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| The Calling of Peter and Andrew, Duccio, 1308-1311 |
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
Mary Theresa: Good morning and welcome to the Upper Room’s Liturgy for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our theme this morning is our call to follow Jesus. Every Sunday we hear the words: “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.” And so we pray….
Opening Prayer
Mary Ann: Loving Source of All Creation, we open our hearts and minds and souls to you as you guide us on our life journey. Responding to your Spirit within us, may we follow our brother Jesus, loving you and our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Amen.
Opening Song: The Summons by John L. Bell
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Let Love Be Dangerous
(From Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity)
Lynn: (We are familiar with the story of Jonah.) God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh. Instead of facing his prejudice against the Assyrians, Jonah ran away. After a deep sea detour of some repute, he finally made it to the Assyrian capital. Much to his self-righteous chagrin, they embraced God’s love and forgiveness with such fervor and humility that even the cattle were wearing sackcloth and ashes. Compared with earlier biblical sources that suggested that God was some sort of exclusive tribal deity, the book of Jonah stands in direct opposition. Instead of sounding the alarm to circle the wagons against “the other,” the story of Jonah trumpets the conviction that God’s grace is extended to all people, even the ones for whom we might hold human hatred and prejudice.
John Shelby Spong believes that the story of Jonah is about human prejudice. He says: It’s about a prophet who is called by God to speak to people for whom the prophet does not care. He refuses to speak and goes in the opposite direction. But God keeps pushing him back to Ninevah. To me, that story is designed to demonstrate that the love of God does not have boundaries. Nations have boundaries and tribes have boundaries and prejudices have boundaries and fears have boundaries. But the love of God has no boundary! And any time you impose a human boundary on the love of God, you have done something evil, cruel, destructive, and ungodlike. If God can love even the Ninevites, there must be something bigger going on here. It goes beyond just tolerating people. It goes on to acceptance and affirmation of people—not despite their differences, but because of their differences.
Spong believes that such efforts are at “the very heart of the Christian gospel,” saying that the wars in his life have primarily been “against prejudice expressed toward black people, prejudice expressed towards woman, prejudice expressed toward gay and lesbian people, prejudice expressed toward Jews and other religious groups. If the love of God is bounded by my tribe or my race or my gender or my sexual orientation or my religion, then the love of God becomes one more human idol.”
We’re called to love our neighbor as we do our own self. That love is more than just a superficial, Hi, how are you? It involves cost, risk, and vulnerability to provide a safe place for people who are lonely, rejected by society, or beat up by others or the circumstances of life. Observing Mother Teresa’s work with India’s “untouchables,” poet Sydney Carter was moved to reflect: “Let love be dangerous.”
These inspired words were written by David Felten and Jeff Proctor-Murphy and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Alleluia:
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 4:12-23
Bernie: Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
These are the inspired words of the Gospel writer known as Matthew, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Homily Starter: Mary Ann Matthys
The Holy One calls humans into divine partnership all the time.
Invitations to enter into sacred reciprocity with the creator of the universe happen all the time. The Holy One calls us. The pages of scripture are filled with invitations. Esther, the woman at the well, Samuel, Isaiah, Mary the mother of Jesus, Moses, Mary sitting at Jesus feet listening to him teach, and even Martha in a roundabout way.
I like to think I would be like James, John, Simon called Peter and Andrew. I like to think I would have dropped everything and followed Jesus immediately but if truth be told I am more like Jonah. I am the one who says “Who me? Surely you can’t want me to ….” And if you add in being sent to people who are challenging, even impossible to like much less love, that makes my wholehearted “Yes” even harder.
Sometimes the Holy One calls us to tasks that are hard, even seemingly impossible.
The antidote to hate is Love with a capital ‘L’. What if Divine Presence calls us to love the white supremacist down the street? Will we hear the call through all the noise of unrest in our society? Can people so filled with hate even understand the love of our creator? Do we write them off before we even begin? Do we tuck our heads under the covers and pretend we didn’t hear the call to love, the call to enter a conversation, the call to bring peace, love, compassion, and hope to a hurting world…even those who harm others… even the white supremacist down the street?
Our first reading today talks about the love of the Holy One being without boundaries. Divine love extends to everyone. Humans are the ones that impose boundaries on the love of God. Jonah was angry when the people of Nineveh turned their hearts toward God. He didn’t want them to receive a second chance. Our Creator is all about second chances, even and perhaps, especially for those who harm, hate, and create chaos for others.
Jesus’s call to follow is inclusive of all people. He shows us how to love everyone, especially those on the margins. Loving those on the margins comes easy for me. But what about our enemy? Jesus invites us to love our enemies. That is a very hard invitation. That is where Love becomes Dangerous.
What did you hear in today’s liturgy?
Shared Homily
Statement of Faith
Mary Theresa: Let us pray together our statement of faith.
MT: 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.
MA: We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the
prophets, mystics, and saints.
Joan: 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.
MT: 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.
MA: 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
Mary Theresa: 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 blessings, cares and concerns.
Intentions shared
We bring these and all deeply held blessings, cares, and concerns to the table of friendship and peace.
Mary Ann: Please join in praying our Eucharistic prayer together:
(Eucharistic prayer taken from the work of Diarmuid O’Murchu and Jay Murnane)
O Holy One, we stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history – a time when humanity must choose its future.
As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future holds both peril and great promise.
May we recognize that, in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms, we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny.
United with our vast universe, with our Mother-Planet and her people everywhere, with one another and You, Holy One, our spirits dance and sing this song of praise:
Here in this Place – Holy Holy Holy by Christopher Grundy
Mary Theresa: We give grateful thanks for those who came before us, for all those who gave from their hearts, who gave from their lives, that there might be a better world, a safer world, a kinder world, we pray for peace in their name.
And for the children, that they may live, that they may have children of their own and that it will go on - this great blossoming that is meant to go on and on – we pray for peace, in their name.
And for all peoples of this earth who have no voice in this,
For the animals that have no voice in this,
For the plants, the trees, the flowers that have no voice in this,
For all who share this earth with us, we pray for peace in their name.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus. He showed us so simply, so tenderly, how the world is in our hands. He had nothing in this world but your love, companions on the journey, and his very self. Together, that was more than enough, and that remains our clarity in the midst of confusion: the miracle of healing, new hope, nurturance, nourishment, liberation and life.
Joan: Please extend your hands in blessing.
Your Spirit is here in us and in the gifts of this Eucharistic table. May we 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.
(pause)
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.
(pause)
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 consume communion with the words: (I am/You Are) called, consecrated and chosen.
Communion Song: I Will be Your Standing Stone by Melanie DeMore
Mantra: I will be your standing stone; I will stand by you.
Prayer After Communion
Mary Ann: Loving Source of All, we have looked for others to save us and to save our world. Yet, we are called, and consecrated and sent into the world to establish justice and show the blessed fulfillment that comes with simplicity and the giving of ourselves in love. We will make new our commitment to the harmony of the original vision of creation.
We will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and our small circles. Like Jesus, in all openness, we will be filled with your own Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
For it is through learning to live as he lived,
And why he lived,
And for whom he lived,
That we awaken to your Spirit within,
Moving us to worship you truly,
O Holy One,
At this time and all time and in all ways.
And we say yes to You!
Mary Theresa: 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 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
Mary Ann: Let us pray together our blessing:
Holy One, Open our hearts to the deep calling of the Divine in our lives.
Help us hear your call in our lives. Empower us to respond wholeheartedly to your invitation to “Come” and “Follow.”
Show us the path forward. Guide our steps.
Strengthen us to stand with one another when love becomes dangerous.
We are here for such a time as this.
Together let us bring hope, peace, compassion, and love to a world in need.
Amen
Closing Song: Love Large by Earth Mama
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