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Opening Prayer
We gather together remotely, the paradox of our time, to reach out to the Holy One and reconnect. We reconnect to the Holy One, to each other, and to the glorious natural world around us in love and joy. As the days of summer dwindle, let us bask in the warmth of the Holy One’s love for us, a love more eternal than the sun. AMEN.
Reading
The Sun
by Mary Oliver
Have you ever seen anything in your life more wonderful
than the way the sun, every evening, relaxed and easy, floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills, or the rumpled sea, and is gone— and how it slides again
out of the blackness, every morning, on the other side of the world, like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils, say, on a morning in early summer, at its perfect imperial distance— and have you ever felt for anything such wild love— do you think there is anywhere, in any language, a word billowing enough for the pleasure
that fills you, as the sun reaches out, as it warms you
as you stand there, empty-handed— or have you too turned from this world—
or have you too gone crazy for power, for things?
Silent Reflection
Prayers of Petition
Holy One, fill us with your wild love that we may embrace and protect each other, those living at the margins, and the natural world.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, reconnect us to our compassion that we may extend our hands to those who need our help in these challenging days.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, help us reorder our society in justice and peace for women and men of all races, abilities, and sexual orientations.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, soothe our frazzled spirits, calm our troubled minds, and strengthen our weary bodies that we may better face the challenges of the coming days.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Holy One, in these days of rampant income inequality, remind us of the joy and pleasure to be found both in nature and in each other, lest we too go crazy for power, for things.
RESPONSE: Fill us with your wild love.
Please offer your own silent intentions.
AMEN.
Closing Prayer
Holy One, you are with us every morning, every evening, your love warming us like the sun. May we shine for you and for each other. May we light each other’s dark patches. And may our love warm the world. AMEN.
Welcome and Theme: Presider 1: Good morning and welcome. Our theme today is Interdependence. We are a community of believers joined together by Jesus’s love. None of us can do it all. Tom would have us remember the concept of Ubuntu, I am because we are. No one of us can do it alone.
Opening Prayer: Presider 1: Please join me in our opening prayer. Holy One, be with us this morning as we come together to open our hearts to you and to each other as we do the work of lifting up the lowly and ourselves in peace and justice and love. Amen.
Oh, how deep are the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge, how inscrutable the judgments, how unsearchable the ways of God! For, “Who has known the mind of God or been God’s counselor? Who has given God anything to deserve anything in return?” For all things are from God and through God and for God. To God be glory forever! Amen.
These are the inspired words of Paul and the community affirms them by saying Amen!
Reading 2: A reading from Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr., “Loving Your Enemies,” from Strength to Love
Love is the most durable power in the world. This creative force, so beautifully exemplified in the life of Christ, is the most potent instrument available in mankind's quest for peace and security. Napoleon Bonaparte, the great military genius, looking back over his years of conquest, is reported to have said: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have built great empires. But upon what did they depend? They depended on Force. But centuries ago Jesus started an empire that was built on love, and even to this day, millions will die for him.”
Who can doubt the veracity of these words? The great military leaders of the past have gone, and their empires have crumbled and burned to ashes. But the empire of Jesus, built solidly and majestically on the foundation of love, is still growing.
These are the inspired words of Martin Luther King Jr. and the community affirms them by saying Amen!
When Jesus went to the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples this question: “What do people say about who the Chosen One is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptizer, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“And you,” he said, “who do you say that I am?” "You are the Messiah,” Simon Peter answered, “the Firstborn of the living God!” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon ben-Jonah! No mere mortal has revealed this to you, but my Abba God in heaven. I also tell you this: your name now is ‘Rock,” and on bedrock like this I will build my community, and the jaws of death will not prevail against it. Here—I’ll give you the keys to the reign of heaven: whatever you declare bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you declare loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then Jesus strictly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
These are the inspired words of Matthew and the community affirms them by saying Amen!
Homily Starter:
Annabella: We are told by the lectionary that this is the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. But these are hardly ordinary times! During these times, how many of us are experiencing disorientation, where there is little we see as we used to know it.
During these volatile times, we see a worldwide pandemic the likes of which we have never seen sweep through our cities, turning our world upside down. Further, our communities are in upheaval as we renegotiate old social contracts and rebuild trust in our civic life.
We feel, I feel, an utter loss of control. And it is in these times that we are reminded, as in reading from Romans, the ways of the Lord are inscrutable. We cannot know them. That is how I feel every day now. We play the odds with our health every time we go out into the street. We wonder about our schools, our institutions. We wonder about our mental health, and that of our loved ones. We wonder about our elections, we wonder about trust in our government, our law enforcement. And it goes on and on. A perfect storm, some people say. And who is taking the hit the most? Those most at the edge, the poor, the ones with least resources. While many of us are seriously impacted, it is three times more likely that those that have less, less income, less stability, are or will be hit with more cases of the virus in their family, are impacted by loss of jobs, and worse. And this is just this country. These are not ordinary times.
It is also at this time that we see extravagant wealth in the news every day. In a recent piece in late July, I took a gut punch when I heard that Jeff Bezos amassed $13 billion in one day (July 21, 2020). So, I am thinking, while families are made homeless due to loss of jobs, or illness and children are trapped in cages at the border, there are others making even more money. In these times, in the country, we see extremes just become more so. Those in vulnerable stations in life, fragile circumstances, and undefended conditions are brought lower under the multiple pressures of these extraordinary times.
But, you know, maybe these times are not so extraordinary or different from another era, long, long ago. Actually, this time of inequity and injustice probably looks a lot like the times when Jesus lived, when the Romans and others lived in high luxury as slaves toiled in poverty and squalor. Maybe we HAVE been here before. And it was in times like this that Jesus often talked about the lowly being exalted. In the readings today, we are reminded.
In Romans 11, we are reminded of how unsearchable are the ways of the Lord, who can know them. Quite frankly, I find little comfort in these words. They actually raise my anxiety. I want to understand! There are days during this time of pandemic, where I am just sick of it all. It is all upside down. People making money off misery. And every day, we hear about the leader of this country removing laws that protect the environment, keeping defenseless children trapped in a limbo, and creating chaos and fomenting division. It is painful. But the ways of the Lord are inscrutable. Who can know them. And it is during these times that we are told Jesus raised the lowly. How are we called to raise the lowly in this time of extreme pressures and extraordinary times. We are shown how and why.
In Matthew 16, Simon Peter becomes the Rock on which Jesus will build his church. He is given the Keys to the Church. How did Jesus choose him? It was because of Peter’s faith, because he recognized Jesus as Lord, that he was raised. It is by faith that we are exalted.
How can we know what the ways of God are? In today’s world where we plan the future one week at a time, our faith in what is right, we don’t know. There is one way we can know. We know, in faith.
It is through faith that we navigate these inscrutable times. It is through Faith that we rise up, and it is through faith, that we are raised. It is faith, and moreover, this faith that give us strength to Love. In the final reading, we are reminded by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s words that Love endures longer than any regime, over the mightiest armies.
And so, in closing, while in the thick of these extraordinary times, I am reminded to watch for the helpers, and raise the lowly among us and with us. These are the people that are changing the world; the lowly shall be lifted up and maybe lifting us all up in the process.
What did you hear?
Please unmute yourselves so we can hear you.
Shared Homily
Homily Wrap Up
Julie: Thank you everyone for your keen insights and heartfelt observations. As Annabella mentioned at the start, these are challenging readings, with no easy answers. For some of us, for me, the biggest challenge is wondering why the lectionary never includes John 11:27 where Martha, not Peter, proclaims Jesus Messiah. Wouldn’t Church leadership look different if it did?
Statement of Faith
Presider 1: Please join in praying our 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
Presider 1: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to this table our blessings, cares, and concerns. (Dennis reads the intentions.)
We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.
Presider 2: 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. 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.
Presider 1:Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together: (Eucharistic prayer taken from the work of Diarmuid O’Murchu and Jay Murnane)
Presider 1/All: O Holy One, we stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history – a time when humanity must choose its future.
As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future holds both peril and great promise.
May we recognize that, in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms, we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny.
United with our vast universe, with our Mother-Planet and her people everywhere, with one another and You, Holy One, our spirits dance and sing this song of praise:
Presider 2/All: We give grateful thanks for those who came before us, for all those who gave from their hearts, who gave from their lives, that there might be a better world, a safer world, a kinder world, we pray for peace in their name.
And for the children, that they may live, that they may have children of their own and that it will go on - this great blossoming that is meant to go on and on – we pray for peace, in their name.
And for all peoples of this earth who have no voice in this,
For the animals that have no voice in this,
For the plants, the trees, the flowers that have no voice in this,
For all who share this earth with us, we pray for peace in their name.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus. He showed us so simply, so tenderly, how the world is in our hands. He had nothing in this world but your love, companions on the journey, and his very self. Together, that was more than enough, and that remains our clarity in the midst of confusion: the miracle of healing, new hope, nurturance, nourishment, liberation and life.
Presider 1: Please extend your hands in blessing.
Presider 1/All: 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.
Community lifts their plates.
All: 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.
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.
(pause) Community consumes the bread.
Community lifts the cup.
Presider 2/All: He then raised high the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered them the wine saying:
Take and drink of the covenant made new again through my life,
for you and for everyone,
for liberation from every oppression.
Whenever you do this, Re-member me!
(pause) Community drinks from the cup.
Loving Source of All, we have looked for others to save us and to save our world. Yet, we are called, and consecrated and sent into the world to establish justice and show the blessed fulfillment that comes with simplicity and the giving of ourselves in love. We will make new our commitment to the harmony of the original vision of creation.
We will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and our small circles. Like Jesus, in all openness, we will be filled with your own Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
For it is through learning to live as he lived,
And why he lived,
And for whom he lived,
That we awaken to your Spirit within,
Moving us to worship you truly,
O Holy One,
At this time and all time and in all ways.
And we say yes to You!
Presider 1: Let us pray together the prayer of Jesus:
All: 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)
Presider 2/All: We are called to live the Gospel of peace and justice in harmony and with joy. We will live justly, love tenderly and walk with integrity in Your Presence.
Communion Song: Beatitudes, Sweet Honey in the Rock
May wonder and thanksgiving fill us, may compassion penetrate us, that we may penetrate the numbness that continues our society’s injustices. May we know that we are loved.
May we continue to be the face of the Holy One to each other and may our name be a blessing in our time! Amen.
Presider 2: Please join in singing our Closing Song.
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Prayer: To the Home of Peace
Chant: God Invites Us
An Expression of the Universe
By John Philip Newell
As we bring to our spirituality a posture of listening, listening to the essential oneness of the universe, placing our ear close to the heart of the earth and the heart of the human soul, what is it we will hear? Julian of Norwich, the fourteenth-century mystic, says that we are not simply made by God. We are made “of God.” This simple but radical statement holds enormous implications. It means that we are not fashioned by a distant Creator, made out of nothing from afar, as it were. Rather we are born from the womb of the One, made of the substance of oneness. This is why Julian likes to refer to God as Mother, as well as Father, because she sees us and all things as coming forth from the heart of the One, as carrying within ourselves the essence of our Source.
"We are not an exception to the universe. We are an expression of the universe."
What does it mean to say that we are made of God rather than simply by God? In part it is to say that holy wisdom is deep within us, deeper than the ignorance of what we have done. Sacred creativity is at the core of our being, deeper than any barrenness in our lives or relationships. The divine passion for what is just and right is our true heart’s desire, deeper than the apathies and falsenesses that have disabled us. And above all else it is to say, as Julian does, that the “love-longing” of God is at the core of our being, deeper than any fear or hatred that holds us in separation.
We are made of the One. Deep within us, amid our differentiations as individuals and nations and species, is the desire for oneness. This holy longing is found not only in the human soul but in the soul of the universe, at the heart of everything that has being. We are not an exception to the universe. We are an expression of the universe. Our longings are a unique manifestation of the universe’s longings. In listening to the depths of life, within our lives and within every life, we will hear the longings of the One that are deeper than the fears that divide us.
–A New Harmony: The Spirit, the Earth, and the Human Soul, 2011
Prayers of intentions
We hold in our hearts the hope for peace for ourselves and all living beings
Amen
We hold in our hearts the intention to live our call to be an expression of the Holy One in our world
Amen
We hold in our hearts all those who suffer with illness or dis-ease of mind , body or spirit
Amen
We hold in our hearts all those intentions that are known to us and God alone
Amen
Closing Blessing
By John O’Donohue
May you be blessed with good friends
May you learn to be a good friend to yourself
May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling and forgiveness
May this change you
May it transfigure that which is negative, distant or cold in you
May you be brought into the real passion, kinship and affinity of belonging
May you treasure your friends
May you be good to them and may you be there for them
May they bring you all the blessing, challenges, truth and light that you need for your journey
Welcome everyone, to our Sunday morning zoom liturgy. Our theme today is teasing out what St. Francis said: Preach the Gospel and sometimes use words;” or maybe what Mother Teresa taught us “do small things with great love.” Either way our actions often speak with more love than our words.
Presider 1: Opening Prayer: Abba God-----Allow us to keep asking you for your help in the path to "saving our world from destruction, fighting this pandemic, and in stamping out racism and injustices we see every day. Remind us not to think that we are "bothering" God when we ask. Jesus promised us that anything we ask you, in his name, would be granted. Let us be "bold" like the Gentile woman in this Gospel. Let our voices become loud and persistent. Amen
A reading from A Parable, The Woman and the Homeless Man
For a long time, she has been attending to the persons on corners who are asking for handouts. She often has small bags ready to give each one with $5, socks and a granola bar. This has been one of her ministries since I have known her.
Last week she was getting ready to leave for work and she and her husband had a “spat” about a missing document that was sorely needed. The woman left for work upset with herself, for not being able to find it, and doing what we all often do when we are upset, berating ourselves for “messing up.”
As she was getting off her exit for work she saw him. The man standing with his sign, “homeless and hungry”. As always, she stopped, gave him $5, asked his name, “Damien” he said. The woman asked Damien to pray for her.
Damien asked her “what was goin’ on?” Damien made the woman feel like whatever her problems were at that moment were worthy of him forgetting his and focusing on her. Damien’s concern touched her heart. The woman told him she needed some prayers that morning and she knew he was beloved by God.
Damien walked over to the car, laid his hands on the hood and prayed, “Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to look out over this woman. Please bless her and comfort her. Bless and comfort those who care for her. Help her with what worries her…” The woman drove away teary eyed, blessed, refreshed, and remembered she too is loved and worthy of that love. (adapted with permission by KR)
These are the inspired words of a woman disciple, beloved of the Holy One.
The community affirms these words with AMEN
Alleluia
A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew
At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Heir to the House of David, have pity on me! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed.” Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” Jesus turned to the woman and said, “My mission is only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” But the woman prostrated herself saying, “Help me Rabbi.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” “True Rabbi” she replied, “but even the dogs get to eat the scraps that fall from the table.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “Woman, you have great faith! Your wish will come to pass.” At that very moment her daughter was healed.
A reading from Matthew, a disciple of Jesus.
The community affirms these words with AMEN
(pause)
Homily
We just heard the gospel and the surprising, no, shocking way Jesus spoke to this Canaanite woman. Ann found a commentary suggesting Jesus may have been evolving in his understanding of his mission. Mary Theresa said something very similar to me when we were talking about this gospel passage. The idea of Jesus evolving and “growing in wisdom” is comforting. After all, we have said many times, here in our community, anything Jesus does we can do. But still this harshness from Jesus is disquieting.
The Jesus Seminar theologians concluded that Jesus did not say these words but the words were put in his mouth by followers of Peter to reinforce their theory that Jesus came specifically for the Jewish nation.
There is much here to reflect on, but for a moment let’s put aside what Jesus allegedly said, or not, and look at his actions.
This gospel passage starts with Jesus heading to Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon are 40 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and 120 miles from Jerusalem. Why would Jesus schlepp 40 miles in the opposite direction of his now known destination of Jerusalem? Tyre and Sidon were Roman Seaports, filled with Gentiles, and pagan temples. There must have been something, someone, some good reason to walk an extra 40 miles. Perhaps Jesus heard an inner call to go to Tyre. We can only guess. Has that ever happened to you? You go somewhere, maybe not really wanting to go, you go anyway and you meet someone, help someone, and in the end, you are the better for it.
Let’s look at the Canaanite woman for a minute. She is a pagan, an outsider, and the disciples see her as a nuisance. This unnamed woman’s actions tell us so much more about her. At that time women certainly did not speak to men in this manner. She approached Jesus out of desperation-her daughter- “please heal my daughter.” This woman was strong and bold, she dared to risk herself for the sake of her daughter. She held Jesus’ feet to the fire, she did not let him get away with the “party line.” She cajoled, argued, debated with Jesus. Maybe best of all, she challenged Jesus to not just speak words of love but to act in love. Jesus was better for the meeting with this woman. He grew that day. Do we too have the courage to be a nuisance in order to heal those in need?
This brings us back to the first reading, a simple everyday story. The interchange between the homeless man and the woman changed them both. We know the woman grew that day because she told us her story. Will any one of us see a homeless person again and not remember this story? I believe her sharing changed me, perhaps this story changed all of us. Can we grow in humility and wisdom enough to see that even as we strive to serve, we must also be willing to be served by “the least among us?”
Shared Reflections
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
Presider 2: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to the table our prayers and intentions: (Ann read the intentions.)
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Presider 3: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in one voice:
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:
Presider 3: 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.
Presider 1: 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.
Community lifts their plates
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) Community consumes the bread
Community lifts the cup
Presider 2: 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) Community drinks from the cup
We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace.
Presider 3: 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
Presider 1: 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.
Loving source of our being, you call us to live the gospel of peace and justice. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity in your presence.
BLESSING
Presider 2: Please extend your hands in our final blessing.
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
