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Meeting ID: 934 7370 8926
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4:00 PM EDT
Remember before the liturgy starts, set aside a piece of bread or cracker and a glass of wine or juice. Be sure to have a copy of the liturgy either in paper form or on another device via the internet ready.
Liturgy of Transformation
Joan P: Welcome and Theme
Welcome to our liturgy today as we consider our roles as sowersof the Word and how our very uniqueness makes us the most powerful messengers.
Whoever you are,
Wherever you are,
Just as you are,
You are welcome here.
Dotty: Opening Prayer: The Holy One is calling. What do we hear? We hear, we are loved, and in all ways we are enough. We hear love one another, as I love you. Let us answer the call with a heart full of gratitude and a resounding yes! Amen.
Opening Song: Turn, Turn, Turn
https://youtu.be/pKP4cfU28vM
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Anna D: First Reading: A reading from Reverend Nadia Bolz-Weber.
In this first reading, Reverend Nadia Bolz-Weber discusses her experience speaking at the 2012 Lutheran Youth Gathering in the Superdome.
“Some of your parents and pastors were really upset that I was your speaker tonight. They thought someone with my past shouldn’t be allowed to talk to thousands of teenagers. And you know what I have to say about that? ‘They are absolutely right.’ Somebody with my past of alcoholism and drug use and promiscuity and lying and stealing should not be allowed to talk to you. But you know what? Somebody with my present, who I am now, should not be allowed to either. I am a sarcastic, heavily tattooed, angry person who swears like a truck driver. I am a flawed person who really should not be allowed to talk with you. But you know what? That’s the God we are dealing with people!”
The kids went nuts. Clapping, screaming, on their feet. I was floored. I had no idea they were even listening.
“Let me tell you about this God.” I told them that this is a God who has always used imperfect people, that this is a God who walked among us and ate with all the wrong people and kissed leapers. I told them that this is a God who is especially present to us in the most offensively ordinary things: wheat, wind, water words. I told them that this God has never made sense.
“And you don’t need to either, because this God will use you, this God will use all of you, and not just your strengths, but your failures, and your failings. Your weakness is fertile ground for a forgiving God to make something new and make something beautiful so don’t ever think that all you have to offer are your gifts.”
After the talk a young girl hugged me and said “I think you saved my life tonight.”
Sometimes the fact that there is nothing about you that makes you the right person to do something is exactly what God is looking for.
These are the inspired words adapted from the book Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber and the community responds by saying AMEN.
Celtic Alleluia:
https://youtu.be/bPA24bwYBp4
Pat L: Gospel: A reading from the Gospel of Matthew.
Later that day, Jesus left the house and sat down by the lake shore. Such a great crowd gathered that he went and took a seat in a boat, while the crowd stood along the shore. He addressed them at length in parables:
“One day a farmer went out sowing seed. Some of the seed landed on a footpath where birds came and ate it up. Some of the seed fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. This seed sprouted at once since the soil had no depth but when the sun rose and scorched it, it withered away for lack of roots. Again, some of the seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. And some of it landed on good soil, and yielded a crop thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was sown. Let those who have ears to hear, hear this!”
These are the inspired words of a disciple named Matthew, and the community responds by saying AMEN.
(pause)
Joan P.: Homily and Shared Reflections
Prayer Leader 1: 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.
Prayer Leader 2: COMMUNITY PRAYERS
As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to the table our prayers and intentions.
We bring to the table all those suffering from the destruction and devastation of war especially in Ukraine and pray for strength and courage for them and peace throughout our world.
We bring to the table all those who have experienced racism in the past and present and we pray that all will open their hearts to truly understand this suffering.
We bring to the table our government officials that they hear and listen to the guiding wisdom of the Spirit.
We bring to the table all the requests for prayer in our MMOJ Book of Prayer Requests (Joan Meehan)
For what else shall we pray (please share any intention you may
have beginning with, “I bring to the Table…)
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Joan P.: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in one voice:
O Holy One, thank you for living and loving in us and through us as we set our hearts on belonging to you. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all creation.
You know our limitations and our essential goodness, and you love us as we are. You beckon us to your compassionate heart and inspire us to see the good in others and forgive their limitations. Acknowledging your presence in each other and in all of creation, we sing:
https://youtu.be/E9Yo34Irn6Y
(first verse only)
Blessed be our God!
Blessed be our God!
Joy of our hearts, source of all life and love!
God of Heaven and Earth!
God of Heaven and Earth!
Dwelling within, calling us all by name!
Alleluia, sing! Alleluia, sing!
Prayer Leader 1: Guiding Spirit, when opposing forces in us tug and pull and we are caught in the tension of choices, inspire us to make wise decisions toward what is good.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus, and for all our sisters and brothers who have modeled for us a way to live and love in challenging times. Inspired by them, we choose life over death, we choose to be light in dark times.
* Please extend your hands in blessing.
Joan P.All: 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.
All: On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at 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.
Dotty: Everyone please lift plate as we pray:
Dotty: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) (Community consumes the bread)
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.
(pause) (Community drinks from the cup)
We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace.
COMMUNION REFLECTION: Let Your Light Shine by Kathy Sherman, CSJ
https://youtu.be/PZ6cawf4lik
Prayer Leader 2: All: Holy One, your transforming energy is within us, and we join our hearts with all who are working for a just world. We pray for wise leaders in our religious communities. We pray for courageous and compassionate leaders in our world communities.
Loving source of our being, you call us to live the gospel of peace and justice. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity in your presence.”
Prayer Leader 1: Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
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.
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.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us,
now and forever, Amen.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
Introductions – Thanksgivings – Announcements
BLESSING
Dotty: Please extend your hands in our final blessing.
ALL: May the Fire of Love ignite our hearts and radiate through us.
May the Spirit of truth and justice burn within us.
May we continue to be the face of the Holy One, and
May we be a blessing in our time.
AMEN.
Closing Song: Go Light Your World
Words and music by Chris Rice
https://youtu.be/TUTWR4vVIjU
(N.B.: This liturgy was originally created by Kathleen Ryan, Arcwp, and Dave DeBonis of the Upper Room, Albany, NY and adapted for MMOJ by Joan Pesce.)
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