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Welcome and Theme
Welcome to our Upper Room liturgy. There are many temples in life. Our theme today is temples and what we can learn from them. Temples rise and fall. Within this truth lies the opportunity to find what is real, permanent and life giving. We begin by sitting together and letting our God love us.
Opening Sung Prayer: Be Still and Know by Shaina Knoll
https://youtu.be/CCGsExqtYKo?si=lAxWDzuR0KE9r9Pk
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Excerpt from Wild Mercy by Mirabai Starr
So far, this incarnation has been fraught with losses, rife with disappointments, heavy with heartache. There have been untimely deaths of loved ones who seemed to be about to cross the threshold into a beautiful and interesting life, not out of it. Serious health diagnoses that changed the way you navigate space, relate to food, see your self-image. Love affairs that once contained all the seeds of your joy and then withered before your eyes. Hands on your body that had no right to be there, making you mistrust the hands you really wanted on your body. Betrayals by colleagues or cousins, financial ruin, debilitating addictions.
When you breathe into the pain of your losses, you detect the presence of a smoldering ember you thought had been snuffed out years ago. But there it is, fragrant and warm. If you blew on it now it would burst into flame. Longing. Longing for God. You don’t even believe in God anymore. Not as a personified entity that grants wishes and smacks you down. And yet this burning yearning has never really gone away. In your broken-open state you remember what it feels like to feel separate from the One, to want union, to want it with every fiber of your being.
These are the written words of Mirabai Star and we affirm them with, Amen.
Second Reading: Let Your God Love You by Edwina Gateley
Be silent.
Be still.
Alone.
Empty
Before your God.
Say nothing.
Ask nothing.
Be silent.
Be still.
Let your God look upon you.
That is all.
God knows.
God understands.
God loves you
With an enormous love,
And only wants
To look upon you
With that love.
Quiet.
Still.
Be.
Let your God-
Love you.
These are the written word of Edwina Gateley and we affirm them with, Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel: A reading from the anonymous author of the Gospel of Luke (Lk 21:5-19)
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’[a] and, ‘The time is near!’[b] Do not go after them.
“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, for I will give you words[c] and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.
These are the written words of an anonymous early Christian author and we affirm them with, Amen.
Shared Homily
When I woke up on Friday morning, I had a sudden dreadful thought. I asked my wife Donna to go check the presiders schedule because I was CERTAIN that I was scheduled to preside on Sunday Nov 23. When she exclaimed “uh oh” from the kitchen my heart sank, my stomach churned and I was immediately in a panic. In 10 years as a presider at the Upper Room I had never “missed” preparing for a scheduled liturgy. I stopped breathing as my mind scrambled for a fix. Then, remembering what I believe, I was quickly overwhelmed by a sense of amusement and calm. I could not be more grateful now for this happy mistake. I hope it will be clear why.
In our gospel today, the writer known as Luke speaks to a Jewish community in the city of Thessaloniki. This bustling port city was a very important and diverse center of commerce. Luke is believed to have been written between 10 and 20 years after the destruction of the temple In Jerusalem in 70 AD. He is speaking to a small , upset community of Jews who belonged to a movement that believed Jesus was the Messiah. They were struggling to make sense of the life/death/resurrection of Jesus and the destruction of the temple. Luke writes it knowing that the temple was long since destroyed. This was understood to be the only acceptable place to make sacrifices to God. They believed that God literally lived in His temple and required blood sacrifices by male priests. Since the Temple Mount was the only acceptable place for a temple, the practice of animal sacrifice ended forever in Judaism. They had to redefine themselves. Judaism rose from this destruction with a movement toward Torah study, rabbis (teachers) instead of priests, synagogues rather than one central temple, ethical living, and local governance. This has become the Judaism of today. The message is that the temple would not be the thing that survived since all things pass away. Casting this teaching on the lips of Jesus long after the Temple already lay in rubble is meant to reassure and teach the community where to put the focus, that a new path of worshipping God is the phoenix that would arise from the ashes.
Mirabai Starr does not use the term temple but her writing is reminiscent of the writings of so many mystics who speak of the soul in terms of caves, rooms, interior castle (St. Theresa of Avila). She views the holy place as being in each of us. The mystic invites us to discover, listen, allow our longing, and our wondering. We need only to allow God to love us as Edwina Gateley writes in her prayer. She, like Therese of Lisieux espouses the idea that the simple, if not easy, path is that sitting with God at all times is our call. The alchemical chamber of our hearts is where the temple is metaphorically destroyed. The reality of suffering, pain, death, confusion, change and unknowing is where we meet God. Our growth toward intimate and personal union with God is forged in the fires of the burning embers when something we cherish is lost. Like the temple in Jerusalem, we each experience building up and losing what does not last. Whether life takes a wrecking ball to what we cherish or we choose to evolve in some critical area, it is a kind of broken heartedness. We and people we love get sick, die, abandon us. We create and then lose jobs, marriages, ideals, faith, images of God, images of ourselves, our understanding of community and who our neighbor may be. By allowing ourselves to feel everything on life’s own terms without adding to the pain or trying to avoid it by spiritual bypassing, we are filled with compassion for ourselves which we can allow to flow out to others and all of creation. In those moments we long for God and God longs for us. As it says in psalm 30:5 “Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning”.
So why was I so grateful for my little oopsie? It reminds me that there are stages and degrees of temples being taken down. Some temples come apart slowly and intentionally. I was shocked at how quickly my old familiar childhood guilt, shame, fear of having “messed up” flooded me. I did not know that old temple still stood, at least a bit of it, ready to tell me I let everyone down, I am inadequate, I was going to look stupid. I bet some of you know your own temples. I’m so grateful to know that my temple is down to the foundation but still needs some tending. I appreciate the wink from Spirit encouraging me to breathe with her and let her guide me. As I often say, “living like I believe this stuff”. What did you hear?
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
Presider: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”
We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.
Liturgy of the Eucharist
adapted from Diarmuid O’Murchu
Presider: With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer together:
Gracious God, source and sustenance of life, redeeming presence to the pain and brokenness of our world, Holy Spirit, who enlivens and inebriates all that exists, we beseech your healing power upon us and all we pray for today.
Down through the ages, you rescue us from darkness.
you light up our ways with wise and holy people. You restore our spirits and you revive our dwindling hope.
May the Spirit of life and wholeness transform us that we may be refreshed in our inner being and be empowered to bring mercy, love, and healing to those whose lives we touch.
For all you bring to our lives, and for all we seek amid
pain and suffering, we acclaim your love and greatness,
and we join with all creation to sing our hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy by Karen Drucker:
https://youtu.be/kl7vmiZ1YuI?si=p3YUFBt9GPj07S84
Presider: Please extend your hands in blessing.
Source of our health and wholeness, healer of body, mind, and spirit, we bring before you the darkness of our world, and the pain and suffering of your people.
We seek to be healed and made whole; we seek to be reconciled and united; we seek peace in our hearts and in our world.
We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts the empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses these gifts of bread and wine with the transforming energy of life, to nourish and sustain us in our time of need.
As we gather around this friendship table, we recall God’s blessing and love from ages past, and we celebrate anew the gift of life which we share among us at this Eucharistic feast.
The bread we break and the cup we share are symbols of our world of abundance where all are invited to partake of the fullness of life. But that life we often impede by our greed and selfishness and by our exploitation of other people.
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. Once again, he showed us how to love one another.
All lift the plate and pray:
Back at the table, he took the Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, this is my very self.
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)
Presider: 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: “You are God’s temple.”
Communion Song: I Know God by Denise Rosier
https://youtu.be/NWLY9bA1Kik?si=s7RBaVgEzthUMRi_
Prayer After Communion
Presider: In faith and hope we are sustained,
In grace our dignity reclaimed,
In praise we thank our God.
Grant that we may strive to create a world where suffering and pain are diminished, where justice and peace are restored, and where all people can live in health and wholeness, united in acclaiming the God of life, whose abundance is offered to each and to all, until the Kin-dom arrives in the fullness of time.
This prayer we make in the name of our healing and nurturing God through, with, and in whom we offer these gifts, sources of life, love, and goodness, now and forever. Amen.
Reader: Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
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
Live it all
Trusting that God is the ground of our being
Will nourish, ground and sustain us
Through every beautiful, challenging,
Blessed moment of it,
Come what may.
Remember:
God is the source of life
So worship God by living!
God is the source of love.
So worship God by loving!
God is the ground of being.
So worship God by
Having the courage to be
More fully human, the embodiment of the Divine.
(by Pastor Dawn Hutchings)
Closing Song: Learning to Sit Without Knowing by Carrie Newcomer
https://youtu.be/I_t8WqgKL3I?si=FeooYFV-7tyd1dxW
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