Posted on 10/27/2004 1:28:00 AM PDT by Blogger
A Women’s Eucharist A Celebration of the Divine Feminine http://www.episcopalchurch.org/41685_52038_ENG_HTM.htm 10/8/2004
We gather around a low table, covered with a woven cloth or shawl. A candle, a bowl or vase of flowers, a large shallow bowl filled with salted water, a chalice of sweet red wine, a cup of milk mixed with honey, and a plate of raisin cakes are placed on the table. When all are seated on the floor and comfortable, one of the women lights the candles saying,
"Mother God, Giver of light, let this flame illumine our hearts and minds. May its warmth remind us of the love in which you embrace us all. We thank you, Mother, for light."
Placing both hands on the fabric covering the table, one of the women says,
"We thank you, Mother, for the hands that wove this cloth. May her life be rich and full. We thank you for the colors, the textures, and the patterns that cover our sacred time and places. We thank you for the wisdom of the weaver’s art, the glory of the interplay of thread and cord. May we be woven together with cords of love and trust as we weave the vision of our lives."
Gathering the flowers to her face, another woman says,
"Blessed are you, Mother God, for the fertility of this world. We thank you for the sight and scent of flowers, for the way their shape evokes in us the unfolding of our own sexuality, and for their power to remind us of the glory and the impermanence of physical beauty. May our days of blossoming and of fading be days spent in your presence."
Dipping her fingers into the bowl of salt water, one of the women says,
"Sisters, this is the water of life. From the womb of the sea, Mother Earth brought forth life. From the womb waters of our own bodies our children are born. In the womb shaped fonts of our churches, we are baptized into community. This is the water of life." Touching the water again, she continues. "This, too, is the water of our tears. Our power to weep is an expression of God’s love in and through us. We weep in sorrow for that which we have lost. We weep in anger for the pain of others. We weep in hope of healing and wholeness, and we weep in joy when our hearts are too full to contain our feelings."
Dipping her fingers in the water, each traces a tear on the cheek of the woman beside her saying,
"Remember, sister, tears are the water of life."
The chalice of sweet red wine is raised and a woman says,
"Blessed are you, Mother God, for you have given us the fruit of the earth. Red as blood, warm as life itself, sweet and intoxicating as love. We thank you for wine. We bless you for the power of this drink to remind us of our own power. We praise you for the strength and beauty of our bodies, and for the menstrual blood of womanhood. We embrace the mystery of life which you have entrusted to us, and we pray for the day when human blood is no longer shed and when woman’s blood is honored as holy and in your image."
The cup is passed hand to hand and all drink from it.
The cup of milk and honey is raised and a woman says,
"Thank you, Mother, for the abundance of life. Thank you for the rich, full, pleasing, and life giving milk of our bodies. Thank you for the children who drink from our breasts for they bring sweetness to our lives. We drink this cup as your daughters, fed from your own bosom. May we be proud of our nurturing and sustaining selves. May we honor our breasts as symbols of your abundance. Thank you for the milk and honey of your presence with us."
The cup is passed and shared by all.
The plate of raisin cakes is raised and a woman says,
"Mother God, our ancient sisters called you Queen of Heaven and baked these cakes in your honor in defiance of their brothers and husbands who would not see your feminine face. We offer you these cakes, made with our own hands; filled with the grain of life -- scattered and gathered into one loaf, then broken and shared among many. We offer these cakes and enjoy them too. They are rich with the sweetness of fruit, fertile with the ripeness of grain, sweetened with the power of love. May we also be signs of your love and abundance."
The plate is passed and each woman takes and eats a cake.
When all have eaten, they say together:
"We thank you, Mother, for revealing yourself to us in the mystery of our womanhood. We thank you for the water of life in which we swam in the womb and which gives us the power to weep. We thank you for the blood of life which flows in and from our bodies and which makes us creators in your image as we give birth to new life. We thank you for the milk and honey of life which we receive from our mothers and which we give to our own children. And we thank you for the rich, sweet, and savory taste of life found in the grain of the earth and the fruit of the vine -- the gifts of your body shared with us. May we cherish it and ourselves always, and may we live in your peace."
The Rev. Glyn Lorraine Ruppe Melnyk St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church 689 Sugartown Road Malvern, PA 19355
Jeremiah 44:19 The women added, "When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes like her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?"
Hosea 3:1 The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."
FYI
It was things like what is described in the article that contributed to my departure from the Episcopal church and becoming Catholic. Not that there aren't problems in the Catholic Church, there are. But at least there isn't official sanction for this type of stuff by having it at an official web site, either.
SHOCK AND HORROR BEYOND WORDS!!!
This is utterly Satanic. That it could happen at all is almost beyond belief, yet in a wierd way, it doesn't surprise me. This is nothing less than repaganization. Thanks for including the actual references on the "raisin cakes." As soon as I read that part, my hair absolutely stood on end.
One question: What exactly is the nature of the source of this posting? It is being recommended "officially" in some way?
Cling to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Judgement is upon us.
I believe it is the official website of the church. The article is in the "Women's ministry" section of
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/
The Info Desk
The Episcopal Church, USA
Member of the Anglican Communion
815 Second Avenue New York, NY 10017
This is on their info desk page. If the ECUSA is stationed in NY, NY, then this is the official website.
Try Orthodoxy....no problems. I am a convert from the ECUSA as well...........
After reading this, I thank God that I am Catholic!
OK I found it. It is part of the "Women's Ministries" Page of the ECUSA National Church Org Website.
Which, BTW, is decorated with read and orange flames. A snapshot of their living room, perhaps, in hell?
I can hardly get my breath.
Okay, the way you get to the article is go to
episcopalchurch.org
SEEKERS
JUMP TO Women's Ministries website
From this point, it is hard to find.
Okay, figured out where you go from there. Do Resources, Worship Resources, and A Women's Eucharist is listed right there.
The morons haven't even noticed they're still in the kitchen. Woops. Think globally, act in the kitchen?
Feminist issues are the least of their troubles.
Thanks, I found it.
I am barely able to get my breath.
This is utterly the worst thing I have ever seen coming from 815 Second Ave NY -- and I have seen a LOT of horrors in my time.
I hope the African Anglican leaders meeting right now know how bad this is. ECUSA should -- must -- be expelled from any Christian body immediately with no more fooling around.
I can hardly breathe.
I thought the very same thing. I just faxed this to the New Oxford Review, which started out as an Episcopal publication. I bet they'll get a kick out of this.
Keep your eyes on Christ, Lumen Christie. Not on man. Obviously, Satan is working his way through several (in fact in some degree all) denominations. That's why it is about relationship, not religion.
We had a group here announce a "Mary Magdalene Day Liturgy" at the campus Catholic church. It's dominated by a bunch of elderly wacko nuns who have moved here recently, combined with the ever-heretical campus chaplain.
My sister wrote to the bishop, including newspaper articles about the participants, "We Are Church" and the other "feminist" group whose name escapes me right now, which have already been banned in other dioceses. We were delighted: the bishop wrote to her and told her he had contacted the pastor about the "Liturgy," and then sent out a letter to all the priests in the diocese telling them that these organizations and their representatives were not to be permitted to use church property in any way.
So it's not officially sanctioned in the Catholic Church, but sometimes you do have to remind them...
The first part is right, but Christ founded one Church, and only one has existed since then.
Well, this 'eucharist' service is not new. It is very similar to what was given in 1993 at a "Re-Imaging" Conference of feminist Episcopalians, Methodists and Presbyterians. Another lovely thing that came out during that conference was the quote:
‘We don’t need guys hanging on crosses with blood dripping and all that weird stuff.’
The main difference today is that was a fringe group of liberal feminist apostates. This appears to have official church sanction.
Hey, that's very good - actual Scriptural condemnations of the very practices the Episcopal Church is embracing. I'd like to see some Church leaders put on the spot and forced to answer why they are embracing Political Correctness to such a degree. Certainly no one should give this denomination another dime until they start cleaning up their act.
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