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| Photo by Ina Ramos, Unsplash |
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
Welcome and Theme
Welcome, friends. Tonight we hear two stories, each filled with irony. The first has a surprise ending, and the second, a surprise lesson. Let’s listen.
Opening Prayer
Beloved, help us to recognize you in the simplicity of our lives. Help us to feel the strength that comes from humility, help us to know the joy of simple love and loyalty, and to expect the unexpected. Amen.
Opening Song: As the Moon by Christopher Grundy
https://youtu.be/qkDwd0uv178
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11, 4:13-17
Naomi had a prominent kinsman named Boaz,
of the clan of her husband Elimelech.
Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi,
"Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field
of anyone who will allow me that favor."
Naomi said to her, "Go, my daughter," and she went.
The field she entered to glean after the harvesters
happened to be the section belonging to Boaz
of the clan of Elimelech.
Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter!
Do not go to glean in anyone else's field;
you are not to leave here.
Stay here with my women servants.
Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them;
I have commanded the young men to do you no harm.
When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the vessels
the young men have filled."
Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, Ruth said to him,
"Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your notice?"
Boaz answered her:
"I have had a complete account of what you have done
for your mother-in-law after your husband's death;
you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth,
and have come to a people whom you did not know previously."
Boaz took Ruth.
When they came together as man and wife,
the Holy One enabled her to conceive and she bore a son.
Then the women said to Naomi,
"Blessed is our God who has not failed
to provide you today with an heir!
May he become famous in Israel!
He will be your comfort and the support of your old age,
for his mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you.
She is worth more to you than seven sons!"
Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became his nurse.
And the neighbor women gave him his name,
at the news that a grandson had been born to Naomi.
They called him Obed.
He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This story of love and loyalty comes to us from our ancestors. We affirm it with Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia by Jan Phillips
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel written by the writer we know as Matthew. (Mt 23:1-12) (Adapted by Denise)
Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.
“Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor,’ ‘Rabbi,’ and ‘Reverend.’
“Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—the one who shows the Way.
“Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.”
This story and the lesson it teaches is from the Gospel written by the writer we know as Matthew. We affirm his words with "Amen."
Homily Starter:
Becoming a widow at any time is life-changing. A widow in ancient Israel might have found her life completely unrecognizable. At the very least she would have been expected to move in with and become subordinate to her husband’s family or if she had one, the family of her adult son. If she were not fortunate enough to have adult male relatives she would have been completely without resources and dependent on the wider community for charity. In other words, the widow was among the most vulnerable in that society at that time.
Ruth and Naomi were two such widows. I’m sure we are all familiar with the beautiful story of intergenerational devotion that inspired the Book of Ruth. Naomi, along with her husband Elimelech and their sons, Mahlon and Chilion, had left Bethlehem, in Judah, during a time of famine, fleeing to Moab, on the other side of the Dead Sea. The sons met and married two Moabite women, Ruth and Oprah. While in Moab, all three men died, leaving the three women widows. Oprah returned to her people in Moab. Ruth insisted on staying with the mother-in-law she loved, and together, they returned to Bethlehem.
I imagine how it must have felt for Ruth, leaving her people, her gods, and her culture, to be with her mother-in-law. But, unknown to both women, a tremendous surprise; a surprise that would change the history of their people, awaited, just ahead.
Bearing in mind the traditional role of the widow, it’s not surprising that Ruth and Naomi sought out the fields of Elimelech’s people. It would have been expected, and the only choice for them. It’s not even surprising that Ruth was “taken” by Boaz, and married to him. That, too, would be expected.
The surprise comes with the birth of Obed. A source of great joy to Naomi who has lost both of her own sons, for sure, but this birth was surprising in another way; a way that points directly to the message of today’s Gospel. This baby, the son and grandson of widows who were the least in society, becomes the grandfather of Israel’s greatest king. From the very least emerges the most exalted. What else could more plainly illustrate the point that Jesus later makes? “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.”
Ruth and Naomi returned to Bethlehem with nothing but the love they had for one another. And that was enough. Enough for them, and enough for the future of the people of Israel. Sometimes, it seems that love is all we need.
What are your thoughts on today’s readings? Please share your thoughts.
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 this sacred meal we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our prayers for the community.
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
(Written by Jay Murnane)
Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.
Blessed are you, Holy One, source of all creation. Through your goodness you made this world and called us to be Your co-creators. We give thanks for the diversity and beauty of life around us and within us.
We open our awareness to the goodness of all of creation and we remember our responsibility to serve. You invite us to build the earth into a community of love rooted in justice. You placed confidence in us, for you made us and you know that we are good.
In joy and in thanksgiving we join with all the faithful servants who have gone before us and we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy by Karen Drucker
We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, and revealing us as one with you and all of creation.
He lived among us to show us who we are and challenged us to know you. He taught us the strength of compassionate love.
Please extend your hands in blessing:
We are grateful for your Spirit at our Eucharistic Table and for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet, so that they would re-member him.
(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, this is my very self.
(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.
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives. As we share communion, we become Communion both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.
You are called, consecrated and chosen to serve.
Please receive Communion with the words, “I am a speaker of truth.”
Communion Meditation: Song of Ruth, Bethany Paige
https://youtu.be/4QnT323Gahg?si=jIFKsFiqKLpal-Ef
Prayer after communion:
Holy One, we are willing to do everything Jesus did, to re-create the living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and liberates, of a joy that generates hope, of a light that illumines people and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity.
We trust you to continue to share with us your own spirit, the spirit that animated Jesus, for it is through his life and teaching, all honor and glory is yours, O Holy One, forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer of Jesus
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
Please raise your hands in blessing:
May we, the followers of Jesus, have the strength to follow his way of humble action. May we base all of those actions on Love. And like Ruth, may we treasure the lives of those with whom we travel life’s path, whether they are in our own homes or half a world away, for we travel that path with all your people, and see your face in everyone we meet. Amen.
Closing Song: Love is All You Need, The Beatles
https://youtu.be/qYTc4Afbxng?si=DGenDPoQw-L3cOWm
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