Who is my neighbor? The way we answer this question will shape the community to which we belong. In some sects of first century Judaism, the question was simple to answer: a referral to Mosaic Law would show that the tribe of Israel come first, and on some occasions, others could be served. There were also untouchables, who for one reason or another were left out of the tribe's pattern of care.
Sounds familiar, doesnt it? Jesus overturns these and our own predilections with the parable of the good Samaritan. Our neighbor is the one who is in need, even if his or her very name is unmentionable. Furthermore, the one who acts with mercy is good, whether or not she or he is in our tribe. Our community, and we ourselves, can be called truly Christian to the extent that we obey the law that God has placed in our heart and to which Christ continually calls us to turn.
It seems like a good week to assess our hymn selections based on the gospel. Is our praise of God grounded in our awareness that God's presence is most perfectly mediated in human beings? Does our praise of God's love and mercy acknowledge that that mercy flows with equally fervent ardor upon our enemies and the nameless lost ones whom we avoid or fear? A steady diet of hymns that say praise God for this or that or which urge us to sing joyfully to God or to jubilate Deo without a hint that that praise is revolutionary and dangerous is not a song to our God but to an imposter.
Over the next several weeks, as we explore together again our relationship in the light of our one divine Parent, it might be a good time to sing the Our Father in the communion rite if this is not a part of your usual practice. A number of useful settings can be found in various worship aids. Michael Joncas has a simple and useful setting in WLP's Sing Praise and Thanksgiving. Tom Kendzia has published a fine setting through NALR that crosses over well between the ensemble and classical styles of music. It is available separately, or in the collection, Be With Us Now. If you use a setting, whichever one it is, remember that as the beginning piece of the communion rite the Lord's Prayer should be sung by all. If it is a new piece, it should be rehearsed for a number of weeks before using it for worship. Do not be satisfied with a performance of it by your choir. It would be lovely, and completely inappropriate.
Song ideas
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
A Celtic rune which we have in our house from Ireland's Cuala Press, once set to music by Alfred Burt (of Christmas carol fame) goes like this:
Perhaps this saying has its roots in Irish monasticism, for its sentiment certainly echoes the monastic adage, venit hospes, venit Christus. The person, the family, the people that opens its hearts to the stranger finds in that experience richness never imagined. The reason is clear, and should not surprise the Christian: every person whom we meet is made in the image of God. All life is the one life of God. The one who attends to the whole person, whose attention is focused on the others presence, has the better part over the one consumed by activity.
Good advice for those of us in ministry. During today's liturgy, perhaps we can slightly extend the silences so as to call attention to them. Before beginning, let us invite one another to drink in the presence that we are to each other during those silences, and become aware of Gods presence there as well. Use the gathering rites to awaken the assembly to become a warm and receptive mutual presence, including silence in the penitential rite as well.
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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
What is Christian prayer? The prayer of any group sets it apart from others, and Luke frequently calls the readers attention to the prayer of Jesus. When the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray, to give them their own prayer like Johns disciples, he teaches them to pray to the one Father of all, your will be done, and to ask for the fullness of the kingdom. One Father means one family, bound together by love and forgiveness. In parables, Jesus continues that this Father desires only good for us, and will give us everything that we need. Gods great gift in our prayer is the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to become Christ, and to continue doing Gods healing, reconciling work on earth.
In addition to singing the Lords Prayer today as suggested above, why not sing the general intercessions as well? Use one of the familiar dialogues (like the intercessions from Evening Prayer in Joncass O Joyful Light [New Dawn]) or spoken invocations with a longer refrain like Bob Hurds O God, Hear Us (New Dawn). These will call attention to the action of intercessory prayer. In all of this, we should not lose sight of the fact that the intercessions in the eucharistic prayer are preeminent, and in the overall view of liturgical music should be given priority.
Song ideas
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Proper psalm, Psalm 95, If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Jesus revelation of the kingdom overturns what seems normal, sane, and practical to us. Who of us, for instance, considers insurance a luxury, or a savings account an obstacle to the reign of God? And yet, without condemning these things, the Gospel makes clear that, subjected to the light of the kingdom, they not bring the security they promise.
Nada, y nada, y pues nada, wrote Hemingway. Vanity of vanities; all is vanity, says Qoheleth. What kinds of emptiness to we find ourselves investing our lives in? What unholy caskets hold our treasures? Jesus invites us to see them for what they are, and to empty them. To turn them over.
Psalm 95 is well chosen for today, because it is a song of praise for Gods being true and faithful and jealous of our attention to trivialities. Music today might be of two tones: on the one hand, love songs for the true God who gathers us in covenant, and on the other, campfire anthems for the revolutionary arrival of the reign of God. Once again, a sung penitential rite would be appropriate (form C) with invocations to Christ who brings the kingdom and overturns our expectations about salvation.
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Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Proper psalm Psalm 33: Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
If last weeks liturgy reminded us of Lent with its scrutinizing lectionary embarrassing us for our lack of true conversion, then todays might remind us of Advent. For todays scriptures acknowledge the incompleteness of the kingdoms arrival, and urge us to wait with faith and hope for its inevitable day.
Sometimes we laugh at what we consider the religious naiveté of certain Christian sects, with their dire predictions that the end is near, and their migration to various towns and hills to await the coming of the messiah. But todays liturgy exhorts us to wait in faith for what we cannot see, and to be vigilant in life for the unexpected eruption of the reign of God in our lives. Lukes community may have begun to get complacent in faith due to the non-arrival of Jesus. We might be just as complacent. Can we begin to act together in such a way that its surprising arrival will find us ready, already habituated to living the gospels new way?
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Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
How are we to understand the harsh words of Christ, that he came not to bring peace, but a sword? These words seem strangely out of place in a gospel, which makes such an impassioned plea for unity, and forgiveness in many of the parables, including the prodigal son. But it is only necessary to look at the situation in the evangelists time, one in which households were acutely divided over their allegiances to Judaism or Jesus, to emperor or Jesus, to philosophy or Jesus, to see how the mind of Luke (and Jesus) works here. He is describing the reality of life, a reality that continues to be true for us: truth divides. It calls for a choice, and often the choice involves suffering and division. The choice for Jesus includes choosing Jerusalem and the cross, the only road to the reconciliation, which he so ardently desires for the world.
Singing the penitential rite and general intercessions again, if their chosen texts are sensitive to the fire and anguish of today'sliturgy, will heighten their power to provoke our imagination. When liturgy is done well, prayed well, proclaimed well, it will always be provocative. It will always call for a decision. The Word of the Lord. The Body of Christ. The answer can be Thanks be to God or Amen or silence.
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Solemnity of the Assumption of the BVM
The Assumption of Mary, God's loving embrace of her and bringing her to self, is a symbol of the destiny of the church, and, in fact, of the destiny of the human race. To the early church, Mary was the first disciple and the first apostle: she gave birth to Christ in the world and she instructed us at Cana to do whatever he tells you. The church's tradition that God assumed her into heaven is another gift from the one who has done great things for his servant. We remember her with joy today, and give thanks for God's love.
Consider singing the Glory to God as the gathering song for today. It helps focus the feast as a feast of Christ, and helps shorten the gathering rite so as not to suggest that it overshadow the surrounding Sundays. The Marian music should be restricted to the preparation of the gifts and closing. However, the communion song might be a Magnificat setting
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