phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome: Good afternoon and welcome to you all! I’m so glad you were able to join us today as we consider the sound and power of silence and how we connect with God.
Opening Prayer: Let us pray. Holy One, help us to quiet our minds and our hearts so that we can hear the whisper of your voice. AMEN.
Opening Song: Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel
LITURGY OF THE WORD
FIRST READING
A Reading from the 1st Book of Kings 19:1-3a, 4-8, 9a, 11-13
Ahab, the Ruler, told Jezebel, his wife, all that Elijah had done—that he had murdered all their prophets by the sword. Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah and said, “May the gods do thus to me and more, if by this time tomorrow I have not done with your life what was done to each of them.” Elijah was afraid and fled for his life.
After a day’s journey into the desert, Elijah saw a solitary broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death. “Enough, God! Take my life! I am no better than my ancestors.” He lay down and fell asleep under the solitary broom tree.
Suddenly, an angel, a messenger of God, touched him and said, “Get up and eat!” Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again. The angel of God came back a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you!” Elijah got up. He ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. There, Elijah came to a cave and took shelter.
God said to Elijah, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Holy Presence, your God, Who is about to pass by.” A strong wind came. It was so strong that it split mountains and broke rocks in pieces. But God was not in the wind. After the wind, came an earthquake. But God was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, came fire. But God was not in the fire. After the fire, came the sound of sheer silence.
When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then, a voice said to him: “Elijah, why are you here?”
These are the inspired words of a Court Historian and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
SECOND READING
A Reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans 9:1-5
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus the Christ. Still, at all times, I carry a heavy sorrow. It is an unceasing anguish in my heart, felt with the sincerity of pain. As a follower of Christ, I do not lie. The Holy Spirit is my witness: I would gladly be cursed and cut off from the Christ if no longer cut off from my own people. They are Israelites. They are my family. To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the matriarchs and patriarchs of faith. And from them, through physical descent, comes the Messiah, who is over all. Blessed be God forever! Amen.
These are the inspired words of the Apostle Paul and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Alleluia (Eightfold) – Jan Phillips
https://youtu.be/IC4nbwmQDVw
GOSPEL
A Reading from the Gospel attributed to Matthew 14:22-33
While Jesus dismissed the crowds whom he had fed with loaves and fish, he had the disciples get into the boat to go on ahead to the other side of the sea. After they left, he went up to a mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, Jesus was there alone. By this time the disciples’ boat, battered by the waves, was far from land, for the wind was against them. Deep into the night, before dawn, Jesus came towards them, walking upon the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It’s an apparition!” They cried out in fear. Immediately, Jesus spoke to them and said, “Have courage. It is I. Do not be afraid.”
Peter said, “Teacher, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” So, Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. Noticing the wind, he became frightened and began to sink. “Please,” he cried, “save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him. “How little faith you have,” Jesus said to Peter. “Why did you doubt?” As they got into the boat, the wind became still. And those in the boat bowed in homage to Jesus, saying, “Truly you are of God.”
These are the inspired words of the gospel writer we call Matthew and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Shared Homily
Julie: Poor Paul. Now there’s something I don’t often say! The early writings attributed to Paul are marvelously radical and inclusive but by the time we get to “Paul’s letter to Timothy” someone is using Paul’s name to say that women should be silent in church. You can imagine my feelings on that! But today’s second reading shows a different side of Paul, a more human side. In today’s reading, Paul is missing his Jewish family because while he’s become a follower of Jesus, not all of his friends and family came with him. I can relate. Not all of my friends and family are on board with our progressive theology or women’s ordination. It makes me sad that there’s this gulf between us. And yet, for me at least, there’s no going back to that old, small way of thinking and believing.
And then there’s poor Jesus. In last week’s gospel we read about how he tried to be alone to grieve the death of his relative John the Baptist but the crowds followed him, and he ended up feeding them from five loaves and two fishes. This week, the story continues just after that meal, when Jesus once again tried to be alone. To get some peace, he put the disciples on a boat while he went up a mountain to pray. But the wind kicked up and the disciples freaked out and Jesus walked across the water to reassure them. Except the sight of someone walking across the water just freaked them out more. Jesus even calls Peter to walk out to meet him, which goes great until Peter gets scared and starts to sink. Oh boy. Talk about a life lesson: we can do great things just as long as we believe. As soon as doubt and fear creep in, we’re sunk. Maybe not as literally as Peter but still, we cannot move forward until we get quiet, recenter ourselves, and start again.
This idea of getting away to a quiet place was introduced in our first reading when Elijah took shelter on Mount Horeb, also called Sinai, and waited for God. God wasn’t in the power of the wind or the force of the earthquake or the heat of the fire. No, God was in the “the sound of sheer silence.”
In the hubbub of our everyday lives, it can be hard to hear the voice of God. How do you hear “the sound of sheer silence” over televisions and laptops and ear buds? As we saw with Jesus, it can be hard to get away from people too! So how do we do it? How do we find peace in our day? Is it by waking up a few minutes before everyone else? Or by making our way to a quiet corner of the room? What works for you? And what would you like to share about today’s readings?
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Please join in proclaiming our 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.
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: Please raise your hands and pray our eucharistic prayer together.
O Holy One, you have birthed us in goodness, gifted us with life and cherished us in love. In the heart of our being, your Spirit dwells; a Spirit of courage and vision, a Spirit of wisdom and truth.
In the power of that same Spirit, we lift our hearts in prayer, invoking anew the gift of wisdom and enlightenment, that we may continue to praise and thank you, in union with all who sing this ancient hymn of praise:
Here in this Place – Christopher Grundy
Holy One, we see around us the work of your hands, the fruit of your wisdom and love. The unfolding story of creation witnesses unceasingly to your creative power. We, your creatures, often deviate from that wisdom, thus hindering your creative presence in our midst.
Sending among us Jesus, our brother, you birth afresh in our world the power of Sophia-Wisdom, and in the gift of Your Spirit, your creative goodness blooms anew, amid the variety and wonder of life.
(Extend hands in blessing.)
We invoke Your Spirit upon the gifts of this Eucharistic table, bread of the grain and wine of the grape, that they may 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 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.
(Lift the bread and pray the following:)
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. Go and love one another.
(Lift the 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.
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.
In faith and hope we are sustained; in grace and dignity reclaimed. In praise, we thank you.
In union with all peoples living and dead, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking wisdom and courage:
- to discern more wisely your call to us in the circumstances of our daily lives;
- to act justly and courageously in confronting the pain and suffering that desecrates the Earth and its peoples;
- to take risks in being creative and proactive on behalf of the poor and marginalized;
- and to love all people with generosity of heart, beyond the labels of race, creed and color.
And may we ever be aware and alert to the new things Your Spirit makes possible in us, as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty, into the fullness of life to which all are called, participating in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation.
Please receive the bread and wine with the words I am the face of the divine.
Communion Meditation: Quiet Place by the Many
https://youtu.be/hcq385i1kHE
Prayer after communion: Let us pray. Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live compassionate lives, for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Spirit within, moving us to glorify you, O Holy One, at this time and all ways. AMEN.
Let us pray 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
Please raise your hands as we bless each other:
May we carry joy and hope in our hearts every day. May we love and care for each always. May our name be a blessing in our time. AMEN.
Closing Song: How Can I Keep from Singing by NYC Virtual Choir & Orchestra
https://youtu.be/VLPP3XmYxXg
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