Blessing Baby Ella, Heart of Compassion International Faith Community, Windsor, Ontario, Canada by Rev. Dr. Barbara Billey (06 Oct 2016)

Dr. Barbara Billey ARCWP and Heart of Compassion Community Blesses Baby Elly in Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Anointing  of mother and baby with chrism by Dr. Michele Birch-Conery ARCWP

We remember our lives as a blessing when we bless another. During our liturgy on Sun, Oct 2, 2016, Lynda Todon of our Heart of Compassion International Faith Community led us in blessing Ella, 8-month old daughter of Jackie Kennedy. At my ordination as a priest over a year ago, this small wonder nested in the comfort of her mother’s womb, a presence with us as Jackie stood by my side at the table of worship.

Lynda’s blessing begins with calling in “I am” to remind us of the Divine Essence manifest through Ella and each of us. With arms and hands extended, we bless Ella as Lynda reads this Omaha Native American blessing.

Sun, Moon, Stars, all you that move in the heavens, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make her path smooth,
that she may reach the brow of the first hill!

Winds, Clouds, Rain, Mist, all you that move in the air, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make her path smooth, that she may reach
the brow of the second hill!

Hills, Valleys, Rivers, Lakes, Trees, Grasses,
all you of the earth, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make her path smooth, that she
may reach the brow of the third hill!

Birds, great and small, that fly in the air,
Animals, great and small, that dwell in the forest,
Insects that creep among the grasses and burrow
in the ground, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make her path smooth, that she
may reach the brow of the fourth hill!

All you of the heavens, all you of the air,
all you of the earth, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make her path smooth, then shall she
travel beyond the four hills!

“Ella, I bless you with obedience.”  We end with each person giving Ella a personal blessing while sharing with her an attribute of Divine Love - devotion, courage, power, wisdom,  joy, to name a few. Bishop Michele Birch-Conery anoints her.

In a note of gratitude that followed the next day, Jackie wrote: “Ella has a wish jar that I plan to put all of those wonderful attribute cards into so she can open it up later on and know what she was blessed with.”

The light of Jesus Christ Sophia comes again and again! Thank you, Ella for reminding us who we are.

Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community Gathering and Retreat, " I hear a call" by EmmyLou Harris

Homily on September 25, 2016 by Dr. Elly Marinaro ARCWP

https://youtu.be/_JGRsVzcwOo

Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 28th Sunday OT, Oct.9th by Beverly Bingle RCWP

After this past week, we all know where Aleppo is.

Even Gary Johnson knows.

Aleppo is in northern Syria.

It's one of the oldest cities in the world,

dating back to at least 5,000 years before Christ.

In modern times, it has been the largest city in Syria…

until recently.

The people of Aleppo are under siege.

They live in the middle of war.

They suffer from the shortage of water, food, and medical care.

Civilians are dying.

Even their hospitals are being bombed.

Their doctors and nurses and aid workers are being killed.

_______________________________________

The story in today's reading from the second book of Kings

starts in Aleppo.

The Bible calls the city Aram,

the place where Naaman is an army commander.

Naaman has leprosy,

and there's no healing for him in Aram.

No healing for anyone there today, either.

Naaman takes the advice of a little slave girl,

captured from Israel and serving his wife,

and goes to Israel for healing.

He takes a letter from the King of Aram to the King of Israel,

along with ten silver talents,

six thousand gold pieces,

and ten festal garments

so he can pay for the healing he's hoping for.

Israel's king knows

that he doesn't have the power to cure leprosy,

so he suspects the Arameans

of looking for a reason to attack Israel.

He rends his garments,

expressing grief and anger

because he believes Israel is facing destruction and death.

Then Elisha hears about it

and suggests that Naaman come to him.

So Naaman the Syrian

goes to to Elisha, the Israelite prophet,

hoping to be healed.

_______________________________________

Not only are Syrians not part of God’s people;

they are in fact among the enemies of Israel.

They worship an alien God.

But Elisha reaches out to Naaman anyway,

telling him to go wash seven times in the Jordan River.

Naaman turns away in anger,

thinking it's too trivial an action to be of help to him,

but some of those powerless slaves,

Naaman's own servants this time,

give him some advice.

Naaman listens to them, washes in the Jordan,

and is made clean of his leprosy.

That's where today's reading starts.

Nathan is healed,

and he is grateful.

_______________________________________

Luke's gospel tells us

about the gratitude of another foreigner with leprosy.

This time it's a Samaritan.

Today we know Samaria as the West Bank,

land designated to be an Arab State

by the United Nations in 1948.

But it's not.

In today's geography

we recognize that 10th leper as a Palestinian.

Realizing that Jesus has healed him of his leprosy,

he goes back to give thanks.

_______________________________________

Healing like that is going on right now here in Toledo.

Refugees who can't survive in their homeland come here,

whether it's from Aleppo in Syria

or Hebron in the West Bank,

or Somalia or Afghanistan, Turkey or Pakistan,

Lebanon or Iran or Colombia or some other place

where they are under siege

and attacked because of who they are

or what they believe.

They come here with hope for healing and a new life.

_______________________________________

Some Toledoans look at them

like that Israeli king looked at Naaman,

suspecting them of plotting evil, terrorism, war.

They are filled with fear and loathing

and don't want them here.

_______________________________________

Many other Toledoans look at them with love and acceptance,

the way Elisha and Jesus did,

seeing in each of them

another child of the one God of us all.

They welcome the refugees

and set about helping to make a safe place for them.

Like Naaman the Syrian,

like the Samaritan leper,

the refugees are grateful.

They come here in faith,

hoping that their lives can be healed,

and their faith makes them whole again.

Thanks be to God!

Holy Spirit Catholic Community

Saturdays at 4:30 p.m./Sundays at 5:30 p.m.

at 3925 West Central Avenue (Washington Church)

www.holyspirittoledo.org

Rev. Dr. Bev Bingle, Pastor

Mailing address: 3156 Doyle Street, Toledo, OH 43608-2006

Archbishop Weeps As His Church Votes to Reject Gay Unions

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/10/03/archbishop-weeps-as-his-church-votes-to-reject-gay-unions/

"The Archbishop of Cape Town was driven to tears this week – as his Church voted to reject blessings for same-sex unions. Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since 2006 – and a decade later it remains the only country in Africa with equal marriage. "

(Photo by RODGER BOSCH/AFP/Getty Images)

Bridget Mary's Response:

 Like the Archbishop of Cape Town, our hearts break for the injustice that our churches inflict on our LGBTQ sisters and brothers around the world.  Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

Pope Francis Meets with Transsexual, Transgender --Comments on Gender Identity Updated

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Pope-says-he-invited-transsexual-to-Vatican-urges--30296750.html

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/02/world/pope-transgender-comments/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29

(CNN)Pope Francis reaffirmed his disagreement with teaching gender identity in schools on Sunday, after earlier calling it a "war against marriage."

On a return flight to Rome at the end of a three-day trip to Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Pope recounted a meeting with a French father whose young son wanted to be a girl after reading about it in a textbook.

"This is against nature," he said. "It is one thing when someone has this tendency ... and it is another matter to teach this in school."

"To change the mentality -- I call this ideological colonization," the Pope said.

The Pope said he still spends time with transgender people, leading them closer to God.

In August, the Pope called the teaching of gender identity theory "terrible."

"Today, in schools they are teaching this to children -- to children! -- that everyone can choose their gender," Pope Francis said.

New Ways Ministry, a Catholic LGBT advocacy group, criticized those remarks.

"The pontiff's remarks are further evidence that church officials need desperately to educate themselves about the lives and experiences of LGBT people," said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry.

"Nobody chooses a gender identity. They discover it."

As a new Pope in 2013, Francis made headlines around the world for his progressive stance on homosexuality.

"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" Francis asked.

CNN's Delia Gallagher contributed to this report.

• 
  

Pope Francis (AFP Photo)

Bridget Mary's Response:
I agree with Pope Francis that Jesus would meet with individuals who are Transgender today. I also support New Ways Ministry statement that education on gender identity should be a priority for church officials.    
We must erase the boundaries between "them" and "us" in every situation and embrace our gender identity as sacred to create a more inclusive, compassionate Roman Catholic Church. The bible states that we are one in Christ, and our baptism make us spiritual equals. (Galations 3:28)Therefore, each person is God's beloved image. Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

Eucharist at the Upper Room, Troy, NY

October 2, 2016

Jim Marsh, ARCWP and Joan Chesterfield, ARCWP presided at the Eucharistic celebration at the Upper Room. The celebration began with Jim's Welcome below.

Jim: Once again we come together as a community of believers ….. to re-connect and to share a meal ….   Today our OT and NT readings speak of faith ….. but faith in what?  What is it we believe, or want to believe?  And how does our belief impact our living?

In case you’re not aware, Franciscans everywhere are celebrating the Transitus and Feast of St. Francis over the next two days…. and we have also chosen a reading from the contemporary mystic Thomas Merton …..

Franciscan Richard Rohr would urge us to “enter the dance” so let us be attentive for some insight as we sing, pray and share this eucharistic meal.

Have faith the size of a mustard seed – realize that everyone and everything is connected and is sacred.

Let us begin …………..

Kim Panaro, ARCWP placed the stoles on the presiders with the words: "We, your community, call you forth and bless you as you lead us in liturgy today.

First Reading: A Reading from the prophet Habakkuk  1:2-3, 2:2-4

Second Reading: A Reading from “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander” – Thomas Merton

In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district,

I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people,

that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers.

It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness.

The whole illusion of a separate holy existence is a dream. . . . This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud. . . .

I have the immense joy of being [hu]man, a member of a race in which God became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now [that] I realize what we all are.

And if only everybody could realize this!  But it cannot be explained.

There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. . . . Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time.

A Reading from the Gospel of Luke  17:5-10

Jim's Homily starter

For Francis, the Incarnation was central to his understanding about God …. meanig that God is available to us each and every day if we only have eyes to see ….. I believe that’s why he wrote his Song of Creation and created the “Christmas crèche” to honor Jesus as both the Incarnate Human One and the Eternal Cosmic Christ.

Contemporary theologians (and our own Tom Going) remind us that the first incarnation happened some 13.8 billion years ago at the Big Bang of creation.  Franciscan Sister and theologian Ilia Delio, in her book The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love, describes the dance between God and the universe in this way: "God is eternal, self-sufficient divinity; yet the universe contributes something that is vitally necessary to God. Creation is integral to God. It contributes to God what God lacks in his[/her] own divinity, namely, materiality. Evolution is not only the universe coming to be, but it is God who is coming to be."

She talks about the desire of every human person to love and be loved, to belong to another, because we come from another. We yearn to belong, to be part of a larger whole that includes not only friends and family but trees, flowers, sun, earth, stars. We are born of nature and are part of nature.  Human life can be traced back to the time when life was deeply one, a Singularity.  Deep within, we long for unity because at the most fundamental level, we are already one. We belong to one another because we have the same source – all of creation has some divine DNA.

Jesus of Nazareth was the human incarnation of that same Mystery some 2,000 years ago, and so are you and I. 

However, our  world can be quite ugly and we often lose faith and trust – with all the political corruption, ecological devastation, wars everywhere, the hatred based on race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation, and xenophobia—our fear of the stranger, the immigrant …… Our sense of disconnectedness and separateness is the dis-ease we confront daily in our world.  Often we feel like the prophet Habakkuk, and we cry out and lament to God ……. Do something!

Perhaps, this is just what those early followers of Jesus were saying when they asked for more faith.  Jesus doesn’t admonish them ….. he doesn’t say they have little faith …. In fact, he says if your faith is only the size of a mustard seed (the tiniest of seeds) that you can do what seems impossible.

So what do you and I believe, what are we to do with our faith? 

Here are a few suggestions:

1)    Make a concerted effort to really believe the “Good News” that you and I have enough faith, and that our living and loving can indeed make a difference …. Why is this so hard to believe?

2)    Simply make space in your day in the coming week to pray and meditate and be thankful for the joy of simply being alive in this wonderful universe….. join the dance, as it were.

3)    Ask a stranger you meet this week to share their story, to talk about what matters most to them, to name their deepest needs and desires… and really listen. Then share what you learned with someone you know. This is what Sister Simone Campbell (of “Nuns on the Bus”) calls “sacred gossip."

Be mindful of what the prophet Habakkuk tells us today ….. “the just one [the one who does justice], because of faith, shall live.”  That’s you and I …. so let’s continue to be people of justice and mercy and continue the good works that I know so many in this community do, week in and week out. No matter what happens, keep the faith and keep on doing the right thing.

So, what did you hear??????

Presider: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we lay our stoles upon the table as a sign that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us.  And, we bring to this table our blessings, cares, and concerns.

Prayer after Communion

“Oh God, we are one with You.

You have made us one with You.

You have taught us that if we are open to one another, You dwell in us.

Help us to preserve this openness and to fight for it with all our hearts.

Help us to realize that there can be no understanding where there is mutual rejection.

Oh God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely, we accept You;

and we thank You, and we adore You, and we love You with our whole being,

because our being is Your being, our spirit is rooted in Your spirit…. 

Let us be bound together with love as we go our diverse ways, united in this one spirit which makes You present in the world, and which makes us witness You, the ultimate reality that is love.  Amen

-Thomas Merton’s prayer from his Asian Journal