This past Sunday, The Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community of Albany reflected on the following reading by Ann Johnson and who we are as a community. Deb Trees and Deven Horne led us in our liturgy and Deven began a moving homily starter printed below the Ann Johnson reading.
Reading 1, A Meeting,
from Maryam of Nazareth, Woman of Strength and Wisdom by Ann Johnson.
Today
we gather
where
we stand
and
who we are.
We come
to order ourselves
into
a new sense of order according to our progress
from
the last gathering to this one.
Be with
us, O God,
in
this space and time
as
we affirm and shape the changes
in
our understanding of the Way.
We
desire not to fly apart
in
garish fantasy of vision
but
rather to move the boundaries
that
we have set before
in
order to encompass and embrace
the
living and breathing growth
of
each and all.
We work
in prayer and dialogue.
In getting back to see where we have been,
we
steady ourselves
for
the journey forward today.
We are
here
to
reconcile all that we were,
our
trust…our hopelessness
our
joy…our despair
our
confirming… our betrayal
to
offer a farewell to those departed
and
to welcome those who are newly come.
To confess, absolve, reconcile, renew.
To be all that we can be.
To set
firm a pathway that is possible.
Possible for us to walk until we meet again
to
reassess the journey
and
again set firm a pathway.
Each
step along the way we clear the stones and obstacles,
healing
and refreshing each other.
We
listen openly to each tale of travel and
hear
each one’s proposal for the time ahead.
Knowing
you are here, God,
we
are freer in our interaction,
more
daring in the sharing of our personal vision,
loving
in our confrontation,
deeply
silent in consideration and
accepting in the choices that for a little
while will help us to define our actions
until
broader definitions draw us on,
In this
your presence,
we
meet to order ourselves anew,
to
consider where we stand and who we are.
Today
we gather.
The
inspired word of Ann Johnson.
Homily Reflection by Deven Horne
One morning recently when I was reading a section of the book
Maryam of Nazareth for my daily reflection, I was immediately struck by the
affinity of my feelings of the Upper Room with the reading “A Meeting” based on
the Acts chapter 1. This piece of prose by Ann Johnson re-affirmed what I have
come to know about the liturgical gatherings in the Upper Room, and the
community we are becoming. It is
not by faith alone and personal beliefs that I will grow and transform into one
who is one with the Divine God and one with all that is around me. If that were
true then the 60 years of my participating in the traditional Catholic church
would have done that. To come to know Jesus, I need a community who together is
thirsting for the same drink and hungry for the same bread that we share. For
the first time in my life I felt Jesus among us as we shared Eucharist one
Sunday recently. This reading says all that I know and believe about my need to
come here week after week. Other writers and theologians like Richard Rohr and
O’Murchu have indicated the significance of community in faith development in
their writings that I have read but I didn’t know it until recently and
confirmed it through this particular reading which beautifully expresses what
the community does. As I reflected on the gospel reading today of Luke, I
thought about how Jesus lived his life gathering community wherever he went and
it was not just his friends and family and in fact he went out of his way to
gather everyone, poor, disabled, those who were his enemies. He did the same
thing that we are doing in the Upper Room week after week. How else could the
message be heard and be transformative but universally through each other? What are your thoughts of these readings?
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