Photo by Matt Palmer, Unsplash
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155
phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome: Welcome everyone, to our liturgy this evening. Tonight we will listen to the harsh words of the prophet Baruch. Woven into that harshness is hope. Let’s listen for it.
Opening Prayer: Let us pray. Holy One, we come together in your presence recognizing how destructive many of our actions have been throughout history. Tonight we seek the path to salvation. AMEN.
Opening Song: Come, Be in Our Hearts, Sara Thomsen
LITURGY OF THE WORD
FIRST READING
A Reading from Baruch 4:5-12
Take courage, my people,
O memorial of Israel!
It was not for destruction
that you were sold to the nations,
but you were handed over to your enemies
because you angered God.
For you provoked the One who made you,
by sacrificing to demons and not to God.
You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up,
and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you.
For she saw the wrath that came upon you from God,
and she said:
“Hearken, you neighbors of Zion,
God has brought great sorrow upon me;
for I have seen the captivity of my sons and daughters,
which the Everlasting brought upon them.
With joy I nurtured them,
but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow.
Let no one rejoice over me, a widow
and bereaved of many;
I was left desolate because of the sins of my children,
because they turned away from the law of God.
These words are attributed to Baruch, scribe for the prophet Jeremiah. We hear his words of sorrow and respond with Amen.
Alleluia (Eightfold) – Jan Phillips
https://youtu.be/IC4nbwmQDVw
SECOND READING
A Reading from Baruch 4:27-29
Take courage, my children, and cry to God,
for you will be remembered by the one who brought this upon you.
For just as you purposed to go astray from God,
return with tenfold zeal to seek God. For the one who brought these calamities upon you
will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.
We hear these words of Baruch and hear the hope in them. We respond with Amen.
Homily Starter
You have probably noticed that today’s readings are a bit different. When I looked at the suggested first reading from Baruch I cringed. I almost dumped it altogether. The language of the prophets is so often harsh and punishing. And the theology….well, it’s just not what we believe about a loving and forgiving God. But for some reason the reading kept drawing me in. And in. I kept returning to it. And as so often happens with scripture, once I looked deeper, beyond the 6th century BC theology, I began to see deep truth. So much so that I decided that it would be our only focus for this evening.
You may know that Baruch was scribe and close friend of the prophet Jeremiah. He wrote his text not long after the destruction of the temple and the captivity in Babylon that followed. So there was reason for the sadness and anger that both he and his mentor expressed in their writings.
And that brings us to today. Almost 2600 years later not much has changed.
So far in the year 2023 alone (this data is from August, and has probably changed for the worse since then) there have been 16 disasters directly linked to climate change in the US alone. Each event has cost over a billion dollars, and at least 200 lives have been lost. Untold numbers of people have been left homeless and jobless. Entire communities have been lost, or have suffered enormous economic damage. Just in the year 2023. The Maui fire alone cost over 80 lives and billions of dollars. Not to mention the loss of priceless historical memorabilia. That, my friends, describes only the disasters related to climate change. If we were to also consider the ones related to human injustice our heads would explode.
Yes, in so many ways we have forgotten the mother who nurtured us in joy. And now we are captives of a beast we ourselves have created. Of course, we no longer believe that we are being punished by some outside, Divine force. But every act has a consequence, and our cumulative acts of cruelty against our brothers, our sisters, and our earth have wrought horrible consequences indeed.
I decided to separate the one reading into two in order to distinguish the sin from the salvation that awaits us if only we are ready and willing to face the sin and expiate it by returning to root of Love from which we sprang. Every step in that direction is a step toward that promise of everlasting joy and salvation. So for me, this reading is not only about foreboding. There is hope here. I see hope when people young and old cry out for change. I see hope when, despite of the negativity, people keep reaching out to one another and keep trying their best to bring about justice for the earth and for each other. Here, on this injured planet, with the hands of millions of injured people, there is hope. We are the hope. We are the means to salvation.
What do you think of tonight’s readings? What hope do you see for salvation?
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.
Denise: 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
Denise: Please raise your hands and pray our Eucharistic Prayer together.
Gracious God, source and sustenance of life, redeeming presence to the pain and brokenness of our world, Holy Spirit, who enlivens and inebriates all that exists, we beseech your healing power upon us and all we pray for today.
Down through the ages, you rescue us from darkness. You light up our ways with wise and holy people. You restore our spirits and you revive our dwindling hope.
May the Spirit of life and wholeness transform us that we may be refreshed in our inner being and be empowered to bring mercy, love, and healing to those whose lives we touch.
For all you bring to our lives, and for all we seek amid
pain and suffering, we acclaim your love and greatness,
and we join with all creation to sing our hymn of praise:
Here in this Place – with lyrics – 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.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
Source of our health and wholeness, healer of body, mind, and spirit, we bring before you the darkness of our world, and the pain and suffering of your people.
We seek to be healed and made whole; we seek to be reconciled and united; we seek peace in our hearts and in our world.
We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts the empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses these gifts of bread and wine with the transforming energy of life, to nourish and sustain us in our time of need.
As we gather around this friendship table, we recall God’s
blessing and love from ages past, and we celebrate anew
the gift of life which we share among us at this Eucharistic feast.
The bread we break and the cup we share are symbols of our world of abundance where all are invited to partake of the fullness of life. But that life we often impede by our greed and selfishness and by our exploitation of other people.
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 plate and pray:
Back at the table, he took the Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, this is my very self.
All lift the cup and pray:
Then he took 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.
(pause)
Denise: 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 saying: “The path to salvation begins here.”
Communion Meditation: Root of the Root by Sara Thomsen
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 the decisions we make and the actions we take, demonstrate the Love of the Holy One. May we be a path to salvation. AMEN.
Closing Song: We Shall Overcome: Love Will Rise Again – Empty Hands Music
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