Musical Reflection
Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in my Hand by Primitive Radio Gods
Invocation
humbled by the giving
from your abundance;
by Anne Carson
Moonlight in the kitchen is a sign of God.
The kind of sadness that is a black suction pipe extracting you
from your own navel and which the Buddhists call
“no mindcover” is a sign of God.
The blind alleys that run alongside human conversation
like lashes are a sign of God.
God’s own calmness is a sign of God.
The surprisingly cold smell of potatoes or money.
Solid pieces of silence.
From these diverse signs you can see how much work remains to do.
Put away your sadness, it is a mantle of work.
And the days are not full enough
by Ezra Pound
And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass
Mark 12:38-44
As he was teaching, he said, “Watch out for the legal experts. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be greeted with honour in the markets. They long for places of honour in the synagogues and at banquets. They are the ones who cheat widows out of their homes, and to show off they say long prayers. They will be judged most harshly.”
Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money. One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.”
Musical Reflection
Little Plastic Castle by Ani Difranco
by Cecil Rajendra, adapted
Where families are fractured
By domestic upheavals
And children forced on to streets
To fight for survival,
Where more resources are spent
On arms and destruction
And less attention paid
To sickness and starvation,
Come Holy Spirit
Heal our wounds
Renew the Whole Creation!
Where the acquisition of things
Has become an obsession
And the worth of a human being
Is measured by one’s possessions,
Where our air, trees and seas
Are besieged by pollution
And purblind mercenary greed
Threatens our environment,
Come Holy Spirit
Heal our wounds
Renew our Whole Creation!
The Lord’s Prayer
O Great Spirit,
You are our Shepherd Chief in the most high place.
Whose home is everywhere, even beyond the stars and moon.
Whatever You want done, let it also be done everywhere.
Give us Your gift of bread day by day.
Forgive us our wrongs as we forgive those who wrong us.
Take us away from wrong doings.
Free us from all evil.
For everything belongs to You.
Let your power and glory shine forever. Amen.
Musical Reflection
Unless the Lord the House Shall Build by The Welcome Wagon
Blessing
May the outrageous welcome of Abba God
accept us for who we are;
may the incarnation of the Word
touch and hold us close;
may the wanderings of the Spirit
help us risk ourselves for love;
and the blessing of God, the Sun, the Light and the Burning Ray,
be with us and remain with us always. Amen.
Sources:
Invocation and Blessing from Prayers for an Inclusive Church by Steven Shakespeare
Poem God’s Work by Anne Carson
Poem And the days are not full enough by Ezra Pound
Musical Reflection Little Plastic Castle by Ani Difranco
Lord’s Prayer by Hattie C Enos
Musical Reflection Unless the Lord the House Shall Build by The Welcome Wagon
