Let Me Serve You, Additional Resources
Like all of you we have been negotiating our way through the daily realities of the Cov-id 19 Pandemic, which is entering its second wave. We head into the Thanksgiving Season – with all of its memories of gathered families and celebration – with uncertainty, and the natural disappointment of not being able to gather in large groups as we once did.
In our Christian tradition, this Sunday is Worldwide Communion Day, a Sunday set aside where each denomination celebrates the Eucharist in its own way, but in solidarity with all others who attempt to follow in the way of love as taught and lived out by Jesus. And yet, for health and safety reasons, we are not allowed to have a communion service in the way we once did. But it may be, that in not doing so in the usual way, we can consider how the practice of Christian communion, so particular to one religion, is really in service to the greater good of all people, regardless of religious affiliations one way or the other. And how, when we choose to see the hand of the divine in all things, communion takes place at the breakfast table, whether you are all alone, or with a gaggle of noisy children.
So, no great gatherings around the turkey dinner, no traditional communion church gatherings, and then add to this the recent memory of the appalling display of world leaders behaving like school yard children and now the further uncertainty concerning the health of the leader of the United States and his wife, and the inevitable uneven stock market, it is no surprise that we are all feeling a little unsettled this week.
Perhaps that is all the more reason why we gather for some contemplative time apart – and yet together – that we may turn to our faith for the wisdom that is evading us in common culture and hard to seek in the headlines.
St. Francis of Assisi, Jane Small
Call to Worship/Opening Prayer, St. Francis of Assisi
Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing.To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no man is worthy to mention Your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather through which
You give sustenance to Your creatures
.Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night and he is beautiful
and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains us and governs us and who produces
varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praised be You, my Lord,
through those who give pardon for Your love,
and bear infirmity and tribulation.
Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord,
through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no living man can escape.Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those who will
find Your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.
Praise and bless my Lord,
and give Him thanks
and serve Him with great humility
Most High, glorious God
Enlighten the darkness of my heart
And give me True faith, Certain hope,
And perfect charity, Sense and knowledge,
Lord that I may carry out your holy and true command.
Amen.
“Mentally hold the smiling faces of those benefactors before you: then relax and just accept the simple goodness of their wish for your well-being and happiness, their wish of love for you.”
“Because spiritually weighty beings have communed so deeply with the very source of love and compassion, the very ground of goodness, we share in that ground when we open to their wish of love, their wish for the fullest well-being and happiness of ourselves and all others. It blesses our life. ”
From 1988 Jennifer sings the beautiful Leonard Cohen composition "Song Of Bernadette." This is from the Smothers Brothers 20th Reunion Show broadcast in 1988...
Here is the full length version of the film, Song of Bernadette
From the introduction to Song of Bernadette, by Franz Werfel
In the last days of June 1940, in flight from our mortal enemies after the collapse of France, we reached the city of Lourdes. The two of us, my wife and I, had hoped to be able to elude them in time to cross the Spanish frontier to Portugal. But since the consuls unanimously refused the requisite visas, we had no alternative but to flee back with great difficulty to the interior of France on the very night on which the National Socialist troops occupied the border town of Hendaye.
President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to the White House in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, as he returns from Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
From Broadview: How to show compassion for a leader who lacks it himself
By Simran Peet Singh,October 2, 2020
I hope the experience of COVID-19 challenges Donald Trump to revisit his priorities and his life choices…..
After our family was infected by and survived COVID-19, I said to my partner that I wouldn’t wish what we had gone through on anyone. It was the most harrowing and stressful experience of my life, especially as our two young girls spiked dangerously high fevers that, no matter what we tried, we couldn’t control.