Please join us between 9:30 and 9:55 am via Zoom
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phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Welcome all to the Upper Room Liturgy for today, the Final Sunday of the liturgical year and the celebration of the Cosmic Christ. We see each other through the senses of the Holy One, who creates us as Beloved. We know we will be and are with each other in Paradise, as Jesus promises us. Let us take our awareness to this space of presence and love, as we pray our liturgy together today.
Opening Prayer: Holy one, we experience your grace within and among us. We are grateful for your love of each of us, and we mirror your love to ourselves and to each other. Help us to do our best to experience you in our lives, and to show that by our actions. Keep us in your grace. AMEN.
Opening Song: Awake O Sleeper. Marty Haugen
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A reading from Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
I know more about grace than I did two weeks ago. For instance,
that Auden was right when he wrote, “I know nothing, except what
everyone knows – if there when Grace dances, I should dance.”
I understand that Auden meant grace in the theological sense,
meant it as the force that infuses our lives and keeps letting us off
the hook. It is unearned love – the love that goes before, that greets
us on the way. It’s the help you receive when you have no bright
ideas left, when you are empty and desperate and have discovered
that your best thinking and most charming charm have failed you.
Grace is the light or electricity or juice or breeze that takes you from
that isolated place and puts you with others who are as startled and
embarrassed and eventually grateful as you are to be there.
These are the words of Anne Lamott and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Spirit of the Living God sung by Michael Crawford
https://youtu.be/xoJN0owUoWA?si=uHC5nwlta6B1g3kr
Gospel: The Gospel reading from Luke 25: 35 - 43.
Meanwhile the people stood looking on. Even the leaders said with a sneer: “He saved others, let him save himself, if he is God’s Christ, his chosen one.” The soldiers, too, came up in mockery, bringing him common wine, and saying as they did so: “If you are the king of the Judeans, save yourself.”
Above him were the words “This is the king of the Judeans.”
One of the criminals who were hanging beside Jesus railed at him. “Are you not the Anointed One? Save yourself and us,” he said. But the other rebuked him. “Have you not,” he said, “any fear of God, now that you are under the same sentence? And we justly so, for we are only reaping our deserts, but this man has not done anything wrong. Jesus,” he went on, “do not forget me when you have come to your realm.” And Jesus answered: “I tell you, this very day you will be with me in paradise.”
These are the words attributed to the writer Luke, translated from the New, New Testament by Hal Tausig, and we affirm them with AMEN.
Homily Starter: Deb Trees.
This summer as I was driving home from my vacation and passing through other states, a huge all black truck including dark tinted windows, passed me on the driver's side. A black placard standing several feet behind the cab read in Big Capital Letters: CHRIST IS KING. And below that to the side, a smaller message said: “Make our politicians afraid again.”
I actually did a double take. My first reaction was I was glad I was heading out of this part of the country. And my second thought was to feel sorry for the people who have to live in that community. It was the farthest thing from Jesus that I could think of.
So, when I started to prepare for this Sunday’s liturgy, this image came to me on this solemnity of Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. We here in the Upper Room have softened it a bit, to Cosmic Christ. I know that this weekend is the final Sunday of the Liturgical Year, but where did this image come from?
I figured it would come from some Roman or Napoleon influence. Googling and AI are apt to say that Christ the King Sunday was established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI to counter nationalism, secularism and atheism. It was first celebrated in 1926 and changed to the final Sunday of the liturgical year in 1970. The teaching: Our allegiance is not to this world, but to the Creator.
Oh boy, it is so easy for us to twist things to our own needs and liking. I think that Jesus would be quite aghast to see what we are doing today with his name and teaching.
Beginnings and endings are helpful for us humans to keep things on track. Acknowledging the life of Jesus each year, and living his messages, help us to follow as best we can. We move through waiting for him to be here with us, to his birth, to his life, to his death, to his resurrection, and now, to his triumph. And then we start it all over again.
But it seems to me that we also know the Holy One is here present with us, no matter what stage of life we are in. Presence is always evident in our lives. All we have to do is become quiet, slow down, refocus our awareness, and there is the holiness that we are just a small part of. It permeates our being.
Love, kindness and mercy are at the heart of the Creator. Each of us is loved beyond measure. And when we act with love, kindness and mercy, we are blessed to become more like the Universal Spirit that is the basis for our lives. Grace becomes our base. And then, we can be rest assured that we are dwelling in Paradise.
What did you hear in your hearts today? Please share.
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 the sacred meal, we share our intentions, cares, blessings and concerns with heartfelt humility and love…
Thank you Creator. We are Grateful for the Holy One’s support and love for all of our sharing, and for those intentions in our hearts. AMEN.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
All: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in one voice.
O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us as we set our hearts on belonging to you. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all creation.
You know our limitations and our essential goodness, and you love us as we are. You beckon us to your compassionate heart and inspire us to see the good in others and forgive their limitations. Acknowledging your presence in each other and in all of creation, we sing:
Holy, Holy: Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy
https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ
Guiding Spirit, when opposing forces in us tug and pull and we are caught in the tension of choices, inspire us to make wise decisions toward what is good.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus, and for all our sisters and brothers who have modeled for us a way to live and love in challenging times. Inspired by them, we choose life over death, we choose to be light in dark times.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We are ever aware of your Spirit in us and among us at this Eucharistic table and we are grateful 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 faced his own death, Jesus sat at supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift the plate and pray:
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.
(pause)
All lift the cup and pray:
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.
(pause)
We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity.
Please receive communion saying: Grace and awareness are your gifts to us.
Communion Song: Everything is Holy Now by Peter Mayer
Prayer after Communion:
Holy One, your transforming energy is within us and we join our hearts with all who are working for a just world. We pray for wise leaders in our religious communities. We pray for courageous and compassionate leaders in our world communities.
We pray for all of us gathered here and like Jesus, we open ourselves up to your Spirit, for it is through living as he lived that we awaken to your Spirit within,
moving us to glorify you, at this time and all ways.
Amen.
Presider 2: 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
Presider 1: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing:
ALL: May we know that the Grace of the Holy One permeates our being at all times. May we know that we are never alone and cannot possibly be alone by the very Grace of God.
May the Fire of Love ignite our hearts and radiate through us.
May the Spirit of truth and justice burn within us.
May we continue to be the face of the Holy One, and
May we be a blessing in our time.
AMEN.
Closing Song: How can I Keep From Singing, Pete Seeger
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