Opening Prayer: Great Mystery who came as a child in the Season of Light, come into our hearts and open them so that we might share the love born in us this Holy Season. May we, like Jesus, be voices for the voiceless, standing with those oppressed, those forgotten, those hungry and homeless. May the Spirit of New Beginnings flow through us to touch a world in need of healing and grace. Amen.
Reading: Excerpts from writings of John Wijngaards & Rev. Dawn Hutchings
John Wijngaards shares, “Our Christmas carols keep celebrating Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. This may lead us astray. For what we should really celebrate is Christ’s birth in each of us. That is where the true meaning of Christmas lies.
In other words: if we believe and make Christ’s teaching on love our own, he is reborn in us so that we too can radiate God’s love in our words and actions.”
This was how the early theologians of the Church understood Jesus’s birth. “What use is Christ’s birth from the holy Virgin, if he is not born in my heart?” asked Origen. St Ambrose says: “Whoever turns to God should be called ‘Mary’. For ‘Mary’ is the name of the person who gives birth to Christ and everyone can give birth to Christ spiritually.”
Meister Eckhart put it this way: “What good is it to me if Mary gave birth to Christ twenty centuries ago and I don’t give birth to Christ in my person and my culture and my times?”
Pastor Dawn Hutchings states: “Christmas, then, is about transformation – and it is about our participation with God in making the world new.”
“Jesus comes among us personifying the words of the prophet, preaching good news to the oppressed, healing for the broken-hearted, liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners, and the advent of God’s favor. Jesus comes among us as the “light that shines in the darkness,” inviting us to join with him in dispelling the shadows that hide us – that hide our sisters and brothers – from the face of God. Jesus comes among us as the face of God, reclaiming the image of God within each of us.”
The mystery of Christmas is this: God came among us then so that God might live – God might thrive – God might act – within us now. This year, as we go about our work as the people of God here in this place at this time, let us remember that Christ lives in us.”
Adapted from writings of John Wijngaards and Pastor Dawn Hutchings
Prayers of Petition
We pray for continued blessings on all peacemakers, on leaders who value peace, and on everyone who promotes nonviolent solutions to conflict. We pray for a speedy end to all violence and warfare around the world.
God of peace and gentleness, Hear our prayer.
We pray for the strength of heart and mind to look beyond ourselves and address the needs of our brothers and sisters throughout the world; for the rural and urban poor; for the rebuilding of our communities; and for an end to the cycles of violence that threaten our future.
God of generosity and compassion, Hear our prayer.
We pray for all nations, that they may live in unity, peace, and concord; and that all people may know justice and enjoy the perfect freedom that only God can give.
God of liberty and freedom, Hear our prayer.
We pray that the Holy Spirit may embrace the most vulnerable members of our society; we pray also for an end to the growing disparity between the rich and poor; and for the grace and courage to strive for economic justice.
All: God of all gifts and blessings, Hear our prayer.
We pray for all immigrants, refugees, and pilgrims from around the world, that they may be welcomed in our midst and be treated with fairness, dignity, and respect.
God of outcasts and wanderers, Hear our prayer.
We pray for an end to prejudice throughout our country and the world; that we will respect all people as precious children of God; and that racism, sexism, and all other forms of discrimination will be forever banished from our hearts, our society, and our laws.
God of fellowship and equality, Hear our prayer.
We pray for all children and families, and particularly for the orphaned, neglected, abused, and those who live in fear of violence or disease; that they may be relieved and protected.
God of children and families, Hear our prayer.
We pray for a reverence of creation; that we will have the tools and the will to conserve it; that we will use its bountiful resources in the service of others; and that we will become better stewards of all that has been entrusted to us.
God of nature and the universe, Hear our prayer.
Prepared by the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations
Closing Prayer: The Seed of a New Year by Joyce Rupp
Seed of Restoration, reach into the layers of my past year. Bring into view the positive gifts that I missed due to clouded expectations and unwanted experiences. Soften the inner places that have been hardened by hurt. Warm the cold ground of dormant hope.
Seed of Curiosity, widen my vision of how life is to be received. Keep me open to what the hidden confines of my soul have yet to reveal. Nudge me to be inquisitive, to be ready for the surprises that awaken the wisdom waiting within me.
Seed of Insight, expand my ideas and thoughts so the lessons of your love keep influencing the way I think and act. Visit me with unexpected turns of understanding and perception. Urge me to be transformed into an ever more gracious and caring person.
Seed of Equanimity, disperse anxious remnants of fear and concern. Strengthen me to free them from my tight grasp. Like a seed planted in the soil, encourage my surrender into your abiding presence. When I wait with uncertainty, draw your enduring tranquility into my heart.
Seed of Happiness, enter the gray spaces in which I lose sight of joy. Awaken enthusiasm. Loosen whatever restrains my spirit from life-giving energy. Release gloom when it wraps around me. Let it slide off like the shell of a seed giving way to a greening shoot.
Seed of Unity, touch my heart to the suffering of others through each kind thought and caring deed. Let compassion spread like droplets of rain seeping into the soil of humanity. Thank you for your life resonating in the heartbeat of our co-existence on planet Earth. May there be peace. Amen.
Closing Song: Love, Make Your Way by Alana Levandoski featuring Noel Keating
Welcome and Theme (Mary T) Welcome to the Upper Room. Today is Holy Family Sunday and we celebrate not just one holy family but also our entire human family.
Our opening song is a chant for our human family. The communion song reminds us that every child is born holy and our closing song celebrates our diversity.
Divine Entity: As we gather together, we ask you to send us your spirit as we seek to embrace a revolutionary kind of love that flows from the heart, free from limitations and conventions; a love and understanding that opens wide the doors of humanity and allows all people to see themselves as part of a holy family.
LITURGY OF THE WORD
The first reading is from Paul’s letter to the Colossians:
Col 3:12-17
Brothers and sisters: Put on, as the Holy One’s chosen, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Holy One has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of our brother Jesus, giving thanks through him.
These are the inspired words of the Apostle, Paul, and we affirm them with, Amen.
The second reading is:Who Is the Sage Warrior? By Valerie Kaur from her book: Sage Warrior
The sage is someone who loves deeply. You cultivate wonder for others and the earth and wake to Oneness. You befriend the body—parts of the world, and parts of yourself. You practice pleasure through music, meditation, movement, and more as channels for awakening. You build sovereign space where you can find refuge and rest in wisdom within you. The warrior is someone who fights for humanity, including your own. You access your agency and activate power. In the face of injustice, you harness rage and refuse to surrender your humanity. You join others to grieve together and alchemize pain into energy and action. You choose courage in the face of crisis. In doing so, you become victory. You embrace rebirth. The warrior fights; the sage loves. It’s a path of Revolutionary Love. I believe Revolutionary Love is the call of our times.
These are the inspired words of Valerie Kaur and we affirm them with, Amen.
The third reading is: Practicing Revolutionary Love by Brian McLaren
Revolutionary love means loving as God would love: infinitely, graciously, extravagantly. To put it in more mystical terms, it means loving with God, letting divine love fill me and flow through me, without discrimination or limit, as an expression of the heart of the lover, not the merit of the beloved, including the correctness of the beloved’s beliefs.…
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus doesn’t teach a list of beliefs to be memorized and recited. Instead, he teaches a way of life that culminates in a call to revolutionary love. This revolutionary love goes far beyond conventional love, the love that distinguishes between us and them, brother and other, or friend and enemy (Matthew 5:43). Instead, we need to love as God loves, with non-discriminatory love that includes even the enemy.…
These are the inspired words of Brian McLaren and we affirm them with, Amen.
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Abba’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace.
These are the inspired words of Luken and we affirm them with, Amen.
Shared Reflections
Mary Theresa: Today, we reflect on the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as a model of love, faith, and transformation. In preparing this homily, I decided to draw on the perspectives of four individuals whose voices I greatly respect: Dawn Hutchings, John Dominic Crossan, John Shelby Spong, and Valerie Kaur. They invite us to rethink the family structure in light of faith, justice, and love.
Dawn Hutchings, a writer and spiritual guide, writes about the role of family in a world shaped by violence, poverty, and brokenness. She invites us to consider that the Holy Family, though often idealized in scripture and tradition, was not a perfect, peaceful unit shielded from the struggles of the world. The Gospel of Luke (2:41-52) presents the Holy Family in the midst of a world where power struggles, political oppression, and social division were rampant. Mary and Joseph were part of a marginalized community under Roman rule. According to Hutchings, the Holy Family is a metaphor for the struggles many families face today, especially those living in poverty, facing systemic oppression, or dealing with violence. The second voice that shapes this homily is that of John Dominic Crossan, a renowned scholar of the historical Jesus. Crossan maintains that the New Testament’s portrayal of the Holy Family is deeply subversive and radical. The family we see in the Gospels is far from the norm of power, wealth, and status.For Crossan, the Holy Family is a symbol of the alternative family that Jesus preached throughout his life: a family not bound by blood or nation, but by the transformative power of love.
The third voice is John Shelby Spong, a progressive theologian, who offers another lens on the Holy Family. Spong consistently argued that the Bible is not to be taken literally but read as a reflection of human experiences seeking to understand the divine. In the case of the Holy Family, Spong would challenge us to move beyond a simplistic, idealized version of the family as perfect and untouched by the messiness of life.
Spong reminds us that the Holy Family was a human family—broken, imperfect, and deeply connected to the struggles of everyday life. Joseph was a carpenter, a working-class man; Mary was a young woman facing an unexpected pregnancy in a society that would have judged her harshly. Jesus, born into this family, grew up in a world that was far from ideal. The Holy Family’s experience of displacement, uncertainty, and hardship shows us that the sacred can be found in the ordinary, in the struggles of real human lives. In a world that so often seeks to marginalize the “outsiders,” the story of the Holy Family encourages us to expand our understanding of who belongs to God’s family. Everyone is invited into the circle of divine love.
The fourth voice is that of Valerie Kaur, a Sikh activist and author of See No Stranger. Kaur writes about the need for what she calls “revolutionary love”—a love that resists injustice and oppression and transforms communities. In Kaur’s vision, the Holy Family is a symbol of resilience and resistance. When Mary and Joseph flee to Egypt they embody a kind of defiance against the political forces that sought to destroy innocent life. The family is a place of protection and nurturing, but it is also a place where the seeds of radical transformation can take root. Kaur asks us to reflect on how we, as individuals, families, and communities, can embody revolutionary love and create communities of healing, justice, and inclusion that welcomes the stranger, cares for the poor, and transforms the world with compassion. In this way, we participate in the radical love of God, the love that knows no bounds.
Dave: Before we invite those interested to share their thoughts about what they have just heard, we wanted to share one final thought.
We hear in Mary Theresa’s words today that what we may have once thought was a holy family that showed with little resemblance to our own lived experiences, was more likely one that faced struggles and conflict, as well joy and love, just like all families. They were not a “traditional family” which puts them in solidarity with all those families of today that are formed based on love without adherence to male/ female roles or genetics.
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.
Prayers of the Community
Presider: 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….”
Presider: We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Presider: Let us pray our Eucharistic prayer with open hearts and hands:
Holy One, from the beginning of time, you have formed families of love, binding us together in your image and calling us to reflect your justice and peace. We give you thanks for the Holy Family—Mary, Joseph, and Jesus—whose story teaches us to embrace radical love, to widen our understanding of family, and to labor for a world where all may thrive. With prophets and peacemakers and saints and seekers, we join with all revolutionary lovers to praise you as we sing:
Holy are you, and blessed is your Son, Jesus, who showed us the way of revolutionary love. Born into a world of empire and struggle, he proclaimed the coming of your kingdom—a kingdom of justice, mercy, and boundless compassion.
Presider: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: We call upon your Spirit, 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.
We thank you for Jesus, who knew what it was like to be an outsider in occupied and foreign lands. May his presence prompt us to bring gospel kindness and understanding to the divisions and conflicts of our time.
Presiders stand at the table
All: 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.
Presider lifts plate
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.
Presider lifts the cup
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.
(pause)
Let us share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace.
Please pass the bread with the words: You are a part of me, you are my family.
Communion song: Silent Night, Each Holy Child by Shaina Knoll
All: Holy One, your transforming grace inspires us to follow our consciences and bring comfort to wherever people are in need.We pray for wisdom, patience and persistence to make a difference in our world.
We resolve to love as Jesus loved, to discern the better angels of our nature with hearts open to You, for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Spirit within, moving us to glorify You at this time and all ways. AMEN.
Presider 2: 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
Presider: Please extend your hands in blessing.
ALL:With wisdom and courage of the sage warrior, let us all go out into the world to grieve together, act against injustice, and love deeply and inclusively. In so doing, we participate in the renewal of the earth, allowing the heart of Christianity to beat for all to hear. Amen.
Closing Song: Everyday People - Playing for Change
