Sunday October 8, 2023: Our Community Celebration begins with welcoming at 3:45
We meet in Person and on ZOOM:
We meet as a community on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month. We gather at 3:45 pm. Our celebration begins at 4:00 pm. followed by an amazing potluck. All are welcome!
In Person: We meet at
Knox Presbyterian & Thanksgiving Lutheran Churches
1650 W. Third St.
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573
Passcode: 1234
or use the Meeting ID: 519 315 8573
Passcode: 1234
Phone in using One tap mobile +16699006833,,5193158573# US (San Jose)
Emmaus Liturgy for October 8, 2023
Introduction (Enid)
Wednesday, October 4th was an important day this week. Besides marking the opening of the Synod, it was the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi as well as the ending of the ecumenical Season of Creation that began on September 1 and the release of an Apostolic Exhortation on Climate Change by Pope Francis.
Jim introduced our last liturgy by mentioning catastrophic climate changes we see on a daily basis, and JoAnn opened with a prayer showing our connections with all of nature. Today we will continue to focus on nature – both the challenges of climate change and the joy in nature St. Francis expressed.
(Point out items on altar – St. Francis plaque, flowers, leaves, etc.)
Let’s begin now with our opening song based on the Canticle of the Sun by St. Francis
Opening Song – Canticle of the Sun
Litany of Repentance
(Steve) God of light, life and love, God of land, and sea, and sky, Who called creation into existence and wove it into a rich tapestry, a fine mat, a web of life.
(John) Your Spirit hovered over the face of the primordial waters And was breathed into humankind after You made us equally in Your image. Your Word was made flesh and embodied Your divine love as it took root and bore fruit in us, restoring our relationship with You.
(Steve) Yet we have not honored this relationship with You and the rest of Your Creation. We have disrespected the web of life We have devalued the fine ecological mat that You wove with so much love We have uprooted Your tree of life and sold it as logs. We have forgotten that we sweat and cry saltwater and have polluted Your oceans and rivers... oceans that cry for justice and rivers that call to righteousness.
(John) Instead of everything that has breath praising You, all creation groans in pain as trees and phytoplankton choke on carbon belched from our desire for more, and our care for less. All around we see the consequences of our ecological sin as we extract and exploit, as we defile and pillage our sister and brother creation: Heatwaves and wildfires Bitter winters Droughts and floods Rising sea levels and rising ocean temperatures More extreme cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes
(Steve Yet we are blind Creation roars in pain Yet we are deaf You call us in Christ, to speak truth to power and peace to this planet, our common home Yet we are silent.
(John) God of hope and healing May your Rivers of Righteousness Wash away our apathy, our greed and selfishness and reveal the deep relationships You created for us with all creation. Nourish us with the water of life that restores, turning deserts of despair into oases of hope.
(Steve) May the waves of Your embrace Transform us back into guardians of Your creation. May the currents of Your justice Carry us to Your lagoon of peace Where all creation may enjoy Life in abundance.
(John) We pray in the name of the one who came so that the whole cosmos may have everlasting life, Jesus the Christ, Amen.
(Rev. James Shri Bhagwan, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches, Ecumenical Prayer Service for the Season of Creation)
First Reading
Mindful – Mary Oliver
Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light. It was what I was born for – to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world – to instruct myself over and over in joy and acclamation.
Second Reading (Jacqueline)
An excerpt from the Apostolic Exhortation on Climate Change – Pope Francis, October 4, 2023"
I ask everyone to accompany this pilgrimage of reconciliation with the world that is our home and to help make it more beautiful, because that commitment has to do with our personal dignity and highest values. At the same time, I cannot deny that it is necessary to be honest and recognize that the most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone, but nonetheless, every little bit helps, and avoiding an increase of a tenth of a degree in the global temperature would already suffice to alleviate some suffering for many people. Yet what is important is something less quantitative: the need to realize that there are no lasting changes without cultural changes, without a maturing of lifestyles and convictions within societies, and there are no cultural changes without personal changes.
Body Blessing of the Earth (Denise)
Shared Homily
(Enid) Today we will begin our shared homily with an Ecological Examen which will give each of us an opportunity to silently reflect on our relationship with all of creation. After our reflection time, you can share any thoughts you would like with everyone.
Ecological Examen
1. I give thanks to God for creation and for being wonderfully made.
Where did I feel God’s presence in creation today? Reflect.
2. I ask for the grace to see creation as God does – in all its splendor and suffering. Do I see the beauty of creation and hear the cries of the earth and the poor? Reflect.
3. I ask for the grace to look closely to see how my life choices impact creation and the poor and vulnerable. What challenges or joys do I experience as I recall my care for creation? How can I turn away from a throwaway culture and instead stand in solidarity with creation and the poor? Reflect.
Open for discussion.
Prayers of the Faithful
(Denise) What do you bring to the table? (use hand gestures)
Eucharistic Prayer
(Enid) We gather at this table as disciples of Christ with loving hearts. We feel anointed by God to care for all of creation. We pray for wisdom to understand what we each can do and the determination to carry out our plans.
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.”
(Denise) 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 celebration of my life offered for you and for all.
And as often as you do this, you do this in memory of me.”
(Enid) 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.
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.
Our Father
All: 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 is heaven: The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your communion 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
Jim Cotter, The Prayer Book of the Anglican Church of New Zealand
Sign of Peace (Denise)
Let us now offer a sign of peace to those around us.
Communion
(Enid) 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.
Birthday Blessing (Enid)
This month we have 5 birthdays in our community including David’s which is today. The other birthdays are Dan Vrooman, Denise, John, and Cathy. The people with October birthdays will come to the center. The rest of us will surround them as we bless them for their birthdays.
Blessed be the mind that dreamed the day The blueprint of your life Would begin to glow on earth, Illuminating all the faces and voices That would arrive to invite Your soul to growth.
Blessed be the gifts you never notice, Your health, eyes to behold the world, Thoughts to countenance the unknown, Memory to harvest vanished days, Your heart to feel the world’s waves, Your breath to breathe the nourishment Of distance made intimate by earth.
On this echoing-month of your birth, May you open the gift of solitude In order to receive your soul; Enter the generosity of silence To hear your hidden heart, Know the serenity of stillness To be enfolded anew By the miracle of your being.
John O’Donohue
Announcements
Closing Song
(Hold up the Dancing St. Francis plaque.) We’ve focused on both challenges and joys today. Let’s end our celebration in joy with the song Lord of the Dance. Feel free to move with the music, clap your hands, or get up and dance.
Lord of the Dance
I danced in the morning when the world was begun, And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun, And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth: At Bethlehem I had my birth.
Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the dance, said he, And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I'll lead you all in the dance, said he.
I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame: The holy people said it was a shame. They whipped and they stripped and they hung me on high, And they left me there on a hill to die:
Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the dance, said he, And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I'll lead you all in the dance, said he.
I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black; It's hard to dance with the devil on your back. They buried my body and they thought I'd gone; But I am the dance, and I still go on:
Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the dance, said he, And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I'll lead you all in the dance, said he.
They cut me down and I leapt up high; I am the life that'll never, never die. I'll live in you if you'll live in me: I am the Lord of the dance, said he.
Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the dance, said he, And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I’ll lead you all in the dance said he.