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
Welcome and Theme:
Welcome to this sharing of faith and friendship. Your presence here is a gift. Thank you.
Opening Prayer:
Beloved, we hunger for a world where everyone finds joy, where everyone finds love, where everyone finds abundance. You have shown us the way to that world. Help us to follow.
Opening Song: Coming Together by Christopher Grundy
https://youtu.be/N9HDjzi-Q5c
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A reading from the 1 Maccabees 6:1-13
As King Antiochus was traversing the inland provinces,
he heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais,
famous for its wealth in silver and gold,
and that its temple was very rich,
containing gold helmets, breastplates, and weapons
left there by Alexander, son of Philip,
king of Macedon, the first king of the Greeks.
He went therefore and tried to capture and pillage the city.
But he could not do so,
because his plan became known to the people of the city
who rose up in battle against him.
So he retreated and in great dismay withdrew from there
to return to Babylon.
While he was in Persia, a messenger brought him news
that the armies sent into the land of Judah had been put to flight;
that Lysias had gone at first with a strong army
and been driven back by the children of Israel;
that they had grown strong
by reason of the arms, men, and abundant possessions
taken from the armies they had destroyed;
that they had pulled down the Abomination
which he had built upon the altar in Jerusalem;
and that they had surrounded with high walls
both the sanctuary, as it had been before,
and his city of Beth-zur.
When the king heard this news,
he was struck with fear and very much shaken.
Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed.
There he remained many days, overwhelmed with sorrow,
for he knew he was going to die.
So he called in all his Friends and said to them:
"Sleep has departed from my eyes,
for my heart is sinking with anxiety.
I said to myself: 'Into what tribulation have I come,
and in what floods of sorrow am I now!
Yet I was kindly and beloved in my rule.'
But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem,
when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver
that were in it, and for no cause
gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed.
I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me;
and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land."
This story is passed down to us from our ancestors. We acclaim their wisdom with, Amen.
Second Reading: “Waiting for the Barbarians” by Constantine Cavafy translated by Evan Jones
“--Why are we waiting in the agora?
“Because the barbarians arrive today.
“– Why is there such uncertainty in the Senate?
Why do the Senators sit there and not legislate?
“Because the barbarians arrive today.
What laws can our Senators enact now?
The barbarians will legislate when they arrive.
“– Why has our emperor awoken so early,
and seated himself before the city’s main gate,
on his throne, solemn, wearing his crown?
“Because the barbarians arrive today
and the emperor wants to greet
their leader. As is the custom, he will
present him with a parchment.
Many titles and names are written on it.
“– Why have our two consuls and the praetors chosen
today to don their red, embroidered togas?
Why are they wearing bracelets adorned with amethyst
and rings with shiny, glistening emeralds?
Why do they carry expensive walking sticks
gilded and inlaid with silver?
“Because the barbarians arrive today,
and such things impress barbarians.
“– And why have our outspoken orators not come as always
to spout their words, to have their say?
“Because the barbarians arrive today,
and eloquence and speeches bore them.
“– Where has this anxiousness and confusion come from
all of a sudden? Look at the haunted faces.
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly
and everyone returning to their homes so worried?
“Because night fell and the barbarians never arrived.
Some men travelled to the border region,
and reported that the barbarians no longer exist.
——
“Now what will we do without the barbarians?
They were a sort of solution for us.”
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia by Jan Phillips
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
This is the Gospel from the writer we know as Matthew. We affirm his words with "Amen."
Homily Starter:
I think there are times we forget how very counter-cultural Jesus was; how very radical his message still is. Today’s readings bring that radicalism into focus.
We see the fearsome Antiochus, king of the Greek Syrians, and villain in the Hanukkah story, at the end of his life. He has, as was the norm for rulers in his time and it seems, in ours, pillaged with each victory, replacing local culture and religious practices with those of the Greeks. He has basked in the glory of colonization and domination his whole life. It’s the road he has followed; it’s how he defines himself. Until he fails to take Persia, and soon after learns that the statue of Zeus (“the abomination” on the altar in Jerusalem) has been destroyed. Losing has not been a reality for Antiochus, he has been a winner, always. And because the accumulation of wealth and land has been everything to him, he has now lost everything. He has nothing. He is nothing. And so he dies a lost man.
The poet, Constantine Cavafy, was born in 1898 in Egypt. It was a period of war and occupation, and Constantine was forced to flee to Constantinople, which today is known as Istanbul, Turkey. He knew the pain of rootlessness, the uncertainty that comes when rulers vie for control, living to accumulate wealth and lands. His poem reflects the machinations of these leaders, and the clever ways they control their populations with false threats of violence from outside forces which never actually exist. And when those levers of control fail, when the contrived grievances are exposed, those leaders, and their citizens, are left with nothing.
Neither Antiochus, nor the fictitious rulers and citizens in Cavafy’s poem, are happy. Indeed, they are lost and empty.
Jesus offers a different way; a way that is a complete turn-around, from the ways of the occupiers. In the Beatitudes he offers a kind of “opposite day” of a lifestyle. A lifestyle that says, “take everything you ever knew about success, everything you ever knew about wealth, everything you ever knew about happiness, and do just the opposite.” “Win at all costs” becomes “The meek shall inherit the earth.” “The more you have the happier you will be” becomes “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” “Protect yourself and your possessions” becomes “Blessed are the persecuted.”
What a crazy, upside-down way of life he is asking his followers to live! I wonder how many walked in this way? I wonder how many of his followers today walk in this way? I wonder if more of us, as a human race, did walk in this way, how it might change the world? The whole world?
The Kin-dom of God is within reach. It is waiting in the next room. There is a door to that room that needs to be opened. Is the key to that door the Beatitudes?
What did you hear in 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 creation. You have surrounded us with beauty and love, and we are grateful for it.
You have given us the key to life in the Kin-dom. We see that key in the way Jesus lived his life. We take hold of that key by living our lives in his way.
In joy and in thanksgiving we join with all those who model the way of Jesus, both living and eternal, and we sing a hymn of praise.
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 open to healing in everyday life.”
Communion Meditation/Song: Behold the Kingdom – John Michael Talbot – video by Denise Hackert-Stoner https://youtu.be/TWd0OE5jaoA
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.
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 find joy as we walk in the way of Jesus. May the Beatitudes become for us the key to the Kin-dom of God. Amen.
Closing Song: Choose Life by Colleen Fulmer https://youtu.be/8raDrcCNbPs
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