GATHERING
Before the service begins, there are opportunities to reflect and pray in different parts of the worship space:
• Building our ‘waste angel’ – add your non-reusable and/or non-recyclable rubbish to our angel.
• In the garden – space to think or use your green fingers!
• Writing a name (people, places, situations) in our intercessions book – these will be used in our prayers of intercession (praying for others) later in the service.
• Quiet prayer – the ‘sanctuary’ area is set aside for quiet prayer at any time.
The service begins with a song. When you hear the singing, please find a seat in the main worship space and join in:
join to worship your Creator!
Sing to the Lord,
praise the One from whom you came.
All: Heaven and earth
join to worship your Creator!
Sing to the Lord,
praise the One from whom you came.
Cantor: Sing a new song
to the God who goes before us,
making all new,
leaving nobody the same.
All: Sing a new song
to the God who goes before us,
making all new,
leaving nobody the same.
John Bell © 1995 WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland
Introduction
After words of welcome, one congregation member lights a central candle, while another says:
Lead us from death to life,
From falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Lead us from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill our hearts,
our world, our universe.
Let us dream together,
pray together, work together,
and build one world of peace and justice for all.
Amen.
Universal Peace Prayer, attributed to Mother Theresa
The theme of the day is introduced.
Prayers of confession
A minister introduces the prayers of confession – with these words:
Before God, with the people of God,
we confess to our brokenness: to the ways we wound our lives,
the lives of others and the life of the world.
After some moments for quiet reflection, we sing ‘I am your mother’. While we sing, we are invited to come forward and put our fingers into a bowl of ashes, and then to go to the font and have our hands washed in water - a sign of our penitence, and of our re-commissioning with the water of life.
I am your mother: do not neglect me!
Children protect me, I need your trust;
my breath is your breath, my death is your death,
ashes to ashes, dust into dust.
I am your nurture: do not destroy me!
Love and enjoy me, savour my fruit;
my good is your good, my food is your food,
water and flower, branches and root.
I am your lodging: do not abuse me!
Tenderly use me, soothing my scars;
my health is your health, my wealth is your wealth,
shining with promise, set among stars.
God is our maker: do not deny God,
challenge, defy God, threaten this place;
life is to cherish, care or we perish,
I am your mother, tears on my face.
Words by Shirley Erena Murray
The president then leads us in words of absolution:May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.
We sing a SONG / HYMN (#1)...
WORD
We listen to a reading from the Hebrew Scriptures (often called ‘the Old Testament’), or from the New Testament - and then to a Gospel Reading.
We then sit, as we are led in a reflection on the Scripture
readings (the ‘sermon slot’).
We stand, if we are able, to join together in saying our Affirmation of Faith:
We believe in God, the Creator and Lord of all that is.
In your hand is the life of every thing--
of trees and plants, animals and insects--
and the breath of every human being.
We believe in Jesus the Christ,
the Redeemer of all that we have damaged,
our broken souls and our broken world,the Redeemer of all that we have damaged,
who offers new life when we love our neighbours,
neighbours sun and soil, water and air.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Sustainer of this community and future generations,
and the source of hope and courage to care about creation,the Sustainer of this community and future generations,
especially when sustainability seems hopeless.
We promise to work together and with God,
to be stewards of this gift, our home.
to be stewards of this gift, our home.
Anna Blackman, Alex Remsburg, Hansen Wendlandt 2009
We sit or kneel for our Prayers of Intercession:
This will include thinking of a place, situation or issue on our mind today, and writing it on our ‘link’ that we received as we entered. These are collected together to make a chain.
We stand if we are able, to share the Peace together, joining hands and making a large circle.
We sing ‘Peace, Salam, Shalom’, ending with:
Minister: The peace of the Lord be always with you.
All: And also with you.
As we sing our next SONG / HYMN (#2), our offerings of money are gathered, and bread and wine are brought to the table.
TABLE
Minister: Almighty God, Creator and Sustainer of all that is,
loving Father of us all,
in whose hands are the depths of the earth
and the heights of the mountains,
and in whom we live and move and have our being:
at your command all things came to be,
from the vast expanse of stellar space to this fragile earth,
our home.
We give you thanks for your creation
as a gift of your love.
All creatures look to you for their food;
when you open your hands they are filled with good things;
where you breathe there is life.
At your command the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy.
We join with them, with angels and archangels
and all the company of heaven,
to give a voice to creation’s praise:
All: Holy, holy, holy Lord. God and power of might.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Minister: From the primal elements, you brought us forth,
and blessed us with consciousness and skill.
You gave us responsibility to care for your world,
yet through our selfishness the earth has become polluted,
communities have been oppressed,
and the life of many creatures put in jeopardy.
Your spoiled creation eagerly waits for its freedom.
You sent your Son Jesus Christ,
in whom all things in heaven and earth were created,
to reconcile all things to yourself,
making peace through the blood of his cross.
On the night he was betrayed
he had supper with his friends,
taking bread, he praised you.
He broke the bread, gave it to them and said:
Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of me.
When supper was ended he took the cup of wine.
Again he praised you, gave it to them and said:
Drink this, all of you.
This is my blood of the new covenant
shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
Great is the mystery of faith
All: Jesus Christ is the bread of life.
His Spirit refreshes us with living water.
Minister: Send your spirit on the gifts of your creation,
this bread and wine,
that they may be for us a foretaste
of your creation’s renewal.
Send your spirit on your people.
Transform us
that we may become more faithful stewards of your gifts.
May we live more just and godly lives,
responsible in care for your earth,
and sharing more carefully its rich resources.
Sustain us in hope,
waiting and working for your new world to be born.
Through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer,
to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
be all honour and praise.
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To God be glory for ever. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
The Breaking of the Bread
Minister: We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
All: We are one body because we all share in one bread.Minister: He whose table was open to all
is now present in this bread.
He whose word welcomed friend and stranger
offers friendship through this cup.
So take this bread and this wine,
in them God comes to us, so that we may come to God.
When everyone has received communion,
the president leads us in this post communion prayer:God, Maker and Lover of us all,
Help us to live and breath
With the life of your Spirit,
that we may work with you
towards the unity of your whole creation,
for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SENDING OUT
We sing a final SONG / HYMN (#4).
The president leads us in this blessing:Deep peace of the running waves to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
May the road rise to meet you;
May the wind be always at your back;
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
May the rain fall softly on your fields.
Until we meet again,
May the Creator hold you in the hollow of her hand.
Amen.
Let us go into the world in peace,
ready to meet and love our Lord.
In the name of Christ, Amen!
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