Sunday, February 25, 2018

Jesus' adventures in ministry continue! A time of Vigil, prayers, with the Gospels of Luke, John, and the Book of Acts




Good Evening Beloved Community!

Wow! Wasn't that weekend a quick one! Our readings for this evening keep us busy in the Gospels of Luke and John and the Acts of the Apostles. No doubt it will seem like a lot of reading but it will be worth it to dial in with Jesus and our faith's earliest brothers and sisters. We will be combining prayers in between the lessons and lighting a vigil candle for the needs and concerns of the world and in our own lives as well.


Peace be to this online sanctuary of inclusion, family, love, healing and worship, this night and always.


Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

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. 
God we light our first vigil candle in honor of our youth who are our future and speak truth to power. Give us courage to be their support system and walk with them wherever they may go. 


God of all goodness we pray and give thanks for all of  your children of any age who have walked in your path to become lights of the world . We give thanks for the Blessed Virgin Mary who yet a very young woman answered God's call to bear God's only begotten son who came and taught us how to live a life of love, mercy, peace, justice, and radical inclusion. 
We offer our loving prayers and thanksgivings to you O God of mercy, peace, and justice.

We light our next candle and pray that we may in the words of the hymn Day By Day:
Day by day dear Lord of these three things I pray to see you more clearly, follow you more nearly, love you more dearly day by day. 



"I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” John 10:14 

God we thank you for being good shepherd. Help us to come to know you and by knowing you know God who is our creator and who loves us all. May we with your loving and courageous help seek out out the lonely, the lost, and the invisible and by doing so know that we are doing this to you. Help us to continue to take the Matthew 25 Pledge and pray it daily : I pledge to protect and defend vulnerable people in the name of Jesus.

We offer our loving prayers and thanksgivings to you O God of mercy, peace, and justice.

We light our next candle in thanksgiving that we were and are made in God's image and likeness and pray that we must seek to be Jesus in the lives of all of God's Beloved Community!





John 1:18 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,[a] who is close to the Father’s heart,[b]who has made him known.

Jesus, help us to make you known in all the world to those who have yet come to know  you. Jesus, may our hearts burn with the love energy that came upon the disciples who were on the road to Emmaus and be known to us in the breaking of the bread, study of your God News, as the Beloved Community, and at prayer.

We offer our loving prayers and thanksgivings to you O God of mercy, peace, and justice.

We light our candles for all who speak truth to power and who are seeking in the words of Micah "To do justly, love, mercy and walk humbly with God. We pray for all who are working towards an end to gun violence and all forms of violence and abuse. We add these words of the Prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 2 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Future House of God

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In days to come
    the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
    Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more.


Acts 3:18-25

18In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah* would suffer. 19Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, 20so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah*appointed for you, that is, Jesus, 21who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets. 22Moses said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you from your own people* a prophet like me. You must listen to whatever he tells you. 23And it will be that everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly rooted out from the people.” 24And all the prophets, as many as have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, also predicted these days. 25You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, “And in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God, we pray that we may listen to the prophetic voices of our age and thosw who came before us. May we truly lisen with the ears of the heart and discern your rightful prophets speaking truth to power and helping to be the change you want to see in this fragile and broken world. 

We offer our loving prayers and thanksgivings to you O God of mercy, peace, and justice.

We light our candles in honor or Jesus who taught us to love, serve,listen and learn at the feet of the Master, and strive for balance in our lives. We lift up to Jesus those who do not know how to stop the glorification of busy. 




Luke 8:1-25

Some Women Accompany Jesus

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

The Parable of the Sower

 When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: ‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

The Purpose of the Parables

 Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that
“looking they may not perceive,
   and listening they may not understand.”

The Parable of the Sower Explained

 ‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.

A Lamp under a Jar

 ‘No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light. Then pay attention to how you listen; for to those who have, more will be given; and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.’

The True Kindred of Jesus

 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, ‘Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.’ But he said to them, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.’ 

Jesus Calms a Storm

 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake.’ So they put out, and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A gale swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. They went to him and woke him up, shouting, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?’

We pray for all who serve you Lord Jesus, study you as the Word and in scripture and listen to the sage wisdom in your parables. We pray that we may find in our hearts to be the Beloved Community in your Kindom and kow that we are loved. Help us not to fear when the storms of life create times of dis-ease and that we may lean on you and fear not and in the words of the "Be Stills"

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

We offer our loving prayers and thanksgivings to you O God of mercy, peace, and justice.


We light our candles for the least of these who will not have any food, clothing, or shelter tonight. Help us to take action and seek and serve all who are in need. We light our candles to help us as the Beloved Community to find solutions and soulutions to our world's needs and the unity of all.







John 6:1-9 New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

Feeding the Five Thousand

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.[a]  A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages[b] would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ 

Let us pray in the words of St. Francis and Teresa of Avila.
62. A Prayer attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.

Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)
Christ Has No Body
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with 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 but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
We offer our loving prayers and thanksgivings to you O God of mercy, peace, and justice.

Our final candle that we will light we pray that we may drink of the living water of Life and remember who we and and whose we are.






John 7:37-41

37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38and let the one who believes in me drink. As* the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart* shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ 39Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit,* because Jesus was not yet glorified.
40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ 41Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’* But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah* does not come from Galilee, does he?

We offer our own prayers and thanksgivings aloud our in the silence of our hearts. May we speak the names of those who died violently in our communities this week as well. 



We pray and remember the Water Protectors of Standing Rock as we conclude our time together with these prayers:

We pray for the Water Protectors at Standing Rock.
For the musical chants click on the bold links.
Song for the Sacred Elements 
Water Song

Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe

Native American Prayer

Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect and to be kind to one another that we may grow with peace in mind.
 - Native American Prayer


We pray and remember that all living things are sacred precious to God and that we must be good stewards of God's Cathedral of life.

Water Song

Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe

One With This World

My words are tied in one with the great mountains, with the great rocks, with the great trees, in one with my body and heart.
 All of you see me, one with this world.
 - Yokuts Prayer


God we pray that we my be truly one family in peace and harmony.

Prayer For Peace

Oh Great Spirit who dwells in the sky,
lead us to the path of peace and understanding,
let all of us live together as brothers and sisters.
Our lives are so short here, walking upon Mother Earth's surface,
let our eyes be opened to all the blessings you have given us.
Please hear our prayers, Oh Great Spirit.
 - Native American Prayer

Water Song

Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe

God we pray that everyday we may remember that wherever we plant our feet we are on holy ground as we travel through life.


The Journey

When the earth is sick and dying,
There will come a tribe of people
From all races…
Who will put their faith in deeds,
Not words, and make the planet
Green again…
 - Cree Prophecy

God we pray that we may seek to remember that we are one family throughout the world and wherever there is trouble we stand in solidarity with CALM  (Compassionate, accepting, loving, and Merciful ) Hearts, hands, feet, words, and deeds.

Water Song

Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe
Great Spirit

O Great Spirit, help me always to speak the truth quietly, to listen with an open mind when others speak and to remember the peace that may be found in silence.
 - Cherokee Prayer

God we pray for the  Earth and that we may stand in solidarity with those seeking to heal the environment and save all animals from becoming endangered or extinct species.

Water Song

Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe

Earth Prayer

Earth teach me freedom
as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself
as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
as dry fields weep with rain.
 - Ute Prayer


God we pray for the healing of all our family members. We pray for the healing of hurts, hatreds, bodies, minds, spirits, and hearts.

Water Song

Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe

Healing Prayer

Grandfather,
Sacred one,
Teach us love, compassion,
and honor.
That we may heal the earth
And heal each other.
 - Ojibway Prayer


God help us to be one family throughout the world. May we be your children and peacemakers seeking to love and serve the least of these.

Water Song

Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe

Sioux Prayer

Grandfather Great Spirit
All over the world the faces of living ones are alike.
With tenderness they have come up out of the ground
Look upon your children that they may face the winds
And walk the good road to the Day of Quiet.
Grandfather Great Spririt
Fill us with the Light.
Give us the strength to understand, and the eyes to see.
Teach us to walk the soft Earth as relatives to all that live.
 - Sioux Prayer

From Fr. Thomas Beasley- Adapted from the Book of Common Prayer

With all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Lord, saying "Lord, have mercy." For the poor and the oppressed, for the oppressed Native Peoples at Standing Rock, for the unemployed and the destitute, for prisoners and captives, and for all who remember and care for them, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy

.Water Song

Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe


A Native American Prayer for Peace

O Great Spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you.
To your messengers the four winds,
and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect,
and to be kind to each other so that they may grow with peace in mind.
Let us learn to share all the good things you provide for us on this Earth.

 - U.N. Day of Prayer for World Peace 2

Teach us love, compassion and honor ... that we may heal the Earth and heal each other." - Ojibwe

The Water Song

Song for the Sacred Elements


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.
Luis Valdez

We offer our loving prayers and thanksgivings to you O God of mercy, peace, and justice.

Let us hear once again from the Gospel of John:

John 1:1-14

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life,* and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.*
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own,* and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,* full of grace and truth.
The Song of Simeon    Nunc Dimittis

Luke 2:29-32


Lord, you now have set your servant free *
    to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
    whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
    and the glory of your people Israel.
God’s Blessing be with you, Christ’s peace be with you, the Spirit’s outpouring be with you, now and always. Amen. (source: Celtic)

The Wisdom of God the Love of God and the Grace of God strengthen youto 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) 
 ++++++
Good Night Beloved Community! I love you and Give thanks to God for you this day and always. May we always seek to know God more  fully at our heart homes, heart roots, and inner being levels.  

Peace, love, prayers, and Gos's blessings,

Sara

Resources
The Good Book Club
Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of John
#LiveLent
Enriching our Worship One (1997)
Bible Gateway
Oremus Bible Browser
In Lak Ech - Luis Valdez
Walk With Me On Our Journey
A Vigil in Solidarity with the Water Protectors
http://walkwithmeonourjourney.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-vigil-in-solidarity-with-water.html
Richard of Chichester - Day by day (Adapted in modern language)





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