Day 608 Saturday, November 13, 2021

Thanksgiving, Gratitude and Gratefulness!

Emmaus Liturgy for Tomorrow - November 14, 2021

Use this ZOOM link tomorrow, Sunday, November 14, 2021

Start Time: 4:45

Join Zoom Meeting

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

Passcode: 1234

Meeting ID: 519 315 8573

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,5193158573# US (San Jose)

We begin with ANNOUNCMENTS:

Steve: Welcome

David: Opening Prayer:

Video: Lakota - Four Directions Prayer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc7TJfSELl8

East:

Creator, it is I, thank you for today’s sunrise,

for the breath and life within me,

and for all of your creation.

Creator, hear my prayer,

and honor my prayer.

As the day begins with the rising sun,

I ask, Spirit keeper of the East, Brother Eagle,

Be with me.

Fly high as you carry my prayers to the Creator.

May I have eyes as sharp as yours. So I am able

to see truth and hope on the path I have chosen.

Guide my step and give me courage to walk

the circle of my life with honesty and dignity.

South:

Spirit, keeper of the South.

Wolf, be with me. Help me to remember to love and

feel compassion for all mankind. (sic) person-kind.

Help me to walk my path with joy and love for myself,

or others, for the four legged, the winged ones, the plants and

all creation upon Mother Earth.

Show me it is right to make decisions with my heart, even

if at times, my heart becomes hurt.

Help me to grow and nurture my self worth in all ways.

West:

Spirit keeper of the West, Brown Bear,

Be with me.

Bring healing to the people I love and to myself.

Bring into balance the physical, mental and spiritual,

so I am able to know my place on this earth, in life and in death.

Heal my body, heal my mind

and bring light, joy and awareness to my spirit.

North:

Spirit keeper of the North, White Buffalo,

Be with me.

As each day passes, help me to surrender, with grace,

the things of my youth.

Help me to listen to the quiet and find

serenity and comfort in the silences as they

become longer.

Give me wisdom so I am able to make

wise choices in all things which

are put in front of me.

And when time for my change of worlds has come.

Let me go peacefully, without regrets, for the things I neglected to do

as I walked along my path.

Mother Earth, thank you for your beauty

and all you have given me.

Remind me never to take from you more than I need,

and remind me to always Give Back more than I take.

Steve: Introduction

Today’s liturgy encompasses both the season of Thanksgiving and American Indian Heritage Month which takes place in November each year. Just as there is mis-representation of Critical Race Theory that exposes the truth about slavery, reconstruction and Jim Crow attitudes, the truth about the romanticized version of the pilgrims and the Native Americans first Thanksgiving near Plymouth Rock needs to be revealed and clarified in a truthful way. Our first reading will be a Video that presents the history of what the Pilgrims on the Mayflower found when they landed on the North American continent. This video presents the Native American perspective about that period of history.

At the same time, Thanksgiving is a time we are called to be grateful and appreciative of all we have.

Benedictine monk, Br. David Steindl-Rast, suggests that two qualities belong in our basic definition of gratitude. The first is appreciation: You recognize that something is valuable to you, which has nothing to do with its monetary worth. The second quality is that gratitude is gratis: freely given to you.

Psychologist Robert Emmons, perhaps the leading scientific expert on gratitude also argues that gratitude has two key components: affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received. Second, we recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. We acknowledge that other people…gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.” And I will add God.

Angeles Ariens writes, “Gratitude is essentially the recognition of the unearned increments of value in one’s experience. She goes on to say: “Gratitude is a feeling that spontaneously emerges from within. However, it is not simply an emotional response; it is also a choice we can make. We can choose to be grateful, or we can choose to be ungrateful—to take our gifts and blessings for granted. As a choice, gratitude is an attitude or disposition.”

Again, David Steindl-Rast says, “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy—because we will always want to have something else or something more.”

Our second reading will be a video of Joanna Macy teaching about Gratitude in one of her workshops on “The Work that Reconnects.”

FIRST READING:

David: Video: The Myth of Thanksgiving: Native American Perspectives on The Pilgrims | Past Forward

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bs1WDDcMWQ

run from 9:30 to 16:30

All: Thanks be to the Great Spirit

(A historically correct painting of the first Thanksgiving)

Steve: RESPONSORIAL VERSE:

The hour is striking so close above us,

so clear and sharp that all our senses ring with it.

I feel it now, the power in us,

to grasp and give shape to our world.

I know that nothing has ever been real

without my beholding it.

And now the world comes toward me,

to meet me and be met.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

THE SECOND READING:

David: Video: Gratitude as a Revolutionary Act - The Work That Reconnects

with Joanna Macy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FuL-ZhpsU

All: Let us be thankful for all that we have, especially all our relations.

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

Steve: What do we bring to the table this evening? What do you want to pray for?

Our Eucharistic Prayers:

Steve: Today’s Eucharistic Prayers are derived from the First Nations traditional teachings litany. The values summarized in this litany are considered to be the most important teachings to all nations. It is wisdom to be followed in relationships between individuals, family and the community. They are the Traditional First Nations Code of Ethics.

Dan: We give thanks to the Creator each morning upon rising and each evening before sleeping. We seek the courage and strength to be a better person.

All: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.

Steve: Showing respect is a basic law of life.

All: Show proper respect to everyone, love your fellow believers, love God.

Dan: Be truthful at all times.

All: These are the things you should do: Speak the truth to one another. In the courts give real justice-the kind that brings peace.

Steve: Always treat your guests with honor and consideration.

All: In everything you do to others as you would have them do to you.

Dan: The hurt of one is the hurt of all. The honor of one is the honor of all.

All: Do nothing from selfishness or empty council, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself or herself.

Steve: Receive strangers and outsiders kindly.

All: For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

Dan: All races are children of the Creator and must be respected.

All: “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to these that the kingdom of God belongs.”

Steve: To serve others – to be of some use to family, community or nation is one of the purposes for which people draw breath on this side.

All: Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”

Dan: Observe moderation and balance in all things.

All: Someone will say, “I am allowed to do anything.” Yes; but not everything is good for you. I could say that I am allowed to do anything, but I am not going to let anything make me its slave.

Steve: Know and practice those things that flow from wellness, and avoid those that flow from woundedness.

All: Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.

Dan: Expect guidance to come in many forms – in prayer – in dreams – in solitude and in the words and actions of Elders and true friends.

All: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him/(Her), And He/She will make your paths straight.”

Written by Shannon Perez, Dene

Canadian Aboriginal Ministry Committee member

CONSECRATION:

Dan: On the night before He died, Jesus was at table with His friends, He took bread, he gave thanks to You, broke it, gave it to his friends and said,

All: “This is my body, broken for you.”

Steve: As supper was ending, Jesus took the cup of wine. Again he gave thanks to the Creator, gave it to his friends and said, This is the cup of my love for you and for all. And as often as you do this, do this to remember me.

Dan: Let us proclaim the Mystery of Our Faith

For, it is “Through You, With You, and In You,

In Unity with you O Great Spirit,

all glory and honor is yours Forever and Ever.

All: Amen

Steve: Now together, as one community, we offer to you, O Creator,

our prayer, received from our brother Jesus:

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom are the heavens:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain

our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For You reign in the glory of the power that is love,

now and forever. Amen.

(The Lord’s Prayer - The New Zealand Prayer Book)

The Kiss of Peace:

Dan: Now give a gesture of peace to all those in our beloved Emmaus community.

Invitation to Eucharist:

Steve: So through this Eucharist, and in the spirit of our Beloved Community, we extend the invitation of Jesus to each and everyone of you to take and eat this bread, and drink from this cup. Let us come to this table, this is the table of Risen Christ, where all are welcome.

COMMUNION:

David: COMMUNION SONG: Lakota Lullaby—Lakota Chant version by Alexis Evellyn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSXIVhe_esM

David: POST COMMUNION REFLECTION:

Video: The Water Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC2FHciQ0sU

Steve: THE CLOSING PRAYER:

The Last Sonnet to Orpheus:

Quiet friend who has come so far,

feel how your breathing makes more space around you.

Let this darkness be a bell-tower and you the bell.

And as you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.

Move back and forth into the change.

What is it like, such intensity of pain?

If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,

be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,

the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,

say to the silent earth: I flow.

To the rushing water, speak I am.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

Steve: And this Beloved Emmaus Community says:

All: AMEN