Moment of Oneness, November 13, 2024 - Prepared by Jean Albert

Winter Sunset over Lake of Two Mountains. Photo credit: S.G.

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81507551772
Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
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How Do You Want To Be Remembered?

Opening: Welcome friends to the month of November when our liturgical year comes to an end and we are invited to reflect on the ‘end times”. Civil society remembers the end of World War One as well as all the victims from the major conflicts since then, on November 11. 

Considering our own “end” can seem daunting, especially in these challenging times in which we live. Isn’t it just easier to ignore the fact that one day you and I will die? 

We have seen death on movie and TV screens so much that we can be inured to it.

We can choose this denial or we can choose to embrace a life in which we process our grief, our multiple goodbyes -and own, that death is not in the last word. 

So how do we want to inhabit our days? 

Opening Prayer: Holy One, you invite us to Life and living, but we cannot do that without owning the reality of death and goodbyes. Be with us in our transitional spaces and help us to be lovingly present to others in their transitional spaces too. Help us to choose Life. 

Remind us that we are a Resurrection people.

Opening Song: “God Beyond all Names” 

https://youtu.be/vD9HqO_6b6A

First Reading:

The resurrection does not solve our problems about dying and death. It is not the happy ending to our life’s struggle, nor is it the big surprise that God has kept in store for us. No, the resurrection is the expression of God’s faithfulness to Jesus and to all God’s children. Through the resurrection, God has said to Jesus, “You are indeed my beloved Son, and my love is everlasting,” and to us God has said, “You indeed are my beloved children, and my love is everlasting.” The resurrection is God’s way of revealing to us that nothing that belongs to God will ever go to waste. What belongs to God will never get lost — not even our mortal bodies. The resurrection doesn’t answer any of our curious questions about life after death, such as: How will it be? How will it look? But it does reveal to us that, indeed, love is stronger than death. After that revelation, we must remain silent, leave the whys, wheres, hows, and whens behind, and simply trust. 

(Henri Nouwen: God’s Faithfulness,  April 2,2024 Daily Meditation)

Let’s take a moment to ponder what this could mean for us as individuals and as a collective. 

"I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.

I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

(I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion by Dawna Markova)

Pause for a moment to consider what this means for you.

Petitions

We pray for all who grieve the loss of significant people in their lives, may they find consolation and support.

We pray for all who grieve the loss of those things that are invisible: dreams for the future, hopes for better relationships with family, transitioning into a different or challenging stage of life. May they find the courage to own their grief and to own the unknown of new beginnings too.

We pray for all the people who displace their grief through angry actions and words which harms others in any way. May the courage to choose the light of healing and conversion of heart be theirs.

For whom or what would you like to pray? 

Closing Prayer

God’s immense compassion means we are going Home not to judgement, not to being slotted in as saint or sinner but to New Life. 

Gracious God your invitation to us is to choose life. May we choose it in the little choices of each day so that we do not die with regrets for the way we treated ourselves, others or your holy creation. 

A long time ago someone at a presentation on grief said: “What word or short phrase would you want written on your tombstone? ….Now spend the rest of your life living up to that desire.”

Closing Song: How Do you Want to be Remembered (By: Magic. Video by Denise Hackert-Stoner. Photos by Jean Albert) https://youtu.be/vhUDvEdbxn4