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Saturday, July 30, 2022

Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community - Sunday Liturgy, July 31, 2022 - Presiders: Joan Chesterfield and Mary Theresa Streck

photo from UN World Food Program

Welcome

MT: Today’s theme is Economic Justice.  We will hear in our readings and our songs a reminder to use our gifts for the greater good. We are called, like the prophets before us to engage in “doing justice,” an essential to expressing both a vital faith and building a world at peace. 


Opening Prayer 

Joan: As we gather around the table of friendship, we come with profound thanksgiving for the countless blessings we have received. And, at this table, we remember all those who are struggling economically, especially those who are continually hungry. As we pray for them, we work for systemic change for we know, there is enough to go around.  Our opening song is Extravagant Love.


Opening Song: Extravagant Love by the Many: Extravagant Love by the Many 

https://youtu.be/xl2gOHyssvw



First Reading: “What Does It Mean to Reimagine? ”

by Valarie Kaur, 2021 


When we look back through history, our greatest social reformers did more than resist oppressors. They held up a vision of the world as they dreamt it. Nanak sang it. Muhammad led it. Jesus taught it. Buddha envisioned it. King dreamt it. Dorothy Day labored for it. Mandela lived it. Gandhi died for it. Grace Lee Boggs fought for it for seven decades. 


They all called for us not only to unseat bad actors, but to reimagine institutions of power, the institutions that order our world. You see, any social harm can be traced to institutions that produce it, authorize it, or otherwise profit from it. To undo the injustice, we have to imagine new institutions and step in to lead them. 


This is why I believe reimagining is front line social justice work. It is essential for this moment as we are in the midst of a massive transition here in the United States and all around the world. We can't ever fully be able to transition humanity into a new place unless we imagine it first. So this is how I am defining what it means to reimagine. 


To reimagine is to explore a vision of a relationship, a community, a world where all of us are safe and free, where all of us flourish. Reimagining means that we're doing more than resisting our opponents, that we are paying attention to the cultures that authorize them to harm us, the institutions that allow them to continue with their behavior. And if we shift our gaze to institutions, that means some institutions can be reformed, but others must be dismantled and replaced altogether. 


Reimagining focuses us not just on what we are fighting against, but the future that we are fighting for. And here's the secret: Reimagining—when we engage in that hard and vibrant work of reimagining the world as it ought to be—we start to realize that we have opportunities, spaces in our own lives to begin to create the beloved community where we are. 


When we are brave enough to reimagine, we can begin to become the beloved community by birthing it here and now. 


With open hearts, we affirm these words by saying: Amen.


Alleluia: Dennis


Gospel: A reading from the Gospel of Luke

Lk 12:13-21


Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,
“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”
He replied to him,
“Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”
Then he said to the crowd,
“Take care to guard against all greed,
for though one may be rich,
one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Then he told them a parable.
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
But God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”


With open hearts, we affirm these words by saying: Amen.


Homily Starter: Mary Theresa


The Gospel message is very clear. Jesus is reminding the rich man to “take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” And to drive the point home he reminds him that, "You can’t take it with you!" So rather than settle the dispute for this man, Jesus called him into solidarity with the poor.

 

In our first reading, lawyer and activist Valarie Kaur invites us to reimagine our relationships, our community, and our world where all of us are safe and free, where all of us flourish. This reimagining means that we're doing more than resisting our opponents, that we are paying attention to the cultures that authorize them to harm us, the institutions that allow them to continue with their behavior.

 

Today I would like to honor Sister Simone Campbell who has spent a good part of her life challenging those institutions.

 

On July 7, President Biden presented Sister Simone Campbell and fifteen other recipients with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.  


Sister Simone Campbell, a lawyer, lobbyist, poet, Zen contemplative and longtime advocate for economic justice and health care policy, served as the executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobbying organization for seventeen years. She joined with other members of her community to form the “Nuns on the Bus” nationwide tours that played a significant role in the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, a complex law which expanded access to health care for millions of people.

President Biden praised Sister Simone with these words:

“For so many people and for the nation, Sister Simone Campbell is a gift from God. For the past 50 years she has embodied the belief in our church that faith without works is dead. Compassionate and brave, humble and strong, today Sister Simone remains a beacon of light. She’s the embodiment of a covenant of trust, hope and progress of a nation,”


Sister Simone and Network are beacons of light and each of us is a beacon of light as we support local organizations in their efforts to help those most in need. And we are beacons of light as we support organizations working for systemic change. We are today’s prophets, bearers of hope, far from being hateful or unpatriotic. We engage in “doing justice” that is essential to expressing both a vital faith and building a world at peace. 


Shared Reflections


Statement of Faith 


We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.

We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.

We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.

We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.

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 for the Community


Joan: As we prepare for this sacred meal we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, prayers and concerns for the community. Please feel free to voice your intentions beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”


Prayers for the community are offered.


MT: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen. 


Liturgy of the Eucharist


MT: With open hands and hearts and in one voice, let us together pray our Eucharistic Prayer:


Holy One, the first passion of Jesus was his passion for you and for justice so that all may reap the beauty and bounty of Creation in equal measure. Jesus lived to incarnate your justice for all the world according to your covenant with Israel. In solidarity with Jesus, and with all the faithful women and men who have gone before us, we lift up our hearts and sing:


Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy

https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ 



We celebrate the life of our brother, Jesus. He lived his life and walked forward to his death knowing that you were leading him. We walk forward in his pathway and follow his teaching.


We are standing in the right place with Jesus when we let go of money, possessions, pride and privilege, to become vulnerable and open to you, to accept poverty of spirit and reliance on you. 


We are standing with You when we are compassionate for all human beings, and when we extend empathy and love to everyone, especially the poor, oppressed, and mournful. We remember all those who suffer and die each year from war, poverty and disease. We mourn for them, and for all creatures, and for the earth itself.


We are blessed when we are gentle, nonviolent, courageous and humble, like your saints. We pray to grow in awareness of our unity with all of creation and co-create with You our earth as a sanctuary of peace.


MT: Please extend your hands in blessing.


We are ever aware of your Spirit in us and among us at this Eucharistic table and we are grateful for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world. 


We join the lineage of Your prophets of justice and peace and as Your daughters and sons, we continue to work with Your grace as we walk forward in the footsteps of our compassionate brother, Jesus.


On the night before he died, Jesus did more than ask us to remember him.  He showed us how to live in humility and generosity when he washed the feet of his friends.


Community lifts the bread


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.


Community lifts the cup


All: Then he took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:

Take and drink.

Whenever you remember me like this,

I am among you.


What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives.  As we share communion, we become communion both love's nourishment and love's challenge.


Please receive communion with the words: I am a blessing.


Communion Song: Bread On Every Table – Monks of Weston Priory 

https://youtu.be/z4Mw9tSD-Jo



Prayer after communion: 

 

Holy One, we are aware of your Spirit within us and our community, the same Spirit that filled Jesus.  And is through following his life and teaching, his loving and healing that we honor You and each other. Amen.


Let us pray as Jesus taught us:


Holy One, who is within, around and among us, 

We celebrate your many names. 

Your Wisdom come. 

Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us, 

Each day you give us all we need; 

You remind us of our limits, and we let go. 

You support us in our power, and we act with courage. 

For you are the dwelling place within us,  

the empowerment around us, 

and the celebration among us, now and forever.  Amen  

(Miriam Therese Winter) 


Blessing


Let us raise our hands and bless each other.


May we be blessed with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships.

May we seek truth boldly and love deeply. 

May we continue to be the face of the Holy One, and 

May we be a blessing in our time. Amen.


Our closing song is: "I Hope" sung by Meah Pace with The Resistance Revival Chorus – Lyrics added

https://youtu.be/AjirwATs5r4




The Eucharistic Prayer is adapted from Beatitudes for Peace by John Dear.


Thursday, July 28, 2022

Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community, July 30, 2022,Presiders: Bridget Mary Meehan and Peg Bowen, ARCWP Readers: Jim Brandi and Ann Cooke Prayer Leaders: Mary Montavon and Jack McKillip IT Team: Cheryl Brandi and Peg Bowen

 Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community

Sarasota, Florida

Saturday, July 30, 2022




Jordan McDonald, Unsplash


Zoom link for video - 4:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81534075389?pwd=TTdGY2NxS3AzTW13ODJESkdYME9aUT09


Meeting ID: 815 3407 5389

Passcode: 803326

(Note -- if you have a problem with the above link, open your ZOOM app and insert the Meeting ID number and Passcode)


One tap mobile: 1-312-626-6799



Theme:   Celebrate the full equality of all genders and all people in every life choice and ministry.


Presiders:  Bridget Mary Meehan and Peg Bowen, ARCWP

Readers:  Jim Brandi and Ann Cooke

Prayer Leaders:  Mary Montavon and Jack McKillip

IT Team:  Cheryl Brandi and Peg Bowen



Peg: Welcome

We invite you to participate in the whole of this liturgy and respond to every prayer indicated by ALL.  Each of us will be muted during the liturgy except for the Presiders who have different pieces to pray. Have bread and wine or juice near you as we pray our Eucharistic prayer.


Women were leaders and gender roles were fluid and flexible in Jesus' parables, Paul's writings, and in some Jesus groups in the first two centuries CE.  On the 20th Anniversary of the historic ordination of 7 women priests on the Danube, we celebrate the full equality of women, all genders and all people in every life choice and ministry. 



Opening Song:  All Belong Here by The Many


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJBEwqBfw3I&list=RDsJBEwqBfw3I&start_radio=1re



Peg: We begin our liturgy in the name of our Creator, the Source of all being, and of the Son, eternal Word, and of the Holy Spirit, Sophia Wisdom.

Peg & ALL:  Amen.


Peg:  Rite of Transformation:

We pause now to remember the times we have not born fruit in caring for self and others. Take a moment to recall one missed opportunity, one broken or damaged relationship.  

(Pause briefly and extend your hand over your heart)


Peg & 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!




Gloria by Marty Haugen - video by Bridget Mary Meehan and Mary Theresa Streck


https://youtu.be/udjH7EON5IY



BMM: Opening Prayer: 

Holy One, we celebrate all genders as reflections of your radiant image. We rejoice that we can experience your love in feminine and masculine images - God the loving father and loving mother, God the good shepherd and so many more. You are Divine Mystery present everywhere and beyond the beyonds and beyond that too!


Liturgy of the Word


Ann C: First Reading:

A Reading from After Jesus, Before Christianity


Although the parables are not generally read in terms of gender, several of these stories raise provocative questions about male and female roles.


In the Parable of the Lost Coin, a woman loses one of ten silver coins and searches her house to find it. Recovering the coin, she throws a neighborhood party. In this story, a woman’s role conforms to female expectations. What is unusual here is the casting of a woman in a lead role, especially a woman doing an ordinary thing. The lead role in stories of the time should really be played by a king, as indicated in many rabbinic parables. In that time, a woman was an inappropriate image for the Empire of God, or any empire for that matter. Parables may appear simple, but many explore gender in a provocative fashion.


The Parable of the Leaven, a story told in a single line — “The empire of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened” (Matt. 13: 33; Luke 13: 21) —ups the ante. 


It compares the empire of heaven to a woman and leaven, a symbol of moral corruption. 


These inspired words of Erin Vearncombe, Brandon Scott, and Hal Taussig and we affirm them by saying, Thanks be to God


Response Psalm You have Anointed me 


https://youtu.be/vUMdXhZB08U



Jim B:  Second Reading:  Our Second Reading is from After Jesus, Before Christianity


Gender pairing also appears in the writings of Paul and later in the Gospel of John.


 In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul makes a series of radical pairings that have gone almost unremarked upon. “But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband,” Paul declares (1 Cor. 7: 2). 


In the ancient world, a husband owns his wife; she is his property. That relationship is clearly reflected in the first part of this pairing. The second part, however, challenges male ownership of the female in saying that the wife also owns her husband. No other writer in the ancient world says anything that radical about marriage. 


That this is Paul’s intention is made clear in verse 4: “For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” 


Again, male claims to exclusive authority are undone. 


Paul’s declarations about gender roles in 1 Corinthians find reflection in the body of Jesus as presented in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. 


In this letter, Paul famously states, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one [in the Anointed Jesus]” (Gal. 3: 28).


Judean, Greek, enslaved, free, male, and female are all integrated in the body of the Anointed Jesus.  Jesus’s body merges with and becomes these things, according to Galatians. Jesus’s body, in this writing, is both male and female. 

Paul affirmed for the Galatians that indeed, there was no longer a division between male and female. The body of the Anointed, so prominent in 1 Corinthians, is viewed by Paul as both male and female. 


These are the inspired words of Erin Vearncombe, Brandon Scott, and Hal Taussig and we affirm them by saying, Thanks be to God



Alle Alle Alleluia 


https://youtu.be/ID5UGWcS6Ws



Peg: Gospel: A Reading from the Gospel of Luke: (Luke 15: 3-7)


Jesus then addressed this parable to them. "Who among you have a hundred sheep and losing one of them, doesn't leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and search for the lost one until it is found. And finding it, you put the sheep on your shoulders in jubilation. Once home, you invite friends and neighbors and say to them, 'Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep.'"


What woman who has ten silver pieces doesn't light a lamp and sweep the house in a diligent search until she finds what she has lost?" And when it is found, the household calls in her friends and neighbors and says: 'Rejoice with me, I have the silver pieces I have lost.' I tell you there will be the same kind of joy before the angels of God over one repentant sinner."


These are the inspired readings according to the Gospel of Luke and we respond to them by saying, Thanks be to God. 



Homily Starter: Bridget Mary Meehan



In revolutionary new book, After Jesus Before Christianity, a historical exploration of the first two centuries of Jesus movements, three Bible scholars from the Westar Christianity Institute begin by asking two fundamental questions:


What do we really know about how Christianity took shape?


Do the rituals, practices and beliefs common today look anything like those of the earliest Christians? 


Highlighting many archaeological and manuscript discoveries over the past twenty years, these scholars offer new information that provide a paradigm shifting picture, including:


1. There was no religion called Christianity before the third century.


2. There were multiple, diverse Jesus movements, not a singular one.


3. There was much more flexibility and diversity within Jesus’s movement before it became centralized in Rome, not only regarding the Bible and religious doctrine, but also, in understandings of gender, sexuality and morality.


The findings indicate gender bending and gender pairing and raise provocative questions about male and female roles that have not been previously explored. 


In our Gospel today, Jesus offers examples of gender pairing. 


 Both the woman at home upon finding her missing coin, and the shepherd in the field who finds the lost sheep rejoice. The scholars conclude: “While both figures play typically gendered social roles in the parables—a woman at home, a shepherd in a field—their juxtaposition implies their equality


Paul makes a series of radical pairings that challenge male claims to exclusive authority over women. In 1 Corinthians 7: 4 challenges male ownership of the female in saying that the wife also owns her husband: “For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” This teaching reflects a rejection of both male dominance and female passivity.


The followers of Jesus practiced gender bending- that is, gender roles were fluid and flexible.  According to Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: They was neither male nor female but all were one. (3:28.)


A variety of Jesus groups lived in extended families of multiple generations and in chosen families outside of blood or married relationships for mutual support and affection.


Some, with Paul’s approval, rejected marriage and traditional families


Women cut their hair and dressed like men. 


Women were named in Paul’s letters as leaders in the same way as male contemporaries were named. Junia and her husband Andronicus were both named as apostles in Romans 16:7. 


However, patriarchal domination, operating at all levels of society in these early Jesus diverse groups. gradually emerged, and Junia, a female name, was changed into Junias, a male name, thus erasing apostle Junia from later biblical translations. 


The early group of the Savior in which women were leaders and teachers with religious authority according to the Gospel of Mary was not the same group that found 1 Timothy meaningful – “Let a woman learn in silence and submission” (p. 104) 


In conclusion, there was a great diversity among Jesus’ followers on gender roles and gender identity as there is today.  


Contemporary Catholic communities, like MMOJ support the full equality of all genders and reject patriarchal structures that discriminate against LGBTQI.  We embrace all people and all genders, as equal images of the Holy One. 


(Source: After Jesus before Christianity, Erin Vearncombe, Brandon Scott, and Hal Taussig for the Westar Christianity Seminar)






Statement of Faith 


Jack M and ALL:

We believe in one God, a divine mystery 

beyond all definition and rational understanding, 

the heart of all that has ever existed, 

that exists now, or that ever will exist. 


We believe in Jesus, messenger of God's Word, 

bringer of God's healing, heart of God's compassion, 

bright star in the firmament of God's  

prophets, mystics, and saints.

 

We believe that We are called to follow Jesus 

as a vehicle of God's love, 

a source of God's wisdom and truth, 

and an instrument of God's peace in the world. 


We believe in the Holy Spirit, 

the life of God that is our innermost life, 

the breath of God moving in our being, 

the depth of God living in each of us. 


We believe that God's 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.


Mary M: Prayers for the Community

We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your intentions beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”   


[end with]   We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.



Liturgy of the Eucharist


Preparation Of the Gifts


BMM:  Blessed are You, Holy One, through Your divine providence we have this bread, to share, the Bread of Life. 

BMM & ALL:   Blessed are You, Holy One, forever.  


Peg:  Blessed are You, O Loving One, through Your divine providence we have this wine to share, our spiritual drink. 

Peg & ALL:   Blessed are, You, Holy One, forever.


BMM:  Nurturing One, we are united in this sacrament by the love of Christ, whose presence we are as we proclaim the liberating power of your Spirit Sophia, in our humanity and divinity, calling us to build the unity of Love in a more compassionate and just world.  

BMM & ALL:  Amen.


Eucharistic Prayer


Preface

Mary:  Our God is with you.


Jack M & ALL:  And also with you. 


Mary: Lift up your hearts.


Jack M & ALL:  We lift them up to our God.


Mary: Let us give thanks to our loving God.


Jack M & ALL:  It is right to give God thanks and praise.


Peg: All-loving and ever-living God beyond all imagining, we give You thanks for the gift of awareness that allows us to recognize Your presence and action in our universe. Everything we have, everything we see, everything we do, everyone we love and everyone who loves us, reveals Your sustaining presence.  We thank You for Your presence which animates life and all that exists.  


BMM: You express yourself in human life and through us you sing and dance, speak and write, love and create.  In this we never cease to hope, and for this we always thank and praise You.  We join with the saints of all times and places as they sing forever to Your glory: 


ALL:  Holy Holy Holy (MMOJ) by Karen Drucker (shortened)


https://youtu.be/orKBBIj5LZA



Ann C: Loving God, we live and move and have our being in You. We give thanks for those throughout history who have affirmed your loving presence and moved your people to give witness.  They have witnessed to your presence in lives characterized by love, mercy, compassion, generosity and forgiveness.


Jim B:  We thank you for Jesus, who loved so greatly, taught so clearly, and proclaimed so courageously.  He set people free from images, ideas and religious practices that bound them in fear and a false sense of separation from you. Through Jesus, we know our loving actions become a share in your life.  In Jesus, we see your Spirit challenging us to make your presence more visible on earth.

 

Mary M: We thank You for Your Spirit of life and love among us. We are grateful that Your Spirit sets us free to discover your presence within us and in all of creation.  And for this we thank and praise You.  


Peg: (addressing the assembly)  I invite you, the People of God, to extend your hands and pray with me:


Peg & ALL: Loving God, your Spirit fills this bread, this cup, and all gathered today.  They, and we, are the Body and Blood of Jesus the Christ.  It is your presence that makes us and all of creation whole and holy.  


BMM & ALL: We remember that on the night before he died, while at supper with his friends, Jesus took the Bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying: Take and eat, this is my body.


(Pause)

 

Peg & ALL: When supper was ended, Jesus took the cup of wine, spoke the blessing and offered it to them saying: Take and drink of the covenant made new again through my life in you. Do this in memory of me.


(Pause)


Jack M:  Let us proclaim the mystery of faith.

Jack & ALL: Nurtured by your Word, nourished by your food, called anew to be your people, we acclaim your praise.


Mary: Loving God, through Jesus You entrusted this pledge of love to us.  We celebrate the memory of his life, death and resurrection, and bring to You the gifts You have given us: reconciliation, justice, and peace. You fill us with Your Spirit in the sharing of this meal. You keep us in communion with one another and with all living beings. Your Spirit makes us a sign of unity, a model of equality and instruments of Your peace.


Jack M: Inspire our leaders, both religious and political, so that they act without fear to bring your justice. May they become peacemakers who transform your church and society so that all living beings and our planet may thrive.


Ann C: You have gathered us around this table in friendship, with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the apostles, and all the saints. May all who are suffering in any way be strengthened and consoled by your Presence. You bless all who have gone before us and bring them into the lasting joy and peace of your presence.

 

Jim B: You gather together women, men and children of every race, language, religion and way of life to share in your one, eternal banquet. In your presence, we give you glory with all creation and with Jesus through whom your goodness flows.

 

All lift cup and plate


BMM & ALL: Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ in the unity of the Holy Spirit, may all glory and honor be Yours, all-loving God, forever and ever. 


The Great Amen 


https://youtu.be/0sDDgwZlijc



Prayer of Jesus


Mary M: Let us pray together the prayer that Jesus taught us: 


Mary & ALL:  O Birther!  Father ~ Mother of the Cosmos, 

You create all that moves in light.  Focus your light within us.  Make it useful as the rays of a beacon show the way. Create your reign of unity now through our fiery hearts and willing hands. 


Your one desire then acts with ours, as in all light, so in all forms. 

Grant what we need each day in bread and insight: subsistence for the call of growing life.  Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others' guilt. 


Don't let surface things delude us, but free us from what holds us back. From you is born all ruling will, the power and the life to do, the song that beautifies all, from age to age it renews.


Truly – power to these statements -- may they be the source from which all actions grow.  Sealed in trust and faith.  Amen.

(adapted from Aramaic Lord's Prayer)


Sign of Peace


Peg:  Jesus said to his disciples, “My peace I leave You.  My peace I give You.”  We send peace and love to all our sisters and brothers everywhere especially those suffering loss from violence and war.


As we share our joy, let us share God’s abundant peace.  Let us now extend a sign of peace to one another by saying, 

Peg & ALL:   “Namaste, Namaste, Namaste”.



Communion


BMM: Please join in praying the prayer for the breaking of the bread:


BMM & ALL: Loving God, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice.     We will live justly.   


Loving God, You call us to be Your presence in the world.     We will love tenderly.


Loving God, You call us to speak truth to power.     We will walk with integrity. 


All lift bread


Peg: This is the Bread of Life. How blessed are we who are called to this Table.


Peg & ALL:  Jesus, you affirm our worthiness and by your word, we will heal the world. 


Receive the Bread and the Wine and pray the words:

The Spirit in me sees the Spirit in you. 



Communion Song:   


At This Table – Idina Menzel


https://youtu.be/acRAIkV7QDc
 



Introductions/Thanksgivings/Announcements


Prayer After Communion


BMM:  We go forth with gratitude for MMOJ and all our inclusive faith communities throughout the world in 13 countries and 34 states. We go forth, to dream new dreams of gender equality, justice and Gospel inclusivity in our church and world.  Amen. 


Blessing


Peg: May God bless you to fearlessly speak out about injustice, unjust laws, corrupt politicians, mass violence and patriarchal oppression of women and all genders, poverty and the abuse of our Earth. 

BMM: May God bless you to continue God's work in diverse partnership in ministry as together we co-create new life and grace into everything and everyone we touch.

Peg: May God bless you as you go forth to proclaim the teachings and to live according to the example of Jesus to co-create inclusive empowered communities and ministries where all are loved and all are equal. 

BMM: Go in peace to live the dream!

BMM & ALL:  Thanks be to God.  Let it be so! Alleluia! 



Closing Song: Sing a New Church 


https://youtu.be/ETV1DXQk_Gk



Liturgy adapted by Bridget Mary Meehan from 20th Anniversary RCWP Celebration at ARCWP Retreat on July 10, 2022.


If you would like to add your intercession to our MMOJ Community Prayers book,

Please send an email to Joan Meehan


If you would like to invite another person to attend our liturgy please refer them to

www.marymotherofJesus.org where the day’s liturgy is found. Zoom instructions are also included there.


Please support our community, send your check to:

Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community

% St Andrews UCC, 6908 Beneva Rd., Sarasota, FL 34328