Holy Ground

Liturgies and worship resources for an engaged spirituality

,

• Publisher: Wild Goose Publications
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN: 9781901557886
• eBook ISBN: 9781849521161
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Rituals & Practice

Liturgies and worship resources on a range of subjects and concerns - globalisation, food, water, HIV/AIDS, the environment, interfaith dialogue, the arms trade, prisoners of conscience, 20th-century martyrs, homelessness, racism, gender, living in commun

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

RESPONSES, AFFIRMATIONS, LITANIES AND DIALOGUES

GATHER US, O GOD

Leader: Gather us, O God

ALL: AND WE WILL KNOW YOUR LIFE THAT MAKES US ONE

Leader: Gather us, O God

ALL: AND WE WILL CELEBRATE OUR VARIETY AND UNIQUENESS

Leader: Gather us, O God

ALL: AND WE WILL GIVE YOU THE PAIN OF OUR BROKENNESS

Leader: Gather us, O God

ALL: AND WE WILL SHARE THE GIFTS OF YOUR SPIRIT.

Leader: Trinity of love bind us as one

ALL: THAT OUR BROKENNESS BE HEALED BY YOU;

THAT OUR FEARS BE HELD BY YOU;

THAT OUR GIFTS BE USED BY YOU;

THAT OUR LIVES BE OFFERED TO YOU;

SO MAY THE WORLD BELIEVE.

AMEN

Ali Newell

GATHER IN OUR HEARTS, LORD

Gather in our hearts, Lord

BRING PEACE THROUGH OUR WORDS

Gather in our hearts, Lord

BRING PEACE THROUGH OUR LISTENING

Gather in our hearts, Lord

BRING PEACE THROUGH OUR TOUCH

Gather in our hearts, Lord

BRING PEACE THROUGH OUR SILENCE

Gather in our hearts, Lord

BRING PEACE THROUGH OUR LIVES

Ewan Aitken

YOU ARE A WONDER AND A JOY TO US

Lord God, creator and sustainer of life, we stand in awe before the touch of life you have given to our world, and your goodness to us shown in delights we enjoy daily.

How did you teach birds such melodious song as pleasures the heart-strings and thrills all our senses?

YOU ARE A WONDER AND A JOY TO US

How did you teach sunbeams to dance among grime and dust transforming their nature into a curtain of shining stars?

YOU ARE A WONDER AND A JOY TO US

How did you teach water to dash among rocks, dancing and delighting – exultantly dispersing itself in fronds of white foam, or resting in pools deep, tranquil, fish-laden?

YOU ARE A WONDER AND A JOY TO US

How did you teach trees to garb themselves in delicate lacework of blossom – and then cast their petals to the wind like flurries of snowflakes?

YOU ARE A WONDER AND A JOY TO US

How did you teach the wind to howl through caverns, and sooth fevered brows with its cool caress?

YOU ARE A WONDER AND A JOY TO US

How did you teach the air to sustain life so silently, accommodating itself to the different bodies of creatures?

YOU ARE A WONDER AND A JOY TO US

You, Lord God, the creator, are also the great craftsman continually shaping the fabric of our lives so that we may speak your glory.

WE EXULT IN YOU. YOU ARE A WONDER AND A JOY TO US.

WE BLESS YOUR HOLY NAME. AMEN

Ian M Fraser

SING PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD

Leader:	All waves that break on the seashore, gulls that screech on the wind, all seals and dolphins, whales and minnows;
	bless the Maker.
ALL:	SING PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD.
Leader:	All streams and rivers, lakes reflecting the sky,
	all fishes and wriggling things, tadpoles and beetles;
	bless the Maker.
ALL:	SING PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD.
Leader:	All mountains and rolling hills, larks singing on the wing, all badgers and foxes, hedgehogs and rabbits;
	bless the Maker.
ALL:	SING PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD.
Leader:	All trees and green growing things, flowers scenting the air, all creeping and crawling things, bee, butterfly and moth;
	bless the Maker.
ALL:	SING PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD.
Leader:	People of God, short, tall or growing still, skin black, brown or beige, full of creative talent, free to make choices;
	bless the Maker.
ALL:	SING PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD.
Leader:	For all that is made, free to be as they were made to be; praise the Maker.
ALL:	PRAISE THE MAKER’S SON.
	PRAISE THE HOLY SPIRIT.
	GOD, THE THREE-IN-ONE.

Chris Polhill

PROCESSIONAL: IN MEMORY OF HER

Scripture reading: Mark 14:3--9, ending with the words ‘What she has done will be told in memory of her.’

Leader:	Let us now praise great women
	And our mothers who lived before us
ALL:	WHAT SHE HAS DONE WILL BE TOLD IN MEMORY OF HER
Voice 1:	She took heart and was healed by her faith
	Come, all women of heart and faith
ALL:	WHAT SHE HAS DONE WILL BE TOLD IN MEMORY OF HER
Voice 2:	She had courage and great faith, and saved her daughter
	Come, all you mothers and daughters
ALL:	WHAT SHE HAS DONE WILL BE TOLD IN MEMORY OF HER
Voice 3:	She did a beautiful thing for Jesus
	Come, all women who make an offering of love
ALL:	WHAT SHE HAS DONE WILL BE TOLD IN MEMORY OF HER
Voice 4:	She, out of poverty, gave everything she had
	Come, all you women who have little but give much
ALL:	WHAT SHE HAS DONE WILL BE TOLD IN MEMORY OF HER
Voice 5:	There were many women there, watching by the cross
	Come, all you women who wait faithfully on the Lord
ALL:	WHAT SHE HAS DONE WILL BE TOLD IN MEMORY OF HER
Voice 6:	The women ran from the tomb, in fear and great joy, to tell others
	Come, all you sisters with a gospel to proclaim
ALL:	WHAT SHE HAS DONE WILL BE TOLD IN MEMORY OF HER
Leader:	Let us praise great women
	And our mothers before us
	The generations of women
	Through whom God’s glory has been seen
	Come, faithful people, women and men
ALL:	LET US WORSHIP THE LORD

Kathy Galloway

WE ARE SO PRIVILEGED

Leader:	Lord God, we waken to warm homes and food and family; and so many waken to homelessness and hunger and loneliness.
ALL:	WE ARE SO PRIVILEGED
Leader:	We waken to spring flowers and green fields and distant hills; and so many waken to crowded bedsits and wastelands of rubbish and squalor and polluted air.
ALL:	WE ARE SO PRIVILEGED
Leader:	We waken to the singing of birds; and so many waken to the sound of cannon bombardments and the cries of the wounded and dying.
ALL:	WE ARE SO PRIVILEGED
Leader:	We waken to a village of friendly people; and so many people waken to a lonely, friendless life in the city, in housing estates, in outlying rural areas.
ALL:	WE ARE SO PRIVILEGED
Leader:	We waken to security of our person and our home; and so many waken to violence and threats of violence, to menaces from extortionists and racketeers.
ALL:	WE ARE SO PRIVILEGED
Leader:	That we are so unthankful for all the blessings we enjoy
ALL:	FORGIVE US, GOOD GOD
Leader:	That we keep wanting more instead of appreciating more gratefully what we have
ALL:	FORGIVE US, GOOD GOD
Leader:	That we so rarely take the small steps open to us to establish justice on earth
ALL:	FORGIVE US, GOOD GOD
Leader:	That we do not uphold in prayer those who are striving for a better world, and do not persist in prayer
ALL:	FORGIVE US, GOOD GOD

Lord Christ, enter into our lives and change us. Get rid of the carelessness and laziness in us. Let your forgiveness deal with our past sins and your grace make a different way of life possible.

We sum up our prayers in the prayer that Jesus taught us:

Lord’s Prayer …

Ian M Fraser

BREAK THE CHAINS OF DEBT

Leader: Lord, must we starve our children to pay our debts?

ALL: BREAK THE CHAINS OF DEBT!

Leader: How long must this go on?

ALL: BREAK THE CHAINS OF DEBT!

Leader: It’s one law for the rich and another for the poor.

ALL: BREAK THE CHAINS OF DEBT!

Leader: Debt destroys ou...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Introduction
• HUMAN RIGHTS, HUMAN WRONGS
• IN AN UNJUST WORLD
• IN OUR OWN BACKYARD
• IN ALL GENERATIONS
• BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
• CHALLENGING PREJUDICE
• WITH ALL CREATION
• ENGAGED COMMUNITY
• ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
• Some suggested occasions for use of liturgies
• Songbooks
• Sources and acknowledgements
• About the contributors
• Index of authors