Upper Room Liturgy - August 8, 2021 - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Presiders: Lindy Sanford-Martinez, ARCWP, and Dave DeBonis

Please join us between 9:30 and 9:55 am via Zoom
Here is the Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155
phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155

Theme: “As We Receive Communion, We Become Communion.”

 

Welcome: Dave:  As we come together this morning, we ask Spirit to open our hearts and minds to the words spoken here so that they will not just be words, but will be the spiritual nourishment we need to maintain the joy in our lives as we work to live the gospel in a time of great need and great challenge. 

 

Theme: Lindy:   Jesus saw himself and all he thought as feeding those around him. In these hard times it seems that each of us is hungry for so much.  What life was like before Covid...For what we need today.  For what our children, our neighbors, our nation, and our world needs. We here, the people of the Upper Room, choose to feed the world by being inclusive, just, and loving!  

Pause

 

Opening Song:  Anthem by Tom Conroy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP2gwC5TGFs 

 

Liturgy of the Word

   

Theada: A reading from Valarie Kaur, a 21^st century Sikh American activist

  In the face of horrors visited upon our world daily, in the struggle to protect our loved ones, choosing to let in joy is a revolutionary act.

  These are the inspired words of Valarie Kaur, a 21st century Sikh American activist and the community affirms them by saying, Amen.

 

Dennis:  Alleluia

Ginny:  The Temple authorities started to grumble in protest because Jesus claimed, “I am
the bread that came down from heaven.”  They kept saying, “Isn’t this Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph? Don’t we know his mother and father? How can he claim to have come down from heaven?”

 

 Mike:  Jesus said in reply, “It is written in the prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard God’s word and has learned from it comes to me.

  Not that anyone has seen Abba God — except one who has opened his heart. He has seen Abba God. In all truth I tell you everyone who believes has eternal life.

   I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate manna in the desert and they are dead, but this bread comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat it and not die.

   I am that Living bread. The bread I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.

 

 Ginny: These are the inspired words attributed to the disciple known as John.  The Community affirms these words by saying AMEN.

 

Pause

 

Lindy: Shared Homily:  As We Receive Communion, We Become Communion

   The Gospel today can be confusing...Did Jesus actually say all that?  Was he quoting part of what was written in the Old Testament? Was he claiming to do what many call transfiguration today?  

   I don't think it really matters whether he said it, who is right, or if anyone is right.  What matters is how he lived.  It mattered then and it matters now.

   Jesus lived through a hard time.  He made a choice to spend his adult life helping others.   Reminding everyone around him that happiness depends on giving and receiving love.  He spent his life nourishing everyone around him, feeding them what they needed most.

  His kindness was like giving them food, bread, staving off the hunger they were experiencing….teaching them 1st by reminding them that their faith told them that loving their Creator was the most important thing they could do.  Reminding them that the Creator was providing them, and protecting them, and always will. Reminded them with his love for them as well.  He told them stories we call parables today to give them ideas to contemplate...helping them to choose what to do for themselves. He fed their souls with attention, conversation, and gentleness, and assurance too.  

   Eventually he knew if he continued to pour out all his strength and time helping others find peace and joy in a chaotic country it probably would cost his life.   Mahatma Gandhi had the same experience.  Like Gandhi, Jesus chose joy. He wasn’t willing to stop.  

   He fed them, and now us with his teaching, his stories, and his kindness.  Are we willing to take all this in, to receive this communion, consume this bread of life he gave, learn how to live peace and joy in our time and become communion by pouring this revolutionary love onto every person we meet?  What will it cost us?  How will it enrich us?

Dave: And now Jim will lead us in our Statement of Faith. 

 

Jim Marsh.  Let us pray our Statement of Faith together

 All: 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: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.  

 

We bring these and all deeply held blessings, cares, and concerns to the table of friendship and peace. 

 

Eucharistic Prayer 

 

Lindy:  Holy One of Light, from whom every gift comes, send your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind by the flame of your wisdom.  Open the horizons of our minds.  

 

Dave:  We are a priestly people. We are anointed. With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:

 

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 often forget we are never without Your Light and Spirit.

 

We experience great joy and we experience great pain and suffering. You are with us in that joy and that pain and suffering. When we experience Your presence, we long to sing our hymn of praise: 

 

Holy, Holy, Holy  Here in this Place by Chris Grundy

https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ 

 

Lindy: Creator and Lover of all, we cannot grow in the darkness of this world without Your Light. Help us keep our hearts and minds open to You through our love and care for each other and all creation.

 

Theada: Please extend your hands in blessing.

 

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.

Dave: On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for the Seder 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.

 

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:

 

Lindy: Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:

“Take and drink.

Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you.”

 

By Your Spirit we are transformed.  Every time we share this bread and wine we choose to be transformed. We choose to love as You love us.

 

Through him, we have learned how to live.

Through him, we have learned how to love.

Through him, we have learned how to serve.  

 

Lindy:  Please receive this bread and wine saying: “As we receive communion, we become communion.”

 

Communion song: Breathe Love by Susan Lincoln & Craig Toungate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2eBbv7vVZg&ab_channel=SusanLincoln%26CraigToungate-Topic

 

Lindy: Loving Source of our being, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice. We live justly, we love tenderly, we walk with integrity in Your Presence.

 

Dave: 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.

 

This is The Prayer of Jesus as interpreted by Miriam Therese Winter

 

Lindy: Closing Prayer

 Nurturing one

We thank you for the earth’s vegetation enfolded in your warmth.

We thank you for earth’s creatures encircled in your loving arms.

We thank you for all those women and men who mothered us.

May we always remain in your everlasting community of love. Amen

 

BLESSING

 

Dave:  Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together.

  

May we continue to be the Face of God to each other. May the certainty of our connectedness to one another and all creation ignite us to love more fully. May those who nurtured us be remembered with love today and always.  May we, like Jesus, persist in love and be a blessing for all.  All: Amen.

 Closing Song  

City of God by Dan Schutte

https://youtu.be/yBgtxUhwpGc

"Be the change you want to see in the World"
Mahatma Gandhi

-- 

Moment of Oneness - August 4, 2021

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81507551772
Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
To connect by phone dial: +1 646 558 8656

Opening Song: You Say ~ I Believe by Lauren Daigle

https://youtu.be/9uvsNrK1QT8 

Opening Prayer:

Gracious God,

You have so richly blessed us with life,

With love and joy,

With hope in the midst of despair.

Help us to be the salt of the earth.

Help us to be the light of the world,

Sharing with others that which we have received,

Boldly proclaiming the good news of your love,

Finding the seeds of your kingdom within us 

And letting your way grow in our lives and throughout the world.

Reading:

The beatitudes are for people who have their hearts set on having the reign of God come about. Beatitudes are a way of life designed for those who want their lives to be a blessing. Beatitude people are searching people. They have this working with God on their minds and they can’t rest until the world is right and just and equitable for all. They urge us out of the comfortable and the ordinary. They invite us to risk in our daily living and meet the holy in the unsettling questions of the day. They tell us that God is forever in our midst if we bless the world with Beatitude-living. The beatitudes are values that come straight from the mind of Christ. Translated into simple language, Jesus could have said something like this:

1. Blessed are those who are convinced of their basic dependency on God, whose lives are emptied of all that doesn’t matter, those for whom the riches of this world just aren’t that important ~ The Kin-dom of heaven is theirs. 

2. Blessed are those who know that all they are is gift from God, and so they can be content with their greatness and their smallness, knowing themselves and being true to themselves. ~For they shall have the earth for their heritage.

3. Blessed are those who wear compassion like a garment, those who have learned how to find themselves by losing themselves in another’s sorrow. ~ For they too shall receive comfort. 

4. Blessed are those who are hungry for goodness, those who never get enough of God and the truth and righteousness. ~For they shall be satisfied.

5. Blessed are the merciful, those who remember how much has been forgiven them, and are able to extend this forgiveness into the lives of other. ~For they shall see God.

6. Blessed are those whose hearts are free and simple, those who have smashed all false images and are seeking honesty for truth. ~ For they shall see God.

7. Blessed are the creators of peace, those who build roads that unite rather than walls that divide, those who bless the world with the healing power of their presence. ~ For they shall be called children off God.

8. Blessed are those whose love has been tried, like gold, in those who have lived their belief out loud, no matter what the cost of pain. ~For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Silent prayers/meditation

Closing Blessing:

By Margaret Silf

Landmarks: An Ignatian Journey

I bless the poverty in your heart, that knows its own emptiness, because that gives me the space to grow my Kin-dom there.

I bless that in you that touches others gently, because everyone responds to gentleness, and gentleness can capture even hardened hearts. 

I bless that in you which grieves and aches for all that is lost or can never be, because that is my opportunity to comfort you with me, much greater love. 

I bless that in you which longs and strives after your own deepest truth and after truth for the world, because even as you pray, I am constantly satisfying these deep unspoken longings. 

I bless you every time you show mercy and forgiveness, because that is like a little window in your heart, setting you free from resentment and opening up a space for me to enter and to heal. 

I bless the purity of your heart, because that is the elusive center where your deepest desire meets mine. That is where we meet face to face.

I bless the peacemaker in you, that in you which seeks the peace that passes all understanding, knowing the cost of its obtaining, because that is what I sent my Son to give, and in your peacemaking you become my daughter. 

I bless even those things in your experience of journeying with me that feel like persecution and abuse and misunderstanding, because they are the proof that your faith is no illusion. 

The Companion's Rosary

THE COMPANIONS’ ROSARY

Praying the Holy Rosary

In Original Blessing Theology

Introduction to The Companions’ Rosary

Saying the Holy Rosary is a special focus of prayer and meditation that provides for each of us a state of contemplation and mystical connection. 

When aligning to the Grace of Mary, we can have a sense of purpose in praying for others and ourselves. It can be a singular and private prayer or a community endeavor. 

For those of us who are becoming steeped in Original Blessing Theology, the traditional prayers of the Holy Rosary can be daunting. When changing the wording to better reflect the concepts of Blessing Theology, it seems important to keep a sense of the timing and inflection of the prayers as we have learned them. 

The Companions' Rosary is an attempt to combine the prayers of the rosary within present-day theology of original blessing. 

To all whom feel called to pray in this way, prayers and blessings to you. May we all continue to connect, in whatever way we can, to the Holy One, to Mary and to each other.  

And so it is.

The Sign of the “Cross”.  A Shield of Protection and Love.

The sign of the cross can impress on us the concept of a theology of sacrifice and atonement.  The sign of the “cross”, here, building on the trinity and St. Paul's greetings, can also be a Shield of Protection and Love.

In the name of Peace (hand at the forehead)

And Love (hand at the heart)

And Grace (The Infinity sign across from one shoulder to the other, and back to the heart.) 

AMEN.

Rose Aglow,

DETrees, 2017

THE COMPANIONS’ ROSARY

Praying the Holy Rosary

In Original Blessing Theology

The Sign of Protection and Love

In the name of Peace and Love and Grace. Amen.

A Simple Companions’ Creed

I believe in the Holy One, Lover, Creator, Enhancer, WHO IS Infinite and Present all at the same time.

Our Field of PEACE in all things.

I believe in Jesus, Friend and Companion, who shows us the Face of God in our human form. 

Our Sign of LOVE in all things.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, Our Heart and Soul, moving within and among us. 

Our Show of GRACE in all things.

I believe in this, our creed, in our communion of angels and saints and in life everlasting.
Amen.

The Prayer of Jesus

(From Miriam Therese Winter)

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 Hail Mary

Hail Mary, Full of grace, Our God is with you.

Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother and Friend,

Be with us now, at our hour, and beyond.  Amen.

The Glory Be

Glory and Joy Be to Peace and Love and Grace.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,

World without End. Amen.

Hail Holy Mary

Hail Holy Mary, Mother and Leader, Our Life, our Sweetness and our Hope. You show us how to live with Courage in our convictions. You teach us to stand by each other with unending support and love.

Thank you for being with us now.  Walk this path with us as you did with your son, Jesus. May we follow his example of inclusive love, as you taught him.

O Clement, O Loving, Sweet Mary of Nazareth. Be with us as we look to you.

Praying the Companions’ Rosary

1.   Make the Sign of the Protection and Love.

2.   Say the Simple Companions’ Creed.

3.   On the first bead, say The Prayer of Jesus.

4.   Say The Hail Mary on each of the next three beads.

5.   Say The Glory Be on the fifth bead.

6.   For each of the five decades, announce the Mystery or a special intention then say The Prayer of Jesus

7.   While fingering each of the ten beads of the decade, say ten Hail Marys while meditating on the Mystery or Intention. Then say a Glory Be.

8.   After saying the five decades, say the Hail, Holy Mary.

Diagram from USCCB, Accessed 9-29-19

A PRAYER FOR YOU

For all who say the Companions’ Rosary, a special Blessing from our Lady and Above. The Angels watch over you in Peace, Grace and Love.

With Joy and Appreciation for All,

Deb Trees, 2019

Debra Trees, FCM, ARCWP

The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary