Deb Trees, ARCWP and Lynn Kinlan, ARCWP, led
the Upper Room liturgy with the theme: Theme – Each of us, a perfect human
being, is with Jesus, a part of the Bread of Life
Opening Song: Table of Plenty, by John
Michael Talbot.
First Reading is from the Gospel of John.
6:41-51.
The temple authorities started to grumble in
protest because Jesus claimed, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.“
They kept saying, “Isn’t this Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph? Don’t we know his
mother and father? How can he claim to have come down from heaven?“
“Stop your grumbling.“ Jesus told them.
“No one can come to me
unless drawn by Abba God, who sent me-
and those I will raise up on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
‘They will all be taught by God.’
“No one can come to me
unless drawn by Abba God, who sent me-
and those I will raise up on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
‘They will all be taught by God.’
Everyone who has heard God’s word and has
learned from it comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen Abba God -
only the one who is from God has seen Abba God.
The truth of the matter is, those who believe have eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, and if you eat it you’ll never die.
I myself am the living bread come down from heaven.
If any eat this bread, they will live forever.
The bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.“
These are the words from the Gospel of John, and the community affirms then by saying: Amen.
Not that anyone has seen Abba God -
only the one who is from God has seen Abba God.
The truth of the matter is, those who believe have eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, and if you eat it you’ll never die.
I myself am the living bread come down from heaven.
If any eat this bread, they will live forever.
The bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.“
These are the words from the Gospel of John, and the community affirms then by saying: Amen.
Second Reading, Consecrated by St. Catherine
of Siena.
Consecrated
All has been
consecrated.
The creatures in the
forest know this,
the earth does, the
seas do, the clouds know,
as does the heart
full of love.
Strange, a priest,
would rob us of this
knowledge
and then empower
himself
with the ability
to make holy what
already was.
These are the words of St. Catherine of
Siena. And the community affirms them by saying: AMEN.
Lynn Kinlan’s homily starter:
The Temple
authorities are grumbling at Jesus sounding boastful by claiming to be the
bread that came down from heaven in today’s gospel. Other statements might have
us grumbling a bit too – Jesus setting up conditions under which people can
come to him seems off putting to our inclusive community ideal. (and at odds
with our community’s statement in some of our Eucharistic prayers that “nothing
can separate us from the love of God”). And so this gospel sent Deb and I to
the Jesus Seminar translation.
We’ve talked about the Jesus seminar
before – the translation arrived at through years of research by Gospel
scholars that shows which of the gospel statements were said by Jesus and which
are closer to the perspective of a later. In the view of the seminar, today’s
gospel of John bears little or no resemblance to what Jesus preached.
And yet, the idea of Jesus
as the Bread of Life, as bread coming down from heaven remains an important
part of our heritage and our Eucharistic celebrations. It brings to mind the
Last Supper. We are to eat bread, remember Jesus, and grow as one in Spirit.
Through Eucharist, we sense Jesus among us and become with him a part of the Bread of Life - because even
though we are broken, we are also blessed and we are enough.
And coming to understand
Jesus through Abba is not so much a
precondition as it is a reminder, a nudge to see both Jesus and ourselves as
divine creations, as people yearning for and sparked by the Divine to live in
the Spirit, to draw on living breath given by Abba and be nourished by God all
the days of our lives. Perhaps Jesus wouldn’t have said it exactly as the
gospel writer puts it, but we can see the intent of the words, we can relish
the need to live lives guided as Jesus was-- by a a loving God who calls us to be our best
selves. Jesus wants us to feel as close to Abba and each other as we can
humanly and prayerfully imagine.
Our other reading from Catherine of
Siena expresses this too – we live in a consecrated world, blessed and given.
What is the bread of life but the consequence of sunshine, seed, water, and the
loving vigils of farming and reaping and baking? Every moment of our day is a
heavenly experience of blessedness.
We are part and
parcel, of the Bread of Life. No one, not any priest who tries to preempt the
giftedness and holiness of Eucharist, not the believer who wants to set up
preconditions on God’s love, and not our small, scared selves when we feel
unworthy can separate us from the love of Abba, and from the grand design for
us to live as Bread for and with each other.
Together, the two readings get at the core of
who Jesus is and who we are. The readings explain why we come together and why
we celebrate Eucharist. How do we bring ourselves to live confidently, even
boldly In a world already consecrated?
How can we be the bread of life because we are consecrated? How can we
bring heaven into the here and now as Jesus did?
Homily Conclusion by Debra Trees
In our shared homily, we can experience
the wisdom of each other. Thank you for that gift. We can see that the
evangelist in his time was trying to bring the divine to those he felt
compelled to teach. He used the tactics he thought would work. Jesus may have
seen a different light before that; the magnificence of each person and of all
creation. We are connected to the divine and the divine is connected to us. May
we continue in our “work” to see the miracles in each other.
Communion Song: St Teresa’s Prayer. Sung by Michael Mangan
Words:
St. Theresa’s Prayer
Adapted By Michael Mangan
Refrain:
Christ has no body now but mine
No hands, no feet on earth but mine
Christ has no body now but mine
Let me be Christ, let me shine
My eyes are the eyes with which he looks
Looks with love upon this world
Mine are the feet with which he walks
Walks to do good in this world
Mine are the hands with which he works
Works for peace here in this world
Mine is the voice with which he speaks
Speaks his message to this world
Mine is the face with which he smiles
Smiles a welcome to this world
Mine is the heart with which he loves
Loves all people in this world
Closing song : You are the Voice, David Haas
Final Blessing:
May we continue to be the face of God to each
other. May the harmony of being connected across culture, race, time and space
create in us the yearning to love as One Body, joyfully and persistently. May
each of us shine with the terrific love of Jesus. AMEN.
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