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| Left to right: Presiders Elena Garcia Cheryl Brandi |
Theme: This saying is
hard!...
BELL:
Moment of Silence
GATHERING SONG: O
Breathe on Me, O Breath of God #657
O breathe on me O breath of God,
Fill me with life anew
That I may love the things you love,
And do what you would do.
O breathe on me o breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until my will is one with yours,
To do and to endure.
O breathe on me o breath of God,
My will to yours incline,
Until this selfish part of me,
Glows with your fire Divine.
O breathe on me o breath of God,
So shall I never die,
But live with you the perfect life,
Of your eternity.
Greeting
Every day, we have countless
choices and decisions to make. As
Christians headed toward eternal life, we are called to align our lives and
choices to the examples and teachings that Jesus provided. This is not easy.
Jesus’ disciples experienced the difficulty of keeping faith, and some left. Jesus’
words were not easy to swallow. Let us keep our hearts and souls focused on the
challenges presented and how they impact on our journey.
Presider: And let us begin our
liturgy today in the name of God, our Source of All Being, Jesus our Eternal
Word and Sophia Holy Spirit Wisdom.
ALL: Amen.
OPENING PRAYER:
ALL: O Lover of All, in this
journey into the heart of compassion, we celebrate your love unfolding in
the healing and wholeness of everyone and of every living thing.
You call us to see goodness and
beauty everywhere and to live in harmony with creation.
You call us to heal the wounds of
hatred and violence, discrimination and oppression in our world.
You call us to warmly welcome
everyone who comes through our doors as your presence among us.
In communion with Jesus, our
brother, and in the power of Your Spirit, we will live your love poured out
each day. Amen
PENITENTIAL RITE:
Litany of peace by Dan Shutte -Response (Let us be your peace)
Presider: God of all creation ALL:
Let us be your peace.
God
who walks among us ALL:
Let us be your peace
God of great compassion ALL: Let us be your peace
God of tender mercy ALL: Let us be your peace.
As we
work for justice ALL: Let us be your peace.
With
our hands and voices ALL: Let us be your peace
With
our words of comfort ALL: Let us be your peace.
With
hope and healing ALL: Let us be your peace.
In joy and gladness ALL:
Let us be your peace
Now and forever ALL: Let us be your peace.
ALL: Before we bring our gifts to share at the Banquet of love, we ask you
loving God for forgiveness for the times we have failed
to love one another and to care for your Creation.
Amen
LITURGY OFTHE WORD
First Reading: Joshua 24: 1-2,15-17,18b
The Word of God. Thanks be to God
Psalm: 78– Response: Sing out Earth and skies!
Sing of the God who loves you!
Raise your joyful
cries! Dance to the life around you!
BB#556 Refrain
Second Reading: A reading from Clarissa Pinkola Estes
These are the inspired words of Clarissa
Pinkola Estes. ALL: Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation: recited by ALL:
Praise, honor and glory to our God. Be compassionate as God is
compassionate. Praise, honor and glory to our God.
Gospel Reading: John 6:60-69
The good news of Jesus, the Christ!
ALL: Glory and praise to you Jesus
the Christ!
ALL SING: Celtic Alleluia
Homily by Elena Garcia ARCWP
Last week we heard part of the discourse
on the Bread of Life in which Jesus states that whoever eats the flesh of the
Son of Man and drinks his blood has eternal life and will be raised on the last
day. Today, we are to consider the reaction to that challenge and to the many
challenges Jesus put before us throughout his ministry. Food has always been a
means of sustenance since the beginning of humankind. People have fished and
hunted for the purpose of eating. God’s people in the dessert needed food to
make the long journey to who knew where. God provided that food and God
provided them, through Moses, with a sense of what was important in relation to
their connection with the Divine; what would prepare them for eternal
life. Without food, we die sooner
rather than later. Some foods that humans have ingested have resulted in death.
It appears then, to be important not only that we eat but also to be aware of
what we consume. We are born without a
notion of what we should or want to eat. We are content with trusting that a
nurturing being will provide the food we need and the care and protection that
will lead us to maturity and the ability to make good choices regarding food
and manner of relating to people in our lives. So too, our spirits depend on what
we receive on life’s journey for our spiritual and emotional growth, health and
development. This will determine what kind of people we grow up to be, how we
view and discern what is of the essence and how we will respond to the call to
be fully human and connected to the Divine.
In this discourse on the bread of
life, I have come to understand that Jesus was teaching us that the body and
the spirit need to be nourished and nurtured to a maturity that leads to union
with our divine creator.
The disciples’ reaction was “This
saying is hard!….” and they turned away. Every day we have countless choices
and decisions to make. As Christians, that is, as followers of Jesus The
Christ, we are called to align our choices to the example and teachings that
Jesus provided. This is not by any means without a challenge. I allowed myself
to browse through my mind’s chip to find other such challenges presented by
Jesus in the Gospels. I found a few and I am certain you too, can come upon with
some.
Jesus wants us to believe that He
is God become incarnate to lead us to the fullness of life with our Creator; to
believe that He is present in every person everywhere.
Do I live as if I believe that?
Or do I walk away because this is hard?
Numerous times He mandated us to
forgive those who trespass against us. This was not easy for our brothers and
sisters in His time, who lived in a culture of hatred and revenge going at life
“an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. And it is not easy for us this
many years later who live with the residual habit of revenge. How is my revenge meter these days? Have I
walked away?
Numerous times Jesus taught us
how to minister to the sick, the poor, the marginalized.
How often do I fail to do what
Jesus has taught me to do? Do I walk away from this also because it is too hard
to stay alert and see Jesus standing before me?
If you have ever been in love,
then you know about experiencing life through a clear lens that is able to respond
to any and all challenges and no “saying is too hard”. When you are loved and
in love there is no walking away.
In His last discourse and
throughout the gospels Jesus was inviting us to fall in Love. I believe all of
us have fallen in Love with Jesus. Our task now, as with human love, is to stay
in love, and we will never walk away.
Shared Homily: Consider
Times when the word of God has been a challenge?
When have you observed others meet those challenges?
What virtues do you want to develop to meet those challenges?
CREED: Taken from “The Friends
in Faith” and shared by Joan Meehan
ALL: Gathered together as people of faith, we profess our belief in
a God who is larger than we can name, a God unable to be contained, yet present
in each one of us. We have come to know this God in the living of our lives,
and in the holiness of the earth we share.
We believe in a God revealed in
all peoples—all genders, religions, and orientations.
We embrace a compassionate God,
who champions justice and mercy, and is always faithful when we call. Our God gives and forgives,
patiently loving without conditions.
We gratefully believe in a God who
feels our deepest struggles, and celebrates our greatest joys. A God who both
dances with us in celebration, and holds us when we cry. This God is not
“other” to us, but shares our breath in every moment, and promises we are never
alone.
We believe in a God who believes
in us- believes that we are precious and incredible gifts, worthy to claim
image and likeness to the divine. We hold fast to our God who journeys with us,
who continually calls us to choose the shape of our days through the choices we
make. This God accepts us as we are, and shares each hope we have for our
becoming.
This is the God in whom we
believe, our Creator, our Mother and Father who became human in Jesus, our
brother. Our God is the Spirit of Life, the voice that continues to speak love,
and asks us to answer. In this God, we choose to believe. AMEN
GENERAL INTERCESSIONS (Response is: God of Compassion, hear our prayer.
Presider: With hearts filled with loving
compassion, we now lift up the needs of our community.
Presider: O God you are present
to us, yet our minds cannot contain the mystery of your being.
~Let what we know of you in the
life and love of Jesus draw us to you in ever deepening faith.
ALL: God of Compassion…
Presider: It is difficult to wait
with hope for what we think is good and just.
~Increase our faith, and help us
to hold fast to our dedication to you.
ALL: God of Compassion…
Presider: Let the harvest of our
land yield enough for all.
~Banish famine from our world and
teach us to share.
ALL: God of Compassion…
Presider: Eye has not seen nor
ear heard, what you have prepared for those who love you.
~Let the hundredfold that we seek
be only to love you totally with our hearts.
ALL: God of Compassion…
Presider: Jesus, you prayed that
we all might be one.
~Help us to recognize those who
differ from us as our sisters and brothers sharing this one earth that you have
given us. ALL: God of Compassion…
Presider: Loving God, grant
physical, mental and emotional healing to all that are in need of your tender
touch and grant that those who have
gone on ahead, may dwell forever in Your presence, especially those we now
name, (pause for names) ALL: God of Compassion…
Presider: For what else shall we
pray? Presider: We hold these and all
our unspoken intentions in our hearts as we gather around the Banquet Table
today.
OFFERTORY: Blessed are the Gifts (By Mindy Lou Simmons
Blest are the gifts that we
receive. As we give, so love returns in
kind.
So, let us breath love and live
peace
And do the best we can,
To give ourselves in service to
Our God Divine. 3x
PREPARATION OF THE TABLE
Presider: Blessed are you, God of
all life, through your goodness we have bread, wine, all creation, and our own
lives to offer. Through this sacred meal may we become your new creation.
ALL: Blessed be God forever.
Presider: God is with us, loving
and healing through us.
ALL: Namaste
Presider: Lift up your hearts.
ALL: We lift them up in tender love, open to serve.
Presider: Let us give thanks to
our God.
ALL: It is our joy to give God thanks and praise.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
Voice: Gracious Wisdom, You embrace us with extravagant affection
in our blessedness and brokenness. We thank you that in this festive meal, your spirit continues to be
poured out among the circle of disciples gathered here. We give and receive
forgiveness and offer the gift of your shalom/peace. We join with the
angels and saints and people of every race, faith and nation to glorify your
presence as we sing:
ALL: (sing) We are Holy, holy,
holy. You are…. I am…. We are…. (Karen Drucker)
Voice: Gracious God, you set
the banquet table and invite all to the feast of unending delight. Here we
celebrate divine love beyond what words can describe in our evolving cosmos.
Here your divine compassion connects us to the young, the old, the least and
the last, to everyone everywhere on our journey into the heart of mercy.
Voice: We especially thank you, nurturing God, for Jesus - Your anointed,
who shows us how to love with a peaceful and courageous spirit. In Jesus, you
show us how to care for those who face illness and grief, and how to help those
who experience rejection and marginalization.
Voice: God of tenderness, Jesus showed us the heart of mercy when
he preached good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight
to the blind, and healing to the broken. Jesus called women to be apostles and
disciples and treated them as equals in his circle of companions.
Voice: In response to people’s sufferings, Jesus broke rules and
violated religious taboos. He shared meals with women, saved a woman from being
stoned and said that prostitutes would enter heaven before religious leaders.
He healed the sick and comforted the lonely. He challenged the priestly class
and political leaders of his time and so they ridiculed, tortured and put him
to death.
Voice: In faithful love, you raised the crucified Jesus radiant and
glorious to new life. Like the holy ones throughout the ages, Moses and Miriam
who led their people from oppression to freedom, Jesus’ life, death and
resurrection shows us how to live freely and joyously in the midst of
injustice, darkness, evil and death.
(Please extend hands as we recite
the Epiclesis and Consecration together)
ALL: May your Spirit, present in these
gifts and in us, fill us with a new outpouring of love that makes us more
deeply one Body in the Cosmic Christ living the fullness of your compassion.
On the night before he was betrayed,
Jesus gathered with his friends for a meal. He took bread into his hands, broke
it and said: Take this all of you. This is my Body. Do this to remember me.
Pause: In the same way after
supper, Jesus took the cup, raised it with love beyond all telling, gave thanks
and shared the cup with those at table and said: Take this all of you and drink
from it. This is the cup of my life blood, of the new and everlasting covenant.
Every time you drink of it remember me.
Presider: In sacred memory, let
us proclaim the mystery of our faith.
ALL: In every creature that has ever breathed, we see your
tenderness; in every living being that has passed on before us, we see your
goodness; in everything yet to be, Jesus The Christ will come again! In our
breaking of the bread of earth, Jesus the Christ of the Cosmos is being
re-membered!
ALL: Holy One, your transforming energy is always moving within us
and working through us. We give thanks for all holy women and men who have been
your face in our lives. They showed us how to forgive self and others, let go
of guilt, refrain from judging others and see the good in people who irritate
us. Let us pause to remember and name some of these holy women and men aloud
or in the silence of our hearts.
ALL: Through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus, all praise and glory are
yours, Loving God. Amen
The Prayer of Jesus (Adapted
by Maria Gullo for centering prayer)
Our Father and Mother who is in
Heaven, whose presence is with us always and whose spirit dwells within. Hallowed be your name. May your kindom come
and may your will be done in our lives and on earth just as it is in heaven.
Thank you for giving us this day, all that we need for sustenance, nourishment
and growth. Forgive us, forgive us when we turn away from your love and when we
trespass against you and those you put in our lives. Help us forgive those who
turn away from love, who have trespassed against us. Keep us from yielding to
temptation. Direct us away from anything or anyone that would distract us from
your will, your highest good for our lives. Direct and protect us from all that
is evil. For all glory and power is yours almighty God just as it was in the
beginning, it is now and always shall be world without end. Amen
Sign of Peace
Presider: Jesus, you said to your
disciples, “My peace I leave you, my peace I give you. Look on the faith of
those gathered here today and...ALL:
…. grant us your peace. O God, following the example of Jesus and with the
strength of the Spirit, help us spread that peace through our words and actions
to everyone, everywhere, with no exceptions. Amen
Hold hands as we sing: Peace is
Flowing like a River. Love is…. Joy is…Alleluia…
LITANY AT THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD
Presider: Loving God, you call us
to Spirit-filled service and to live the Gospel of peace and justice.
ALL: We will live justly
Presider: Loving God, you call us
to be your presence in the world and to be bearers of understanding and
compassion, forgiveness and healing, everywhere in your name.
ALL: We will love tenderly.
Presider: Loving God, you call us
to speak truth to power.
ALL: We will walk humbly with you and with one another.
Presider: This is Jesus, who
liberates, heals and transforms us and our world. He calls us to open doors
that are closed and share our bread on the altar of the world. All are invited to eat and drink at this
sacred banquet of love.
ALL: We are the body of Jesus the Christ.
PRE-COMMUNION PRAYER
Presider: Precious God, as we come to share the riches of
your table, we cannot eat this bread and not think of those who are hungry.
ALL: O God, your
world is one world and we are just stewards of this nourishment for all your
people.
Presider: We cannot drink this wine and not think of those
who are thirsty.
ALL: O God, this
very earth and its people everywhere cry out for environmental justice.
Presider: We cannot listen to your words of peace and not
grieve for the world at war’s doors.
COMMUNION MUSIC:
INSTRUMENTAL
COMMUNION SONG: “We
Remember”
Refrain:
We remember how you loved us to your death and still we
celebrate,
for you are with us here;
and we believe that we will see you, when you come, in your
glory God.
We remember, we celebrate, we believe.
Verse: Here a million wounded souls, are yearning just to
touch you and be healed.
Gather all your people and hold us to your heart. Refrain
Verse: Now we recreate your love; we brought the bread and
wine to share a meal.
Sign of grace and mercy, the presence of our God. Refrain
Verse: Christ, Divine’s great Amen, for all the hopes and
dreams of every heart.
Peace beyond all telling and freedom from all fear. Refrain
Verse: See the face of Christ revealed, in every person
standing by your side.
Gift to one another and temples of your love. Refrain
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AFTER COMMUNION
Presider: Loving God, may this
Eucharist in which we shared Jesus’ healing love, deepen our oneness with you
and with one another, our sisters and brothers. May your grace fill us all with
the strength we need on our journeys, especially when your words are challenging.
We will strive to live our lives in such
a way that your compassion may be felt through us to all your children, as we
live the Gospel values of justice, peace and equality. ALL: Amen
COMMUNITY PRAYERS OF GRATITUDE, INTRODUCTIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
CLOSING COMMUNITY BLESSING (Extend
an arm in mutual blessing
ALL: Loving Jesus, the salvation
to which you call us leads us from life, through death, to new life. Our
frailty tempts us to hide from the cross and to seek an easy way. Keep us
faithful to the celebration of the Eucharist and all of the mysteries of your
life. Help us to build our lives on the firm foundation of your Good News, that
grounded in your truth we may overcome any obstacles to accepting your challenge
to walk with you in a field of unimaginable, infinite possibilities. Amen
CLOSING HYMN: “Be Not Afraid” #430 Verses 1,2,3
Presiders: Let this service
continue in union with Jesus, the Light that dispels all darkness. Amen.
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