Welcome
and Opening Prayer:
Hello to
all here in the Upper Room, In Zoom, or viewing this liturgy at another time.
Welcome to this sacred space.
We are
always creating even though we may not realize it. Our power is infinite. Our
reach is beyond our imagination. We are here by the grace of the Holy One, and
we are grateful. May each of you experience the presence of our Upper Room
Community today, in Love and Awareness of your gifts. May each of you know that
you are loved.
Peace to you.
Opening Song: The Deer’s Cry - Lee Harris & Davor
Bozic
https://youtu.be/hoXUdur_-PI?si=uh1nztM0zfi_iTpn
LITURGY
OF THE WORD
First
Reading: A reading from Anam Cara by John
O’Donohue
It is strange to be here. The mystery never
leaves you alone. Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the
silence of another world waits. A world lives within you. No one else can bring
you news of this inner world. Through the opening of the mouth, we bring out
sounds from the mountain beneath the soul. The sounds are words. The world is
full of words. There are so many talking all the time, loudly, quietly, in
rooms, on streets, on television, on radio, in the paper, in books. The noise of
words keeps what we call the world there for us. We take each other's sounds
and make patterns, predictions, benedictions, and blasphemies. Each day, our
tribe of language holds what we call the world together. Yet the uttering of
the word reveals how each of us relentlessly creates. Everyone is an artist.
Each person brings sound out of silence and coaxes the invisible to become
visible.
Humans are new here. Above us, the galaxies
dance out toward infinity. Under our feet is ancient earth. We are beautifully
molded from this clay. Yet the smallest stone is millions of years older than
us. In your thoughts, the silent universe seeks echo.
An unknown world aspires toward reflection.
These are words from the Prologue to Anam Cara
by John O'Donohue and we affirm them by saying Amen.
Gospel
Acclamation: Alleluia Misa Delgado Book1 video by
MTStreck
https://youtu.be/uilfwfd-U_g
Gospel: A
reading from the gospel of Matthew.
(13:31-35) (From the New, New Testament, Hal Tausig et.al.)
Another
parable which he told them was this: “The realm of heaven is like a mustard
seed, which a person took and sowed in his field. This seed is smaller than all
other seeds, but when it has grown up, it is larger than the herbs and becomes
a tree, so that the wild birds come and roost in its branches.”
This
was another parable which he related: “The realm of heaven is like some yeast
which a woman took and covered up in three measures of flour, until the whole
had risen.”
Of all this Jesus spoke to the crowd in
parables; indeed to them he used never to speak at all except in parables, in
fulfillment of these words in the prophet: “I will speak to you in parables; I
will utter things kept secret since the foundation of the world.”
These
are the words attributed to the community of Matthew, and we affirm them with
Amen.
Shared Homily: Debra Trees
In today’s readings, we are looking at two very
different visions in time and space. During Jesus’s time, many forces were in
play to keep people in their respective place, and to hold people in power to
enforce that. Jesus knew himself to be caught in that but also had a vision of
what is beyond. Many peoples close to the earth and nature see beyond that
human myopic vision, hence the expansiveness of Celtic influence.
I am a follower of Jesus, and I want to know
what he was doing. The parables that he shared with his followers have been
interpreted down through the past 2000 years in many ways. And today, we have
continued scholarly work to understand things more in the context of Jesus’
time. The Jesus Seminar has concluded that the parable of the leaven is most
likely from Jesus. It is in several gospels and other writings from that time.
It is short and easily repeated in an oral tradition. We are listening to Jesus
as he says these words. The parable of the mustard seed is also considered one
of the “red” parables; a likely verse directly attributed to Jesus.
In looking at both of these short phrases
passed on to us, Jesus may have been using contrasts that the people of his
time would begin to understand and see the light of Truth. Contrasting leavened
bread with holy unleavened bread. Contrasting a small mustard seed growing to a
huge plant, compared to the mighty cedar, a symbol of Isreal’s greatness. How
could heaven be like these things? Jesus was using his Creator awareness to
open the minds of his contemporaries.
Jesus now cracks open our views and our
perceived realities. In many ways we continue to deal with the same scenarios
that existed 2000 years ago, don’t we? But we are a part of a long line of
succession; a much richer and bigger picture than we can even imagine. And yet
here we are. We are creators in everything we do and say. Your lens and creativity
are a culmination of the Creator’s efforts to look upon itself, and Love.
We are the Sower and the seed. We are the
leaven. Today, and each day, in quiet contemplation, what will you bring to the
kingdom of heaven?
We invite you to share your thoughts.
References:
The Parables of Jesus, Red
Letter Edition, The Jesus Seminar, 1988
Anam Cara, A book of Celtic
Wisdom. John O’Donohue, 1997
Short Stories by Jesus, The Enigmatic Parables
of a Controversial Rabbi. Amy-Jill Levine. 2014
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.
LITURGY
OF THE EUCHARIST
Prayers of the Community
Presider: As
we prepare for the sacred meal, we
voice our intentions beginning with the words, “We bring to the table…..”
Presider: We pray for these and all
unspoken intentions. Amen.
Eucharistic
Prayer
Presider: Please
join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together:
All: O Holy
One, you have birthed us in goodness, gifted us with life and cherished us in
love. In the heart of our being, your Spirit dwells; a Spirit of courage and
vision, a Spirit of wisdom and truth.
In the
power of that same Spirit, we lift our hearts in prayer, invoking anew the gift
of wisdom and enlightenment, that we may continue to praise and thank you, in
union with all who sing the ancient hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy:
Music - John Bacchus Dykes, words by Peter Mayer, video by Denise
Hackert-Stoner
https://youtu.be/A4kiEGVb3E8
Holy One,
we see around us the work of your hands, the fruit of your wisdom and love. The
unfolding story of creation witnesses unceasingly to your creative power.
We, your creatures, often deviate from that wisdom, thus hindering your
creative presence in our midst.
Sending
among us Jesus, our brother, you birth afresh in our world the power of
Sophia-Wisdom, and in the gift of Your Spirit, your creative goodness blooms
anew, amid the variety and wonder of life.
Presider: Please
extend your hands in blessing.
We
invoke Your Spirit upon the gifts of this Eucharistic table, bread of the grain
and wine of the grape, that they may become gifts of wisdom, light and
truth which remind us of our call to be the body of Christ to the world.
On the night before he faced his own death and
for the sake of living fully, Jesus sat at the Seder supper with his companions
and friends. He reminded them of all
that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly within them, he bent down
and washed their feet.
All
lift their plate and pray the following:
When he returned to his place
at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread
and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat; this is my very self.
All
lift their cup and pray the following:
He then raised high 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 will
become communion
Both Love’s nourishment and
Love’s challenge.
Please share the bread and cup with the words, “Your
light shines for all.”
Communion Song: Deep
Peace, Sara Thompson, Video, Denise Hackert Stoner
https://youtu.be/5dIAcqaUUz4?si=bEip21w3sxxrLUEU
Post Communion Prayer:
In faith
and hope we are sustained; in grace and dignity reclaimed. In praise,
we thank you.
In union
with all peoples living and dead, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking
wisdom and courage:
- to
discern more wisely your call to us in the circumstances of our daily lives;
- to act
justly and courageously in confronting the pain and suffering that desecrates
the Earth and its peoples;
- to
take risks in being creative and proactive on behalf of the poor and
marginalized;
- and to
love all people with generosity of heart, beyond the labels of race, creed and
color.
And may
we ever be aware and alert to the new things Your Spirit makes possible in
us, as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty, into the fullness of life to
which all are called, participating in the wise and wonderful work of
co-creation.
Like Jesus,
we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live
compassionate lives, for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we
awaken to your Spirit within, moving us to glorify you, O Holy
One, at this time and all ways.
Amen.
Presider 1: Let us pray
the prayer Jesus:
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
(Adapted
by Miriam Therese Winter)
BLESSING
Presider:
Let us pray together our blessing:
In Faith
and Love, may we go into our space with Hope and Joy. May we bring Peace in our
every action. May we be Grateful at all times for the gifts we have been given.
May we Share and Bless each other in all ways. Amen.
Closing Song: What the World
Needs Now is Love
https://youtu.be/DZ1BFxEaWAY?list=RDDZ1BFxEaWAY
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