phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome to each of you as we celebrate Liturgy together. This community is nourishment for all of us. As we strengthen one another with our shared commitment to co-creation, let us pray…
Opening Prayer: Holy One, bless us with the gift of joy and wonder that we connect with the child within us. May that child lead us to love this Earth of ours with an open heart. Amen.
Brother Sun (Giving Glory)-Liz Vice from The Porter’s Gate, Climate Vigil Songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbLI_8kTyPY
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: From “The Liturgy of Home,” by Terry Tempest Williams
This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek.
Can we recommit ourselves to not only falling in love with our world again – but continuing to fall in love with this beautiful, broken world, even as our hearts break….
Our survival and the survival of all life on the planet depends on our response. Here. Now. Together.
These are the prophetic words of Terry Tempest Williams, ecological prophet and activist. We affirm her words with “Amen.”
Alleluia: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel: Mark 9: 33-37
They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house,
he began to ask them,
“What were you arguing about on the way?”
But they remained silent.
They had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.
Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”
This story about Jesus and his friends is from the gospel writer we know as Mark. We affirm it with Amen.
Shared Homily
Often, when I think about this gospel, I consider that little child Jesus held in his arms. A child, the least of these. The one we are called to receive, to welcome. Is it the same for you? Do you think of that child? Tonight, I want to take that thought one step further. I want to suggest that by welcoming a child, by receiving a child, we might also become open to the world of a child. We might experience the wonder of a child. Our world might become less frantic if we, like children, allow ourselves sometimes, to become absorbed in the moment. We might experience the joy of observing the changing seasons without fretting about the coming winter. We might even immerse ourselves in play as we ramble through fields and forests watching for colorful mushrooms among the fallen leaves. We might even fall in love with nature again.
Does Earth need us to take adult action to save her from the destruction of overuse and not enough love? Yes, of course. But to save her we first have to love her. And no one loves quite like a child, wholeheartedly and joyfully. So tonight, I want us to welcome, to receive, the children living within each of us. I want us to learn from them how to love with an open heart, how to take joy in this Earth, its streams and forests and mountains, with such fervor that we devote ourselves to her wellbeing, as only those who have fallen in love can.
What are your thoughts on tonight’s readings? Please share your wisdom.
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.
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.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer together:
O Holy One, you are always with us. In the blessed abundance of creation, we gather to celebrate Your nourishing gift of life. May our hearts be open as You invite us to participate in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation. May we be ever aware of Your Spirit within and among us as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty into the fullness of life.
We are grateful for Your Spirit whose breath inspired the primal waters, calling into being the variety and abundance we see around us. Your Spirit sustains and animates our every endeavor, inviting us to act in wisdom and in truth.
In gratitude and joy, we embrace our calling and we lift our voices to proclaim a song of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Holy, Holy, Holy, Karen Drucker
As a community, we gather in the power of your Spirit, refreshing wind, purifying fire and flowing water, for the variety and diversity of Creation. We seek to live as Jesus taught us, wise and holy as Spirit-filled people, courageous and prophetic, ever obedient to your call.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
Your Spirit resides within and around us and all of creation, including the bread and wine on this table. You have gifted us with 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, Jesus sat at supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet. When he returned to his place, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat;
This is my very self.
Jesus then raised a cup of blessing, spoke the grace and offered the wine 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.
In union with the Earth and all of her creatures, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking wisdom to discern more wisely your call to us as we live our daily lives.
We seek to act justly and courageously in confronting the suffering that desecrates the Earth and its peoples; to take risks in being proactive on behalf of the marginalized who suffer the environmental injustices of fouled air, tainted water, and a poverty of parks and public spaces that bring people together to enjoy nature. We pray for inspiration to act with the harmony and unity and synthesis that is modeled for us by the trees of the forest, and the stars of the evening.
Holy One, your transforming energy is always moving within us and working through us. 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.
Communion song: Blessings, by Hollow Coves https://youtu.be/5M3JL9sHS5Q
We are called to live the Gospel of Creation in harmony and gratitude with all our sisters and brothers across the Earth. We will live justly, love tenderly and walk with integrity in Your Presence.
Let us pray as Jesus taught us with an eye toward this Season of Creation:
Generous Creator, the intricate and elegant biodiversity of our world is your hallowed autograph on our lives, on our souls and in our hearts.
We yearn for the wholeness of being in harmony with Your will and with all living things.
Each day we draw on your creative, life-giving energy with gratitude, joy, and awe as we find nourishment in seed and field, river and forest.
May we be stewards and co-creators with you in caring for the gifts of Your Creation.
We acknowledge our shortcomings, especially our neglect of the environment. We seek to be reconciled with those we have hurt and we resolve to do better.
With your unfailing wisdom and the wind of Your Spirit, inspire us that we may reach out and love one another and care for the world, our home.
Strengthen us to work for local and global justice so that we may one day reap a harvest of equality and fairness as if they were wildflowers, propagating spontaneously, unerringly and in surprising abundance. Amen.
Let us pray together our closing blessing:
Creator most generous and kind, we thank you for your gift of our planet Earth. May we celebrate her with the joy of the child in us, and protect her with the earnestness of the adult in us. May we join the dance of creation as we recognize your glory in all of our fellow creatures. Amen.
Closing Song: Wonderful World, Playing for Change https://youtu.be/qdp1LfUkaY4?si=wpLw1djolIdzUKk2
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