Opening Prayer:Holy One we are grateful for everyone and everything we have in our lives. We are especially grateful for those things we take for granted. Help us remember the very things we take for granted, someone else is praying for. Amen.
If God is love, then God is a verb. If God is love, then God is something we do. If God is love, then Christianity is all about practicing it. If God is love, when we truly, unconditionally love someone, God is in that relationship, blessing it. If God is love, then God is extremely powerful. But love is not directive. Love does not force anybody to do anything.
If God is love, then prayer becomes the contemplative experience of that love through compassionate awareness of all that is. If God is love, then worship awakens us to it, and fills us with praise for it. Through billions of years of cosmic unfolding and evolution, we mortals have come into being for the purpose of reflecting awe and wonder back at the universe. We’re here to let our jaws drop in amazement at each other’s existence, and to be wonderstruck with loving attention toward all that exists. When we are in this state of awe, we are doing God. We are practicing God. We are communing with each other and with nature through God.
For our intentions tonight let us sit in silence for one full minute and recall all those we have been asked to pray for and all those in need of prayer. In the silence of our hearts we hold in prayer……
The Holy One hears us and knows our needs. Amen Let it be so.
Psalm of Love
Love is my light and my salvation, who shall I fear.
Love is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid.
When fears assail me, rising to accuse me, each one in turn shall be seen in Love’s light.
Though a multitude of demons rise up within me, my heart shall not fear.
Thought doubts and guilt do battle, yet shall I remain confident.
One thing have I asked of Love, that I shall ever seek: that I might dwell in the Heart of Love all the days of my life.
To behold the Beauty of my Beloved, and to know Love’s Plan
Closing Blessing
May we offer the Holy One’s love to every one we meet.
May every day bring us opportunities to practice, practice, practice “doing God.”
And may we know deep in our hearts we are loved.
Amen.
Holy Ground, Earth Mama Video by Denise Hackert-Stoner
Denise:Welcome and Theme:Welcome to today’s liturgy.Today our thoughts are on forgiveness, and the opportunity that gives us to return to the way that leads to life.
Opening Prayer: (Gayle)
Creator of Life, we revel in the riches of nature bursting forth in these early days of spring.At the same time, we are also aware of the fragility of our planet by the alarming thawing rate of our glaciers, the raging forest fires, the mega storm events, to name a few.Change our hearts and habits so we take the necessary steps to protect our Mother Earth.Amen
THE COOL BREATH of evening slips off the wooded hills, displacing the heat of the day, and with it come the birds, as eager for the cool as I am. They arrive in a flock of calls that sound like laughter, and I have to laugh back with the same delight. They are all around me, Cedar Waxwings and Catbirds and a flash of Bluebird iridescence. I have never felt such a kinship to my namesake, Robin, as in this moment when we are both stuffing our mouths with berries and chortling with happiness. The bushes are laden with fat clusters of red, blue, and wine purple, in every stage of ripeness, so many you can pick them by the handful. I’m glad I have a pail and wonder if the birds will be able to fly with their bellies as full as mine.
This abundance of berries feels like a pure gift from the land. I have not earned, paid for, nor labored for them. There is no mathematics of worthiness that reckons I deserve them in any way. And yet here they are—along with the sun and the air and the birds and the rain, gathering in the towers of cumulonimbi. You could call them natural resources or ecosystem services, but the Robins and I know them as gifts. We both sing gratitude with our mouths full.
These are the inspiring words of Robin Wall Kimmerer, from her essay,” The Serviceberry.”And we affirm them by saying, Amen.
PSALM:From Psalm 78 (Nan Merrill, adapted)
Our psalm response is: With The Divine there is love and renewal
Listen well, O peoples of the earth, to the inner promptings of the Spirit.
Let Silence enter your house that you may hear.
For within your heart Love speaks, not with words of deceit,
but of spiritual truths to guide you upon the paths of peace.
R: With The Divine there is love and renewal.
Who will awaken our sleeping minds and lift up our hearts to the Truth?
Through all generations the rivers have flowed,
but now they are polluted by greed.
Through all the ages the earth has yielded its bountiful harvest;
now valleys, mountains, forests and fields have been misused.
Greed has become the great destroyer of life.
We take without offering back.
We consume the earth with abandon.
We leave death, disease, and destruction in our greedy wake.
R: With The Divine there is love and renewal.
We cannot be spared what we have sown.
Generations to come will suffer from our destructive ways.
Their lives will be a mirror to blind and stubborn hearts.
Injustice, oppression and greed will turn back upon hearts of stone.
Children unborn will reap a harvest of lost dreams.
Early one morning, at daybreak, Jesus went to the Temple. All the people started gathering round, so he sat down and began to teach them. The religious scholars and authorities brought a woman along who had been caught in adultery. Making her stand before all of them, they said to Jesus: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now, in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say about it?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. As they persisted in their questioning, he stood up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Once again, he bent down and wrote on the ground; but, at his words, they all went away, one by one, starting with the oldest among them until the last one had gone. Jesus was left alone with the woman, still standing before him.
Jesus stood up again and said to her, “Sister, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go on your way
These inspiring words are from the Gospel writer known as John, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Homily Starter:
In August of 2019, mourners gathered in Iceland to commemorate a death.The deceased was a glacier.The first glacier in Iceland to have died of climate change.Okjokull glacier (known as OK glacier for short), once covered almost 6 square miles, and was a living glacier which moved and shaped land with its alternating freezing and thawing each year.Having shrunk to less than half a square mile OK has now been declared “dead ice.”The plaque that pays tribute to this glacier and which also puts the human race on notice for our culpability in its demise is called “A Letter to the Future.”It reads as follows:
“OK is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier.In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path.This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done.Only you know if we did it. August 2019….415ppm CO2.”
Two-thousand years earlier, the Galilean teacher named Jesus had gathered a crowd in the Jerusalem Temple when some religious authorities interrupted both teacher and students by hauling a woman before them.The woman had been caught in the act of adultery.According to Mosaic law, these authorities said, the woman should be stoned to death.What did Jesus have to say about it, they asked.Also known to everyone present there that day was that according to Roman law, citizens of occupied countries were not allowed to carry out the death penalty.Of course, the authorities wanted to trip Jesus up here, to trap him into breaking either Jewish or Roman law.But Jesus responds from a place of greater authority, the place of love, of forgiveness, of second chances.
“Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”And one by one they walked away, the students and the authorities.Only the woman remained.Uncondemned by either the crowd or by Jesus, she is sent on her way.
The woman in this story has had a close call.Some might call it a wake-up call.Does she change her lifestyle?We don’t know.Like the sad young man who walked away from Jesus because he had so many possessions he didn’t want to part with, we don’t have a sequel to this woman’s story.We do know that at a particular moment, under a particular set of circumstances, the infinite love of the Divine, flowing through the person of Jesus, set her free to make a choice about how to live out her future.
Back to the dead glacier.On a much larger scale, we find ourselves called to judgement as a species.We live in covenant with the Earth and our lack of faithfulness to that covenant is manifest in death.The United Nations’ first comprehensive report on biodiversity completed in 2019 revealed that over 1 million species of plants and animals are in grave danger of extinction.This number is higher than at any time in human history.The fate of OK is a dramatic geologic symptom of what is happening biologically all over the globe.
There is no question that we have sinned against the very Earth that sustains us.And yet at the same time we are beloved.As we are.We remain uncondemned.The Divine lives in and around us, celebrating life with us every day.And like the woman, we go on our way.The question we must ask ourselves is the same we might wonder about her.Will we change?Will we embrace this opportunity to turn our lives around and in the process save the planet?As the plaque memorializing OK notes, only the future will know.
What did you hear in today’s readings?Please share your wise thoughts with the community.
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
(Written by Jay Murnane)
Gayle:As we prepare for this sacred meal we are aware of our call to serve, andjust as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our prayers for the community.
Prayers for the community are offered.
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Gayle: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.
Blessed are you, Holy One, source of all creation. Through your goodness you made this world and called us to be Your co-creators. We give thanks for the diversity and beauty of life around us and within us.
We open our awareness to the goodness of all of creation and we remember our responsibility to serve. You invite us to build the earth into a community of love rooted in justice. You placed confidence in us, for you made us and you know that we are good.
In joy and in thanksgiving we join with all the faithful servants who have gone before us and we sing:
Denise:We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, and revealing us as one with you and all of creation.
He lived among us to show us who we are and challenged us to know you. He taught us the strength of compassionate love.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We are grateful for your Spirit at our Eucharistic Table and 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 died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet, so that they would re-member him.
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:
Gayle: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 called, consecrated and chosen to serve.
Please receive Communion with the words “You are the face of the Divine.”
Denise:Prayer after Communion:Holy One, we are willing to do everything Jesus did, to re-create the living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and liberates, of a joy that generates hope, of a light that illumines people and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity.
We trust you to continue to share with us your own spirit, the spirit that animated Jesus, for it is through his life and teaching, all honor and glory is yours, O Holy One, forever and ever. Amen.
All: 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
Denise:Let us raise our hands in blessing pray together:
Holy One, hold us, envelop us in compassion because we are not yet who you made us to be.When we are tempted to fill up the empty spaces with things that create a deeper emptiness, lead us into the fullness of your grace.Let us walk with you today and every day, and if we stray along byways of our own choosing, turn us around and bring us home.
Our theme tonight is “Who do you think you are?I think we all grow up and grow old asking ourselves that question.
Let us begin with our opening prayer:
Holy One, these last few weeks have been very hard. Our hearts are heavy with the knowledge of so many suffering in Ukraine, and in many other places. We feel powerless, and sometimes overwhelmed. We know you are present in our lives and in the lives of all who are suffering.We are your children and we are blessed and grateful. Amen
Beauty in You – Karen Drucker
https://youtu.be/m5Jz6gLDOhg
LITURGY OF THE WORD
A Reading from Marianne Williamson
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of G-d. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.We were born to make manifest the Glory of G-d that is within us.It’s not just in some of us it’s in everyone and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear our own presence automatically liberates others.
May the words of Marianne Williamson touch your heart and lead you to increased self-love.Amen
A Reading from the gospel of the anonymous writer called John
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” Then each went to his own house.
May the words of this Gospel increase our love for all.Amen
Shared Homily
In the Gospel today, the crowd is asking who is this man?I want to know who is in “the crowd” and who is asking?We know for certain the Roman guards were in the crowd.The guards were there to make sure there were no protests or problems that would concern Rome.We know there had to be some learned people in the crowd. They were aware of the scriptures and knew that the Messiah had to be of the line of David and come from Bethlehem. We know that the Pharisees were at least nearby and aware of what Jesus was teaching. They knew he was from Galilee.All those “in charge” all those “in the know” were being challenged by Jesus words.But who else was in the crowd?I imagine some of Jesus’ family, friends,and neighbors might have been in the crowd.How about the disciples?Were they not there too?And what about those who had been healed by Jesus, surely, they were in the crowd.Someone yelled out he is a prophet another he is the Christ.Isn’t it strange that no one yelled out he is a healer a “miracle worker.”Or he is a teacher who welcomes sinners to his table.Why not yell out who does he think he is?
I have come to believe Jesus knew who he was. Not a G-d, not the Second Person of the Trinity, but a child of G-d who was not afraid to let his light shine.
The last line of this gospel reading says “then each went to his own house.”When we go home after gathering together, let us remember that we are the sons and daughters of G-d and as the first reading reminds us, we were born to let our light shine too.
What did you hear? Or as Dawn Hutchings said to us in her seminar, What needs doing?
Let us pray our Statement of Faith together
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.
Eucharistic Prayer of Belonging
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….”
We pray for these and all unspoken prayers and blessings. Amen.
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:
Here in this Place – Holy Holy Holy by Christopher Grundy
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.
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.
(All lift the bread)
All: 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 the cup)
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.
Bread and wine are transformed by Your Spirit and we are transformed when we open ourselves to Your Spirit. Every time we share this bread and wine we choose to be transformed. We choose to love as You love us.
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.
Please receive the bread and cup with the words: I am a child of the Holy One.
Communion Song: How Could Anyone Ever Tell You by Shaina Knoll video by Denise Hackert-Stoner
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 Amen.
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
BLESSING
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 we stand together in the suffering and like Jesus be a shining light and a blessing for all.
All: Amen.
Closing Song
Be a Light – Thomas Rhett (lyrics ) ft. Keith Urban, Chris Tomlin, Hillary Scott & Reba McEntire
