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
Lynn: Welcome and Theme: Good Morning and Welcome to all across North America! Today we consider the parable of the rich fool who hoarded his wealth and died before enjoying it. Unlike some of other Jesus parables, he explicitly ends this one with a moral or solution – to be rich in God and that is today’s theme in all the readings.
Suzanne: Opening Prayer: The God who lives, the God who gives, the God who shares, is the God who requires our soul. Not to harm our soul or to heap shame on it, but to liberate it from being owned by the things that do not care about us. To be owned instead by an open heart that allows us to share what we have and allows others to share with us. May we be able to open our ears, our hands, our hearts, our very souls to the hearts and voices of others and by extension, to the heart and voice of God. Amen - by Melissa Bane Sevier
Opening Song: Come As You Are by The Many
https://youtu.be/WLQsfto8LyE?si=TJxA7rz_o6QUNKRJ
First Reading: “The Reign of God” from The Mission Driven Parish
“I have good news for you. The Reign of God is here. Change your lives.” —Mark 1:14-16
“Let us move to other towns that I might proclaim the Reign of God there also, for that is why I came.”—Luke 4:43
Jesus saw the Reign of God as his mission. If it is his, it is also ours.
What Jesus meant by the Reign of God is tied up in his understanding of closeness and intimacy with Abba, a Parent figure. Life in God’s Reign is characterized by an unconditional love of all people, service, servant leadership, stewardship of one’s resources, mercy and justice.
Life in God’s Reign is about mediating God’s healing power to and with each other.
Life in God’s Reign Is the experience of communion with our fellow human beings.
Life in God’s Reign Is an endeavor to be happy, to be well, to be whole, to be holy. This was the mission of Jesus. This is our mission as church. What could be more beautiful?
These are the words of Patrick Brennan and we acknowledge them with Amen.
Second Reading: The Color of Gratitude by Robert Morneau
My choice is purple
recalling the clover in a boyhood meadow.
Deo Gratias!
Others might choose red,
watching the fireball sun sink into the ocean.
Deo Gratias!
Still others opt for blue,
robin-egg blue telling of hidden life.
Deo Gratias!
Gratitude is a rainbow
sun and rain shining in the same room.
Gratitude is a peanut butter sandwich (toasted),
knowing that it is enough.
Gratitude is to dwell in mystery,
the enigma of being loved,
of just being.
We acknowledge this poem by Robert Morneau from his collection The Color of Gratitude with Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel attributed to Luke (Lk. 12: 13 – 21)
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of our inheritance.”
Jesus replied, “Friend, who has set me up as your judge or arbiter?” Then he turned to the crowd of thousands saying, “Avoid greed in all its forms. Your life isn’t made more secure by what you own—even when you have more than you need.”
Jesus then told a parable: There was a rich farmer who had a good harvest.
“What will I do?” the farmer mused. “I have no place to store my harvest. I know! I’ll pull down my grain bins and build larger ones. All my grain and goods will go there. Then I’ll say to myself: You have blessings in reserve for many years to come. Relax! Eat drink and be merry!”
But God said to the farmer, “You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. To whom will all your accumulated wealth go?”
Jesus ended the parable with these words: “This is the way it works for people who accumulate riches for themselves, but are not rich in God.”
We acknowledge these gospel words attributed to Luke with Amen.
Starter Homily/Shared Reflections:
The “rich fool” in our gospel is not faulted because he is rich and saves for the future but because he seems only to live for himself. Notice how he speaks to himself: “What will I do?... I have no place to store my harvest…I’ll pull down my grain bins…I’ll say to myself…”
He seems unable or unwilling to share his plans and dreams with another. He is a poor man because he chases after worldly security and independence, not seeing that owning stuff and living for oneself is not what life is about.
Episcopal Minister, Debie Thomas explains, “The spiritual problem of wealth is that it anchors our hearts too firmly in this world” rather than in the Kin-dom. The farmer is missing out on giving and receiving and loving others who are the face of God.
The great tragedy in the story isn’t that he dies too soon; it is that he never really lived.
He fails to see the field workers who did all the back breaking work under a hot sun to grow and reap the harvest. He doesn’t consider profit-sharing with them from his surplus. And what about the poor and hungry families that exist in his time and in every historical period?
Pride in his riches and fear in never having enough have narrowed his relationship with other people. And what of his relationship with God?
Theologian Elizabeth Johnson reacts to this parable by reminding us that “Our lives and possessions are not our own. They belong to God. We are merely stewards. It is hard to think this way because we want to be in charge of our lives and our stuff, to remain independent and secure.”
What does it mean to us to be “rich in God”? Do we get caught up in what is fair instead of leading with charity and mercy? Do we value relationships that take heart and cost us nothing but our self-concerns?
Maybe being rich in God means being generous with our time as well as material items. Our Upper Room church lives richly in God by sharing a passion for justice, devoting talents and skills and our very presence with and for each other. To be rich in God is to be present to those who are mocked and marginalized and invisible to rich fools.
What are your thoughts on today’s readings?
Statement of Faith
All: We believe in one God, 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 God's Word,
bringer of God's healing, heart of God's compassion,
bright star in the firmament of God's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of God's love,
a source of God's wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of God's peace in the world.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
The life of God that is our innermost life,
the breath of God moving in our being.
The depth of God living in each of us.
We believe that God's 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
Suzanne: 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
With gratitude of many colors, let us raise our hands and hearts and pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
All: Holy One, you are always with us. In the blessed abundance of creation, we gather to celebrate Your nourishing gift of life. May our hearts be open as You invite us to participate in the wonderful work of co-creation.
May we be ever aware of Your Spirit within and among us as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty into the fullness of life.
We are grateful for Your Spirit whose breath inspired the primal waters, calling into being the variety and abundance we see around us. Your Spirit sustains and animates our every endeavor, from dawn to dusk, until the radiant sun gives way to the light of the stars. We are grateful for your guiding light which invites us to act in wisdom and truth, with hope and persistence.
In joy we lift our voices to sing a song of praise:
Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy
All: As a community, we gather in the power of your Spirit, refreshing wind, luminous wildfire and living breath. We seek to live “rich in God” as Jesus taught us to do. May we ever remain Spirit-filled people, seeking the light, striving to be courageous and prophetic and ever observant of your design for us.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: We are grateful for the bread and wine and those who carefully tended the grapes and wheat that remind us of our call to be Your Presence in the world.
All: On the night before he faced the betrayal of friends and his death, Jesus sat at supper with companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them over their years together. To fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and humbly washed their feet.
All lift plates
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, go and love one another.
All lift cups
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.
Please share the bread with the words, You are rich in God.
Those who wish to share the wine, are welcome to come to the friendship table to do so.
Communion Song: What Shall I Give by Sara Thomsen
https://youtu.be/UUTs9qa5h3g?si=B53iNE9BrDwTxEaF
Prayer After Communion:
All: In union with all peoples living and crossed over into eternal love, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking for wisdom in the circumstances of our daily lives. We seek to act justly and courageously in alleviating the suffering that desecrates the Earth and its peoples; to take risks in being proactive on behalf of the poor and marginalized; and to love all people with generosity of heart. We promise to resist the labels of “illegal”, “alien” or “undocumented”. We strive to accord each person the dignity and divinity you, Holy One, have designed for all of us, regardless of our circumstances in life.
Holy One, your transforming light works through us. We strive to live compassionate lives; it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Spirit within, refreshing us and leading us to dwell in Your house all the days of our lives. Amen.
Lynn: 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
Suzanne: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together.
May the Divine bless us with discomfort at easy answers, social media half-truths and superficial relationships.
May our Pilgrim God nudge us toward new places, new adventures and new friends so that we may share the refreshment of our ever-surprising God of love.
All: AMEN
Closing Song: There is a Season by Kathleen Sherman
https://youtu.be/ppgNBLOYjYk?si=KecI96AWDOYSrrEM
Sources:
- (1) Johnson, Elizabeth. Commentary on Luke 12:13-21 - Working Preacher from Luther Seminary. 4 August, 2019.
- (2) Sevier, Melissa Bane. Profit Sharing. Contemplative Viewfinder.
25 July, 2016.
- (3) Thomas, Debie. Rich Toward God. Journey with Jesus.
28 July, 2019. Journey with Jesus - Rich Toward God
Debie is a columnist, and minister of Lifelong Formation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Palo Alto, CA. She has authored the book below which is featured on Books | Debie Thomas
When your faith begins to feel too small, too confining, you could choose to leave it. But what if the faith we inhabit is roomier than we'd thought? What if our collapsing faith is just a closet in a much larger dwelling? Disillusioned by narrow theologies, church dysfunction, and constricted readings of Scripture, people are leaving Christianity in droves. But Jesus describes the reign of God as a house with many rooms. The kind of God who decided to experience the world as a guest likely feels constrained by our pinched theologies too. What sorts of ruptures and revisions would it take to find a more spacious faith--and then to inhabit it with authenticity and joy?
- (4) Trapped by trappings. Preacher Rhetorica. https://www.preacherrhetorica.com/proper-13c.html
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