phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome: Today’s reading shows us that even with good preaching and amazing healings Jesus’ family, friends and neighbors were questioning his abilities. I wonder if Jesus was questioning his abilities too? Did Jesus wonder if he was really hearing the call and following what he believed to be his path?
Opening Prayer: Holy One, we are an insecure people. We doubt our abilities, our strengths and gifts. Please helps us be aware of the many signs, wonders, and people in our lives that remind us we are a good people. Amen
Opening song: How Could Anyone Ever Tell You by Shaina Knoll video by Denise Hackert-Stoner
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A reading from the Psalm 139
YHWH you’ve searched me and you know me. Where could I run from your Spirit? Where could I flee from your presence? If I could go up to the heavens, you’re there. I could fly away with wings made of dawn, or make my home on the far side of the sea, but even there your hand will guide me, your might hand holding me fast.
You created my inmost being and stitched me together in my mother’s womb. For All these mysteries I thank you-for the wonder of myself, for the wonder of your works my soul knows it well.
These are the inspired words of the psalmist known as David.
Celtic Alleluia – Christopher Walker MTVideo
Gospel: A Gospel reading according to the writer known as Mark (6:1-6)
Jesus came home to his own town, Nazareth, followed by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and the many listeners were astonished and said, “Where did he learn all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted, and these miracles that have been performed by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses and Judah and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?” They found these things to be stumbling blocks.
Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometowns and among their relatives in their own households.” And he could work no miracles there, apart from laying his hands on a few sick people and healing them; their lack of faith astounded him. He made the rounds of the surrounding villages instead and spent the time teaching.
We affirm these words by saying: AMEN
Shared Homily: The people of Jesus’ time and perhaps all peoples are always looking for someone to show them the way. We each have our individual ideas of what a strong leader should be, how they should act and maybe even how they should look. How many times have we met someone and believed them to be the “real deal”, and in no time at all are disappointed, or disillusioned by something they said or did. We tend to place others on pedestals and before we know it, we are knocking them down.
If we look at biblical history, we see over and over that God rarely if ever chooses someone who has already made it to the top to lead the people. Moses was a murderer, David was an adulterer and a murderer, Mary and Joseph were poor and unknown, the shepherds were the least in the labor market, and John the Baptist was a sight to see in his camel hair shirt, eating grasshoppers and honey and like we heard last week Zacchaeus was small in stature and not well liked. Biblical well knowns, and modern-day saints are often not at the top of the rich and famous list. Dorothy Day had an abortion, and later had a child and never married. This was very scandalous in her time. Martin Luther King and Jack Kennedy were not always faithful husbands. There are many flawed human beings whom God chooses including you and me to join in the co-creating of the universe.
We know Jesus did not fit the idea of the Messiah that the Jews were waiting for. Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah. The church decided that for him and us 300 years later. You and I will never know what Jesus really thought of his call and mission. We do know that when family, friends, religious, Rome, attacked him he kept “calm and carried on”.
One of the important verses in this gospel says, “and he could work no miracles there”. You and I may never perform miracles, but we can lay on hands, and hold each other in prayer. We can do our best when questioned or judged and not set our hair on fire, but to stay the path and continue with our mission. Everyone has a mission, a call. Have you reflected on what your mission is? We struggle every day, but we know we are called and chosen and wonderfully made! We need each other to remind us of our call and to stay on the path. We have each other’s back.
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: I have a call and a mission.
Communion Song: Blessings by Hollow Coves (video, DHS)
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 learn to live with our many differences. May we dream and work for change. May we love extravangently now and always. Amen.
Closing Song: A Gathering of Spirits by Carrie Newcomer (MT video)
https://youtu.be/zGLFtOFPqHU?si=HQhd8zEONT0_Knyf
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