Liturgy
We arrive here together this morning as embodied beings.
Steady our breath, Holy Spirit, as we seek your peace.
In these our bodies this week,
we have seen and felt and heard the world.
Thank you, Lord, for those moments when
physical sensation has led to joy.
But our bodies have also seized our attention
this week in painful ways:
We feel the aches and stiffness of growing older.
We weaponize our real bodies with ideas of how we ought to look.
Sickness and injury have rendered us powerless over our own interworkings.
God, extend your mercy to us in the grief of these moments.
Remind us that we are meant to abide
in the frailness and delight of these bodies,
and that the spirit-and-bones of us, in turn,
abides in you.
Being embodied, we exist in physical apartness.
The limits of our skin can turn us inward.
Forgive us for when we have regarded the suffering of others
and responded with anything less than tenderness.
There is no body among us who rests outside your love.
Be in our breath, Holy Spirit, as we strive to embody that love.
We pray this in the name of
God our Refuge,
Christ our Security,
and the Holy Spirit, our Rest.
Amen.
(Vox Prayer Team)
Scripture
We invite you to hear from Psalm 16:8-11.
8 I’m always aware of your presence; you are right by my side and nothing can shake me. 9 My heart is happy and my tongue sings for joy; I feel completely safe with you,10 because you won’t abandon me to the Grave; you won’t let your loved one see decay. 11 You show me the path to Life; your presence fills me with joy, and by your side I find enduring pleasure.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!
The grass withers and the flower fades,
but the Word of the Lord endures forever. Amen.
Homily & Reflection
How can our community go before and beside those in fear of their call to embodiment?
Who in your life deserves their flowers?
What would today be like if you knew that God rejoices in your body?
Resources
- Video: Writing The Funeral of Cecilia Gentili at St. Patrick’s Cathedral NYC
https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxUxJAq0_SHZ-vpIv62DizFhX6Ozu-TVch
Benediction
Our lives are so small, Lord,
our vision so limited,
our hours so fleeting.
Therefore give us grace and courage for the journey ahead.
We are gathered here because we believe
that we are called together into a work
we cannot yet know the fullness of.
Still, we trust the voice of the one who calls us.
May our acts of service and creation,
frail and wanting as they are,
be met and multiplied by the mysterious workings
of your Spirit,
who weaves all things together
into a redemption more good and glorious
than we yet have eyes to see,
or courage to hope for.
May our love and our labors
now echo your love
and your labors, Lord.
Let all that we do here,
in our brief lives and bodies,
flower into a foretaste
of the reconciliation yet to come.
Loving God, shape our hearts.
Christ our sibling, guide our hands.
Spirit of God, abide in our bodies.
Amen.
(adapted from Every Moment Holy)
[Photo by Hannah Grace]