Opening Prayer: Holy Mystery, we gather in celebration of the world that surrounds us reminding us of the deep and lasting love that has been bestowed upon all of creation. May we be ever aware of the responsibility we have as true stewards of all creation, and of the care and nurturance of all life to which we are called. Amen
Reading:
The signs are all around us. We can see them springing up like wildflowers after the prairie rain. People who had fallen asleep are waking up. People who had been content to watch are wanting to join. People who never said a word are speaking out. The tipping point of faith is the threshold of spiritual energy, where what we believe becomes what we do. When that power is released, there is no stopping it, for love is a force that cannot be contained. Look and see the thousands of new faces gathering from every direction. There is the sign of hope for which you have been waiting. . . .
Hope lets us literally see the presence and action of the holy in our everyday lives. This is not an imaginary desire viewed through rose-colored glasses. It is the solid evidence of the power of love made visible in abundance.
Sometimes, in this troubled world of ours, we forget that love is all around us. We imagine the worst of other people and withdraw into our own shells. But try this simple test: Stand still in any crowded place and watch the people around you. Within a very short time, you will begin to see love, and you will see it over and over and over. A young mother talking to her child, a couple laughing together as they walk by, an older man holding the door for a stranger—small signs of love are everywhere. The more you look, the more you will see. Love is literally everywhere. We are surrounded by love.
Bishop Stephen Charleston
Reflection
Intentions:
Holy One, fill us with your wild love that we may embrace and protect each other, those living at the margins, and the natural world.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, reconnect us to our compassion that we may extend our hands to those who need our help in these challenging days.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, help us reorder our society in justice and peace for women and men of all races, abilities, and sexual orientations.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, soothe our frazzled spirits, calm our troubled minds, and strengthen our weary bodies that we may better face the challenges of the coming days.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, in these days of rampant income inequality, remind us of the joy and pleasure to be found both in nature and in each other, lest we too go crazy for power, for things.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love. AMEN.
Closing Prayer:
Eternal Source of Life, we pray in great gratitude this holy day for Love. Love raises the sun and greets us in each drop of water we drink, in each crumb of bread we taste, in each smile and tear we touch, in each child we meet. In a mantle of awe we stand enwrapped. Our feet rest upon Earth and our heads meet the moon.
O God of All Names and Beyond All Names, Whose Face is Love may we collectively be the face of Transforming Love in this moment, in this day, in these times. Amen.
Welcome: Today are readings focus on light and salt and what we are to do.We know our world is upside down.In truth our world has always been upside down.Our Upper Room Community, our sharing, and standing together in solidarity gives us strength hope and peace.
Peace Prayer
Opening Prayer
Holy One, we hear today Jesus responding to his call inspired by Isaiah who cried out to his people to accept the Spirit of God and bring good news to the poor, the broken hearted, and the captives. Help us to hear and feel the spirit of God given to each of us.
First Reading: A reading from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 58:7-10)
Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your integrity will go before you, and the glory of the YHWHshall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the YHWH will answer, you shall cry for help, and Godwill say: I am here! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the shadows will become for you like midday.
These are the inspired words of the Prophet Isaiah, and the community affirms them with AMEN!
Second Reading: Poem of Light and Salt by Deven Horne
You are mine
My Light and Salt
The Salt of delicious seasons that I taste when a morsel of food touches my tongue.
The Salt that brings me spice to ordinary things.
The Salt that is your own tastiness to my everyday living.
The Light that pours into a room like the sunshine in the morning.
The Light that makes me feel warm and safe. The Light that only you can provide in your shimmering way.
You are my unique Light and Salt in each precious moment that we meet. Let me be your Light and Salt in my only way.
These are the inspired words of Deven Horne a disciple of Jesus.The community affirms them with AMEN!
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 5:13-16)
Jesus said to his disciples: "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Abba God."
These are the inspired words of a writer known as Matthew.We affirm these were with AMEN!
Homily and Shared Reflections
After what seemed like another particularly terrrible week in our country Anne Lamott wrote: “It felt like we were in free fall. How would we even go on? How do we come through this, fight back, and not give up on this country, on democracy, on the preciousness of life? Where would we even start?
Anne offered some very good advice: “We breathe, take care of the suffering and poor, including ourselves, donate whatever we can afford. We get outside and look around at the miracle. And praying people pray.”
I think Anne, knowingly or not, was channeling Isaiah and Jesus. Times were bleak when Isaiah prophizised and times were bleak when Jesus brought his message of love. Isaiah’s message was a to do list, share your bread, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless. Jesus’ message reminds us who we are and why we were created. Here we are thousands of years later and we are still in the same boat. The message is the same: we must be light and salt for each other.
We often reflect on being light in our world. Let’s take a moment and focus on being the salt of the earth.
Essentially, while all salt is sodium chloride (NaCl), the variations come from how it's harvested, processed, and what minerals or additives are included, creating a vast world of flavors and textures.
The human body contains NaCl (salt), primarily about 0.4% of body weight, similar to seawater. Interesting since we evolved from the sea. But what caught my eye about salt is how the varieties come about. It depends on how it is harvested and what is added to it and then dozens of varieties occur which have a multitude of effects.
I wonder if Jesus knew that when he said for us to be the salt of the earth, to harvest our own salt in a way that will have vast variety of outcomes. But we also need to be careful with our salt because we can overdo it or underdo it and the effect is not what it intended. I know sometimes I have used my salt too much at times and had unintended results like harmful to me and/or limiting others. I also know that sometimes I haven’t used my salt enough and I could have added something to the common good.
On the table we have a few varieties of salt, and you are welcome to try them and see what salt variety tastes good to you. How have you and I harvested our salt and what flavors have we added to our communal meal.
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, Please voice your intentions beginning with the words, “I bring to the table
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Let us pray our Eucharistic prayer with open hearts and hands:
We are grateful for our brother Jesus teaching us the way of compassion through entering into the suffering of others. May we care for ourselves as Jesus cared for us, seeing humanity through the eyes of “Love”. Through his loving eyes we are healed and we open our hearts to the pain and suffering of others.
Because of your empowering unconditional loving Presence Beloved, we are aware of your presence in and among us. Your love radiates from our hearts, minds, and bodies. The nurturance of ourselves and one another empowers your embodied presence. “We are not the survival of the fittest but the survival of the nurtured.” (Cozolino)
With joy and gratefulness today and always, we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy Music by John Bacchus Dykes, Words by Peter Mayer video by Denise
Holy One, you speak to our hearts and say “I don’t need anything from you for me to love you - I don’t need you to evolve for me to love you - I don’t need you to grow for me to love you - I don’t need you to succeed for me to love you - I will stay with you in any circumstance. I was here at the beginning, I am here in the middle, I will be here in the end.There is nothing you can do to lose me.” “Just your being is love to me”.
We thank you for Jesus who heard the Divine voice of deep love for him as “this is my beloved son”. Jesus showed us a path to comforting ourselves as the Divine Beloved would comfort us and as we would nurture our own children, family and friends. May we hear God’s voice as Jesus did to love and forgive ourselves so that we may more fully love and forgive each other.
Please extend your hands in blessing
Your Spirit that is present in us at this Eucharistic table. We are grateful for the bread and wine that remind us of our call to be the light of Christ to the world.
On the night before he faced betrayal and death, Jesus shared supper with his 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.
lifts plate
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 share my love with one another.
lift the cup
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 pass the bread with the words: You are the salt of the earth
Communion Song: What Shall I Give by Sara Thomsen, video by Denise
Holy One, your love transforms us so we love and heal each other.We resolve to love as Jesus loved. Jesus loved the marginalized, the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, the immigrants, the stranger.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 in blessing.
May the infinite beauty and joy of Creation continue to astound us.
May the Presence of the Divine always comfort and inspire us.
May we be the light of the world and the salt of the earth in all we say and do.
May we be a blessing in our time. AMEN.
Closing Song: This Little Light of Mine by Bruce Springsteen
