phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Mother’s Day Liturgy
Welcome and Theme
Welcome to the Upper Room Mother’s Day Liturgy. We stand on the shoulders of our own mothers and all people who embrace and act upon the fierce love of God that is ignited within us by the Holy Spirit. Let us celebrate together the wonder, beauty and inspiration of Mother’s Love which is our strongest power.
Opening Prayer
O Holy One, we have always been pregnant with your creative Word and your life-giving Spirit.
We make new our commitment to the harmony of the original vision of creation living justly, loving tenderly, and walking this earth with integrity. We will use our gifts for life.
We will open wide all that has been closed about us, and our small circles. Like Jesus, our brother, we are filled with your Spirit, and with You, we renew the face of the earth.
Opening Song: This is My Song (A Tribute to All Nations)
Words by Lloyd Stone, Hymn Tune (Finlandia) by Jean Sebelius
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Esther 4:12-16
When Mordecai heard Esther’s reply, he wrote back the following response: "Don’t fool yourself into thinking that, just because you are in the imperial palace, you will be the only Jewish person to escape. If you insist on remaining silent at this time, vindication and liberation will come to other people through another source, but both you and your family will surely die. Who’s to say-you may have come into the royal court for just this moment.”
So Esther sent a message to Mordecai: “Bring together all the Jewish people in Susa now and fast for three days. After that, I will go to the sovereign in defiance of law. If I die, I die."
These are the inspired words from the book of Esther and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
Second Reading: Original Mother’s Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe
Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
“Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, disarm! The sword is not the balance of justice.” Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each learning after his own time, the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.
These are the inspired words of Julia Ward Howe and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
Allelulia by Jan Phillips
Gospel Reading: John 14:15-21
Jesus said to his disciples:
If you love me and obey the command I give you, I will ask the One who sent me to give you another Paraclete, another Helper to be with you always-the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept since the world neither sees her nor recognizes her; but you can recognize the Spirit because she remains with you and will be within you. I won’t leave you orphaned; I will come back to you. A little while now and the world will see me no more; but you’ll see me because I live and you will live as well.
These are the inspired words from the writer known as John and the community affirms them by saying, Amen.
Shared Homily: Mary Ann
“Arise all women who have hearts ~ whether your baptism is of water or tears… let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each learning after his own time, the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.”
I am struck by the incredible relevance of this proclamation from 1870 for our time. There is so much turbulence on a global scale. My heart broke the day I saw a mother in labor being carried from a bombed building in Ukraine. It broke for her and for all the mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons impacted by circumstances beyond their control.
The war in Ukraine has been an impetus, a call to action for women across the globe. It’s as if the Spirit of the Holy One is connecting women everywhere and a call is going out. “Bring a revolution of Love. Fight Hate with Goodness. Walk with Hope.” When we invite the Spirit to live through us, proclamation and wise action happen. In living out our faith in this way, we actively participate in a Divine Dance of love, action, and reciprocity for all the world.
Shortly after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, women of all ages gathered in the ancient, timeless way they have always come together… in circles. In these circles, we talked about peace, hope, and a revolution of love. We strategized ways to support those who were helping the women and children on the border of Poland. Every woman matters. Every person matters. The feminine perspective matters and changes things in a positive way. Each woman can make a difference in the world.
One woman can do a little, or sometimes a lot, and many women joining together for a common purpose can co-create change on a global scale. I feel our ancestors, the mothers of our mothers, calling to us across time and space. It’s as if the mitochondrial DNA that originates with the First Woman connects all women at this moment in time. Women are weavers of change. I feel a weave happening in the quantum energetic realm that is reverberating around the Earth.
When women come together we are a force of Nature. We are a force for goodness. While we would rather be kind and gentle, we are absolutely fierce when necessary. Make no mistake, the mothers who are displaced across the world on the margins and borders carrying babes and holding the hands of their children are strong and courageous. Mothers waiting at the US-Mexico border, mothers protecting their children in Ethiopia, Syria, Myanmar, Sudan, and Ukrainian mothers waiting at border crossings are incredibly brave, not because they want to be but because they have to be brave. Mothers are protectors and while they may feel extreme sadness, they will persevere to save the lives of their children.
What if you are here on this Earth for just such a time as this? These words evoke thoughts of Esther and ancient texts. These words bring thoughts of all the women calling women into circles across the globe, the grandmothers, the elders, and the wise women calling one another together to make a difference for all living beings. I call to your heart. I call you to action. Unite with women and men across the world in a bond of love for the good of all. Let’s join hands and hearts and change the world. Begin with prayer just as those in Esther’s time, then do what you can within your circle of influence. Let’s reclaim the original meaning and purpose of Mother’s Day. Will you join me in a revolution of prayer, compassion, and love to co-create change? Will you join me in bringing hope to a world in need?
Statement of Faith
Donna / Mary Ann: Please stand and proclaim our statement of faith:
All: 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
Donna: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we remember that just as Jesus is anointed so is each of us. 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…”)
Intentions offered
We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.
Donna / Mary Ann: O Holy One, you have been called by many names by many people in the centuries of our planet’s life. Yet, no name truly defines you or describes you. We celebrate you as the marvelous, loving energy of life who caused us and our world to be. We celebrate you as the Source of light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and all-ways care.
Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together: WomanSpirit Rising written by Jay Murnane.
Donna & All / Mary Ann: O Holy One, You give us life, and we live and breathe with your Spirit. You create us female and male; You call us good, and we live as equal partners. You share the earth with us, and we, as co-creators with you, complement your ongoing activity of creation.
Among all our blessed ancestors, we celebrate the women who gently and firmly confronted the structures of oppression in their times with unique vision and compassion: Sarah, Deborah, Judith, Miriam, Ruth, Esther, Anna, Miriam of Nazareth, Julian, Hildegard, and so many more.
United with them, with our Mother-Planet and her people everywhere, with one another and You, O Holy One, our spirits dance and sing this song of praise:
Holy, Holy: Circle Chant – Linda Hirschhorn
Donna & All / Mary Ann: We give grateful thanks for all your faithful servants, opening for all of us a path to life. We are thankful for all the women who risked everything they had so that all of us could live in a better, brighter world.
We give grateful thanks for our brother, Jesus who showed us so simply, so tenderly, how the world is in our hands. He showed us love, compassion and kindness through his words, stories and actions. 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.
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.
(Presider 1 lifts plate)
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 of the Bread of Life
Given to strengthen you
Whenever you remember me like this
I am among you.
(pause)
(Presider 2 lifts cup)
Jesus then raised a cup of blessing, spoke the grace 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)
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.
Donna / Mary Ann: Please pass the bread and the cup with the words… “I am a spark of the Divine.”
Communion Song : The Gift I’ll Give by Shawna Edwards
BLESSING
Donna & All / Mary Ann: Let us pray:
May you sense around you the secret Elsewhere where the mothering presences of the past still embrace you and guide you.
May we continue to be the face of God to each other and may our name be a blessing in our time! Amen.
Closing Song: Woman’s Spirit
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