Revd Rex A E Hunt
eMail: rexae@optusnet.com.au
Web site: www.rexaehuntprogressive.com
LITURGY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF LIFE
10 April 2011. Lent 5A. (Purple).
Acknowledgement of land
(An act towards reconciliation)
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 (NN) and their stewardship
of this land throughout the ages.
(NN) 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
Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life
in the presentness of God.
Lighting of the community candle
The candle is lit
Hymn The people stand as they are able, to sing
"Wake, now my senses" (Tune: Slane, 10 10 10 10, 547 TiS) 298 SLT
Wake, now my senses, and hear the earth call;
feel the deep power of being in all;
keep, with the web of creation your vow,
giving, receiving as love shows us how.
Wake, now my reason, reach out to the new,
join with each pilgrim who quests for the true;
honour the beauty and wisdom of time;
suffer your limit, and praise the sublime.
Wake, now compassion, give heed to the cry;
voices of suffering fill the wide sky;
take as your neighbour both stranger and friend,
praying and striving their hardship to end.
Wake, now my conscience, with justice your guide;
join with all people whose rights are denied;
take not for granted a privileged place;
God's love embraces the whole human race. TJS Mikelson
Remain standing
Opening sentences
Praise to Creativity God, present through the ages,
All source of our living.
Praise to Creativity God, dancing within our lives,
All transforming and overflowing our lives.
Prayer of awareness
We pray:
May our coming and our going be blessed,
this day and forever more.
Amen.
Hymn “Brother, sister.../The call of Christ” (Tune: 'Servant Song', 87 87, 650 TiS)
Brother, sister I'm beside you,
Let me be as Christ to you,
Pray that I might have the grace
to let you be as Christ to me.
We are pilgrims on a journey
and companions on the road;
we are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.
I will share your problems with you
I'll support you in your space
I will help you run your distance
I will look you in the face.
I'll remember that God made you
I'll not take your dignity
I'll encourage you in your skills
to create and feel and be.
Brother, sister I'm beside you,
Let me be as Christ to you,
Pray that I might have the grace
to let you be as Christ to me. SEMurray
The people sit after the hymn
Welcome
In your own words
A warm welcome is extended to all.
Especially those who are worshipping at (NN) 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
Silence
In the safety of this sacred place
I invite you now into a time of silence
(Silence)
May this time of silence together
renew our hope
refresh our courage
lift our spirits
restore us in faith.
(Silence)
Music of reflection
EXPLORING
Reading from our biblical tradition
A story from our biblical tradition shall be read by (NN).
• For much of the early Christian communities, the most important story about Jesus, was his crucifixion and resurrection.
So now, in our Lenten journey, we hear a story told by the writer of the gospel of Matthew.
Imagine a small group of early Christians, huddled into somebody's home, eager to hear a story they all knew.
They had been telling the Jesus story to each other, piecing together the parts they remembered,
from those who had known Jesus. But there were gaps in the story and contradictions.
Now they were going to hear the story read from a scroll, a story of Jesus last days and written down by someone they had decided to call Matthew,
though no one knew who had done the actual writing.
Gospel:
Matthew 26: 6-13. (Inclusive Text)
While Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment,
and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table.
But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said,
‘Why this waste? This ointment could have been sold for a large sum,
and the money given to the poor.’
But Jesus, aware of this, said to them,
‘Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me.
For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
‘Bypouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial
‘Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world,
what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’
Contemporary word
Silence for personal reflection
AFFIRMING
A litany: Life in all its fullness
The people stand as they are able
Bless you Wise and Holy One,
for your down-to-earth vision
of the best of what human life can be.
All Bless you Wise and Holy One,
for your call to life in all its fullness…
v1 when we honour who we are as easily
as we are enthralled by what others want us to be;
v2 when we stop pursuing happiness and let it embrace us;
v3 when we love not in the hope of getting
but for the joy of giving;
v4 when love is not what-you-can-do-for-me
but what-we-can-be together;
v5 when we choose our leaders not for their image
but for their imagination,
not for the politics they play
but for the principles they live;
v6 when our economy thrives on our expressing who we are
not on our spending what we have;
v7 when the earth itself is our communion table;
v8 when we bite into theology's questions
as readily as we swallow technology’s answers;
v9 when we celebrate today as not just all we have but all we need.
Bless you Wise and Holy One
All for calling us to life in all its fullness,
not just hereafter, but here and now. (N S D Esdon.edited/ea)
The peace
This is a house of God. A place of peace.
A place where we befriend one another.
Let us greet another as a sign of God's peace
and of our shared friendship.
The peace of God is here... to stay.
All Thanks be to God.
You are invited to share the peace with your neighbours, and with AP
Hymn of the Month
“Gather the Spirit” (Tune: ‘Gather the spirit’, 9 9 9 10/Refrain) 347 SLT
Gather the spirit, harvest the power.
Our sep'rate fires will kindle one flame.
Witness the mystery of this hour.
Our trials in this light appear all the same.
Refrain:
Gather in peace, gather in thanks.
Gather in sympathy now and then.
Gather in hope, compassion and strength.
Gather to celebrate once again.
Gather the spirit of heart and mind.
Seeds for the sowing are laid in store.
Nurtured in love, and conscience refined,
with body and spirit united once more
Refrain:
Gather the spirit growing in all,
drawn by the moon and fed by the sun.
Winter to spring, and summer to fall,
the chorus of life resounding as one.
Refrain: Jim Scott
Offering
Our offerings for the work of ministry in this place and beyond,
shall now be received.
Presentation The people stand as they are able, for the presentation of gifts
We are grateful that these gifts enable us
to share in the lives of others.
May we be empowered by the Spirit,
to share more deeply in both sorrows and joys.
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)
Reflections and prayers
Care candle:
We are people of all ages who enter this space bringing our joys and concerns.
Joys and concerns shared.
Listening response:
xxx
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
And let us recommit ourselves to the inclusive ways of Jesus.
Pastoral prayer:
The Abba Prayer:
You are invited to pray in the spirit of the Lord's Prayer in your original language, as that is appropriate
All xxx
SCATTERING
Hymn The people stand as they are able, to sing
“Celebrate each difference” (Tune: ‘Intercessor’, 11 10 11 10. 587 TiS)
We cannot make an easy, safe distinction,
all people are our neighbours, none denied.
The voices of all nations heard beside us:
all sisters, brothers, none we should deride.
The wall between the peoples has been broken.
In love of God divisions disappear.
As seen in Christ, we recognise our neighbours.
We greet unusual faces without fear.
We celebrate each difference God has given.
Each nation, black and white, both straight and gay,
the able and the challenged, God has offered,
that we might share together, learn and pray
Remain standing
Words of mission
The God we worship is never confined to this holy place.
So go and travel with the God found
in ordinary and surprising places.
The community candle is extinguished
You are wayfarers, following roads to the end of the earth,
pilgrims on your way to the end of the age.
All We are travellers on the road to freedom,
a community of grace, with good news for all we meet.
Travel lightly, travel together, learn as you go:
you are disciples, the mission is urgent, the journey is long.
All We will take heart.
When the way is uncertain,
shadows are sinister and dangers threaten,
All we will not be afraid.
For we are in God and God is in us.
Blessing words
Go in peace.
And may the Holy God surprise you on the way,
Christ Jesus be your company,
and the Spirit lift up your life.
All Amen!
Hymn (Cont) “Celebrate each difference” (Tune: ‘Intercessor’, 11 10 11 10. 587 TiS)
We meet with those who paint a different picture,
who value God in words not yet our own.
In dialogue we offer one another
a vision we could never find alone.
This God we seek is greater than each difference;
the source and ground of all variety,
the centre and the soul of all creation,
erasing hate with love, to set us free. Andrew Pratt/ea
The people sit after the hymn
'This week' at (NN)
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
I recommend the use of
LicenSing - Copyright cleared music for churches.
Some of the resources used in shaping this liturgy:
Alleluia Aotearoa. Hymns and songs for all churches. 1993. NZ: Raumati. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust.
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.
Duncan, G. (ed). 2005. Entertaining angels. A worship anthology on sharing Christ’s hospitality. Gt. Britain: Norwich. The Canterbury Press.
Inclusive readings. Year A. 2004. Qld: Brisbane. Inclusive Language Project. In private circulation.
Iona Community. 2001. Iona abbey worship book. Scotland: Glasgow. Wild Goose Publications.
Prewer, B. D. 2000. Australian psalms. Revised and expanded. SA: Adelaide. OpenBook Publishers.
Singing the living tradition. 1993. MA: Boston. UUA.
Together in song. Australian hymn book 2. 1999. NSW: Sydney. HarperCollins Religious.
Web sites:
UUA Worship Web. MA: Boston.