Dennis:We gather as a community to take the first steps of our forty-day prayer journey of Lent.The ashes we will bless are derived from the gardens of Upper Room community members.
Opening Prayer:
Denise:Holy One, open our hearts to the empty spaces.Help us to see in the dark.Lead us to that place of quiet where the only sound is your voice, calling our true selves into being, into union with one another and with you.
Dennis:Do we know that within each one of us is the unspeakably beautiful beat of the Sacred? Do we know that we can honor that Sacredness in one another and in everything that has being? And do we know that this combination—growing in awareness that we are bearers of Presence, along with a faithful commitment to honor that Presence in one another and in the earth—holds the key to transformation in our world?
These are the inspired words of Philip Newell, and we affirm them by saying AMEN.
Homily Starter:
Denise:During the forty days of Lent, we remember the time Jesus spent in the wilderness of the desert. There, a young man facing his future alone, he contemplates that future; what it all means, how it will all unfold. By the end of his time in the desert Jesus is ready.From that moment he walks in one direction, in the service of justice and love.What changed for him?What clicked?How was he able to hear that “unspeakably beautiful beat of the Sacred” and live his life in its rhythm?Have you heard that beat in your own life?What has helped you to hear it?How has it changed you?
Shared Homily
Blessing of the ashes:
Dennis:The ashes we bless today/tonight are the fruits of the earth reduced to their essence by fire. The elements contained here are shared throughout creation.Carbon, calcium, phosphorous, born of nuclear fusion deep within the core of stars, are the same elements, born of the same stars, that make up everything we know, everything we see, everyone we love.We are all born of star dust.Our oldest ancestors are the stars.Please raise your hands over these ashes in blessing:
Holy one, all creation comes from you.All things take shape through you.All things live in you.May these ashes, remnants of the plants of the earth, already holy in their union with you, be blessed today/tonight as reminders of our relationship with all of creation.Through them may we know your presence, the presence that permeates all things and unites us in your love.Amen.
We invite you to keep these ashes in a place in your home where you will see them throughout the Lenten season.You may want to use them as part of your prayer during the season.As the weeks pass, and the days become longer, we are reminded that the word “lent” comes from the Old English word “lencten,” referring to the lengthening days of spring.By the time Easter comes you may want to take these ashes and add them to the earth of a garden or flower pot.Thus the cycle will continue, and your Lenten prayers, along with the ashes, will become part of the future.
Closing Prayer:
Denise:May our Lenten journey lead us to the farthest reaches of the universe, and to the center of our being, both destinations lying in the heart of the Holy One.Amen.
Valentine’s Day: Liturgy of Fire – The Spirit Within and Around Us
Dennis - Welcome and Theme: Welcome to our celebration today, a day which marks 47 years from when Ed & Margaret became engaged, and 44 years from when Jeanne and I became engaged. As we gather this Valentine’s Day, we are reminded that love, in all its forms, is a fragile, life-giving gift that must be nourished, cherished, and lived every day. It is not always a smooth ride and it is not always everlasting as fairy tales would have us believe. But as our reading from Corinthians assures us, love is, out of faith, hope, and love, the one that is greatest, for faith and hope flow from Love, the Love that is born within us to share with each other and the world.
Margaret - Opening Prayer: Opening Prayer: Loving God: Be present to those in need in these trying times especially the poorest and those most at risk of being left behind.
Transform our fear and feelings of isolation into the Things We Do For Love. Amen.
At most, there are two ways that can launch us into an experience of real love.
The first is a journey that takes ruthless self-criticism as its base. It means that, however long this relationship lasts, I must regularly ask myself whether or not I am really attending to the other. Do I hear the other and, most of all, do I respond? Have I tried to determine what it is that the other needs from me right now and then, if necessary, negotiate the giving of it? Am I really trying to come out of myself for the sake of the other?
The second consciousness of love is that the world is not a world of one—me. Love makes space for the insights of others, for the opinions of others, for the very separate goals and hopes of others who are also struggling both to be themselves and to enable the one they love to do the same.
As Anna Strong writes, “To fall in love is easy, even to remain in it is not difficult; our human loneliness is cause enough. But it is a hard quest worth making to find a comrade through whose steady presence one becomes steadily the person one desires to be.”
Love is not a mold that makes two people the same person. Love is the dream that enables both of us to be our own best person—together. Love knows no one can fill up in us what we lack in ourselves. But coming to live what we know about love for the sake of others, as well as for our self, is the one thing that can possibly stop the restless sleep that comes with loneliness.
These are the inspired words of Sr. Joan Chittister, and the community affirms them by saying, Amen.
Second Reading: Donna & Kim
A reading from John Foley, SJ (adapted by Dennis McDonald)
Look at what love is doing. What about love in your own life?
Have you discovered that love is quite a bit more than pretense, more than an ideal, more than just a thing we crave from others, and certainly more than just pleasure? Have you seen that learning to love is the very air inhaled by such everyday importance as work, relaxation, attractions, happiness? Without love’s living atmosphere none of these could breathe, and neither could we.
Jesus says the same in no uncertain terms. You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.
“What?” we might exclaim (as I did in college). I thought that law consisted of commands forced upon me from the outside, rules whose violation would bring punishment. What is this about law depending on love?
Take a look.
God does not fail at love. God waits. God says, “how wonderful that you are learning!” God says, “I love every person on earth. And you—you are my beloved. I am at your side as you learn to open to me and to others.”
Do you and I succeed in this? Well, we need laws to help us. But the root of law and of life is fair care of others. It is loving concern under God for human persons. Ultimately this is a replication of God’s love for us.
“Look at what love is doing.”
These are the inspired words of John Foley, a member of the Society of Jesus.
Alleluia - Dennis
Third Reading: Lynn & Bernie
A reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians (13: 1-7, 13)
Even if I can speak in all the tongues of earth—and those of the angels too—but do not have love, I am just a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal.If I have the gift of prophecy such that I can comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge, or if I have faith great enough to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own to feed those poorer than I, then hand over my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, and it is not snobbish; it is never rude or self-seeking; it is not prone to anger, nor does it brood over injuries. Love doesn’t rejoice in what is wrong but rejoices in the truth.There is no limit to love’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure.
There are, in the end, three things that last: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
These are the inspired words from the First Letter to the Corinthians, and the community affirms them by saying, Amen.
Homily Starter
Margaret: The Things We Do For Love...
Love in marriage has many ups and downs, it can be finding out what the other needs over 46 years.Love is the Dream we started that enables both of us to be our best persons together.As Joan says. ”Do I hear the other and how do I respond.”
My responses over these years I hope have been for Love. I have a short story that I think demonstrates the things “we all do for Love.”
We were living on Long Island not far from Jones beach, which I loved.Loved our Cape Cod house, loved the friends I had made and my job teachingPre-K.
Ed was working for the state at the Harlem office. Not a great commute especially when it was raining. “The Things we do for Love.”
He put in for a transfer to Albany. I kind of hoped it would not happen. Well the transfer came through. “The Things we do for Love.”
My response was OK I can do this for the love of Ed, this move will give him more years of a good life and I like “snow. “ We moved and it was a big climate adjustment.Albany broke some records in the winter of 87.90 inches of snow in Jan.My neighbor joked the snow usually stops by the 4th of July.“The Things we do for Love.”
34 years later we have loved many opportunities that have come our way.We have made wonderful new friends, I have had 20 years of a fantastic teaching job, we have become members of a wonderful new liberating church, and our children have received a great education and grown into amazing adults.“The Things we have done for love.”
Dennis: John Foley, in our second reading, speaks of how the air we breathe in everyday situations helps us learn to love. He states, “without love’s living atmosphere none of these could breathe, and neither could we.” All three of our readingstoday speak of love not from the fairy tale version of “happily ever after”, but of the work that must go into it.It is the everyday experiences we have with others that encourages us to be open to the other, to see the love imbued in the other by the Divine. This is not always easy, and Foley shares that he thought that was what laws were for, to make sure the rules were followed, or else.But in reality, even the 10 Commandments were all about love and community.The Jewish people were wandering the desert, and if they were going to survive they had to be community, to act out of love toward each other.They had to respect each other, treat each other with dignity, not destroy someone’s reputation, or harm someone physically.They had to respect each other’s possessions, not jealously covet them.They had to honor the wisdom of their elders, not disregard it.John Foley says it this way, “it is the fair care of others. It is the loving concern under God for human persons.” Margaret says, it’s “the things we do for love”. The two commandments of Jesus, love God and neighbor, encompass the 10 commandments.Love is definitely work, no denying that; it is a daily attitude to find the innate love of the Divine in each person we encounter. It is responding to “look at what love is doing” even with all the joy and pain. In the end it’s what am I doing to bring love to others, to be love for others, to grow in love with others? And in the midst of all of this God waits at our side as we constantly learn to be a replication of Divine Love.
Ed: Regarding Paul’s hymn to love which was our third reading, we have heardmany times at weddings and elsewhere “Love is patient, love is kind….it does not brood over injuries”.I would like to share something a friend told me just a few weeks ago.He was visiting his widowed mother and there was a couple who would take walks past her house most days.On this particular day as they walked past they appeared to be arguing rather heatedly.My friend’s mother said to him, “How nice it is to have someone to argue with.” What her comment says to me is that we can argue and disagree with someone and still love them.
Perhaps at this time in our country love does not require that we forget or ignore injuries. It would be foolish to pretend the events of January 6th did not happen. So the question becomes how do we acknowledge those events, react to them but not, in Paul’s words, “brood over them”?How do we hate the evil acts of January 6th, but love those who committed them?
Please remember to unmute your microphone when sharing your own reflections.
Shared Homily
Statement of Faith: Dotty & Joan
We believe in one God, 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 God's Word,
bringer of God's healing, heart of God's compassion,
bright star in the firmament of God's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of God's love,
a source of God's wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of God's peace in the world.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the life of God that is our innermost life,
the breath of God moving in our being,
the depth of God living in each of us.
We believe that God's 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.
Jeanne: As we prepare for this sacred meal we remember that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, our gratitude and our cares and concerns.
We bring to the table…..
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions, Amen.
Liturgy of the Eucharist
Ed:O Divine Fire of Love, glowing embers dance in our hearts. Our souls are purified by the searing truth that ignites our spirits and by the fire that penetrates the cold around us, setting our hearts aglow with tenderness.
How often have we felt tender love that is without limits or boundaries! How often have we been consumed with delight by love in a human touch!How often have we been embraced through Earth's beauty, a part of the beloved creation that surrounds us! We are energized to work for justice and peace in our world and we raise our voices with grateful hearts as we sing:
Margaret:Holy Mystery, may we listen with assurance and excitement as the infinite, boundless, depths of love are revealed within and among us. May we awaken to the promise that we are always, no matter what the obstacles or setbacks we experience, embraced with love and compassion. May we be consumed with such a hunger and thirst for justice that our words and actions inflame others to become signs of justice. May we have eyes to see human need, hearts to care for our sisters and brothers and hands and feet to lighten others' burdens.
Ed: We are thankful for Jesus, and his strong, but gentle presence, whose message of love blesses and transform our lives. He showed us how to live as your new creation.
The night before Jesus died, he gave us a special gift of love divine. He took bread, broke it and shared it with friends who gathered around the table saying:
Take and eat,
This is my very self.
Margaret: Then Jesus took a cup of wine, praised God, shared the cup 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. (pause)
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.
Receive the bread and cup, recognizing the Divine Love within you.
Communion Meditation: Love Changes Everything sung by Michael Ball & IL Divo
Ed:May we become Spirit-Fire, as we fan the flames of love over the entire cosmos.
May all of our families and friends, the young and old, the sick and dying and all those in need experience nurturing love this day.
May all creation dance and become one heart, one mind, one spirit with everything. May we touch the earth with reverent awe and live in harmony with all creatures. May we turn away from all efforts to dominate anyone or anything. May we see the divine presence shining in the stars and in the sun. May we embrace the universe's treasures and celebrate life's simple pleasures each day. May love kindle our friendship with all life, as we dwell as one with all of creation.
Let us pray the Prayer of Jesus:
Jeanne: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 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.
The Prayer of Jesus as interpreted by Miriam Therese Winter
Final Prayer (please extend your hands in blessing)
Margaret: May the Fire of Love ignite our hearts and radiate through us; may the Spirit of truth and justice burn within us forever. May we share the love we have experienced with all of creation and may we live always as instruments of faithful love. Amen.
Closing Song: True Colors | Cyndi Lauper performed by One Voice Children’s Choir
The Beloved Knitters and Crafters are busy at work creating items for you to choose for a very small donation. These items support Family Promise of the Capital Region, The Malala Fund, and Dreamcatcher Foundation.
Items available are:
Prayer shawls - suggested donation is $25 to Family Promise of the Capital Region
mug-rugs, masks, pot holders and soap sacks - suggested donation: $5
Since Sunday is Valentine’s Day, I’m using love as our theme tonight. It is easier to love our family and friends (most of the time), then people who think differently than we do—especially politically, and have different ideas about justice, racial equality and how they treat those who are different. We love because HE loved us. If we say “I love God” and hate another, we lie. If we do not love someone before our eyes, how can we love the one we cannot see. It is his command that the one who loves GOD must love his brother.
FIRST READING: A reading from the Gospel of John
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
PAUSE TO REFLECT:
PETITIONS:
God of Love
We are sometimes impatient, sometimes unkind.
We are quick to envy, and quick to judge.
Response: Loving God teach us to love.
God of love
We may be quick to anger
And hang onto how we’ve been wronged
Response: Loving God teach us to love.
God of love
When we are tempted to judge, to assume the worst
May love remind us to trust.
When we are tempted to despair, to assume all is lost....
May love remind us to hope.
When we are tempted to give up, to assume it will never happen
May love remind us to persevere.
Response: Loving God teach us to love. Amen.
Closing Reading:
A reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians
Even if I can speak in all the tongues of earth—and those of the angels too—but do not have love, I am just a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal.If I have the gift of prophecy such that I can comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge, or if I have faith great enough to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own to feed those poorer than I, then hand over my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, and it is not snobbish; it is never rude or self-seeking; it is not prone to anger, nor does it brood over injuries. Love doesn’t rejoice in what is wrong but rejoices in the truth.There is no limit to love’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure.
Love never fails. Prophecies will cease; tongues will be silent; knowledge will pass away.Our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect.When the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. But when I became an adult, I put childish ways aside. Now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror; then we will see face to face. My knowledge is imperfect now; then I will know even as I am known.
There are, in the end, three things that last: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Welcome to the Upper Room. We are so happy to be together today to consider the gift of healing. May this time together remind us of our deep connection to Holy Presence and each other as we celebrate healing and wholeness.
Opening meditation: (Kim)
Opening Song: I Will Not Leave You Comfortless
https://youtu.be/qZ1FgIaohIU
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Readings
First Reading: Job 7:1-4;6-7
Isn’t a person’s life in this world nothing but drudgery? Aren’t our days here like those of a hired hand? Like a laborer vainly longing for shade or a hired hand waiting for meager wages, so I am assigned months of futility; my only possessions are nights of misery. When I go to bed, I wonder, “How long before I get up?” -but the night drags on, as I toss and turn. My days pass as swiftly as a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. O God, remember that my life is just a breath, and I will never experience joy again.
These are the inspired words from the book of Job and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
Second Reading: Mark 1:29-39 (Deven)
Upon leaving the synagogue, Jesus entered Simon’s and Andrew’s house with James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told Jesus about her. Jesus went over to her, took her by the hand and helped her up, and the fever left her.
Then she went about her work. After sunset, as evening drew on, they brought to Jesus all who were ill and possessed by demons. Everyone in the town crowded around the door. Jesus healed many who were sick with different diseases, and cast out many demons. But Jesus would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who he was.
Rising early the next morning, Jesus went off to a lonely place and prayed there. Simon and some companions managed to find Jesus and said to him, "Everybody is looking for you!” Jesus said to them, “Let us move on to the neighboring villages so that I may proclaim the Good News there also. That is what I have come to do.” So Jesus went into their synagogues proclaiming the Good News and expelling demons throughout the whole of Galilee.
These are the inspired words from the Gospel of Mark and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
Third Reading: Excerpts from: How to deal with Pain: First and Second Darts by Patrick Edbald (Mary Theresa)
Physical and psychological pain are inevitable parts of life. It’s just the way we humans are designed. To survive physically, we need our body to let us know when it’s ill or injured. To work psychologically and socially, we need minds that send different signals of distress such as loneliness, anger, fear, rejection, threat and grief.
Losing these physical and psychological signals of pain is in fact very dangerous. We need to know that we’ve accidentally put our hand on the stove to do something about it. Or feel guilty when we’ve mistreated someone else. Pain is what lets us know.
In Buddhism, these unavoidable pains in life are known as ‘first darts.’ These are the darts life throws at us that we can’t do anything about.But what we can do, is avoid throwing ‘second darts‘ at ourselves. These second darts are our judgments and reactions to the first darts.
“Pain is Inevitable. Suffering is Optional.”This Buddhist proverb simply and brilliantly sums up how this works. Pain is the first dart. Suffering is the second dart. You’re always going to have to deal with pain because that’s how humans function in the world.
For example, let’s say you get a sudden headache. This is the first dart. The second darts come in the form of your thoughts about the situation: ‘Why does this always happen to me?!’, ‘This headache is driving me crazy!!’, ‘I hate this pain!’ and so on.
Each time you buy into these thoughts you make the experience of the headache even worse. You’re putting logs on the fire. Now, it’s not just the pain from the first dart you’re experiencing; you’re also hitting yourself with a bunch of second darts that are causing you to suffer.
These are the inspired words of Patrick Edbald and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
Gospel Acclamation: Dennis
Shared Homily: Donna
As we come close to experiencing a full year in a pandemic, with job losses, with friends and family members who have passed away, and so many people battling cancer, it is possible that the weight of the world is heavy on our shoulders. The last line in the reading from Job “I will never experience joy again,” could be among our thoughts. Like Job, we need shelter, relief and healing. If only we could take the hand of Jesus and be healed the way Peter’s mother-n-law was. If only our pain would leave us the way the fever left her.
Our readings today suggest that by encountering the Holy One in times of pain we can avoid the tendency to create suffering for ourselves. Mark’s gospel was written to persecuted Christians and portrays Jesus as a teacher, healer and one who also encountered great pain. The word “immediately” is used many times in this gospel and is applied to the healing stories when people were instantaneously healed when they encountered Jesus.
All people experience pain and Mark’s gospel teaches us that people are healed through an encounter of the divine. It is useful to understand healing as a different relationship with pain so as to eliminate unnecessary additional suffering.Healing is notescaping illness, pain and adversity rather it is a healthy relationship to the inevitable struggles we all encounter. If our relationship to pain is healed we are free to live in the way Jesus modeled, with courage, love and endurance in the good times as well as the difficult times.
Jesus may be pictured in the gospels as a healer because he understood how to live well when facing adversity, illness and injustice. This allowed him to act justly, do mercy and walk humbly with God.Jesus’ healed relationship with pain could be why he had such an appeal to all those he met. Jesus was a healing presence. As our third reading teaches, when we do not inflict the second dart of negativity, judgement, and resistance upon ourselves, we are freer to navigate any situation with courage, love and grace.
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
Dennis: These are the prayer intentions received from the community:
Dennis: We pray for these and all unspoken concerns of our hearts. Amen.
Donna:Let us join with open hands to pray our Eucharistic prayer together:
Donna: Source of Love and Light, we join in unity of Spirit, love and purpose with Your people everywhere, living and crossed over. With all of creation across billions of galaxies, we open our hearts and souls to become One.
In your loving embrace we are liberated from division, fear, conflict, pride and injustice. We are transformed into wholeness which we resolve to bring to all whose lives we touch. With gratitude, we meld ourselves Your Divine Presence which knows all, shelters all and transforms all into love, abundant and eternal.
In one voice, we praise Your loving, healing ways and the glory of all You have Created:
https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ
We thank you, Holy One, for Jesus, a man of courage whose exquisite balance of human and Divine points our way and who strives with us in our time of need. We yearn with passion to live as Jesus, one with you and your Spirit, in peace and justice.
May our desire to be one with You join us to all living things. We seek to heal the differences that isolate us so that we may live in healthful unity with all people, of every ethnicity, skin color, gender orientation or class. May we have the imaginative sympathy and love of Your Spirit to move with courage beyond the confines of bias, miscommunication, ignorance and hurt and into the healing place where Divine light and love abide.
Suzanne: Please extend your hands in blessing of bread and wine.
Together, we call on Your Spirit, present in these gifts - bread that satisfies our hunger and wine that quenches our thirst – to make us more deeply One, living in the fullness of holy compassion and Sophia wisdom.
Anticipating the likelihood of betrayal, arrest and pain, Jesus wanted more than anything to be with his friends, to share a meal, exchange stories and create fond memories. To strengthen the bonds of friendship that evening, Jesus washed the feet of his friends in an act of love and humility.
All lift the bread.
Suzanne: 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 their cups.
Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered it to them 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. (pause)
All consume their bread and cup
As we celebrate and recognize you in this bread and wine, we recognize you in each other. Sharing the bread of life and wine transforms us and opens us to your Spirit. Knowing that Jesus spent his time with the lowly and hurting, the needy and shunned, we seek to remain open to how we can bring love, healing and unity to whomever is in need. We ask for the grace to see with the eyes of Jesus, touch with the hands of Jesus and heal with the heart of Jesus. Amen.
Donna: Let us join with disciples of all ages to pray together:
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)
Donna: Our Communion Meditation is Requiem by Eliza Gilkeyson
Closing Blessing: Suzanne: Please raise your hands in blessing and join together in our closing prayer:
We pray for harmony in the midst of divisiveness and for hope in the middle of hurt. We bless our civic leaders and ourselves and all peoples with a call for harmony and deep peace: May Deep peace be a blessing onto you. May we know the deep peace of the running wave. May we know the deep peace of the flowing air. May we know the deep peace of the quiet earth. May the moon and stars pour their healing light upon us all. Amen.
