phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Julie Welcome! We are so happy to have you join us this afternoon as we celebrate passionate unconditional love.
Opening Prayer: Let us pray: Holy One, you love us and want us to be safe and happy. Help us love ourselves enough to follow the light of your way. AMEN.
Opening Song: Be a Light – shortened Thomas Rhett (lyrics ) ft. Keith Urban, Chris Tomlin, Hillary Scott & Reba McEntire
Liturgy of the Word
FIRST READING
A Reading from the book of Exodus (20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17)
Then God spoke all these words, and said, “I am YHWH who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of that house of bondage.
"Do not worship any gods except me!
“Do not utter the Name of YHWH to misuse it, for YHWH will not acquit anyone who utters God's name to misuse it!
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy!
"Honor your mother and your father, so that you may have a long life in the land that YHWH has given to you!
"No murdering!
"No adultery!
"No stealing!
"No giving false testimony against your neighbor!
"No desiring your neighbor’s house! No desiring your neighbor’s spouse, or worker—female or male—or ox, or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor!”
These are the inspired words of an Early Israelite, and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
PSALM
Psalm 103 (Nan Merrill)
Our Psalm Response is: You guide us on the way.
R: You guide us on the way.
Bless the Beloved, O my soul, and all that is within me;
Bless your Holy Name!
Bless the Beloved, O my soul, and remember the goodness of Love.
You forgive our stubbornness.
You heal our disease.
You save us from the snares of fear.
You crown us with steadfast Love and Compassion.
You satisfy our every need and renew our spirit like the eagle's.
Through You comes peace and justice for all who are oppressed.
You make known the pathway of truth and guide us on the Way.
R: You guide us on the way.
You are merciful and gracious,
quelling our anger with your patient Love.
You love us beyond imagining; in truth, we belong to You.
For You understand us and know our ways,
requiting us not according to our ignorance and error.
As far as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is your loving response toward those who are humble;
So far does your enduring strength
uphold those who face their fears within.
R: You guide us on the way.
As for humanity, our days are like the grass,
we flourish like a flower of the field;
When the wind passes over, it is gone; its place knows it no more.
Yet the steadfast Love of the Beloved is from everlasting to everlasting,
and Your redeeming justice, O God, is for all generations!
The Beloved's home is in our hearts, as we discover in the Silence.
Bless the Beloved, O you angels,
you faith - filled ones who abandon themselves into Love's hands!
R: You guide us on the way.
Verse Before the Gospel
John 3:16
God so loved the world as to give the Only Begotten One,
that whoever believes may not die, but have eternal life.
GOSPEL
A Reading from the Good News attributed to John (2:13-25)
Since it was almost the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
In the Temple, he found people selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons, while moneychangers sat at their counters. Making a whip out of cords, Jesus drove them all out of the Temple—even the cattle and sheep—and overturned the tables of the moneychangers, scattering their coins.
Then he faced the pigeon sellers: “Take all of this out of here! Stop turning God's house into a market!”
The disciples remembered the words of scripture:
"Zeal for your house consumes me."
The Temple authorities intervened and said, "What sign can you show us to justify what you've done?”
Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
They retorted, “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you're going to raise it up in three days?” But the temple he was speaking of was his body. It was only after Jesus had been raised from the dead that the disciples remembered this statement and believed the scripture—and the words that Jesus had spoken.
While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, many people believed in him, for they could see the signs he was performing. But Jesus he knew all people and didn't entrust himself to them. Jesus never needed evidence about people's motives; he was well aware of what was in everyone's heart.
These are the inspired words of the anonymous storyteller we call John, and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Shared Homily Julie: When you were growing up and your parents gave you rules, do you remember what they said? I mean, besides “because I said so.” They said they wanted to keep you safe. No playing with matches because it’s dangerous, right? In the same way, the YHWH gave the Israelites, and by extension us, rules to keep us safe. The Ten Commandments go beyond safe to being rules that will also make us happy. I can see the skepticism so bear with me for a moment.
What the Holy One is asking of us with these ten rules is for us to be devoted to God and to care for other people. God comes first and we respect the Holy One’s sacred name. Then we devote an entire day to God. That’s what the sabbath is supposed to be about, stepping back from the world of doing for one day to bask in the joy of being. As a group, we Westerners kinda stink at this one; I’m working on it myself.
The rest of the commandments are about caring for other people. Caring for elderly parents, protecting life, being faithful to and content with our spouses and our lives, not stealing or lying. Care, contentment, and honesty are all marks of happy and healthy lives. And when our lives aren’t happy or healthy or safe, we need to take steps to make sure they are. You can be sure that I am never going to tell anyone that they need to risk their safety with a dangerous family member or spouse or friend or even priest!
And yet sometimes happy and healthy people have to take a stand on an intolerable issue. For Jesus, it was the people selling sacrificial animals and the money changers in the temple. “Take all of this out of here! Stop turning God's house into a market!” Regardless of what some people will try to tell you, no one knows exactly what Jesus was thinking at the time. Maybe Jesus was inspired by the need to move past animal sacrifice or the idea that we can buy God’s blessings or forgiveness with a sacrifice, like it’s nothing more than a business transaction and not the gift of a loving God. Jesus taught and, more importantly, passionately lived the example of a God who loves us unconditionally. Can you imagine what the world would look like if we all lived lives of passionate unconditional love?
What did you hear? What will you do? What, if anything, will it cost you? Please unmute and share your thoughts and insights on today’s readings.
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.
Liturgy of the Eucharist
(Written by Jay Murnane)
Julie: As we prepare for this sacred meal, we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our prayers for the community. Please share your blessings, cares, and concerns starting with the words, “I bring to the table…”
We pray for these and all the unspoken intentions held in the silence of our hearts. AMEN.
Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.
Blessed are you, Holy One, source of all creation. Through your goodness you made this world and called us to be Your co-creators. We give thanks for the diversity and beauty of life around us and within us.
We open our awareness to the goodness of all of creation and we remember our responsibility to serve. You invite us to build the earth into a community of love rooted in justice. You placed confidence in us, for you made us and you know that we are good.
In joy and in thanksgiving we join with all the faithful servants who have gone before us and we sing:
Here In This Place by Christopher Grundy
https://youtu.be/uXyu57tR2gk?
We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, and revealing us as one with you and all of creation.
He lived among us to show us who we are and challenged us to know you. He taught us the strength of compassionate love.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We are grateful for your Spirit at our Eucharistic Table and for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world.
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, so that they would remember him.
(All lift their plates 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 share my love with the world.
(pause)
(All lift their cups and pray the following:)
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)
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives. As we share communion, we become Communion both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.
You are called, consecrated, and chosen to serve. Please receive Communion with the words: I am loved.
Communion Song: You Say - Lauren Daigle
https://youtu.be/sIaT8Jl2zpI?
Prayer after communion:
Julie: Holy One, we are willing to do everything Jesus did, to re-create the living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and liberates, of a joy that generates hope, of a light that illumines people and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity.
We trust you to continue to share with us your own spirit, the spirit that animated Jesus, for it is through his life and teaching, all honor and glory are yours, O Holy One, forever and ever. AMEN.
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy One, you are 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 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.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
Blessing
Julie: Let us raise our hands in blessing and pray together:
May we feel the passionate unconditional love of the Holy One every day. May we, like Jesus, be a shining light in the world. AMEN
Closing Song: Extravagant Love - The Many
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