Liturgy in Celebration of WomenSpirit Rising
Receiving the stole: A
representative from the assembly prays the following prayer as the presiders
are vested in stoles.
_______ and _______, we your
community call you forth and we bless you as you lead us in our liturgy today.
Welcome and Theme
Presider 1: Welcome to our inclusive
catholic community. We celebrate with joy the indwelling of our God among us. Our
liturgical style is highly inclusive and you are invited to participate in the
words of consecration. We are happy you are here with us today. All are welcome
to share in our simple Eucharistic meal around this friendship table. Let us
begin by greeting one another with a sign of peace.
Presider 2: Our theme today is WomenSpirit Rising and we
celebrate the women prophets, mystics and rebels who understood the message of
Jesus and followed faithfully in his footsteps. We stand on their shoulders as
we faithfully live the Gospel.
Presider 1:
Let us pray: O Holy One, you bi
Please
join in singing our opening song: #
65 I Am the One Within You
words: Janet Carol
Ryan
Music: Karen
Drucker
I am the infinite
presence
I am the one in all
I am the truth in
beauty
The answer to
Spirits call
I am the one within
you
(ever
present, ever new)
I am the one you
seek
(whispering
softly in your ear)
Within your heart
there is a doorway
(step
through the light)
The arms of love
awaits you
With these golden
wings take flight…
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading:
More Than a Father by Mechtilde of Magdeburg
More Than A Father
The name of Father I have always
known
This God who creates and holds,
This God who calls and welcomes,
This God who rules and loves,
This God whom I once feared and
fought.
But Father is not enough to
contain the coming God of my being.
As I grow, God grows,
Deep in my being I know a God who
is more,
More than Father,
I now know my God as mother.
I have been held in her embrace
I have played at her knee
I have found a home in her heart
I have laid my head on her breast
I have touched the lines on her face
I have looked into her eyes
And I have known
A God who is Mother.
Mother God,
Father God,
Keep me in your embrace.
These are the inspired words of
Mechtilde of Magdeburg
Second Reading:
A Reading from The Ways of the Mystic: Seven Paths to God
By Joan Borysenko
A mystic sees beyond the illusion
of separateness into the intricate web of life in which all things are
expressions of a single Whole. You can call this web God, the Tao, the Great
Spirit, the Infinite Mystery, Mother or Father, but it can be known only as
love.
How can words convey the depth
and sweetness of unconditional love, the soul’s joy in coming home to God, the
stunning revelation that despite all your errors you are forgiven? How to
describe the realization that your every thought and deed is known, and the
bliss of being shown that your soul is pure, not because you are perfect, but
because you are willing to acknowledge your imperfections? How is it possible
that you can think about anything and know instantly, at an infinite number of
levels, its very essence? How to convey the perception that everything is
interconnected, crafted of an intelligent light that forms a seamless matrix
from which all matter springs?
These are the inspired words of
Joan Borysenko, mystic and healer
Alleluia (sung)
Gospel: This is the Gospel of
Jesus written by his disciple, John (Jn 17 !8:23
(Jesus, looked up to heaven and said,)
“ As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world; I
consecrate myself now for their sakes, that they may be made holy in truth. I
don't pray for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through
their message, that all may be one, as you, Abba, are in me and I in you; I
pray that they may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent
me. I have given them the glory you gave me that they may be one, as we are one
– I in them, you and me – that they may be made perfect in unity.
These are the inspired words of
John, disciple of Jesus
Shared Homily
Statement of Faith
Presider 2:
Please stand and proclaim our 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 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.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Presider 1:
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.
(Please feel free
to voice your concerns beginning with the words, “I bring to the table…”)
Presider 1:
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 (gather around our friendship table and) join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together: WomanSpirit Rising written by Jay Murnane.
O Holy One, You are both Mother
and Father to us human beings. You give us life, and we live and breathe with
your own Spirit.
You create us female and male;
You call us good, and ask us to live as equal partners. You share the earth
with us, and ask only that we compliment your ongoing activity of creation.
Among all our blessed ancestors,
we celebrate the women who gently and firmly broke through the death-structures
of their times with unique vision and compassion: Sarah, Deborah, Judith,
Miriam, Ruth, Esther, Anna, Miriam of Nazareth, Julian, Hildegard, and so many
more.
United with them, with
WomenSpirit rising, with our vast universe, with our Mother-Planet and her
people everywhere, with one another and You, Loving God, our spirits dance and
sing this song of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy by Karen Drucker
We are holy, holy, holy
We are holy, holy, holy
We are holy, holy, holy
We
are whole...
Spirit divine,
Come
to me
Feeling love,
Healing me
Open my heart,
Allow me to see
Beauty & love
Lives in me
You are holy, holy, holy
We give grateful thanks for all
your faithful servants, opening for all of us a path to life. We thank you for
all the women who risked everything they had so that all of us could live in a
better, brighter world.
We thank you for your child and
our brother, Jesus. He showed us so simply, so tenderly, how the world is in
our hands. He knew that we would be
afraid; he showed us how to be free of the blindness and paralysis of fear.
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.
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, be
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)
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)
Loving God, we have felt deeply
the barrenness of our lives and of our community. Yet, we have always been
pregnant with your creative Word and your life-giving Spirit.
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 look at our world with
open eyes, and make compassion our truest vision. We will live in the belief that blindness,
death and illusion have no final dominion.
We will make new our commitment
to the harmony of the original vision of creation. We have held our sisters
captive in so many ways and will no longer stand in the way of the development
of any living creature, be that a person, a gathering of persons, or the earth
herself.
We will live justly, love
tenderly, and walk this earth with integrity.
We will bind and blind and burden no longer. We will deliberately lay down our various
weapons, and use our gifts only for life.
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,
Life-giving God,
At this time and all time and in all
ways.
And we say yes to You!
Presider 2: Let us sing together the prayer
of Jesus:
Words: Miriam Therese Winter,
Music: Pamela Parker
"Our Mother who is within us,
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come; your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Oh, 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, now and forever, now and forever,
now and forever. Blessed be!"
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come; your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Oh, 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, now and forever, now and forever,
now and forever. Blessed be!"
(Presiders lift
bread and wine)
Presider 1:
This is Jesus, Bread of Life. How
blessed are we who are called to the table.
All: 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.
Communion Song: # 65 I Am the One Within You
words: Janet Carol
Ryan
Music: Karen
Drucker
I am the infinite
presence
I am the one in all
I am the truth in
beauty
The answer to
Spirits call
I am the one within
you
(ever
present, ever new)
I am the one you
seek
(whispering
softly in your ear)
Within your heart
there is a doorway
(step
through the light)
The arms of love
awaits you
With these golden
wings take flight…
BLESSING
Presider
2: Let us pray:
May we
continue to be the face of God to each other and may our name be a blessing in
our time! Amen.
Presider
1: Please join in singing our Closing Song: #63 Woman’s Spirit
words
and music: Marvella McPartland & Lynn Fugua
sung
by: Karen Drucker
Woman’s Spirit is
beauty
Woman’s Spirit runs
deep
Woman loves with
compassion
Our perfection is
complete…
Woman’s Spirit is
graceful
Woman’s Spirit is
wise
Woman’s Spirit is
moving
Bringing love into
our lives...
Woman’s Spirit is
passion
Woman’s Spirit is
birth
Woman’s power
unfolding
To honor life on
earth.
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