Give thanks to God for St. Mary Magdalene, the first witness to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Transcription

1 A Celebration of the Feast of St. Mary of Magdala July 17,2010 Marisa Werner and Delle McCormick Give thanks to God for St. Mary Magdalene, the first witness to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1) Announcements and Prayer Requests 2) Opening Prayer: In My Soul by Rabia In my soul there is a temple, a mosque, a shrine, a church where I kneel. Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist. Is there not a region of love where sovereignty is illuminated nothing, where ecstasy gets poured into itself and becomes lost, where the wing is fully alive but has no mind or body? In my soul there is a temple, a mosque, a shrine, a church that dissolve, that dissolve in God. 3) Opening Song: # 315, Gather Your People 4) First Reading: THE GIRL EFFECT, n. -- The powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate. Adolescent girls are uniquely capable of raising the standard of living in the developing world. It s been shown: she will reinvest her income and knowledge back into her family

2 and her community. As an educated mother, an active citizen, an ambitious entrepreneur or prepared employee, a girl will break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. That is the girl effect. Yet, despite her proven potential, she is more likely to be uneducated, a child bride, and exposed to HIV/AIDS. Less than two cents of every international development dollar is directed to her. Today, the world is starting to see that the cost of excluding a girl doesn t just impact her. It impacts everyone. The ranks of girl champions around the world are growing, including the Nike Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, the Coalition for Adolescent Girls, the International Center for Research on Women, the Population Council, CARE, the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, the Center for Global Development, Plan International, and the Global Business Coalition, among others. Progress has been made and solutions identified, yet more must be done. The 600 million adolescent girls in developing countries are ready to change the world. 5) Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 15, from The Swallow s Nest Response: She who lives this way will never be broken. O God, who is able to live for you, and enjoy your holy presence? She who lives uprightly, works for justice, and speaks the truth; R She who does not revile others, or do evil to a friend, or harass a neighbor; R She who keeps company with others who love and revere God, but avoids intimacy with those who ignore or forsake Her; R She who keeps her promises and lives with integrity; R She who lends money generously, but without expecting interest, and will not condemn the innocent. R

3 6) Second Reading: From the Gospel of Philip: There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary. From The Secret Magdalene by Ki Longfellow: (A fictional account of the life of Mary Madgalene. Mary s words as she looks back on her life... ) It comes at last to this. I am changed from water to wine. I, who was dead, now live. I know my own name. I AM.... As I know my own name, I know there will dawn a day when Yehoshua, whom some call Joshua, and some call Iesous, and some call Jesus, but whom I call Yeshu, shall be seen for what he is: nothing so whimsical and so impractical as a god, and nothing so arbitrary and so transitory as a king, but as a great heart standing on the edge of the world, teaching to us all to soar, by teaching himself. 7) Gospel Acclamation 8) Gospel Reading: John 20:11-18 God be with you. And also with you. A reading from the Gospel according to John Glory to you, O God. The disciples had returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary! She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabbouni! (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord ; and she told them that he had said these things to her. The good news of salvation. Glory and praise to our savior Jesus Christ. 9) Silent Reflection

4 10) Discussion 11) Intercessions: Our loving God, we bring to you the names of women found in the Bible, women long forgotten or scarcely known. As we recall them tonight, we also remember the contemporary women and men who follow in their path. Honoring Phoebe, woman deacon, Junia, woman apostle, and all the women named by Paul as disciples of Jesus --- Lydia, Tryphena, Susanna, Julia, Persis, Dorcas and all the rest --- we pray that the church today will grow in accepting and valuing the ministry of women. O God, hear our prayer. Honoring Lois and Eunice, mother and grandmother to Timothy, women of sincere faith, we remember families sharing their faith with children and grandchildren, That they may continue to model the Jesus Way for future generations, we pray. O God, hear our prayer. Honoring the women who came to Jesus for healing: the severely crippled woman; Mary of Magdala who suffered serious illness; the woman who bled for twelve years: the Syro-Phoenician woman who would not accept no as an answer --- we remember the sick, the wounded, the dying people of our broken world. For their healing, and for strength and wisdom for those who strive to help them, we pray, O God, hear our prayer. Honoring Miriam, Judith, Deborah, Esther and other women who when called by God, led their people as prophets, soldiers, judges and queen, we remember women past and present who have given leadership to their countries. For acceptance of women leaders and for encouragement of women to seek positions of leadership, we pray: O God, hear our prayer. God of love and compassion, we acknowledge that, like our foremother, Mary of Magdala, we too are called to carry the Good News of healing and hope and to follow closely in your way. We ask that you gift us with the courage to hear your call, and answer with a resounding Yes, in the name of Christ. Amen. 12) Bread Breaking Prayer Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to God. Let us give thanks to God our Creator. It is right to give God thanks and praise. We take bread, symbol of labor - exploited, degraded- symbol of life because Christ, the source of life, was broken for the exploited and downtrodden. Now the bread is before us, the memory of our meals, our working, our talking, the story which

5 shapes us, the grieving and the pain, the oppressor who lies deep in our own soul; the seeking and the loving. And we give thanks for all that holds us together in our humanity; that binds us to all who live and have lived, to women and men who have cried and are crying, who hunger and are thirsty, who pine for justice, and who hold out for the time that is coming. And in this we are bound to Jesus whose death we remember, and whose life we proclaim, the risen Jesus who appeared first to Mary of Magdala and sent her to tell the others the joyful news of the resurrection. But not all heard or believed, like the couple who on the road to Emmaus, met but did not recognize Jesus until they sat at table. Then Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Let us repeat now the prayer Jesus taught the disciples: Our Loving God Who is in us here on earth, Holy is your name In the hungry who share their bread and their song. Your Kingdom come, A generous land where confidence and truth reign. Let us do your will, Bring a cool breeze for those who sweat. You are giving us our daily bread When we manage to get back our lands Or to get a fairer wage. Forgive us For keeping silent in the face of injustice And for burying our dreams. Don t let us fall into the temptation Of taking up the same arms as the enemy, But deliver us from evil which disunites us. And we shall have believed in humanity and life And we shall have known your Kingdom Which is being built for ever and ever 13) Sharing of Bread, and song # 356 One Bread, One Body 14) Silent Reflection

6 15) Closing Prayer: From the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women A clean sky Active peace A woman s voice singing somewhere The army disbanded The harvest abundant The wounded healed the child wanted the prisoner freed the body s integrity honored The lover returned Labor, equal, fair and valued No hand raised in any gesture but greeting secure interiors of heart, home, lands so firm as to make secure borders irrelevant at last. Amen May God bless us and keep us, may God s face shine upon us and grant to us and to all our broken world, peace. May the blessing of Almighty God, the Creator, the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit, come upon us and remain with us forever. Amen. 16) Closing Song: # 407, Sing a New Church Happy Birthday: Nancy Mairs, Veronica Nitko Images: