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
18 March 2007. Lent 4. (Purple).
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 celebration
The gong is struck three times
As we gather together on this day, at this time, in this place
may we recognise and affirm:
the pieces of possibility,
the bits of good, we bring,
allowing our individual gifts
to weave a patchwork of celebration and justice.
Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life
in the presentness of God.
Lighting of the Community candle
A candle is lit
Hymn The people stand as they are able, to sing
“God with joy we look around us” (Tune: ‘Regent Square’, 431 TiS)
God with joy we look around us
At your world’s diversity.
Folk of every kind surround us
And you call your church to see;
All are made in your own image!
All are people whom you love.
In the times we’ve hurt each other,
Lord, we’ve hurt the ones you bless.
Hating sister, cursing brother,
We’ve denied what you express;
All are made in your own image!
All are people whom you love!
God, you sent a Saviour to us,
Breaking walls that would divide.
By your Spirit, now work through us
As we witness side by side;
All are made in your own image!
All are people whom you love! Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
Remain standing
Opening sentences
In hope, in longing
All We're glad to come together.
In trust, in community
All We're glad to come together.
In many moods, in many shapes and sizes
All We're glad to come together.
In peace, in joy
All We're glad to come together.
In solidarity with those who struggle
All We're glad to come together.
In resistance to those who dominate
All We're glad to come together.
In memory of Jesus, who lived with compassion
All We're glad to come together.
In assurance that we belong here
All We're glad to come together
this Lenten season. (Nelson-Pallmeyer/wsj)
Prayer of awareness
We pray:
Remind us, O Spirit, that life is worth living.
Remind us, O Creator, that the struggle for justice
is worth undertaking.
Remind us, O Mercy, that love and action are one.
Amen. (Nelson-Pallmeyer/wsj)
Hymn “Gather us in”(Tune: ‘Gather us in’) 474 TiS
People sit after the hymn
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
"Seeing the rainbow in our faces"
Rabbi Arthur Waskow. Life Prayers/105.
We are the generation that stands between the fires:
behind us the flame and smoke
that rose from Auschwitz and from Hiroshima;
before us the nightmare of a Flood of Fire,
the flame and smoke that consume all Earth.
It is our task to make from fire not an all-consuming blaze
but the light in which we see each other fully.
All of us different,
all of us bearing One Spark.
We light these fires to see more clearly
that the Earth and all who live as part of it
are not for burning.
We light these fires to see more clearly
the rainbow in our many-colored faces.
Blessed is the One within the many.
Blessed are the Many who make one.
Centering silence
In the silence which we now claim, let us be gentle with ourselves.
For a few moments, let us release ourselves
from a world that is too noisy, too busy, too demanding.
For a few moments, let us release ourselves
into the calm, still world that waits to receive us…
where the quiet is broken only by sounds
of our own making.
(Silence)
Within this welcoming quiet, let us befriend ourselves.
Let us rest in the gentleness of this moment. Barbara Cheatham/adapted
Music of reflection
EXPLORING
Reading from our religious tradition
A reading from our religious tradition shall now be offered.
Our reader is Beryl Richards.
Gospel:
Luke 15:1-3, 12-24 32 (Inclusive Text)
The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking
the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say…
So he spoke this parable:
A man had two sons.
The younger said to his father,
‘Father, let me have a share of the estate
that would come to me.’
So the father divided the property between them.
A few days later the younger son got together
everything he had and left for a distant country
where he squandered his money on a life of loose living.
When he had spent it all, that country experienced
a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch,
so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants
who put him on his farm to feed the pigs.
And he would willingly have filled his belly
with the husks the pigs were eating,
but no one offered him anything.
Then he came to his senses and said,
‘How many of my father’s paid servants
have more food than they want,
and here I am dying of hunger!
‘I will leave this place and go to my father and say:
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;
I no longer deserve to be called your son;
treat me as one of your paid servants.
So he left the place and went back to his father.
While he was still a long way off, his father saw him
and was moved with pity.
He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms
and kissed him tenderly.
Then the son said,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
But the father said to his servants,
‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him;
put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
‘Bring the calf we have been fattening and kill it;
we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because
this son of mine was dead and has come
back to life, he was lost and is found!’
And they began to celebrate.
Hymn “A place at the table” 17 (v1, 5) FFS
For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread,
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star overhead,
and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy!
For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out, to witness and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be free,
and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy! (Shirley Murray)
Luke 15:25- 32 (Inclusive Text)
Now the elder son was out in the fields,
and on his way back, as he drew near the house,
he could hear music and dancing.
Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about.
‘Your brother has come’, replied the servant,
‘and your father has killed the calf we had fattened, because he has got him back safe and sound.’
He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father
came out to plead with him, but he answered his father,
‘Look, all these years I have slaved for you,
and never once disobeyed your orders,
yet you never offered me so much as a kid
for me to celebrate with my friends.
‘But, for this son of yours, when he comes back
after swallowing up your property – on loose living -you kill the calf we had been fattening!’
The father said,
‘My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours.
But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice,
because your brother here was dead and has come to life;
he was lost and is found.’
Contemporary word
Silence for personal reflection
AFFIRMING
Celebration of faith
In response to the word reflected on
let us stand and share together a celebration of faith.
The people stand as they are able
We celebrate a God
All who lives and speaks in sunsets,
in love-wrapped gifts,
and fleeting butterflies.
We celebrate a Christ
All who honoured our humanness,
who climbed trees, skinned knees;
who laughed and cried,
loved and wept, bled and died.
We celebrate a Spirit,
All who mystically joins us
to people everywhere,
and incorporates us into Christ.
We celebrate a church,
All seeking, however imperfectly,
to act justly, love mercy,
and walk humbly with our God. (Adapted/ D McRae-McMahon)
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 The people stand as they are able, to sing
“When our heart is in a holy place” 1008 STJ
Refrain:
When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place,
We are blessed with love
And amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.
When we trust the wisdom in each of us,
Ev’ry colour every creed and kind,
And we see our faces in each other’s eyes,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Refrain:
When we tell our story from deep inside,
And we listen with a loving mind,
And we hear our voices in each other’s words,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Refrain:
When we share the silence of sacred space,
And the God of our Heart stirs with in,
And we feel the power of each other’s faith,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Refrain:
The people sit
The offering Offerings/bread and wine are presented
Let us bring our offerings and gifts of bread and wine
as symbols of our ministry in this place and beyond.
The presentation The people stand as the gifts are brought forward
We pray:
We give thanks to God for our life
and the courage we are given to live it.
Let our gratitude for life be expressed in our generosity.
Let our faith be expressed in good causes.
Let our belief in the future find full expression
in our daily attitude of mind. (Francis Macnab)
Amen.
Offerings/bread and wine placed on the table.
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)
Care candle
We are people of all ages who enter this space
bringing our joys and concerns.
Joys and concerns shared. The Care candle is lit
Prayers
Pastoral
Lord's Prayer
You are invited to pray the Lord's Prayer in your original language, as that is appropriate.
All Life-Giver, Pain-Bearer, Love-Maker.
Source of all that is and that shall be.
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed
by all peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done
by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen. (UIW2)
CELEBRATING COMMUNITY: THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION
The Invitation
Our tradition says at a last supper Jesus,
sharing bread and wine,
invited the disciples to share his journey.
Here today, through bread and wine,
we renew our journey with Jesus and his disciples.
Here today, through bread and wine,
we renew our unity with one another,
and with all those who have gone before us in this place.
Here today, through bread and wine,
we renew our communion with the earth
and our interwovenness with the broken ones of the world.
The story of the Last Supper
We are reminded again of the tradition that surrounds this story.
Long ago, on the night of his arrest, Jesus took bread,
gave thanks, and broke it:
'This bread is broken, as my body will be'.
And he handed it to his friends, inviting them to eat:
'Remember all that I have been to you'.
Long ago, on that same night, Jesus
poured a cup of wine, offered thanks for it,
and gave it to his friends:
'This wine is poured out, as my life will be.
Remember me and give thanks for all I have given'.
Thanksgiving
At this time and in this place, we too offer our thanks.
The smell of gums after rain,
The surprise of ducks in flight,
The taste of peach and plum and nectarine,
For all gifts simple and profound,
in country and city,
in paddock, or back yard and on lake:
We give thanks.
All We give thanks.
We who hold all such good things in trust
give thanks to God, Good Creator,
joining in the praise of all people:
All Holy! Holy! Holy!
Heaven and earth are holy and good.
Holy is peace.
All Holy is truth.
Holy is love.
And in this season of transition
as the leaves begin their subtle change of colour
and our hearts cling to the warmth as the days shorten,
once again we are reminded,
that new possibilities can rise from our failures
or disappointments
or what has come to an end.
We give thanks for all the influences in our lives
that have helped us to see beyond the present:
that teach us to combine labour and rest,
that bring us the cycles of time and season,
that sustain us when we are in need.
All God loves in us;
God cares through us;
God laughs in us;
God cries in us
as nowhere else.
Especially we give thanks for Jesus of Nazareth.
In his life, wisdom, stories and social vision
we recall the words he spoke
to call forth in us
love, care and respect for one another:
All And we believe the same Spirit of God
that came to visibility in Jesus
yearns for visibile expression in us.
Breaking of the bread/Pouring the wine
The bread is broken... the wine poured, in silence.
Bread broken.
Wine poured out,
for the life of the world.
Communion
So come, taste of this same bread and wine...
Distribution of bread and wine, in small circle around the Table
After Communion
May the bread and the wine and the remembering
be a blessing on us all.
SCATTERING
Hymn The people stand as they are able, to sing
"When love is taught in parables" (Tune: 'McKee', 86 86. 459 (i) TiS)
When love is taught is parables,
and hope in history,
we thank you, God, for trusting us
with Jesus' memory.
When broken people speak their need
and pray to be made whole,
we thank you, God, for Christ, who heals
our body, mind, and soul.
Words of mission
Let us take on this week’s life
with renewed hope and imagination...
The candle is extinguished
As the spirit teaches inwardly,
may we involve ourselves in the grander issues of life:
All those issues which make a compelling difference,
which create the good life for all humanity. Robert Holmes
Blessing words
And may the holy mystery of God be found along the road.
The wonder of the costly love of Jesus embrace you.
And the Spirit bless and keep you, always.
All Amen.
Hymn (Cont.) "When love is taught in parables" (Tune: 'McKee', 86 86. 459(i) TiS)
When hearts are lifted, wine is poured,
and common bread is blessed,
we thank you, God, that in this meal
we share in heaven's feast.
When Christians claim the Spirit's power,
and faith, now fed, can grow,
we thank you, God, and go in peace,
to share the peace we know. © Elizabeth J Smith
The people sit after the hymn
'This week' at St James
Notices
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Significant events
Journeys
Recessional 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,
in addition to those from Together in Song,
are reproduced with permission under license #A1197.
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.
Faith forever singing. Songs for a new day. 2000. NZ: Raumati. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust.
Holmes, R. H. 1972. The Bob Holmes worship materials. Vol 1. NY: Little Falls. Self published.
Inclusive readings. Year C. 2006. Qld: Brisbane. Inclusive Language Project. In private circulation.
Iona Community. 2001. Iona abbey worship book. Scotland: Glasgow. Wild Goose Publications.
McRae-McMahon, D. 1993. Echoes of our journey. Liturgies of the people. VIC: Melbourne. JBCE.
Macnab, F. 2006. A fine wind is blowing: Psalms of the bible in words that blow you away. VIC: Richmond. Spectrum Publications.
Morwood, M. 2003. Praying a new story. VIC: Richmond. Spectrum Publications.
Nelson-Pallmeyer, J; B. Hesle. 2005. Worship in the spirit of Jesus. Theology, liturgy, and songs without violence. OH: Cleveland. The Pilgrin Press.
Prewer, B. D. 1983. Australian prayers. SA: Adelaide. OpenBook Publishers.
Roberts, E; E. Amidon. 1996. Life prayers from around the world. 365 prayers, blessings, and affirmations to celebrate the human journey. NY: New York. HarperCollins.
Seaburg, C. (ed). 1993. The communion book. MA: Boston. UUMA.
Singing the journey. 2005. MA: Boston. UUA.
Smith, E. J. 1997. Songs for a hopeful church. VIC: Brunswick East. Acorn Press.
The St Hilda Community. 1996. The new women included. A book of services and prayers. Gt. Britain: London. SPCK.
Together in song. Australian hymn book 2. 1999. NSW: Sydney. HarperCollins Religious.
Uniting in Worship 2. Leader’s Book. 2006. VIC: Melbourne. HarperCollins.
Web sites:
UUA Worship Web. MA: Boston. UUA.
L Bruce Miller. Edmonton, Canada.
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