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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
Welcome and Theme:
Phillis/Lynn: Welcome to all you here and a prayerful welcome to our zoom peeps whom we hold in our hearts as we celebrate this liturgy simultaneously. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers and father figures who have graced our lives.
We focus today on moments when the ever generous and loving Holy One has made known sacred presence — through a covenant relationship dating back to Genesis and fulfilled ultimately through Christ and the Holy Spirit. We are blessed to acknowledge in our hearts that Abba God is with us always and everywhere in every day, waiting with unconditional love.
Opening Prayer:
Phillis/Lynn: Dearest Holy One, we believe that You are always with us. The kin-dom of heaven is here and now, within our grasp. We experience blessedness every time we take time to be aware of your love for us.
We offer up our gratitude, our yearning, our trials, our dreams and our hopes. You help us to make the most of them. Your love helps us to strive toward a kinder and more loving world. Amen.
Opening Song: Fill Me Holy Spirit by Praise Soundwaves
https://youtu.be/CDze4bwykSE?si=m_6Z0dMnPA46smPt
Liturgy of the Word
Reading 1: A reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 30: 10-11,18-19, 22,24; 31:31-33
“Thus says Yahweh: Do not be dismayed, O Israel.
For I will rescue you from distant lands,
your descendants from lands of exile.
I am with you, and I will rescue you.
The city will be rebuilt upon its ruins
And the citadel on its proper site.
Out of them will come songs of thanksgiving.
Thus says Yahweh: You will be my people
And I will be your God.
The intentions of God’s heart will be fully realized.
The days are coming when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the old covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them up out of Egypt —a covenant they broke, though I was their spouse, says Yahweh.
This is the covenant: I will put my law in their minds and on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
These are the inspired words of the prophet Jeremiah and we acknowledge them with Amen.
Alleluia: Bernadette’s Alleluia by Joseph Moorman
https://youtu.be/TgzsYa6A2wY?si=CvTNvGSsxI_GSOQsU
Gospel: A reading from the gospel writer known as John (Jn16: 12-15)
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
When the Spirit of truth comes,
She will guide you into all truth.
She will speak only what she hears,
and she’ll announce to you
things that are yet to come.
Everything that Abba God has belongs to me;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you."
These are the inspired words of the gospel writer known as John and we acknowledge them with Amen.
Shared Homily
“You will be my people, and I will be your God”
This familiar phrase in Hebrew and Christian scriptures summarizes a loving covenant relationship between imperfect but faith-filled human beings and the omnipotent Holy One of many names.
Jeremiah speaks of a God who took Moses and the Israelites “by the hand to lead them out of Egypt” almost as if they were children. The “old” Mosaic covenant was conditioned on good behavior. Blessings were promised for right conduct and curses for disobedience. If we read about God talking to Moses in Exodus, he is not “slow to anger”.
However, as the consciousness of the ancients expands, the nature of the covenant offered by God also grows.
The new covenant first suggested by Jeremiah is a new and improved version ushered in by the birth of Jesus; the Divine becomes present in the sacred body of a human being. This covenant is written on our hearts, not on stone tablets.
The life of Jesus is proof of God’s unconditional covenant love. God so loved the world that he trusted us to recognize divinity when we see it. This elevates the human condition. The Presence of unconditional healing and love becomes what we deserve, not something we have to earn by avoiding the sins of all those Thou Shalt Nots…
We in the Upper Room have a consciousness of a divine spark within ourselves nudging us to try and grasp, to reach and find where Jesus stood and for whom he stood. Who knows but there might one day be another New Covenant that offers more about divinity and less about atonement?
Another type of sacred presence is gifted to the apostles at Pentecost and the rest of us as well as explained in John’s gospel. The female Spirit of truth (better known to us as the Holy Spirit) comes with announcements which we know are written on our hearts.
Yet we might quibble with the line that “She will speak only what she hears” and another translation that indicates she speaks only on the “authority of the Lord.” Ancient scribes make her sound like a gossip or a subordinate not to be fully trusted without supervision. I wonder why?
The Presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit help us to recognize divine truth, to act with kindness and love and to suspect that we are growing into divinity consciousness with trust and inspiration.
What are your thoughts on the readings? How or when is the Presence of God’s unconditional love apparent to you?
Statement of Faith
All: 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
Phyllis/Lynn: As we prepare for the sacred meal we bring to this table our prayerful intentions. Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”
We pray for these and all unspoken prayers in our hearts. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Phillis/Lynn: Confident of our covenant love with our God, let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
All: O Holy One, You are always with us and we are grateful for Your constant loving and unconditional presence. At times, you see that we are in need of prophets and leaders who speak truth to power. You also engender among us a recognition of the Holy Spirit. We feel her presence in our hearts and respond in gratitude and grace. We are never without Your Light and Spirit.
Everything we do, we do together with you because You are our God and we are your people. We yearn for your wisdom and cannot be without you. You are made visible in our fragile world with our acts of love and kindness. With grateful hearts we raise our voices and sing:
Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy
All: Creator and Lover of all beings, we cannot grow in the shade and darkness of this world without Your Light. Our desire to be in Your light is a gift from You along with the ministry and love of Jesus and the truth of the Spirit. Help us keep our hearts and minds open to You through our love and care for each other and all creation.
We are ever aware of your Spirit in us and among us at our Eucharistic table. We are graced by Your basic yet eloquent gift of bread and wine; an ordinary part of creation harvested by human hands and shared in communion as Jesus shared so many centuries ago. Truly, Your Spirit of Wisdom and Truth is upon us and we acknowledge that 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.
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 the bread of Life given to strengthen you. Whenever you remember me like this, go and share your love with one another.
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 is 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.
Phillis/Lynn: We share this bread and cup to proclaim the gospel of justice and peace. Share the bread with the words: You are a messenger of light
Communion Song: “Who Lights the Stars at Night” by Michael Singer, sung by Kathy Zavada
https://youtu.be/5jF_YWsM4SI?si=2qdN6FzjpP9Ag7sH
Prayer After Communion
All: Holy One, we know you as the voice of kindness within. We recognize you as the Source of our hope, our faith and our love. We are grateful for the gift of your Spirit, always adding beauty and balance to a fragile and needy world.
Like Jesus, standing where he stood,
and for what he stood
and with whom he stood,
we stand united in your Spirit. Amen.
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 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. -- Miriam Therese Winter
BLESSING
Phillis/Lynn: Please raise your hands as we bless each other
May the Presence of Abba God comfort us,
May we be faithful disciples of Jesus,
May our hearts expand, reaching higher and further for a spacious and generous love,
And may we always be willing to see the other as a mirror of God in our lives. Amen.
Closing Song: Rain Down by Jamie Cortez (lyrics below)
https://youtu.be/pmOswvlS6CQ?si=wgg8qH-nxVMbbcvC
Rain down
Rain down
Rain down your love on your people
Rain down
Rain down
Rain down your love, God of life
Faithful and true is the Word of our God
All of God′s works are so worthy of trust
God's mercy falls on the just and the right
Full of God′s love is the earth
Rain down
Rain down
Rain down your love on your people
Rain down
Rain down
Rain down your love, God of life
We who revere and find hope in our God
Live in the kindness and joy of God's wing
God will protect us from darkness and death
God will not leave us to starve
Rain down
Rain down
Rain down your love on your people
Rain down
Rain down
Rain down your love, God of life
God of creation, we long for Your truth
You are the water of life that we thirst
Grant that Your love and peace touch our heearts
All of our hope lies in You.
Rain down
Rain down
Rain down your love on your people
Rain down
Rain down
Rain down your love, God of life
Sources:
“Five Great Covenants of the Bible.” Padfield, David. The Church of Christ in Zion, Illinois. 2024. https://www.padfield.com/2004/covenants.html
“Jeremiah 30-31; The New Covenant and the Land.” Collins, Brian. Exegesis and Theology. Exegesis and Theology – The Blog of Brian Collins
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