Solemnity of Pentecost, Sunday, May 23, 2021 , Community of St. Bridget Inclusive Catholic Community, Liturgist: Mary Eileen Collingwood ARCWP

Women Singing Earth by Mary Southard

Women Singing Earth, Mary Southard

Come in. Come into this place which we make special by our very presence.  Where the ordinary is sanctified, the human is celebrated, the compassionate is expected.  Together we make it a holy place with our every act of celebration.

My sisters and brothers, we are confident that the Spirit of the Risen Jesus abides with us always!  

ALL:  Alleluia!

Whoever you are and whatever you do, know that you are always welcome at this Table, and our hearts are glad and honored to be with you.

As we light our Easter Candle with the flame of St. Bridget, we are proclaiming the transformative power of God.  We give thanks that God’s transforming love has been, is now, and will ever be at work within us and in all creation.  Today we remember new life, new joy, new possibilities.  Christ’s Spirit is alive and living among us!  May the fire of this light continue to shine!

Opening Song: Spirit of God - Created by: Michelle Sherliza, OP Music by: Marty Haugen; Album Shepherd Me, O God; Licensed to YouTube by

NaxosofAmerica (on behalf of GIA Publications, Inc.), and 2 Music Rights Societies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNik63hhS7A  (lyric/video)

Spirit blowing through creation,
Spirit burning in the sky,
Let the hope of your salvation fill our eyes;
God of splendor, God of glory,
You who light the stars above,
All the heavens tell the story of your love.

As you moved upon the waters,
As you ride upon the wind,
Move us all, your sons and daughters deep within;
As you shaped the hills and mountains,
Formed the land and filled the deep,
Let your hand renew and waken all who sleep.

Refrain:  Spirit renewing the earth,

               Renewing the hearts of all people;

               Burn in the weary souls, blow through the silent lips,

               Come now awake us, Spirit of God.

Love that sends the rivers dancing,
Love that waters all that lives,
Love that heals and holds and rouses and forgives.
You are food for all your creatures,
You are hunger in the soul,
in Your hands the brokenhearted are made whole.  R

Today we celebrate the Solemn Feast of Pentecost. In our readings the Spirit of God is given as a gift to the disciples, and Jesus commissions his disciples to go forth in his name “to renew the face of the Earth.”  Our liturgy today includes the prayers and thoughts of Teilhard de Chardin and Hildegard of Bingen, marking this day with the power and dignity the Spirit has provided us throughout the ages.  Please join in as we celebrate who we are and who we are called to be within this sacred space and holy season, as we begin in the name of the Holy One: Source of All Being, Eternal Word and +Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Transformation Rite/Pentecost Sequence: -- M.E.Collingwood

1. 1. 1. Enter, O Spirit Feminine, enter!

           And from your comforting paradise

           Cast your beam of brightness!

           Enter, O Mother of the poor!

           Enter, spring of all our keep!

           Enter, within our hearts do shine!

1. 2. You, most noble solace know;

            You, Holy Wisdom of our heart;

            Pleasing tonic for us now;

            In our toil, abide with us;

            Grateful relief from the grind;

            Comforter in our distress.

1. 3. O Most blessed Light Divine,

            Shine within these hearts of yours,

            And our inmost being fill!

                                                                                                                                    

            If you aren’t here, we have not;

            Nothing good in works or thought,

            Nothing free from stain of wrong.

1. 4. Heal our wounds, strengthen resolve;

           In our desert quench our thirst;

           Our blame remove from us first;

           Turn our rigid heart and will;

           Melt the frozen; warm the chill;

           Guide the steps that have been lost.

1. 5. On the faithful, who adore

           And witness you, evermore

           Send your gifts of sacrament;

           Give us virtue’s most gracious prize;

           Look on us with forgiving eyes;

           Give us joys that never end.

                                              

          ALL:   O gracious Mother, May it be so!

We raise our voices as One giving glory to the Holy One:

Gloria  

ALL:  Glory be to the ONE in whom we live, and move, and have our being,

          and to the many who participate in this ONE life,

and to the Spirit who gathers us as ONE in Love,

          as it was in the beginning, is now

          in ever-evolving worlds without end.  Amen.

Opening Prayer

1. 6. We gather in the sacred presence of the One we name: Creator, Christ

Sophia, Spirit, Light, Love, Fire, Water, Breath, Holy One, Shining 

          One, Powerful One, Supreme One, Radiant One, Father, Mother, 

          Savior, Friend, Morning Star. 

 

1. 7. We gather in the spirit of our sisters and brothers who have gone before

us, and all the saints who have provided prophetic examples of faith throughout the ages, as we become a union of love.  Amen.

LITURGY OF THE WORD

We experience the Spirit of Our Living God as we listen to the Scripture readings broken open and shared by all.

First Reading: Acts 2: 1-11

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles:

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they all met in one room.  Suddenly they heard what sounded like a violent, rushing wind from heaven; the noise filled the entire house in which they were sitting.  Something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each one.  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were devout people living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled.  But they were bewildered to hear their native languages being spoken.  They were amazed and astonished.  “Surely all of these people speaking are Galileans!  How does it happen that each of us hears their words on our native tongue?  We are Parthians, Medes and Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya around Cyrene, as well as visitors from Rome—all Jews, or converts to Judaism—Cretans and Arabs, too.  We hear them preaching each in our own language, about the marvels of God!”

The inspired words of the apostle, Luke.  Amen.

Responsorial – based on Psalm 104

Spirit of the Living God - sung by Michael Crawford; lyrics and music by Daniel Iverson  

Licensed to YouTube by WMG; Capitol CMG Publishing, Adorando Brazil, and 5 Music Rights Societies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhhQACwrEFM  (lyric/video)

Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me (x2)

Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.

Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

Alleluia by Jan Phillips; adapted by M.T.Streck

Ever With You ℗ 2012 Jan Phillips Released on: 2012-12-25 Auto-generated by YouTube.

https://youtu.be/IC4nbwmQDVw  (lyric/video)

Second Reading - Gospel:  John 20: 19-23

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John:

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were locked in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Temple authorities.

Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  Having said this, he showed them the marks of crucifixion.

The disciples were filled with joy when they saw Jesus, who said to them again, “Peace be with you.  As Abba God sent me, so I am sending you.”

Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them.  “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said.  “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good.  If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”

The inspired words of the evangelist, John.  Amen.

Third Reading: 1 Corinthians 12: 4-7, 12-13

A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians:

There are many gifts but always the same Spirit.  There are many ministries, but we serve the same One.  There are many outcomes, but the same God who is working in all of them.  To each person is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 

The body is one, even though it has many parts.  All the parts, many though they are, comprise a single body.  And so it is with Christ.  It was by one Spirit that all of us, whether we are Jews or Greeks, slaves or citizens, were baptized into one body.  All of us have been given to drink of the one Spirit. 

The inspired words of the apostle, Paul.  Amen.

Homily/Reflection: Mary Eileen Collingwood

(Holding all our shared thoughts in the sacred space among us)

Ancient times often contain golden nuggets of information that jogs the memory and sensibilities of human nature.  One such example is the Chinese understanding of age.  In the minds of the Chinese, human age is counted from the beginning of pregnancy, not from the birthing moment Western minds recognize. This particular piece of wisdom informs what we celebrate today.

On this Pentecost Sunday, the remembrance of the Spirit of Life infusing the hearts and minds of the disciples has become a sacred memory that is prayed and celebrated each year.  The Catholic Church refers to Pentecost as the “Birthday of the Church.”  As the teaching intends, this day is to be remembered as the moment the Spirit moved in, with all her strength and grandeur, to flood the bodies and souls of those scared disciples hidden in a room, lighting the fire of faith within them.  

Yet, we all know that any type of faith community isn’t formed in a particular moment or day, nor is a church realized by any one event.  In fact, unless there is both physical and spiritual preparation for such an event, no such development could ever happen.  Similar to pregnancy, there needs to be a nurturing environment that allows life to flourish.  True in the formation of human life, true in the formation of the spiritual life of a community of faith.

If we dig deeper into what caused and still supports the church being church, we find the process of conversion happened over time. Not only didn’t the disciples understand the breadth and depth of Jesus’ teachings, they needed the Spirit of God to persist in raising their consciousness of what such a belief system entailed.  One example of this would be the disagreement between Peter and Paul on accepting Gentiles into their communities. 

 

Another very significant element to this spiritual awakening was the steadfastness of women.  They were not only relied upon to keep the fires stoked in this gradual development of what eventually became known as a church of believers, but the widows provided financial support for the disciples in their evangelization efforts.  It was the women who presided at the house liturgies.  It was the women who spread the faith within their communities.  

Spirit Sophia, along with her feminine human counterparts, held the day!

Birthing comes natural to women, be it the birth of a child, or the birth of a church. Without women, neither have a chance of becoming much of anything.  

As time passed, women continued to support the church but were cast aside in their role as leaders while patriarchs stole the limelight.  Scattered through the years are very few women who were able to break through this stronghold.  

As our longing increases, today’s Eucharistic Prayer makes it clear that we still await “…the growth of the world borne ever onward in the stream of universal becoming.”  Yes, we do recognize a church that continues its need for nurturance, that is in dire need of a renewed vision.  The creative energy among us is palpable as we look to the Spirit of Pentecost for guidance.  

How will we spread this ancient wisdom we hold within us?  

What shape will it take in reforming the church of today or of the future?

Affirmation of Faith: 

We are Women and Men of Light, anointed by Holy Mystery:

1. 1. We are Women and Men of Light,

 enkindling a world of hope, people of light,

 called to the kin-dom,

 continually receiving new light and life from the Source,

 yet never diminished,

 always enhanced by giving and receiving

 in a rhythm of reciprocity.

1. 2. Women and Men of Light,

 do we wish to be turned into fire?

 We must be open and receptive to God

 loving us into this moment.

 We are called to connect heart to heart

 and center to center

 to set the world on fire with love.

1. 3. I, the highest and fiery power have kindled every living spark

 and I have breathed out nothing that can die…  

I flame above the beauty of the fields;

          I shine in the waters; in the sun, the moon and the stars, I burn.

1. 4. And by means of the airy wind, 

 I stir everything into quickness

 with a certain invisible life which sustains all... 

I, the fiery power, lie hidden in these things

 and they blaze from me. 

Prayer of the Faithful

1. 5. Always mindful of our Creator’s love and care for us, we bring to our  Table prayers of thanksgiving, petitions for help and compassion.  We  know that the Body of Christ is present in our community of faith, and that we will awaken to the call of responding in the name of Jesus.

1. 6. We turn our hearts and minds through these prayers to his message, to his hopes and dreams, to his ardent desire for a better society.  After each request, we respond with:  

 Spirit Sophia, we awaken to your call!

O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us.  May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings.

1. 7. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens and the weight of glory.  Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world.  Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God.  Amen

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

Sign of Peace

As we prepare for the sacred meal, we reaffirm that just as Jesus was anointed, so is each of us.  And so, we celebrate our Creator’s fruitful love as we extend our blessing to one another with joy.  May the peace that our brother, Jesus offers, be always with us!  Amen.

Offertory (All raise bread and wine)

Once again, beneath this moving sheet of fire, the living surface of the Earth wakes and trembles, and once again begins its fearful travail.  We will place on our plate the harvest to be won by this renewal of labor.  And into the cup we pour all the sap which is to be pressed out this day from the Earth’s fruits.  

ALL: Blessed be the Divine Presence forever.  We are One.

Prayer Over the Gifts

ALL:   Creator God, Creator Spirit, Creator beyond all imagining, we give you 

          thanks and glory for these gifts, and the grace of insight and awareness 

          that allow us to recognize your miraculous powers enlivening us as the 

          Universe itself, in personal form.  Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer

The Holy One is with us, abounding in Love!

1. 1. We open our hearts in Christ, who lives and loves, heals and empowers   

  through us!

1. 2. Let us give thanks to the Source of all Life.

1. 3. It is truly right and just that we should always sing of your glory, O Holy One.  We praise you with greater joy than ever on this Feast of Pentecost as we celebrate the Spirit’s indwelling among us.  As the universe resounds with joy, we join with the choirs of angels singing this endless hymn of your glory:

Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy

Album: Come to the Feast Licensed to YouTube by CD Baby; ASCAP, BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., BMG Rights Management (US), LLC, and 2 Music Rights Societies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9LZURdBJxE  (lyric/video)

Holy One, may your presence here open our minds

may your Spirit among us help us to find

you are rising up now like a fountain of grace

from the holy ground here in this place. Here is this place. (x2)

Holy, holy, holy God of love and majesty

the whole universe speaks of your glory

from the holy ground here in this place. Here in this place. (x2)

1. 4. O Holy One, we will raise ourselves beyond these symbols of bread, wine, and Table, toward the pure majesty of the real itself:  We will make the whole Earth our Table and on it will lift up to You all the labors and sufferings of the world.

1. 5. Our plate and cup are the depths of our souls laid wide open to all the forces, which in a moment, will rise up from every corner of the Earth and converge upon the Spirit.  Grant us the remembrance and the mystic presence of all those for whom the light is now awakening to the new day.

1. 6. One by One, O Sacred Mystery, we see and love all those whom you have given us to sustain and charm our lives.  One by one we also number all those who make up that other beloved family which has gradually surrounded us, its unity fashioned out of the most distinct elements, with affinities of the heart, of scientific research, and of thought. 

1. 7. And one by one, all-inclusively,

  we call before us the whole vast anonymous multitude of humanity;

  those who surround us and support us though we do not know them; 

  those who come and those who go;

1. 1. Above all, those who in office, laboratory, and factory,

through their vision of truth or despite their error,

truly believe in the progress of earthly reality,

and who today will take up again their impassioned pursuit of the light.

1. 2. This restless multitude, confused or orderly,

the immensity of which terrifies;

this ocean of humanity whose slow, monotonous wave trouble the hearts even of those whose faith is most firm: it is to this deep

that we so desire all the fibers of our being should respond.

1. 3. All the things in the world to which this day will bring increase;

all those that will diminish;

all those too that will die;

all of them we try to gather into our arms,

so as to hold and raise them up to You.

This is the fruit and material that You desire.  

1. 4.  In ancient times,  

 humankind took into your temple the first fruits of their harvest,

 the flower of their flocks.

 But the offering you really want, the offering you mysteriously need

 every day to appease your hunger, to slake your thirst,

 is nothing less than the growth of the world borne ever onward

 in the stream of universal becoming.

ALL:   Receive O Holy One, within the arms of your +transforming Spirit, this 

          all-embracing bread and fruit of the vine which your whole creation, 

          moved by your magnetism, offers you at this dawn of a new time.

1. 5. At this gathering, we take bread, as Jesus took bread, and we remember, as Jesus remembered, the constant presence of the Spirit of Life and Love.

And Jesus offers it to us now saying: (all raise the bread)

ALL: Take and eat, all of you.  This is my body which I give to you.  (pause)

When supper ends, Jesus takes the cup, speaks the grace, and offers it to us with these words: (all raise the wine)

ALL: Take and drink this cup of my life-blood, the life of the new and 

everlasting covenant.  It is poured out for you and for all, so that 

you might be free.  Whenever you re-member me like this, I am 

among you. (pause)

1. 6. This wine, our pain, is no more than a drought that dissolves.  Yet in the very depths of this formless mass, you have implanted a desire, irresistible, hallowing, which makes us cry out, believer and unbeliever alike: “O Creator of All, make us ONE.”

We proclaim the sacred sustenance of our Loving God:

1. 7.  Nurtured by your love, nourished by your food, called anew to feed your 

          people, we acclaim your praise!

(all raise bread and wine)

ALL:  For it is through learning to live as Jesus lived,

And why he lived,

And for whom he lived,

That we awaken to your Spirit within,

Moving us to worship you truly,

Life-giving God,

At this time, and all time, and in all ways.

Amen by Marty Haugen

Celebrating Our Faith ℗ 1999 GIA Publications, Inc. Released on: 1999-01-01 Artist: Marty Haugen Composer: Marty Haugen Auto-generated by YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UVHRvr86RU  (no video—begin at .24)

We now pray as this bread is broken among us:

1. 1. Loving God, You call us to live your Gospel of peace and justice,

we will live justly.

1. 2. You call us to be your presence in the world.

We will love tenderly.

1. 3. You call us to speak truth to power.

We will walk with integrity in your presence. 

 

1. 4. We break and share this bread, as Jesus broke and shared it.

We share it as our pledge of openness to the Spirit in our midst,

and in acknowledgment of our eternal connectedness with the Spirit of Life.

1. 5. We take this wine and drink, as Jesus invited his friends to drink,  

   mindful of a relationship of love and trust between ourselves and the 

   Spirit of Life, believing, as Jesus believed, that beyond pain and 

   darkness and death, life in the Spirit continues in ways beyond our 

   imagining.

This is the Bread of Life and Cup of Blessing.  Through it we are nourished and we nourish one another.  

ALL:  Jesus, you affirm our worthiness, and through your word we will heal 

the world.

All are welcome to our Table as we share the Body of Christ with the 

Body of Christ.

Communion Meditation:  Holy, Holy, Holy by Karen Drucker (adapted by M.T. Streck, Upper Room Community) Songs Of The Spirit II ℗ 2001 TayToones Released on: 2001-01-01 Auto-generated by YouTube.

https://youtu.be/nTewBnxBy30  (lyric/video)

We are holy, holy, holy,

We are holy, holy, holy,

We are holy, holy, holy,

We are whole.  (x2)

Spirit Divine, come to Me,

Feeling Love, healing Me.

Open my heart, allow me to see,

Beauty and Love, lives in Me.

                                You are holy, holy, holy…(x2)

                                We are whole.  I am whole.

Together we lift our voices in the Name of Jesus: by Miriam Therese Winter, MMS 

                                                                                                    (adapted)

1. 6. O Holy One, you are within, around and among us.  We celebrate your 

         many names.  Your wisdom come; your will be done; unfolding from the 

         depths within us.

1. 7. 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.

1. 1. For you are the dwelling place within us, the empowerment around us,

         and the celebration among us now and forever.  Amen.

Closing Prayer: 

Creator God, we thank you for your Spirit, your impulse of love guiding and animating us to co-create with Spirit and co-evolve with nature.  May we be more and more mindful of Holy Mystery evolving the Word as One Story unfolding in time and space.  Amen.

Announcements

Blessing:

Please extend your hands to one another as we receive this blessing:

1. 2. This day the Creator of Light has enlightened the minds of the faithful through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  We are blessed with the gifts of the Spirit always.  ALL:  Amen

1. 3. That fire which hovered over the disciples as tongues of flame, burn in our hearts and make us glow with pure light.  ALL:  Amen

1. 4. God inspired speech in different tongues to proclaim one faith. We are strengthened in our faith and our hopes find fulfillment in a Universe of One Mind and Heart, a true Kin-dom of God.  ALL:  Amen

  

We are blessed always in the name of the Holy One: Source of All Being, Eternal Word, and +Holy Spirit.  ALL:  Amen

(chanted) We go in the Spirit of Christ, Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Closing Song:  A New Heaven and Earth – Marty Haugen

Gift of God ℗ 2001 GIA Publications, Inc. Released on: 2001-01-01 Artist: Marty Haugen Composer: Marty Haugen Auto-generated by YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtsTDK_jjW8  (no video)

Refrain:  Spirit of God, come burn in your people,

               Spirit of Love that brought us to birth;

               Kindle anew the flame of your justice,

               Grant us your vision: a new heaven and earth!

Now is the time, your Reign is upon us;

Now is the time, your great Jubilee!

Come set your fire burning within us

We may be all you call us to be.  R

Bring in the day of God’s mighty justice;

Bring in the day of mercy and peace.

Servants of God bring hope to the broken;

Weak shall find strength, and captives’ release.  R

Heaven and earth could never contain you,

Much less our selfish yearnings and schemes.

Break down the walls that hold and confine us;

Open our hearts and grant us new dreams.  R

Thank you for your courage to worship in a spirit of equality and justice! 

We welcome you to join us again and support this Community with your presence and prayer!