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Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Memorial Day Liturgy
Welcome: Today we celebrate the Sixth Sunday of Easter and Memorial Day Weekend in the United States. We open our hearts to both the Resurrection and all that it means, and to the power of sacrifice and giving of oneself, a gift beyond measure. As we become present here in this space, let us take a breath and see who and where we are.
Practice of Peace (Dennis)
Opening Prayer: Today, we pause in solemn remembrance to honor the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. Their courage, sacrifice, and unwavering commitment to freedom are the foundation upon which our nation stands.
As we enjoy the freedoms they secured, let us remember that the cost of liberty is steep and is paid by those who wear the uniform with honor and dedication. We owe them a debt that can never be fully repaid, but can strive to live in a way that honors their legacy.
May we carry forward their spirit with gratitude in our hearts, respect in our actions, and a renewed commitment to unity and peace. Today and always, we remember.
With deepest respect, we honor the fallen.
Opening Song: America by Peter Mayer
https://youtu.be/H75FyL1Y0-8?si=EZVH2GlwHKbyM8g1
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A reading from the writings of Bridget Mary Meehan
Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus, the Christ brought about the promise of eternal life which begins here and now, but which is only fully revealed on the last day through the resurrection of the dead.
Jesus is not someone who simply takes away the sicknesses and hurts of our earthly life. Rather, by the power of his life, death and resurrection, Jesus gives life that endures through suffering and death. Faith in the healing power of Jesus invites us to believe that the same spirit who healed through Jesus, now works through us, gives us the ultimate gift of healing and peace and works through us to bring healing and peace to human beings and to our earth.
These are the words of Bridget Mary Meehan in The Healing Power of Prayer, and we affirm them by saying, AMEN.
Alleluia: Bernadett’s Alleluia by Joseph Moorman
https://youtu.be/TgzsYa6A2wY?si=CvTNvGSxI_GS0QsU
Gospel:
A reading from the Gospel according to John, 14:23-29
(From Hal Tausig, A New New Testament)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love her,
and we will come to her and make our dwelling with her.
The person who does not love me will not keep my words;
and the message to which you are listening is not my own,
but comes from the Father who sent me.
I have told you this while still with you.
But the helper - the holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things,
and recall to your minds all that I have said to you.
Peace be with you; my own peace I give you.
But I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or dismayed.
You heard me say that I was going away and would return to you.
If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
And this I have told you now before it happens,
so that when it does happen, you may trust in me.”
These are words from the Gospel writer known as John, and our community affirms them with a great, “AMEN”.
Shared Homily
Peace Be With You
Be at Peace
Go in Peace
The Peace of Christ
Peace and Justice
Peace in Every Step
Rest in Peace
A lasting Peace.
Peace is a concept and commodity that we talk about and genuinely long for. We wish it for each other. We work towards peace. We strive towards peace. And yet it surely does seem to elude us.
Jesus explains to his disciples that he has a special gift for them: lasting Peace that is beyond anything they can imagine. And he gives it freely. But one cannot give what one does not have. Jesus gives us - and his disciples of the day - the Peace that comes from the Holy One, beyond all of us together, but accessible to us through Jesus.
Bridget Mary Meehan notes that through Jesus’s life, death and resurrection, all combined, we are able to trust in and believe in our own healing power. We share in that healing and that peace that comes from Jesus’s life. It is not Jesus’s death that saves us, but his life lived through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today we face challenges that can cause us dismay. Putting ourselves in the place of the friends of Jesus during his day, we can see how the challenges that we are experiencing now are not new. It seems hard to find peace, but as Jesus instructs us down through the ages, we can experience his peace, because he gives it to us. He asks us to trust in God. He asks us to look to his life, not his death, and follow His Way. And this we will do, gladly.
Amen and Peace.
Please share your thoughts on this Memorial Day Weekend here in the US and our continued celebration of Easter.
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
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 this sacred meal, we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us.
With trust in our connection to the Holy One, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your intentions with, I bring to the table.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Presider: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together:
(Eucharistic prayer taken from the work of Diarmuid O’Murchu and Jay Murnane)
O Holy One, you have been called by many names by many people in the centuries of our planet’s life. Yet, no name truly defines you or describes you. We celebrate you as the marvelous, loving energy of life who caused us and our world to be. We celebrate you as the Source of light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and all-ways care.
O Holy One, we stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history – a time when humanity must choose its future.
As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future holds both peril and great promise.
May we recognize that, in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms, we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny.
United with our vast universe, with our Mother-Planet and her people everywhere, with one another and You, Holy One, our spirits dance and sing this song of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy
We give grateful thanks for those who came before us, for all those who gave from their hearts, who gave from their lives, that there might be a better world, a safer world, a kinder world, we pray for peace in their name.
And for the children, that they may live, that they may have children of their own and that it will go on - this great blossoming that is meant to go on and on – we pray for peace, in their name.
And for all peoples of this earth who have no voice in this,
For the animals that have no voice in this,
For the plants, the trees, the flowers that have no voice in this,
For all who share this earth with us, we pray for peace in their name.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus. He showed us so simply, so tenderly, how the world is in our hands. He had nothing in this world but your love, companions on the journey, and his very self. Together, that was more than enough, and that remains our clarity in the midst of confusion: the miracle of healing, new hope, nurturance, nourishment, liberation and life.
Presider 2: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: Your Spirit is here in us and in the gifts of this Eucharistic table. May we become gifts of wisdom, light and truth which remind us of our call to be the body of Christ to the world.
Presiders stand at table.
On the night before he faced his own death and for the sake of living fully, Jesus sat at the Seder 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.
All lift their plate and pray the following:
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.
All lift their cup and pray the following:
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 consume the bread and drink the cup with the words: We bring Peace to our world.
Communion Song: Blessings by Hollow Coves (video, DHS)
Prayer After Communion
Loving Source of All, we have looked for others to save us and to save our world. Yet, we are called, and consecrated and sent into the world to establish justice and show the blessed fulfillment that comes with simplicity and the giving of ourselves in love. We will make new our commitment to the harmony of the original vision of creation.
We will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and our small circles. Like Jesus, in all openness, we will be filled with your own Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
For it is through learning to live as he lived,
And why he lived,
And for whom he lived,
That we awaken to your Spirit within,
Moving us to worship you truly,
O Holy One,
At this time and all time and in all ways.
And we say yes to You!
Presider 1: 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 come.
Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us,
Each day you give us all 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 (Miriam Therese Winter)
BLESSING
Presider 1: Let us pray together our blessing:
May wonder and thanksgiving fill us, may compassion penetrate us, that we may penetrate the numbness that continues our society’s injustices. May we know that we are loved. May we bring Peace to each other and every moment.
May we continue to be the face of the Holy One and may we be a blessing in our time! Amen.
Presider 2: Please join in singing our Closing Song
Closing Song: Sing! American Music Festival Choir with Children
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