Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155 phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-865
Welcome: The Holy One created all of creation in
Love. We have always been a part of that
great love. The more we experience God,
Love, the more loving we become.
Let us pray
our opening song with our eyes closed as we Breathe Love.
Opening Song
Breathe Love by Susan Lincoln and Craig Toungate
https://youtu.be/g2eBbv7vVZg
LITURGY OF THE WORD
1st
Reading: A reading an essay by Rev. Brandan Robertson “A Higher
Love.” (adapted)
After all
the years in seminary, and all the doctrine I preached, I realized that it was only
in service to love that touched my soul. There truly is a higher love,
something more going on in the cosmos, than I could ever put into words.
All I knew
was that love certainly did exist-be it infinite, eternal love, or the very
imperfect human love that we all have experienced over our lifetimes. In the darkest of nights, love has beckoned
me forward, given me hope, and grounded my soul. It is love that gives me
reason
to press
on, to work toward a more just and equal world.
Our
community affirms these words with AMEN.
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic
Alleluia by Christopher Walker
https://youtu.be/o1rc7ojQtJU
2nd
Reading: A reading from 1 John
Beloved,
let us love one another because love is of God; everyone who loves is from God and
experiences God. Love, then, consists
in this: not that we love God, but that God loves us.
We affirm
these words with AMEN!
Shared Homily
When I was in social work school, I learned
that there are only two emotions, Love and Fear. All our emotions stem from one or the other
of these two. If you think about it if
we are angry, upset, judging, annoyed, etc. the source will be fear; we don’t
have enough, others have more, we are not enough, we are misunderstood, we do
not feel valued, or respected. Most of our negative emotions are fear
based. If we are focused on love, we
feel less stressed, we are more likely to live in gratitude and joy, accepting
of others, we don’t take things so personally, we are open to new ideas, we
have enough and we are enough.
Dr. Amanda Udis-Kessler, sociologist, asks the
question in her essay, Fear or Love, and I paraphrase here: Is our core paradigm the way we live our
lives, fear based or loved based? How do we handle all the ups and downs of
everyday living? We like to believe we
are loved based. Hopefully this is true and we are loved based. But it does not
mean we are “always great at loving.” We
struggle and try to love all things at all times. With that said we are ‘both/and humans’ as we
live life. Sometimes we are fear based
and sometimes we are loved based.
Our
strength is in love, not fear. Fear slows us down. Brandan Robertson wrote
“love gives us the reason to press on.”
God loves us, always has and always will.
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
As we
prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to the table our prayer of intentions:
We pray for these and all
unspoken intentions. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer
With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in
one voice:
O Holy One, you are always with us. In the blessed abundance of
creation, we gather to celebrate Your nourishing gift of life. May our hearts
be open as You invite us to participate in the wise and wonderful work of
co-creation. May we be ever aware of Your Spirit within and among us as our
world unfolds amid pain and beauty into the fullness of life.
We are grateful for Your Spirit whose breath inspired the primal
waters, calling into being the variety and abundance we see around us. Your
Spirit sustains and animates our every endeavor, inviting us to act in wisdom
and in truth.
In gratitude and joy,
we embrace our calling and we lift our voices to proclaim a song of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by
Christopher Grundy
https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ
As a community, we gather in the power of your Spirit, refreshing
wind, purifying fire and flowing water, for the variety and diversity of
Creation. We seek to live as Jesus taught us, wise and holy
as Spirit-filled people, courageous and prophetic, ever obedient to your
call.
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, 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 with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
lift bread
At
the table, he took the bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it
to them saying:
Take
and eat the Bread of Life
Given
to strengthen you
Whenever
you remember me like this go and love one another
lift cup
Jesus then
raised a cup of blessing, spoke the grace and offered the wine saying:
Take and
drink of the covenant
Made new
again through my life in you.
Whenever
you remember me like this,
I am among
you.
In union
with all peoples living and dead, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking
wisdom to discern more wisely your call to us in the circumstances of our daily
lives.
Please
receive the bread and the cup with the words: I press on in love.
Communion song:
Christ, Shine in Our Lives by Chris Muglia
https://youtu.be/-vnwdrtwBwk
Prayer
after Communion
We seek to
act justly and courageously in confronting the suffering that desecrates the
Earth and its peoples; to take risks in being proactive on behalf of the
marginalized who suffer the environmental injustices of fouled air, tainted
water, and a poverty of parks and public spaces that bring people together to
enjoy nature. We pray for inspiration to act with the harmony and unity and
synthesis that is modeled for us by the trees of the forest, and the stars of
the evening.
Holy One,
your transforming energy is always moving within us and working through
us. 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.
Prayer of
Jesus
Let us pray as Jesus taught us with an eye toward this Season of
Creation:
Generous
Creator, the intricate and elegant biodiversity of our world is your hallowed
autograph on our lives, on our souls and in our hearts.
We yearn
for the wholeness of being in harmony with Your will and with all living
things.
Each day we draw on your creative, life-giving energy with
gratitude and awe as we find nourishment in, seed and field, river and forest.
May we be stewards and co-creators with you in caring for
the gifts of Your Creation.
We acknowledge our shortcomings, especially our neglect of
the environment. We seek to be reconciled with those we have hurt and we
resolve to do better.
With your unfailing wisdom and the wind of Your Spirit,
inspire us that we may reach out and love one another and care for the world,
our home.
Strengthen us to work for local and global justice so that
we may one day reap a harvest of equality and fairness as if they were
wildflowers, propagating spontaneously, unerringly and in surprising abundance.
Amen.
We
are called to live the Gospel of Creation in harmony and gratitude with all our
sisters and brothers across the Earth. We will live justly, love tenderly and
walk with integrity in Your Presence. Lynn
Kinlan
BLESSING
Let us pray together our closing blessing:
Creator most generous and kind, your gift of
Earth and sky reveals your omnipotence and glory. May we go forward boldly to
live in the glory.
May we treat all of Creation as sacred and
discern the best path to an equitable distribution of the resources we share
with our sisters and brothers across the globe. Let us live as if the future
depends on it. Amen.
As we go out into our troubled world let us
breathe love and experience peace.
Closing
Song: Dona
Nobis Pacem sung by Carrie Newcomer
https://youtu.be/3qF5WDCFymg?si=Yl0CqjA6GOnFH1iG
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.