Kathleen Ryan, ARCWP, and Mary Skelly led the Upper Room liturgy with the theme: Listen to the voice of the Holy One in and around us.
Kathleen's homily reflection follows the readings.
Opening Peace Prayer
As we prepare to celebrate Eucharist today, let’s use this time as
an opportunity to clear out some of the concerns, experiences and even
important times we’ve encountered in the last week and concentrate on being in
the here and now at 10:00 on a cold December 30th in New Covenant Church.
Let’s close our eyes and look and notice any distractions we may
still be carrying as we entered our safe place. Remember this is your time to
connect with God and the Universe. If you have anything that is affecting your
emotions, place them in an imaginary basket. Take that basket and place it
outside our room and put it in the hallway. The concerns will remain in the basket
ready for you to pick them up after our liturgy but right now they don’t need
to be here.
Next, think of someone who loves you unconditionally and imagine
that person’s love enveloping you. It can be an energy or maybe a white light.
Once you surround yourself with this love, send it to the person sitting to your
right…….. then direct it to the person seated on your left. Finally, send your
love out into the entire planet and feel it coming back to you.
Now, you can open your eyes and be ready to enter into the
spiritual realm of our Eucharist.
Opening song: Namaste by Mark Hayes
We must learn to live each day, each
hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make
everything new. Imagine that we could
live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could walk
through the new year always listening to a voice saying to us: “I have a gift
for you and can’t wait for you to see it!”
Imagine.
We must open our minds and our hearts
to the voice that resounds through the valleys and hills of our life saying:
“Let me show you where I live among my people.
My name is ‘God-with you.’
We must choose to listen to that
voice, and every choice will open us a little more to discover the new life
hidden in the moment, waiting eagerly to be born.
These are the inspired words of Henri
Nouwen, a disciple of Jesus.
And our community responds with: AMEN!
A Reading from the Gospel of Luke
The parents of Jesus used to go every
year to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when Jesus was twelve they
went up for the celebration as was their custom. As they were returning at the
end of the feast, the child Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, unbeknownst to
Mary and Joseph. Thinking Jesus was in
their caravan, they continued their journey for the day, looking for him among
their relatives and acquaintances.
Not finding Jesus, they returned to
Jerusalem in search of him. On the third day, they came upon Jesus in the Temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them
questions. All who heard Jesus were
amazed at his understanding and his answers.
When Mary and Joseph saw Jesus, they
were astounded, and Mary said, “Son, why have you done this to us? You see that your father and I have been so
worried, looking for you.” Jesus said to
them, “Why were you looking for me? Did
you not know I had to be in my Abba’s house?”
But they did not understand what he
told them. Then Jesus went down with them to Nazareth and was obedient to
them. Mary stored these things in her
heart, and Jesus grew in wisdom, in years and in favor with God and people
alike.
These are the inspired words of Luke,
a disciple of Jesus.
And our community responds with: AMEN!
Kathleen Ryan’s Homily Reflection:
The “Holy Family” is going about their
lives just as anyone would at that time. They traveled to Jerusalem because
that was what they did to honor their faith tradition. This was not an easy walk. Eighty-five miles
from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Traveling was dangerous: robbers, and the military
presence of Roman soldiers. They traveled in a caravan of family and friends
for protection.
We know how the story goes - when it
is time to leave, Jesus hangs back and his parents leave without him. Three days later they find him in the temple.
Remember last week we talked about Luke’s early narratives being historically inaccurate
but still true. What is true in this narrative?
For me one of the important truths is
Jesus “listening and asking questions.” He
was not just a smart aleck kid dazzling his elders with his brilliance. Jesus
was going about life as any young boy would have at that time. Listening and asking
questions was the way all Jewish students learned from their teachers.
Jesus had many teachers, not just
those learned men in the temple, and we know this because Luke tells us Jesus
was obedient to his parents and went home and grew in wisdom. The word obedient
gets a bad rap nowadays. We tend to think of it as a do-as-you-are-told kind of
word. However, in Latin, the word obedient is audire and actually means listen. Jesus listened to his parents and to the
voice of his Abba.
In Henri Nouwen’s reading he reminds
us to listen to the voice that is all around us. My name is “God-with-you.” Every time we choose to listen to that voice,
God within and all around, we grow a little more in wisdom.
Each week we celebrate together, we
choose to come here and listen, and share, and we do grow in wisdom and love.
Tomorrow night we ring in the New Year
and maybe make some resolutions for 2019.
What will you hear this coming year? What will your choices be? What
will they cost you?
Communion meditation: Pilgrim
companions Dan Schutte
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