Zoom link for video, Dec. 24, 2020 4 PM Eastern Standard Time
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86240868327?pwd=ZWNhdHRudTlFSjVBRlF5QVo5L3VGZz09
Meeting ID: 862 4086 8327
Password: 1066
Theme: Who am I and what do I have to say about myself?
Welcome and Comments
(Lee) Welcome to our inclusive Catholic community, Mary Mother of Jesus, located in Sarasota, Florida. Everyone is welcome here, no exceptions. In this liturgy, everyone has a part. We invite the entire community to pray the liturgy where it says: All. In most of the service, the entire community will be muted but, at the time of several readings, an individual will be unmuted to lead us in a particular piece and then “remuted” when finished.
And, at the time of a song, please, sing your heart out while you are muted! Also, we ask all our readers to “unmute” for their reading and then “re-mute” again. Everyone is welcome to share as inspired to do so after the ending of the homily starter. They will unmute themselves for their comments…and then remute themselves when finished.
Please have your bread and wine or juice for Communion conveniently located near you as we pray our Eucharistic Prayer.
Gathering Hymn: Song of Joy-Miquel Rios
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9tEp5b2Uvk&feature=share
Opening Prayer
(Pause briefly and reflect on the need to grow more in love with others and with creation.)
(Kathryn): Nurturing God, you blessed us by becoming human in the person of Jesus. He was born of his mother, Mary…supported by his father, Joseph…blessed in a local Jewish temple and engaged in the lives of those he loved and with whom he lived. As he aged, he experienced life on earth and learned what so many people learned and taught what so many people needed to know. And through his examples, his blessings on those who loved him and even his blessings on those who killed him, he showed us how we are to live our lives on your creation, earth.
Creator God, Jesus knew who he was … that he was the one who makes straight the road to you. And that is what he showed us by his teaching and his mission. May we, with the support of the Spirit, have the wisdom and strength to follow him. Amen.
Penitential Expression and Community Forgiveness
(Lee): O God, we do not fully open our hearts to your Spirit within us.
(All): May we use you grace to open our hearts to recognize and experience your love.
(Kathryn): Jesus, the Christ, we trust in your promise to send your Spirit.
(All): Help us to deeply believe in the message that you have made to those who love you.
(Lee): O Spirit of Wisdom, pour out your healing grace on us.
(All): Share your strength to us that we may open our hearts to receive your presence in us with joy and gladness.
(Kathryn): May the God of love, forgive us our lack of confidence in Wisdom Sophia who is moving with us, in us, and through us that we may be witnesses for justice and equality. Teach us how to love one another, our brothers and sisters on earth, and to do so as you love the whole of your creation.
(All): Amen, let it be so!
Liturgy of The Word
(Lee): As we always pray in the Liturgy of The Word and in the way it was expressed last week by Kathryn and Mary Kay -- “Open our hearts to finding you in new and unimaginable ways during this time of waiting. Plant the seed of your presence deeper in us and help us to nourish it into new life.”
(Michael): Today’s First Reading is from the gospel of John 1: 6-9, 19-22
There was a man named John, sent as an envoy from God, who came to point out to us the way to the Light. He did so that, through his testimony, everyone might believe his message. John himself was not the Light; he came only to teach about the Light -- the true Light that illumines all humankind. And at that time, the Temple authorities, interested in Jesus, -- who he was and what he was teaching -- sent priests and Levites to get some information from him. They asked Jesus “who are you? After no direct answers, they used a few prompts. They continued to ask him again, while repeating themselves… who are you? what are you doing? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?”
This selection of John’s Gospel, inspired by the Holy Spirit, was selected for today’s community responses since the same questions could be asked of each of us. And the community responds, AMEN.
(Janet): Some responses could be understood from the second reading today. It is from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 61, verses 1-2 and 10-11.
The Spirit of God is upon me; God has indeed anointed me. God has sent me as a messenger to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners. I am to announce a year of favor and vindication from God, who is the joy of my soul and who wrapped me in a robe of salvation and a mantle of justice.
Shared Homily/Community Reflections
These are the words attributed to Isaiah who, in this “collection of collections”, was written to describe his mission from God. And, we – the community of today -- believes that the Spirit that inspired Isaiah centuries ago inspires us even now.
And the community responds… AMEN.
(Lee): And John - after denying that he was “the Christ,” “Elija” or a “Prophet” - summed up who he was in a few words to his inquirers --those who were in the first reading today, and to those in any day since: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert…make straight the way of our God.”
Profession of Faith
(Kathryn): O Holy One, Creator of this expansive universe, we believe…
(All): We believe that you are in us, and that we are in you. We believe that your loving care is shown in the life, mission, death and resurrection of Jesus. He showed us - in so many lessons in his life and mission while on earth – how we are to care for one another, our brothers and sisters, on this planet and all your creation. His love for all people extended from those who played with him in his infancy to even those who nailed him to a cross.
We believe that no one is beyond the reach of your love, and so no one should be beyond the reach of our care, despite differences in age, race, color, nationality, beliefs, and wealth.
We believe that we have in our hearts the grace, inspiration and strength of the Holy Spirit that we could live fully in your love when we open ourselves to your teachings shown to us in Jesus.
We believe that the Divine 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.
Prayers of the Community
(Lee): We are people of faith. We believe in the power of prayer. We believe that we send blessings to those who are struggling in the “whys” and ‘hows” of their daily existences and who need to experience hope and peace; to those who are grieving and need to be comforted in their hurts and losses, to those who are facing medical challenges that “drain their days” and who need hopeful healings. We bring the needs of people everywhere throughout our world to our gracious and comforting God.
Response: Loving God, you are the peace of our prayers.
(Kathryn): For what else do we pray? (Loving God….)
(Kathryn): Caring God, we know you attend to our prayers and respond with your wisdom and love. In you, we place our faith. ALL: Amen.
Preparation of the Gifts
Blessed are you, O God, through your goodness we have the bread we brought from home for your blessing. It will become for us the Bread of Life.
(All): Blessed be God.
Blessed are you, O God, through your goodness we have this fruit of the grape for your blessing. It will become for us our spiritual drink.
(All): Blessed be God
(All): Nurturing God, we are blessed in this sacrament by the love of Jesus Christ who proclaimed God’s power and mercy for the lowly and oppressed. Like Mary, his mother and first disciple, may we live as prophetic witnesses to the Gospel.
Song: We are holy, holy, holy (3x). You are...I am…we are….
https://youtu.be/orKBBIj5LZA
Eucharistic Prayer
(Mary Al): Ever living and ever-loving God, it is through you that we live and move and have our very beings. And we know that in the days to come, that Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, will fulfill her promise to bring us to the paschal feast of heaven. Her presence with us gives us everlasting hope of unending peace and joy with you.
(Russ): We thank you for the gift of Jesus in history – and the gift of Jesus in faith. Through him, you breath life into us. He was moved by his vision of your constant presence in everyone he met, everywhere he went. He revealed you in everything he did in his life well lived. And he showed us, through his example, not only how we should live, but also for what is worth dying.
(Judy): And when his time on earth had come to an end, Jesus surrendered his life for a value that he deeply believed, lived and taught…his conviction that love is stronger than death. Ad then, providing a personal example of his insight for the understanding of people in ages to come, he opened wide his arms on a cross and died. Then the Spirit, one stronger than death, raised Jesus to life, showing everyone that life is eternal and that love is immortal. Jesus is with us – and lives in us – today as he will through the end of time
(Judy & All): O God, let your Spirit of life healing and wholeness come upon our gifts – the simple wheat and fruit of the vine. May She make them holy so that they will become for us the Body and Blood of Jesus, our brother.
Please extend an arm toward your bread and wine as we pray the consecration together.
(Keven & All): We remember the gift that Jesus gave us on the night before he died. He gathered with his friends to share a final Passover meal. And it was at that supper that Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread and shared it with them saying take this, all of you and eat it. This bread is you; this bread is me. We are one body, the presence of God in the world. When you do this, remember me and all that I have taught you. This is the new and everlasting covenant. (Then pause…)
(Kevin & All): In the same way, Jesus took a cup of wine, said the blessing and gave it to his friends saying: take this all of you and drink it. This wine is you; this wine is me. We are one blood, the presence of God in the world. When you do this, remember me and all that I have taught you. This is the new and everlasting covenant.
(Kathryn): Let us proclaim this mystery of faith…
(All): Jesus has died. Christ has risen. The cosmic Christ lives in and through us in the world today.
(Lee): We believe that the Spirit of God works through us. She can and will do more than we could ever know or even imagine. The Spirit give us the strength to be compassionate carriers of the Gospel message.
(Lee & All): Amen. In deep truth, I say “Amen”.
The Prayer of Jesus
(Kathryn): So let us, then, pray to our God with the words that Jesus taught us.
(Kathryn & All) Our God who is in Heaven and in all of us here on earth…the rich and the poor, the well-satisfied and the hungry, the free and the oppressed, the leadership and the marginalized, and everyone in circles of community and those excluded from society… you hear our prayer.
May Your kindom come and Your will be done in our actions as we struggle with the complexities of this world and work to confront greed and the desires for power in ourselves, in our nation and in the entire global community of peoples.
Anna D & All: Give us this day our daily bread... bread that we are called to share, bread that you have given us abundantly, nourishing the health and welfare of all your holy family, with no exceptions.
Forgive us our trespasses… especially for those times that we have turned away from the struggles of other peoples and countries, and for those times we have thought primarily – and sometimes maybe even only – of our own selves.
Joan M & All: Strengthen us in times of temptation… the temptation to close our minds, ears, and eyes to the unfair global systems that create ever-larger and long-lasting gaps between the rich and the poor, the temptation to think it is just too complex and difficult to bring about more alternatives.
Deliver us from evil…the evil of a world where violence happens in Your name, where the wealth for a few is more important than condition of the poor.
May your kindom come…as a blessing of peace and justice for all the members in your family, everywhere.
Passing the Peace of Christ
(Kathryn): In Christ, we are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters to one another. You have given us the gifts of compassion and peace. As members of God’s Blessed Family, let us share those gifts with one another in song.
Song: Let there be peace on earth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_DxNpW1kHQ&feature=share
Communion
Lee: Loving God, you call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice. We will live justly.
Kathryn: Loving God, you call us to be Your presence in the world. We will love tenderly.
Lee: Loving God, you call us to speak truth to power. We will walk with integrity.
And what we have just said, we will live with our lives.
Lee & All: We have Jesus with us now in the Bread of Life and the Cup of the New Covenant. Let us now eat and drink this Sacred Meal -- Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge.
(Please take/share Communion at this time.)
Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion
Lee: O God, we rejoice in your amazing love for us, having each one of us as your brother or sister, a member of your Beloved Family. May we be challenged, encouraged and empowered so that we may continue to live as partners in creating a world filled with love and ruled by justice.
Post-Communion Meditation/Reflection:
https://youtu.be/m-0HKpTEbts
Gratitudes – Introductions – Announcements
Closing Prayer
(Kathryn): Let us go forth in compassion and peace; holding fast to what is good and rejoicing in the power of the Spirit. And may God, who promises peacemakers a place in the kindom of heaven, guide us on our different paths through our pilgrimage on earth to our heavenly home. May we do so with God’s gifts of Christ-like love for one another – and with a hunger for justice everywhere – in ourselves, our homes, our countries, and the world in which we live … and do that with no exceptions.
(Lee): May we continually remain clean of heart in the coming kind-dom and open to the will of the Spirit . And may we always be the Face of God to the world reflecting well God’s compassionate and caring presence in us to everyone we meet.
Closing Blessing (please extend an arm in mutual blessing
(Lee & All): May our gracious God bless all of us who are gathered here (in Zoom)…and for all those for whom we lovingly prayed in this liturgy. We ask this -- as always – in the name of our God, our Creator - in the name of Jesus, our Liberator - and in the name of the Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier, as we minister to one another and to all those we meet on our journeys. Be with us as we continue on our paths and follow in the footsteps of Jesus – for we are the face of God to the world…and may be reflect our loving God well to everyone we meet. Amen.
Closing Song-
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ifCWN5pJGIE&feature=share
If you want to add an intercession to our MMOJ Community Prayer book, please send an email to katyrcwp@tampabay.rr.com
If you want to invite someone to attend our liturgy, please refer them our website at MaryMotherofJesus.org
To support our community, please send your check to:
Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community
St Andrew UCC, 6908 Beneva Rd, Sarasota, Florida 34238
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