Revd Rex A E Hunt
MSc(Hons), GradDipCommMgt
eMail: rexae@optusnet.com.au
Web site: www.rexaehuntprogressive.com
LITURGY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF LIFE
1 June 2008. Pentecost 3A. (Green).
Celebrating community: Sacrament of Holy Communion
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) People 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
Blessed be the changing seasons of our living.
Blessed be the reliable balancing act of nature.
Blessed be the rededication of values and meaning of life.
Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of this time, this life
in the presentness of the God.
Lighting of the candle
The community candle is lit
Come, Spirit, embolden us to embrace change.
Come, Spirit, inspire us to work for change.
Hymn The people stand as they are able, to sing
"I, the Lord of sea and sky" 658 TiS
Remain standing after the hymn
Opening sentences
Out of nothingness we came through birth into life:
All With the Spirit of God within us.
From the life of God the universe unfolded into being
All With the Spirit of God within it.
From the heart of God creation goes on till the end of time
All With the Spirit of God within it
and with our spirit within it. (Pitt St Uniting/eoj)
Prayer
We pray:
Spirit of life, we gather grateful for
the companionship of hearts and minds
seeking to speak the truth in love.
And we gather grateful for the gift of life itself,
mindful that to respect life means both
to celebrate what life is
and to insist on what it can become.
Amen. M S Milner
Hymn "Great lover calling us to share" (Tune: 'Galilee', 88 88. 402 TiS)
Great Lover, calling us to share
your joy in all created things
from atom-dance to eagles' wings,
we come and go, to praise and care.
Though sure of resurrection-grace,
we ache for all earth's troubled lands
and hold the planet in our hands,
a fragile, unprotected place.
Your questing Spirit longs to gain
no simple fishing-ground for souls,
but as life's story onward rolls,
world more joyful and humane.
As midwives who assist at birth,
we give our uttermost, yet grieve
lest folly, greed or hate should leave
a spoiled, aborted, barren earth.
Self-giving Lover, since you dare
to join us in our history,
embracing all our destiny,
we'll come and go with praise and care. Brian Wren
The people sit
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
Let us listen to the silence of this sacred space…
A space made ready for us by willing hands.
(Silence)
May this silence invigorate our questionings.
May our faith be made stronger by our coming together.
May new friendships be made and old friendships renewed,
bound together by care and affection.
(Silence)
Music of reflection
EXPLORING
Reading from our religious tradition
A reading from our biblical tradition shall now be read.
The reader is (NN).
Gospel:
Matthew 7:21-29. (NRSV)
Contemporary word
Silence for personal reflection
AFFIRMING
An affirmation of faith
In response to the word reflected on
let us stand and share together an affirmation of faith.
The people stand, as they are able
We believe in God, Holy One
All Creativity in the universe;
life indescribable and beyond our describing,
yet closer than our breathing.
We believe in Jesus, Companion
All Challenger of false values;
the life of God inviting us to new imagining.
We believe in the Spirit, Encourager,
All Breathing into us renewing power,
interpreting our longing for truth,
and probing with us,
the depths of God's wisdom.
We believe in the company of God's people;
All Called to live the way of Jesus;
heirs to the promises of God,
which sustain us in what we know,
inviting us to travel on in discovery and hope. (From NZ/ adapted)
The 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
“Playful God” (Tune: ‘Joyful God’. 77 87) 75 RP
Playful God, you laugh and dance
at every indication
that we have caught a glimpse, a glance
of magic in creation.
Tearful God, you weep and mourn,
you share our desolation;
in every doubt, in pain and grief,
we need your consolation.
Joyful God, we praise your name
in every situation.
Your love will even live through death,
you promise resurrection.
Mighty God, creative heart
and source of our elation,
accept our praise, our lives, our all,
our ceaseless adoration. Andrew Pratt
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 Indwelling God,
infused throughout all existence,
we honour you with many names.
Your realm is within the human heart.
We accept life for all that it can be,
on earth as throughout all creation.
May we continue to draw sustenance from this earth,
and may we receive forgiveness equal to our own.
May we ever move from separation toward union,
to live in grace, with love in our hearts,
forever and ever. Amen. Fred F. Keip
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
Offerings
Our offerings for the work of ministry in this place,
and our gifts of bread and wine, shall now be received.
Presentation People stand as the gifts are presented
The riches of God's gracious love have been entrusted to us.
May we share the beauty of God
with all who walk with us, in caring service.
People sit
Thanksgiving
We who have gathered in this safe and sacred place,
from houses and apartments,
from suburbs east and west, and
from suburbs north and south…
give thanks and praise for all that is good in the world.
All Amen.
For the love we name God,
source of life in heaven and earth
and all that is.
For the person we name Jesus,
and his message of peace, justice and inclusiveness
that is the realm of God.
For the strength and freedom of the Spirit
always present on the breath of life
All We give thanks for the love, peace,
justice, inclusiveness and freedom,
and for the presentness of God in the midst of life.
God of winter, the unpopular, slandered season, we offer praise.
God of mystery, wind and storm, we offer praise.
God of brisk winter mornings,
frosted back lawns and stark hillsides;
of warm socks, coats and gloves,
heaters, raincoats, umbrellas and warm fires, we offer praise.
So we join our celebration to all people, saying:
All Holy, holy, holy, re-creating God,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
All Hosanna in the highest.
Bread and wine
We remember the time when Jesus faced difficult decisions and destructive forces:
- in the days and nights of his searching,
- in finding ways to free others from images and ideas
that kept them captive and dependent and fearful of God,
- in breaking down social and religious barriers,
- in facing failure,
- in facing death.
When we too experience the winter of our lives
may we find the courage to let go
and trust in your guiding, warming light.
And we remember
Jesus has shown us that life is stronger than death.
And as we eat together at this table we remember
the importance and the words and the actions of all meals
in the tradition of Jesus...
Jesus, human like us,
All reveals to us our true identity, temples of God's spirit.
Jesus, human like us,
All reveals God present and active throughout human history.
Jesus, human like us,
All reveals God-always-with-us in our everyday loving.
Jesus, human like us,
All challenges us to let his story be our story also (Morwood 2003).
Communion
So in the tradition of all those meals we bless and break and share and drink…
Bread broken… Wine poured out
Pledging ourselves to allow the spirit
that moved in Jesus
to move freely in our lives.
Bread and wine is served in the pews
After Communion
God of amazing grace, in the cold of the winter months
we are grateful for your presence, warming us.
May this presence strengthen us
to follow in the way of Jesus, in this city.
SCATTERING
Hymn "Throughout
this Winter season" (Tune: ‘Tyrolese’, 86 86D. 235
TiS) 22TMT
Throughout this winter season,
in
nature’s darkened womb,
Christ,
grant your life and laughter
to
lighten frosty gloom;
to
lift our flagging spirits
beyond
these short-lived days
to
Advent and each coming
which
fills our lives with praise.
You
come as puddles crackle
beneath
the children’s feet;
you
come in leafless branches
outlined
against the sleet;
you
come when lives diminish
as
cold envelops all;
you
come as snow which blankets
earth’s
grime beneath its fall.
Remain standing
Words of mission
The God we worship is never confined to this holy place.
So go and travel with the God
who is found in ordinary and surprising places.
The candle is extinguished
As we depart one from another, let our hearts be secure
through every human season.
All Let our hearts be secure
in seasons of anguish as in seasons of joy,
in seasons of failure as in seasons of success,
in seasons of uncertainty as in seasons of security.
Let our hearts be secure in this dual reality:
we are worthy recipients of love and support we can never earn,
All and we are worthy providers of love and support
others cannot earn.
Let our hearts be secure,
All for hearts know and understand
and will respond if invited in. James A. Hobart.
Blessing words
May the rhythms of our coming together,
the melodies of our worship, and
the harmonies both of our greetings and farewells,
make musical our living,
soothing our spirits
and uplifting our souls,
this day and into the beckoning future. Richard Gilbert
All Amen.
Hymn (Cont) "Throughout
this Winter season" (Tune: ‘Tyrolese’, 86 86D. 235
TiS) 22TMT
You
come as fire and candle
and
all that warms the heart;
you
come in party feasting,
in
music, dance, and art;
you
come in ancient stories,
of
years that are no more;
you
come as liberation
and
power for all the poor.
We
seek to know your presence
in
grey days and in bright,
in
all the earth’s abundance
and
during nature’s night;
but
when we can not see you
through
blindness or through pain,
enfold
us in your dying
and
rise in us again. William
Wallace
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:
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.
Holy Bible. NRSV. 1989. Ten: Nashville. Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Iona Community. 2001. Iona abbey worship book. GtB: Glasgow. Wild Goose Publications.
McRae-McMahon, D. 1993. Echoes of our journey. Liturgies of the people. VIC: Melbourne. JBCE.
Morwood, M. 2003. Praying a new story. VIC: Richmond. Spectrum Publications.
Pratt, A. 2006. Reclaiming praise. Hymns from a spiritual journey. GtB: London. Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Together in song. Australian hymn book 2. 1999. NSW: Sydney. HarperCollins Religious.
Wallace, W. L. 2001. The mystery telling. Hymns and songs for the new millennium. NY: Kingston. Selah Publishing.
Web sites:
UUA Worship Web. MA: Boston. UUA. < http://www.uua.org/spirituallife/worshipweb/>
Stainer & Bell Ltd. Web site: hymns.uk.com