Home Church, 15th Sunday after Pentecost, September 5, 2021

Home Church, 15th Sunday after Pentecost, September 5, 2021

We acknowledge these lands upon which we worship are the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Preparing the Space Around You

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here! You’re invited to find a comfortable place to worship with this bulletin and take a moment to prepare the space around you so that you can be fully in this worship experience. The goal is not to keep out the realities of the world, rather to focus on God in the midst of it all. You might want to have a candle handy for the candle lighting below and paper/pencil for the prayer exercise. There are a couple of simple and familiar hymns in the bulletin – if you need reminders about how they go, there are youtube links below. You are encouraged to listen to them as you are preparing for worship.

Long Before the Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyGQjJU4l8s

Come & Find the Quiet Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to_6eiVwnig

Preparing the Space within You

You’re invited to sit quietly, perhaps with feet on the floor, taking a couple of deep breaths and bring yourself into this moment. Open yourself to the presence of God who is present within and all around you . . . as you intentionally open yourself to God, open yourself also to what you need from this time of worship. 

Light a Candle

You’re welcome to use these words . . . once there was a man who said such amazing things and did such wondrous things that people began to follow him. Someone asked him, “who are you?” . . . he answered, “I am the Light of the world.” (light candle)

Hymn: Come and Find the Quiet Center                                    VU #374

1 Come and find the quiet center

In the crowded life we lead,

Find the room for hope to enter,

Find the frame where we are freed:

Clear the chaos and the clutter,

Clear our eyes, that we can see

All the things that really matter,

Be at peace, and simply be.

2 Silence is a friend who claims us,

Cools the heat and slows the pace,

God it is who speaks and names us,

Knows our being, touches base,

Making space within our thinking,

Lifting shades to show the sun,

Raising courage when we're shrinking,

Finding scope for faith begun.

3 In the Spirit let us travel,

Open to each other's pain,

Let our loves and fears unravel,

Celebrate the space we gain;

There's a place for deepest dreaming,

There's a time for heart to care,

In the Spirit's lively scheming

There is always room to spare!

Opening Prayer                                            BAS & Celebrating God’s Presence

Almighty God,                                                             

to whom all hearts are open,

all desires known,

and from whom no secrets are hid:

cleanse the thoughts of our hearts 

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,

that we may perfectly love you,

and worthily magnify your holy name;

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Silent Prayer

Wondrous God:                                   

you touch our lives with healing and with justice;

new life is your gift.

We praise you for the Good News

which is ours through Jesus Christ.

May this time of worship nourish us

with your promise of meaning and purpose.

May we be empowered to carry your goodness 

into the coming week.

We pray in Jesus’ name, our Source and Saviour.

Prayer of Confession & Assurance            

You’re invited to pray with the lyrics below or listen to the song using this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Td9cZajyE

“I Shall Not Want” by Audrey Asaad. 

From the love of my own comfort

From the fear of having nothing

From a life of worldly passions

Deliver me O God

From the need to be understood

And from a need to be accepted

From the fear of being lonely

Deliver me O God

Deliver me O God

And I shall not want, no, I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness, I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness, I shall not want

From the fear of serving others

Oh, and from the fear of death or trial

And from the fear of humility

Deliver me O God

Yes, deliver me O God

And I shall not want, no, I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

No, I shall not want, no, I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

I shall not want

I shall not want

Gospel Reading: Mark 7:24-37                                              Inclusive Bible

Jesus left Gennesaret and went to the territory of Tyre and Sidon. There he went into a certain house and wanted no one to recognize him, but he could not pass unrecognized. A woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She approached Jesus and fell at his feet. The woman, who was Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, begged Jesus to expel the demon from her daughter. He told her, “Let the children of the household satisfy themselves at table first. it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied, “Yes, Rabbi, but even the dogs under the table eat the family’s scraps.” The Jesus said to her, “For this, you may go home happy; the demon has left your daughter.” When she got home, she found her daughter in bed and the demon gone.

Jesus left the region of Tyre and returned by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Ten Cities. Some people brought an individual who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and begged Jesus to lay hands on that person. Jesus took the afflicted one aside, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the deaf ears and, spitting, touched the mute tongue with his saliva. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and, with a deep sigh, said, “Ephphatha!” – that is, “Be opened!” At once the deaf ears were opened and the impediment cured; the one who had been healed began to speak plainly. Then Jesus warned them not to tell anyone; but the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. Their amazement went beyond all bounds: “He has done everything well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

Two options for reflecting with the text:

Reflection by Debie Thomas on the gospel text. You can read her essay here: https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/1907-be-opened

Ignatian Prayer of Imagination:

We have 2 distinct stories of Jesus in the gospel text this morning. You’re invited to use either of them for this imaginative prayer exercise.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish mystic and founder of the Jesuit order of priests, developed this method of prayer. Well suited for the gospels or other narratives, the idea is to visualize the story as if you were making a movie. Contemplating a scene in this way is not simply remembering it or going back in time, rather through the act of contemplation, the Holy Spirit makes present a mystery of the text in a way that is meaningful for you now. 

This form of prayer uses your imagination to dig deeper into the story so that God may communicate with you in a personal, evocative way. You will want to pay attention to the details: sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feelings of the event and at some point, place yourself in the story.

Some might worry about going beyond the text of the story, or their imagination running too wild or going too far. If you have offered your time of prayer to God, then begin by trusting that God is communicating with you. If you are still uncomfortable, you might do some discernment with how you are praying. Where did your imagining lead you: closer to God or farther away? Is your imagining bringing you comfort or distress? At any point during the exercise you can return to the text itself.

Some people find imaginative prayer difficult. They may not be able to picture the scene easily, yet they may have some intuition or gut reaction to the story. Or they may hear or feel the story more than visualize it. In a spirit of generosity, pray as you are able; don’t try to force it. Rest assured that God will speak to you, whether through your memory, understanding, intellect, emotions, or imagination. 

                                                            ~ Kevin O’Brien, SJ, The Ignatian Adventure, edited

 

Step by Step Instructions for Ignatian Prayer of Imagination

1.     Relax in your seat and centre yourself

2.     Acknowledge yourself to be in God’s presence and sit with this awareness.

3.     Acknowledge how you are within yourself in this moment. 

4.     Ask for what you hope to receive from this prayer time (the graces you are praying for): if this is your first time with this practice, you might just pray for guidance as you try something new.

5.     Read either the psalm or gospel text several times (you can also use a portion of either text).

6.     Close your eyes and “visualize” the images and action in the text, involving as many of your senses as possible.

7.     Read the text again.

8.     Close your eyes and see yourself within the image(s) you have chosen. Be there with your senses, your emotions… and let what happens happen; don’t worry if the experience takes you “off script.”

9.     When the experience feels complete, take a short break.

10.    Journal or draw about your experience. Simply answer the question, “what happened?”                

Prayers of the People      Celebrate God’s Presence

O God, lover of the world, you hold all that you have created within your compassionate embrace. As you hold our lives isolated by COVID and distressed by fires and fighting within your aching heart, we cry out for wholeness – for ourselves, for those we love, and for our world. May your healing presence be a comforting reality for all who find themselves in despair, lost or alone.

May your transforming presence create generosity in place of greed, harmony in place of hatred, and transformation where evil now reigns. O God, lover of the world, from the silence of our own hearts, we bring before you the people and places that need your healing, loving, transforming presence . . . 

pray aloud or in the silence of your hearts

O God, lover of the world, this is your world, and we claim you power and your presence to make it whole. Amen.  

Lord’s Prayer                                                                    Ecumenical Version

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, 

and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

 

Hymn: Long Before the Night                                                     VU #282

Long before the night was born from darkness 

Long before the dawn rolled unsteady from fire 

Long before She wrapped her scarlet arm around the hills 

there was a love, this ancient love was born. 

 

Long before the grass spotted green the bare hillside 

Long before a wing unfolded to wind 

Long before She wrapped her long blue arm around the sea 

there was a love, this ancient love was born. 

 

Long before a chain was forged from the hillside 

Long before a voice uttered freedom’s cry 

Long before She wrapped her bleeding arms around a child 

there was a love, this ancient love was born. 

 

Long before the name of a God was spoken 

Long before a cross was nailed from a tree 

Long before She laid her arm of colors ‘cross the sky 

there was a love, this ancient love was born. 

 

Wakeful our night, Slumbers our morning 

Stubborn the grass sowing green wounded hills 

As we wrap our healing arms to hold what her arms held 

this ancient love, this aching love rolls on

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Blessing                                                                                

May the mystery of God go with you; may Christ bless your steps; may the Holy Spirit sustain you on your way. Go now, carrying God’s blessing. Amen.