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Advent Week 3
Welcome to our celebration of Gaudete Sunday, a day of Joy.
Peace Prayer
Lighting of Advent Candles
Advent Candle Lighting Blessing Prayer
Like our ancestors, we honor the cycles and the seasons that remind us of the ever-changing flow of life. Ritual acts give life meaning—they honor and acknowledge the unseen web of Life that connects us all.
Week 3 – Presider lights candle as member of community prays:
We light this third candle and remember that in the heart of every person on this earth, and in all of creation there burns the spark of luminous goodness – the presence of the Divine.
And so we respond: Let us kindle the light of joy!
Presider concludes: Indeed, let us welcome the light within each other!
Opening Song: Drawing Nearer (Advent) by Christopher Grundy https://youtu.be/udLJ3uDIMlQ
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Reading 1: A reading from the Prophet Isaiah (Is. 35:1-6a, 10)
The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of our Beloved,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
coming with vindication;
Justice comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
You who have been ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
met with joy and gladness.
Sorrow and mourning will flee.
These are inspired words from the Prophet Isaiah, and we affirm them with, Amen.
Reading 2: God’s Grandeur, by Gerard Manley Hopkins
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
These are inspired words of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and we affirm them with, Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia Misa Delgado Book1
Gospel: A reading from the anonymous author known as Matthew (Mt. 11:2-11)
When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,
he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,
"Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me."
As they were going off,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,
"What did you go out to the desert to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine clothing?
Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.
Then why did you go out? To see a prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it is written:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way before you.
Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
These are inspired words from the Gospel attributed to Matthew, and we affirm them with, Amen.
Homily and Shared Reflections
This is the Advent week of joy. I wish you joy. Even as the world seems to darken, even as despair seems to threaten to exterminate any possibility of joy; still, I wish you joy. Our readings today teach us about holding onto joy, even against heavy odds.
Isaiah addresses the people during very trying times. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah were threatened by the Assyrian empire and by political corruption within. There must have been a great deal of despair and fear. Isaiah tries again and again to call the people back. He calls them to live their faith before their own actions lead them to even more suffering. And even as he calls for repentance, Isaiah has a deep faith in the power of healing, and of the unwavering love of the Divine. The beautiful passage we heard today illustrates Isaiah’s belief that joy never dies, that it is just waiting to break into the world.
Our second reading delivers the same message, in a different, but equally beautiful way. Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in 1844, just as the industrial revolution began. He was heartbroken to witness the destruction of the environment as well as the extreme urban poverty that resulted from it, and the poem we heard today expresses that. It would be a very depressing poem except for that last stanza. There, just like Isaiah, Hopkins reminds us of the beauty and joy hidden “deep down things,” and leads us to hope that the Spirit of the Holy One, like a dove brooding her young in her breast, will deliver us safely to the joy of a new dawn.
Finally, our gospel rounds out this message, with Jesus answering John the Baptist’s question about Jesus’s Messiahship not with a direct answer, but by hearkening back to the words of Isaiah. “Now,” he seems to be saying, “I am showing you how to birth joy in the world.” He points to his own actions: healing; opening the eyes of people; bringing people who were dead to life, back to life. And after his long, almost elegiac praise of John, Jesus ends with a surprising statement: “yet the least in the Kin-dom of Heaven is greater than he.” Why would he say that? Why diminish praise for someone who clearly meant so much to him? Who is this “least in the Kin-dom of Heaven?” I think it’s you. I think it’s me. I think it’s anyone who is trying to follow this “way” on which both John and Jesus… and Isaiah led their disciples.
The dark days that we fear, like the darkness that clouded the people during the times of Isaiah, John, and Jesus, like the soot of industrialism that covered the world of Hopkins, are not without hope; not without joy. In fact, our world is pregnant with joy, and we, as people of The Way, are the midwives empowered to deliver it.
This is the Advent week of joy. I wish you joy.
Those are my thoughts on tonight’s readings. Please share yours.
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 that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. As bearers of LIGHT and HOPE, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your intentions beginning with the words, “I bring to the table…..”
We pray for these our blessings, cares, and concerns and bring them to our table of friendship and love. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
(written by Jay Murnane)
All: Source of All That Is, we seek you in this season, when the earth is resting and preparing for new life. Like the earth, we long for new life and hopeful beginnings. This is the time of the pregnant woman, filled with life and hope powerful enough to topple structures of oppression. This is the time of her song of fidelity and celebration.
During this gentle season of Advent, we recognize that you have made us capable of bringing forth justice, like a rising sun. One with all who have gone before us, we sing a song of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy by Karen Drucker
We thank you for those in times past who believed the good news, and lived what they believed.
Blessed is Isaiah and every visionary who insisted on a better future that would break through the deception, disaster and broken promises of the age in which they lived.
Blessed is John, in the stark desert of careful focus, inviting the people to be born again in your love.
Blessed is Miriam, who believed the words of Isaiah and opened herself up to the unbelievable.
And blessed is her child Jesus, who felt the sorrows of humankind in his soul, and responded with deep and tender compassion.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: 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.
All.: 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 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.
(pause)
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.
(pause)
Let us share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace.
Please receive the bread and cup with the words, May joy flourish.
Communion Meditation/Song: Christ Be Our Light, by Bernadette Farrell https://youtu.be/nn7Hl6ki9z8
Prayer after communion:
Holy One, we are grateful for the gift of Your Spirit, always drawing beauty and balance out of chaos. And like Jesus…
Standing where he stood,
and for what he stood,
and with whom he stood,
we are united in your Spirit,
and worship you with our lives,
All: 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 extend your hands and pray our blessing together.
Source of all Joy, help us to see you, even in our broken world. Help us to live you, even when we begin to feel defeated. Help us to be the joy this world so needs.
All: AMEN
Closing Song: Joy In Our Hearts by Karen Drucker
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