Rabbit Rabbit it's October! A welcome to new readers and old ones!

Good Evening Dear Family!

Happy Day of Sabbath Rest! I hope everyone is doing just that! I want to welcome our new readers and a continued welcome for all who are readers of long standing. If this were a physical place where we would meet together, radical hospitality would be practiced. This is a place of sanctuary and safety, a place where the CALM principles are practiced . We are compassionate, accepting loving and merciful and believe strongly that we are one family. We are an Ubuntu family and who honors our baptismal vows of "Striving for justice and respecting the dignity of every human being" We welcome you all with the poem In Lak ' Ech by Luis Valdez:

IN LAK’ECH

Tú eres mi otro yo.
You are my other me.
Si te hago daño a ti,
If I do harm to you,
Me hago daño a mi mismo.
I do harm to myself.
Si te amo y respeto,
If I love and respect you,
Me amo y respeto yo.
I love and respect myself.

Tonight we come together in a welcoming circle of love as one family of God and Love; Let us begin with our "Be Stills and Breathing"


Let us spend 5 minutes listening to mindfulness music so that we may find rest for our weary bodies, minds, and spirits. Be conscious of your breathing as you inhale and exhale.

Adoro Te Devote



Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.


Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.


Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.


Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.


Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.


Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.


Or this format:

Inhale
Exhale
Let there be peace.
Inhale
Exhale

Inhale
Exhale
Peace be still
Inhale
Exhale

Inhale
Exhale
Let there be peace on Earth.
Inhale
Exhale

Inhale 
Exhale
Blessed are the peacemakers
Inhale
Exhale

Inhale
Exhale
May peace prevail upon earth
Inhale
Exhale

Inhale
Exhale
Be Still and Know that I am God
Inhale

Exhale

We light our candles from one central candle representing our oneness and love for one another.

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!" 

I hold holy space for you during this time of prayer, vigil, and meditaion. 

Now place your candle in the bowl with the other candles:

Let us say together the Phos Hilaron:


Light of the World Phos hilaron

Light of the world, in grace and beauty,
Mirror of God’s eternal face,
Transparent flame of love’s free duty,
You bring salvation to our race.
Now, as we see the lights of evening,
We raise our voice in hymns of praise;
Worthy are you of endless blessing,
Sun of our night, lamp of our days.

God, we light our candles tonight and pray that we may become the loving and welcoming family of Love/God. We pray for our family members who haven't received warm welcomes in their lives, families, places of work, and worship. We pray that we may become kind to all of your children at any time of the day or night. We pray that we may encircle all of humanity with a warm prayer quilt of welcome and Compassion, Acceptance, Love, and Mercy. We pray for peace in this fragile and broken world. We pray that we may listen with kind and non judgmental ears as we welcome our new family members who have been strangers to us and now becoming friends. God lead and show us how to be kind, loving, and welcoming in all that we do each and everyday. Help us always to remember that The Light of Christ in Me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you. Amen.


or this vigil prayer

God and Creator of us all we pray and light our candles this night at a time where we are finding ourselves sorely divided one from another by a myriad of circumstances. We pray that we may start to learn from each other and place our egos and the need to be right at the door. We pray that we may use gentle speech and kind actions when we meet someone who differs from us. We pray that we may lovingly enfold them in our arms and extend to them radical hospitality and welcome. We pray that we may continually beat the weaponry of hate into ploughshares and turn the spears of division into pruning hooks and that we may grow into a peace-filled and loving world. We pray this night for all who are enduring any kind of pain that they may be comforted and that we may lovingly respond to their needs. We pray and ask this night for forgiveness of any action or word we have done or spoken this day and that we may turn away and repent of the wrongs we have done. We pray that we may spread God's light of love, peace, and learning to this world and that we may be beacons of hope, joy, love, and peace. We pray that we may follow Jesus and imitate him by being CALM (Compassionate, Accepting, Loving, and Merciful) and show the world that we are carried aloft by the Holy Spirit's Love Energy and that our Hearts and heart homes may be enlarged and that truly we may become one family of God and Love and brothers and sisters one to another. Amen.

Tonight's lessons are a mixture of texts and are not following a lectionary.

134 Ecce nunc

1 Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, *
you that stand by night in the house of the Lord.

2 Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the Lord; *
the Lord who made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion.


Acts 9:36-43

36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas.* She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37 At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, ‘Please come to us without delay.’ 39 So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42 This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.


The Song of Mary Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior, *
for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
and holy is your name.
You have mercy on those who fear you *
from generation to generation.
You have shown strength with your arm *
and scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones *
and lifting up the lowly.
You have filled the hungry with good things *
and sent the rich away empty.
You have come to the help of your servant Israel, *
for you have remembered your promise of mercy,
The promise made to our forebears, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.


Philippians 2:1-13

2If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was* in Christ Jesus, 
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
   did not regard equality with God
   as something to be exploited, 
7 but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave,
   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, 
8   he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death—
   even death on a cross. 


9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
   and gave him the name
   that is above every name, 
10 so that at the name of Jesus
   every knee should bend,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
11 and every tongue should confess
   that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father. 

12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

A Song of Our Adoption
Ephesians 1:3-10

Blessed are you, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, *
for you have blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Before the world was made, you chose us to be yours in Christ, *
that we should be holy and blameless before you.
You destined us for adoption as your children through Jesus Christ, *
according to the good pleasure of your will,
To the praise of your glorious grace, *
that you have freely given us in the Beloved.
In you, we have redemption through the blood of Christ,
the forgiveness of our sins,
According to the riches of your grace *
which you have lavished upon us.
You have made known to us, in all wisdom and insight, *
the mystery of your will,
According to your good pleasure which you set forth in Christ, *
as a plan for the fullness of time,
To gather together all things in Christ, *

things in heaven and things on earth.


Luke 5:1-11

5 Once while Jesus* was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ 5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.


A Song of God’s Love
1 John 4:7-11
Beloved, let us love one another, *
for love is of God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, *
for God is Love.
In this the love of God was revealed among us, *
that God sent his only Son into the world,
so that we might live through Jesus Christ.
In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us *
and sent his Son that sins might be forgiven.
Beloved, since God loved us so much, *
we ought also to love one another.
For if we love one another, God abides in us, *

and God’s love will be perfected in us.


They cast their nets in Galilee

They cast their nets in Galilee
just off the hills of brown;
such happy, simple fisherfolk,
before the Lord came down.


Contented, peaceful fishermen,
before they ever knew
the peace of God that filled their hearts
brimful, and broke them too.


Young John who trimmed 
the flapping sail,
homeless in Patmos died,
Peter, who hauled the teeming net,
head-down was crucified.


The peace of God, it is no peace,
but strife closed in the sod,
Yet let us pray for but one thing—

the marvelous peace of God. 

William Alexander Percy

1924

A Prayer for Hospitality
EVER-LOVING GOD, who having loved us loves us still, help us to hear again your word, “By this shall they know you are my disciples; that you love one another.” Turn our hostility into hospitality and our callousness into care. Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

– Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck

God we thank you for welcoming us into your family.
May we welcome all of our family members and be lovingly welcoming.

God we thank you that we feel your loving presence each day.
May we give all of our family members the gift of our presence.

God we thank you that you for the joy you give us as we welcome new family members with love.
May we give all of our new family members a welcome filled with joy and love.

God we thank you that you are always on the journey with us.
May we hold hands together as we journey on as true family members united in peace, joy, justice, and equality.

God we thank you that you give us sensitive hearts, empowering spirits, and minds to think.
May we have empathy, sympathy, zest, and intelligence to be the beautiful people of God that you created.

God we thank you for opportunities to serve and care for the least of these.

God we thank you for opportunities to care for the caregiver.

God we thank you  for courage to be a voice for the voiceless, to speak truth to power, and to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you .

God we thank you for the tenderness to  care for our family members who are ill and lovingly with compassion shepherd those who are mourning who are going through their grieving process.

God we thank you and pray for___________________

Accept these our prayers in the name of Jesus. Amen.  

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

― Teresa of Ávila

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved, as to love.

Francis of Assisi

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!" 
I hold holy space for you during this time of prayer, vigil, and meditaion. 

“Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.” 
― Teresa of Ávila

The Song of Simeon Nunc dimittis

Luke 2:29-32

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, *

according to thy word;

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, *

which thou hast prepared before the face of all people,

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, *

and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

The Wisdom of God
the Love of God
and the Grace of God
strengthen you
to be Christ’s hands and heart in this world,
in the name of the Holy Trinity. Amen.
(source: Celtic)

Live without fear: your Creator has made you holy, has always
protected you, and loves you as a mother. Go in peace to follow
the good road and may God’s blessing be with you always. Amen.

(source: from Saint Clare)

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!" 

I hold holy space for you during this time of prayer, vigil, and meditaion. 

Or this closing adaptation:

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!"
I hold holy space for you in love and peace this day and always!

Let us remember the CALM principles:

Let us Sow Seeds of:

C= Compassion
A= Acceptance
L= Love
M = Mercy

Let us speak in words that are:

C= Comforting
A= Appreciative
L= Living and Loving
M= Mindful and Matter

Let our deeds be:
C= Caring and Compassionate
A= Admirable
L= Life giving
M= Mannerly

Good Night Dear Ones! I love you and give thanks to God for you this day and always! Remember you are welcome here always. Your presence is welcome, You are loved and you matter.

Peace, love, prayers, and God's blessings!

Sara

Resources:

Enriching Our Worship

In Lak 'Ech - Luis Valdez

Quote sites for prayers

Walk With Me On Our Journey

Satucket Lectionary

YouTube