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Saturday, October 24, 2015

Mary Mother of Jesus (MMOJ) Inclusive Catholic Community: Celebration of Priesthood, October 24, 2015, Imogene and Michael Rigdon Presiding, Mindy Lou Simmons, Music Minister

MMOJ Co-Presiders Imogene and Michael Rigdon
Welcome!
Gathering Song: #628 We Are Called, verses 1&3

Presider: In the name of God our creator, and of Jesus our brother, and of the Holy Spirit our wisdom. All: Amen.
Presider: God is with you. All: And also with you.

Opening Prayer. Let us pray: O God, your people gather with hopeful hearts. We gratefully acknowledge that you call all of us, through our priesthood of the people of God, to minister to those in need. And we thank you for those you call to ministry and leadership without regard to gender, marital status, or sexual orientation. May we all be faithful to our call to ministry. May the universal Church accept and support the ministry of all those you call. In Jesus’ name we pray. All: Amen



General Absolution by Community.  All, with hand extended in prayer: O God of all mercy, through his life Jesus revealed that nothing can separate us from your love. May God give us pardon and peace, and may we forgive each other our failures to care for one another and for our earth, in the name of Abba God, and of our brother Jesus, and of Spirit Sophia. Amen


A reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans.
Response to each: #377 Here I am, God. Is it I, God? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, God, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.
A reading from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Response.
A reading from missionary bishop Koop’s Intervention at Vatican Council II. Response.
Two readings from the gospel according to John. Response.
Shared Homily



Profession of Faith. All: We believe in God, the creator of all, whose divinity infuses life with the sacred. We believe in Jesus the Christ who leads us to the fullness of humanity. Through Christ we become new people, lifted to the fullness of life. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God on earth, who keeps the Christ vision present and infuses energy into weary spirits. We believe in God who is life. Amen to courage, to hope, to the spirit of truth, to wholeness, to the partnership and equality of women and men in God’s plan. We believe in justice and peace for all. We surely believe in all this!

Presider: Always mindful of God’s love and care for us, we bring the needs of the people to our loving God. Response: God of abundance, hear our prayer.
Presider: Energize us in our works for justice, equality, and peace. We pray this with Jesus our brother. All: Amen

Collection and Procession of Gifts to the table.
All Sing: #361 Seed Scattered and Sown, verses 1&3

Eucharistic Prayer. We invite all to gather around the table for our community meal.
All Sing: We are holy holy holy (x3) We are whole. You are holy holy holy (x3) You are whole. I am holy holy holy (x3) I am whole. We are holy holy holy (x3) We are whole.
All: Merciful God, send your Spirit now to settle on this bread and wine, and fill them with the fullness of Jesus.
And let that same Spirit rest on us, converting us from the patterns of this passing world, until we conform to the shape of Jesus whose food we now share. Amen
We remember Jesus. All (hand extended in blessing):
On the night before he died, while at supper with his friends, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to them saying, “Take this, all of you, and eat. This is my body which will be broken for you.” (Pause) In the same way, Jesus took a cup of wine. He said the blessing, gave the cup to his friends and said, “Take this all of you and drink. This is the cup of my life-blood. Do this in memory of me.”

All: Remember, gracious God, your Church throughout the world. Make us open to receive all believers. In union with all people, may we strive to create a world where suffering is diminished, and where all people can live in health and wholeness.
Thru Christ, with Christ, in Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit, all glory is yours, gracious God. Amen (sing)
 
Mindy Lou Simmons, Music Minister at MMOJ
Prayer of Jesus (Sing “Our Father and Mother”)

Group Sign of Peace: #503 Let there be peace on earth. Presider: Let us offer one another a sign of peace.

Presider: This is Jesus who liberates, heals and transforms us and our world. All are invited to partake of this banquet of love.  All: We are the Body of Christ.
All Sing: Holy gifts for holy people; come, you hungry, and believe. Come and take Christ’s body offered, come and be what you receive. (Repeat x2)

Communion: Instrumental music (Mindy)

Prayer of Thanksgiving (Didache, Instruction, 100CE)
Men: For the thanksgiving, give thanks this way: First, for the cup: We thank you, Abba God, for the sacred vine of David your son, whose meaning you made clear to us through our brother Jesus, yours ever be the splendor.
Women: And for the bread fragment: We thank you, Abba God, for the life and wisdom whose meaning you made clear to us through Jesus, yours ever be the splendor.
All: As this fragment was scattered high on hills, but by gathering was united into one, so let your people from earth’s ends be united into your single reign, for yours are splendor and might through Jesus Christ down the ages.

Individual prayers of thanksgiving
Announcements
All Sing the final blessing (hands extended over community): You are the face of God, I hold you in my heart, You are a part of me, You are the face of God. You are the face of God, I hold you in my heart, You are my family, You are the face of God.
Presider: Go in the peace of Christ, may our loving service to all continue! All: Thanks be to God!

Closing song: #377 Here I Am, God, verses 1,2,&3

Readings for Our Liturgy

After each reading sing #377 refrain.

1.    A reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans.
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae. Give her a welcome worthy of saints, and help her with anything she needs. She has looked after a great many people, myself included.
My greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked death to save my life. I am not the only one to owe them a debt of gratitude, all the churches among the pagans do as well. My greetings also to the church that meets at their house.
Greetings to those outstanding apostles Andronicus and Junias, my compatriots and fellow prisoners who became Christians before me.     The Word of God.

2.    A reading from Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
You are all daughters and sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.       The Word of God.

3.   A reading from missionary Brazilian bishop Koop’s Intervention at Vatican Council II.
I want to start with a clear announcement that, to save the Catholic Church in Latin America, a married clergy has to be accepted as soon as possible.  I therefore propose that the Council consider ordaining qualified laymen who have been married at least five years. That solution also exists in the Orthodox Churches, which have at their disposal dignified and apostolic priests.  Their matrimony, their exemplary life and their socioeconomic status will undoubtedly contribute to the effectiveness of their ministry.       The Word of God.

4.   St John Chrysostom and later St Thomas Aquinas used this reading from the Gospel of John to name Mary of Magdala “the apostle to the apostles.”
It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb” she said “and we don’t know where they have put him.”
St Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first. He bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead. The disciples then went home again.
Meanwhile Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping, she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” “They have taken my Rabbi away” she replied “and I don’t know where they have put him.” As she said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognize him. Jesus said, “Women why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.” Jesus said, “Mary!” She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbuni!”—which means Master. Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to Abba God. But go to the sisters and brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Abba and to your Abba, to my God and your God. So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he said these things to her.     The Good News of salvation. (Inclusive Bible Translation)

5.   A reading from the Gospel according to John. Jesus washes his disciples’ feet at the Last Supper.
It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to Abba God. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.
They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that God had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Jesus, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “Never!” said Peter “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.” “Then, Rabbi,” said Simon Peter “not only my feet, by my hands and my head as well!” Jesus said, “No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.” He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, “though not all of you are.”


When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. “Do you understand” he said “what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Sovereign, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, your teacher and Sovereign  have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you. Now that you know this, happiness will be yours if you behave accordingly.”       The Good News of Salvation. (Inclusive Bible Translation)


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