phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome (Kathie/Mary Theresa): Today’s readings are about the both/and of life. We have the good and not so good, the calm and the chaos, rough roads, and the smooth paths. We walk the ups and downs of life together and the Holy One is always here with us.
Opening Prayer (Kathie/Mary Theresa): Somedays our world is in turmoil, somedays our inner being is in turmoil, yet each week we gather to strengthen one another in Your love and presence. Amen
Invocation by Christopher Grundy
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A Reading from Joan Chittister, Bounty, Beauty and Abundance.
Life is not meant to be a burden. Life is not a problem to be solved. It is a blessing to be celebrated.
Every dimension of life, its gains and its losses, is reason for celebration because each of them brings us closer to wisdom and fullness of understanding.
Loss and loneliness, darkness and depression all sear the soul and cleanse it of its sense of self-sufficiency. Suffering directs it to the God of life.
But so do bounty and beauty and abundance. These give us a foretaste of wholeness. These are the palpable manifestations of the goodness of God in our lives. All of these things come unbidden. They are not signs of either our sin or our sinlessness. They are simply signs that the God of life is a living, loving God.
Learning to celebrate joy is one of the great practices of the spiritual life. It confirms our trust in God. It affirms the greatness of creation. It seals our dependence on God. It attests to the beauty of the present and asserts our confidence in the beauty of the future. It recognizes the mercy and love of God.
When we celebrate the good things in life, we trace them to the Creator who gives without merit, openhandedly, out of the very goodness of community, love, and support that are by nature at the base of the human condition.
We affirm these words by saying “AMEN.”
Second Reading: A reading from the Poet Mystic Rumi
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. They may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
We affirm these words by saying “Amen.”
Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel of Matthew (MT 11:29-30)
Come to me, all you who labor and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Here you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
These words are attributed to Matthew, a disciple of Jesus, and we affirm them by saying AMEN
Shared Homily (Kathie/Mary Theresa)
When Jesus was speaking, he used words and stories that made sense to his listeners. In today’s gospel we hear the words “take my yoke upon you”. His followers understood very well the purposes of a yoke. They knew Roman soldiers used the symbol of a yoke, an arch of three spears, under which a defeated army was made to march. Jesus’ followers were under the yoke of Rome. They also knew the practicality of a yoke. Yokes were placed across shoulders to carry buckets of water, or other necessities. Yokes were used to couple oxen together to help plow the fields. Yokes were made very carefully to fit well, so the yoke did not rub.
When life is particularly difficult, we may take comfort in this phrase,” my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Perhaps the familiar phrase, “God will not give us more than we can carry” came from an understanding of this gospel verse.
Here is the catch. God does not pass out yokes, even if they are perfectly made to fit each individual. The God we have come to know does not give us burdens. Yet in reality we are all carrying burdens. There are almost as many types of burdens as there are individuals. Some carry burdens because they have a different skin color, or love differently, or pray differently. Sometimes we create our own burdens and yokes. We carry hurts, judgements, shame, guilt, and insecurities. Self-imposed yokes interfere with our ability to live fully and love abundantly.
Joan Chittister reminds us that life is not a burden or a problem to be solved, but a blessing to be celebrated. I think Rumi would totally agree with Joan, but he also reminds us that every part of life, the joy, and the sorrow, is a blessing and both must be welcomed and entertained.
Jesus lived in ordinary and extraordinary times. He modeled a balanced life of beauty and abundance while balancing work with prayer and rest.
How do you live a balanced blessed life? What did you hear?
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.
Intentions
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 unspoken prayers and blessings. Amen.
Pause.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER OF BELONGING
Kathie/Mary Theresa: We are a priestly people. We are anointed. With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
All: O Nurturing, Mothering One, You are always with us. We are grateful for Your constant loving and unconditional presence. At times we forget that You are holding us, attending to us. We fall and You pick us up. You send strangers, friends and family to our aid. We are never without Your Light and Spirit.
We experience great joy and we experience great pain and suffering. You are with us in the joy and the pain and suffering. When we experience Your presence we long to sing our hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place –by Christopher Grundy
All: Creator and Lover of all beings, we cannot grow in the darkness of this world without Your Light. Our desire to be in Your light is a gift from You. Help us keep our hearts and minds open to You through our love and care for each other and all creation
Kathie/Mary Theresa: Please extend your hands in blessing
All: This bread and wine is a sign of Your nourishment and a sign of Your great love. Your Spirit is upon us and we belong to You and one another.
We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, revealing us as one with you, and all creation.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet. Once again he showed us how to love one another.
(All lift the bread)
All: Back at the table, he took the bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, go and share my love with one another.
(All lift the cup)
ALL: 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.
Bread and wine are transformed by Your Spirit and we are transformed when we open ourselves to Your Spirit. Every time we share this bread and wine we choose to be transformed. We choose to love as You love us.
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 receive the bread and cup with the words: I am blessed with abundance.
Communion Song: Blessings by Hollow Cove
Communion prayer:
Loving Source of our being, you call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice. We live justly, we love tenderly, we walk with integrity in Your Presence Amen.
Let us pray together the prayer of Jesus:
ALL: O Holy One, who is within, around, and among us, we celebrate your many names. Your wisdom comes. 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.
The Prayer of Jesus as interpreted by Miriam Therese Winter
BLESSING
Kathie/Mary Theresa: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together.
ALL: May we travel together and do our part to bring justice into the world. Where there is justice there is peace. May our gathering ignite us to love more fully. And like Jesus may we be a shining light and a blessing for all. Amen.
Closing Song: Celebration - Playing For Change | Song Around The World
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