hopeful beginnings. This is the time of the pregnant woman, filled with life and hope powerful enough to topple structures of oppression. This is the time of her song of fidelity and celebration.
During this gentle season of Advent, we recognize that you have made us capable of bringing forth justice, like a rising sun. One with all who have gone before us, we sing a song of praise: Holy, Holy, Holy, Karen Drucker https://youtu.be/kl7vmiZ1YuI
We thank you for those in times past who believed the good news, and lived what they believed.
Blessed is Isaiah and every visionary who insisted on a better future that would break through the deception, disaster and broken promises of the age in which they lived.
Blessed is John, in the stark desert of careful focus, inviting the people to be born again in your love.
Blessed is Miriam, who believed the words of Isaiah and opened herself up to the unbelievable.
And blessed is her child Jesus, who felt the sorrows of humankind in his soul, and responded with deep and tender compassion.
Christina: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: 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.
All: On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at 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.
(Presiders go to the table. Christina reads while Denise lifts the plate)
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)
(Christina reads while Denise lifts cup)
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)
Christina: Let us share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. Please receive communion with the words “You are the light of Salvation.”
Communion Meditation/Song: Be a Light, Thomas Rhett https://youtu.be/Oqiw54l_x-8
Prayer after communion:
Denise: Holy One, we are grateful for the gift of Your Spirit, always drawing beauty and balance out of chaos. And like Jesus…
Standing where he stood,
and for what he stood,
and with whom he stood,
we are united in your Spirit,
and worship you with our lives,
All: Amen.
Denise: 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
Christina: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together.
May we, the living Body of Christ, recognize the light of the Holy One in ourselves, in one another, and in all our fellow humans and other – than – humans who share this beautiful creation with us. May this Advent season find us ready and eager to give and receive Divine Light. May we walk in the Light of our God. May we Shine.
All: AMEN
Denise: A word about our closing song. I want to thank the many people who responded to my request for photos showing themselves or their family members actively doing their ministries. It has been a joy to look at your beautiful pictures and to include them in this video. You all, every one of you, shine.
Closing Song: Shine by Collective Soul https://youtu.be/-bnIEs1n0vs
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