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
21 January 2007. Epiphany 3C. (Green).
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 sounded three times
Come, teach us, Spirit of our God,
the language of your way,
the lessons that we need to live,
the faith for every day. Shirley Murray
Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life
in the presentness of God.
Lighting of community candle
A candle is lit
This is the light that is lit for everyone who comes into the world.
Bear this light to others, one by one.
Let the flame go from life to life
till all is lit with its warmth. (Eliz. Strong)
Hymn The people stand, as they are able to sing
"Sing high to God" (Tune: 'Woodlands'. 10 10 10 10. 161 TiS)
Sing high to God, who once upon a time
(Before all time!) Took love to shape a dream
And poured it into life creating words
That gave to all that is: a role, a name.
Give thanks to Christ who calls us to be one
And learn to use the future tense today
To keep the dream alive the vision clear:
A world at peace, the human race at play.
Pray that the Holy Spirit may proceed
Empowering us to see Christ's mission through
Transform the dream to speech, enact the word
Put flesh on hope, make God's intent come true.
Let not, O God, the vision we have caught
Fade as we rise, nor let it die away;
Give us the faith with passion to pursue
That dream's fulfilment in the light of day. Fred Kaan.
Remain standing
Opening sentences
May our time together renew our hope.
All May the stories we share refresh our courage.
May the songs we sing lift our spirits.
All May the words we speak invigorate us.
May the touch of hands, the sound of laughter,
the sight of faces new and familiar,
All restore us in faith. Calvin O. Dame
Prayer of awareness
We pray:
Spirit of life, we gather here in loving community.
Keep us in mind of the responsibilities of being human.
Give us the strength to endure, but more,
help us to bring strength to each other.
May we exclude no one intentionally,
but may our church be inclusive as we say it is.
May our coming and our going be blessed,
this day and forever more.
Amen.
Hymn “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
The people sit after the hymn
Welcome
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.
Those visiting, please sign our Visitors book.
CENTERING
Meditation
"Epiphany"
By Kate McIllhagga. The green heart of the snowdrop/94.
Centering silence
Let us take a moment to settle into the silence.
Hear and feel your quiet breathing.
Hear and feel the quiet of this place
and this community of people.
In this quiet hour may our spirits be renewed.
In this time of worship,
may our minds be open to new truth,
and our hearts be receptive to love,
as we give thanks for this life we are blessed to share.
(Silence) Emmy Lou Belcher
Music of reflection
EXPLORING
Readings from our religious tradition
Some readings from our religious tradition
shall now be read.
Our reader is Merilyn Tandukar.
Early church:
i Corinthians 12:12-14, 27 (Inclusive text)
Just as the human body, though it is made up of many parts,
is a single unit because of all these parts, though many,
make one body,
so it is with Christ.
In the one Spirit we were all baptised,
Jews as well as Greeks,
slaves as well as free citizens,
and one Spirit was given to all to drink.
Nor is the body to be identified
with any one of its many parts...
Now you together are Christ's body;
but each of you is a different part of it.
Gospel:
Luke 4:14-21 (Inclusive Text)
Jesus with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee.
And his reputation spread throughout the countryside.
He taught in the synagogues and everyone praised him.
Jesus came to Nazara, where he had been brought up,
and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day
as he usually did.
Jesus stood up to read and they handed him
the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
Unrolling the scroll Jesus found the place where it was written:
The Spirit of God has been given to me,
and has anointed me.
I have been sent to bring good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim God's year of favour.
Jesus then rolled up the scroll,
gave it back to the assistant and sat down.
And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Contemporary word
Silence for personal reflection
AFFIRMING
A 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
For our community gathered here,
for the spirit that called us together and drew us to this place:
All We give thanks this day.
For moments we have shared with others;
for times when we have reached out across barriers
of distance and fear;
for times when others have reached out to us;
for moments when we have discovered another along our path:
All We give thanks this day.
For this community of celebration and growth,
introspection and solitude,
and for those moments of 'that peace which passes all understanding':
All We give thanks this day.
For our gathering together out of distant places;
for our weaving together out of many separate selves
this hour of celebration and worship:
All We give thanks this day. Jane Mauldin
Hymn of the Month The people stand as they are able, to sing
“Perfect singer” (Tune: ‘Catherine’, 77 77. 622 TiS) 332 SLT
Perfect Singer, songs of earth
rise on every field and hearth;
let our voices sound again
ancient songs of joy and pain.
All your creatures strive for life
suffer hurt in angry strife,
seek compassion, find release
in the covenant of peace.
Sing a sacred melody
for the justice that shall be;
let our harmonies resolve
dissonance in steadfast love.
Steadfast Seeker, find our song
woven into lives made strong;
let the patterns of surprise
kindle hope with each sunrise. G K Beach
The people sit
Care candle
Joys and concerns
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 Loving God, within and around us, we revere you.
We seek to live life as you would want us to do:
with love and respect for all people
and all things in the universe.
May we find each day sufficient for our needs.
And find forgiveness when we do wrong,
just as we forgive those who do wrong to us.
In times of trouble, may we centre our lives in you.
For your being is love,
which comes with strength and with beauty.
Throughout eternity.
Amen. Margaret Rolfe.
CELEBRATING
CELEBRATING COMMUNITY: SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION
Invitation
Come now to God's feast:
come from east and west and north and south.
Come with your needs, your doubts, your questions.
Most of all, come as you are;
with the confidence you have
and the confidence you lack.
Come now and keep the feast.
The offering Offerings/bread and wine are presented
Let us bring our offerings
and gifts of bread and wine, to this feast.
The presentation The people stand as the gifts are brought forward
We pray:
God of splendour,
your goodness sustains us,
and your graciousness gives us hope.
Use us and these gifts of bread, wine and money
to further your way of love, hope, and justice.
Amen.
Offerings/bread and wine are placed on table.
Thanksgiving
May God be with you.
All And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
All We lift them up to Christ.
Let us give thanks
All It is right to give our thanks and praise.
In faith and love, we celebrate the brightness of this season
and offer to Creator God,
our adoration and thanksgiving.
We join our praise with all people
in heaven and on earth, saying
All Holy, holy, holy, celebrating 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.
God of the summer’s day,
All praise and wonder be.
God of the lingering sunset and early dawn,
All praise and wonder be.
God of the hot north wind and the refreshing shower,
God of the shady tree and the cool water bag,
God of the ripening harvest and sparkling sea,
All praise and wonder be.
All creation blesses the creator, the source of energy and life.
The people sit
In our praise and thanksgiving
we remember the ways of Jesus
who walked the dusty roads of Galilee,
who taught from seashore and mountainside,
and who told stories of the sower and the seed,
the lilies of the field,
and the birds of the air.
May we, too, know your presentness in the beauty of creation.
We also remember, creating God,
that your care for this earth and your people can be denied;
for your goodness was abused
and your son was betrayed.
On the night of his arrest, so our tradition tells us,
Jesus shared again a supper with his disciples.
Through grain and grape, bread and wine,
he spoke of his coming death and new life,
asking his disciples to remember him.
May we feel your touch, hear your call,
experience your grace, and
know your strength in our lives
All As we celebrate your life in our midst.
Breaking of the bread/Pouring of wine
He took bread,
offered thanks, broke it, and
gave it to the disciples:
v2 'Bread broken - for you.
Take this, all of you'
He poured a cup of wine
offered thanks for it, and
gave it to the disciples:
v2 'Wine poured out for you.
Take this - all of you.'
It is through the goodness and creativity of God
we have this bread and wine to offer...
bread, that was once scattered as grain in a paddock
and gathered together
and baked into a loaf;
wine, that was once grapes grown on a hillside
and gathered together
and pressed into juice.
Communion
Come, for all is now ready.
The bread and the wine will be served in small groups around the Table
After communion
Companion Christ,
we have eaten broken bread
and poured out wine.
We now commit ourselves to a life of justice and compassion.
Sustain us as we journey from this place
that we might meet you
in the faces and places of our neighbours.
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.
The peace of God is here... to stay.
All Thanks be to God.
You are invited to share the peace with your neighbours.
SCATTERING
Hymn The people stand as they are able, to sing
“I dream of a church”
I dream of a church that
Joins in with God’s laughing
As she rocks in her rapture
Enjoying her art.
She’s glad of her world
In its risking and growing
‘tis the child she has borne
And holds close to her heart.
I dream of a church that
Joins in with God’s weeping
As she crouches, weighed
Down by the sorrow she sees.
She cries for the hostile
the cold and no-hoping
For she bears in herself
Our despair and disease.
I dream of a church that
Joins in with God’s dancing
As she moves like the wind
And the wave and the fire.
A church that can pick up
Its skirts, pirouetting
With the steps that can signal
God’s deepest desire.
Words of mission
The presentness of God reaches beyond this place...
The candle is extinguished
With faith in the creative powers of life,
With hope for the future of life in this world,
With love for all others who share this life with us,
Let us go forward together in peace.
All Our worship in this sacred space has ended.
Let our service begin.
Blessing words
Go as far as your courage takes you,
for you cannot go beyond the reach of God.
Give as extravagantly as you may,
for you cannot spend all the riches of God.
Care as lavishly as you are able,
for you cannot exhaust the love of God.
Keep journeying as a friend,
for God will always be with you. (Brian Hughes)
All Amen.
Hymn (Cont.) “I dream of a church”
I dream of a church that can
Join in God’s loving
As she bends to embrace
the unlovely and lost.
A church that can free
By its sharing and daring
The imprisoned and poor
And then shoulder the cost.
God, make us a church that
Joins in with your living
As you cherish and challenge
Rein in and release.
A church that is winsome
Impassioned, inspiring
Lioness of your justice
And lamb of your peace. Kate Compston
The people sit after the hymn, then prepare to leave
Recessional music
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:
Burgess, R. 2001. A book of blessings. Scotland: Glasgow. Wild Goose Publications.
Duncan, G. (ed). 1998. Seeing christ in others. An anthology for worship, mediation and mission. Gt. Britain: Norwich. The Canterbury Press.
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.
McIlhagga, K. 2004. The green heart of the snowdrop. Gt.Britain: Glasgow. Wild Goose Publications.
Mitchell, R. C.; G. A. Ricciuti. 1992. Birthings and blessings. Liberating worship services for the inclusive church. NY: New York. Crossroads.
Morely, J. 1992. All desires known. Expanded edition. Gt. Britain: London. SPCK.
Singing the living tradition. 1993. MA: Boston. UUA.
Uniting in Worship. Leader’s Book. 1988. VIC: Melbourne. Uniting Church Press.
Withrow, L. 1995. Seasons of prayer. Resources for worship. Gt. Britain: London. SPCK.
Web sites:
UUA Worship Web. MA: Boston. UUA.
L Bruce Miller. Edmonton, Canada.
Stainer & Bell Ltd. Web site: hymns.uk.com