Day 418 Saturday May 8th 2021:

Blessed be the people we carry in our blood,

blessed be the places we carry in our bones.

May our living make a way for those who come after:

a path of blessing, a path of beauty.

It's Saturday, May 8th 2021:

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Emmaus Liturgy for May 9, 2021 – Mother’s Day

On this Mother’s Day we remember Mary, mother of us all, and our own mothers and those of us who are mothers ourselves. May is the traditional month of Mary and it is easy to see why with the bursting forth of new life in the trees, flowers, barnyard animals. It is she who gave new life to us in the form of her son and also in her example of how we are to love each other unconditionally, in joy and in sorrow, in acceptance, in peace.

Our own mother is our first and oldest way of knowing the world. It is through our mother’s body that we are born, in her arms that we are first cradled, from her breasts that we are first nourished. In pre-Christian days there were many fertility goddesses prayed to for new life in the form of crops, animals, babies and connected to our mother earth. It wasn’t until a few hundred years had gone by of our Christian religion that the trinity was established as solely male – Father, Son and Holy Spirit with a slight bit of a nod to the feminine in the Holy Spirit.

(Sophia)

The old ways of the Shekinah, (the feminine presence of God referred to in classical Jewish texts), Sophia (wisdom), and Ruach (breath of God) were replaced by the masculine images of God as creator and judge, savior and inspiration. Why wouldn’t the creator be seen as feminine? Because that would mean a loss of masculine power, but in our modern world it seems that we have lived with the father archetype for too long. In the twentieth century, Carl Jung said that Mary is necessary to Christianity as the feminine principle of God.

(Shekinah, the divine as Mother)

Today, let us remember and be open to the Shekinah, the divine as Mother, and as we do this let us remember our own mothers and the ways in which we ourselves mother those in our personal lives and in the greater world around us.

Something to think about: Who are you from? How have your mother, grandmothers, aunts, shaped you into who you are today? Who holds your roots? Who has carved your path? How does your past help you find the path ahead?

Having reflected on our individual pasts, we will share in our dialogue homily who we hope to be to our unborn great-grandchildren, whether they are biologically ours or are the unborn future generations to come.

1. Opening Prayer – Joan Chittister

Dear God, creator of women in your own image,

born of a woman during a world where women hold up half the sky,

carried by women to mission fields around the globe,

made known by women to all the children of the earth,

give to the women of our time

the strength to persevere,

the courage to speak out,

the faith to see the humanity of each person beyond

all systems and institutions

so that your face on earth may be seen in all its beauty,

so that men and women become whole,

so that the community of faithful may be converted in love,

lifted in the will to persist and to share that love to all.

In everything and in all ways.

Amen.

2. First Reading: Before Jesus Was His Mother – Reverend Alla Renee Bozarth

Before supper

in the upper room,

breakfast in the barn.

Before the passion feast

a feeding trough.

And here, the altar

of Earth, fair linens

of hay and seed.

Before His cry,

her cry.

Before his sweat of blood,

her bleeding

and tears.

Before His offering,

hers.

Before the breaking

of bread and death,

the breaking of her body

in birth.

Before the offering

of the cup,

the offering

of her breast.

Before His blood,

her blood.

And by her body and blood,

alone, his body and blood

and whole human being.

The wise ones knelt

to hear the woman’s word

in wonder.

Holding up her sacred child,

her God in the form of a babe,

she said, “Receive and let

your hearts be healed.

and your lives filled

with love, for

This is my body,

This is my blood.”

3. Gospel: Luke 1 and then going into Holy is Your Name (The Magnificat) by John Michael Talbott

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a young woman betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the woman’s name was Mary. And coming to her, the angel said, “Hello Mary, you have found favor with the Holy Spirit because of your kindness, humility and strength. The Spirit is with you.”

But Mary never spoke with strangers, especially one who spoke with such familiarity. She was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. But she was not one to be easily put off and she waited for what would come next. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, we have a request. If you will allow it, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you and you will give birth to a son. This child will be called holy, peace maker, the Son of God, for nothing is impossible for God.” Mary found her voice and said…..(play “Holy is Your Name”).

4. Homily starter: show nesting dolls

Recently, within a week’s time, the image of nesting dolls came to me three times. Once was in a class I was taking on T.S. Eliot, once was in a book by Sue Monk Kidd, and the third time was something Luis said in one of our liturgies. I knew they would show up physically and they did when a friend lent me hers and then when I bought my own set at the Fort Ross gift shop. I think these dolls can represent many things but today I ask you to see them as the generations of mothers who have come before us and given birth to who we are today. If you got a chance to read the announcement in David’s blog I invited you to think about a few things in preparation for this discussion: Who are you from? How have your mother, grandmothers, aunts, shaped you into who you are today? Who holds your roots? Who has carved your path? How does your past help you find the path ahead?

Whether you had a chance to reflect on these questions or not, today I ask you to take a step into your own future. When you imagine your own great-grandchildren, or the unborn generations, to come what kind of ancestor do you want to be to them?

5. What intentions do we bring to our table tonight?

6. Eucharistic Prayers:

Presider: Holy God, you are with us always. You invite us to nurture wise and understanding hearts. Your love, which manifests all things, and is at work in all things, can be touched everywhere. May we embrace every moment of our days with our fellow travelers in love. May we prepare the visible Body of Christ, our Emmaus community, to receive your eternal approach and your loving embrace.

Through our hands, the Spirit prepares a table before us, breaks the bread that tastes of heaven, pours the wine that fills us with life. We share the bread and the wine of this plain meal so that love will be born in our blood, that mercy shall wedge in our flesh, that grace shall be the marrow in our bones, that the Christ within us may be shown in everything we do. For we remember the night Jesus was at the table with his friends, and he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his friends saying:

“This is my body, broken for you.”

As supper was ending, Jesus took the cup of wine. Again he gave thanks, and giving it to his friends said:

“This cup is the New Covenant of my lifeblood, shed for you and for all.

As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me.”

We unite our thoughts and prayers with all who yearn for new life, those who are living and enrich our lives with friendship and love, those who have died and continue to sustain us in the cosmic communion of life. In our daily lives, may we be blessed with wisdom and courage, with vision and resolve, forever committed to God’s reign of justice, love, and peace, faithful to God’s grace all the days of our lives.

“For it is through Him, with Him, in Him

in the Unity of the Holy Spirit

all glory and honor is yours

forever and ever. Amen”

7. Together we offer to you, O God, the prayer your beloved son and our brother, Jesus, gave us:

Heavenly Father, heavenly Mother,

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 and One in All.

8. The Kiss of Peace

Now let us offer each other a sign of Peace. Peace be with you!

9. Invitation to the Eucharist:

Our God, whom the universe cannot contain, is present to us in this bread.

He who redeems us and calls us by name now meets us in this cup.

So, come, take this bread, drink this wine,

In them, God comes to us, so that we may come to God.

10. Closing Prayer/Blessing: Litany of the Mothers

We call on the holy women

who went before us,

channels of Your Word

in testaments old and new,

to intercede for us

so that we might be given the grace

to become what they have been.

Mary, mother of Jesus,

who heard the call of God and answered,

we thank you.

Everyone says the name of his or her mother and grandmothers.

“For Boots, Justine and Mary

We thank you.

For Jane, Beatrice and Sue

We thank you.

Etc.,etc., etc.

Blessed be the people we carry in our blood,

blessed be the places we carry in our bones.

May our living make a way for those who come after:

a path of blessing, a path of beauty.

11. Closing Song:

12. Announcements