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
“...in the end the universe can only be explained in terms of celebration.
It is all an exuberant expression of existence itself”
18 May 2025. Easter 5C. (White).
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 (NN) People or the (NN) Nation, past and present,
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 available 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 worship regardless of
race, creed, age, cultural background or sexual orientation
GATHERING
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)
Artwork OR Floral/Symbols display (cloths, candles, stones, wood, leaves, flowers, earth, water) OR projection of Film/Video
Gathering Music
Entry into the Celebration
The gong is sounded three times
In the Spirit of God who shares divinity with us,
In the Spirit of God who shares humanity with us,
In the Spirit of God who unsettles and inspires us…
Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life.
Lighting of Community Candle
The Community Candle is lit
Note: Check out 'Special Liturgies’ (this site) for the following:
(i) A suggested process for introducing new hymns is called Hymn of the Month.
(ii) Additional Special Purpose Hymns cover major international events or themes. They include the categories: 1. Bush (Brush) Fire, 2. Tsunami, Storms/Cyclones, 3. Earthquakes, 4. War/Remembrance, 5. Caregiving, 6. God as Mother, 7. Human Trafficking, 8. Disabled, 9. Migration/Refugees, 10. Terrorist Attacks, 11. Science/Cosmology
(iii) Some specific resources on Terrorism
(iv) On Wonder, Awe, and Nature
Hymn/Song The people stand as they are able, to sing
"Now Light is Less” (Tune: ‘Sursum Corda’, 10.10.10.10) 54 SLT
Now light is less; noon skies are wide and deep;
the ravages of wind and rain are healed.
The haze of harvest drifts along the field
until clear eyes put on the look of sleep.
The garden spider weaves a silken pear
to keep inclement weather from its young.
Straight from the oak, the gossamer is hung.
At dusk our slow breath thickens on the air.
Lost hues of birds the trees take as their own.
Long since, bronze wheat was gathered into sheaves.
The walker trudges ankle deep in leaves;
the feather of the milk-weed fluters down.
The shoots of spring have mellowed with the year.
Buds, long unsealed, obscure the narrow lane.
The blood slows trance-like in the altered vein;
our vernal wisdom moves through ripe to sere. (Theodore Roethke)
OR
“The Universe in God” (Tune: “Praise My Soul”, 87.87.87) 13 SNS
All creation sings a story
Of great splendours to declare.
When we contemplate its beauty
We are called forth into prayer.
We, enchanted, stand in silence;
God discovered everywhere.
When we stumble on new knowledge,
When new insights help us grow,
We are quick to re-discover
Just how much we do not know.
But the Universe smiles gently,
As our theories come and go.
Outer space and inner being
Both have secrets they conceal.
Galaxies so grimly awesome,
Deep emotions that we feel –
All in God are judged as sacred;
It is God they all reveal.
Ageless mysteries still excite us;
Time and space we must explore.
God the 'Presence' and 'Surrounding’,
God the ever wondrous ‘More’
Is not found by science labours,
But in praise when we adore. George Stuart
Remain standing
Opening Sentences
Be in love with life
and so become friends and partners of God.
All Now is the time to live a new life
in balance with Life and with the Earth.
Words of Awareness
Marvel at life!
Strive to know its ways!
Seek wisdom and truth,
the gateways
to life’s mysteries!
Wondrous indeed is life! (Adapt. Rabbi Rami M Shapiro/ep)
OR
We pray:
Spirit of Life, we gather grateful for
the companionship of hearts and minds
seeking to speak the truth in love.
We gather grateful for our heritage, for the women and men before us
whose prophetic words and deeds make possible our dreams and our insight.
And we gather grateful for the gift of life itself,
mindful that to respect life means both to celebrate what life is
and to insist on what it can become. (MS Milner)
May it be so.
Hymn/Song "All-Present, All-Visible, Source of All Life" (Tune: ‘Immortal, Invisible’)
All-present, all-visible, Source of all life,
Within and around us, through joy and through strife.
Most Sacred, Eternal, You move on the earth,
You beckon and call forth new life and new birth.
Enlivened, extravagant, Sower of seeds,
Abundant, abounding, Your mercy exceeds.
Unhindered, unbridled, you shine forth your grace,
That we may do likewise, revealing Your face.
You care for Creation, O Mother of all,
Great mountains, clear waters, and flowers so small.
The earth is Your temple, for all life to share,
So help us be stewards of healing and care.
Transcendent, uncharted, and still close at hand,
Encompassing people from near and far lands.
Within each new moment, throughout life and death,
Your praises are sung out from all that has breath! (SKlosterboer/p&f)
The people sit after the hymn
Welcome
Or in your own words
A warm welcome is extended to all.
Especially those who are gathering 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 he Gathering
Those visiting, please sign our Visitors book
OR
A warm welcome is extended to all.
Especially those who may be joining us for a first time.
Your presence enriches this gathering and contributes to
the creative evolution of community.
Thanks for the gift of you! (Central United, Moncton, Canada)
Music of Celebration
EXPLORING
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: The delight of a story well-known fills our hearts
as we listen for its familiar end.
All May we hear in these stories, familiar and new,
both wisdom and meaning for the days ahead.
• “Love”
By Godfrey Barrett-Lennard, (1987)
What means it to love? Is it feeling
one’s life flow brimming, merging
with the bright motion of another?
Is it sharing, listening, hearing, finding
that the other also sees what we behold?
Is it joining in a We, for each one of us
enlivening, transforming Me; or, a bonding
of lived loyalty, lasting, without possession;
or, desire to be one flesh, in passionate embrace,
white heat, wondrous shock, centred calm?
What about love of one’s child,
fruit of one's seed, miracle of nature?
Wonder, tenderness, compassion, empathy –
are these not also primary faces of love?
Consider, too, the longing love of a child
for its parent: life-giver, protector, guide,
glad or reluctant hero, partner even
in the sharing, learning world of play.
Observe the love of brothers and sisters,
sometime foes or rivals but with felt unspoken
pledge, caring given unearned, without decision,
the common heritage a wellspring of belonging.
Ponder the oft-unspoken love of one's friends
– not given by birth but chosen – or the loving
fellowship of groups of like belief or action,
or the ambient embrace of any larger community
that our selfhood drinks from and flows into.
Can we not also love creatures differing
from ourselves in kind, animal friends
drawn to us as we to them, responsive
and aware, fellow-children of that
same nature which spawned our kind?
Where it sleeps, shall we awaken love
for all this natural world, our planet,
precious inheritance, lifeline to futures
bounteous and sown still with life?
What of love for a befriending god, for
a spiritual world unseen but pregnant
with mystery and meaning, for a cosmos
beyond touch or present time but in reach
of mind, for the questing spirit in humankind?
In English, one little word – universe of meaning.
OR
• "O Source of Life and Love”
By Bruce Southworth.
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.
• John 13:31-35 (Inclusive Text)
When Judas had gone Jesus said:
'Now has the Promised One been glorified,
and in this One, God has been glorified.
'If God has been found glorified in me,
I will in turn be glorified in God's own glory and very soon.
'My friends, I shall not be with you much longer.
You will look for me, and, as I told the Jews,
where I am going, you cannot come.
‘I give you a new commandment:
love one another;
just as I have loved you,
you also must love one another.
'By this love you have for one another,
everyone will know that you are my disciples.’
Contemporary Exploration
Silence for Personal Reflection
AFFIRMING
A Celebration of Faith (Optional)
The people stand a they are able
In response to the word reflected on, let us stand
and share a celebration of faith.
v1 The sky does it simply, naturally day by day by day
v2 the sun does it joyfully
like someone in love
like a runner on the starting-line
v1 the sky, the sun, they just can't help themselves
v2 no loud voices, no grand speeches
but everyone sees, and is happy with them.
All May we be like that,
so our faith is not in our words but in our lives,
not in what we say but in who we are,
passing on your love like an infectious laugh:
not worried,
not threatening,
just shining
like the sun, like a starry night,
like a lamp on a stand,
light for life. (Adapt.KGalloway/pod)
Sharing 'The Peace’
Let us take a moment to celebrate each other.
May a heart of peace rest with you.
All And also with you. (David Galston/q)
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.
CELEBRATING
Hymn/Song People stand as they are able, to sing
“Blossoms” (Tune: ‘Distress’, LM) 87 SSCL
One night my walking found a bush,
Its green all calicoes with bloom;
The air about the bush was hush
With sensuous velvets of perfume.
The blossoms, dream-white in the moon,
Drugged me like fuming poppy-fire,
And started in my head a rune,
And cloyed my journey with desire.
Now I know fine why lotus fruit
Made Grecian sailors indiscreet,
Why drunken bees the flowers loot,
And what it is makes honey sweet. (Kenneth Patton)
The Offerings
The Presentation
We give these gifts as an act of celebration.
And we celebrate our own new life, and the worldwide proclamation
of the good news to all people, everywhere.
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? (Binkley & McKeel/jke)
In Solidarity
Care Candle:
We are people of all ages who enter this space
bringing our joys and concerns.
Joys and Celebrations; Griefs and Concerns shared
Focused Thoughts:
Listening Response:
As one heart is lifted
All May we share its celebration
As one heart is burdened
All May we share the pain it knows. (Gretta Vosper/wwg)
And so we take this flame and light our special care candle…
The Care Candle is lit
For ourselves, for those named or remembered, and in solidarity with those
who have not the freedom to express their concern or celebration
for fear of discrimination or condemnation.
In all our joys and in all our concerns, may we be ever mindful
of the presentness of the sacred among us,
and to see new possibilities of the now.
The 'Abba' Prayer: (Optional)
You are invited to pray in the spirit of the Lord's Prayer, and in your original language, as that is appropriate
The sacred is everywhere,
At the heart of everything
That was, is, or to be.
All We may besmirch it at times, and
May be denied or corrupted for a time.
The scriptures aren’t the final word.
Let the churches dissimulate,
the synagogues sneer,
The mosques rant and rave,
The temples decree;
All It isn’t what one says
But in what one does
That we discover where the sacred is
And is marked by peace and love. (Robert Halsey/vv)
PARTING
Hymn/Song The people stand as they are able, to sing
“God's Dearest Work of Art”
God's dearest work of art
we long have called the heart,
the depth within from which begin
the prayers that we impart.
A heart whose thought exceed
our reason and our need,
and open us to fuller life
beyond our wants and greed.
In manner bold or meek,
if from the heart we speak
we speak to God, we reach to God,
for God is whom we seek.
And when our heart lies bare,
no matter when or where,
or how the words are first addressed,
our speaking is a prayer.
Parting Words
Let us take on this week’s life
with renewed hope and imagination…
The Community Candle is extinguished
After the words, a quiet.
After the songs, a silence.
After the crowd
only the memory recalls the gathering.
All Peace and justice have need of us
after the words, the music, and the gathering.
God grant you the depth for dedication to justice.
All God grant us the will
to be apostles of peace. (Adapted. Max Coots)
Words of Blessing
The blessing of the God of Sarah and Hagar, as of Abraham…
the blessing of the Son, born of the woman Mary…
the blessing of the Holy Spirit who broods over us as a mother, her children,
be with you all. (LWilson/cw
)
All Amen. May it be so.
Hymn/Song (Cont.) “God's Dearest Work of Art”
To so disclose the heart
is then the crucial part.
The very wish to speak like this
becomes the way to start.
And when, touched by love's fire,
to love we then aspire,
we know al that we need to know:
the heart lives through desire. (© William Flanders, 2004)
The people sit after the hymn
'This Week' at (NN)
Notices
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Significant Events
Journey Candles
Recessional Music
Fellowship
Morning tea is now served.
You are invited to share in this time 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.
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.
Binkley, C. G. & J. M. McKeel. Jesus and his Kingdom of Equals. An International Curriculum on the Life and Teaching of Jesus. Santa Rosa. Polebridge Press, 2001.
Galloway, K. (ed). The Pattern of Our Days. Liturgies and Resources for Worship. Glasgow: Wild Goose Publications, 1996.
Halsey, R. Voices from the Void. Singapore. Trafford Publishing, 2012.
(HoS) Hope Is Our Song. New Hymns and Songs from Aotearoa New Zealand. Palmerston North. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust, 2009.
Inclusive Readings. Year C. Toombul: Inclusive Language Project, 2012.
(SSCL) Patton, K. Services and Songs for the Celebration of Life. Boston. Beacon Press, 1967.
(SNS) Stuart, G. Singing a New Song. Traditional Hymn Tunes with New Century Lyrics. Sydney. CPRT Sydney, 2006.
Vosper, G. With or Without God. Why the way we Live is more important that what we Believe. Toronto. HarperCollins, 2008.
Ward, H.; J. Wild, & J Morley. (ed). Celebrating Women. New edition. London. SPCK, 1995.
Web sites/Other:
Southworth, Milner, Coots. UUA Worship Web. Boston. http://uua.org/spirituallife/worshipweb/index.php
William Flanders. 'Skeptic's hymns". web site.
"All Present..." S. Klosterboer. Process & Faith. http://processandfaith.org/