Day 818 Sunday, June 12, 2022

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Emmaus Intentional Community Order of Service

For the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity June 12, 2022

Download the Liturgy in WORD and PDF formats:

Victoria: Welcome and Introduction of Theme: Unlocking the Power of Three

Although distress and grief are inevitable in life, they don’t have to define our lives. Our world is full of opposites but some theologians and mystics are showing us that there is a new way of looking at the world…a new way of looking at the Trinity … and a new way of looking at our lives that might just free us to see our world and our lives in a new way.

And now let us begin our liturgy with the ringing of our singing bowl and then our Opening Song:

Opening Song: There is a Longing in Our Hearts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygDMBgaTJQ0

Marcie: Opening Prayer:

Help us O God to stay alert so that we

Can recognize other ways to deal with difficulties in our lives and

In the world.

Our prayer this evening is that

We don’t stay stuck in polarized thinking

Or submit to despair that there is no other way

Out of our heartaches and miseries of our world.

Be with us O God and help us recognize your presence

right here with us … and in us … this night and always.

Amen.

Dan Vrooman: First Reading:

(The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three by Cynthia Bourgeault)

When we look at the Trinity from a metaphysical standpoint rather than simply a theological standpoint, it’s not so much about persons in a relationship as it is about a process by which the world is constructed and maintained.

The vast majority of the world’s metaphysical systems are binary. They work on the principle of paired, equal opposites. We see great archetypal polarities that are somehow held in balance: male/female, dark/light, conscious/unconscious, good/ evil, action/being. Our dualistic minds feel comfortable in that kind of binary swing. Binary systems prefer symmetry and come to resolution in stasis or stillness.

Ternary systems have three independent forces coming together to form

something new, a fourth thing. Perhaps the simplest example is a braid. You need at least three sections of hair for a braid to hold; the braid is then a new creation. The interweaving of three-ness results in something that didn’t exist before.

It is not just swinging back and forth between two old things that were already there, but a drive into a brand new direction.

While a binary system is by nature stable and symmetrical, a ternary system is asymmetrical and innovative. Unlike a pendulum, it cannot come to equilibrium within its own orbit; it seeks stability on a new plane, through a resolution that is at the same time a new arising. It corkscrews its way through time, matter, or form— whatever plane is at hand.

We stand in the middle, neither taking the world on from another power position nor denying it for fear of the pain it will bring. We hold the hardness of reality and the suffering of the world until it transforms us. Knowing that we are both complicit in evil and can participate in wholeness and holiness. Once we can stand in that third spacious way, neither directly fighting or fleeing, we are in the place of grace out of which newness can come. This is where creativity and new forms of life and healing emerge.

The Law of Three shows how the dynamic combination of three forces gives rise to a fourth, in an entirely new dimension. This is exactly what author, Cynthia Bourgeault, proposes lies hidden at the heart of our traditional doctrine of the Trinity.

Pat O”Connor: Responsorial Psalm: (from Psalm 8)

Response: O God, how wonderful is your name in all the earth.

Look, I am doing something new,

Now it emerges; can you not see it? (Isaiah 43: 19)

Response: O God , how wonderful is your name in all the earth.

Though one can be overpowered,

two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not easily broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Response: O God , how wonderful is your name in all the earth.

So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see…everything is new.

(2 Corinthians 5: 17)

Response: O God , how wonderful is your name in all the earth.

Play Video: The Law of Three and the Trinity by Cynthia Bourgeault

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

Jim Keck: Gospel Reading:

Jesus said to his disciples:

"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,

he will guide you to all truth.

He will not speak on his own,

but he will speak what he hears,

and will declare to you the things that are coming.

He will glorify me,

because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

Everything that the Father has is mine;

for this reason, I told you that he will take from what is mine

and declare it to you."

Marcie: Shared Homily:

When Victoria and I asked each other when we have noticed the power of three at work, or was needed to break an impasse, we each thought of examples of divorce. Since my story is recent and very stressful I’ll share it briefly.

(Then Victoria will share her example, and invite our dialogue with this homily starter:

• When have you experienced a situation that seemed so polarized that you or someone else responded by digging in their heels to defend their position? But then, later, found another solution by looking at things differently? How do you think that happened?

Victoria: What is it that we bring to the table tonight?:

Eucharistic Prayer:

Victoria: Holy One, we gather together and come to you tonight worn down by so many months of physical isolation from our community and our loved ones, by the deeper awareness of the systemic racial inequities in our governing structures, by political strife and polarization, and by the loss of so many dear members of our Emmaus community. Hold us close to your heart, O God, that we might find strength and courage to persevere in love and hope.

Marcie: On the night before he died, Jesus was at table with his friends. He took bread, gave thanks to you, broke it, and gave it to his friends saying,

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

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

All: “This cup is the new covenant of my lifeblood shed for you and for all. And as often as you do this, You do this in memory of me.”

Acclamation:

All: (spoken not sung)

We remember how you loved us all your life.

And we still celebrate for you are with us here.

And we believe that we will see you.

When you come, when you come again!

We remember! We celebrate! We Believe!

Victoria: Now gathered at your table, we offer to you our gifts of bread and wine, and ourselves, a living sacrifice.

Pour out your Spirit upon all these gifts that they, and we, may be the Body and Blood of Christ.

Breathe your Spirit over the whole earth and make us your new creation.

Marcie: In the fullness of time bring us with all your saints from every tribe and language, from every people and nation to feast at the banquet prepared from the foundation of the world.

Victoria: (Holding up the bread and wine)

For it is through him, with him and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, O Gracious God, now and forever. Amen

Marcie: Now together, as one community, we offer to you O God,

our prayer, in the name of your beloved son and 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.

Offering Our Gift of Peace:

Marcie: Let us offer to one another a sign of our peace and love.

Victoria: Invitation to Communion:

Everyone is welcome to this table.

Our God, whom the universe cannot contain

is present to us in this bread.

Our God, who redeems us

and calls us by name,

now meets us in this cup.

So, come, Beloved Friends,

and take this bread,

Drink this wine,

In them, God comes to us,

so that we may come to God.

We invite everyone now to partake of this communion we share while we listen to our Communion Song.

Communion Song: The Majesty and Glory of Your Name (by the Festival Choir, Pasadena California)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfaQ8qoCUaA

Marcie: Closing Blessing:

We awaken in Christ’s body

As Christ awakens our bodies,

And my poor hand is Christ. He enters

My foot, and is infinitely me.

I move my hand, and wonderfully

My hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him

(For God is indivisibly

Whole, seamless in his Godhood).

I move my foot, and at once

He appears like a flash of lightning.

Do my words seem blasphemous? — Then

Open your heart to Him

And let yourself receive the one

Who is opening to you so deeply.

For if we genuinely love Him,

We wake up inside Christ’s body

Where all our body, all over

Every most hidden part of it,

Is realized in joy as Him,

and He makes us utterly real,

And everything that is hurt, everything

That seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,

Maimed, ugly, irreparably

Damaged, is in Him transformed

And recognized as whole, as lovely,

And radiant in His light.

We awaken as the Beloved

In every part of our body.

And the good people of this, our beloved Emmaus Community, say: Amen! Amen!

David: Announcements