Day 1077: Sunday, February 26, 2023

Liturgy today at 3:45:

There are no outsiders, no us and them in this Kingdom

Emmaus Liturgy February 26, 2023

The First Sunday of Lent, A Courageous Journey into the Wilderness

Please join us tomorrow (Sunday, February 26, 2023) for our community celebration:

In Person at Knox Presbyterian / Thanksgiving Lutheran

1650 W 3rd St, 95401, Santa Rosa

Or Join us on Zoom by using this link and passcode:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573

Passcode: 1234

Meeting ID: 519 315 8573

Passcode: 1234

One tap mobile (for joining by phone)

+16699006833,,5193158573# US (San Jose)

+16694449171,,5193158573# US

Emmaus Community Order of Service 2/26/23 (files for downloading in WORD and DF formats)

Pat:

“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 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 Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:27-29cf. Col 3:11

Opening Song: Gather Us In by Marty Haugen David:

https://youtu.be/ar0BXa82F9M

Steve: Welcome/Introduction

Today’s liturgy is about a journey, a journey into the wilderness, a journey into the desert, a journey into our own minds and hearts. Today is the First Sunday of Lent, a time of reflection, a time for introspection, a time to take a deep dive into our own minds, hearts, bodies and souls. A time to prune away what holds us back, what keeps our commitment to serve others lukewarm. There are several themes running through today’s liturgy

One, a call to be courageous on our lenten journey and know that we have help. Help from each other, help by examining the life of our brother Jesus through scripture, help from the Holy Spirit, and help from our ancestors the Communion of Saints.

Two, we are called by name, we are all Beloved and we are Loved.

Three, Jesus pronounces a New Covenant, a new Kingdom, a different kind of Kingdom.

As Easter people we have a great advantage because we know the end of the story, we know the Paschal Mystery, we know about the empty tomb. Jesus mission was clear, the New Kingdom excludes nothing and no one. The entire Creation is in the Kingdom, and that includes everything right here on Earth.

There are no outsiders, no us and them in this Kingdom. No Gentiles or Jews, It is Kingdom where compassion and love are the primary virtues Christians aspire. Jesus ate and drank and sat with the so-called sinners; he did not say they were not sinners, but he did heal and comfort them. He made it very clear that they are every bit a part of this New Kingdom, this New Covenant.

Our last beautiful liturgy two weeks ago emphasized Love. We heard that all of creation is infused and energized with love. So lent is a time where we can die a bit to our false self in an effort to live in that bigger, all-expansive Kingdom that Jesus broke open.

PENITENTIAL RITE:

Steve:

Let us take a few moments of silence to reflect on where we have fallen short in the things we have done or those we have failed to do. Let us ask God for forgiveness.

FIRST READING:

Victoria:

As we cross with Christ into the landscape of Lent and into the mystery that lies ahead of us, may we know at least this about ourselves: that our name, too, is Beloved.

Beloved Is Where We Begin

If you would enter into the wilderness, do not begin without a blessing.

Do not leave without hearing who you are: Beloved, named by the One who has traveled this path before you. Do not go without letting it echo in your ears, and if you find it is hard to let it into your heart, do not despair.

That is what this journey is for.

I cannot promise this blessing will free you from danger, from fear, from hunger or thirst, from the scorching of sun or the fall of the night.

But I can tell you that on this path there will be help.

I can tell you that on this way there will be rest. I can tell you that you will know the strange graces that come to our aid only on a road such as this, that fly to meet us bearing comfort and strength, that come alongside us for no other cause than to lean themselves toward our ear and with their curious insistence whisper our name:

Beloved

Beloved Beloved.

—Jan Richardson - from Circle of Grace

SECOND READING: from Contemplating Christ, The Gospels and the Interior Life. by Fr. Vincent Pizzuto

Dan Vrooman:

There is but an endless diversity sustained in the unity of Christ. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, anyone made to believe they were outsiders were healed, raised up, restored to society, and empowered to become witnesses of the Gospel—often to the very communities from which they were outcast cf. Mark 5:20; John 4:28-30,39). Repeatedly, the gospel narratives insist that healing, liberation, and reconciliation are never for one’s personal benefit alone, but for the betterment of the community, they are called to serve (cf. Luke 4:38-39).

Contemplative discipleship thus begins as an encounter with Christ that is as communal as it is personal. It begins with the end of my world and the in-breaking of the kingdom. It begins with a death to myself, and the rising of Christ within. And thus, contemplative discipleship is thoroughly cruciform, patterned on the paschal mystery of Christ’s dying and rising. It begins and ends in paradox. In order to live fully in Christ, I must lose my life for the sake of the Gospel. (For the sake of the Good News, the New Kingdom, the Community). Sic

These words are take from Fr. Vincent Pizzuto’s book: Contemplating Christ, The Gospels and the Interior Life.

All: Thanks be to God

A RESPONSORIAL SONG AND CONTEMPLATIVE MEDITATION: Holy Mother performed by Eric Clapton, Luciano Pavarotti and the East London Gospel Choir

David: https://youtu.be/x9uYu4R2nk8 start 0.25 and end 5:40

THE GOSPEL:

Reader: Tom Bachelder

The Temptation: Matthew Chapter 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the son of God, command these stones to turn into bread.”

Jesus replied, “Scripture has it: “ ‘Not on bread alone is man to live but on every utterance that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Next the devil took him to the holy city, set him on the parapet of the temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. Scripture has it:

‘He will bid his angels take care of you; With their hands they will support you that you may never stumble on a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “Scripture also has it: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

The devil then took him up a very high mountain and displayed before him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, promising, “All these will I bestow on you if you prostrate yourself in homage before me.” At this, Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan!

Scripture has it:

"You shall do homage to the Lord your God; him alone shall you adore.’” At that the devil left him, and angels came and waited on him.

All: Thanks be to God!

SHARED HOMILY: Steve will lead in and read the starter questions.

It is worth noting subtle differences between the three Synoptic Gospels regarding Jesus going to the desert where he was tempted by Satan. Matthew and Luke had Mark’s text in front of them as a template when they were writing their Gospels around 75 AD. Mark’s Gospel, thought to be the first written around 65AD was the earliest of the Gospels.

In today’s Gospel, Matthew states, “Jesus was led into the desert by Spirit to be tempted by the devil.” Luke writes, “Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, then returned from the Jordon and was conducted by the Spirit into the desert …”In Mark’s Gospel he says, “At that point Jesus was sent out toward the desert.” Noting the Spirit is almost pushing Jesus towards the desert. Where Matthew and Luke provide great detail about Jesus’s desert experience and temptations,Mark provides almost none.

How about you this Lent? Are you being led by the Spirit, or sent by the Spirit? Is the Spirit leading you or pushing you?

Let us Stand: (for those who can)

All: THE TIRECHAN’S CREED

Our God is the God of all humans,

The God of heaven and Earth,

The God of the sea and rivers,

The God of the sun and moon, The God of all the heavenly bodies, The God of the lofty mountains, The God of the lowly valleys.

God is above the heavens;

And beneath the heavens.

Heaven and Earth and sea,

And everything that is in them, Such he has as his abode.

God inspires all things, gives life to all things, stands above all things,

And stands beneath all things.

God enlightens the light of the sun, strengthens the light of the night and the stars, makes wells in the arid land and dry islands in the sea,

And places the stars in the service of the greater lights.

God has a Son who is co-eternal with himself;

And similar in all respects to himself;

And neither is the Son younger than the Father, Nor is the Father older than the Son; And the Holy Spirit breathes in them.

And the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable.

Amen From The

Patrician Texts from the Book of Armagh, 670 AD.

THE PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL

What do you bring to the table tonight, what do you want to pray for!

OFFERTORY SONG: On Eagles Wings written by Michael Jonas David: https://youtu.be/MvpjxfWrjzY

Bring up our Offertory Gifts as song is playing

EUCHARISTIC PRAYER:

Pat:

O God, we pray you, open wide your arms and surrender now to us the Holy Spirit, poured out upon these gifts of bread and wine, that they may become for us the Body of Christ broken for the world, and the Blood of Christ poured out for the many.

BLESSING OF THE BREAD AND WINE:

Pat: On the night before He died, Jesus came to the table with His friends. He took bread into his hands, and giving thanks to you, O God of Creation; he said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his beloved, saying:

All: “Take this, All of you, and Eat it, For This is my Body, which will be given up for you.”

Steve:

When supper was ended, taking also the cup of wine into his hands, and again giving thanks to you, O God of Redemption, he said the blessing and gave the cup to his beloved, saying:

All:

Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of our failings. Do this in memory of me.

Steve: Let us proclaim the Mystery of Faith

ALL: For, it is “Through You Creator, With You Jesus , and In You O Spirit,

In Unity with the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory are yours, forever and ever. Amen!

Pat: Now together, as one community, we offer to you O Creator, our prayer, received from our brother Jesus:

Our Mother, Our Father, holy and blessed is your true name.

We pray for your reign of peace to come. We pray that your good will be done.

Let heaven and earth become one. Give us this day the bread we need.

Give it to those who have none.

Let forgiveness flow like a river between us, from each one to each one. Lead us to holy innocence beyond the evil of our days.

Come swiftly Mother, Father, come.

For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy: Forever your name is All in One.

Steve: The Kiss of Peace:

Now offer a gesture of peace to those near to you in our beloved Emmaus community. Invitation to Eucharist:

Pat:

Everyone is welcome to this table. Our God, whom the universe cannot contain is present in this bread. Our God, who redeems us and calls each of us by name, Beloved, meets us in this cup.

COMMUNION SONG: The Deer’s Cry or St. Patrick’s Breastplate the Patrician Brothers David: https://youtu.be/GGHWiAGpIP0 play during communion

CLOSING BLESSING: from John O’Donohue - Blessing of the Space Between Us

Steve:

As far as you can, hold your confidence.

Do not allow your confusion to squander.

This call which is loosening Your roots in false ground, That you might come free From all you have outgrown. What is being transfigured here is your mind, And it is difficult and slow to become new.

The more faithfully you can endure here, The more refined your heart will become For your arrival in the new dawn.

Pat:

And the people of this Beloved Emmaus Community say:

All: AMEN!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

- Upcoming Retreat

- Beth's Celebration of Life

- NETWORK

- Ukraine update

- Tithing Update

Beth Jordan’s memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, March 18th at Glaser Center at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Rosa.

The address is 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401

The Sanctuary has been reserved for the Memorial starting at 2pm. Beth’s sister. There will be a catered reception after the service in the style of high tea.

From Alice about the upcoming performance of the American Classic Play, A Raisin in the Sun. We are holding 10 tickets for you for the performance on Friday, March 17 at 7:30pm. The tickets are $35.10 each which includes the 10% Group Discount. plus the $2.95 facility fee; makes the total per ticket $38.05. (Note: the regular price is $39 per ticket plus the $2.95 fee for a total of $41.95). Here is the webpage for more information about the show: 6thstreetplayhouse.com/shows/2022-23/a-raisin-in-the-sun/ Link to Emmaus Liturgy for January 22, 2023

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dlC0vC8ZXBrk_KVUGxkGyasGjKo6MHOT/view?usp=sharing