The Uniting Church of St James
Curtin, ACT
Minister-in-Placement: Revd Rex A E Hunt, MSc(Hons), GradDipCommMgt
eMail: rexae@optusnet.com.au
Web site: www.rexaehuntprogressive.com
LITURGY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF LIFE
4 May 2008. Easter 7A. (White).
10.30am. Contemporary liturgical worship.
Celebrating community: Sacrament of Holy Communion
Acknowledgement of land
(An act towards reconciliation by the Church of St James, Curtin.)
For thousands of years Indigenous people have walked
in this land, on their own country.
Their relationship with the land is at the centre of their lives.
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal People and their stewardship
of this land throughout the ages.
St James is a safe place for all people to worship regardless of
race, creed, age, cultural background or sexual orientation
GATHERING
Gathering music
Entry into worship
The gong is sounded three times
In this safe place let us be together.
For here together we will weave the threads of our lives
into a wondrous vision;
a bright new tapestry of dreams
of times to come. Susan Hardwick/ea-adapt
So let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life in the presentness of the God.
Lighting of the community candle
The community candle is lit
God of light and the rainbow,
light up our world with colour.
Hymn The people stand as they are able, to sing
“God’s word, God’s world” (Tune: ‘The streets of Laredo’ - trad.)
Come people of faith from the bounds of Australia,
let’s share in the vision of what we might be:
a part of God’s world that is vibrant with colour,
a landscape for life that is open and free.
God’s world has one table for all kinds of people,
God's world is a home all are welcome inside,
God's way is the way beyond stigma and dogma,
God's Spirit the surfboard that dares us to-ride.
God's Word is alive in the challenge of Jesus:
to look with his eyes at the world that we know,
to stand with conviction, to care with compassion,
to make new connections, to pray as we go.
Let's relish the changes the Word rearranges,
with bushfires of bias stamped out from the start,
let's savour the flavour of full-bodied living,
the world of Christ Jesus, the way of the heart. Shirley Murray
Remain standing
Opening sentences
As a workman gathers his tools
As a poet gathers her images
As a musician gathers his band
As a scholar gathers her arguments
As a writer gathers his stories
As a preacher gathers her texts
All So God gathers people for service.
Prayer of awareness
We pray:
Spinner, weaver of our lives, your loom is love.
May we who are gathered here be empowered by that love
to weave new patterns of truth and justice
into a web of life that is strong, beautiful, and everlasting.
Amen. (Adapted/Barbara Wells)
Hymn “Crowded table, urgent faces” (Tune: ‘Maria’s Tune’ 87 87D. 420 TiS)
Crowded table, urgent faces,
people longing for the bread,
bread of life and bread for living,
bread for rising from the dead;
Young and old, both men and women,
those for whom this life is hard,
those who live in warmth and comfort,
those whose life is stained or tarred;
All are welcome, wise or foolish,
at this table all are fed,
sharing wine in celebration,
eating Christ’s communion bread.
Then in costly life and giving
we will share what we receive,
demonstrate in daily living
all that we affirm, believe. © Andrew Pratt
Welcome
In your own words
A warm welcome is extended to all.
Especially those who are worshipping at St James for the first time
or who have returned after an absence.
Your presence both enriches us
and this time of celebration together.
Refer to printed liturgy.
Fellowship hour following worship.
Those visiting, please sign our Visitors book.
CENTERING
Meditation
"Landscape"
By David Best. …from under the bench/41.
our hills are not
silent but
shout tall
our rivers sing
their own
song to southern seas
our birds have
no foreign language
our light has
its own brightness
our night
the black of homely black
our sun warms
our wind cleans
bodies which are colded here
and splendidly selfsoiled
our sweat waters the earth
and gives hearty growth,
filling our geography
with the art and dreams
which spill
from our being
and shapes our clay.
when will we learn
that imported wisdom
is a landscape
of little joy?
Silence
In this time silence may we move
from busy-ness to quietness...
(Silence)
God of life
God of peace
God of wonders that will not cease...
Present with us now.
EXPLORING
Readings from our religious tradition
Some stories from our biblical tradition shall now be read. Our reader is (NN).
Hebrew scriptures:
Psalm 104
Margie Abbott. Sparks of the universe/22.
God, how fertile your genius!
You shape everything,
You fill the world
With what you do.
Le Let God’s glory endure.
The Holy One delights in creating.
Ri I will sing to my God,
Make music for my God,
As long as I live.
We praise you God
For the beauty of creation,
And stand in your presence
In awe and wonder.
Gospel:
John 17:1-5, 11. (NRSV)
After Jesus had spoken he looked to heaven and said,
'Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,
since you have given him authority over all people,
to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
'And this is eternal life, that they may know you,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
'I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.
So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence
with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed...
'And now I am no longer in the world,
but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me,
so that they may be one, as we are one.'
Doxology The people remain seated to sing
Praise God the giver and the gift, (Tune 100 TiS)
Hearts, minds and voices now uplift:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Breath of glad surprise,
freeing, uplifting, opening eyes,
Three in Oneness, Love communing,
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Brian Wren
Contemporary word
Silence for personal reflection
AFFIRMING
A litany of praise
The people stand as they are able
Praise the sun, the moon, the stars,
Mn Praise the ant, the tree, the shining leaf.
Wn Praise every child large and small,
All Praise the one within us all.
Praise the flower and the winding weed,
Mn Praise each blade of grass and every dewdrop.
Wn Praise dark moist earth.
Mn Praise rock, sand, and shoal.
Wn Praise wind - nature's breath.
Mn Praise those with fin, fur, and finger,
Wn Praise the winged ones, the tiny ones,
and all the ones that live unseen.
All Praise brightest morning and darkest night.
Praise the prickly and the unpopular.
Mn Praise the crow's cry and the beggar's sigh.
Wn Praise the dancers, the doers and the dreamers.
All Praise those that give, those who love, and those who heal.
Praise to wanderers, weavers and seekers.
Wn Praise sounds of thunder, crashing waves, and shouts for justice.
Praise silence.
Mn Praise spirit.
Wn Praise all colours.
Praise all acts of compassion.
All Praise all. Praise all. Praise all. Kathy Huff/adapt.
The peace
God makes peace within us. Let us claim it.
God makes peace between us. Let us share it.
Let us greet another as a sign of God's peace.
The peace of God is here... to stay.
All Thanks be to God.
You are invited to share the peace with your neighbours
CELEBRATING
Hymn of the Month
“God who sets us on a journey” (Tune: ‘Canvas’’) 32 FFS
God who sets us on a journey
to discover, dream and grow,
lead us as you led your people
in the desert long ago;
journey inward, journey outward,
stir the spirit, stretch the mind,
love for God and self and neighbour
marks the way that Christ defined.
Exploration brings new insights,
changes, choices we must face;
give us wisdom in deciding,
mindful always of your grace;
should we stumble, lose our bearings,
find it hard to know what's right,
we regain our true direction
focused on the Jesus light.
End our longing for the old days,
grant the vision that we lack –
once we've started on this journey
there can be no turning back;
let us travel light, discarding
excess baggage from our past,
cherish only what's essential,
choosing treasure that will last.
When we set up camp and settle
to avoid love's risk and pain,
you disturb complacent comfort,
pull the tent pegs up again;
keep us travelling in the knowledge
you are always at our side;
give us courage for the journey,
Christ our goal and Christ our guide. Joy Dine
Care candle
We are people of all ages who enter this space bringing our joys and concerns.
Joys and concerns shared.
In all our joys and in all our concerns, may we be ever mindful
of the presentness of God among us,
and to see the new possibilities of the now.
The Care candle is lit
Prayers
Pastoral
Lord's Prayer
You are invited to pray in the spirit of the Lord's Prayer, and in your original language, as that is appropriate
All Most compassionate Life-giver,
may we honour and praise you:
may we work with you to establish
your new order of justice, peace and love.
Give us what we need for growth,
and help us, through forgiving others, to accept forgiveness.
Strengthen us in the time of testing,
that we may resist all evil.
For all the tenderness,
strength and love are yours, now and forever.
Amen. (W Wallace)
Offerings
Our offerings and gifts of bread and wine shall now be received.
Presentation People stand as the gifts are presented
May the blessings of God, bring these gifts to life:
new hope of healing;
fresh ways of coping;
a chance to rest;
a chance to work;
a way to live gracefully.
People sit
With the children
Children gather on the conversation mat
Conversation
"Somewhere someone"
The kingdom of love is coming because:
All somewhere someone is kind when others are unkind,
somewhere someone shares with another in need,
somewhere someone refuses to hate, while others hate,
somewhere someone is patient - and waits in love,
somewhere someone returns good for evil,
somewhere someone serves another, in love,
somewhere someone is calm in a storm,
somewhere someone is loving everybody.
Is that someone you? (jke)
CELEBRATING COMMUNITY: SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION
Welcoming to the Table
At this table we give thanks for
justice, love, peace and freedom.
All At this table we give thanks for friends and strangers.
At this table we welcome old and young.
All are invited. (Carter Heyward)
Thanksgiving
May God be with you.
All And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
All We lift them up in gratitude.
Let us give thanks
All It is right to give our praise.
Source of Life and Creativity whom we name God,
we are gathered in your presence.
Here we will offer praise and thanksgiving.
Here we will remember the words and deeds
of the one called Jesus of Nazareth,
who dared to call you Abba
and invited us to do the same.
We remember that wherever he came, people rediscovered
their humanity, became filled with new meaning and purpose,
and found a new courage to live,
not just for themselves but for others.
We remember how he spoke of a new reality he called the realm of God,
already among us yet coming in ever greater fullness,
creating communities of justice, love and peace.
We remember how he spoke in parables about
a lost coin, a lost child and a sheep that strayed,
in order to proclaim your inclusive love.
And we remember our tradition over the ages…
How, in a meal with his disciples, Jesus took bread in his hands,
blessed it, broke it, and shared it with them:
‘Let the bread you share be the means of my presence
with you for all time.’
After the meal, he poured a cup of wine:
‘Share this cup, all of you, as a remembrance
of the open meals I shared with all.’
Bread and wine
So now we take this bread and wine,
breaking it and pouring it out…
that they might be shared among us as equals.
Bread broaken, wine poured out
May this bread and wine nourish and sustain us on our life’s journey:
transforming, enabling, and empowering us,
as we continue to follow in the way of Jesus. (Adapt/ R Osing, L&L Seminar)
Communion
Let us break bread together.
All Together, we celebrate the festival of our liberation.
Bread and wine served in continuous line
After communion
Bind us together Enfolding God,
as those who feel your love under our feet
in the warmth of this, our holy ground.
SCATTERING
Hymn “Easter 1” (Tune: 378 TiS, ‘St Magnus, 86 86)
So bleak with possibility,
bare branches reach for hope,
a promise in this barren time
of love of boundless scope.
We look beyond this season's end,
through winter's lengthened night,
to longer days, and new found growth,
the cross no more a blight.
Remain standing
Words of mission
Let us embrace the wonder of this week with expectation and imagination...
The community candle is extinguished
Be still...
And let God’s peace wash over you
like waves lapping over stones
smoothing rough edges of insurmountable worries
to tiny insignificant grains of sand,
leaving smooth shining love.
Blessing words
May you be wholly present in your own life,
ready to be surprised by the wonder
of each ordinary moment.
Go in peace.
May the earth be warm under your feet,
the rain bring the gentle flowers of the bush bright around you,
and the wind blows as the breath of the Spirit before you.
All Amen.
Hymn (Cont) “Easter 1” (Tune: 378 TiS, ‘St Magnus, 86 86)
Each healing hand, each watchful eye,
each grief or joy we share,
lives out that resurrection love,
our calling and our care. © Andrew Pratt
The people sit after the hymn
'This week' at St James
Notices
Birthdays and anniversaries
Significant events
Journey candles
Music
Fellowship
Morning tea is now served.
You are invited to share in the moment of fellowship.
You are invited to keep this copy of the liturgy and take it home with you
to share with another member of your family, or with a friend.
The contemporary hymns used in this liturgy,
are reproduced with permission under license #A1197.
LicenSing - Copyright cleared music for churches.
Some of the resources used in shaping this liturgy:
Abbott, M. 2001. Sparks of the cosmos. Rituals for seasonal use. SA: Unley. MediaCom Education.
Best, D. C. 2005. …from under the bench. NZ: Wellington. Steele Roberts Ltd.
Binkley, C. G.; J. M. McKeel. 2001. Jesus and his kingdom of equals. An international curriculum on the life and teaching of Jesus. CA: Santa Rosa. Polebridge Press.
Faith forever singing. Songs for a new day. 2000. NZ: Raumati. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust.
Holy Bible. NRSV. 1989. Ten: Nashville. Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Osing, R. 2006. “Liturgy: Holy Eucharist”. In private circulation from the author. L & L Seminar.
The St Hilda Community. 1996. The new women included. A book of services and prayers. GtB: London. SPCK.
Web sites:
UUA Worship Web. MA: Boston. UUA. < http://www.uua.org/spirituallife/worshipweb/>
Andrew Pratt email distribution. UK. (Direct from the composer)
Shirley Murray. Wellington, NZ. (Direct from the composer)
Stainer & Bell Ltd. Web site: hymns.uk.com