Resources at St. Magdalene Community

Worship Aid for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2023

Welcome and Introductions

Opening Hymn- “Gather Us In”

Here in this place new light is streaming
Now is the darkness vanished away
See in this space our fears and our dreamings
Brought here to you in the light of this day
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken
Gather us in, the blind and the lame
Call to us now and we shall awaken
We shall arise at the sound of our name

 

We are the young, our lives are a mystery
We are the old who yearn for your face
We have been sung throughout all of history
Called to be light to the whole human race
Gather us in, the rich and the haughty
Gather us in, the proud and the strong
Give us a heart so meek and so lowly
Give us the courage to enter the song

 

Here we will take the wine and the water
Here we will take the bread of new birth
Here you shall call your sons and your daughters
Call us anew to be salt for the earth
Give us to drink the wine of compassion
Give us to eat the bread that is you
Nourish us well and teach us to fashion
Lives that are holy and hearts that are true

© 1982, GIA Publications, Inc.

Contributors: Marty Haugen. Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE, License #A-742518

Sign of the Cross and greeting.

P: We gather in the name of the Creator with whom we share divinity, the redeemer with whom we share humanity and the Holy Spirit who unsettles and inspires us.

A: Amen.

P: The grace of Jesus, our Emmanuel, the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit is with you.

A: And also with you.

P: Beloved sisters and brothers, the green leaves of summer have been lightly kissed by red and orange, and the first crunchy brown leaves have fallen to the ground.  As autumn begins quietly, leading us gently into a change in temperature and scenery, let us bow our heads in thanksgiving.

Opening Prayer- Prayed together

P: Loving God, we are experiencing a humanitarian crisis. The question haunts us, “What shall we do?” God, help us always to be channels of your light, power, and love, somehow, someway. Guide us along pathways of loving kindness. Give us courage and strength. Help us to approach our tasks with humility. Above all, bathe us in your mercy. Amen. (Based upon a prayer by former WOC member, Mary Byrne.)

Readings

A reading from the prophet Isaiah (  5:1-4))

Let me now sing of my friend,
my friend’s song concerning their vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside;
he spaded it, cleared it of stones,
and planted the choicest vines;
within it he built a watchtower,
and hewed out a wine press.
Then he looked for the crop of grapes,
but what it yielded was wild grapes.

Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard:
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I had not done?
Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes,
did it bring forth wild grapes?

 

The Word of our God.

A: Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

R: Eternal and Immortal One, You have been our refuge in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, before You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, You are the Alpha and the Omega. R

When our days on earth are ended, You welcome us home to your Heart, to the City of Light, where time is eternal and days not numbered. R.

For our days on earth are a mystery, a searching for You, a yearning for the great Mystery to make itself known. The years pass and soon the Harvest is at hand, a time to reap the fruit of one’s life. Who has lived with integrity? Who will reflect the Light? Who can bear the radiant beams of Love? R.

Awaken us, Holy One! Help us to wait in Silence listening for your gentle Voice; strengthen us with courage to face the fears within! O, that we might be converted in our hearts and walk together in peace and harmony! R.

Let your Love be known to the nations, your Glory to our children’s children. Let the grace and gentleness of the Holy Spirit be upon us, guiding our feet upon paths of Love. R. (Praying the Psalms by Nan Merrill, Psalm 90)

A reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. (Phil 4:6-9 )

Brothers and sisters:
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Keep on doing what you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me.
Then the God of peace will be with you.

The Word of God.

A: Thanks be to God.

Gospel

Alleluia- sung

P: Our God be with you.

A: And also with you.

P: A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (12:16-21)

A: Glory to you, O God.

A certain rich man’s land produced an abundant harvest. He thought, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.”
He decided, “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. Then I will say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’”
But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”
Jesus concluded, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

 

This is the gospel of our salvation.

A: Praise to you, Jesus the Christ.

 

Homily

Sharing- Please remember the ABC’s of sharing.

Prayer of the People- response, “Loving God, hear our prayer.”

Offertory

(While holding up the bread) Blessed are you, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life.

A: Blessed be God forever.

(While pouring water.) By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who became one with us and shared in our humanity

.(While holding up the wine) Blessed are you, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. It will become our spiritual drink.

A: Blessed be God forever.

P: O God who reflects the splendor of humanity, we offer this bread and wine to you as symbols of our fidelity to you We ask you to remind us that to break bread together is to share I each other’s blessings and to drink of the cup is to say “yes” to each other’s fate.

A: Holy One, accept these gifts from our hands, for the praise and glory of your name, for our good and the good of all your people.

Eucharistic Prayer

P: We know the one who comes to dine with us, the one who eats and drinks with those regarded as sinners. We know the meaning of his invitation and the food he shares. And we have a sense of who is invited- everyone.  And so:

P: Our God be with you.                       A: And also with you.

P: Lift up your hearts.                            A: We have lifted them up to our God.

P: Let us give thanks and blessings to our God.

A: It is right to give God thanks and praise.

P: God of all compassion, we hunger for you. Never for even one second have you left us untouched by your presence and your care.

A: We remember this and we remember what Jesus told us to do at your behest- eat with everyone, including those we might perceive as our enemy. Through his life and death, Jesus proclaimed an invitation for his followers to receive sight, healing, truth, freedom, beatitude, and liberation.

P: We praise you in a special way as we ask to see with the eyes of Jesus and hear with the ears of Jesus so that our table becomes bigger as our hearts enlarge as we become transformed into representatives of Jesus’ kin-dom.

P: And so we sing of these transformations in words sung by countless thousands down throughout the ages:

A: Holy, holy, holy are you, the Womb of all that we call holy, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

P: We bring before you some of the bread and wine of your creation- already holy, destined for transcendence as are we ourselves. We ask you to labor once more over these gifts, that they may be transformed into the body and blood of Jesus so that we who share it may ourselves be transformed and become more fully that same body honoring you through lives of caring and justice.

P: On the night that he was wrongfully incarcerated, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it into pieces without the suggestion of privilege or supremacy. He gave it to his disciples, saying,

All: “Take and eat. This is my body, given for you. When you eat this bread, remember me.”

 In the same way, Jesus lifted the cup to those in need of liberation and empowerment, saying,

All: “This cup is the new covenant. When you drink from this cup, remember me.”

P:  My sisters and brothers, every time you eat this bread of justice and drink this cup that promises freedom, you proclaim with your life the love of God and the love for all of God’s creation.

All:  Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

A: We pray that all religious faiths may not fear to confess their sinfulness and their failure to live up to the highest of their ideals. We pray that all artificial barriers that keep people from this table be removed.

P: We remember our beloved dead who worked to make the world a better place. Please feel free to say the names of those you have loved.

A: We pray that we might be freed to care, freed to live justly, and freed to create just cultures and institutions. We pray that through our belief in Jesus, we are freed from bias and able to see one another as sisters and brothers, where hope rather than cynicism is our birthright, where the deeds of caring, justice, and peace really can happen.

P: And so we pray:

A: Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, you are blest and praised our liberating God, now and until time is no more. Amen. (sung) George B. Wilson, adapted.

Our Father– Words and melody by Joe Wise

Our Father, you are in heaven; our Mother, you call us home;

Our Brother, you are the first there, our Sister, your kingdom come.

 Our Father, you are in my heart, our Mother, I love your name,

Our Brother, you love us so much, our Sister we do the same

Forgive us all, the things we do; that break the chain of hands with you

Give us this day our daily bread and hold us close

Just like you said.

 Our Father, you are in heaven; our Mother, you call us home;

Our Brother, you are the first there, our Sister, your kingdom come

 Our Father, our Brother, our Sister, Our Mother, our God.  

Sign of Peace

P: This is Jesus who loves us just the way we are. How happy are we to be called to this banquet.

A: Jesus, you make us worthy to receive you and by your word, we have been healed.

Communion

P: My sisters and brothers, now receive what you are, the Body and Blood of Christ.

Communion Hymn- “Where Charity and Love Prevail”

1 Where charity and love prevail,
There God is ever found;
Brought here together by Christ’s love,
By love we thus are bound.

2 With grateful joy and holy fear,
God’s charity we learn;
Let us with heart and mind and soul
Now love God in return.

3 Let us recall that in our midst
Dwells Christ God’s holy Son;
As members of each body joined,
In Him we are made one.

4 Let strife among us be unknown;
Let all contentions cease.
Be God’s the glory that we seek;
Be His our only peace.

5 For love excludes no race or clan
That names the Savior’s name;
His family embraces all
Whose Parent is the same.

6 We now forgive each other’s faults
As we our own confess,
That we may love each other well
In Christian gentleness. (Latin Hymn Ubi caritas et amor, c. 9th cent.)

 

Prayer After Communion

Loving God, remind us to say only kind words this week. Remind us that our thoughts become our life. Remind us to shine our light. Remind us to laugh out loud. Remind us to sing. Remind us to hug folks. Remind us to love our bodies. Remind us to be thankful. Remind us to do this. Every day this week. (Jan Philllips. Adapted by EMD)

A: Amen.

Announcements

P: My sisters and brothers, life is short and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the road with us. So, be swift to love, make haste to be kind, and go in peace to love and serve our God and each other as we are blessed by the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit.

A: Amen

P: Now let’s go out as one body, Christ’s Body. Redeem. Resurrect. Rebuild. And remember that God loves you.

Draw the circle, draw the circle wide (2x)
Let this be our song: No one stands a lone
We’ll stand side by side
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide (repeat)

 

Draw the circle, draw it wider still
Let this be our song, be our song: no one stands a lone
Standing side by side
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide

 

In your sadness & in your grief
All the pain, it seems there’s no relief
We will hold you until the storm subsides
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide

lyrics: Gordon Light, music: Mark A Miller
© 2008 Abingdon Press, admin. by The Copyright Company. All rights reserved.