We will be having an online communion service for the Spring Equinox on March 19 2023. It is open for anyone and everyone to participate. We ask that you bring your own wine/juice and bread/crackers. The Chapel zoom room will be open at 2 pm est for fellowship and the service will begin at 2:15. The readings and prayers in this liturgy are a mixture of ancient and modern sources creatively woven together into a new synthesis. Many of the texts are medieval Irish poems which would not have originally been used in a liturgical setting. You can get onto zoom by clicking HERE. You can read more about some of the ways people honour the equinox by clicking HERE. Looking forward to seeing many of you there!
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Officiant
Beloveds, in this moment we are God’s children; what we will become has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when Christ is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. Let the mass begin in the name of the Holy Trinity: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen
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Light the Candle
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Everyone
God give me tears to erase my sins
Let them come until I have been purified
Let my heart burn with redemption’s flame
Give me clear tears for Mary and Ita
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Reader 1
Spring has come, healthy and free Whence the brown wood is leaning The slender nimble deer leap And the path of the seals is smooth The cuckoo sings its sweet music Whence there is smooth and restful sleep Gentle birds leap upon the hill As do the swift grey stags Heat has laid hold of the rest of the deer The lovely cry of curly packs The white extent of the strand smiles There is the swift sea A sound of playful breezes in the tops Of a black oakwood is Drum Daill The noble hornless herd runs To whom Cuan-wood is a shelter Green bursts out on every herb The top of the green oakwood is bushy Summer has come, winter has gone Twisted hollies wound the hound The blackbird sings a loud strain To him the live wood is a heritage The sad angry sea has fallen asleep The speckled salmon leaps The sun smiles over every land A parting for me from the brood of cares Hounds bark and stags tryst Ravens flourish, spring has come!
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Reader 2
To make a pilgrimage to Rome Is much of trouble, little of profit The King whom you seek there Unless you bring him with you, you will not find Ah, little blackbird, you are satisfied Where your nest is in the bush A hermit that does not clink a bell Sweet, soft, peaceful is my note A hedge of trees surrounds me The blackbird's lay sings to me Above my lined little book The trilling birds chant to me In a grey cloak from the top of the bushes The cuckoo sings a song Certainly the Lord will shield me Well do I write under the greenwood
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Officiant
Beloveds, right now we see only a reflection of Christ, as in a mirror, but one day we will see each other face to face. Now we know only in part; one day we will know perfectly, even as we are perfectly known. The Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love
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Light the incense
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Everyone
We say the prayer three times in the depths of our hearts, breathing in the first line and out the second.
May Christ dwell in my heart through faith
As I am being rooted and grounded in love
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Reader 3
I wish, O Son of the living God O ancient and eternal king For a hidden little hut in the wilderness Where I can live out my days A graceful lark who is grey Living in the trees beside me A clear pool to wash away sins Through the grace of the Holy Spirit To be surrounded on all sides By a beautiful green forest To take care of the songbirds Hiding in the shelter of the woods A south facing opening for warmth A little brook across its floor A fruitful land with many gracious gifts That are good for every plant A few sensible friends there with me We will decide how many Who are humble and obedient That we may pray together to the king Four times three, three times four in number Enough to meet all of our needs Twice six people in the church Both in the north and in the south Six pairs of people besides myself Praying forever to the king who makes the sun shine A lovely church with a linen altar cloth A dwelling for God from heaven Shining candles above the pure white scriptures One house for everyone to share A place to care for our bodies No rudeness, boasting, or evil thoughts This is the way in which I would farm it I will not hide the food which I would choose Fragrant leeks, hens, salmon, trout, and bees Enough clothing and food for our needs All this would be a gift from the king of fair fame And I would spend all my time Sitting in meditation for a while Praying to God in the beautiful places
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Reader 4
The wisdom of the tradition Speaks of a beautiful tree It’s top reaches the firmament It’s bottom is down in the earth It has every song ever sung Whispering within its branches But the most remarkable thing Is that it grows upside down While other trees grow up from the earth This one grows downward from the sky It grows from a single root With many other roots growing from it It has nine branches growing outwards Each branch is more beautiful than the one above it There are countless pure white birds Listening to the music for all time This tree is Jesus Christ himself The pinnacle of all God’s creatures He is above every creature Because of his divine nature He came to the earth, the incarnation And assumed humanity from Mary The songs whispering in the tree Are the perfection of all joy In the deep of the divine mystery The tree grows downwards from above Because it comes from the heavenly Father Its large single root represents The divine oneness of the Godhead The many roots below it represent The apostles, disciples, and saints The nine branches represent the angels The heavenly orders which are ranked by nobility The pure white birds on the branches Are the radiant souls of the good Who now live among the heavenly orders But were once on earth like us We who still live here together Pray to God for mercy so that we too May live in the branches of that tree With the nine orders of heaven
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Everyone prepares their bread and wine
Officiant
When his time was coming near, Jesus took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves, for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Everyone
Loving Mother God, from whom all things come and to whom all things will return, bless this bread and wine that it may be for us a Celestial Medicine. Open our eyes that we may see these simple elements for what they truly are – the body and blood of Christ. May we rejoice in the gift of our own embodiment through the grace of your embodiment in this simple food and drink. As we take the body of Christ into our own bodies, may the sacred harmony of the angel song fill our hearts and minds and may we be united with your Son, who is beyond all nature and yet is the substance of all nature. Amen
Officiant
May the mixture of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ be salvation for us unto everlasting life. Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
Everyone takes communion
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Officiant
They knew the Lord, alleluia In the breaking of bread, alleluia The bread that we break, alleluia Is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, alleluia The cup which we bless, alleluia Is the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, alleluia For the forgiveness of our sins, alleluia May your mercy be upon us, O Lord, alleluia For we have hoped in you, alleluia They knew the Lord, alleluia We believe, O Lord We believe that in this breaking of the body And the shedding of blood That we are redeemed And we trust that by receiving This sacrament we will be strengthened So that what we hold at present In faith we will come to enjoy In true heavenly fruitfulness Through Christ our Lord May our prayer ascend, alleluia To your throne of brightness, Lord, alleluia And let our prayer, alleluia Not return to us empty amen
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5 min silence
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Officiant
The light of the sun reveals and enlivens the potential of the earth which was always there, sleeping. The seeds of the grass are lying in wait for the thawing of the waters. The heat of the sun invites the new flowers and leaves to burst forth from the hidden wealth of nature. In the same way, the springtime of our soul is the enlivening of the virtues which are created within us. If we use the virtues implanted within us appropriately, we shall be like God. Whatever virtues God has sown within us, we are to return to her. First she gives us the gift of her image, then we return the gift by growing into her likeness.
We are the image of God, but we can paint false images which cover and obscure the original image. If we do so, the light of the sun does not reach the seeds, which have been groaning as if in the pains of childbirth since our beginning. Let us not paint the image of any other on our hearts. Those who are cruel, full of anger and pride, paint the image of a tyrant in themselves. The light of the sun is the truth and when it shines on these false images they are unveiled as nothing more than phantoms. The light discerns between truth and lies, justice and oppression, love and hatred, dedication and laziness, affection and pretence. So that we do not introduce tyrannical images in ourselves, allow Christ to paint his own image within you as he did when he said “My peace I give you, my peace I leave you.”
God of light and truth, illuminate our inner selves so that new life may emerge from the coldness of our hearts. Give warmth to the seeds you have planted within us so that we may nurture them and help them grow. Dispel all prejudice and pretence from our hearts so that your light may shine unobstructed in the innermost recesses of our souls. All this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen
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Reader 6
The sacred writers lift up a hymn of praise To the goodness of God They call it beautiful and beauty They call it love and beloved They give it names which convey That it is the source of loveliness And is the flowering of grace Creating beauty in the world From beauty comes the existence of all things Each being shows its own way of beauty For beauty is the cause of harmony Of sympathy and of community Beauty unites all things together Beauty is the source of all things It is the great creating cause Which bestirs the entire world Beauty holds all things in existence By the longing inside them to be beautiful And there it is ahead of all as the goal As the beloved cause towards which all things move It is indeed the longing for beauty Which brings creatures into being It is the model to which they conform Beauty is the reason for creation The beautiful is therefore the same as the good Everything looks to the beautiful and the good Together as the cause of all being There is nothing in the universe Without a share in the beautiful and the good
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Officiant
Dearly beloveds, I pray that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through the Holy Spirit and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to understand, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and also to know the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. The mass is completed, go in peace
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