Meditation Community First! "It is specifically designed to lift the chronically homeless off the streets of the Austin area and offer them a place to call home, helping them to heal from the ravages of life on the streets, allowing them to rediscover a purpose in their lives, and then going out and beginning to care for others in the world…. The residents are given the opportunity to earn a dignified income working at the Village in various areas such as the maintenance department, the Community Gardens, the Community Cinema, or the Community Inn. With access to an “art house” and blacksmith shop, residents also have the opportunity to produce handmade goods that are sold at the Community Market…. Community First! Village's concept is anchored around furnished micro-homes, tents, and RV's providing comfortable and affordable independent living areas supported by common amenities such as shared kitchens and bathrooms. The village is designed to promote community living. Some of the other amenities include the health center, places for study and fellowship, community bicycles, walking trails, memorial gardens, and a bus stop for the residents and visitors.” Alan Graham, CEO of Mobile Loaves & Fishes https://www.communityfirstthemovie.com/the-village
Lighting of Candles
Welcome/ Check in (How are you feeling?)
Sharing of Invitations (see back of order of worship)
Reading ”12 Step Program for Ecologic Cvilization”
Invocation Our Dear, Dear Mother by Raffi
Our dear, dear Mother, daily provider, earth be your name. The time has come, to honor you, to know you and to show our love.” 1.You give us each day our daily grain, kissed by the sun and kissed by the rain. Teach us now to find a way to care for you in our work and play. Chorus
Passing of the Peace God Loves You and There is Nothing You Can Do About It
Call and Response Prayer
One: Dear God, We give thanks for all those who have loved us into being. May we make a decision to love our enemies as Jesus taught.
Many: God have mercy on us.
One: Help us to live for community first as we give up our habits of rugged individualism and self-centeredness.
Many: God have mercy on us.
One: May we awaken to your ways of radical inclusive and merciful love.
Many: God have mercy on us.
One: May we love you God with all our heart, soul and mind.
Many: God have mercy on us.
One: May we co-create with you as we love our neighbors, including the plants and animals as an extension of ourselves. Guide Church for Our Common Home as we work for the common good and experience our interconnected oneness with all of creation.
Many: God have mercy on us. Amen
Musical Response Come and fill my heart with your peace, you the God of love are holy. Come and fill our hearts with your peace. (repeat)
Prayer Requests (Please send ahead of time to revtarwater@yahoo.com)
Prayer (in unison) Our Mother Father God who is within us we celebrate your many names. Your wisdom come. Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us. Each day you give us all that we need. You remind us of our limits and we let go. You support us in our power and we act with courage. For you are the dwelling place within us the empowerment around us and the celebration among us now and forever. Amen
Musical Response Down to the River to Pray
Scripture Gospel of Matthew 3:16, 17 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Reflection Community First! Baptism as Community Affirmation
Musical response Wade in the Water
Wade in the water, (repeat) Gods gonna trouble the water.
Who’s that girl all dressed in red? Must be the people that Moses led…
Who’s that girl all dressed in white? Must be the people of the Israelites…
Who’s that girl all dressed in blue? Must be the children that are coming through…
Lectio Divina What word or phrase strikes you? What does this have to do with your current life? What is God calling you to do or be or transform into?
Offering for the ministry of the church
Closing Prayer St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi Prayer
Make me an instrument of your 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, And where there is sadness, joy, joy, joy. God 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; For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born, to Eternal Life. Amen, Amen, Amen
Check out How are you feeling?
Benediction Blessing Song by Miriam Therese Winters
May the blessings of God go before you. May her grace and peace abound. May her spirit live within you. May her love wrap you round. May her blessings remain with you always. May you walk on holy ground.
Mary Magdalene Café: Our pot luck dinner is our holy communion.
Invitations: Our current ecologic crisis is a call to awaken to the reverence of life and the truth that all nature is alive and sacred. As we witness the sixth extinction of life on earth, the only one created by us humans, we are invited to reclaim the ancient wisdom traditions. We are one organic, interspecies, interconnected whole. What we do affects everyone else. Every Sunday at 5 pm we acknowledge that we need one another more than ever before and commune with God called by many names. We celebrate the wisdom traditions from the East, West, indigenous peoples, new science as we study the teachings of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the Bible and the newly found gnostic gospels.
ALL PROGRAMS WILL CONTINUE ON ZOOM in OREGON Thank you Martha Garcia!
Please come visit!
Change in prayer requests during worship. Please send by email before worship.
Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer Contemplation of scriptures and
Centering Prayer, ancient Christian contemplative silent prayer practice, every Wednesday at 10 am
Monthly Taize Chanting service first Sunday of every month.
Prayer and Healing Service third Sunday of the month.
Dream Circle every first and third Sunday before worship 3-5 pm.
Committee on Ministry next Sunday Jan. 19th 3rd Sunday, 3:30 pm
Please call Rev. Bonnie if you would like a pastoral visit and/or if you would like to pray or if you have prayer requests. (858) 248-5123.