As2023ends,weareremindedofthechallengeswefaced:bothuniqueandlongstanding:The Pandemic; the election; Black lives not mattering; Women not valued; Illnesses, Immigrants in camps; Children separated from their parents; The effects of climate change; Wars in Ukraine and Israel, and a world filled with hate.We ask God to help us in our fight for justice.We ask GodtobebeaconsofLight, HopeandLove.WeaskGodtoshowushowtoshineourlight,both locally and throughout the world.
Ellen: Welcome to the Christmas celebration of the Upper Room. May we begin this celebration with wondering and awe that God became human in the person of Jesus. God is in all of creation and is in each of us!Incarnation points to relationships as a fundamental aspect of living. May we open our hearts to wonder and awe as we hear this song and view this video.
Donna:Opening Prayer: With wondering awe the wisemen saw the star in heaven springing, and with delight, in peaceful night, they heard the angels singing: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to his name! The heavenly star its rays afar on every land is throwing, and shall not cease till holy peace in all the earth is growing.Amen (lyrics from song: With Wondering Awe)
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Reading – God’s Word in all Creation – Hildegard of Bingen
No creature has meaning without the Word of God. God’s Word is in all creation, visible and invisible. This Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant all creativity. This Word flashes out in every creature. This is how the spirit is in the flesh-the Word is indivisible from God.
Humankind, full of all creative possibilities, is God’s work. Humankind alone is called to assist God. Humankind is called to co-create. With nature’s help, humankind can set into creation all that is necessary and life-sustaining.
These are the inspired words of Hildegard of Bingen and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
In the beginning there was the Word; the Word was ion God’s presence, and the Word was God. The Word was present to God from the beginning. Through the Word all things came into being, and apart from the Word nothing came into being that has come into being. In the Word was life, and that life was humanity’s light-a Light that shines in the darkness, a Light that the darkness has never overtaken. Then came on named John, sent as an envoy from God, who came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through his testimony everyone might believe. He himself wasn’t the Light; he only came to testify about the Light-the true Light that illumines all humankind. The Word was coming into the world-was in the world-and though the world was made through the Word, the world didn’t recognize it. Though the Word came to its own realm, the Word’s own people didn’t accept it. Yet any who did accept the Word, who believed in that Name, were empowered to become children of God-children born not of natural descent, nor urge of flesh nor human will-but born of God. And the Word became flesh and stayed for a little while among us; we saw the Word’s glory-the favor and position a parent gives an only child-filled with grace, filled with truth.
John testified by proclaiming, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘The one who comes after me ranks ahead of me, for this One existed before I did.’ Of this One’s fullness we’ve all had a share-gift on top of gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, the Gift-and the Truth-came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; it is the Only Begotten, ever at Abba’s side, who has revealed God to us.
These are the inspired words from the Gospel writer referred to as John, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Shared Homily (Ellen)
Merry Christmas! Happy Birth of Jesus!
There are many reasons why God may have become incarnate
1.To help us change our current framework of hierarchy where the most powerful have control over the less powerful.
2.To help us to appreciate our bodies
3.Because we have trouble understanding an abstract God and need something more concrete and familiar to us to relate to.
But the most compelling reason for me right now is that we need this model of interaction that occurs between humans. Maybe what God actually sent us on Christmas was a relationship, the human relationship between Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Maybe to teach us that our connection to each other is so strong and necessary and that we can’t be a standalone self. We are at a moment in time when this wisdom is converging with our scientific understanding and it is so exciting for me. I feel like the teachings of Jesus (and many other wisdom teachers) are being supported by what we are learning about our human bodies.
Why do I say this? Well, Robyn Gobbel, a social worker who studies neurobiology and has synthesized the work of many researchers has taught me that we are wired for connection. Our brains are very developed in their ability to sense what other people are feeling and we actually seek connection and attachment to help us regulate our nervous systems and to feel safe. Dacher Keltner, a neurobiologist from UC Berkeley agrees. His research has shown that when humans perform actions or share experiences collectively, biological functions sync up. Heart rates, levels of the stress hormone cortisol and brain activity patterns come together This is completely contrary to the typical societal attempts to feel safety by hoarding resources and power and trying to climb to the lonely top of a pyramid. We actually need each other to feel safe.
Keltner’s latest research on awe has added support to the idea that we are better when we are in compassionate relationships. Feeling awe triggers a part of our nervous system that makes us less defensive and opens us up to connection and “calm social engagement”. This state of calm, social engagement is where we learn best, where we think best, where we love best, and make our best judgements. It has also been found that experiencing awe makes us feel part of something larger than ourselves. This helps us feel less lonely and can give us a sense of meaning. And the thing that I find the most amazing is that Keltner’s study of 2600 narratives in 20 different languages shows that the most common source of awe is moral beauty - “Moral beauty refers to the awe-inspiring acts of kindness, sharing, courage, wisdom, humility, and perseverance demonstrated by others.” “Within the study of morality, it has long been the view that we find our moral compass in the teaching of abstract principles, the study of great texts, or the leadership of charismatic gurus and great sages. In fact, we are just as likely to find our ‘moral law within’ in the awe we feel for the wonders of others nearby.” Dachner Keltner
As long as I have been at the Upper Room I have marveled at our use of the word co-creation in several of our prayers. And I must admit, it felt a little over-reaching. Sure I can do good things but how can I possibly co-create anything with the divine. That seems to be just too much, too presumptuous. And now the science is showing me, giving me permission or maybe a charge that this is what I need to do. It is what we all need to do. This science is pointing me to the belief that our actions and how we are in our relationships literally are changing (co-creating dare I say), the nervous systems and neurobiology of other humans!! Let our relationships, actions, and emotions bring each of us together, to a place where we can all be fully alive, letting the living, being spirit Word made flesh flash out in all of us.
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
Donna: 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 beginning with the words I bring to the table.
We bring these and all unspoken cares, concerns, and blessings to the Table of Love and Light.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Presider:Please join in praying our Eucharistic Prayer:
(written by Jay Murnane)
O Holy One, you have been called by many names by many people in the centuries of our planet’s life. Yet, no name truly defines you or describes you.In this holy season, we celebrate you as the marvelous, loving energy of life who caused us and our world to be.
We celebrate you as the Source of light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and all-ways care. We give thanks, and joined with your vision of harmony and peace, we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy: "Here In This Place" by Christopher Grundy
Source of all Life, you are continually creating the universe, continually giving birth to all of us. We sense the need to do the same, to set ourselves free from a sense of emptiness and barren hopelessness.
Your wisdom invites us to draw on our tradition, as old as the stars, shining through Sarah and Abraham, shining through your prophets in every age and every culture. We join that enlightening, enlivening tradition with what we are as we risk fidelity to a dream.
Filled with your spirit, we, like Jesus, can give birth in our day to your living word for the sake of hope enfleshed in creativity and confrontation, healing and reconciliation, justice, universal and unconditional love.
Presider: We invoke the Spirit of love and new life upon all who are gathered here that our solidarity around this Eucharistic table may awaken in us a yearning for justice and generosity, so that all peoples can enjoy the gifts of God’s abundant nourishment.
O Holy One, we dare again to dream the ancient dreams and open ourselves to marvelous visions. There are mountains of arrogance to lower, valleys of fear and separation to fill in, to create a highway of community and communion that stretches throughout our consciousness and around our world.
In this way, working to renew the face of the earth, we are opened up to your Spirit, the Spirit of light and life and love born in Jesus.
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 their plates and pray the following:
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 their cups and pray the following:
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)
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives. As we share communion, we become Communion both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.
You are the Face of the Holy One. Please receive Communion.
Communion Meditation/Song: Love Came Down at Christmas
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.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
FINAL BLESSING
Presider: Please raise you hands as we bless one another.
Emmanuel, Your Spirit encourages us to hope, entices us to trust, and emboldens us to love so that we might keep and create the peace that you desire will live within us and between us. Let it be so. Amen.
