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Welcome: Today’s Gospel is not an easy one. I think we have said the same about other Gospels! Being in relationship with the Holy One and each other is not easy. Let’s see what today’s readings bring.
Opening Prayer: God of abundance you created us to be in relationship with you and all creation. We struggle every day, and we experience you every day in one another. We always belong. Amen.
Opening song: All Belong Here - The Many - Lyric Video
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A excerpt from Mysticism: The Bridge between religion and evolution by Ilia Delio
Theology cannot not be reduced to intellectual thought alone; it is not a set of doctrines or formulas. God reveals Godself in Jesus. The very nature of revelation is an invitation to relationship with God. If theology is going to have anything to say to the world today, searching for God is necessary. Theology can only breathe new life if it returns to the search for the infinite within. Without the inner journey, God remains incomplete, and the world remains in darkness. God is not an idea to be proved or even believed, but an awareness of immediate experience. One who experiences God is changed to the core. Becoming aware of God and opening up to the divine reality is the healing of self and world.
The community affirms these words by saying AMEN!
Alleluia (Eightfold) – Jan Phillips shortened
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel from Matthew
At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Heir to the House of David Have pity on me!
My daughter is tormented by a demon." Jesus gave her no word of response.
Jesus' disciples came and asked him,
"Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."
Finally, Jesus turned to the woman and said, “My mission is only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, "Help me Rabbi." He answered, but is it right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs?
“ True Rabbi,” she replied , "but even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table."
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
"Woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish."
At that moment the woman's daughter was healed.
This gospel is attributed to the community of Matthew.
The community affirms them with AMEN!
Shared Homily
We keep hearing over and over as we dive deep into the scriptures that there is more so much more than our initial surface reading. We know theology is the study of God but when we study and pray with scripture, we are not just studying but really connecting to our relationship with God and consequently to our relationship with others. As Ilia Delio says in the first reading: God is not an idea but an experience, an invitation to relationship. There is an invitation in this gospel story.
The gospel is disagreeable. Jesus is not very nice! We don’t like to hear our beloved Jesus talking this way. Let’s see what we can tease out, realizing this a true story that came to be but may not be factual.
A Canaanite woman approaches Jesus with a desperate request. Her daughter is gravely ill, and this mother approaches Jesus and his disciples at great risk. Notice Jesus does not respond. He is ignoring her. He is not looking at the woman, but he is watching his disciples. Jesus is waiting to see how the disciples will respond. We know the disciples react with annoyance, “Send her away.” Jesus’ disciples do not interact with Canaanites, let alone women. The mother persists and Jesus delays his response again. I imagine he was still looking at the disciples. The verse begins with “Finally” Jesus turned to the woman and reminds her what his mission is, but she begs for help again. Jesus answers her with a question: is it right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs? The disciples must have sighed with relief. Phew! Jesus was behaving just as he should, just as the culture dictates. But of course, with Jesus there is always a twist… She stands up to Jesus even though the culture of the time says she is not worthy. She challenges Jesus. She speaks truth to power and reminds him to do the right thing. I think Jesus smiles at her and with love says she has courage, chutzpah, and great faith. Jesus surprised, no stunned the disciples. Jesus began by behaving as expected. Jesus ends with a loving action that turns everyone’s world upside down.
What resonated for you in these readings?
Statement of Faith
All: We believe in one God, 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 God's Word,
bringer of God's healing, heart of God's compassion,
bright star in the firmament of God's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of God's love,
a source of God's wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of God's peace in the world.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
The life of God that is our innermost life,
the breath of God moving in our being.
The depth of God living in each of us.
We believe that God's 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.
Prayers of the Community
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.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER OF BELONGING
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
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 the 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: The Holy One gives us all that we need.
Communion Song: God of Abundance by Kit Mills
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
Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together
May we know we are loved, for we are in relationship with the Holy One! May we be aware of the Spirit within. And may we breathe life and love in all we do. Amen.
Closing Song Canticle of the Turning by Rory Cooney Video by Denise Hackert-Stoner
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