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Welcome: On Family Sunday we celebrated giving. Tonight this Gospel is also about giving. Let’s see where it takes us.
Opening Song: What Shall I Give by Sara Thomsen
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A reading from The Power of Disturbing Stories by Amy Jill Levine.
Jesus told parables because they serve as keys that can unlock the mysteries we face and by helping us ask the right questions: how to live in community; how to determine what ultimately matters; how to live the life that God wants us to live.
They are Jesus’ way of teaching not simply because they are in the Chrisitan canon, but because they continue to provoke, challenge, and inspire.
Jesus knew that the best teaching comes form stories with memorable characters who are both familiar and strange, who play upon sterotypes even as they confront them.
The teachings of Jesus, if we take them seriously not as “meaning but as solicitating our meaning making, and if we allow ourselves to be open to various interpretations, become not tools for shaming or inculcating guilt, but for good, sometimes they are hard lessons learned.
Jesus asks us to priortize. What really matters, and what does not?
These are the inspired words of Amy Jill Levine, Jewish/Christian theologian. The community affirms these words with AMEN
Alleluia (Eightfold) – Jan Phillips
Gospel: A Gospel according to the writer known as Mark (12:38-44)
In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds,
"Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext
recite lengthy prayers.
They will receive a very severe condemnation."
He sat down opposite the treasury
and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.
Many rich people put in large sums.
A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.
Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,
"Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more
than all the other contributors to the treasury.
For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,
her whole livelihood."
This gospel is attributed to the community of Mark
Our community affirms them with AMEN!
Shared Homily
Diane Bergant in her book Preaching for the New Lectionary helps sets the scene for us. We know what Jesus is witnessing in the temple. The gospel says Jesus is sitting opposite the Tresuary in the Temple. She points out that the place opposite of the Tresuary is actually the Court of Women. I love the thought of Jesus sitting near the women, it says so much about him. At the time of Jesus, men and women gathered to pray in different parts of the temple. Diane also tells us that there are 13 metal trumpet shaped containers set up for almsgiving. The sound of the money rolling down the trumplet is a loud indication of how much you are giving.
Often the words of a gospel does not feel like “good news” to me. At first glance this gospel actually makes me feels guilty. I am much more like the scribes who have more than enough than like the woman who gives all that she has.
The wonderful thing that has happened for us at the Upper Room is our change and growth in understanding scripture. We know Jesus did not teach by using the guilt trip method. If there are guilty feelings it may be because we were raised up with this gospel as a reminder of how unworthy we are. We know Jesus always taught just the opposite. He consistently told us how loved and worthy we truly are.
When I dig deeper into scripture I go back to Jesus the Jewish Rabbi and try to find meaning and what was understood at the time.
Rabbi Tauber writes “ Instead of charity or giving, the Jewish people give tzedakah which means rightouness or justice. When a Jew contributes his money, time, and resources to the needy he is not being benvolent, generous or charitable he is doing what is right and just.” In addition because tzedakah is commanded by the Torah he is obliged and is doing his duty. Giving is neither an ego trip nor a guilt trip. It is our responsibilty, our obligation and duty.
As Amy Jill Levine asks in the first reading, what interpreation, what meaning resonates for you?
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 with the words: I give from my heart.
Communion Meditation: This is the Gift I'll Give by Shawna Edwards
https://youtu.be/_xWMnuV7_BU?si=rQChd5IrBaK7AnUx
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 know we are loved, for the Holy One is in relationship with us. May we be aware of the Spirit within. May we look for opportunities to love and bring our light into the world. And may we give with all our ability. Amen.
Closing Song: Canticle of the Turning by Rory Cooney Video by Denise Hackert-Stoner
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