Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community celebrates Liturgy: Enhancing life, with, through and in Christ

Enhancing Life, with, through, and in Christ

Presiders: Helen Blanchette and Dennis McDonald

  

Receiving the stole: 

A representative of the community greets the presiders with:  We your community call you forth and we bless you as you lead us in our liturgy today.

WELCOME:

Presider 1: We, the Inclusive Catholic Community, welcome you to our liturgical

gathering.  Our liturgical style is highly inclusive and you are invited to participate in the ordinary of the liturgy, and in the Eucharistic Prayer and Consecration. We are happy you are here with us today. All are welcome to share in our simple Eucharistic meal around this friendship table.

Opening Song – Sing a New Church 

Opening Prayer

Presider 2: Source of Light and Love, you invite us to share in your creative process, to bring compassion and healing to those in need, to embrace our sisters and brothers when they share their burdens, joys, pains, and celebrations. And so, in this community of faith, we bring our needs to the table of friendship and love that these needs may be recognized and provided prayerful support. (Please feel free to voice what you bring to the table today by saying, I BRING TO THE TABLE, when finished please place candle on altar)

LITURGY OF THE WORD

Heb 11:1-2, 8-12

Brothers and sisters:
Faith is the reality of all that is hoped for; faith is the proof of all that is unseen.

By faith Sarah and Abraham obeyed when they were called,

and went off to the place they were to receive as a heritage;

they went forth, moreover, not knowing where they were going.

By faith, Sarah and Abraham lived in the promised land as resident aliens,

dwelling in tents with their children and grandchildren,

who were heirs of the same promise –

for they were looking forward to the city with foundations,

whose designer and maker is God.

By faith, Sarah received the ability to conceive,

even though she was past childbearing age,

for she thought that the One

who had made the promise was worthy of trust.

As a result of faith, there came forth one woman and one man,

themselves as good as dead,

descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky

and the sands of the seashore.  

These are the inspired words from the book of Hebrews

Lk 12:35-40

Jesus said to his disciples:
Be dressed and ready, and keep you lamps lit.

Be like the household staff awaiting

the owner’s return from a wedding,

So that when the owner arrives and knocks,

you’ll open the door without delay.

It will go well with those staff members

whom the owner finds wide awake upon returning.

I tell you the absolute truth,

the owner will put on an apron,

seat them at table and proceed to wait on them.

Should the owner happen to come at midnight,

or before sunrise, and find them prepared,

it will go well with them.

Understand this: no homeowner

who knew when a thief was coming

would have let the thief break in! 

So be on guard – the Promised One will come

when least expected. 

These are the inspired words of Luke, disciple of Jesus

Shared Reflection

Sign of Peace

Presider 1: Scripture tells us that if a person is not at peace with someone to “leave your gift at the altar. First go away and make peace with that person. Then come back and offer your gift.”  As we prepare to bring our gifts in the celebration of this Eucharist, let us strive to be faithful to peace of God that surpasses all understanding.  And where we struggle, may God transform us to be a healing balm of love.  Divine healer of all, we pray.

All: Amen.  Return to your seats when music ends.

Presider 1: Let us share a sign of peace with one another as an expression of our desire to bring healing to our world. (Play Peace Before Us during Sign of Peace)

Statement of Faith

Presider 2: Remain standing 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.

Removal of stoles 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.

Eucharistic Prayer

(Michael Morwood)

All:

We give you thanks

Creator Spirit beyond all imagining,

For the wonderful gift of reflective awareness

That allows us to recognize and name your presence in our universe.

And so we sing:

All:

Holy, Holy, Holy       (Words and music by Karen Druker)

All:

Everything we have; everything we see; everything we do;

Everyone we love and everyone who loves us

Reveals your sustaining presence,

And our total dependence on your presence.

We marvel and wonder at the size and complexity of our universe.

We marvel and wonder at the development of life on this planet.

We thank you that your presence “charges” this life and all that exists.

We recognize that human life gives you a particular way of expressing yourself

And that in us you can sing and dance, speak and write, love and create.

Conscious that we live, move, and have our being In you,

We give you thanks for people throughout history

Who have affirmed your loving presence in all people

And who have challenged us to witness to your presence

By lives characterized by mercy, gratitude, compassion, generosity, and forgiveness.

We thank you for Jesus of Nazareth

Who loved so greatly

And taught so clearly and courageously

That he was able to set people free

From images and ideas and religious practices

That bound them into fear and a false sense of separation from you.

Through him we have learned how our loving is a sharing in your life.

In him we see your presence challenging us to make

Your reign on earth more visible.

(Hold the bread for all to see)

We remember the night before he died, when he took bread,

Gave you thanks for everything he had,

Broke the bread and shared it with his friends

Asking them to remember his total surrender to you

And his enduring love for each of them.

Take and eat, this is my very self. (Pause)

(Hold the wine for all to see)

Likewise, knowing his life was to be poured out,

He shared the cup of wine with them.

Take and drink of the covenant

Made new again through my life

Poured out for you and for everyone

That you might really be free.

Whenever you remember me like this,

I am among you.

(pause)

We believe that like all people who lived in love and died in love

Jesus died into your eternal loving embrace.

We are thankful that his story grounds our belief in our

Own eternal, loving connectedness with you

And our belief that we are in communion with all our

Relatives and friends who have died.

We pray for all who allow the mind and heart and spirit

of Jesus to motivate their actions.

We pray that Christian leadership may be open and affirming, creative and challenging,

We pray that all Christians might better recognize, acknowledge, and acclaim your

Presence in all people, at all times, in all places.

For ourselves gathered here we ask the grace

To be whom and what we ritualize here: the “body of Christ,”

People committed by our “Amen” to allowing your

Spirit to move freely in our lives.

We thank you that we have gathered here as the body of Christ;

We rejoice in the giftedness of each person here;

We are grateful for who we are for each other.

We consider ourselves blessed in and by you.

May we be truly Eucharistic in all we do.

To this prayer we give our Amen.

Presider 1:

Let us join then with the disciples of all ages, as we pray together:

ALL:

Eternal Spirit, Earth Maker, Life Giver, Pain Bearer,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in who is heaven

The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the people of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need today, feed us,

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From the trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all this is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.

Anglican Church of New Zealand

LITANY FOR THE BREAKING OF BREAD

All: Loving God, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice. We will live justly.

Loving God, You call us to be Your presence in the world. We will love tenderly

Loving God, You call us to speak truth to power. We will walk with integrity in your presence.

SHARING OF THE MEAL:

Presider 2:

This is Jesus, who called women and men to be partners and equals, and who liberates, heals and transforms us and our world. All are invited to partake of this sacred banquet of love.

ALL:

Jesus, you invite us to receive you and become you for others. We are the Body of Christ. May the Source of Life whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, be given glory through all generations. Amen

Distribution of Bread and Wine: You are the Body of Christ. You are the Blood of Christ.

Communion Song: You Are Mine

Final Blessing (all extend hands)

Presider 1: May we go forth recognizing that we are “Gospel itself, the joyful good news” of love and harmony. As we go forth from this sacred space of the Upper Room, let us reach out and touch those we meet, always with the purpose of enhancing life and awakening within them the spark of the Divine.

All: Amen

Closing Song: You Are The Voice