Upper Room Liturgy on July 30, 2017, Co-Presiders: Lynn Kinlan ARCWP and Kathie Ryan ARCWP

left to right: Lynn Kinlan, ARCWP Kathie Ryan ARCWP, Co-Presiders

 Liturgy One---- Afire with Divine Presence

Songs:  #27 You are Mine page 7 --#44 Deep Within page 14---#82 All You Works of God page 30

Receiving the stoles

Opening song-

Welcome and Theme

Peace:

Kathie Ryan holding cup

Homily Starter for July 30, 2017: Kathie Ryan ARCWP

One of the best parts of co-presiding is praying and reflecting over the scriptures and then with your co-presider discover something you had not found before.  When Lynn and I sat down to plan for today the first reading was familiar and pretty self-evident.

 Solomon asked for a discerning heart, the ability to understand good from evil.  Great request and the Holy One grants his request and gives him additional rewards!

 Now we could interpret this and maybe we have at times, if we ask for the right or good thing we will receive a positive outcome.

 We have all asked God to heal someone from an illness, or to help a friend find a job, or to please mend a broken relationship. And we know we don’t always receive what we asked for.

 What can and often does happen though when we ask for the right thing is a change of heart. We become closer and more loving toward the person we are praying for, we pay attention to their needs in a way we had not done so before.  We become wiser because our hearts are in sync with the Holy One. And then we experience what we have heard  the kin-dom our treausre is here right now.

Let’s take a look at the gospel reading.   At first glance it sounds like the person who finds the treasure then hides the treasure and then goes and buys the field is doing something on the down low, sneaky. Finders keepers losers weepers mentality.

 And then there seems to be something not quite right with the merchant too. Not very practical -- sell everything for a great big beautiful priceless pearl?  Really?  What will he do with this pearl when it is time to feed his family or pay his rent?

So we know parables are not meant to be read literally.  Lynn and I turned this parable upside down and inside out, read some commentary and discovered another way of looking at it. 

The person in the field is working, going about his daily routine, earning a leaving and all of a sudden comes across a treasure. Isn’t this person just like us? Sometimes we are just going about our daily business, living our lives the best we can and we find a treasure.  Maybe the treasure is a new relationship, or a healing of an existing relationship. Maybe the treasure is the awareness of a daily blessing and we are very grateful.

The merchant on the other hand is a seeker an explorer and he is going about his life focusing on finding his treasure, the great pearl. Sometimes we are like the merchant, reading and studying and praying and reflecting, looking for answers to life’s big questions and then a light bulb goes on, an aha moment, and we understand something or someone in a way we never had before.

The merchant, the person in the field and Solomon all found their treasure, their kin-dom in different ways.   What are your treasures?  How do you find them

Irish Blessing: Sending Forth to Ireland: Mary Theresa, Joan and Bridget Mary

Blessing of Joan, Mary Theresa and Bridget Mary by Lynn Kinlan 

May the wind be always at your back, most especially on your red-eye flights. 
May your message of ordination equality be welcomed and taken to heart by all whom you meet.
May your journey be one of safety, enlightenment and the joyous love of the Holy One. Amen. 

Selections from “Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers” by Thich Nhat Hanh

“Listen, Listen, the sound of the bell

brings me back to my true home.”

“Listening to the bell I feel the afflictions in me

begin to dissolve. My mind is calm and my body

is relaxed. A smile is born on my lips. Following

the sound of the bell I go back to the island of

Mindfulness and in the garden of my heart the

flowers of peace bloom beautifully.”

“In Buddhism we speak of the world of phenomena (dharmalakshana).

You, me, the trees, the birds, squirrels, the creek, the air, the stars are all phenomena. There is a relationship between one phenomenon and another.  If we observe things deeply, we will discover that one thing contains all the other things. If you look deeply into a tree, you will discover that a tree is not only a tree.  It is also a person. It is a cloud. It is the sunshine. It is the Earth. It is the animals and the minerals. The practice of looking deeply reveals to us that one thing is made up of all other things.  One thing contains the whole cosmos.

When we hold a piece of bread to eat, if mindfulness is there, if the Holy Spirit is there, we can eat the bread in a way that will allow us to touch the whole cosmos deeply.  A piece of bread contains the sunshine. That is not something difficult to see. Without the sunshine, the piece of bread cannot be. A piece of bread contains a cloud. Without a cloud, the wheat cannot grow. So when you eat the piece of bread, you eat the cloud, you eat the sunshine, you eat the minerals, time, space, everything.”

This next excerpt is from the book, “Happiness Now” by Robert Holden, in which he speaks of being in the “now”.  

“The gift of happiness is wrapped in your heart, not the world.  thus, your happiness will never be mailed to you! In truth, your happiness has already been delivered, sitting in your inner mailbox - your heart – waiting to be opened.  This is what the sacred now is really all about.  In essence, then, you are the key to happiness.

                  “Now has enough wisdom to last you forever,

                  because within you, right now, there is all the

                  wisdom you listen for in others.

                  Now has enough love to last you a lifetime,

                  because within you, right now, thereis the

                  love you continually cry out for.

                  Now has enough peace to last you an eternity,

                  because within you, right now, peace of mind

                  is one though away at most.

                  And Now has enough joy to outlast the world,

                  because within you, right now, the joy you chase

                  is not in things – it is in you.”

Witness for Social Justice and Nonviolent Resistance, Activists Arrested at U.S. Captiol by Janice Sevre Duszynska ARCWP

Members of National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance Arrested

On Steps of U.S. Capitol for Pleading for An End to War Funding

Janice Sevre Duszynska ARCWP wearing stole

by Janice Sevre-Duszynska ARCWP

“One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be impossible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change things for the better.” Daniel Berrigan

Early morning July 12^th, Thoreau’s 200^th birthday, Max Obuszewski and I drove from Baltimore to the Greenbelt Metro Station. We were wearing bloody t-shirts as part of NCNR’s “Rivers of Blood II” action. Our NCNR community had written a petition to end the wars the U.S. has been conducting, cut off funding and instead put the money into much-needed social programs. The petition would be delivered to four leading members of Congress. This year was the 50^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech at the Riverside Church in Manhattan.

On the train three people heading to D.C. for a business meeting asked us about our shirts and we told them our purpose for going to Capitol Hill.  Max asked if they knew how many wars the U.S. was engaged in today.  One thought two, the other three. They were surprised when he told them we were at war in seven countries. One man said he had heard on NPR that 19% of the discretionary federal budget goes to the military. We assured him it was more than 50%. As we were leaving, one businessman wondered if our group would be able to get into the Congressional offices.

We met with Joy First, Malachy Kilbride, Phil Runkel and Alice Sutter at Union Station. Along with other supporters we walked toward the Senate and House office buildings. It was already quite hot. I put on my stole as we entered the Russell Office Building and delivered our petition to Senator Mitch McConnell’s office in Room 317. We were told that it would be given to the person who works on military spending and we received her contact information.

In the Hart Senate Office Building we visited the office of Senator Chuck Schumer. His assistant, Faiq S. Raza, whose parents are from Pakistan, listened to our pleas to stop the killing and military weapons spending. He told us that constituents can have an effect on Sen. Schumer.

We then made our way to the Cannon House Office Building to Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office where we delivered our petition. Legislative aides, however, were at a meeting. We asked for and were given the contact information for the aide who handles military spending.

Next we went to Rep. Paul Ryan’s office in the Longworth House Office Building. His door was locked and a sign posted which read: “Only people with a scheduled meeting are allowed to enter.” We knocked but there was no answer. So we slipped the petition under the door along with a flyer that Joy had prepared condemning U.S. military operatives. We handed it out all through Capitol Hill.

Wearing our bloody tee shirts, we walked toward the Capitol steps, across from the Supreme Court, carrying our banner which read, “Stop the War Machine: Export Peace. Once on the steps we unfurled a red sash to symbolize the river of blood flowing out of the Capitol. The banner and sash were confiscated by the police. Surrounded by Capitol Police Officers, we began taking turns reading the petition but were constantly interrupted by an officer warning us that we were facing arrest. Each time the police officer spoke, I would tell him that we were not doing anything illegal. We were speaking for the people. All we wanted to do was read our petition.

After the fourth warning, Max was removed, then Alice, a retired nurse from New York, then Phil, an archivist from Wisconsin of Dorothy Day’s papers, then Joy First, a grandmother activist also from Wisconsin, and then Malachy, a Quaker from Maryland. While they were being held in custody, I remained on the Capitol steps. I told the police I was going to finish reading the petition. Although they crowded around me, I did finish

reading the document.

Then they took me into the shade where the others were sitting and wondering what had happened to me.  I was surprised as were the others. We were allowed to keep our possessions. We were not handcuffed or frisked. Nor was there a police van waiting to take us away to a police station. Instead, in the sweltering heat, we were given cold water.  There was no fingerprinting but our photos were taken. Then tables and chairs were brought out of a police van and the police took our information before giving us a release document. We were to report on July 13^th to the U.S. Capitol Police Headquarters to request a court date.

It was discovered that the commander on site during the arrest was the mysterious writer of an email sent to First claiming he had been arrested before. The plan will be to subpoena him to appear in court during the trial.

However, on July 25, Mark Goldstone, the pre-eminent First Amendment attorney in Washington, D.C, notified the group that charges were dismissed for First, Kilbride, Runkel and Sutter, a day before their arraignment. Max and I are scheduled to be arraigned on August 2. It is presumed that charges will be dismissed for us as well.

The Capitol Steps Six are savoring this victory for freedom of speech. However, they are already conspiring to do another action to honor Dr. King’s Riverside Church speech.

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