Moment of Oneness: For Hope and Freedom of Fear Wednesday, October 30, 2024 - Prepared by Dennis McDonald and Denise Hackert-Stoner

 

Welcome.  This evening as we gather as friends we are aware of the sharp edges of fear and the crushing sense of anxiety many of us feel.  Let us take a moment to remember that hope is stronger than fear.  We have, as individuals and as a community, done what we can.  Now let us release ourselves into the unbounded Love of our Holy One, and breathe.

Opening Song:  Be Still And Know by Shaina Knoll 

https://youtu.be/CCGsExqtYKo

Welcome

Opening Prayer: Psalm 56 (From Psalms for Praying, Nan Merrill)

If You had kept count of my transgressions, 

Your tears could fill a lake. 

Are they not in your book?

Now my fears will be turned back, 

in the day when I call. 

This I know, that the Beloved dwells within. 

In You, whose Word I praise, 

in the Holy One, whose Word I praise, 

In You shall I trust without fear. 

What can others do to me? 

 

My vows to You I must uphold, 

O Beloved; 

I give You thanks, my heart 

overflows with gratitude. 

For you deliver me from the depths of despair. 

You, my fears you help me to face; 

they are put to rest. 

That I may walk with You, 

O Beloved, 

into the light of a new dawn. 

Poem: Hoping in the Darkness by Henri Nouwen

 

Hope means to keep living

Amid desperation

And to keep humming

in the darkness.

Hope is knowing that there is love,

it is trust in tomorrow

it is falling asleep

and waking again

when the sun rises.

In the midst of a gale at sea,

It is to discover land.

In the eyes of another

it is to see that you are understood ...

And as long as there is still hope

There will also be prayer ...

And you will be held

in God's hands.

 

Meditative Song: Come Hope by Amanda Udis Kessler

https://youtu.be/KcOMCej9VXs?si=Ke5pkgQKz9S42g-L

 

Reading:  From Carrie Newcomer, “A Gathering of Spirits, September 15, 2024

“Fear is the cheapest room in the house

I would like to see you living

In better conditions.” ~Hafiz

This is a season filled with fear messaging. It is human to be afraid. There is a very old part of our brain that is designed to keep us safe, to always be scanning the landscape for the tiger in the bushes, to be assessing which berry is healthy or poisonous. This part of brain has a function, we learn to not touch a hot stove or jump from places too high to land safely. But at the same time that it is ok to have very human experiences with fear, we also learn that we don’t have to “be” the fear. Our fears can be debilitating and may or may not be based in current reality. And in a season of fear messaging, fear can be manipulated by unscrupulous players. When we are afraid, we are more likely to abdicate our reason, or lose our compass and follow what proposes the easiest way to some version called safety. When that happens, fear is indeed “the cheapest room in the house” and we all can claim better accommodations.

One of the fears being played upon is that of difference, that that difference is dangerous. But we don’t have to “be” that fear. As [Thomas] Merton wrote we are all walking around shining like the sun, we are all intimately connected in deep and powerful ways. There is not just comfort in sensing that elemental connection, but also empowerment.

When an individual chooses to not “be” the fear, but act in small daily ways that some folks would just call “being neighborly”, the pillars that support fear and division are chipped away - and eventually brought down.

So this week when every news outlet is calling for our fear, let us be courageous. Let us seek better accommodations. Let us reach out and have conversations that extend welcome and connection. Let us help one another to step back from messages that divide and destroy the essential threads of connection in our communities. Let us speak a different message, sing a better song.

We are all shining like the sun and we all deserve better accommodations.

Ok….and let us vote, and encourage others to exercise their right to vote.

Intentions:

A Prayer for Unity in Diversity at this Time of Crisis –

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, modified by Dennis McDonald (2024)

Let us pray for a peaceful election and transition of power in post-election days.  

Response: Holy One, we believe that you speak and work through us. 

 

Let us pray and pledge ourselves to work for equality and justice for everyone in our country-no exceptions as we confront discrimination and conspiracy theories that are rooted in hatred, untruth, and threats of violence.

Response: Holy One, we believe that you speak and work through us. 

 

Let us pray for wisdom for our political leaders as they respond to the results of the election.

Response: Holy One, we believe that you speak and work through us. 

 

Let us pray and pledge ourselves to foster unity in diversity in our country.  

Response: Holy One, we believe that you speak and work through us. 

Let us pray that all civil and military leaders will follow their oath to the Constitution.

Response: Holy One, we believe that you speak and work through us. 

 

Let us pray and pledge ourselves to treat others with kindness.

Response: Holy One, you speak and work through us. 

 

Closing Prayer: Prayer of Jesus adapted by Miriam Therese Winter

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.  

Closing Song:  Ode to Joy, Flash Mob

https://youtu.be/kbJcQYVtZMo

Liturgy, Saturday and Sunday, October 26 and 27, 2024 - Presiders, Suzanne DeFroy, Sharon Beneteau, and Phillis Shepperd, Zoom Presider

 

Jesus the Panhandler – Sculpture at Toronto’s Church of St Stephen in the Fields

 

Healing the Blindness

 Welcome: Our readings today explore the ancient wisdom of healing and new revelations of sacred paradox with thoughts and ideas for sharing. As we listen, let us be ready to hear and respond to the Holy One’s loving invitation.

 Let us pray:  Holy One, every day we live in your Reality, believing it is our reality. Your Reality is often unknown, hidden, or obscured from us as we plan and hurry through our lives living our small realities. May we pause into the fleeting moment of awe and slow our senses to contemplate your invitation.  May we be able to trust and be pulled into the light of your Reality and abundant grace.

 Opening Song: I Am the One Within You by Karen Drucker

https://youtu.be/2xpa1U_Pa-E 

 

LITURGY OF THE WORD

 First reading from Richard Rohr: Holding the Tension

 All the great religions at the more mature levels learn and teach a different consciousness, which we call the contemplative mind, the nondual mind, or the mind of Christ.  Levels of spiritual development have been progressing from dualistic, exclusionary, either/or thinking to become increasingly non-dual, allowing for a deeper, broader, wiser, more inclusive, and loving way of seeing.

 If we are to live peacefully on this Earth, we cannot bypass the necessary tension of holding contraries and inconsistencies together. Daily ordinary experiences teach us non-duality, obvious in everything and everybody, every idea, and every event, almost hidden in plain sight.  Everything created is mortal and limited and, if we look long enough, paradoxical. By paradox, I mean something that initially looks contradictory or impossible, but in a different frame or at a different level is in fact deeply true.  Opening oneself into a contemplative holding pattern is the very name and description of faith.  Unfortunately, in Christianity, faith largely became believing things to be true or false (intellectual assent) instead of giving people concrete practices so they could themselves know how to open up (faith), hold on (hope), and allow an infilling from another Source (love). 

 The practice of contemplative prayer loosens our attachment to certainty to retrain our minds to understand the wisdom of paradox.  It is largely just being present … a willingness to say, “I don’t know.” We must not push the river, we must just trust that we are already in the river, and God is the certain flow and current.

These are the inspired words of Richard Rohr, and the community affirms them by saying, AMEN. 

Second reading from Miriam Therese Winter:  Paradoxology:  Spirituality in a Quantum Universe

Deep within creation there abides a quantum Spirit emanating from the Divine.  Spirit was there in the beginning of the evolution of the cosmos, breathing life into every facet of everything that came after, as ubiquitous as air. 

Faith, hope, and love are sacraments in a quantum society.  They provide us with the ways and means of celebrating the liturgy of life, not through rites of privilege but through rituals of promise that arise out of our ordinary everyday routine and the surprises inherent within it.

Faith grounds us firmly in the matrix of the divine milieu, so that we can continue steadfastly when buffeted by self-doubt, or when we are accused of losing our faith when we are finding ways of living our faith more fully.

Hope is what we turn to when all other means of survival have been exhausted, the stepping-stone to deliverance that tomorrow will build upon.

Love is all that really matters.  Love is patient.  Love is kind.  Love is the pathway to compassion and how justice is defined.  Every act of kindness, every gesture of compassion, the tiniest touch of tenderness is a fractal of the one Great Love from whom all love spills over and to whom all love returns.

The physical world is our primary source of Spirit and where our spirituality is manifested visibly and concretely through who we are and how we behave.  There is no longer a definitive separation between physical and metaphysical, the embodied and the ephemera, the visible and the invisible.  In the quantum paradox, natural and supernatural, once thought to be mutually exclusive, can now be seen as trading places, meeting, and even merging.

These are the inspired words of Miriam Therese Winter, and the community affirms them by saying, AMEN. 

 Alleluia: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker 

https://youtu.be/4cs8NDVM3Vk 

 A Reading from the Gospel of Mark 10:46-52

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 

Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” Throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 

Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher,^[a] let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

These are the inspired words of the disciple known as Mark. The community affirms them by saying AMEN.

Footnote a. 10:51 Aramaic Rabbouni

Homily and Shared Reflections

In today’s gospel, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus is doing what he does every day while sitting at the side of the road.  We can imagine how the entire region was abuzz with healing miracles being performed by Jesus of Nazareth.  This scene is the last miracle before the crucifixion and is found in each synoptic writing.  In Luke 18:35-43 the man is not named and in Matthew 20:29-34 there are two unnamed blind men speaking in unison, asking Jesus to be healed. 

Biblical scholars have identified 87 passages about blindness in both the Old and New Testaments.  During Jesus’ day, the blind along with those who had other disabilities were despised and reduced to a hard life of begging.  It was believed that sin put them in darkness under God’s judgment (Zephaniah 1:17; Deuteronomy 28:20-29).  Bartimaeus called out for mercy to the ‘son of David’ because in his mind he was being punished by God as a sinner and he believed the Messiah had the power to forgive and make him whole.

The perspective that physical ailments were brought about by generational or personal sin was turned upside down by Jesus. Despite admonishment from the crowd to stop crying out Bartimaeus persevered, steadfast in his hopeful longing for wholeness to live a fulfilling life.  We can imagine Jesus standing in loving contemplative stillness, touched by Bartimaeus’ spiritual energy of faith and hope.  A moment was seized after Jesus told his companions to bring Bartimaeus forward.  He immediately threw off his cloak leaving a valued possession behind.  This symbolic act also represents a detachment from old beliefs, and it was from Bartimaeus’ own faith that healing flowed. 

Healing from blindness is portrayed in a dynamic form of interaction, becoming much more than a physical change.  Witnessing a profound transformation through empowering compassionate love, everyone in this scene were drawn into a much different reality – one of inner sacredness.  Out of darkness Bartimaeus was restored to wholeness leaving us to imagine how full his life would become as he went on his way to follow Jesus.

Richard Rohr describes faith as an opening into consciousness that exists beyond the limited confines of the brain and things in the world.  By calming human fear filled tendencies, we are drawn to closer to God.  Bartimaeus’ life had value despite his blindness and the ancient sinful beliefs of the crowd.  The sacredness of his life was revealed as the certainty of ordinary rules of thinking, managing, and explaining unravelled.  There is a tension of contradictions and inconsistencies that need to be held together, so that a deeper understanding of the physical and spiritual realities can unfold into empowering action. 

Miriam Winter provides a provocative insight into the nature of energy that permeates the entire universe helping us to understand that physical healing and spiritual healing are connected.  Quantum physics has discovered that everything is made of quantum particles, the building blocks of matter.  The Spirit is the channel of Divine Energy that is always present, flowing in chaos, in day-to-day living, and in the contemplative stillness of consciousness.  Miriam explains that conscious spirituality opens a natural way of being, connecting us with everyone and everything in the universe.

Jesus brought about a transformative way of thinking about the Divine mystery of life and the healing power of love over oppressive blindness.  Miracles performed by Jesus are pathways out of the darkness for everyone.  The Divine energy of faith, hope, and love hold a promise for healing and everlasting life.  In John 14: 12-13, Jesus has given another promise, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father … You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” This is an incredible revelation, that a cosmic consciousness exists requiring trust in both the unfolding cycle of life and a unified spiritual reality that is timeless, extending into eternity.

Theologian Dr. Norman King summed up the message of today’s readings by saying, “The deepest longing of our heart, so readily obscured, is to struggle beyond any form of blindness, to see truthfully, to love deeply, and to do so with an underlying trust that flows into a concern for one another, especially the most vulnerable; and to recognize that our sacredness is deeper than any woundedness.”

What did you hear? Please share your thoughts and ideas.

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

 As we prepare for the sacred meal we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table…” 

We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen. 

Let us pray our Eucharistic prayer with open hearts and hands:

All: We are grateful for our brother Jesus teaching us the way of compassion through entering into the suffering of others.  May we care for ourselves as Jesus cared for us, seeing humanity through the eyes of “Love”. Through his loving eyes we are healed, and we open our hearts to the pain and suffering of others.

Because of your empowering unconditional love, we are aware of your presence in and among us. Your love radiates from our hearts, minds, and bodies.  Nurturing ourselves and one another empowers your embodied presence.  With joy and gratefulness today and always, we sing: 

Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place – by Christopher Grundy 

https://youtu.be/cVWY9ourooI 

Holy One, you speak to our inner sacredness and the gift of being alive and I hear you saying, “I don’t need anything from you for me to love you - I don’t need you to evolve for me to love you - I don’t need you to grow for me to love you - I don’t need you to succeed for me to love you - I will stay with you in any circumstance. I was here at the beginning, I am here in the middle, I will be here for all eternity.  There is nothing you can do to lose me.”

We thank you for Jesus who heard the Divine voice of deep love for his human nature as a beloved son.  Jesus showed us a pathway to comfort ourselves as the Divine Beloved would comfort us and we nurture our own children, family, and friends. May we hear God’s voice as Jesus did to love compassionately so that we may more fully love each other.

Please extend your hands in blessing.

All: We call upon your Spirit that is present in us at this Eucharistic table. We are grateful for the bread and wine that remind us of our call to be the light of Christ to the world.  

Presiders stand at the table

 

 On the night before he faced betrayal and death, Jesus shared supper with his 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. 

Lift the plate as the community prays 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, this is my very self.                      

Lift the cup as community prays 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.

All: Holy One, your love transforms us, so we love and heal each other.  We resolve to love as Jesus unconditionally loved the marginalized, the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, the immigrants, and the stranger.  Amen.

This is the bread of life and the cup of blessing. Through it we are nourished, and we nourish each other. 

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.

Let us share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. Please receive the bread and cup with the words: I am loved today, tomorrow, and for all eternity.

Communion Song:  Be Still And Know - Song by Shaina Knoll

https://youtu.be/CCGsExqtYKo

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 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

Please extend your hands in blessing.

ALL:  May the infinite beauty and joy of Creation continue to astound us  

May the Presence of the Divine always comfort and inspire us 

May we be the face of the compassionate Holy One in all we say and do

May we be a blessing in our time. AMEN. 

Closing Song: Learn to Sit Without Knowing by Carrie Newcomer

https://youtu.be/I_t8WqgKL3I 

 

Moment of Oneness October 23, 2024 - Prepared by Deven Horne

 

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81507551772
Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
To connect by phone dial: +1 646 558 8656

The Meaning of All Things

Howard Thurman Part II

“Embrace mysticism for compassionate social action”. Lerita Coleman Brown

Opening Prayer: Beloved, help us to withdraw, to detach for a moment and dive into the Great Silence. “Here the Presence of God is sensed as an all-pervasive aliveness which materializes into the concreteness of communion: the reality of prayer. Here (You) speak without words and the self listens without ears. Here at last, glimpses of the meaning of all things and the meaning of one’s own life are seen with all their strivings”. Howard Thurman

 

Silence

 

More Background of Howard Thurman

 

Howard Thurman believed that certain conditions would increase the likelihood of a religious or mystical experience of God. “Quieting the surface noise in our minds is what Howard Thurman urges us to do when he instructs us, as he does throughout his writings to ‘center down’. He demystified mysticism as an experience open to anyone open to the experience”. Howard had many mystical experiences as a young boy. His encounter with Rufus Jones later in his life when spent a semester with him immersed in the study of Plato, Augustine, Meister Eckhart, St Francis of Assisi and Madame Gugan transformed his thinking about mysticism, religion and spirituality. Both Jones and Thurman used personal experience to inform their thinking and writing and to make mysticism more accessible to spiritual seekers providing everyday people with the vocabulary to describe mystical encounters. Thurman provided a working definition of mysticism as “the response of the individual to a personal encounter with God within his own spirit”. “Howard sympathized with the bewilderment many Black people held about mysticism as he was ridiculed for such thinking and writing”. He educated people about the transformative powers of mysticism. “The mystic yields, he writes, ‘the nerve center of his constant purpose or cause, a movement or an ideal, which may be more important to him than whether he lives or dies’.

“Thurman’s overall approach to mysticism and social change was significantly affected by the growing debate over the inability of Christianity to extricate itself from social conventions – conventions that openly victimized large segments of the population. Thurman was labeled a ‘mystic-activist’.

 

Quotes from Howard Thurman

 

          “Despite the personal character of suffering, the sufferer can work his way through to community. This does not make his pain less, but it does make it inclusive of many other people, sometimes he discovers through the ministry of his own burden a larger comprehension of his fellows, of whose presence he becomes aware in his darkness. They are the companions along the way”.

 

Silence

 

          “Social Action is an expression of resistance against whatever tends to, or separates one from, the experience of God, who is the very ground of his being…The mystic’s concern with the imperative of social action is not merely to improve the conditions of society, it is not merely to feed the hungry, not merely to relieve human suffering and human misery. If this were all, in and of itself, it would be important surely. But this is not all. The basic consideration has to do with the removal of all that prevents God from coming to himself in the life of the individual. Whatever there is that blocks this call for action.”

 

Silence

Affirmations and Intentions:

May we be inspired by holy people.

May we have the fortitude to seek silence and alone time with the Holy Presence.

May we discover the direction within to create a peaceful world and bring justice for those in need.

May spiritual guidance be our saving grace.

May all those who hunger for spiritual food be fed.

 

Silence to add your own intentions.

 

Closing Prayer: Holy Presence, fill us with your spirit, as we empty our minds and souls of us, of our worries, of our plans, of our puzzling, our musings, our insights; anything that distracts us from your presence within, inviting us to praise in communion with you. Here we are emptied and ready.

Upper Room Weekend Liturgy, October 19 and 20, 2024 - Co-Presiders: Dennis McDonald, Kathie Ryan and Denise Hackert-Stoner (With help from Mary Theresa Streck, who cannot be with us today)

 Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155 
phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155

Family Liturgy 

Welcome (Kathie):  Welcome!  We are happy that you are here to celebrate with us! When we are gathered together like this, we can feel the Holy One among us.  Let us begin with a prayer. 

Opening Prayer (Dennis):

Holy One, we thank you for your gift of our lives.  We thank the sun, for its gifts of light and warmth.  We thank the air we breathe for its gift of oxygen so that we can live.  We thank the Earth for its gift of being a home we can live on.  We thank our families, our friends, and our pets for their gifts of love.  For these gifts and for so many others, we are thankful.  Help us to know and share our own gifts.  Amen. 

Opening Song:  

What Shall I Give by Sara Thomsen https://youtu.be/t9rYcvSSRQQ

LITURGY OF THE WORD  

 

First Reading 

The Friend in Need, by Jared Dees

There were two girls in school who were absolutely inseparable. They ate lunch together every day. They played together at recess and sat next to each other on the bus. They dressed alike. They talked alike. And they even looked alike, except one of the girls was tall and the other was short. They were best friends for life.  Until one morning, the taller girl stepped onto the bus to find her friend's backpack blocking the seat next to her. "I want to sit alone today," said her friend. She stared out the window. The taller girl could not get her to speak, but she didn't get angry and tried not to feel hurt. She knew something was wrong, and she wanted to help. She decided to wait until lunch.

At lunch, her friend continued to want to sit alone. She was silent and moved her lunch tray to another seat far away from her friend or anyone else.  The taller girl still didn't get upset or angry. She gave her friend some space, seeing that she needed it right now.  Finally, on the bus ride home, the shorter girl still blocked the seat next to her with her backpack. The taller girl turned to a boy sitting across the aisle. "Would you mind if I sat here today?" The boy shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure." She sat down across the aisle from her friend.  "I'm going to sit over here. You don't have to talk, but I want you to know that I'm here for you. Whatever it is, I'm here when you need me, and I want you to know that."  Her friend turned and had a tear in her eye. She mouthed the words, "Thank you." The bus drove on until finally the shorter girl did speak. She took a deep breath, turned to her friend, and said, "It's my mom. She's sick. I didn't want to talk about it. I just can't even think about it."  "I'm so sorry," said her friend. "I'm here for you whenever you are ready."

This story about sharing the gift of friendship is by Jared Dees.  We acknowledge his words by saying, “Amen”

Alleluia:  Dennis   

Our Reading from Scripture:  Romans 12:4-8 (adapted)

Just as each of us has one body with many different parts, like hands, feet, teeth, and tongue, and each of these parts has its own function, so we, though many, all over the world, form one body.  And each of us is a part of that body, belonging to all the others.  Each one of us has a different gift, given to us especially, by the Holy One.  Whatever your gift is, give it cheerfully.

These words come from a letter written by Paul to the people of his church in Rome.  We acknowledge Paul’s words by saying, “Amen.”

 

Homily Starter: Denise

We all love getting gifts.  We like opening presents on our birthday or Christmas.  We might even have favorite gifts.  Do you have a favorite gift?  The best gift you ever got?

What about giving gifts?  Have you ever been excited to give a special gift to a special person?  Maybe something you made especially for that person?

Let’s stretch our minds for a moment.  Let’s think about giving and receiving gifts in a different way.  Can you imagine for a moment how everyone in the world can receive a gift from the sun?  What are the gifts that the sun gives to everyone on earth?  What about the rain?  What is the gift that rain gives to everyone and everything on earth?

Let’s think about how the sun and the rain give their special gifts.  Does the sun go out and buy light to give to everyone?  Does the rain buy water?  Of course not.  The sun IS light.  And rain IS water.  Sun and rain give what they are.  They share themselves.  

Each one of us has a gift special to us, just like the rain.  Just like the sun.  No one else on earth has the gift that only each of us can give, because no two people are exactly alike.  So I have a special gift that I can share with the world, and so do you.  And if I don’t share my gift the world won’t ever have it.  And if you don’t share your gift the world will never have it.  

All the gifts, of all the people, all the animals, all the plants, the rocks, the air, the water, together all those gifts, when given, create a world where all creatures, all people, live well and have enough.  Enough food, enough water, enough sunlight and shade, enough happiness, enough love.  It is our work to know what our special gift is, and to figure out how to give it.  

So, how do we know what our gift is?  To know the answer to this very important question we need to look inward.  We need to think about things like, “What do I love to do?”  “What am I good at?”  “What do I like to spend my time on?”  For some people, the answer comes right away.  For others, this can take some time.  Sometimes it can help to watch how the people around us share their gifts.  Do you have a friend or relative who you notice is really good at something?  Something like baking, or singing, or running, or telling a good story?  How does that person share their gift?  Sometimes it helps to write down ideas about your own gifts.  Today, each of you received a new journal, so that you can write down your ideas about what your gift is.  Don’t feel rushed.  Just take your journal, give yourself time to think and pray, and write down any ideas you have about your gift.

Later, when you have recognized within yourself your great and unique gift, you may want to write down some ideas about how you can give your gift, how you can share this very special gift that you have with the rest of the world, starting with your own home, with your friends, your school, your neighborhood, or with us here at the Upper Room.  

We will talk more about your gifts and how to give them in the year to come.    We can’t wait to hear what you have to share!  Please share any thoughts you have about your gifts, or the gifts of others.  We love to hear your ideas!

Statement of Faith 

We believe in the Holy One who is in everything we see

And even in everything we cannot see.

As far away as the most distant star and as near as the air we breathe

The Holy One is there, creating everything out of Love.

We believe in Jesus, who showed us the Holy One

In how he lived his life,
He showed us that the Holy One is 

In our lives too.

We believe that we are called to live like Jesus.

We are called to bring peace, and light, healing and kindness,

We are called to be brave and speak up, and help out when 

Others are suffering or things are not right.

We believe that the Spirit of the Holy One

Lives in us and in all of creation.  

We feel the Spirit in the wind, the warm sun,

The cold snow, and we see it in the faces of other people.

We believe that if we live in the Spirit of the Holy One,

If we remember to act with kindness and courage,

We will make the family of the Holy One larger and larger

Until the whole world is at peace.

Liturgy of the Eucharist

Kathie:  There are many things we are thankful for, and there are many things that make us feel sad or scared.  Now is the time to bring these things to this table, so that all of us can pray with one another.  We begin our prayers with the words: “I bring to the table.”

Kathie:  We pray for all these things, and for all the prayers that we hold silently in our hearts.  Amen.

Dennis:  Next we will pray our great prayer of Thanksgiving, called our Eucharistic Prayer: 

Dennis: O Holy One, you have made us in goodness, given us life and held us in love. Your Spirit lives within each of us; each of us has been given your Spirit of courage and vision, your Spirit of wisdom and truth.

In the power of that same Spirit, we ask that once again your gifts come upon us as we sing your praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy by Karen Drucker  https://youtu.be/kl7vmiZ1YuI

(The three presiders go to the table)

Denise: (Invite the children, and anyone who would like to, to join in a circle at the table).  Holy One, we see around us all of your creation.  The trees, flowers, birds, animals and insects sing with joy for your creative power.  We are your creation too, and we thank you for our lives.

We thank you for sending Jesus, our brother, to show us how to live so that your love can show through in the world.  We thank you for your Spirit, which showers your love and wisdom on the earth like rain, and which opens our eyes in wonder.

Kathie: Please hold your hands out like this… (demonstrate) as we bless the bread and juice. 

Holy One, you blessed the grain in this bread and the fruit in this juice as they grew on the earth. The people who baked the bread and made the juice blessed them with their work.  Today, with your Spirit, we bless them again, as they become gifts of love, light and truth and remind us that we too are blessed with your Spirit.

Dennis: (lifts bread):  Jesus gathered his friends around a table like this.  He took the bread, and said a prayer of thanksgiving.  Then he broke the bread and shared it with his friends, saying, “Take and eat this bread. It is my very self.”

Denise:  (lifts the cup):
After the meal, Jesus took the cup of blessing.  He said another prayer of thanks, and then he offered his friends the cup saying

Take and drink of the loving agreement

Made new again through my life in you.

Whenever you remember me like this,

I am among you.

Kathie:  We are one today with all people who have ever lived, all the people and animals we have loved.  With them we ask you, Holy One, for the wisdom to know what is right and the courage to do what is right.

- Help us to be kind to one another.

- Help us to take care of the earth.

- Help us to reach out to people who need our help.

And as we grow, help us to see where your Spirit leads us as our lives unfold in this world of pain and beauty so that we may become wise co-creators of the future.

Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live loving lives, for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Light within.

Amen. 

We will pass the plate around the circle.  When the plate comes to you please take a piece of bread and eat it.  As you receive Communion remember the words, “I will share my gift.”

Communion Meditation:  This is the Gift I'll Give by Shawna Edwards

https://youtu.be/_xWMnuV7_BU?si=rQChd5IrBaK7AnUx

Dennis:   O Holy One, You call us to live in peace and justice.  We will live justly. You call us to be your presence in the world.  We will love tenderly.
You call us to speak truth even when it is difficult.  We will be courageous in your presence. 

Let us pray the prayer of 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

Denise: Please stand, and hold out your hands in blessing:

Holy One, we ask your blessing on all the children and adults gathered here today, and on all of your creation.  May we walk with joy in the world as we know that you are always walking with us, and thankful for your many gifts. 

All: AMEN

Closing Song:  Unwritten, by Natasha Bedingfield

https://youtu.be/QAS6lRQgNJA