Sunday the 12th of October: Please: Join us TODAY for our Emmaus Celebration Starting at 3:45

In Person at Christ Church United Methodist

1717 Yulupa Avenue, Santa Rosa California 95405

Or 

Our Emmaus Community is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting using this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573?omn=87556733844

Passcode: 1234

Meeting ID: 519 315 8573

Passcode: 1234

Let us begin our liturgy. (Victoria rings singing bowl three times) 

Victoria: Welcome and Introduction of any new people, and brief explanation of our theme for this evening. 

All: Opening Song: Though The Mountains May Fall by Dan Schutte / St. Louis Jesuits [OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO]) 

Dan: Opening Prayer: (by Richard Doiron from Prayers for a Thousand Years, pg. 143) 

Come, friends. Let us gather. 

Let us assemble, and speak. 

We have here the Talking Circle. 

Great are its mysteries. 

Come, then, let us be seated. 

Let us see what comes of it. 

Do you hear the silence? 

The silence is the secret. 

The secret is sacred. 

Because of the Circle we have words. 

With our words we break the silence. Breaking the silence releases

The secrets. 

This is how the mysteries 

Are revealed. 

Mysteries are forever. 

Come, then. Let us gather. 

Let us assemble, and speak. 

Melva: First Reading: Poem: Lost (by David Wagoner) LOST

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you

Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you.

If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or bush does is lost on you,

You are surely lost. Stand still. 

The forest knows Where you are. 

You must let it find you.

Pat O’Connor  : Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51 (from A Book of Psalms Selected and 

Adapted from the Hebrew by Stephen Mitchell) 

Create a pure heart within me   

let my soul wake up in your light. 

Open me to your presence;  flood me with your holy pirit. 

Then I will stand and sing out  the power of your forgiveness. 

I will teach your love to the ignorant;   

The lost will find their way home. 

Lords, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 

Peter: Second Reading:  Wooden Boats (by Judy Brown)

I have a brother who builds wooden boats,

Who knows precisely how a board

Can bend or turn, steamed just exactly

Soft enough so he, with help of friends, Can shape it to the hull.

The knowledge lies as much

Within his sure hands on the plane 

As in his head;

It lies in love of wood and grain,

A rough hand resting on the satin 

Of the finished deck.

Is there within us each  Such artistry forgotten

In the cruder tasks 

The world requires of us,

The faster modern work 

That we have

Turned our life to do?

Could we return to more of craft

Within our lives, 

And feel the way the grain of wood runs true,

By letting our hands linger 

On the product of our artistry?

Could we recall what we have known

But have forgotten, 

The gifts within ourselves, 

Each other too,

And thus transform a world 

As he and friends do,

Shaping steaming oak boards

Upon the hulls of wooden boats? 

Gospel Reading: (Luke 15:1-31) 

Readers: Jane (v.1-7), Cathy (v. 8-10), and Steve (v. 11-31): 

151Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. 

The Parable of the Lost Coin 

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 

The Parable of the Lost Son 

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. 

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” 

Offertory Song: You Are Loved (by Josh Groban) 

Victoria: Homily Starter and Shared Homily Question:  

- In these three stories of loss, what within you might also be lost?  

- And, do these stories help you, in some way, with how you might search, find, and celebrate with others afterwards? 

 Dan : What is it that we bring to the table tonight: 

Eucharistic Prayer:  

Presider (V): 

On the night before he died, Jesus was at table with his friends. 

He took bread, Gave thanks to you, Broke it, and gave it to his friends saying, 

All:  This is my body broken for you. 

Presider (D): 

As supper was ending, Jesus took the cup of wine, and ourselves, a living sacrifice. Pour out your Spirit upon all these gifts that  They and we may be the Body and Blood of the Christ. Breathe your Spirit over the whole earth and make us your new creation. 

All:  This is the cup of my love, poured out for all of you    so you may know the Spirit. Do this in memory of me. 

All: (spoken)  

We Remember 

We remember how you loved us all your life. 

And still we celebrate for you are with us here. 

And we believe that we will see you   

When you come, when you come again!

We remember! We celebrate! We Believe! 

Presider (V): 

In the fullness of time bring us with all your saints from every tribe and language, from every people and nation to feast at the banquet prepared from the foundation of the world. 

Presider (D): 

Now gathered at your table, we offer to you our gifts of bread and wine, and ourselves, a living sacrifice. Pour out your Spirit upon all these gifts that they, and we, may be the Body and Blood of Christ. Breathe your Spirit over the whole earth and make us your new creation. 

Both Presiders D & V (holding up the bread and wine):  

For, it is “Through Him, With Him, In Him, In the Unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours Forever and Ever. 

Dan: Now together, as one community, we offer to you O God,  our prayer, in the name of your beloved son and our brother, Jesus:  

All: Our Mother, Our Father Holy and blessed is your true name. We pray for your reign of peace to come. We pray that your good will be done. 

Let heaven and earth become one. Give us this day the bread we need.  

Give it to those who have none.  

Let forgiveness flow like a river between us, from each one to each one.  Lead us to holy innocence beyond the evil of our days. 

Come swiftly Mother, Father, come.  

For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy:  Forever your name is All in One.  

Offering Our Gift of Peace: 

Dan:   Let us offer to one another a sign of our peace and love. 

Victoria: Invitation to Communion: 

Everyone is welcome to this table. 

The Spirit, whom the Universe cannot contain is present to us in this bread. 

She who redeems us and calls us by name Now meets us in this cup. 

So, come, take this bread, 

Drink this wine, 

In them, the Spirit comes to us, 

So that we may become one in the Spirit. 

We invite everyone to partake in communion now. 

All: Communion Song: One Bread, One Body (One Bread One Body - withlyrics.wmv) 

Dan introduces Enid to offer the Birthday Blessings 

Dan and Victoria: Closing Blessing:  (written by Jan Richardson)  

(D)When you are lost in your own life. 

(V)When the landscape you have known falls away. 

(D)When your familiar path 

becomes foreign and you find yourself a stranger in the story you had held most dear. 

(V)Then let yourself be lost. Let yourself leave for a place whose contours you do not already know, whose cadences you have not learned by heart. Let yourself land on a threshold that mirrors the mystery of your own bewildered soul. 

(D)It will come as a surprise, what arrives to welcome you through the door, making a place for you at the table and calling you by your name. 

(V)Let what comes, come. 

  (D)Let the glass be filled. Let the light be tended. 

Let the hands lay before you what will meet you in your hunger. 

  (V)Let the laughter. Let the sweetness that enters the sorrow. Let the solace that comes as sustenance and sudden, unbidden grace. 

(D)For what comes, offer gladness. For what greets you with kindly welcome, offer thanks. Offer blessing for those who gathered you in 

and will not be forgotten— 

(V)those who, when you were a stranger, made a place for you at the table and called you by your name. 

And the good people of this, our beloved Emmaus Community, say: Amen! Amen! 

Denise/David: Announcements: