Details on the availability of my books, supporting progressive religious thought, HERE
Suggestion: ’Refresh’ each page before reading to make sure to get my latest edition
‘The Other Lectionary’ - 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
“Landscape is an incredible, mystical teacher, and when you begin to tune into its sacred presence,
something shifts inside you”
9 April 203. Easter A. (White).
Celebrating Community in the Tradition of the Meal
We need a new configuration of liturgy and climate to celebrate Easter in Australia.
In the southern hemisphere we cannot exploit the theme of Spring’s new life.
Perhaps the theme of refreshing coolness would be an excellent substitute to enrich our appreciation of the Easter event.
April in Australia is a pleasant, refreshing month.
Its arrival brings a sense of relief from the thick blanket of summer
as we are rejuvenated by a touch of coolness.
For us, this is Eastertime…
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 of the (NN) Nation, past, present, emerging,
and their stewardship of this land throughout the ages.
First Peoples Statement to the Nation 2017 called “Uluru Statement from the Heart” HERE
A Response from Common Dreams5 Conference of Religious Progressives,
Australia/South Pacific 2019 HERE
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 (Including Solo Song just before Entry)
“Being Here” (Tune: Original, C. New) 1 OHV
We move our spirits
We move our spirits
from thoughts of getting here.
We move our spirits
We move our spirits
t’ward the gift of being here. (Christopher New)
Entry into the Celebration
The sacred space has been changed since we left it on Good Friday morning.
The wooden cross is no longer present. All that remains is the outline of the cross
made from the petals and leaves scattered by the women of the congregation…
The gong is sounded three times
v1 This day we shall let the hills embrace us,
the trees comfort us,
and the sun enlighten our minds.
This day we shall let the sap rise within us
and dance the music of the Cosmos. (Adapt/William L Wallace/wb)
v2 Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life.
Note: (i) A suggested process for introducing new hymns, called Hymn of the Month, can be found HERE
(ii) Additional Special Purpose Hymns that cover major international events or themes can be found HERE They include these 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 HERE
(iv) On Wonder, Awe, and Nature HERE
Hymn/Song The people stand as they are able, to sing
“Easter 1” (Tune: ‘St Magnus, 86.86)
So bleak with possibility,
bare branches reach for hope,
a promise in this barren time
of love of boundless scope.
We look beyond this season's end,
through winter's lengthened night,
to longer days, and new found growth,
the cross no more a blight.
Each healing hand, each watchful eye,
each grief or joy we share,
lives out that resurrection love,
our calling and our care. © Andrew Pratt
OR
“Rainbow Colours” (Tune: ‘Halton Holgate’, 87.87) 112 MTH
Help us trace your rainbow colours
through these days of change and choice,
holding firmly to your promise:
all the world can praise, rejoice.
In a world of contradictions
let your justice change our ways,
then with mercy fire compassion,
let no bias mar our praise.
Let us nurture fresh expressions,
different ways of being church,
sharing love and understanding,
joining people in their search.
Let us go with common purpose,
though distinctive from our birth;
welcome all to share our vision,
go as one to all the earth.
Through diversity and difference,
rainbow colours of our race,
let us share without distinction
God’s demanding, loving grace. (AndrewPratt. © Stainer & Bell)
Remain standing
Opening Sentences
v2 We live at mystery's edge
watching for a startling luminescence
or a word to guide us.
All In fragile occurrence the Holy One presents oneself
and we must pause...
Daily, there are glimmers,
reflections of a seamless mercy
revealed in common intricacies.
All These circles of grace spill out around us
and announce that we are part of this mystery. KWehlander/adapted
v1 Today we celebrate life over death.
Today we celebrate the flame that lives again.
We will light the fire…
(Go to Candle lighting)
OR
v2 Jesus lives! He lives in the hearts
and minds of all who love him.
All This is the way we will remember him!
v2 On this day called Easter, we celebrate
the indestructible love and wisdom that
Jesus showed to the world.
All We will gladly follow in his Way!
v2 We will remember Jesus as we live our lives.
All We will remember him as we forgive,
and not hold on to hurts.
v2 We will remember Jesus as we live our lives.
All We will remember him as we give
until it makes a difference.
v2 We will remember Jesus as we live our lives.
All We will remember him as we resist war
and all forms of violence.
v2 We will remember Jesus as we live our lives.
All We will remember him as we feed the hungry,
shelter the homeless and befriend the lonely.
v2 We will remember Jesus as we live our lives.
All We will remember his faith in a God
who loves, forgives and restores our hope.
v2 We will remember Jesus as we live our lives.
All We will remember his guidelines
for life and for loving. (2012 Easter Liturgy, PCNVic)
Lighting of the Community Candle
The Community Candle is lit
v1 ...aware that the power of resurrection
has forever changed who we are,
and given us the courage
to boldly proclaim a living faith.
Today we celebrate:
new life,
new joy,
new possibilities.
All We give thanks for the Spirit of Life visible in Jesus,
visible in us, visible in people in all walks of life.
OR
With heat and light, the Great Radiance blazed forth
With heat and light, ancestral stars fused atoms, exploding in awesome power
With heat and light, the fire on our Ancestors’ hearth cooked their food
With heat and light, modern scientists harnessed new energy sources
With heat and light, we light our flame today,
looking toward a sustainable future. (Adapt.JCH. Public domain)
Words of Awareness
In the seed is the flower,
In the weed and the apple tree,
In the chrysalis hides a promise
Of life that soon will be free.
In the deathly cold of winter storms
Waits the spring for you and me,
In the silence is the song
In which dreams come alive. (Robert Halsey/vv)
OR
We pray:
God of all life, we give thanks for the signs
of your care and creativity
that surrounds us and blesses us.
May it be so.
Hymn/Song "When Mary Through The Garden Went" (Tune: 'Was Gott Thut', 88.88.8) 267 SLT
When Mary through the garden went,
there was no sound of any bird,
and yet, because the night was spent,
the little grasses lightly stirred,
the flowers awoke, the lilies heard.
When Mary through the garden went,
the dew lay still on flower and grass,
the waving palms above her sent
their fragrance out as she did pass.
No light upon the branches was.
When Mary through the garden went,
her eyes, for weeping long, were dim.
The grass beneath her foot-step bent,
the solemn lilies, white and slim,
these also stood and wept for him. (Mary Coleridge)
OR
“God Who Sets Us On A Journey” (Tune: ‘Canvas’’) 32 FFS
God who sets us on a journey
to discover, dream and grow,
lead us as you led your people
in the desert long ago;
journey inward, journey outward,
stir the spirit, stretch the mind,
love for God and self and neighbour
marks the way that Christ defined.
Exploration brings new insights,
changes, choices we must face;
give us wisdom in deciding,
mindful always of your grace;
should we stumble, lose our bearings,
find it hard to know what's right,
we regain our true direction
focused on the Jesus light.
End our longing for the old days,
grant the vision that we lack –
once we've started on this journey
there can be no turning back;
let us travel light, discarding
excess baggage from our past,
cherish only what's essential,
choosing treasure that will last.
When we set up camp and settle
to avoid love's risk and pain,
you disturb complacent comfort,
pull the tent pegs up again;
keep us travelling in the knowledge
you are always at our side;
give us courage for the journey,
Christ our goal and Christ our guide. Joy Dine
The people sit after the hymn/song
Welcome
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 the Gathering
Those visiting, please sign our Visitors book.
CENTERING
Meditation
“A Poem for Easter”
By R. Preston Price. (Adapted)
Like a blade of grass pushing up stubbornly through the sidewalk.
Like the butterfly emerging from the tomb-like chrysalis.
But much more.
Like the seed after years of dormant death sending up sprout.
Like the brown bulb breaking forth from brown earth into brilliant color.
But much more.
Like brilliant daybreak after a stormy, darkened night.
Like a rainbow mystically appearing amidst the rain.
But much more.
Like a patient making an unexpected, unpredicted turn for health.
Like the pine cone opening to spread seed only after touched by fiery death.
But much more.
Like a beautiful vase emerging from a lump of clay in the potter's hands.
Like a hidden spring burbling forth in the middle of a barren desert.
But much more…
So, it comes.
Nothing else like it.
No image adequate.
No simile.
No metaphor.
Unable to talk about it but inadequately
We celebrate this great, real mystery that
Neither language nor imagination can encompass.
Easter!
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: May we be struck by the wisdom of these words
and marked by hearing them.
All For within story lies meaning, and
within meaning, the wisdom for which we seek. (Gretta Vosper/ab)
• “The Songs of Seeds’
By Kai Siedenburg. Space Between the Stones/46
What if
seeds sang
when they
sprouted?
Imagine
the meadows
ringing
with the
joyous sound
of thousands
of tiny green voices
lifted together
in exultation.
OR
• “Speak to us of… Religion”
By Kahlil Gibran. The Prophet/90-92 (adapted)
And an old priest said, "Speak to us of religion."
And the prophet said:
Have I spoken this day of aught else?
Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
and that which is neither deed nor reflection,
but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul,
even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate faith from actions, or belief from occupations?
Who can spread their hours before themselves, saying,
"This for God and this for myself;
This for my soul, and this other for my body?"
All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self…
Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.
Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,
The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight…
And if you would know God, be not therefore a solver of riddles.
Rather look about you and you shall see
God playing with your children.
And look into space; you shall see God walking in the clouds,
with outstretched arms in the lightning and descending in rain.
You shall see God smiling in flowers,
then rising with arms waving in the trees.
OR
• “Resurrection”
Rubem Alves. The Poet The Warrior, The Prophet/23.
During his 1990 Edward Cadbury Lecture given in the University of Birmingham, England, Brazilian Rubem Alves
told a story of a boy who found the body of a dead man washed up on the edge of a sea-side village…
It happened that on a day like all others a boy saw a strange shape floating far away on the sea.
And he cried.
The whole village came: in a place like that even a strange shape is an occasion for excitement.
And there they stayed, on the beach, looking, waiting.
Till the sea. slowly, no haste, brought the thing and put it on the sand,
to the disappointment of all.
A dead man.
All dead men are alike because there is one thing only to do with them: they must be buried.
In that village the usage was that the women prepared the dead for burial.
So, they carried the corpse to a house, women inside, men outside.
And the silence was great as they cleaned it from the algae and the green things of the sea.
But suddenly a voice broke the silence: a woman…
‘Had he lived among us he would have had to bend his head everytime he entered our houses.
He is too tall…’
And they all nodded in approval.
Again the silence was deep. But another voice was heard. Another woman…
‘I wonder about his voice... was it like the whisper of the breeze? Like the thunder of the waves?
Did he know that secret word which, once uttered makes a woman pick up a flower and stick it in her hair?’
And they all smiled.
Silence again.
And again, the voice of another woman:
‘These hands... How big they are!. What did they do?
Did they play with children? Did they sail through the seas?
Did they fight many battles? Did they build houses?
Did they know how to caress and embrace a woman's body?’
And they all laughed,
and were surprised as they realised that the funeral had become resurrection:
a moment in their flesh, dreams, long believed to be dead, returning,
ashes becoming fire, forbidden desires emerging to the surface of their skins,
their bodies alive again...
Their husbands, outside, watched what was happening to their wives,
and they were jealous of the drowned man,
as they realised that he had a power which they themselves did not have.
And they thought about the dreams they had never had,
the poems they had never written, the seas they had never seen,
the women they had never loved...
The story ends by telling that they finally buried the dead man.
But the village was never the same.
• Matthew 28:1-10 (NRSV)
After the sabbath, and towards dawn on the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to visit the sepulchre.
And all at once there was a violent earthquake, for the angel of God,
descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it.
The angel's face was like lightning,
and the angel's robe white as snow.
The guards were so shaken, so frightened that they were as if dead.
But the angel spoke, and said to the women,
'There is no need for you to be afraid.
I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
He is not here, for he has been raised, as he foretold.
Come and see the place where he lay,
then go quickly and tell the disciples:
Jesus has been raised from the dead,
and now is going before you to Galilee;
it is there you will see him.
Now I have told you.'
Filled with awe and great joy
the women came quickly away from the tomb,
and ran to tell the disciples.
And there coming to meet them, was Jesus.
'Greetings!' Jesus said.
And the women came up and, falling down before Jesus, clasped his feet.
Then Jesus said to them,
'Do not be afraid; go and tell the disciples
that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.'
OR
• John 20:1-18 (NRSV)
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone
had been removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple,
the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them,
“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,
and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.
The two were running together,
but the other disciple outran Peter
and reached the tomb first.
He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there,
but he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.
He saw the linen wrappings lying there,
and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head,
not lying with the linen wrappings
but rolled up in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first,
also went in, and he saw and believed;
for as yet they did not understand the scripture,
that he must rise from the dead.
Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;
and she saw two angels in white,
sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying,
one at the head and the other at the feet.
They said to her,
“Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them,
“They have taken away my Lord,
and I do not know where they have laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,
but she did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her,
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him,
“Sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where you have laid him,
and I will take him away.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).
Jesus said to her,
“Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and say to them,
‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord”; and she told them
that he had said these things to her.
Contemporary Exploration
Silence for Personal Reflection
AFFIRMING
An Autumn Litany (Optional)
The people stand as they are able
For cool nights and sunny autumn days,
Mn for crunchy leaves to walk through
Wn and crisp red apples to bite into...
All We give thanks, artistic God.
For trees the colour of flame,
Wn For raucous crows and constant challenges,
Mn for netball practice and football games...
All We give thanks, celebrating God.
For holidays, processions and decorated floats,
Mn for warbling magpies and gentle rain,
Wn winter knitting, and after winter, spring again...
All We give thanks, generous God,
for all these glorious things.
OR
Northern Hemisphere:
"Anticipated Spring…” (Optional)
By Terasa Cooley
v1 In this time of anticipated spring
let us allow ourselves to extend the anticipation -
to value the time of budding before blooming,
of seeding before sprouting.
All This is a time of revelation:
the revealing of that which is eternal,
which we see every year,
but still need to be reminded to see it in a new way.
v2 There is also the revelation of that which is new.
All Every spring we encounter something never before seen.
v1 It is that very newness
which embodies hope and potential
for the wholeness which is yet to be.
All Let us allow spring to unfold slowly
that we may appreciate the true mystery
of rebirth and renewal.
Sharing 'The Peace’ (Optional)
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.
Hymn/Song In solidarity with those for whom standing is not easy or possible, we will remain seated to sing...
“Where the Light of Easter Day” (Tune: ‘Crusader’) 58 TEL
Where the light of Easter Day
shines through our life, then faith can say,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ is changing all the world
Here is God’s good kingdom!
Where the yeast of love will rise,
bubbling with God’s new enterprise,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ is working through the world
Here is God’s good kingdom!
Where a child can grow in trust,
where there is joy that powers are just,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ will colour all the world
Here is God’s good kingdom!
Where the harvests ripen in peace,
where all the sounds of gunfire cease,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ is healing all the world
Here is God’s good kingdom!
Where the Spirit’s flame burns bright,
where there is truth and health and light,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ will resurrect the world
Here is God’s good kingdom! (Shirley Erena Murray)
OR
“Easter People, See The Light!” (Tune: ‘Ave Virgo Virginum’)
Easter people, see the light,
new light of this morning!
Myths and mysteries are gone,
brighter suns are dawning!
Empty Cross, display your arms,
all the world embracing,
shed Good Friday shadows now,
dark despair displacing!
For the Jesus whom we know
lives in different guises,
and the Spirit is unleashed,
mighty as it rises
through our chaos and our pain,
through all cultures winging
on a flight of health and peace
fresh momentum bringing!
Not the sacrificial Lamb,
blood for sins atoning,
nor the gold of chalice cup,
nor a king's enthroning -
God's desire can never be
pictured in this fashion,
but the working out of love,
justice with compassion.
Leave the loaves that fed the past
now is fresh bread baking,
risen with the Gospel yeast
free and for the taking!
Pour away the wine that sours,
new wine is for tasting,
Easter people, bring the world
to this new world's feasting! (© Shirley Erena Murray 2010)
In Solidarity
Care Candle:
We are people of all ages who enter this safe space
bringing our joys and concerns.
Joys and Celebrations; Griefs and Concerns shared
Focused Thoughts:
Listening Response:
We turn to Life, to that vast creativity
All that empowers the universe
as the ocean animates the wave,
seeking to let go of that which blocks our healing.
All May we open ourselves even now
to the wonder of Life.
And so we take a 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 the new possibilities of the now.
The 'Abba' Prayer: (Optional)
You are invited to pray in the spirit of the Abba/Lord's Prayer, and in your original language, as that is appropriate
All Holy Being,
whom we call by many different names,
Blessed are you.
Blessed are we in you.
May we create with you a realm of mercy, peace and justice.
May love be done in the here and now as it is in the infinite.
May we share life in bread and hope.
For our failures to love, we need forgiveness.
May we find the paths of reconciliation.
In the midst of evil's every incarnation,
From the powers that possess our spirits and our structures,
May we find liberation.
In the power that is love, we seek to live and move and have our being.
May it be so, now and forever. (Nancy L Steeves)
CELEBRATING
CELEBRATING COMMUNITY IN THE TRADITION OF THE MEAL
Invitation
Friends, let us share in the sacred story
and celebrate the feast of the resurrection.
Offerings
Presentation
We give thanks 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/fwb
Thanksgiving
God is the heart of life.
All And we are the heartbeat.
May our hearts be filled
with thanks and praise and songs of joy.
All We rejoice in the miracle of life
and delight in our participation.
We give thanks for the invitation to be at this table,
for here we are shown our lives...
The daily bread of our work and care,
the wine of delight, pressed from the fruits of our creativity
and our brokenness, with all its pain and self-knowledge.
We celebrate the life that is ours
for we know we are precious in your sight.
We celebrate the life that is yours, pattern of reality for us:
life that is love revealed
love given and received
love in action. (Sherri Weinberg)
Therefore, with all your lovers throughout the ages
we praise you saying:
All Holy, holy, holy, resurrection 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.
Bread and White Wine
Bread and Wine tell a very special story… about women, about men, about life.
Bread has its beginnings in the earth:
it is gathered, ground and kneaded by loving hands, tired backs, by sweat of toil.
Bread from field and mill and store.
Bread to break, to give and eat, shared from hand to hand.
Bread that must be broken open, to be used, to feed.
Bread broken to fill emptiness.
Likewise, the wine is of the earth, bitter and sweet.
From vine to glass, given and shared, of people's labour.
Wine of joy and pain, grief and gladness.
Wine to be spilled to slake thirst and enliven the heart just the way spirits can. (Ruth Duck. Adapted by Nancy L Steeves)
With bread and wine, you are invited
to see, hear, smell, feel and taste the mystery of grace.
Silence
Communion
The Bread and White Wine is served when people gather in four circles in the corners of the gathering space
After Communion
May our eyes be filled with seeing
and our minds with knowing...
All As the sun rises each day in perfect newness,
So may we break upon each new day
with splendor and expectation.
Renewed creatures content with
reflected radiance and dirty fingernails. (Nelson-Pallmeyer & Hesla/wsj)
PARTING
Hymn/Song People stand as they are able, to sing
“We Are An Easter People” (Tune: ‘Alive') 146(v1-2) AA
We are an Easter people,
ours is an Easter faith,
the yeast is rising in our hearts,
our wine has vintage taste.
Refrain:
Christ is risen,
Christ is risen,
risen in our lives.
We are an Easter people,
ours is an Easter faith,
our tears are freed to flow and heal
our shattered hopes and hearts.
Refrain:
Remain standing
OR
“Keep Wide Your Heart” (Tune: ‘Trentham’, Breathe on Me, Breath of God)
Keep wide your heart to love,
all it might ever be.
Count not the cost love may impose;
to pay it, our deepest need.
Keep wide your mind to truth,
all it might ever mean.
All self-delusions, let them go
and truth, it will set you free.
Parting Words
As we prepare to leave this sacred space
where we have worshipped together,
let us return to our work
enlivened and renewed...
The Community Candle is extinguished
Where Christ walks,
All We will follow.
Where Christ stumbles,
All We will stop.
Where Christ cries,
All We will listen.
Where Christ suffers,
All We will hurt.
When Christ dies,
All We will bow our heads in sorrow.
When Christ rises again in glory,
All We will share his endless joy. (WGWG)
Words of Blessing
May the firmness of the earth be yours.
May the flow of the water be yours.
May the freedom of the air be yours.
May the fierceness of the fire be yours.
May all of the gifts of this life,
The Below and the Above,
Be with you now and remain with you always. (Eric Williams/uuaww)
All Amen! May it be so!
OR
Do not look for the risen Jesus only here,
in the confines of this church building.
All We will seek the risen Jesus on the roads and in the streets,
in all the pathways and byways of our lives.
Do not seek comfort in the familiar, but dare to risk the unfamiliar –
All We know that Resurrection makes all things new!
Do not cling to all the old, expected notions about God, Jesus, Spirit,
but go forth and celebrate this truly new Good News:
All Because Christ lives, new possibilities are ever before us!
Christ is Risen Indeed!
All Alleluia and Amen! (UCC/Worship Ways)
Hymn/Song (Cont) “We Are An Easter People” (Tune: ‘Alive') 146(v3) AA
We are an Easter people,
ours is an Easter faith,
our fears have died, we rise to dream,
to love, to dance, to live.
Refrain:
Christ is risen,
Christ is risen,
risen in our lives. (William L Wallace)
OR
“Keep Wide Your Heart” (Cont.) (Tune: ‘Trentham’, Breathe on Me, Breath of God)
Keep wide your life to dreams
easing the fear-filled night,
until each possibility
glows with a persistent light.
Keep wide the road to hope.
Clear off its weed-fill’d way,
that all might walk it, side by side,
toward a more perfect day. (© 2016 Gretta Vosper)
The people sit after the hymn/song
'This Week' at (NN)
Notices
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Significant Events
Journey Candles
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 Resources used in Shaping this Liturgy:
(AA) Alleluia Aotearoa. Hymns and Songs for all Churches. Raumati. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust, 1993.
Alves, R. A. The Poet, The Warrior, The Prophet. The Edward Cadbury Lectures. London. SCM Press/Trinity Press International, 1990.
Duncan, G. (ed). A World of Blessing. Benedictions from every Continent and many Cultures. Norwich. The Canterbury Press, 2000.
(FFS) Faith Forever Singing. Songs for a New Day. Raumati. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust, 2000.
Gibran, K. The Prophet. London. Heinemann, 1926/1969.
Halsey, R. Voices from the Void. Singapore: Trafford Publishing, 2012.
Holy Bible. NRSV. Nashville. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989.
Macnab, F. A Fine Wind is Blowing: Psalms of the Bible in Words that Blow you Away. Richmond. Spectrum Publications, 2006.
(TEL) Murray, S. E. Touch the Earth Lightly. New Hymns Written between 2003 & 2008. Carol Stream. Hope Publishing, 2008.
Nelson-Pallmeyer, J. & B. Hesle. Worship in the Spirit of Jesus. Theology, Liturgy, and Songs without Violence. Cleveland. The Pilgrim Press, 2005.
(OHV) New, C. Our Highest Values: A Collection of Songs for an Expansive Spirituality. Edmonton. Southminster-Steinhauer United Church, 2015. (chris@smsuc.com) - Contact Christopher for musical score)
(MTH) Pratt, A. More Than Hymns. Words for a Lyrical Faith. London. Stainer & Bell, 2015
Siedenburg, K. Space Between the Stones. Poems and Practices for Connecting with Nature, Spirit, and Creativity. Santa Cruz. Our Nature Connection, 2020
(SLT) Singing The Living Tradition. Boston: UUA, 1993.
The St Hilda Community. The New Women Included. A Book of Services and Prayers. London. SPCK, 1996.
Vosper, G. Another Breath. Prayers for Celebration and Reflection. Brisbane. The Centre for Progressive Religious Thought Brisbane, 2009/2010.
Web sites/Other:
Wehlander, Price, Cooley. UUA Worship Web. Boston. <www.uua.org/spirituallife/worshipweb/>
Sherri Weinberg. (2005) St Paul's Presbyterian Church. NZ: Devonport.
"Easter 1". Andrew Pratt <Wordsandhymns> blog site (2011) UK.
Nancy L Steeves. Two of several non-theistic resources found at: http://stephen.srv.ualberta.ca/publications/non-theistic-liturgy-resources/
Gretta Vosper. “Keep Wide Your Heart” Direct from the author.
“Do not look…” UCC Worship Ways. <ucc.org/worship_worship_ways> 2017
Shirley E Murray. “Easter People…” Direct from the author