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Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
We Are Sign, We Are Wonder
Welcome Welcome We’re so glad to have you here with us today as we continue to celebrate the miracle of Easter and what it means to believe.
Opening Prayer Let us pray. Holy One, be with us here today as we join together to love and grow ever more like our brother Jesus. Strengthen us as we care for each other and ourselves so that we can bring love, healing, and unity to whomever is in need. AMEN
Opening Song All You Works of God
LITURGY OF THE WORD
FIRST READING - A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (2:38-39, 42-47)
Peter said to all those who were gathered in Jerusalem, “Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus the Christ, that you may know the depths and transformative power of forgiveness. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It was to you and to your children, O Jerusalem, that the promise was made, and to all those still far off whom our God calls.”
Those who joined the following of Jesus the Christ devoted themselves to instruction and the common life, to the breaking of bread, and prayer. Everyone was filled with awe; and many wonders and signs were brought about through the apostles. Those who believed lived together and shared all things in common. They would sell their property and goods, sharing the proceeds with one another as each had need. Day by day, they gathered in the Temple, and broke bread together in their homes. They shared their meals with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God. They enjoyed the goodwill of all the people. Day by day, God added to their number.
These are the inspired words of an Early Church Chronicler and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
PSALM
Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 17+22-24
The Psalm Response is:
This is the day our God has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!
Let the House of Israel proclaim God’s Love endures forever!
Let the House of Miriam and Aaron sing God’s Love endures forever!
Let all those whom God calls know God is Love and endures forever!
R: This is the day our God has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!
I was pressed to the point of falling. God came to my help.
God is my strength and my song. God is my vindication!
Listen! There are glad songs of freedom in the tents of the just.
R: This is the day our God has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!
I will not die, but live!
I will sing the wonders of our God. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
God has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that God has made.
Let us rejoice today and be glad!
R: This is the day our God has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!
Alleluia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC4nbwmQDVw
GOSPEL - A reading from the Gospel of John (20:19-31)
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw him. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As Abba God has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen Jesus.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Child of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
These are the inspired words of the anonymous storyteller we call John and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Homily Starter—Julie: One of my nephews has a very active imagination and tells all sorts of outlandish stories, often about things he wishes would happen. I’ve gotten very skeptical over the years, especially about the wilder stories. But here’s the thing. It’s usually the wildest story, the one I’m convinced is completely made up, that turns out to be true. Which is why I can so relate to Thomas in today’s gospel. Not because either of us lack faith but because the story sounds too incredible to be true. Like my nephew telling stories about things he wishes would happen, the story of Jesus first appearing to the disciples sounds too good to be true. Yeah right, Peter. Jesus just stopped by while I was out getting groceries. Uh huh. Tell me another one.
So yes, I can personally relate to Thomas’s shock when Jesus comes back a week later. Wait, what? Jesus really did rise from the dead? That wasn’t just a story made up by people who were too traumatized to believe that he was gone? Jesus is talking to me over a week after he died on the cross? What? Thomas did better than me. I would have needed to lie down after a shock like that.
Jesus speaks to that. He said, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” My friends, that’s all of us. None of us were in that room two thousand years ago when Jesus appeared to those women and men. And yet we believe. We follow the Way of Jesus and do our best to be like him and take care of the old, the sick, the hungry, the scared, and the lonely. You know, the people just like us. We take care of each other like the Early Christians in the first reading. We may not share all of our possessions (that kind of communal living is challenging!) but we come together as companions on the journey of life, taking turns holding each other up when life becomes too much. For that, I am grateful. I’m not just grateful for assistance and encouragement when I need it, I’m also grateful for the opportunity to encourage and assist someone else. It makes life a beautiful circle.
What about you? What would you like to share about today’s readings?
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.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Julie: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”
We pray for these and all the unspoken concerns held in the silence of our hearts. AMEN
Julie: Let us join with open hands to pray our Eucharistic prayer together:
Source of Love and Light, we join in unity of Spirit, love and purpose with Your people everywhere, living and crossed over. With all of creation across billions of galaxies, we open our hearts and souls to become One.
In your loving embrace we are liberated from division, fear, conflict, pride and injustice. We are transformed into wholeness which we resolve to bring to all whose lives we touch. With gratitude, we meld ourselves Your Divine Presence which knows all, shelters all and transforms all into love, abundant, and eternal.
In one voice, we praise Your loving, healing ways and the glory of all You have Created:
Holy Holy Holy by Karen Drucker
We thank you, Holy One, for Jesus, a man of courage whose exquisite balance of human and Divine points our way and who strives with us in our time of need. We yearn with passion to live as Jesus, one with you and your Spirit, in peace and justice.
May our desire to be one with You join us to all living things. We seek to heal the differences that isolate us so that we may live in healthful unity with all people, of every ethnicity, skin color, gender orientation or class. May we have the imaginative sympathy and love of Your Spirit to move with courage beyond the confines of bias, miscommunication, ignorance and hurt and into the healing place where Divine light and love abide.
Please extend your hands in blessing of bread and wine. Together, we call on Your Spirit, present in these gifts - bread that satisfies our hunger and wine that quenches our thirst – to make us more deeply One, living in the fullness of holy compassion and Sophia wisdom.
Anticipating the likelihood of betrayal, arrest and pain, Jesus wanted more than anything to be with his friends, to share a meal, exchange stories and create fond memories. To strengthen the bonds of friendship that evening, Jesus washed the feet of his friends in an act of love and humility.
All lift the bread.
Back at the table, he took the bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, and go and share my love with one another.
All lift their cups.
Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered it to them 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. (pause)
We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity. Please receive communion with the words I am a spark of the divine.
Communion Song: Everything is Holy Now
https://youtu.be/s_SgAmljIJc
Prayer after communion: Let us pray. As we celebrate and recognize you in this bread and wine, we recognize you in each other. Sharing the bread of life and wine transforms us and opens us to your Spirit. Knowing that Jesus spent his time with the lowly and hurting, the needy and shunned, we seek to remain open to how we can bring love, healing and unity to whomever is in need. We ask for the grace to see with the eyes of Jesus, touch with the hands of Jesus, and heal with the heart of Jesus. AMEN.
Let us join with disciples of all ages to pray together:
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 by Miriam Therese Winter
Closing Blessing-Julie: Please raise your hands in blessing and join together in our closing prayer:
May we carry the joy and hope of Easter in our hearts every day. May we care for each other and ourselves. May our name be a blessing in our time. AMEN
Closing Song: Anthem by Tom Conry
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