Suggestion: ’Refresh’ each page before reading to make sure to get my latest edition
‘The Other Lectionary’ is a suggested ‘southern hemisphere’ Lectionary (with a few Resources added) offered in parallel to,
or even replacement of, the RCL which is in standard use by many.
A GATHERING LITURGY
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF LIFE
“We are thoroughly nature. To claim otherwise is to attempt to place human beings and everything we do
in some rare unimaginable realm beyond the universe,
thus rendering the power of our origins lost and our obligations vague”
14 February 2024 Ash Wednesday
Acknowledgement of Country/First Peoples
(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 (N) People of the (NN) Nation, past, present, emerging,
and their stewardship of this land throughout the ages.
First Peoples Statement to the Nation 2017 is called “Uluru Statement from the Heart”
A Response from Common Dreams5 Conference of Religious Progressives,
Australia/South Pacific 2019
Both can be found in Affirmations/Manifestoes
And we recognise and give thanks that we humans
are creatures of the Earth living in the ecosystem
—flowers, trees and insects; land, waters and mountain range—
that is unique to (NN).
May we honour one another and honour life itself.
(NN) is a safe place for all people to gather regardless of
race, creed, age, cultural background or sexual orientation
Refreshment Station/Water Basins
Pottery basins are set on stands near the entrance to the Gathering space.
Attendees are invited to dip their hands in the cool water in the basins as they arrive.
Or to rinse each other’s hands...
That we may relax, be refreshed, and prepare for this time together.
(Note: A small sign is placed above the basin explaining that as they dip their hands in the water, they are invited to relax and try to mindfully set aside or release for a time anything that might be preventing them from being fully present—each traveller rinsing the “dust from the road”).
OR
We come together from our separate lives,
each of us bringing our concerns, our preoccupations,
our hopes, and our dreams.
We are not yet fully present.
The traffic, the last-minute cooking, the final details still cling to us.
Our bodies hold the rush of the past few hours.
It is now time to let go of these pressures
and really arrive…
When you are ready, repeat silently to yourself: ‘Hineini’ or ‘Here I am’.
Hineini is used in the Torah to signify being present
in body, mind, and spirit.
It means settling into where we are and simply being “here”. (Adapted/Nan Fink Gene)
Rich and Striking Visuals
“The function of beauty… is to make us aware of a reality which is richer and deeper
and more marvellous than anything we can dream or conceive.” (Henry N. Wieman)
Multi-sensory artwork OR Floral/Symbols display (cloths, candles, stones, wood, leaves, flowers, earth, water) OR projection of Film/Video
Entry into the Celebration
The gong is sounded three times
From our homes you draw us to this sacred time and space, O Holy One.
We come to dwell in your presence, for you are
the source of our being.
(Silence)
God calls us to renew ourselves and our life’s purpose,
as we gather with others who are searching for meaning.
Let us be in silence together. (Janice Huggett)
(Silence)
Setting the Tables
The tables are set with ashes, water, bread, wine
We now celebrate the richness and diversity of life.
The Community Candle is lit
Opening Sentences
Children of the earth and sky,
we are nurtured, sustained,
given warmth and light
from above and below.
All Supported by earth's strong, firm crust,
we build our homes,
plough the paddocks,
plant our gardens and orchards.
When we turn from self and seek to be aware,
we will find holy light
in human faces,
in blossom, birdsong, and sky.
All Then earth is truly our home,
and we are one with all earth's creatures,
Parents of earth's children yet to be. (Adapt.Alice Berry)
OR
As we enter into this sacred place,
put away the pressures of the world that ask us
to perform,
to take up masks,
to put on brave fronts.
Silence the voices that ask you to be perfect.
v2 This is a community of compassion and welcoming. (Erika A Hewitt/adapted)
All We bring all that we are and all that we yet can be,
to this safe and ordinary place.
Presentation of Water Basins
Words which acknowledge that the dust of many roads and many life experiences has been rinsed into the basins, and calls for the contents of the basins and the gathering to be transformed, renewed, and more fully alive
The dust of many roads and may life experiences
has been washed in this refreshing water.
For this place is a sacred place.
May we
greet one another with open hearts and minds;
inspire each other to consider new questions
and seek deeper meaning;
and cultivate both wisdom and compassion.
And may this time together empower us to take some new steps
so all our living is transforming and the
yearning of our hearts become reality.
The bowls of water are removed from the Gathering space and placed on an outside garden
Welcome
Wisdom from the World/Religious Traditions
“Wisdom is not just special knowledge about something. Wisdom is a way of being, a way of inhabiting the world.
The beauty of wisdom is harmony, belonging and illumination of thought, action, heart and mind.” (John O’Donohue)
Reader: Into this day will break moments of awareness,
tiny shards of light that illumine
the whole reality of existence.
All May these readings be such a moment
and may we be blessed by their gift. (Gretta Vosper/ab)
• “Falling”
By Diana Neutze. Eremos Magazine.
it feels like a tightrope stretched
yawningly across my days-
one false step and I'll fall endlessly
as in a dream
where the death is the falling
yet I want to live within my life with a fullness
just as a dancing flame devours the air
not choke smoulderingly on damp wood-
the narrower the boundaries
the fiercer the energy
I look for markers
signposts of the spirit to define my journey-
a tiny patch of white violets
like a passing note-
birds returning to the feeders
in a well-tempered fugue-
I watch a ripple of wind across my garden
there is a dance of walnut leaves
grape tendrils sway
and even the climbing rose
rocks gently against the light-
the wind itself I do not see-
only the surging power
in the leaves bears witness-
is it the same with the breath of God?
for all I encounter
is a cathedral forest of arches-
a rose iridescent against the twilight-
a sharing of ideas with a friend-
as the spirit breathes across
my
life
OR
• “Ash Wednesday”
By Jim Burklo
On my forehead,
A sign of the cross,
Smudged in ash from the fire
That burned down the McMansion of my hubris,
And, with it,
The money I should have given away,
The television I used to numb my senses,
The carpet I should have been called on,
The doors I should have opened to others,
The envelopes I should have used
To send letters of love,
The wise books I shelved prominently
So that others would think I had read them,
The blank places in my photo albums
Where my darker moments should have been remembered,
The calendars where visits with the people who needed me most
Should have been scheduled,
The couch of my complacency,
The lounge-chair of my laziness,
The shirts I stuffed with my pride,
The moccasins I should have traded with others
So we could have walked miles in them.
On my forehead,
A sign of the crossroad
Where I can turn from the way of ruin
To the way of life.
• Matthew 6 (Selected verses, Inclusive Text)
Jesus said to the disciples:
Be careful not to parade your good deeds before others to attract their notice;
by doing this you will lose all heavenly reward.
So when you give alms,
do not have it trumpeted before you:
this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues
and in the streets to win the admiration of others.
I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward...
And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites:
they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues
and at the street corners for people to see them.
I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward...
When you fast
do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do:
they pull long faces to let others know they are fasting.
I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward...
OR
• Mark 2: 18-22 (Inclusive Text)
Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to Jesus,
"Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus said to them,
"The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
"No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak;
otherwise, the patch pulls away from it,
the new from the old,
and a worse tear is made.
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins;
otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and the wine is lost, and so are the skins;
but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."
Silence
SERVICE OF THE ASHES
A Prayer for Ash Wednesday
The Ashes are brought forward
We pray:
O Source of life and love, torn by desires to sit back
and to enjoy the beauty of the world --
to savor the blue skies and gentle days –
and by desires to recast the world and to fight its evils - to save the world...
Torn by all those things that hurt and confuse
and make no sense amid beauty -
yet supported by all those things that heal and hold us -
smiles, kisses, mountain vistas
and gentle waves, warm words...
We live in mystery.
We live torn apart at times:
so much glory,
so much pain.
We live in faith:
faith in ourselves and each other,
faith that we can create bonds of the spirit that proclaim we are not alone.
We have much health within us;
we can live through the heartache to new life.
So, for the grace of the world and all the tumble,
too, this day we give thanks… (Bruce Southworth)
Silence
The Letting Go
We lay down what is past...
All We lay down what is past and look to the future.
We take into our daily life signs of hope and healing.
We reach beyond ourselves to share the lives of others
and touch a wider world.
The Ashes
WORTH CONSIDERING: Due to the risk of Covid a safe way to administer ‘ashes’ may be to purchase charcoal sticks from an art store and to ‘mark’ those who participate, or cut into small portions for participants to take home…
It is said we are made from dust.
But we are not only from Earth’s dust, we are from stardust!
Dust and gases from the explosion of a dying star about five billion years ago
came together and attracted more particles.
Required elements for life, like carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen,
came from that star.
Then about 3.7 billion years ago
it became the only planet we know that has a living skin: soil/dirt/earth.
All present components of life were birthed from ones already existing...
We are part of, and contributing to, this evolution.
It is happening within us as well as around us,
and everything we do contributes to the whole! (Adapted from Terri MacKenzie/Ecospirituality Resources)
Ash Wednesday invites us to remember.
To come back to Earth.
To dust. Stardust.
(Silence)
OR
Ash Wednesday invites us to come back to earth.
To wonder at the gift of life,
my life
our life
with the earth, the shared body of our existence.
These ashes were once trees and shrubs,
and places where life was lived to its fullest.
Once they were full of life.
Now they are black and grey.
Dry.
Lifeless.
But mixed with the waters of our baptism make good fertiliser:
it will help the seeds of life take deeper root in us
and bring forth the fruits,
the harvest of justice, peace, and generosity.
These are ashes worth wearing.
May we accept this gift. And be blessed.
And be assured we will be different at the end of this season.
For from the burnt ashes will spring the green shoots of life.
Blessing
May these ashes be blessed.
May they be for us a symbol of our return to the earth.
May we and the earth, be blessed.
Distribution
Those who wish to be marked are invited to come forward
Centering Silence
CELEBRATING COMMUNITY IN THE TRADITION OF THE MEAL
Introduction
Members of the Jesus movements regularly ate a meal together
when they met as a community.
It was a characteristic that they had in common
with virtually every other social group in their world.
It was considered primary to the early developments
in the movements’ meal liturgy.
These meal traditions were not about personal salvation or payment for sin.
Instead, they were about actions and offering hospitality, social identity,
and being in solidarity with those around us.
The liturgical movements centred on celebration, presence, and joy.
I invite you into the spirit of those meals…
Thanksgiving
Gracious God, we praise you and give you thanks.
All It is right to give our thanks and praise.
For the love we name Creativity God, and all that is.
For the one we name Jesus
and his message of peace, justice and inclusiveness
that is the realm of God.
For the renewing strength and freedom of the Spirit
always present on the breath of life.
All We give thanks for the presentness of God in the midst of life.
The Celebration
We remember the stories…
How Jesus gathered with friends and foes
to tell them of a re-imagined way of living and being.
A way that did not conform to the standards of the Roman Empire
or any other system of governance
that suppressed people
until starvation and deprivation resulted in death. (Sherri Weinberg)
In this way, the issues of life and death,
justice and injustice,
conflict and peace,
goodness and evil
were talked through and made real to ordinary people.
Bread and White Wine
So in our time and in this place, with today’s issues before us,
let us continue the tradition: to break bread together.
We remember what that tradition says...
At the end of a journey, among friends,
gathered round a table...
Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it:
v2 'This bread is broken, as my body will be'.
Break bread
And he handed it to his friends, and invited them to eat:
v2 'Remember all that I have been to you'.
We remember...
Jesus poured a cup of wine, offered thanks for it,
and gave it to his friends:
v2 'This wine is poured out as my life will be.
As you drink give thanks for all I have given'.
Pour White Wine
Bread... the very stuff of life, in which is gathered up
warm sun, rich Australian earth, gentle rain,
human labour and knowledge and skill.
Wine... fruit of the vine,
nurtured, tended, harvested,
and pressed out for us to drink.
May the spirit within us
All be a source of healing and consolation.
May the spirit within us
All strengthen us when we feel weak,
warm us when we are cold-hearted,
bend us when we are stubborn,
move us when we are uncaring,
guide us in the way of love.
May the spirit within us
All shine in all we do.
Communion
By eating this bread and drinking this wine
we become one in hope.
The Bread and the Wine will be served in two continuous lines.
Sharing 'The Peace’
Let us take a moment to celebrate each other.
May a heart of peace rest with you. (David Galston/q)
All And also with you.
You are invited to share the peace with your neighbours
OR
Namaste
Facing the person with right hand on your heart and a slight bow of the head…
The Divine in me honours the Divine in you.
OR
The Light in me recognises the Light in you.
OR
The spirit within me sees the spirit within you.
Hymn/Song (Optional) People stand to sing, as they are able
“Wild Wilderness” (Tune: ‘Intercessor’, 11.10.11.10) 28 MTH
Wild wilderness, pathetic desolation,
as Jesus walked, then rested for the night,
for forty days his strength was tried and tested,
for forty days he sifted wrong and right.
He woke to hunger tangled in his being,
what miracle might turn these stones to bread?
But God within the centre of his spirit
was food enough to keep his body fed.
His faith was such that it could move a mountain
and God could save him from the greatest fall.
But faith like this need not be tried or tested;
the love of God will never slip or stall.
He climbed the mountain, saw the world in splendour,
then thought of ruling all his eyes could see;
yet power like this was not the thing he needed -
devoid of wealth he’d set the people free.
Beyond temptation love would live incarnate,
his human flesh would laugh and cry and weep,
in Christ God’s love and grace would not diminish,
dynamic Love would never die nor sleep. (Andrew Pratt)
Remain standing
Words of Blessing
Once-burnt and darkened hills now bloom in life of green and gold.
Once-starving hearts now fill with love more than enough
to hold us in divine embrace.
Once-thirsty souls now overflow into the rivers of God’s grace.
The blessing of the God of life, love and grace,
be with you always. (Janice Huggett)
All Amen. May it be so.
People leave in silence
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
Please include any reproduction of hymns/songs for local church use
on your Music Licence returns, as appropriate
Some of the Resources used in Shaping this Liturgy:
Abbott, M. Sparks of the Cosmos. Rituals for Seasonal Use. Unley. MediaCom Education, 2001.
Inclusive Readings. Year B. Brisbane. Inclusive Language Project. In private circulation, 2005.
(MTH) Pratt, A. More Than Hymns. Words for a Lyrical Faith. London. Stainer & Bell, 2015.
Seaburg, C. (ed). The Communion Book. Boston. UUMA, 1993.
Withrow, L. Seasons of Prayer. Resources for Worship. London. SPCK, 1995.
Jones, R. Holy Communion Liturgy. Literacy & Liturgy Seminar, Westar Institute, 2005.
Vosper, G. Another Breath. Prayers for Celebration and Reflection. Brisbane. The Centre for Progressive Religious Thought Brisbane, 2009/2010.
Web sites/Other:
Hewitt, Southworth, Berry. UUA Worship Web. Boston. <www.uua.org/spirituallife/worshipweb/>
Sherri Weinberg. St Paul's Presbyterian Church. Devonport, 2007.
“Falling”. Diana Neutze. Eremos Magazine.
"Ash Wednesday" Jim Burklo. 2012. <http://www.jimburklo.com/>
"Entry" and "Blessing". Janice Huggett. Direct from the author.
Refreshment Station. Words by Nan Fink Gefen, taken from an Evolutionary Passover Haggadah by Tree Bressen.
David Galston. Quest Learning Centre for Religious Literacy. http://www.questcentre.ca/
Terri MacKenzie. Ecospirituality Resources. <https://ecospiritualityresources.com/category/prayer-ritual/>