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RSS2‘creation eucharist’ [05.11.00]
this is re-working of the pentecost eucharist from earlier in 2000. this time using themes of creation and rebirth. we were going for a matthew fox meets the winter solstice kind of thing…
the general structure of the service was to build up - with use of more media, faster video cuts, louder and more frantic music - to the breaking of the bread, at which point everything continued in silence. We also wanted communion to be a ‘go out there and get em’ kind of thing, so we’ve completely done away with the post communion thanksgiving, our thoughts being that our life following the meal should be lived as a thanksgiving. Hopefully this is reflected in the shared blessing at the end of the service.
we know some of the text here came from various sources (mostly the church of new zealand, but we can’t remember which bits) - we apologise in advance of impending law suits
we’ve sometimes described the ‘feel’ of this service as ‘techno high-church’ with the strong emphasis on symbolism, and with most of the instructions written, although the liturgy is actually quite relaxed and drawn from a range of traditions including material written sepcifically for this service.
The Service:
as people enter worship area they are invited to light a candle and place it on the altar. this invitation is projected in large letters above the altar.
video images: ambient cross images
Call to worship
God is creating the entire universe
fully and totally
in this present now.
Everything God created at the start of time
God creates now all at once.
Now consider this: God is in everything, but
God is nowhere as much as in the soul.
There,
where time never enters,
where no image shines in,
in the innermost and deepest aspect of the soul
God creates the whole cosmos.
[Meister Echkhart]
Welcome and Introduction to service
Guided Meditation
a breathing meditation, sensing the presence of god
Hymn: Up to the heavens
video image: deep space images
Confession ritual:
Before God and each other let’s be honest as we take time to reflect on our lives.
Honest about our broken promises, our unfulfilled dreams, our squandered potential.
As an act of confession we pass these bowls between us, holding them for each other as we wash our hands in the sand of the earth.
We seek to wash away the things of the past that would distance us from God and each other.
By washing in the sand we recommit ourselves to all of God’s creation.
As these bowls are passed between us you may also wish to use this time for your own prayers.
bowls are passed round and finally returned to the altar and collected in one bowl
video image: ambient sand and earth images
Absolution:
In the cycle of the seasons, our ancestors would witness death in nature at the onset of winter and would pray and perform rituals for the resurrection of life in spring. Long before the time of Christ there was belief that the spilling of blood on the earth would result in that resurrection.
In remembering the spilling of Jesus’ blood we celebrate a new understanding of the resurrection of life after death.
some of the communion wine is poured over the sand
As we have buried our dead useless sin, may God use the fertile soil of our lives to spring new life, hope and love.
In Christ’s name, your sin is destroyed. You have new life in God.
Story telling
Three of my friends have had a baby this year - it must be something in the water. I’ve starting buying mine bottled, just in case. And I’ve watched my friends go through this amazing time, and seen how they all coped with it in different ways. But some things were the same for each of them - three stages that that all parents-to-be have to go through.
The first is the waiting stage, or as I prefer to call it - the spending stage. Because if there is something in the water, my bet is that it’s Mothercare who are putting it in. Who would have thought a tiny little six pound baby could cost so much money? If anyone tells you they’re pregnant, buy shares in Mothercare.
But once everything is bought, borrowed or handed down from previous generations of fertile young couples, there’s nothing to do but wait. The expectation just grows and grows, but you’ve done all you can to prepare. Nothing you can do now will make things happen any sooner. It’s a time of waiting. And I guess that’s why it’s called expecting.
People deal with this in different ways. One of my friends, Wendy, continued to work until 3 days before the birth. She was far too big to sit at her computer and it took two of us to get her up every time she needed the loo. Which was every ten minutes. You know how if tortoises end up on their back they can’t turn over, they just have to stay there until somebody helps them? If Wendy had slid off her chair onto the floor she’d have been like that - just have to stay there until somebody found her. Remember those toys, weebles? - she was a bit like a weeble but in reverse - “Wendy wobbles but she can’t get up”. My other two friends wisely took maternity leave and stayed at home.
The waiting stage finishes with a mad panic as the baby decides it’s had as much daytime chat shows as it can handle. So stage two begins with the birth.
I call this the shell shocked stage. Not because of what the mother has to go through - no, she usually gives the illusion that she’s done little more than stroll round the block. I find that amazing - something to do with the superiority of women I think. No - it’s the Father who looks like he’s gone ten rounds with Lennox Lewis.
It seems the usual pattern is that over three weeks the mother somehow manages to give birth, feed and look after this new human life, whilst the Dad wanders around white as a sheet, generally looking lost, helpless and with a general aura of uselessness. Bless.
Stage three is the rest of your life. You’re now a parent. Things will never be the same again. You’ve moved to a new stage in your life. All that you were preparing for has happened - now it is part of your life. Part of every part of your life from now on.
I felt blessed to have shared in some of this wonderful time with my friends. For months I felt I was pregnant with expectation. And in the birth of these children I know that the families and friends also gave birth to joy, hope and love for the child.
There was something happening that accompanied the birth of a child. All that makes us human, all that we define as ’spirituality’ was tied up in this. Maybe it surprised some of us. Perhaps we learnt something about ourselves through all this. We were all waiting and expecting, giving birth and moving forward, rejoicing in new life.
Luke 17: 20-21
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation,
nor will people say, `Here it is,’ or `There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
Intercessions:
video image: spinning globe
You’re invited to give birth to your hopes and prayers for the world, by writing them down and pinning them on the projected globes.
Cherish them, give them the best start you can by parenting them.
Plant seeds of ideas for others to read, entrust them to the community.
Visit both ends of the hall, taking time to read and think and pray.
Give birth to something alive in the world.
opportunity to pin prayers on projected images
Explanation of how communion will be shared
Thanksgiving
The creator is here
God’s spirit is with us
Let’s give thanks to God the source of all creation,
For the revelation in Jesus of Nazareth,
for God’s eternal presence with us in life, death and re-creation.
visual thanksgiving prayer on video
Words of consecration & Epiclesis
Living God,
pour out your holy spirit
that this bread and wine
may be for us the symbolic presence of the Christ,
who, on the night before he was handed over to suffering and death,
shared a meal with his friends.
He took bread, thanked you and broke it saying:
“This is my body given for you. When you do this, remember me.”
Later after supper he took the cup and said to them:
“This cup is the new agreement made by my blood.
It is given so that many people will be forgiven for the wrong things they did.”
God of all creation, Life Spirit of all futures,
In the sharing of bread and wine
reunite us with you,
with one another
and with all of creation.
That this world might be part of a universal community
of solidarity, justice and love.
Response
You send your spirit.
You unite us in love.
You renew the face of the earth.
music builds and stops completely
Breaking of bread
bread is broken high so all can see
Sharing of bread and wine
passed between the congregation and taken without words, music gradually fades in
Blessing
Having shared together in bread and wine,
let’s share together in a blessing
as we leave this place to continue the celebration of life.
God who dances in creation,
who embraces us with human love,
who shakes our lives like thunder,
bless us and drive us out with power
to fill the world with your justice.
Amen.
