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”
18 February 2024. Lent 1 B. (Purple).
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 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
GATHERING
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)
Gathering Music
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
Entry into the Celebration
The gong is sounded three times
From season to season, this world, through its phases,
shows love has no dearth.
This love is for sharing,
to nurture well-being,
to echo God's call. (Adapt.Andrew Pratt/hfw)
So let us celebrate this richness and diversity of life.
Lighting of the Community Candle
In this place of friendship there is freedom.
Let the light we kindle go before us,
strong in hope,
wide in good will,
inviting the day to come.
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 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) Specific resources on Terrorism
(iv) On Wonder, Awe, and Nature
Hymn/Song The people stand as they are able, to sing
“Come Let Us Think Like Mountain Rocks” (Tune: ‘O Waly Waly’)
Come, let us think like mountain rocks,
Come breathe the song of scented breeze;
Come join the atoms’ quantum dance,
Come weep with all the fallen trees.
O let us pulse like surging waves,
Or flow as clear and running streams,
Explore the throbbing heart of Earth
And dream the plants’ and creatures’ dreams.
When liveliness evades our grasp,
When love grows weak and fears grow strong,
We still can feel the pulse of breath
And join once more in Nature’s song.
With joyful zest we raise God’s psalm,
The muse of past and present now,
The chant of fire that births new life,
The song of soil and root and bough.
Life’s many forms unite as one;
This earth is filled with sacredness,
All praise exalts the Cosmic God
Who dwells in mystic holiness. (William L Wallace)
OR
“Praise to God, the World’s Creator” (Tune: ‘Abbot’s Leigh’, 87.87D)
Praise to God, the world’s creator,
Source of life and growth and breath,
Cradling in her arms her children,
Holding them from birth to death.
In our bodies, in our living,
Strength and truth of all we do,
God is present, working with us,
Making us creators too.
Praise to God our saving Wisdom,
Meeting us with love and grace,
Helping us to grow in wholeness,
Giving freedom, room, and space.
In our hurting, in our risking,
In the thoughts we dare not name,
God is present, growing with us,
Healing us from sin and shame.
Praise to God, the Spirit in us,
Prompting hidden depths of prayer,
Firing us to long for justice,
Reaching out with tender care.
In our searching, in our loving,
In our struggles to be free,
God is present, living in us,
Pointing us to what shall be. (Jan Berry/cw)
Remain standing
Opening Sentences
As we gather to remember and share stories of faith,
let us rejoice in the presentness of God.
All Before our stories began, there was God;
through all our days, God walks with us.
God’s creative presence is moving among us.
All Let us sing praises and offer thanks.
Dance with the God who frees us for new possibilities.
All We seek to grow in faith and in love for one another.
Words of Awareness
For all that is our life we offer thanks and praise.
For all life is a gift which we are called to use,
to build the store of common good.
May we know once again that we are not isolated beings
but connected, in mystery and miracle,
to the universe,
to this community, and
to each other.
OR
We pray:
Surprising God, as we move into new experiences,
help us to be open to your presentness
among us and within.
May we sense your glory
in the sights and sounds and breath of this Lenten day.
Amen.
Hymn/Song “Choose Life” (Tune: ‘St Cecelia’, 66.66) 6 TMT
Choose life and turn from death,
make peace instead of war,
share love in place of hate,
and dance the Gospel life.
See beauty with your eyes,
make beauty with our hands,
live beauty in your lives
and dance the Gospel life.
Seek justice for the poor,
find freedom for yourself,
help people use their power
and dance the Gospel life.
Choose love instead of fear,
choose change instead of guilt,
choose hope instead of gloom
and dance the Gospel life. (William L Wallace)
OR
Hymn/Song “Let All Beauty…” (Tune: ‘Danby’, (LM) 88.88) 46 SiF/326 SLT
Let all the beauty we have known
illuminate our hearts and minds.
Rejoice in wonders daily shown,
in faith and joy, and love that binds.
We celebrate with singing hearts
the loveliness of sky and earth,
the inspiration of the arts,
the miracle of ev’ry birth
Life’s music and its poetry
surround and bless us through our days.
For these we sing in harmony,
together giving thanks and praise. (Dana McL Greeley)
The people sit
Welcome
Or in your own words
A warm welcome is extended to all.
Especially those who are gathering here 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
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
Meditation
"Prophets"
By Clinton Lee Scott. Singing the Living Tradition/565.
v1 Always it is easier to pay homage to prophets
than to heed the direction of their vision.
v2 It is easier blindly to venerate the saints
than to learn the human quality of their sainthood.
v1 It is easier to glorify the heroes of the race than
v2 to give weight to their examples.
v1 To worship the wise is much easier
than to profit by their wisdom.
v2 Great leaders are honored,
not by adulation, but by sharing
their insights and values.
v1 Grandchildren of those who stoned the prophet
sometimes gather up the stones
to build the prophet's monument.
v2 Always it is easier to pay homage to prophets
than to heed the direction of their vision.
Centering Silence
Centering silence has its roots in the earliest of monastic traditions of the ‘desert Fathers (abbas)/Mothers (ammas)’
and the Christian mystic tradition… Relaxing into ‘quietness’ creates the space for deep listening and draws you into yourself
Come apart from the busyness of family and work,
and dwell in the presentness of the sacred,
our dynamic source of being.
(Silence)
May our lives be renewed and our life's purpose strengthened
as we gather with others who are also searching.
(Silence)
Music of Reflection
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: Even as we seek understanding, our minds,
too often, shelter us from the realities we might uncover.
All May we have the courage to hear and hold truths
found within these words. (Gretta Vosper/ab)
• ‘Some Thoughts on Wilderness”
By Rex A E Hunt (An extract from "In Celebration of a Wild Faith’. Jesus in the Australian Landscape”. from G. C. Jenks. (ed). Interfaith Afterlives of Jesus. Jesus in Global Perspective 2. Eugene. Cascade Books, 2023)
During a visit to the MacDonald Rangers in Central Australia ethnographer Debrah Bird Rose wrote of the surrounding landscape:
"These rocks were ancient, and their colours suggested that instead of fading with age, geological eons had intensified them… Below us the riverbed was pale, pebbly sand, above us the sky was bluer than blue, and here and there we met eucalypts—most spectacularly, the white-barked ghost gums that articulate themselves so definitely against the red earth and blue sky."
Ancient indeed!
The oldest rocks in Western Australia, for example, are 4.4 billion years old; almost twice that of the rocks in South Australia, and seven times older than the oldest rocks on the east coast.
Yet those desert soils produce the planet’s greatest diversity of flowering plants, with up to twelve thousand species.
Australia is an ancient and distinctive land, with animals and plant life—“the colours have an almost savage intensity, which accords with the primeval quality of the Australian bush”—that are quite remarkable in their own right.
A fact recognized by early (1800s) European settlers who viewed the landscape and inhabitants as ‘wild and uncivilised’.
Australia has ten named deserts, the largest being the Great Victoria Desert which crosses the border into both Western Australia and South Australia. It is over 800 kilometers wide with an area of 348,750 square kilometers.
In total the ten deserts cover nearly 1.4 million square kilometers or 18% of the Australian mainland. Result?
Australia has been called the driest continent on earth.
A desert surrounded by a coastal fringe.
• Mark 1: 12-15 (Inclusive Text)
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness and Jesus remained there for forty days,
and was tempted by Satan.
Jesus was with the wild beasts, and the angels looked after him.
After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee
and there proclaimed the Good News of God, saying,
'The time has come and the reign of God is close at hand.
Repent, and believe the Good News.'
Contemporary Exploration
Silence for Personal Reflection
AFFIRMING
A Litany for Lent (Optional)
In response to the word reflected on, let us stand and share a special litany for today
as we begin the Season of Lent.
The people stand as they are able
Jesus invites us to a way of celebration,
meeting and feasting with the humble and poor.
All Let us walk his way with joy.
Jesus beckons us to a way of risk,
letting go of our security.
All Let us walk his way with joy.
Jesus challenges us to listen to the voices
of those who have nothing to lose.
All Let us walk his way with joy.
Jesus points us to a way of self-giving,
where power and status are overturned.
All Let us walk his way with joy.
Jesus calls us to follow the way of the cross,
where despair is transformed
by the promise of new life.
All Let us walk his way with joy. (Jan Berry/bot)
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)
All are invited to greet/share the peace with 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 People stand as they are able, to sing
“When Evenings Shorten” (Tune: ‘Cavell Street’) 147 HoS
When evenings shorten and grow cool,
as grapes turn purple on the vine,
as golden grain is safely stored,
we see again our Easter sign.
As daisies fade along the hill,
and bush birds come to us for food,
in rain, or mist or bitter chill
we see again our Easter sign.
As trees grow bare, we see the trace
of life’s new buds along the bough.
We do not need to wait for spring;
we see again our Easter sign.
So let the southern Church rejoice!
As colour flames from hill and plain
so let us sing with hearts of joy:
we see again our Easter sign. (Shirley Smith/adapted)
People sit
CELEBRATING
Offerings
Presentation
We are called to make real the sharing of the gifts God has given to us.
We offer what we have for the good of all.
Conversation 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:
Holy God, as you have touched us
All May we now touch others
with your love in us. (Adapt.Kate Galloway/cw)
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 Abba/Lord's Prayer, and in your original language, as appropriate
All God, who cares for us,
The wonder of whose presence fills us with awe.
Let kindness, justice and love shine in our world.
Let your secrets be known here as they are in heaven.
Give us the food and the hope we need for today.
Forgive us our wrongdoing
as we forgive the wrongs done to us.
Protect us from pride and from despair
and from the fear and hate which can swallow us up.
In you is truth, meaning, glory and power,
while worlds come and go.
Amen. (MFurlong/nwi)
SCATTERING
Hymn/Song People stand as they are able, to sing
"Where the Road Runs Out" 156(v1-2) AA
Where the road runs out and the signposts end,
where we come to the edge of today,
be the God of Abraham for us,
send us out upon our way.
Refrain:
Lord, you were our beginning,
the faith that gave us birth.
We look to you, our ending,
our hope for heaven and earth.
When the coast is left and we journey on
to the rim of the sky and the sea,
be the sailor's friend, be the dolphin Christ,
lead us in to eternity.
Refrain:
Remain standing
Parting Words
Time has now come for us to leave this sacred place.
As we do, may we embrace the challenges
of our lives and our world...
The Community Candle is extinguished
v2 Go out from this place to your daily journey through life.
All As we do, may we fashion relationships of inclusion
and reconciliation, and a life-style that loves
and treats people and the earth gently.
Words of Blessing
v1 When you go from here
know that our hearts are always in a holy place,
for we are always connected to one another.
And know that deep down,
our hearts beat in one universal rhythm.
May we each find the sacred space to hear it. (Israel Buffardi)
All Amen. May it be so with us.
Hymn/Song (Cont). "Where the Road Runs Out" 156(v3) AA
When the clouds are low and the wind is strong,
when tomorrow's storm draws near,
be the spirit bird hovering overhead
who will take away our fear. Colin Gibson
Refrain:
Lord, you were our beginning,
the faith that gave us birth.
We look to you, our ending,
our hope for heaven and earth.
People sit
'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 of the Resources used in Shaping this Liturgy:
(AA) Alleluia Aotearoa. Hymns and Songs for all Churches. Raumati. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust, 1993.
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.
Duncan, G. (ed). Harvest For The World. A Worship Anthology on Sharing in the Work of Creation. Norwich. The Canterbury Press, 2003.
(HoS) Hope Is Our Song. New Hymns and Songs from Aotearoa New Zealand. Palmerston North. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust, 2009.
Inclusive Readings. Year B. Brisbane. Inclusive Language Project. In private circulation, 2005.
Mitchell, R. C. & G. A. Ricciuti. Birthings and Blessings. Liberating Worship Services for the Inclusive Church. New York. Crossroads, 1992.
Morely, J. (ed). Bread of Tomorrow. Praying with the World’s Poor. London. SPCK/Christian Aid, 1992.
Vosper, G. Another Breath. Prayers for Celebration and Reflection. Brisbane. The Centre for Progressive Religious Thought Brisbane, 2009/2010.
(TMT) Wallace, W. L. The Mystery Telling. Hymns and Songs for the New Millennium. Kingston. Selah Publishing, 2001.
Ward, H.; J. Wild, & J Morley. (ed). Celebrating Women. New edition. London. SPCK, 1995.
Web sites/Other:
Refreshment Station. Words by Nan Fink Gefen, taken from an Evolutionary Passover Haggadah by Tree Bressen.
William L Wallace. “Come Let Us Think Like Mountain Rocks”. Direct from the author.
David Galston. Quest Learning Centre for Religious Literacy. http://www.questcentre.ca/