Please join us between 9:30 and 9:55 am via Zoom
Here is the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155
phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Theme: Love Rises in Us
Welcome
Welcome, beloved community, to this sacred gathering where we journey together in the light of resurrection and renewal. As we reflect on the Gospel of John, we are invited to witness the transformative power of grace and the call to a loving, inclusive community.
Today, we see Jesus meeting his disciples by the water—not with judgment, but with the warmth of fellowship and nourishment. Here, at the shore, every heart is welcomed, every story honored, and every journey celebrated. Like the miraculous catch of fish, our lives overflow with gifts when we embrace each other in compassion and truth.
As we share our time together in prayer and reflection, may we be inspired by the gentle, courageous invitation to love unconditionally. Let us open our hearts to the healing and restoration found in the presence of the Divine, and may we extend that same love to one another in all our diversity.
Opening Prayer
We gather today conscious of the gift that is ours: the capacity to give voice to all that is. In us, the power and energy that drives the universe has conscious awareness. In us, the universe can express wonder, appreciation and gratitude and so we sing:
Opening Song: Love Rises
https://youtu.be/PQdvb5ldJ4k?si=f71DniuoI3jZWaqc
First Reading: Shine Through Me by Mother Teresa
Holy One, help me spread your fragrance where I go.
Flood my soul with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through me, and be in me, so that every souI I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only you!
Stay with me, then I will begin to shine as you do; to shine so as to be a light to others. The light will be all from You; none of it will be mine; it will be You shining on others through me.
Let me praise You in the way you love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.
The community affirms these words with AMEN!
Psalm Response: Hymn/Psalm by Brian Wren, hymn writer
Good is the flesh that the Word has become,
good is the birthing, the milk in the breasts,
good is the feeding, caressing and rest,
good is the body for knowing the world,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
Good is the body for knowing the world,
sensing the sunlight, the tug of the ground,
feeling, perceiving, within and around,
good is the body, from cradle to grave,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
Good is the body from cradle to grave,
growing and ageing, arousing, impaired,
happy in clothing or lovingly bared,
good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
Good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,
longing in all, as in Jesus, to dwell,
glad of embracing, and tasting, and smell,
good is the body, for good and for God,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
Gospel acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel: A Reading from the Gospel of John
Assembled were Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, Zebedee’s children, and two other disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going out to fish.” “We will join you,” and they all went into the boat.
All through the night they caught nothing.
Just after daybreak, Jesus was standing on the shore, though none of the disciples knew he was Jesus. He said to them, “Have you caught anything, friends?” “Not a thing,” they answered. “Cast your net off to the starboard side, and you will find something,” Jesus suggested.
So, they cast their net and caught so many fish that they couldn’t haul the net in. Then the disciple who Jesus loved, cried out to Peter, “It is the Teacher!”
Upon hearing this, Simon Peter threw on his cloak-he was naked-and jumped into the water. Meanwhile the other disciples brought the boat to the shore.
When they landed, they saw a charcoal fire had been prepared. Jesus said “bring some of the fish you caught.” Peter went aboard and hauled ashore the net. In spite of the great number of fish the net was not torn.
Jesus took some fish and bread and gave it to them. When they had all eaten, Jesus said to Peter, “Simon ben John, do you love me more than these? Peter said, “Yes, Rabbi, you know that I’m your friend.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” A second time Jesus put the question, “Simon ben John, do you love me?” Peter said, “Yes, Rabbi, you know I’m your friend.” Jesus replied, “Tend my sheep.”
A third time Jesus asked him, Simon ben John, do you love me as a friend would?
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked, “Do you love me?” a third time.
Peter said “You know everything, Rabbi. You know that I am your friend.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
These are the words of the Gospel writer known as John. The community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Shared Homily – Mary Theresa and Deven
Mary Theresa: The story in John 21 is rich and strange. A resurrected Jesus stands on the beach cooking breakfast, and the disciples—after an exhausting, fruitless night—don’t even recognize him at first. It’s a moment filled with metaphor and mystery. But isn’t that the way of sacred story? Often, what’s most true is not literal, but deeply real.
Let’s set the stage: Peter, still carrying the weight of his denial, returns to what he knows—fishing. Isn’t that what we all do when we’re overwhelmed or grieving? We default to what’s familiar. We try to lose ourselves in work or routine. But as often happens, the nets come up empty. And then—this stranger on the shore suggests something absurd: try the other side.
And it works.
Now, we could go down the road of trying to believe this is about a miraculous fish haul. But maybe the point isn’t about fish at all. Maybe it’s about what happens when we’re willing to shift our perspective. Maybe it's about how resurrection doesn’t just mean coming back to life—it means coming back to meaning, to connection, to calling.
Then there’s this beautiful, painful exchange between Jesus and Peter:
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
“Feed my lambs.”
Three times.
We know the echo. Peter had denied Jesus three times before the crucifixion. Now, he’s given three opportunities to choose again—to reaffirm love, not just in word, but in action. This is not about dogma. Jesus doesn’t say, “Agree with me,” or “Worship me.” He says: Feed. Tend. Care.
This is what our faith calls us back to again and again. It’s not about believing the “right” things. It’s about how love takes shape in our lives. It’s about the breakfast tables we set for others. The nets we mend. The community we rebuild.
John 21 reminds us: resurrection isn’t some once-a-year celebration—it’s an invitation. To return to our true selves.
To move beyond guilt or failure.
To recognize that love—when acted on—has the power to restore everything.
In this story, the Divine is not thundering from a cloud, but quietly cooking fish on a beach. The sacred shows up not in a temple, but in the ordinary, the earthy, the hungry moments of human connection.
And so today, let’s hear this story not as a test of belief, but as a call to practice:
To feed what is hungry.
To mend what is torn.
To cast our nets—again and again—on the side of love.
Deven: The psalm in this week’s lectionary sets the path for the gospel reading that follows telling us to act. But first we need to see what draws us to act. By seeing what is Good, the awe and wonder of all creation, sets the foundation from where to move. When that first baby is laid in our arms, we are filled with Love, we love so much that we are propelled to care for it, feed it, protect it and teach it. I think that is why Jesus must reiterate to Peter three times do you love me, to make him pay attention to what you love. Then once he is reassured that Peter loves, he can then rest assured that his legacy will be nurtured. If we pay attention to what we see as Good, the birds singing in the morning, the beauty of a tree, the bright eyes of a dog, the laughter of children on a playground, or even the new neighbors’ smiles from a different place can set the stage for us to do something to make sure we can continue that goodness and expand upon it.
So what draws you to act from your own love, awe and wonder? What did you hear in these readings?
Statement of Faith
Let us pray together our 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:
As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to the table our prayers and intentions, starting with the words I bring to the table.
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer:
God of surprising grace and ever-expanding love,
we gather as your Easter people—
startled again by the mystery of resurrection,
drawn not by certainty,
but by hope that the story is not over.
Like those who walked the road to Emmaus,
we come burdened, questioning,
our hearts aching with the weight of the world.
But you meet us on the way—
in bread broken, in stories retold,
in strangers who become companions.
And so, with all who dare to believe
that death is not the final word—
with those who doubt and those who dance,
with saints, seekers, prophets, and poets—
we sing the song of liberation:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here In this Place
https://youtu.be/uXyu57tR2gk?si=KP4CbR8DqjBPhAav
Presider 2: Blessed are you, O Eternal LOVE, and blessed is Jesus, the Anointed One. Through his life, death, and resurrection, he revealed the depth of your love and called us to follow in his way. As we gather at this table, we offer ourselves anew as instruments of your peace and love.
Presider 2: Please extend your hands in blessing.
We are ever aware of your Spirit in us and among us at this Eucharistic table and we are grateful for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world.
Through Jesus, You have shown us the divine blueprint of love,
calling us not to escape this world, but to inhabit it more deeply.
On the night before he faced his own death and for the sake of living fully, Jesus sat at supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly within them, he bent down and washed their feet.
(lift plate)
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat; this is my very self.
(lift cup)
He then raised high 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.
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 communion with the words: Love rises in me and you.
Communion Song: Follow Your Heart’s Desire by Jan Phillips.
https://youtu.be/qinan3FNZBc?si=_wJhOZuGPTdPj3lR
Prayer after Communion:
Divine Spirit, may we ever be aware and alert to the new things Your Spirit makes possible in us, as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty, into the fullness of life to which all are called, participating in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation.
Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live compassionate lives, 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.
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
(a Celtic adaptation of the Prayer of Jesus by John Philip Newell)
O Holy One beyond all names,
Eternal Wellspring
May Love rise again in us today
With food for every table
Shelter for every family
And reverence for every life.
Forgive us our failings in love
And free us from all falseness
That the light of our souls my shine
And the strengths of our our spirits endure
For Earth and all its people
This day, tonight, and forever.
Amen
BLESSING
Let us pray together our blessing:
May you meet the Risen One
in the ordinary, the humble, the every day.
May your hearts be filled with wonder
and stirred by the Spirit,
and your tables wide enough for all who hunger.
Go now to tend to the world with tenderness,
to speak truth with courage,
and to follow the Risen One in all things
with hearts open to surprise,
and lives grounded in grace.
Amen.
Closing Song: No Grave by Rend Collective
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.