EASTER LITURGY TO CELEBRATE JESUS, THE LIVING ONE
Presider
1: We welcome you to our celebration of the
Easter Vigil, a holy and blessed night in which we recall the reawakening of Jesus
to new life. We are so happy you have joined us and we welcome you to share in a
simple meal of thanksgiving as we gather around this table of friendship and
unity.
In the book, The Last Week by John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg, they review the entire week, sharing the actions of Jesus from Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday. It is a week in which he continues to speak out and take action against both the temple leadership and Roman authorities. He “cleanses the temple”, indicts the Pharisees and Sanhedrin calling them out for their collusion with Rome. The Roman authorities see another messianic menace whose actions and words threaten to incite the people.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to speak out against the injustices of our day, and there is plenty to speak out against, injustice against immigrants, women, people of color, and our planet, to name a few. Joan Chittister puts it well, “It is your voice and mine, alone as well as together, that are meant to make God’s true nature known in the world. To be part of a group intent on change, we must raise a great voice, make a long shadow, and build a new picture of possibility, one that declares God’s greatness. Most importantly, we must “cry out” the news of what God wants for the world for as long as it takes.”
Holy Thursday, the first day of the Triduum, has Jesus sharing a simple meal with his disciples. In the midst of the meal, he takes staples of the day, bread and wine, blesses both, and offers it to them, saying this is my body, this is my blood, take, eat and drink. It is an invitation to participate with and in the life of Jesus, to partake in the symbolism of the bread and wine, in the call to establish the kin-dom of God on earth.
It is the invitation to give, as Jesus did, of our body and blood for the cause of justice, peace, and the reign of God. Crossan and Borg state it this way, “It was by participation with Jesus, and even more, in Jesus that his followers were to pass through death to resurrection, from the domination life to the servant life of human transcendence.”
We now arrive at Good Friday, a day that Jesus knew was coming. How could he not, he lived at a time when those who attempted to rise up and speak out against oppression and subjugation were dealt with swiftly and viciously. Those who spoke against Rome faced the most horrific of deaths, crucifixion. Jesus went to his death sure of his conviction that those who were downtrodden, reviled, scorned by those in power had a right to freedom, respect and dignity. This was the mission he had lived, helping those disempowered to recognize their innate worth, realizing that the Divine dwelt within them and loved them unconditionally.
Thomas Merton states: “If I find God I will find myself, and if I find myself I find God”, because the essence of who I am lies in God”.
Jesus found God and is so doing found himself, found his voice, found his life’s calling. And in so doing, he came to believe in a new vision, a new life for the world and a new life for him and us beyond the suffering and death that is faced in our lives.
And this brings us to Easter, the celebration of resurrection, of, as our first reading indicates, being at-one with the Divine. Jesus trusted in the belief and faith he had in his relationship with God. In his death he is embraced by the all-encompassing love of God and brought to new life in the hearts and minds of his disciples. There is a resurrection moment for those who follow him. He is not gone but is alive. They experience him anew in the garden outside the tomb, in the Upper Room, on the road to Emmaus.
The stories of these encounters with the Risen Jesus, let us know, as we struggle and work for justice and equality in our time, that we can also experience Jesus in our midst, experience a mutual anointing and a common calling to participate with and in the work of Jesus to bring God’s kin-dom to life. It is the continuing story of the Resurrection, the transformation of our lives through our relationship with the Divine which leads us to be beacons of hope to those weighed down by life’s burdens, to be voices for those who are voiceless, to be bearers of Divine Love to all whose paths we cross.
We are a Resurrection people, let us rejoice and glad.
Blessing of Ordained
We begin our liturgical celebration today by
lighting our Easter Candle and our individual candles – a symbol of Jesus,
alive in and around us.
As our
individual candles are lighted from the Easter Candle, we sing three times,
each time on a higher note:
Cantor:
RISING SUN OF JUSTICE
All:
Thanks Be to God!
Easter Proclamation
[adapted by Jim Marsh ARCWP]
Rejoice,
heavenly powers!
Sing,
choirs of angels!
Exult,
all creation in God’s presence!
Jesus,
the Anointed One, is risen!
Sound
the trumpet of life renewed!
Rejoice,
O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant
in the brightness of our God!
Christ has
risen!
Glory
fills you!
Darkness
vanishes forever!
Rejoice,
O Mother Church !
Exult
in glory!
The
Risen One shines upon you!
Let
this place resound with joy,
echoing
the song of all God’s people!
My
dearest friends,
standing
with me in this holy light,
Join
me in praising God,
as
we sing this Easter song.
Our
God is with you.
R.
And also with you.
Lift
up your hearts.
R.
We lift them up to God.
Let
us give thanks to our gifting God.
R.
It is right to give God thanks and praise.
It
is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices,
we
should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful creator,
and
the beloved one, Jesus the Cosmic Christ.
On
this night, we remember our ancestors who escaped their slavery through the
waters of the Red Sea .
Abba God,
how wonderful your care for us!
How
boundless your infinite love!
To
gift us with Jesus, your beloved,
born
of Miriam and Joseph.
Jesus
went to his death remembering the words of Micah:
Live
justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with God.
Yet,
this is our Passover feast,
for
Jesus, the Christ, broke the chains of death
and
rose triumphant from the grave.
This
is the night when Christians everywhere
bathed
in grace freely given,
promise
to reject all that is evil and grow together in holiness.
Therefore,
O Holy One,
in
the joy of this night,
hear
our evening song of prayer and praise.
Accept
this Easter candle,
may
it dispel all darkness and evil,
and
renew our confidence and bring us joy.
May Christ,
the morning Star,
who
sheds peaceful light on all creation,
find
this hope burning brightly in our lives,
today
and evermore.
R.
AMEN
When all
our candles are lighted, we sing the joyful song which proclaims the feast:
Opening Song: We Are
Called David Haas
https://youtu.be/5DCzqHV-Xns
Come, Live in the light!
Shine with the joy and the love of our God!
We are called to be light for the kin-dom,
to live in the freedom of the City of God.
Refrain
We are called to act with justice,
We are called to love tenderly,
We are called to serve another;
To walk humbly with God!
Come, open your heart!
Show your mercy to all those in fear.
We are called to be hope for the hopeless,
So all hatred and blindness will be no more!
(Refrain)
Sing! Sing a new song!
Sing of that great day when all will be one!
God will reign, and we’ll walk with each other
As sisters and brothers
united in love!
(Refrain)
Renewal of Baptismal Promises
Presider 2: (Presider asks the following questions and the assembly answers: We
promise)
Do you
promise to see what is good for your sisters and brothers everywhere, rejecting
injustice and inequity and living with the freedom and responsibility of
children of God?
All: We promise.
Do you
promise to work for the realization of God’s vision of harmony and right
relations among people and peoples, rejecting the idols of money and property
and color and sex and position?
Do you
promise to seek peace and live in peace in one human family, rejecting
prejudice and half-heartedness in every form, and all barriers to unity?
Do you
promise to cherish the universe, and this precious planet, working creatively
to renew and safeguard the elemental sacraments of air, earth, water?
Do you
believe in God, the great Spirit of Creation, in Jesus, the simple servant of
justice and love who lived among us so that all might live with abundant
fullness; in the breath of God’s center, the Spirit who continues the work of
forgiveness and reconciliation, birthing and blessing, challenge and hope, so
that together we can continue the work of creation?
Sprinkling with Water
Presider 3: (prays the following while sprinkling the assembly with water)
May you
live as a child of God and may your name be a blessing in our time.
Assembly
is invited to place their lighted candle on the friendship table.
Statement of Faith
Presider 4:
Please join in proclaiming 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.
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.
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 in the
Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living
in each of us.
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. Amen.
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Presider 5: A reading from Stephen Bonsey
In Mary Magdalene’s presence, I am more than a spiritual
tourist beholding a spectacle, more even than a witness to Jesus’ passion and
resurrection. In solidarity with her I am among the disciples — not as one that
betrays and abandons him (again and again) in my life, but as one that sees him
for who he is and chooses to accompany him by heart’s-union on the path of
transformation.
I imagined atonement — that is,
becoming at-one — not as a matter of blood sacrifice (as I had been taught),
but as something more along the lines of our mutual anointing.
Just as in human love two become one through gestures of devotion, so I and God become at-one through the giving and receiving of love, now and endlessly. In this way, I become “fully human” so that the Teacher can “take root” in me, I in him and he in me, he the vine and I the branch.
Just as in human love two become one through gestures of devotion, so I and God become at-one through the giving and receiving of love, now and endlessly. In this way, I become “fully human” so that the Teacher can “take root” in me, I in him and he in me, he the vine and I the branch.
Presider
6: “Do not remain in sorrow
and doubt, for his Grace will guide and comfort you. Instead let us praise his
greatness, for he has prepared us for this. He is calling upon us to become
fully human.”
Perhaps we will soon see gifted
liturgists bring Mary Magdalene in full red regalia and with scented oils into
Holy Week. Perhaps it will become commonplace for Easter Vigils to end with
ecstatic dancing, singing and a feast of sparkling wine and chocolate cake, as
ours did. If so, it will be Mary’s triumph.
These are the inspired words of Stephen
Bonsey and the community affirms them by saying, Amen.
Alleluia
Presider 7: The Good
News from the Book of John (20:1 – 18)
Early in
the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary
Magdalene came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been rolled away from
the entrance, so she ran off to Simon Peter and the other disciple – the one
Jesus loved – and told them, "the Rabbi has been taken from the tomb! We
don't know where they have put Jesus!"
At that,
Peter and the other disciple started out toward the tomb. They were running
side-by-side but then the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb
first. He didn't enter, but bent down to peer in and saw the linen wrappings
lying on the ground. Then Simon Peter arrived and entered the tomb. He observed
the linen wrappings on the ground, and saw the piece of cloth that covered
Jesus’ head lying not with the wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.
Then the disciple who had arrived first at the tomb went in. He saw and
believed. As yet, they didn't understand the Scripture that Jesus was to rise
from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
Presider 1: Meanwhile, Mary stood
weeping beside the tomb. Even as she wept, she stooped to peer inside, and
there she saw two angels in dazzling robes. One was seated at the head and the
other at the foot of the place where Jesus' body had lain.
They
asked her, "Why are you weeping?"
She
answered them, "because they have taken away my Rabbi, and I don't know
where they have put the body."
No sooner
had she said this than she turned around and caught sight of Jesus standing
there, but she didn't know it was Jesus. He asked her, “Why are you weeping?
For whom are you looking?"
She
supposed it was the gardener, so she said, "Please, if you're the one who
carried Jesus away, tell me where you’ve laid the body and I will take it
away."
Jesus
said to her, "Mary!"
She turned
to him and said, "Rabboni!" - Which means "Teacher."
Presider 2: Jesus then said,
“Don't hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to Amma God. Rather, go to
the sisters and brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Amma and your Amma,
my God and your God!’"
Mary of
Magdala went to the disciples. "I have seen the teacher!" she
announced. Then she reported what Jesus had said to her.
These are
the inspired words from the Gospel of John and the community affirms them by
saying, Amen.
Dennis McDonald's homily reflection
And so, once more we come to the end of Holy Week. As we gather to celebrate the Risen Jesus, it is important to recapture the week and what transpired to bring us to this moment. The week began with one man riding a colt into Jerusalem, proclaiming a kingdom of God that focused on justice, equality, and love. This man, Jesus, speaks out against the powers of Rome, while, Pontius Pilate, riding on a fine horse surrounded by an army, proclaims a kingdom of might, violence, and subjugation. The conflict is set.
In the book, The Last Week by John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg, they review the entire week, sharing the actions of Jesus from Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday. It is a week in which he continues to speak out and take action against both the temple leadership and Roman authorities. He “cleanses the temple”, indicts the Pharisees and Sanhedrin calling them out for their collusion with Rome. The Roman authorities see another messianic menace whose actions and words threaten to incite the people.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to speak out against the injustices of our day, and there is plenty to speak out against, injustice against immigrants, women, people of color, and our planet, to name a few. Joan Chittister puts it well, “It is your voice and mine, alone as well as together, that are meant to make God’s true nature known in the world. To be part of a group intent on change, we must raise a great voice, make a long shadow, and build a new picture of possibility, one that declares God’s greatness. Most importantly, we must “cry out” the news of what God wants for the world for as long as it takes.”
Holy Thursday, the first day of the Triduum, has Jesus sharing a simple meal with his disciples. In the midst of the meal, he takes staples of the day, bread and wine, blesses both, and offers it to them, saying this is my body, this is my blood, take, eat and drink. It is an invitation to participate with and in the life of Jesus, to partake in the symbolism of the bread and wine, in the call to establish the kin-dom of God on earth.
It is the invitation to give, as Jesus did, of our body and blood for the cause of justice, peace, and the reign of God. Crossan and Borg state it this way, “It was by participation with Jesus, and even more, in Jesus that his followers were to pass through death to resurrection, from the domination life to the servant life of human transcendence.”
We now arrive at Good Friday, a day that Jesus knew was coming. How could he not, he lived at a time when those who attempted to rise up and speak out against oppression and subjugation were dealt with swiftly and viciously. Those who spoke against Rome faced the most horrific of deaths, crucifixion. Jesus went to his death sure of his conviction that those who were downtrodden, reviled, scorned by those in power had a right to freedom, respect and dignity. This was the mission he had lived, helping those disempowered to recognize their innate worth, realizing that the Divine dwelt within them and loved them unconditionally.
Thomas Merton states: “If I find God I will find myself, and if I find myself I find God”, because the essence of who I am lies in God”.
Jesus found God and is so doing found himself, found his voice, found his life’s calling. And in so doing, he came to believe in a new vision, a new life for the world and a new life for him and us beyond the suffering and death that is faced in our lives.
And this brings us to Easter, the celebration of resurrection, of, as our first reading indicates, being at-one with the Divine. Jesus trusted in the belief and faith he had in his relationship with God. In his death he is embraced by the all-encompassing love of God and brought to new life in the hearts and minds of his disciples. There is a resurrection moment for those who follow him. He is not gone but is alive. They experience him anew in the garden outside the tomb, in the Upper Room, on the road to Emmaus.
The stories of these encounters with the Risen Jesus, let us know, as we struggle and work for justice and equality in our time, that we can also experience Jesus in our midst, experience a mutual anointing and a common calling to participate with and in the work of Jesus to bring God’s kin-dom to life. It is the continuing story of the Resurrection, the transformation of our lives through our relationship with the Divine which leads us to be beacons of hope to those weighed down by life’s burdens, to be voices for those who are voiceless, to be bearers of Divine Love to all whose paths we cross.
We are a Resurrection people, let us rejoice and glad.
EUCHARIST PRAYER
Presider 3:
As we prepare for this sacred meal, we stand in solidarity with our sisters
and brothers and we bring our many needs and concerns to the table.
(Please feel free
to voice your concerns beginning with the words, “I bring to the table….”)
We pray for all who have asked for our prayers and for
all who need our prayers. Amen.
Presider 4: (Easter Preface
adapted from a poem by e.e. cummings)
We thank
you, God, for this most amazing day/ for the leaping, greenly spirits of trees/
for the true, blue dream of sky/ for everything which is natural, which is
infinite, which is yes. We who were dead are alive again today/ and.today is
the sun's birth-day, the birth-day of wings/ in all of this wonder, how could
we human merely beings/ lifted from the no of all nothing/ doubt unimaginable
you? Now the ears of our ears awake/ now the eyes of our eyes are open/
awakened, quickened, alive, we join with all living creatures, and we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy, Holy One, God of Justice, God of
Light
Heaven and Earth are filled with your glory
Hosanna in the Highest.
Blest is the One who comes in the name of our
God.
Hosanna in the Highest, Hosanna in the highest.
All: Holy One, what we can ever say about you is
revealed in the harmony of nature all around us, and all right-relations. We
have been taught that it can be found within us and among us, as well.
We give
thanks for all your visionaries throughout our history, in so many traditions,
who have enacted your peace in the fragile vessel of their humanity.
We are
grateful for our brother Jesus, whose life forever shows us the truth of your
love and our own capacity for loving in a godly way, to create with you a place
of peace for everyone.
He lived
what he taught, and in him, as in the emergence of your springtime, we
understand that death has no final dominion. Through this recognition comes our
own rebirth to freedom, courage, and encouraging love.
On the
night before he died, Jesus gathered for the Seder supper with his friends.
Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet, so that they would
know how to remember him. Back again at the table, he lifted up the bread of
freedom, spoke the grace, broke the bread, and offered it them, saying: (presider lifts the bread)
Take and eat of the Bread of Life
Given
to strengthen you
Whenever
you remember me like this
I am among you. (pause)
Then he
lifted up the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered them the wine,
saying: (presider lifts the
wine)
Take and
drink of the covenant
Made new
again through my life in you.
Whenever
you remember me like this,
I am among
you. (pause)
Memorial Acclamation: (Alternate
sides – left and right – for each sentence)
We Rejoice. We Remember.
The Christ - a spark that lit the cosmos at the beginning
of time.
We Rejoice. We Remember.
The Christ - a spark that is expanding across time.
We Rejoice. We Remember.
The Christ - a spark that was fanned into flame by those
who ignited our lives in love and wisdom and joy.
We Rejoice. We Remember.
The Christ - a spark that is a sacred trust held by us to
pass on to generations yet to come.
We
rejoice. We remember. We celebrate. Alexander J. Shaia
We will
never make peace if we do not re-member, if we do not realize that your light
and life and love are a heritage for all of creation, and that you see each of
us as precious, bearing your image.
We can
only make peace if we are passionately doing the work of justice and
right-relations, working skillfully to eliminate the illusion of separateness
so that we can live in communion, and rise up from our slavery: the dominion of
death, and the attitudes, structures, and weapons of death.
We will
learn to trust you, God of creation, liberation, rainbows and life. We will
learn to trust creation and ourselves and each other enough, to open ourselves
and our small circles until they are as wide as your own love.
We remember our
brothers and sisters who have gone before us and all the saints who have done
your will throughout the ages. We praise you in union with them, and give you
glory through Jesus, our brother.
(Presiders hold bread and
wine)
All: Through Jesus, we have learned to
how to live.
Through Jesus, we
have learned how to love.
Through Jesus, we
have learned how to serve. Amen.
Presider 5: Let us pray together
the prayer of Jesus
All: Oh Holy One, who is within, we celebrate your many names. Your wisdom
come. Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us. 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.
Amen.
The
Prayer of Jesus as interpreted by Miriam Therese Winter
Presider 6: Please join in the prayer for the breaking of the 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.
COMMUNION
Presider 7: This
is the Bread and Cup 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.
Presider 1: Please join in singing our Communion
Song.
Communion Song: Oh, Mother God, Karen Drucker
https://youtu.be/_Je14HVGbaM
O Mother
God,
flowing
through our hearts,
We give
thanks
for the
bread of our lives,
For the
hands in the earth
And the
fruit of your womb
Oh Mother
God blessed be
Oh Mother
God blessed be
(repeat)
Oh Mother
God,
thank you
for this day
For the
love
that you
wash over me
And this
joy in my heart
I will
share with the world
Oh Mother
God blessed be
Oh Mother
God blessed be
(repeat)
BLESSING
All: Beloved One, you have filled our hearts
with joy and hope and renewed all of creation in your beloved Son. We are honored to serve you and to animate
others in their generous response to your love.
As together we bring your love to the world, grant us the courage and
strength to share that love and your presence with others. We ask this in the
name of Jesus, the Risen One, Amen.
Please join in singing our closing song and
then offer each other a sign of peace.
Closing
Song: City of God
https://youtu.be/KSyu-a8ov7A
Awake
from your slumber!
Arise
from your sleep!
A new day
is dawning
For all
those who weep.
The
people in darkness
Have seen
a great light
The God
of our longing
Has
conquered the night.
Refrain: Let
us build the city of God!
May our tears be turned to dancing!
For our God, our light, and our love,
Has turned the night into day!
We are
sons of the morning;
We are
daughters of day.
The One
Who has loved us
Has
brightened our way.
The God
of all kindness
Has
called us to be.
A light for
God’s people
To set
their hearts free.
Refrain
Oh,
comfort my people;
Make
gentle your words
Proclaim
to my city
The day
of her birth.
O city
of gladness
Now
lift up your voice
Proclaim
the good tidings
That
all may rejoice!
Refrain
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