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Friday, December 6, 2024

Upper Room Saturday Liturgy, December 7, 2024 -Presider: Julie Corron

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


Advent Week 2: Peace


Welcome and Theme Julie: Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here with us tonight as we celebrate the second weekend of Advent. Tonight, we celebrate peace, the miracle of peace in this chaotic world.

Advent Candle Lighting Blessing Prayer

Julie: Like our ancestors, we honor the cycles and the seasons that remind us of the ever-changing flow of life.  Ritual acts give life meaning—they honor and acknowledge the unseen web of Life that connects us all.

Advent Week 2 – All light candles as a member of community prays:

We light this second candle and remember our ancestors who feared death, evil and all the dark powers of winter. We, too, in our day fear the darkness of war, discrimination, xenophobia, and selfishness that threaten us and our planet to an eternal winter.
And so, we respond: Let us kindle the light of peace!

Julie: Indeed, let us welcome the light within each other!


Opening Song Sweet Secret Peace by Neil Finn

https://youtu.be/FZsC1gUvaqg?si=20hC0eZYobi2Mp5M


LITURGY OF THE WORD


FIRST READING: A Reading from Proverbs: The Birth of Wisdom 8:22-31 

God gave birth to me, Wisdom, at the beginning, long ago, before the first acts of Creation. 

From of old I was formed, from the beginning, before the world began. 

When the deep seas were not, I was brought forth, nor were there springs abounding with waters. 

Before mountains took their shape, before the hills, I was born. 

God had not yet made the earth or its fields, nor the first clods of soil. 

I was there when God established the heavens and their courses and traced out their horizons circularly above the sea. 

I was there when God gathered in clouds and the sources of the deep began to swell. 

I was there when God set the boundaries of the seas, the waters and their shorelines. 

I was there when God laid the foundations of the earth. 

I was the skilled artisan beside God, delighting God day after day, ever at play in the presence of the Holy, rejoicing in the whole of creation, and delighting in all humankind. 

These are the inspired words of an Ancient Poet Theologian, and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.


PSALM: Psalm 46:1-11 (Merrill, edited) 

The psalm response is: May Love ever guide our lives.
R: May Love ever guide our lives. 

The Beloved is our refuge and our strength, a Loving Presence in times of trouble.
We need not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with tumult.
R: May Love ever guide our lives. 

There is a river whose streams make glad the Holy City, the habitation of the Holy.
The Beloved is in the midst of it; it shall not be moved.
Our loving Creator is an ever-present help.
Nations may be at war, countries left in ruins,
yet the cosmic Sound of Silence is heard,
slowly breaking through hearts of stone.
The Beloved is ever with us, the infinite Heart of Love.
R: May Love ever guide our lives. 

Come, behold the works of the Beloved,
how love reigns even in humanity’s desolation.
For the Beloved yearns for wars to cease, shining into fearful hearts,
loving even those who oppress the weak, refining hearts of steel!
R: May Love ever guide our lives. 

“Be still and know that I am Love.
Awaken! Befriend justice and mercy!
Do you not know you bear my Love?
Who among you will respond?”
R: May Love ever guide our lives. 

O Blessed One,
You know all hearts.
You are ever with us.
May Love ever guide our lives!
R: May Love ever guide our lives. 


SECOND READING: A Reading from Paul's Letter to the Philippians 1:3-5, 9-11 


I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 


And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, that you may be discerning, with a love both sincere and intelligent. May you live a circumspect and exemplary life until the day of Jesus the Christ. May it be filled with the fruits of justice for the glory and praise of God. 


These are the inspired words of the Apostle Paul, and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.


Alleluia (Eightfold) – Jan Phillips shortened

https://youtu.be/IC4nbwmQDVw


GOSPEL: A Reading from the Gospel attributed to Luke (1:26-38)


In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a young maiden betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David. The maiden’s name was Mary. The heavenly messenger came to her and said, “Hail, favored one! God is with you.” Mary was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this sort of greeting might mean. The messenger said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a child, whom you will name, ‘Jesus’.” 


Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I do not yet know a man?” The messenger said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Holy One will cover you with its shadow, and so the child will be holy, and be called One Born of God.” And I tell you this too; your cousin Elizabeth, in her old age, has conceived. She, whom people called barren, is now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible for God.” 


Then Mary said, “Here I am, a servant of God. It shall be with me according to your Word.” Then the messenger departed from her. 


These are the inspired words of the anonymous storyteller we call Luke, and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.


Shared Homily Julie:  On this second weekend of Advent, we’re celebrating peace. Really? Peace? In this world? So much war. So much polarization. It wasn’t much different in the time of Mary. Would we have been at all surprised if Mary’s response had been more along the lines of “Really Angel Gabriel, I’m going to have a baby? God wants me to be an unwed teen mother? Awesome!” Instead, as the gospel of Luke later tells us, by the time she visited her cousin Elizabeth, Mary had not only made peace with the idea but actually rejoiced at the news. But I’m getting ahead of myself.


In today’s gospel, Mary’s still in the shock stage of things. Gabriel, the same angel that struck Zechariah mute for questioning that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a child, gently reminds Mary of that. By now Mary has learned of her older cousin’s pregnancy. These two women, separated by age, are united in their miraculous pregnancies and in their sons destined for greatness and violent deaths. And still this young woman said yes to God’s call to be the mother of Jesus, even though that started with giving birth in a stable and ended standing at the foot of a cross. And still, Mary found peace and joy in this impossible situation. May Mary’s peace and joy spark peace and joy in your heart today and all through this Advent season.


My friends, what did you hear? What will you do? What, if anything, will it cost you?


Shared Reflections

 

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 


Julie:  As we prepare for this sacred meal we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. As bearers of LIGHT and HOPE, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your intentions beginning with the words, “I bring to the table…..” 


Julie: We pray for these and all the unspoken concerns held in the silence of our hearts. AMEN. 


Julie: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:

(written by Jay Murnane)

 

Source of All That Is, we seek you in this season, when the earth is resting and preparing for new life. Like the earth, we long for new life and hopeful beginnings. This is the time of the pregnant woman, filled with life and hope powerful enough to topple structures of oppression.  This is the time of her song of fidelity and celebration. 

 

During this gentle season of Advent, we recognize that you have made us capable of bringing forth justice, like a rising sun. One with all who have gone before us, we sing a song of praise: 


Holy, Holy: Here In This Place  by Christopher Grundy 

https://youtu.be/uXyu57tR2gk


We thank you for those in times past who believed the good news and lived what they believed. 

 

Blessed is Isaiah and every visionary who insisted on a better future that would break through the deception, disaster and broken promises of the age in which they lived. 

 

Blessed is John, in the stark desert of careful focus, inviting the people to be born again in your love.  

 

Blessed is Miriam, who believed the words of Isaiah and opened herself up to the unbelievable. 

 

And blessed is her child Jesus, who felt the sorrows of humankind in his soul, and responded with deep and tender compassion. 


Please extend your hands in blessing.


We are grateful for your Spirit at our Eucharistic Table and for this bread and wine which remind us of our call to be the body of Christ in 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. 

 

All lift their plates and pray 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, go and share my love with one another.

(pause) 

 

All lift their cups and pray 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.

(pause) 


Julie: Let us share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. Please receive communion with the words, I am a spark of the divine.


All consume their bread and wine at this time


Communion Meditation/Song: At This Table – Idina Menzel

https://youtu.be/acRAIkV7QDc 


Prayer after communion: 

ALL: Holy One, we are grateful for the gift of Your Spirit, always drawing beauty and balance out of chaos.  And like Jesus…

 

Standing where he stood,  

and for what he stood,  

and with whom he stood, 

we are united in your Spirit, 

and worship you with our lives,  

 

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 


Julie: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together.


May we continue to be the face of God to each other.  May we call each other to extravagant generosity!  May our light shine for all to see, and may we be a blessing in our time! 

 

All: AMEN 

 

Closing Song: Light of the World – Lauren Daigle

https://youtu.be/_cLhaZIBSpo



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