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
Family Liturgy
Welcome (Kathie): Welcome! We are happy that you are here to celebrate with us! Today we think about how things are, how they should be, and what we can do to make things right. Along the way we may learn that we can move mountains!
Opening Prayer (Denise):
Holy One, you made us and we are good. We are strong. We can do the things that need to be done to make this world better. Help us to believe in our own strength, for we are your hands and feet on this earth. Amen.
Opening Song: The Climb, One Voice Children’s Choir https://youtu.be/lAxyC3dUgGE?si=eUft29goPphAYzLY
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Our first reading this morning is by Malala Yousafzai. Malala is a young woman from Pakistan, where girls are not allowed to go to school. At just 11 years old, Malala began to give public speeches, demanding that girls have a right to an education. At age 12 she was shot by a person who wanted to silence her. But she survived. Her family moved to the United Kingdom, and she has continued to speak out for the rights of girls. When she was just 16, Malala gave a speech to world leaders at the United Nations. This is part of the speech she gave.
Excerpt from
Malala Yousafzai's Speech
United Nations, July 12, 2013
Dear Friends, on the 9th of October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my friends too. They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And then, out of that silence came, thousands of voices. The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born. I am the same Malala. My ambitions are the same. My hopes are the same. My dreams are the same.
These are the words of Malala. We affirm her inspiring words with Amen.
Second Reading: Listen to the Mustn’t, by Shel Silverstein (from Where the Sidewalk Ends)
Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me—
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.
These words are from the poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein. We affirm his words with Amen.
Alleluia: (Dennis)
For Zoom Community: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel: In many of the Gospel stories we hear about the amazing things Jesus said and did. Today’s Gospel is special because in it, Jesus tells us about the amazing things we can do ourselves.
Matthew 17:20
[Jesus said to his friends,] "For truly I tell you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
Homily Starter: (Denise)
Malala faces a mountain, doesn't she? Her mountain is the injustice that denies education to women and girls in her home country of Pakistan. It's a very tall mountain. But Malala has faith, and her faith tells her that she can make a difference. Even after being very seriously injured by people trying to stop her, she keeps trying. And through her faith and action she has found new ways for girls to be educated, like on line classes and private tutors. So very slowly, and with a lot of hard work and strong faith, Malala is moving that mountain, inch by inch. Remember, Jesus says we can move mountains. He never said it would be easy.
We all face mountains in our lives. If we are paying attention, we all notice unfairness in our world. And we all hear the words mustn't, don't, shouldn't, and especially, impossible. But it is so important that we remember that if we have faith and are willing to act, anything can be.
What mountain would you like to move? What work can you do to move it?
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One who is in everything we see
And even in everything we cannot see.
As far away as the most distant star and as near as the air we breathe
The Holy One is there, creating everything out of Love.
We believe in Jesus, who showed us the Holy One
In how he lived his life,
He showed us that the Holy One is
In our lives too.
We believe that we are called to live like Jesus.
We are called to bring peace, and light, healing and kindness,
We are called to be brave and speak up, and help out when
Others are suffering or things are not right.
We believe that the Spirit of the Holy One
Lives in us and in all of creation.
We feel the Spirit in the wind, the warm sun,
The cold snow, and we see it in the faces of other people.
We believe that if we live in the Spirit of the Holy One,
If we remember to act with kindness and courage,
We will make the family of the Holy One larger and larger
Until the whole world is at peace.
Prayers of the Community
Kathie: There are many things we are thankful for, and there are many things that make us feel sad or scared. Now is the time to bring these things to this table, so that all of us can pray with one another. We begin our prayers with the words: “I bring to the table.”
(Kathie): We pray for all these things, and for all the prayers that we hold silently in our hearts. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
(Denise) Next we will pray our great prayer of Thanksgiving, called our Eucharistic Prayer:
All: O Holy One, you have made us in goodness, given us life and held us in love. Your Spirit lives within each of us; each of us has been given your Spirit of courage and vision, your Spirit of wisdom and truth.
In the power of that same Spirit, we ask that once again your gifts come upon us as we sing your praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: by Karen Drucker
(The presiders go to the table)
Kathie: (Invite the children, and anyone who would like to, to join in a circle at the table).
All: Holy One, we see around us all of your creation. The trees, flowers, birds, animals and insects sing with joy for your creative power. We are your creation too, and we thank you for our lives.
We thank you for sending Jesus, our brother, to show us how to live so that your love can show through in the world. We thank you for your Spirit, which showers your love and wisdom on the earth like rain, and which opens our eyes in wonder.
Denise: Please hold your hands out like this… (demonstrate) as we bless the bread and juice.
Holy One, you blessed the grain in this bread and the fruit in this juice as they grew on the earth. The people who baked the bread and made the juice blessed them with their work. Today, with your Spirit, we bless them again, as they become gifts of love, light and truth and remind us that we too are blessed with your Spirit.
Kathie lifts bread:
Jesus gathered his friends around a table like this. He took the bread, and said a prayer of thanksgiving. Then he broke the bread and shared it with his friends, saying, “Take and eat this bread. It is my very self.”
Denise lifts the cup:
After the meal, Jesus took the cup of blessing. He said another prayer of thanks, and then he offered his friends the cup saying
Take and drink of the promise
Made new again through my life in you.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
Kathie:
We are one today with all people who have ever lived, all the people and animals we have loved. With them we ask you, Holy One, for the wisdom to know what is right and the courage to do what is right.
- Help us to be kind to one another.
- Help us to take care of the earth.
- Help us to reach out to people who need our help.
And as we grow, help us to see where your Spirit leads us as our lives unfold in this world of pain and beauty so that we may become wise co-creators of the future.
Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live loving lives, for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Light within.
Amen.
Denise:
We will pass the plate around the circle. When the plate comes to you please take a piece of bread and eat it. As you receive Communion remember the words, “I can move mountains.”
Communion Meditation: Speechless From "Aladdin" - Cover by Rise Up Children's Choir https://youtu.be/csmku3VHFS0
Kathie: O Holy One, You call us to live in peace and justice. We will live justly. You call us to be your presence in the world. We will love tenderly.
You call us to speak truth even when it is difficult. We will be courageous in your presence.
Denise: Let us pray the prayer of Jesus:
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
Kathie: Please stand, and hold out your hands in blessing:
Holy One, bless everyone gathered here today. Help us remember to have faith and to do what we can to make this world the way it’s supposed to be.
All: AMEN
Closing Song: Upside Down, by Jack Johnson https://youtu.be/x5jurRLeSSU
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