Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155
phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome:
Today we celebrate the culmination of the Life of Jesus and the very beginning of the Community of Followers of Jesus and The Way. We are here together as an outcome of this event. Spirit was speaking to each one there and continues to speak to each of us today. We have asked all to wear a stole of your choice today as a sign of your call from Spirit. As we did last year, we will place our stoles on the Friendship Table here or in your sacred space at home, as a sign of our commitment to follow Spirit as Jesus did, to serve and to love.
Opening Prayer: Holy Spirit, you know us intimately, even better than we know ourselves. We are grateful for our awareness of your presence in our lives. We give you our complete attention and promise to do our best to walk in the ways that you reveal to us every day.
Opening Song: More Light (Christopher Grudy)
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading, from the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2: 1-11
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astounded, and in amazement they asked,
"Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene,
as well as travelers from Rome,
both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs,
yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God."
These are inspired words from the Acts of the Apostles, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Alleluia: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel Reading: John 20: 19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, "Peace be with you."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
These are inspired words from the Gospel of John, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Shared Homily:
Juanita: As a leader working with Explorer Scouts the patrol leader’s job was to teach them how to build a fire to survive in the High Sierra back packing trips. Sometimes the reason the fire didn’t burn is the wood was wet or was piled too tight which prevented the oxygen to flow into it. Judy Brown wrote a poem about what makes the fire burn is the space between the wood. “Too many logs packed tightly together douses the flame almost as if a pail of water would.” Pentecost is about leaving some space between so we can breathe.
In the gospel Jesus breathed on everyone gathered in the upper room. In creation God breathed life into both man and woman. As the infant emerges from the womb the placenta begins to separate and the cord stops pulsating as oxygen flows into the lungs of the baby who then breathes in new life. When Jesus appeared in the room with the fearful disciples their wind has been knocked out of them because they abandoned Jesus and feared the Romans. Jesus breathed in them the new life of Ruah- the breath of Sophia Wisdom, a new life of Creation.
That’s what Pentecost is about no matter what life has given us such as tragedies, war, greed, shootings, inflation, homelessness, human trafficking, death of loved ones. Many of us are having the wind knocked out of us. The Spirit of Ruah breathes in new life -a new genesis. As Fr Joe Nassal wrote, “Breathe down upon us our troubled world and set our hearts on fire, the fire of prophetic enthusiasm.
Deb: Pentecost is a miracle of the early Christian Community.
But we have forgotten that Pentecost is not just ours, not a Christian celebration. In the first reading, the community was together as “the time for Pentecost was fulfilled”. Pentecost is a Jewish celebration, related to the counting of days from Passover, and has as one of its rabbinic teaching themes, the honoring of the Gift of the Ten Commandments from Moses to the people. It is the start of the Jewish community, the start of the Christian community. It all sounds familiar. We are connected more than we know.
Spirit breathing on and in us allows us to Stand Up. We witness that Spirit DOES exist, that Spirit is within us.
How do you hear and listen to Spirit? Do you remember that Spirit permeates your very core? What can we do together to bring that awareness to others?
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.
Prayers of the Community
Presider: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. 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 concerns. Amen.
Please come and place your stole on the Friendship Table or in your holy space at home as a sign of Spirit’s Call in your life and your active response to that Call.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
adapted from Diarmuid O’Murchu
Presider: With open hands let us 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:
Holy Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy with Lyrics
Presider: 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)
Presider: 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: We Listen in the Spirit of Truth.
Communion Song: I am the One. (Janis Ian, video by Denise Hackert Stoner.)
Prayer After Communion
Presider: In faith and hope we are sustained,
In grace our dignity reclaimed,
In praise we thank our God.
Grant that we may strive to create a world where suffering and pain are diminished, where justice and peace are restored, and where all people can live in health and wholeness, united in acclaiming the God of life, whose abundance is offered to each and to all, until the Kin-dom arrives in the fullness of time.
This prayer we make in the name of our healing and nurturing God through, with, and in whom we offer these gifts, sources of life, love, and goodness, now and forever. Amen.
Reader: Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
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
Presider: Let us raise our hands and bless each other.
Come, Holy Spirit, breathe down upon our troubled world.
Shake the tired foundations of our rumbling institutions…and from the dust and rubble gather up the seedling of a new creation.
Come, Holy Spirit enflame once more the dying embers of our weariness. Shake up our complacency.
Whisper our names once more, and scatter your gifts of grace with wild abandon.
Break open the prisons of our inner being, and let your raging justice be our liberty.
Come, Holy Spirit, and lead us to places we would rather not go; expand the horizons of our limited imagination.
Awaken in our souls dangerous dreams for a new tomorrow, and rekindle in our hearts the fire of prophetic enthusiasm.
Written by Diarmuid O’Murchu
Closing Song: Send Down the Fire by Marty Haugen
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