Revd Rex A E Hunt
eMail: rexae@optusnet.com.au
Web site: www.rexaehuntprogressive.com
LITURGY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF LIFE
20 December 2009. Advent 4C. (Blue).
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 celebration
The gong is sounded three times
v1 The season of Advent challenges us
to see God's vision of what is yet to be,
to hear God's voice calling anew,
to smell the scent of God in our world.
v2 Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life in the presentness of God.
Music of celebration
THE ADVENT WREATH WITH THE CHILDREN
Advent 4
Each night we sleep wearily under a large summer moon.
The nights are short
and the dawn comes soon.
All Come, companion Jesus, walk with us.
v1 Let us prepare a manger in our hearts for the birth of the sacred.
v3 Why do we light a fourth candle?
v2 This fourth candle reminds us of love.
A fourth candle is lit.
v4 love
in a young girl's song;
fearful,
determined,
hopeful,
bursting.
love in a mother's song;
tender,
embracing,
challenging,
stern.
love is god's song;
curious yet timid,
playful and wondering,
coming among us again.
This is why we light a candle for love. KHawker
Hymn “Anna’s Song” 55 IST
Lift this child to the sun,
Raise this child to the sky;
God has come from above,
Come to earth from on high.
Lift this child, lift this child to the sun.
Lay this child on the ground,
One with us, one with earth;
Let God know in his son,
Human clay, human birth.
Lay this child, lay this child on the ground.
Place this child in the shade,
Hang this child ‘neath a tree;
With his hand on the wood,
May this child set us free.
place this child, place this child in the shade.
Give this child to the world,
Let him be common folk;
God has come to be born,
As an ordin’ry bloke.
Give this child, give this child to the world. © NHabel.
Opening sentences
Let us acknowledge the awesome mystery embodied in every person.
All Through us God comes to unique and personal expression.
Let us give thanks
for the abundance of life on this earth.
All Through it we and all people
may be nourished. (MMorwood/adapt)
Prayer of awareness
We pray:
Spirit of God, you are the breath of life within us.
You call us to be one with you.
You breathe among us in all of creation.
Give us the strength and courage to live in your love.
Amen.
Hymn "Sarah's God" (Tune: 'Leoni', 66 84D. 125 TiS)
The God of Sarah praise
who turned her grief to joy
when, after many barren days,
she held her boy.
For laughter out of tears,
and bitterness and strife,
she praised God, after ninety years,
for the gift of life.
The God of Miriam!
She saw her brother found,
and learned, like him, that all God's earth
is holy ground.
When Moses sang a psalm,
'God has triumphed gloriously!'
She led the girls in song and dance
across the sea.
All praise to Mary's God
who overcame her dread.
'Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Amen!' she said.
She sang, 'My soul, adore
God who brought down mighty kings,
and fills the hungry and the poor
with all good things.'
The matriarchs' God and ours
who leads us onward still,
inspire our hearts, unite our minds
to work God's will.
Rock, Saviour, Maker, Lamb,
we sing your praise anew.
Mother, Father, great 'I am',
we worship you. BMoss/ssb
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
Reflection
"The Rainbow Prayer"
By Andrew Hill/adapted
Great Rainbow Arch
your bright light
your seven colours
link sky and earth above the Christmas stable.
Hold us all in your encompassing arms.
Forgive our exclusion of others:
earth and life and child.
May we too forgive those who have excluded us.
Show us the returning light;
for the light and the colours,
all space and time,
and your seven-fold rainbow compassion
dwell ever in God.
Centering silence
Let there now be a quiet time among us.
(Silence)
Hear and feel your quiet breathing.
Hear and feel the quiet of this place
and this community of people.
I invite you look at your hands.
They've been through a lot, those hands...
they have strengths, scars, beauty.
I invite you to remember that it is your hands
that do the work of love in the world:
hold another's hands,
type emails to politicians,
sign cards of consolation and congratulation,
write words urging peace,
bathe children, feed elders, nurse the ill.
These hands are God's hands, your hands, our hands.
A great mystery of flesh and intention,
A great potential of embodied love. CRobinson/adapt
(Silence)
EXPLORING
Readings from our broad religious tradition
Some readings and a reflection from our broad religious tradition shall now be read.
From the mystics:
"You are christ's hands"
By Teresa of Avila. The essential mystics/206.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which is to look out
Christ's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless all now.
Gospel:
Luke 1:39-42, 46- (Inclusive Text)
Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could
to a town in the hill country of Judah.
She went into the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit.
She gave a loud cry and said,
'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb...'
Silence
And Mary sang a song of praise,
jubilant praise,
prophetic praise,
to the glory of her God.
"Magnificat"
By Miriam T Winter. Woman prayer. Woman song/218.
My soul gives glory to my God.
My heart pours out its praise.
God lifted up my lowliness
in many marvelous ways.
My God has done great things for me:
Holy is Her Name.
All people will declare me blessed,
and blessings they shall claim.
From age to age, to all who fear,
such mercy Love imparts,
dispensing justice far and near,
dismissing selfish hearts.
Love casts the mighty from their thrones,
promotes the insecure,
leaves hungry spirits satisfied,
the rich seem suddenly poor.
Praise God, whose loving Covenant
supports those in distress,
remembering past promises
with present faithfulness.
Silence for personal reflection
AFFIRMING
Litany of power, love, and strong minds
The people stand, as they are able
v1 Within our religious tradition many women have been silenced.
They are given no name.
Today, let us break that silence.
v2 God of our years, our lives are in your hands.
We remember today our foremothers,
who throughout time have used their gifts
of power, love, and the strong minds you gave them
to change the world.
We call upon these foremothers
to help us discover within ourselves our gifts.
All We remember Sarah, a strong woman of faith
who answered God's call to forsake her homeland
and to put her faith in the promises and covenant of God.
We pray for her power of faith.
All We remember Esther, Deborah, and Rahab,
who by acts of individual courage saved her people.
We pray for their sound minds and courage
acting for the greater good.
All We remember Mary Magdala, Johanna, Mary,
and the other women who followed Jesus
and who were not believed
when they announced the resurrection.
We pray for their love and faith in the face of skepticism.
All We remember Phoebe, Priscilla, and all
the women leaders of the early church.
We pray for their power and creativity that spread the gospel
and inspired congregations.
All We pray for the love and creativity
of women who were first in their field.
We pray for their power of leadership and their creative thinking.
All May they be granted power and responsibility
as they open up new possibilities for all women.
We pray for our daughters and granddaughters.
May they be granted the power, love and creative minds
to seek that life which is uniquely theirs.
Wn We have celebrated our power.
We have celebrated our love.
We have celebrated our strong minds.
We have been given these gifts from God.
v1 Spirit of God be with us
in our speaking,
in our loving,
in our searching
and in our celebrating.
All Amen.
The peace
This is a house of God. A place of peace.
A place where we befriend one another.
Let us then 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.
Hymn of the Month
“All over creation” (Tune: ‘Elizabeth’) 3 COC
All over creation
joy spills into light,
stars, candles ablaze this Christmas night;
where Jesus is sleeping,
peace kisses the earth,
O that we could know who Mary has brought to birth!
This child will bring freedom,
this child will release
wellsprings of compassion, ways to peace,
this child will bring healing,
this child will inspire
love answering love, and spirit to Spirit's fire.
This child will befriend us,
this child will invite
all children to share his world's delight:
this Christ will confront us
when, children no more,
we plunder our planet, crying from want and war.
Let there be a moment
held, as in one breath,
when all the earth turns away from death,
peace nursing creation,
peace spreading her wing,
O that we could know what Christmas is meant to bring! (SMurray)
The people sit
Reflections and prayers
Care candle
We
are people of all ages who enter this space
bringing
our joys and concerns.
Joys and concerns shared.
And
so we take this flame and light our special care candle.
The Care candle is lit
In
all our joys and in all our concerns, may we be ever mindful
of
the presentness of God among us,
and
to see new possibilities of the now.
Pastoral
Lord's Prayer
You are invited to pray in the spirit of the Lord's Prayer in your original language, as that is appropriate.
All Father, may your name be holy.
May your rule take place.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Pardon our debts, for we ourselves pardon
everyone in debt to us.
And do not bring us to trial
into a trying situation. (B Mack/Q)
Amen.
Offerings
Our offerings for the work of ministry in this place and beyond,
and our gifts of bread and wine, shall now be received.
Presentation
Be with us, Loving God, in the breaking:
in the break of day
in the breaking of our lives
in the breaking of our hearts
in the breaking of our hopes.
Be with us, Loving God,
for you alone can make us whole.
Friends
we are about to share in the sacred story
and celebrate the feast of the resurrection.
But
we have also been reminded
that
when we gather around this open table
if
our sister or brother has anything against us,
we
must leave our gifts of bread and wine
and
first cleanse our hands for the giving.
May a clean heart thus be created in us.
Discernment
Loving
and caring God,
you
have searched us out and known us,
all
that we are is open to you.
(Pause)
Look
not upon our sin but upon our faith.
Break
down all barriers which we erect against your love.
Cover
us with the blanket of your peace.
And
let your justice reach to the ends of the earth.
All
So
that we come glad to this celebration.
For
that which has been stultified, locked up,
trapped
and frozen in our reverence of the traditional,
All we
lament.
For
those outdated customs that have
immunised
against the new and on the edge
and
diluted our passion,
All we
lament.
For
choices that strangle rather than free us,
All we
lament.
For
old ways of doing things
which
are now out of place yet still live within us
and
cause us anxiety and insecurity,
All we
lament.
For
all the ways that we are restricted,
bound,
held back, and trapped,
All we
lament.
Silence
Dear
Mother God...
All
Dear
Mother God,
your
wings are warm around us.
We
are enfolded in your love and care.
Safe
in the dark,
your
heartbeat's pulse surrounds us.
You
call to us, for
you are always there.
Thanksgiving
God
is the heart of life.
All And
we are the heartbeat.
May
our hearts be filled
with
thanks and praise and songs of joy.
All We
rejoice in the miracle of life
and
delight in our participation. SWeinberg
In
time beyond our dreaming
you
hovered over the water
revealing
yourself in
fire
and storm and
precious law.
You
created humanity in your likeness,
and
placed us on this earth,
with
its minerals and waters,
flowers
and fruits,
living
creatures of grace and beauty!
We
praise you.
All
We
praise you.
In
this age and season,
with
its TV and shopping and summer sun,
we
wait again with expectant hearts and hopeful spirits,
yearning
to again sense your presentness among us.
So
we join our celebration
to
the adoration of all your people, saying:
All
Holy,
holy, holy, vunerable 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.
Vulnerable One,
the
one in whom our mothers and fathers trusted
and
were not disappointed,
We
praise you.
All We
praise you.
God of Sarah and Abraham and Hagar,
God
of Moses and Miriam,
God
of Deborah and Gideon,
God
of Joseph and Mary,
God
of countless generations,
of
women and men unknown to us,
but
known and loved by you,
We
praise you.
All We
praise you.
Breaking bread/Pouring wine
Long
ago the one we call Jesus
came
in the humble birth of a child,
a
child of amazing love,
a
child of our humanity.
Long
ago and on many occasions our tradition says,
Jesus
met with people in many places,
but
especially around a meal.
Long
ago our tradition also reminds us, during
a certain meal,
he
took bread, gave thanks, and broke it:
v2 'This
bread is broken, as my body will be'.
Bread
is broken
And
he handed it to his friends, and
invited them to eat:
v2 'Remember
all that I have been to you'.
Long
ago, during that same meal,
Jesus
poured a cup of wine, offered thanks for it,
and
gave it to his friends:
v3 'This
wine is poured out as my life will be poured out.
As
you drink give thanks for all I have given'.
Wine
is poured
With
bread and wine we celebrate the past
which
lives and works still within us.
With
bread and wine we celebrate the future
daily
born from our labours.
With
bread and wine we celebrate this present moment
where
past and future join, wherein
only
we
live and work together
All Comfort
this gathering of this community of faith.
And
empower us to be your servants in the world.
Communion
Draw near to the Table in faith and
love.
During
Advent the bread and grape juice/wine will be served in continuous line
After communion
We give thanks that
we receive life and food from each other,
so
that love and compassion may be carried
into
the life of this city,
and
into the world.
SCATTERING
Hymn The people stand as they are able, to sing
"Cloth for the cradle" (Tune: Traditional, John Bell) 54 HSNW
Chorus:
Cloth for the cradle, cradle for the child,
The child for our every joy and sorrow;
Find him a shawl that's woven by us all
To welcome the Lord of each tomorrow.
Darkness and light and all that's known by sight,
Silence and echo fading,
Weave into one a welcome for the Son,
Set earth its own maker serenading.
Claimant and queen, wage earners in between,
Trader and travelling preacher,
Weave into one a welcome for the Son,
Whose word brings new life to every creature.
Words of mission
May we go forth
in the certainty of faith,
in the knowledge of love,
and in the vision of hope.
All And in our going, may we be blessed
with all good things on this day
and forever more. Harold Babcock
Blessing words
May the God who dances in creation,
who embraces us with human love,
who shakes our lives like thunder,
bless us and drive us out with power
to fill the world with her justice.
All Amen.
Hymn (Cont.) "Cloth for the cradle" (Tune: Traditional, John Bell) 54 HSNW
Chorus:
Cloth for the cradle, cradle for the child,
The child for our every joy and sorrow;
Find him a shawl that's woven by us all
To welcome the Lord of each tomorrow.
Hungry and poor, the sick and the unsure,
Wealthy, whose needs are stranger,
Weave into one a welcome for the Son,
Leave excess and want beneath the manger.
Wrinkled or fair, carefree or full of care,
Searchers of all the ages,
Weave into one a welcome for the Son,
The Saviour of shepherds and of sages. The Iona Community
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:
Bell, J.; G. Maule. 1989. Heaven shall not wait. Wild Goose Songs Vol. 1. Revised edition. GtB: Glasgow. Wild Goose Publications.
Carol our christmas. A book of New Zealand carols.
1996. NZ: Raumati. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust.
Duncan, G. (ed). 2001. Shine on, star of bethlehem. A worship resource for advent, christmas and epiphany. GtB: Norwich. The Canterbury Press.
Harvey, A. (ed). 1996. The essential mystics. NY: New York. HarperSanFrancisco.
In spirit and in truth. A worship book. 1991. Switzerland: Geneva. World Council of Churches. Seventh Assembly.
Inclusive readings. Year C. 2006. QLD: Brisbane. Inclusive Language Project. In private circulation.
Lee, B. J. (ed). 1987. Alternative futures for worship. Vol 3. The eucharist.
MIN: Collegeville. The Liturgical press.
Mack, B. L. 1993. The lost gospel. The book of Q and christian origins. NY: New York. HarperSanFrancisco.
Morwood, M. 2003. Praying a new story. VIC: Richmond. Spectrum Publications.
Special resources. UCA National Assembly. (Issued from time to time).
Wild Goose Worship Group. 1997. Cloth for the cradle. Worship resources and readings for advent, christmas & epiphany. GtB: Glasgow. Iona Community.
Winter, Miriam T. 1987. Women prayer. Women song. Resources for ritual. CT: Hartford. Meyer Stone Books.
Web sites:
Hill, Robinson. UUA Worship Web. MA: Boston. http://uua.org/spirituallife/worshipweb/index.php
Kathy Hawker. Outside the box. <liturgyoutside.net/AdventCandleOutside.html>
Sherri Weinberg. St
Paul's Presbyterian Church. NZ: Devonport.