Saturday, March 7, 2026: Emmaus Liturgy for tomorrow at 4:00PM
Our Celebration: Sunday March 8, 2026: Celtic Spirituality and Thresholds
Everyone is invited to join us in person. We begin at 3:45 with out greeting.
4:00 Liturgy (Liturgy is defined as the work of the people -- in this case Enid Macken, Jane Vogel and Mary Ellen Waite)
We meet in Classroom 8 of Christ Church United Methodist
1717 Yulupa Drive in Santa Rosa.
You are also invited to our Emmaus Community celebration via ZOOM:
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519 315 8573
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Introduction (Enid)
Elements of Celtic Spirituality and Importance of Thresholds
Altar Items
We are now in the threshold space of moving from our individual lives into our community worship time. We will pause for a minute of silence after the singing bowl is rung to prepare for crossing this threshold.
Singing Bowl (Mary Ellen) - Ring to begin and end time
Opening Song: Blessing at the Door – A Celtic Song for New Beginningshttps://youtu.be/xuQkbhPdpjw?si=7R1dcb__-s4rv4Nl
First Reading (Elaine) – St. Patrick’s Breastplate
I arise today through the strength of heaven, light of sun, radiance of moon, splendor of fire, speed of lightning, swiftness of wind, depth of the sea, stability of earth, firmness of rock.
I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me from all who shall wish me ill, afar and a-near, alone and in a multitude, against every cruel, merciless power that may oppose my body and soul.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me.
Second Reading (Ken) – St. Brigid
We saw a stranger yesterday.
We put food in the eating place.
Drink in the drinking place.
Music in the listening place.
And with the sacred name of the Triune God
We were blessed, and our house.
Our cattle and our dear ones.
As the lark says in her song:
Often, often, often goes the Christ
In the stranger’s guise.
Gospel (Jane) – Today’s gospel is about Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman at a well. All water is considered sacred in the Celtic world. At one time there were hundreds of wells dedicated to St. Brigid in Ireland.
John4:5-15
Jesus came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Shared Homily Introduction (Enid) – As I mentioned in my introduction to this liturgy, thresholds are important in Celtic spirituality as thin times or places where heaven and earth are closer together and the veil between worlds is thin. In her book The Soul’s Slow Ripening, Christine Valters Paintner says, “Thresholds are challenging because they demand that we step into the in-between space of letting go while awaiting what still is to come.”
They can become rich and graced places of transformation. Some thresholds are planned changes of life; others are unplanned such as illness, suffering or loss. Other thresholds occur automatically. They include the beginning of a new day, a new season, a new year. Our first 2 questions for discussion today are adapted from John O’Donohue’s suggested questions for consideration when we are facing a threshold.
• Is anything preventing you from crossing your next threshold? What gifts would enable you to do it?
• Relate a past threshold you have crossed and how it worked out for you.
• How do you approach naturally occurring thresholds such as the beginning of a new day, a new season, a new year starting on your birthday, a change from activity to rest?
Prayer of the Faithful (Mary Ellen) – What do you bring to the table? What do you want to pray for? (Use hand gestures.)
Pass the collection basket.
Eucharistic Prayer (Prayer of Thanksgiving)
(Enid) We gather at this table as we ordinarily do. We share the joy of this time together and feel your presence with us, O Lord. We pray for your guidance as we pass through the thresholds we face in our lives.
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."
(Mary Ellen) As supper was ending, Jesus took the cup of wine. Again, he gave thanks to you, gave it to his friends and said,
All: "This is the new covenant of my lifeblood shed for you and for all. As often as you do this, do this in memory of me."
(Enid) 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.
(Mary Ellen) 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.
All: (Holding up the bread and wine) For it is through Him, with Him and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, O God, now and forever. Amen.
(Jane) Now let us pray this Celtic version of the Lord’s Prayer.
All: Holy One beyond all names
Eternal Wellspring
May love rise again in us today
With food for every table
Shelter for every family
And reverence for every life.
Forgive us for our failings in love
And free us from all falseness
That the light of our souls may shine
And the strength of our spirits endure
For the Earth and all its people
This day, tonight, and forever. Amen
Song – Deep Peace – A Gaelic Blessing https://youtu.be/kb-FAOe396U?si=bBtXzLfQQimyzYc5
Sign of Peace (Mary Ellen) – Let us offer each other a sign of peace.
Invitation to Communion: (Mary Ellen) Everyone is welcome at this table. So come, beloved friends, and take this bread, drink this wine. In them, God comes to us, so that we may come to God.
Communion Song: All Things Now Living
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w49lHsjd9kM&list=RDw49lHsjd9kM&start_radio=1
March Birthdays (Enid)
Closing Blessing (Mary Ellen) -Our closing blessing is an Irish Caim prayer which is an invisible circle drawn around oneself and one’s body as a reminder of God’s protection.
Bless to me the sky that is above me.
Bless to me the ground that is beneath me.
Bless to me the friends who are around me.
Bless to me the love of the Three, deep within me and encircling me.
Amen
And the good people of this beloved Emmaus community say
All: Amen!
Closing Song – Let There Be Peace on Earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AMvzan3EKM&list=RD_AMvzan3EKM&start_radio=1
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