OpeningPrayer:TogetherweprayoutofourshelteringlivesandintotheSpiritwithin.Weraise up our hopes and fears and our gratitude as we recall that we are never alone, that we are one mystic heart, loving and most beloved of our God.May our prayer reveal the peace and blessedness we share as community so that we may bring it to all whose lives we touch.
Reading: WhattoRememberWhenWakingbyDavidWhyte
Inthatfirsthardlynoticedmomentinwhichyouwake, Coming back to this life from the other
Moresecret,moveableandfrighteninglyhonestworld
Whereeverythingbegan. Thereisasmallopeningintothenewday, Which closes the moment you begin your plans.
Whateveryoucanplanistoosmallforyouto live.
Whatyoucanlivewholeheartedlywillmakeplansenough For the vital energy hidden in sleep.
Tobehumanistobecomevisible
Whilecarryingwhatisdivineasagiftto others.
Youarenotatroubledguestonthisearth,
You are not an accident amidst other accidents You were invited from another and greater night Thantheonefromwhichyouhavejustemerged.
Now,lookingthroughtheslantingdawnofthemorningwindow Toward the presence of everything that can be.
Whaturgencycallsyoutolove?
Whatwaitsintheseedofyoutogrowandspreadagainst
A futuresky?
SILENT REFLECTION
Petitions:
READER:AbbaGod,Awakenustohowwecanallowthedaytoremainaspaciousblessing when lived in your spirit.
ALL:BreatheonUs,HolySpiritofLove
READER:Compassionate One—We worry for out loved ones and for those who serve the public during these turbulent days.We trustYour wisdom is always with them, guidingthem throughtheuncertainty.Weresolvetosupportthemandeachother–someofusbysheltering andpraying,othersbyactinghoweverwecanandallofusbyreachingoutwithcareand empathy.
ALL:BreatheonUSHolySpiritof Love.
READER:HolyOne–Weknowthatyouhaveplacedyourdeepcompassionwithinus.Weask for the strength to reach out with hearts, not arms, words, not hands to all those suffering. For this we pray.
Oh Living One—We have reached out to you in prayer tonight and we know that you are with us.Blessusthisnightwithpeaceofheart,calmofsoul,healingofbodyandspirit.Surroundus insleepwithyourquietdarknessandrisewithusinthelightofanewday.Weaskthisinunion with our brother Jesus, who shows us how to live your life of love.
phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Feast of Corpus Christi
Good morning!Ann and I welcome each of you to this morning’s liturgy. Before we begin we want to extend warm Father’s Day wishes to all our fathers, grandfathers, father figures, and fathers to be.The strength and compassion of loving fathers is a true gift from one generation to the next.When we see the kind of selfless love a good and gracious father demonstrates toward his children we can see why Jesus saw an image of God there.“Abba.”Happy Fathers Day to each and every one of you.Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi.Traditionally this feast has focused on the Eucharistic elements of bread and wine, interpreted as the body and blood of Christ.But when I read the gospel for today’s feast the Spirit led me in another direction.It led me to see that it is Love that creates abundance, Love that allows inclusion, Love that creates room for everyone at the table.
Opening Prayer:
Divine Love, we gather today at this fellowship table to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi as a powerful symbol of Jesus’ message of love , compassion and unity.Make us ever more aware of our role of being the body of Christ for the world believing there is grace enough, love enough and mercy enough for all.
First Reading: From Richard Rohr, Onening, Volume 6, Number 2
God’s major problem in liberating humanity has become apparent to me as I consider the undying recurrence of hatred of the other, century after century, in culture after culture and religion after religion.
Can you think of an era or nation or culture that did not oppose otherness? I doubt there has ever been such a sustained group. There have been enlightened individuals, thank God, but seldom established groups—not even in churches, I’m sorry to say. The Christian Eucharist was supposed to model equality and inclusivity, but we turned the Holy Meal into an exclusionary game, a religiously sanctioned declaration and division into groups of the worthy and the unworthy—as if we were worthy!
Eucharist is meant to identify us in a positive, inclusionary way, but we are not yet well-practiced at this. We honestly do not know how to do unity. Many today want to make the Holy Meal into a “prize for the perfect,” as Pope Francis observed. Most Christians still do not know how to receive a positive identity from God—that they belong and are loved by their very nature! The Eucharistic meal is meant to be a microcosmic event, summarizing at one table what is true in the whole macrocosm: we are one, we are equal in dignity, we all eat of the same divine food, and Jesus still and always “eats with sinners,” just as he did when on Earth.
These inspiring words are from Richard Rohr, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured. As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, "Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here." He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves." They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people." Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty." They did so and made them all sit down. Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.
This inspiring story about Jesus is told to us by the Gospel writer known as Luke.We affirm its deepest truth by saying, Amen.
Homily Starter:
For years I thought about the feast of Corpus Christi, the feast of the body and blood of Christ, as homage to the bread and wine on the altar at my church.This was our great feast, where we shared in honoring the body and blood of Jesus, and there was always enough for everyone.
Except that eventually, as I grew, and watched, and noticed, I learned that as with many things, what I had thought was true just wasn’t.There wasn’t always enough.If you had too many sins, or if you had neglected to say the right prayers to expiate those sins, or if you didn’t confess those sins to the right person, there wasn’t enough for you.If you were the wrong religion, baptized into the wrong denomination, or not baptized at all, there wasn’t enough for you.If you were divorced and remarried there wasn’t enough for you.If your lifestyle, your sexuality, your gender identity, your very thoughts about certain issues were at odds with the Church there wasn’t enough for you.All in all, over the years of my growing up, it seemed that this food on the altar was scarce indeed.
When my daughter was in pre-school she refused to play musical chairs.She chose to sit it out every time.Her teacher was concerned about it.When I asked 4 year old Emily about why she didn’t want to play she simply said, “There aren’t enough chairs for everybody.”Of course we know there were enough chairs.They were simply removed, one by one, creating a scarcity.That’s how the game is played.
In today’s gospel Jesus notices a hungry crowd.He takes a meager portion of food and blesses it with his compassion.And there is enough for everyone.What is the point of this story?Why do both Mark and Matthew include it in their gospels?Is it to show Jesus as a miracle worker, creating food from where there was none?I wonder if instead, Jesus was teaching his disciples and the crowd an important lesson through his actions that day.I wonder if he was demonstrating to them (and us) that with love and compassion there is always enough for everyone.No one is shut out.No one is denied.No one is turned away.There is always room for one more at the table.When simple loaves of bread and a few fish pass through his hands they become a feast.Because of love.Because of compassion.
What is our Eucharistic feast if not love?How do we really remember the body, the blood, the person, the spirit of Jesus if not with love?When we deny Eucharist to anyone, anytime, when we exclude them from the table, we are denying them love, telling them that there isn’t enough for them.And yet Jesus is saying by his example exactly the opposite.Let’s not pull chairs out from under people.Let’s keep pulling up chairs, making room for everyone.
What did you hear in today’s readings?Please share your wisdom with the group.
Statement of Faith
All: 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.
Liturgy of the Eucharist
Ann: As we prepare for the sacred meal we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”
Ann:We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.
Denise:We are a priestly people. We are anointed. With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
All: O Nurturing, Mothering one, You are always with us. We are grateful for Your constant loving and unconditional presence. At times we forget that You are holding us, attending to us. We fall and You pick us up. You send strangers, friends and family to our aid. We are never without Your Light and Spirit.
We experience great joy and we experience great pain and suffering. You are with us in the joy and the pain and suffering. When we experience Your presence we long to sing our hymn of praise:
All: Creator and Lover of all beings, we cannot grow in the darkness of this world without Your Light. Our desire to be in Your light is a gift from You. Help us keep our hearts and minds open to You through our love and care for each other and all creation.
Ann: Please extend your hands in blessing
All: This bread and wine is a sign of Your nourishment and a sign of Your great love. Your Spirit is upon us and we belong to You and one another.
We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, revealing us as one with you, and all creation.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for the supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet. Once again he showed us how to love one another.
Presiders stand at table.
Denise lifts plate.
Ann and All: Back at the table, he took the Passover Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, this is my very self.
Ann lifts cup.
Denise and All: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.
Please receive communion with the words “I am the body of Christ.”
Holy One, 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 may we enter 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.
Denise: Let us pray together the prayer of 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 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)
Closing Blessing:
Ann:Please raise your hands in blessing.As we have been blessed by our gathering today, may we be a blessing to others byliving generously, graciously and lovingly toward others as the Divine lives within us, making room for everyone, always.
Welcome and Theme Julie: Good afternoon and welcome! We’re so happy you could join us as we celebrate the miracles that surround us every day as we walk the Way of Jesus. No more of “Heaven’s second-rate hand me downs” for us as we feel the overflowing abundance of this miraculous world we live in.
Opening Prayer: O Great Love, help us to let go of the busy and the worry and the crazy that so often blocks us from feeling your love around and within us. Help us reconnect to the quiet, still place in the center of each of us and to recognize it in others. AMEN
I’ve been thinking about the way, when walking down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you” when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying. And sometimes, when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little for each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange. What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here, have my seat,” “Go ahead – you first,” “I like your hat.”
A Reading from the Gospel attributed to Luke (9:10-17)
After the disciples returned from their mission, they told Jesus stories of all they had done. Jesus withdrew quietly with them to a town called Bethsaida, where they could be alone. The crowds, meanwhile learned about it and followed him. Jesus welcomed them. He spoke to them about the kin-dom of God and healed those who needed healing.
The day was drawing to a close. The disciples came to Jesus and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and farms to find lodging and food. This is a deserted place.”
But Jesus said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
They said, “We only have five loaves and two fish - unless you want us to go and buy food for all these people?” There were about 5,000 families.
But Jesus said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus looked up. He blessed and broke them. He gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. All ate and were satisfied. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
These are the inspired words of the anonymous storyteller we call Luke and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Homily Starter
Shared Reflections
Ah, the loaves and the fishes. Five loaves and two fish feed 5,000 families with 12 baskets leftover. What a miracle, right? We like these stories of the grand gestures, the big miracles. But this guy Albert Einstein, remember him?, had another view: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
How could this be? Science explains so much that sometimes it seems like we’ve explained the miracles and magic right out of this world. Your cancer went into spontaneous remission? Science can explain that. All the beautiful colors of a sunset? Science can explain that too.
Our first reading reflects on the small moments of tenderness between us. Complimenting a passerby, helping a stranger with their spill. Are those miracles? In our world of division and suspicion, maybe they are. That moment when we stop and make ourselves vulnerable by extending an open hand to a stranger, is that a miracle? Maybe it is. Maybe everything really is a miracle. I’m no Einstein. But as I look around—at your shining faces, at the amazing natural world surrounding us, feeling the love supporting us—I can confidently say that everything is holy, every one of us is holy. And that, that right there, is a miracle.
What about you? What did you hear? What will you do? What, if anything, will it cost you? We would love to hear your insights.
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
Julie: As we prepare for the sacred meal we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”
Julie:We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.
Julie: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in one voice:
ALL: O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us as we set our hearts on belonging to you. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all creation.
You know our limitations and our essential goodness and you love us as we are. You beckon us to your compassionate heart and inspire us to see the good in others and forgive their limitations. Acknowledging your presence in each other and in all of creation, we sing:
Holy, Holy: Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy
ALL: Guiding Spirit, when opposing forces in us tug and pull and we are caught in the tension of choices, inspire us to make wise decisions toward what is good.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus, and for all our sisters and brothers who have modeled for us a way to live and love in challenging times. Inspired by them, we choose life over death, we choose to be light in dark times.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We are ever aware of your Spirit in us and among us at this Eucharistic table and we are grateful for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world.
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 the plate and pray:
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 the cup and pray:
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)
We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity.
Julie: Please receive communion saying: I am the Face of the Holy One.
Communion Song:Bread of Life by Rory Cooney - Video by MT Streck
Julie: Holy One, your transforming energy is within us and we join our hearts with all who are working for a just world.We pray for wise leaders in our religious communities. We pray for courageous and compassionate leaders in our world communities.
We pray for all of us gathered here and like Jesus, we open ourselves up to your Spirit, for it is through living as he lived that we awaken to your Spirit within,
moving us to glorify you, at this time and all ways.
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
Julie: Please extend your hands and pray our blessing:
ALL:May the Fire of Love ignite our hearts and radiate through us.
May the Spirit truth and justice burn within us.
May we continue to be the face of the Holy One, and
May we be a blessing in our time.
AMEN.
Closing Song: Everything is Holy Now by Peter Mayer
