POTLUCK DINNER- JULY 31 – after M3M service

There will be a POTLUCK DINNER- JULY 31 – after M3M service

Click here to see what another church group does for potluck dinners – this one from Vancouver,B.C.

July Announcements

July 24 – Baptism at M3M Thursday Service – 5:30 p.m.

Lambethdaily

Commentary and Impressions by the Bishop of Arizona

http://www.lambethdaily.blogspot.com/

July 10 Readings & Chants

The Zeal of God

Opening #16 Born of Water, Born of Spirit

Prayer #41 May All Beings Be Happy

Table #57 Reveal Yourself to Us, O Christ

Sanctus #34 Holy, Holy, Holy One 4

Closing #75 We Dance in the Morning

A Reading from the Christian Gospel: John 2:13-17 (English Standard Version)

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A Reading from the Jewish Bible: Genesis 45: 1 – 15 (Tanakh, Judaica Press)

Now Joseph could not bear all those standing beside him, and he called out, “Take everyone away from me!” So no one stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept out loud, so the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” but his brothers could not answer him because they were startled by his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me,” and they drew closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not be sad, and let it not trouble you that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that God sent me before you. For already two years of famine [have passed] in the midst of the land, and [for] another five years, there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to make for you a remnant in the land, and to preserve [it] for you for a great deliverance. And now, you did not send me here, but God, and He made me a father to Pharaoh, a lord over all his household, and a ruler over the entire land of Egypt. Hasten and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘So said your son, Joseph: “God has made me a lord over all the Egyptians. Come down to me, do not tarry. And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children and your grandchildren, and your flocks and your cattle and all that is yours. And I will sustain you there for there are still five years of famine lest you become impoverished, you and your household and all that is yours.” ‘And behold, your eyes see, as well as the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth speaking to you. And you shall tell my father [of] all my honor in Egypt and all that you have seen, and you shall hasten and bring my father down here.” And he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and afterwards his brothers spoke with him.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A Reading from the Continuing Revelation of God to People of Faith:

Anam Cara, John O’Donahue

Once you start to awaken, no one can ever claim you again for the old patterns. Now you realize how precious your time here is. You are no longer willing to squander your essence on undertakings that do not nourish your true self; your patience grows thin with tired talk and dead language. You see through the rosters of expectation which promise you safety and the confirmation of your outer identity. Now you are impatient for growth, willing to put yourself in the way of change. You want your work to become an expression of your gift. You want your relationship to voyage beyond the pallid frontiers to where the danger of transformation dwells. You want your God to be wild and to call you to where your destiny awaits.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

Priest – Rick Wilson

Selection of Readings – Sharon K.

Selection of Chants – Jane C.

June 26 Readings

M3M: June 26, 2008

In Silence What Do We Hear?

Opening #28   Glory to God 2
Prayer  #74     We are the Light of the World
Table  #60       Round and Round
Sanctus  #33    Holy, Wholly, Holy One  3
Closing #2       All Creation, Dance and Sing

A reading from the Christian Gospel : Matthew 3:13-17 [The Message paraphrase]

Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, “I’m the one who needs to be baptized, not you!” But Jesus insisted. “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in baptism.” So John did it. The moment Jesus came out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit – it looked like a dove –descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A reading from the Jewish Tradition Carol Ochs & Kerry M. Olitzky, Jewish Spiritual Guidance, p. 53

The central creedal statement of prayer in Judaism is based on hearing. The familiar Shema begins, “Hear, O Israel!” It does not say, “See, O Israel!” Like other religions and cultures, Judaism is distinguished by one particular sense that is emphasized in much of its liturgy. For the Greek world, the dominant sense was sight, the philosopher saw and enjoyed. The touchstone for reality was seeing (compare the English adage, “seeing is believing”), and to understand something was to see it (as we say, “I see what you mean”). For the Jewish world, the central sense is hearing. Na’aseh bveniishmah, “We shall do and we shall hear (Deut. 5:24), said the ancient Israelites when they were presented with the Torah. The Jew hears and responds. The distinctions between sight and sound may seem somewhat abstract until we consider the challenges by the task of spiritual guidance. If the primary sense in Judaism is hearing, we must learn to grow quiet, to shut out noise and busyness, in order to truly hear. In the resulting calm we may discover that God is still speaking in the world – and to us.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A Reading from the Continuing Revelation of God to People of Faith:

Gail Godwin, Evensong, p. 12

“Where is God in all of this?” … Your question may be the only one that matters. Despite all the convoluted guesswork of theologians ever since Job’s friends hunched beside him on the dung heap, :””Where is God in all this?” (just the question alone, I mean) may be enough to keep us busy down here. Maybe the thing we are required to do is simply keep asking the question, as Job did-asking it faithfully over and over, whatever ghastly things is happening around us at the time – until God reveals himself through the ways we are changed by the answering silence.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

Readings for June 12

M3M: June 12, 2008

Priest: Rick Wilson

Living the New Life?

Opening: #27 Glory to God 1
Prayer: #18 Christ Above Me
Table: #24 Fill Me with Bread
Sanctus: #32 Holy, Holy, Holy One 2
Closing: #3 Alleluia 1

A reading from the Christian Gospel : Mark 10: 17-27 [The Message paraphrase]

As Jesus went out to the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal. Don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”

He said, “Teacher, I have – from my youth – kept them all!” Jesus looked him hard in the eye – and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left. Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.” The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let go.

Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who “have it all” to enter God’s kingdom?” That set the disciples back on their heels. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked. Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A reading from The Tao Te Ching Lao Tsu

Yield and overcome

Bend and be straight

Empty and be full

Wear our and be new

Have little and gain

Have much and be confused

Therefore the wise embraces the one

And set an example to all.

Not putting on a display,

They shine forth.

Not justifying themselves,

They are distinguished

Not boasting,

They receive recognition.

Not bragging,

They never falter

They do not quarrel,

So no one quarrels with them.

Therefore the ancients say, “Yield and overcome.”

Is than an empty saying?

Be really whole,

And all things will come to you.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A Reading from the Continuing Revelation of God to People of Faith:

The Heart of Christianity, Marcus Borg

Paul speaks of the new life “in Christ” in the most extraordinary terms. It is marked by freedom, joy, peace, and love, four of his favorite words: freedom from the voices of all the would-be lords of our lives, the joy of the exuberant life; the peace of reconnection to what is, the peace that passed all understanding; and love – the love of God for us and the love of God in us. Paul, and the other authors of the New Testament consistently see these qualities as the “fruits” of the Spirit, as gifts of the Spirit. They are not the fruit of human striving but of a new identity and new way of being – the fruit, the product, of centering one’s life in God, in the Spirit.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

Readings for May 29

M3M, May 29, 2008

Today‘s Theme: How were you taught religious faith? Does it matter?

Chants:

Opening #8 As we gather in your presence

Prayer #20 Come Holy Spirit

Table #24 Fill Me With Bread

Sanctus #32 Holy, Holy, Holy One

Closing #17 Child of the Universe

A Reading from the Christian Gospel [Matthew 18:1-10]

The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.

Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A Reading from the Continuing Revelation of God to People of Faith

[David James Duncan, God Laughs and Plays, pp. 89-90.]

My Grandma Ethel—who was like a second mother to us—was raised in more or less Adventist logging camps around Trout Lake, Washington. Gramma Rowe epitomizes my early connection to the church. She was a wonderful woman in many ways—a dynamo, really, full of faith and zeal and energy. She came from a family so poor that she dropped out of school in the second grade in order to earn money, and left home for good at age twelve, to become a house cleaner in Vancouver, Washington, and later a beautician in Portland. Gramma Rowe was smart, feisty as hell, faith-driven, and very loving toward us—though her love was the kind that sometimes made you wish she felt indifferent. She worked like a maniac, having come from such poverty, so the only additional education she got after second grade was real estate school.

As a result, she taught my siblings and me to worship and pray in a second-grade way, and think about Jesus in a second-grade way. And the naïve and loving part of this was a good thing. No way into the kingdom “except as children,” right? But her brand of religion also included the judgmentalism, tantrums, self-righteousness, racial prejudice, shallowness, and materialism of a second grader. A naughty second grader at that!

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A reading from the Sufi Tradition

[Hafiz, The Gift, “Two Puddles Chatting,” p. 171.]

It rained during the night

And two puddles formed in the dark

And began chatting. One said,

“It is so nice to at last be upon this earth

And to meet you as well,

But what will happen when

The brilliant Sun comes

And turns us back into spirit again?”

Dear ones,

Enjoy the night as much as you can.

Why ever trouble your heart with flight,

When you have just arrived

And your body is so full of warm desires.

And look:

So many meadows of soft hair are

Planted upon you.

Why ever trouble yourself with God

When God is so unjudging

And kind

Unless you are blessed and live

Near the circle of a

Perfect One?

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

Readings for May 22 Service

M3M: May 22, 2008 The Blessing I give

Opening   #8   As we gather in your presence
Prayer     #20   Come Holy Spirit
Table      #24   Fill Me With Bread
Sanctus   #32   Holy, Holy, Holy One 2
Closing   #17   Child of the Universe 

A reading from the Christian Gospel : John 17: 20-23 [The Message paraphrase]

[Jesus] I’m praying not only for them but also for those who believe in me because of them and their witness about me. The goal for all of them is to become one heart and one mind – just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so that they may be one heart and one mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them, so they will be as unified and together as we are – I in them and you in me. Then they will be mature in this oneness and give the godless world evidence that you’ve sent me and loved them in the same way you loved me.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A reading from The Sacred: Ways of Knowledge, Sources of Life Dine Blessing Prayer

Today we are blessed with this beautiful baby. May his feet be to the East, his right hand to the South, his head to the West, his left hand to the North. May he walk and dwell on Mother Earth peacefully. May he be blessed with assorted soft valued goods. May he be blessed with precious variegated stones. May he be blessed with fat sheep in variation. May he be blessed with respectful relatives and friends. I ask all these blessings with reverence and holiness. My mother, the Earth, the Sky, the Sun, the Moon, Together, my Father. I am the Essence of Life which is old age. I am the source of happiness in beauty. All is peaceful, all in beauty, all in harmony, all in happiness.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A Reading from the Continuing Revelation of God to People of Faith:

The Book of Occasional Services 2003

Visit, O blessed God, this home with the gladness of your presence. Bless all who live here with the gift of your love. And grant that they may manifest the gift of your love [to each other and] to all whose lives they touch. May they grow in the grace and in the knowledge and love of you; guide, comfort, and strengthen them; and preserve the in peace, O Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

Readings for May 15 Service

Note: There will be a special potluck dinner following the May 15 Service in honor of retiring Rector Gordon McBride. Rector McBride’s last M3M service will be May 29.

Service Team: Nancy M., Lynn H.

Priest: Gordon McBride

Music:

M3M

May 15, 2008

Today’s Theme: Beauty is to be celebrated

Today’s Chants

Opening #8 As we gather in your presence
Prayer #20 Come Holy Spirit
Table #24 Fill Me With Bread
Sanctus #32 Holy, Holy, Holy One 2
Closing #15 Blessing Rest Upon You

A Reading from the Christian Gospel [Mark 14:3-9]

While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,^* as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. ⁴But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way? ⁵For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii,^* and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her.

⁶But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. ⁷For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. ⁸She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. ⁹Truly I tell you, wherever the good news^* is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A Reading from the Continuing Revelation of God to People of Faith

[Percy C. Ainsworth “The Waste of the Ointment,” Weavings, May/June 2008, p. 35]

Whenever we come near to the beautiful in life, we are judged by it. We are put on trial concerning our soul’s purity and work, and acquitted or condemned according as we are found able or unable to understand and appreciate. We never know when we shall be called to give account of our stewardship of life’s hidden things. God has so many ways of trying us, that it may stand revealed what manner of people we are. And one of those ways is by the vision of beauty.

Very simply, very suddenly, amid the dust and monotony of the workaday world, the veil is drawn aside from the prosaism and seeming commonplaceness of existence, and the beautiful, pure, holy things that are always present are made manifest. And whenever that is so, the dividing line goes forth between those that see and those that see not—between those who gather the true significance of life and those who miss it.

Such a moment of judgment occurred in the house of Simon the leper at Bethany, when the alabaster vase was broken and its rich perfume filled the room. . . That beautiful incident judged them all.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A Reading from the JewishTradition

[Lawrence Kushner, God was in the Place and I, I did not know , p. 32]

You already are where you need to be. You need go nowhere else. Feel it now in the moisture on your tongue. Sense the effortless filling and emptying of your lungs, involuntary blinking of your eyes. Just an inch or so behind your sternum where your heart beats. That is where the makom (the place) is. Right here all along and we did not know it because we were fast asleep, here in this very makom.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

Readings for May 8 Service

Service Team: Miriam H., Sharon K., Anagrace M.

Priest: Mary Delaney

Music: Jane Click

Readings for May 1 Service

M3M: May 1, 2008

A Call to Simplicity |

Service Team: Nancy M., Lynn H.

Priest: Rick Wilson

OPENING #16 Born of Water

PRAYER #51 One in the Spirit

TABLE #57 Reveal Yourself

SANCTUS #31 Holy, Holy, Holy One 1

CLOSING #19 Christ is Risen From the Dead

A reading from the Christian Gospel : Matthew 18: 1-6 [The Message paraphrase]

At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, “Who gets the highest rank in God’s kingdom?” For an answer, Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A reading from The Tao Te Ching 28^th Chapter first 2 paragraphs; translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English

Know the strength of man,

But keep a woman’s care!

Be the stream of the universe!

Being the stream of the universe,

Ever true and unswerving,

Become as a little child once more

Know the white

But keep the black!

Be an example to the world!

Being an example to the world,

ver true and unwavering,

Return to the Infinite.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

A Reading from the Continuing Revelation of God to People of Faith:

Benedict’s Way, Lonni Collins and Fr. Daniel Homan, OSB

Simplicity is trendy. People have shelves of books and attend conferences lasting a day or longer to learn how to downsize the clutter and complexity of their lives. This is one time when the cliché “Just do it” seems appropriate. … It isn’t just our dressers and closets and pole barns that are jammed. That’s the easy part to simplify. You just square your shoulders and cutback. The harder part? Ceasing all of our complicated artificiality. It is as if it comes naturally to us to disguise ourselves. We are master shape-changers, and we learn it young. We earn it from the first hurts, the times when somehow it was not enough to be ourselves.

With all the beauty and magic that is in us, we learn to lift a mask to our faces, we hide the tears, we tone down the laughter, and we start believing that all skies should be colored blue. The bigger problem, and maybe the root of why we accumulate, has to do with the clutter in our minds and hearts. Our relationships are cluttered, and our energy is fragmented in all directions. …

Keeping to the basics-this is the strength of the Benedictine life. And it starts with the courage to step out of the disguise and into the reality of who we are. It starts with dropping the masks, simplifying our words, our actions, our relationships.

… Even though it is a lt to ask, we are to believe that there is love in the universe packed into and overflowing in the snowflakes and sunrises and the birdcalls and the touch of a friend. We are to believe it enough tom take off the mask. No, it’s not easy. We aren’t going to get it right the first time we try. But keep trying and don’t stop believing. There’s a title of a little Benedictine book that says it well: “Always we begin again.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.