Day 846: Let's celebrate today - Sunday July 10, 2022

Join Zoom Meeting at 4:45PM

Please use this link to join us:

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

Passcode: 1234

Meeting ID: 519 315 8573

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,5193158573# US (San Jose)

+16694449171,,5193158573# US

Files for downloading in WORD and PDF Formats

Emmaus Intentional Faith Community ANNOUNCEMENT

for

Sunday, July 10, 2022 Liturgy

The lectionary Gospel reading for this coming Sunday, is an all too familiar gospel story know so well to many of us… the story of The Good Samaritan. This story has become not only a roadmap for faithful activism, but part of our everyday common cultural parlance, “Oh, she’s such a Good Samaritan!”

And because the term, a “Good Samaritan” has been so widely used, it may just offer us new ways to see this familiar Gospel story from a variety of angles and to be gifted (hopefully) with some creative new perspectives.

Case in point, as you all have probably heard or read in our Emmaus Blog Daily

Reflection, yesterday Sr. Simone Campbell was one of 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, “presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace, or other societal, public or private endeavors.”

And last night, Sr. Simone Campbell was interviewed on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, who asked her, what we too might do to respond to the current cultural woes and woundedness of our world. Without hesitation, Sr. Simone said two words: “Listen and Respond”. She went on: “Get quiet enough so that you can really hear and listen to the many needs around you…and then find ways that you can respond to those needs.”

This Sunday, July 10th, we’ll do just that. We’ll get quiet…we’ll take time to listen, really listen, to the needs that we see, hear, and feel around us, and just as importantly, within us, and discuss ways that we as a community can respond.

And, as county COVID cases rise again, we will continue to meet over Zoom. And though we are coming from our separate places, come this Sunday, with the eyes and ears of “the needs that surround you” and are also “within you,” so that from this greater circumference, we as a community can offer our collective response.

Come…so that we can Listen and Respond…together.

The Liturgy for Sunday July 10, 2022

Victoria: Welcome and Introduction of our theme (Victoria will welcome all and

provide brief introduction of our theme for tonight’s liturgy)

And now let us begin our liturgy. (Ring singing bowl three times)

Victoria: Opening Prayer: (Where The light Begins by Jan Richardson based on: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:5)

Where The light Begins

Perhaps it does not begin. Perhaps it is always.

Perhaps it takes a lifetime to open our eyes, to learn to see what has forever shimmered in front of us—- the luminous line of the map in the dark, the vigil flame in the house of the heart, the love so searing we cannot keep from singing from crying out in testimony and praise.

Perhaps this day will be the mountain over which

the dawn breaks.

Perhaps we will turn our face toward it, toward what has been always.

Perhaps our eyes will finally open in ancient recognition, willingly dazzled, illuminated at last.

Perhaps this day the light begins In us.

Opening Song: Let your light shine -- Jesse Colin Young

_______: First Reading: (from Mapping the Parable of the Good Samaritan by Alex

Fogleman)

There is, it seems, quite a difference between identifying myself first with the half-dead man versus the good Samaritan. When I see myself as the good Samaritan, I take the place of moral superiority—dispensing or withholding charity as I please. It’s up to me to give to those in need, but I may not. The truth is, however, that I am the one lying “half dead,” whether I know it or not. My only chance at charity is to be flung onto the back of the beast—to believe in the incarnation—and to be carted off to the inn where I can find the healing medicine of the sacraments.

This reading of the parable calls us to a no less demanding ethic: to love and show compassion to our neighbor, no matter the person, no matter the cost. But this act of mercy is situated within a richer theological topography. It is not the charity of the moral do-gooder that corrodes into smug self-righteousness or the privileged bestower of useful goods and services that hardens into human-resources quotas. Rather, this is the charity of those who give what has first been received from the infinite mercies of Christ.

This is the mercy of those who have been shown mercy. Compassion flows not from self-sufficient pride but a graced participation in the compassion of Christ, the good Samaritan—the true neighbor. In this map, at last, we can know where we are and where we are going.

The allegory of the good Samaritan is not just a fanciful reading but a considered reflection on the “roadmap” that offers us both memory and direction. It provides an orientation in the world that, while recognizing the shadows, gives sight of the true light. We are not at the center of this world but at the margins, attendant to Christ, whom we find there. In recognizing our de-centeredness… our own poverty, we find that we are co-sharers in the suffering of our fellows and of Christ. Here, we may begin to find our way again, on the road back to Jerusalem, in the company of a great cloud of neighbors.

_________: Responsorial Psalm: Neighbors (by James Crews)

Where I’m from, people still wave to each other, and if someone doesn’t, you might say of her, She wouldn’t wave at you to save her life—

but you try anyway, give her a smile. This is just one of the many ways we take care of one another, say: I see you, I feel you, I know you are real. I wave

to Rick who picks up litter while walking his black labs, Olive and Basil— hauling donut boxes, cigarette packs and countless beer cans out of the brush

beside the road. And I say hello to Christy, who leaves almond croissants in our mailbox and mason jars of fresh- pressed apple cider on our side porch.

I stop to check in on my mother-in-law— more like a second mother—who buys us toothpaste when it’s on sale, and calls if an unfamiliar car is parked at our house.

We are going to have to return to this way of life, this giving without expectation, this loving without conditions. We need to stand eye to eye again, and keep asking—

no matter how busy—How are you, how’s your wife, how’s your knee?, making this talk we insist on calling small, though kindness is what keeps us alive.

Song: Kyrie Eleison (Ed has song on file to play) _________:

Gospel Reading:

Luke 10:25-37

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law?

What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” Shared Homily: (Victoria will offer a brief homily starter followed by questions:)

• What does it mean to you to love your neighbor as yourself?

• Who are the wounded around us…and who is the wounded person within you?

• As Sr. Simone Campbell has offered, what needs around you have you detected from your quiet listening, and how might you, and we as a community, respond?

_________: What is it that we bring to the table tonight:

Eucharistic Prayer:

__________: 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, financial and societal 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.

___________: 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.”

___________: 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.”

__________: Now gathered at your table, we offer to you our gifts of bread and wine, and ourselves, as living offerings of your love. Pour out your Spirit upon all these gifts, and all of us, that we may be Your Living Body, Your Lifeblood.

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

Acclamation:

__________: (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!

___________: 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.

___________: ( 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

___________: 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:

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

You are invited now to partake in our communion.

____________: Post Communion Meditation (in place of Communion Song)

Imagining (by Deborah Rodney)

What if God isnʼt a noun to be empowered and worshiped but a verb of creation powered by love?

What if every single tree drawn in primary school is a sacred work of art worthy of joyful notice?

What if our lives are built on a web of kindness, a net, which holds everything living.

What if the rocks are alive singing strength and courage;

vibrating from our feet right up to our heart?

What if we loved ourselves as deeply as the mountain who, caressed by water, surrenders herself into sand?

What if our most loved, intra-national pastime is a game of entertainment where we all win?

What if no one aspired to be a millionaire and money no longer had power but was simply a means of tender-ness.

What if transforming our world by imagining it can actually make it happen?

__________: Closing Blessing: (by Maria Shriver)

So, as this week comes to its end and a new one arrives, may your beautiful mind and tender heart lift you above the noise and the hate. May you quiet yourself

and allow the beauty your mind can envision to be your guide moving forward. May the love in your heart that you were born with keep your faith in the possibilities of humanity.

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

Closing Song: Spirit I Am (Ed has song on file to play)