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Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
What’s Love Got to do with it?
Welcome and Theme: Mary Theresa
Good morning and welcome to the Upper Room. We are so happy you have joined us. A startling quote from a beloved mystic provides our theme this morning. The Spanish mystic St Teresa of Avila said “Maybe we don’t know what love is. I would not be the least bit surprised to find this to be true.” Our theme today is Love. It is often said that God is Love. Together, let us consider the profound and beautiful implications of this. Let us take a few minutes to consider what this could mean in our lives as adult believers.
Opening Prayer: Gail
We come together as companions on this journey toward Love. We are deeply aware that the Spirit is within, around and among us. May we draw on this Spirit to help us to listen. May all that we learn help us and all those we meet to experience the Love that transforms. We are willing to be transformed into the image of the one whom we seek.
Opening Song: Endless is Your Love
https://youtu.be/hEkDQrN68ug?si=6eHmS4_IyNkXylKo
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Joan C.
1 John 4:7-10
Beloved, let us love one another because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten of God. Those who do not love have known nothing of God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed in our midst in this way: by sending the Only Begotten into the world, that we might have faith through the Anointed One. Love, then, consists in this: not that we have God, but that God has loved us and has sent the Only Begotten to be an offering for our sins.
These are the inspired sword of the disciple known as John and we affirm them with, Amen.
Second Reading: Gail
Excerpts from What is Love? by Becky Zartman
To love and be loved is to begin a process of transformation.
The transformative power of love is always beautiful, but it is not pretty. It's always good, but it will hurt. A lot. Some things within us must die to make room for more love. It might help to think about roses for a moment. Not two dozen long-stemmed red roses, which is usually what we think of when we think of roses and love. These will be thrown in the trash a few weeks after Valentine's Day, so forget about them. Instead, think of a rose bush, a living source of beauty and grace all summer long. The thing about rose bushes, however, is that they need to be radically pruned to produce a bountiful display of truly stunning beauty. And humans must also be pruned. Love acts like our gardening shears.
With each cut of the scissors, we cut off the dead and non-productive branches, making way for new shoots. We begin to change the way we act. A trim. Things that seemed absorbing and important no longer seem to matter. Another cut. We begin to care more deeply about others, which makes us vulnerable. A trim. We might also begin to realize our true value, as someone loved, as someone who was created to be loved, as someone who was created to love. This begins to change our unhealthy relationships, wreaking havoc on our lives. When we finish pruning, there seems to be nothing left. Certainly, no rose, just a mangled stump covered in thorns. But every dead branch that love has cut off has left room in our lives for love to grow. And taking the weight off feels good. We can begin to discover what it means to flourish, to love ourselves, to love others.
Bernard of Clairvaux was on to this when he wrote in his treatise on love: "The more surely you know that you are loved, the easier it will be for you to love in return" After our pruning, a virtuous cycle begins: when we find it easier to love in return, so too. It is easier to know that we ourselves are loved, which makes it even easier to love. The transformation from stump to something stupendously beautiful does not happen quickly, but once it begins, when nurtured, love becomes stronger and stronger. We produce buds and leaves, then buds and finally roses. Rose, after rose, after rose. Eventually, we may barely recognize each other. Somehow, we are more ourselves than we have ever been, certainly more beautiful, and yet less concerned with the question of who we are. Life is filled with roses: purpose, grace, love. Having been pruned to the very core of ourselves, now knowing that nothing can separate us from this love, we are finally free to be ourselves fully and unabashedly. We simply bloom and fill the garden with fragrance and beauty, a gift to all who pass by.
These are inspired words of Becky Zartman and we affirm them with, Amen.
Alleluia: Celtic Alleluia
https://youtu.be/o1rc7ojQtJU?si=h2g7ynAckbawVAcK
Gospel:
John 15:9-13, 16-17
As my Abba has loved me, so have I loved you. Live on in my love. And you will live in my love if you keep my commandments, just as I live on in Abba God’s love and have kept God’s commandments. I tell you all this that my joy may be yours, and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. It was not you who chose me; it was I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit. Your fruit must endure, so that whatever you ask of Abba God in my name God will give you. This command I give you: that you love one another.
These are the inspired words of the Gospel writer known as John and we affirm them with, Amen.
Shared Homily prepared by Kim
The love that these readings refer to is the Greek term Agape. This love is sometimes thought to be the love of friends and community but this is just one narrow aspect of it. Agape is the all encompassing love that includes and exceeds love of self, neighbor, spouse, community, animals and the planet. If God is love and we are called to follow Jesus, then we are drawn into the mystery of faith. Augustine said “If I can understand it, it isn’t God”. So, I would suggest that this invites us to tremendous humility. Love is more than an emotion, a feeling, a person to care about and more than deeds of service. Love is the very essence of God and the innermost part of our being. The path to God therefore is to be loving, to be humble and willing to change. We must be open to the pruning of our egos and our self image. We must be open to the pruning of the resistance to loss and change. We must be open to the pruning of the anger and bitterness that block our blooming. We must be open to the pruning of our grasping . Anything that blocks our way can and will be pruned by the action of seeking the mystery in a way that is active and risky. We often kid with the phrase “Be careful what you pray for”. Do we really want to be transformed if it hurts , if it’s scary, if it challenges our human preference for security and predictability? I believe that we in the Upper Room would say yes. Still as our dear brother Fr Leo O’Brien would ask “what did you hear and what would it ask of you?”
What did you hear in these readings and theme?
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.
Mary Theresa: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we voice our intentions beginning with the words, “We bring to the table…..”
Presider: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Mary Theresa: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together:
All: 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 the ancient hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here In this Place
https://youtu.be/uXyu57tR2gk?si=KP4CbR8DqjBPhAav
Elaine andALL: 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.
Presider 2: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: 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 the Seder 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.
All lift their plate and pray the following:
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat; this is my very self.
All lift their 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.
(consume bread and wine)
Communion Song: The Rose
https://youtu.be/9te_6kUZqgY?si=UJTAnbdqmvNhotNK
Prayer after Communion: Gail
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.
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.
Gail: Let us pray the prayer 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
Gail: Let us pray together our blessing:
Holy Spirit Sophia wisdom fill our hearts with a burning Love. Help us to be courageous and persistent pilgrims on this path. May we seek the pruning of ourselves so as to bloom with the joy and the love of Christ. May these blooms bring all good and blessings into our own lives and the life of the world, may it be so, amen.
Closing Song: Love Large
https://youtu.be/8ehQRPknqtg?si=rL6gHEah8hoRCrvk
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