Celebration of the Season of Creation #2
September 3, 2022
Zoom link for video - 4:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81534075389?pwd=TTdGY2NxS3AzTW13ODJESkdYME9aUT09
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Passcode: 803326
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Presiders: Beth Ponce & Kathryn Shea
Reader: Mary Al Gagnon & Andrea Seabaugh
Prayer Leaders: Russ Banner & Lee Breyer
Peg Bowen, IT
Theme: We are summoned to care for all of creation
Liturgy adapted from Season of Creation Ecumenical Prayer Service
by Laudato Si’ Movement
Welcome. Beth
Welcome to Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community in Sarasota Florida!
Whoever you are,
Wherever you are,
Just as you are,
You are welcome at this table.
(Integral Christianity by Paul Smith)
Gathering Song: The Summons (Will you come and follow me)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiXnbOORTAU
Greeting: Kathryn, after a moment of silence.
Creator of All,
From your communion of love your Word went forth to create a symphony of life that sings your praise. By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of creatures who praise you in their being. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
Give us hearts to listen for the good news of your promise to renew the face of the Earth. Enlighten us with the grace to follow the Way of Christ as we learn to walk lightly upon this holy ground. Fill us with the hope to quench the fires of injustice with the light of your healing love that sustains our common home. In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ. ALL: Amen
Litany of Lament and Repentance:
Beth, after silence.
We lament the loss of our fellow species and their habitats that will never speak again. We grieve the loss of human cultures, along with the lives and livelihoods that have been displaced or perished. Creation cries out as forests crackle, and animals alike flee the fires of injustice that we have lit by our unwillingness to listen.
We close our ears to the counsel of our fellow creatures. We fail to listen to the cries of the poor and the needs of the most vulnerable. We silence the voices of those who hold the traditions that teach us to care for the Earth. We close our ears to your creative, reconciling and sustaining Word that calls to us through the Scriptures.
Turn us O God, from our desire to turn in upon ourselves, refuse to hear the voices of our co-creatures. Call us again, open our ears. Gather us in to relationships of mutual care and listening. Enlighten us by your Spirit that renews the face of your Earth. Amen.
(Pause briefly and extend your hand over your heart)
ALL: As we ask for and receive forgiveness, we open our hearts to Infinite Love embracing and healing us. Let it be so, Yes, Alleluia!
🎵 🎶 Alle, Alle, Alleluia.
https://youtu.be/ID5UGWcS6Ws
Liturgy of the Word
First Reading: Andrea – Excerpts from “Examples of Callings in Scripture” by Scott Redd – (adapted)
Ordinary human callings do not occur in the same dramatic fashion as that of the prophets and heroes of the Bible, yet there is an important similarity between their callings and that of every other human being. We are all called by God to live our lives as those made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26–27). That calling includes honoring our Creator and doing so through the first mandate, also known as the cultural mandate, from God to “fill the earth and subdue it” (v. 28; see also 9:1). This explains why the impulse to fill and form the earth is rooted so deeply in all humans.
We might say that this general call to all humanity forms the basis of every person’s individual calling, because it speaks to our unique place in creation as the part of creation that is made in the image of God. Each person is called by God to participate in this cultural mandate in a particular way, and that calling includes all of the ways that a person relates to the world, including work, family relationships, church participation, political involvement, and so on. In each of these areas, the image bearer is called to engage in the larger program of advancing life around the world, a task that reflects God’s divine work of bringing a thriving creation out of what was “formless and void” (Gen. 1:2). This is the grander scope in which the individual life is cast.
No job is so small as to not give voice to this grand, universal calling.
These are the inspiring words by Scott Redd and we affirm them by saying,
ALL: Let it be so!
Gospel Readings: Mary Al –
Luke: 4: 14-19
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. Entering the synagogue on the Sabbath, as was his habit, Jesus stood up to do the reading. When the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, he unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
“The Spirit of our God is upon me;
Because the Most High has anointed me
To bring Good News to those who are poor.
God has sent me to proclaim liberty to those held captive,
Recovery of sight to those who are blind,
And release to those in prison –
To proclaim the year of God’s favor.
These are the inspiring words by the Gospel writer, Luke, and we affirm them by saying,
ALL: Let it be so!
Homily Starter/Community Sharing – Kathryn
Profession of Faith: Lee & All
We believe in God, who creates all things,
who embraces all things, who celebrates all things,
who is present in every part of the fabric of creation.
We believe in God as the source of all life,
who baptizes this planet with living water.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the suffering one, the poor one, the malnourished one, the climate refugee, who loves and cares for this world and who suffers with it.
And we believe in Jesus Christ, the seed of life,
who came to reconcile and renew this world and everything in it. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God,
who moves with God and who moves among and with us today. We believe in everlasting life in God.
And we believe in the hope that one day
God will put an end to death and all destructive forces.
(Gurukul Theological college, India / adapted by Keld B. Hansen 2009)
Our Community Prayers - Russ
Loving God, even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she places her young near your altar. You are attentive to all you have made.
God, who listens to every living thing,
All: Help us listen as you do.
Loving God, help us provide refuge to every animal and plant with whom we live. Help us be attentive to all you have made.
God, in whom all creation subsists,
All: Help us listen as you do.
Loving God, when Jesus cried out and gave up his Spirit, the earth shook and the rocks split. You are known by the whole of creation that listens to you.
God, to whom all creation responds,
All: Help us respond to you.
Loving God, help us hear and know you just as the earth and rocks do. Help us to learn from the way in which we see creation to recognize your glorious beauty.
God, to whom all creation responds,
All: Help us respond to you.
Mary AL: Loving God, you are present in your creation and seek to heal her wounds. You can be found walking in the garden. Open our eyes to see you, the gardener.
God, who is present with your creation,
All: Help us be present too.
Loving God, we often abandon your creation and cause its wounds. Help us to follow in your footsteps and learn to walk in the garden like you.
God, who is present with your creation,
All: Help us be present too.
Loving God, who hears every voice, knows each cry of injustice, and is attentive to the suffering of the earth: teach us to listen. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may listen to the world you have created and not close ourselves off from it. Reveal to us the ways in which we have failed to hear your voice in how we treat the earth.
God, who listens to every living thing,
ALL: Help us listen as you do. Amen
Joan M share prayer book requests
Offering: Beth (Have bread and wine/juice on your table)
O Holy One, we bring you our gifts from creation, bread of the grain and wine of the grapes.. We recognize that they are holy in you their creator. And we know that they will make us holy, one with you and one with each other.
Eucharistic Prayer
Lee & All. We commit ourselves to live the ministry of the Gospel as we speak clearly with respect and love, as we challenge the contradictions within our society, especially during these times of division and fear. We remind ourselves daily to remain faithful in our words and actions to our commitment to nonviolence. We are called to the inner life, our spiritual life, to be open to the new beginnings in our lives. We walk with Jesus seeking wisdom and peace.
(Hold your hand over bread and wine)
Andrea & All. Jesus, we remember the last meal you had with your followers. We call upon Sacred Spirit, ever and always with us, to bring blessing on this bread and wine as they are made sacred through our faith in the presence of Christ with us.
During Jesus’s life on earth, he lived and died loving the poor, healing the sick and challenging the injustices within society. Because of his ministry, Jesus was feared by the authorities of his day, and they sought out ways to bring him to his death.
Kathryn & All. On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at the Seder supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift 🥖 and pray:
Beth & All. When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, this is my very self.
Pause, then lift the 🍷 and pray:
Russ & All. Jesus took the cup, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying: Take and drink. This is the new covenant. Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you. (pause)
Lee & All. What we have heard with our ears,
we will live with our lives.
As we share communion,
we will become communion
both love's nourishment and love's challenge.
Kathryn & All. Let us share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice. We listen to the groaning of creation, remembering that we are bearers of light and hope. We are Christ alive today.
We now share the bread and wine, saying,
“Our gifts of creation make us One”
Communion Song: So Will I (1000 Billion X)
Hillsong United (Stop at 3.25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2U7ffUM5Ec
Andrea: We pray our common prayer that Christ taught us:
All: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
May your beloved community of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.
(Adapted from The New Zealand Book of Prayer | He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa. This version of the Lord’s prayer was influenced by Maori theologians)
Mary Al: A Prayer for Our Earth
(Pope Francis in Laudato Si’)
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
And in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and
forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the
world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain
At the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature as we journey towards your
infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace. All: Amen
Sharing of Peace: Lee
If we are in Christ, we are becoming a new creation.
We see God around us. We see God within us.
We give thanks to our Creator.
Let us show the caring nature you have instilled within us by greeting each other as a sign of God’s peace, love, forgiveness and grace. The peace of our Creator be with us in all things.
All: Namaste 🙏🏿 Namaste 🙏🏼 Namaste 🙏🏻
(adapted from Celebrating Creation: Honoring Indigenous People, Kelly Sherman-Conroy, ELCA)
Thanksgiving. Introductions. Announcements.
Beth and All: Final Blessing
May God who established the dance of creation,
Who marveled at the lilies of the field,
Who transforms chaos to order,
Lead us to protect creation,
To listen to the voice of all creatures
That reflect God’s glory.
(adapted from the CTBI Eco-Congregation Programme)
Closing Song: Soul On Fire – Third Day
If you want to add an intercession to our MMOJ Community Prayer book, please send an email to jmeehan515@aol.com
If you want to invite someone to attend our liturgy, please refer them to the day’s liturgy 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, FL 34238
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