Wild Goose Big Book of Liturgies volume 2

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• Publisher: Wild Goose Publications
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781849526166
• eBook ISBN: 9781849526302
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Rituals & Practice

Liturgies and liturgical resources for New Year, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Advent and Christmas. A liturgy for an 'ordinary day', and resources for special days like the UN International Day of Friendship and World AIDS Day. Full communion services and shorts acts of worship; liturgies for small groups and all-age gatherings; collections of resources that could be used to help shape liturgies, or at special events and gatherings. Services rooted in church, community, home and school life. So - as always with the Iona Community - worship which is contextual, with a strong justice and peace edge.

Coming in from the cold

Advent & Christmas resources for remembering the Bible with children and young people

Janet Lees

Introduction

The Remembered Bible method: beyond words

I’ve been using the remembered Bible method for over twenty years now. It all began after a period of study with Gerald West at the Institute for the Study of the Bible in Pietermaritzburg in 1994. Gerald’s work is with texts: looking at interpretations that offer liberation to marginalised people. He calls this ‘reading with’ others. But as a speech therapist I knew lots of people who would struggle to be ‘reading with’ so I began to work on oral interpretations that did not rely on reading a written text. This has become ‘Remembering the Bible’ (or RB) – not rote learning but using remembered versions of the Bible narrative, which may be oral, visual or a combination, and developing interpretations through this approach that can be used by people of all ages and abilities. I’ve done two previous collections of this sort of thing, Word of Mouth and Tell Me the Stories of Jesus (Wild Goose Publications), which help to explain how to improvise or ‘just go for it’.

Eight years ago I took this approach with me to Silcoates School when I became the Chaplain and introduced it to the children and young people with the aim that they might reclaim the Bible as their own book. Some of the results are shared in this material for Advent and Christmas. Much of it does not need to be used in a rigid and prescribed way. Try to get into the flow and see how it can release the remembered Bible in and with the people around you. Using RB is about merging ideas and hearing many voices.

Janet Lees

RESOURCES FOR ADVENT

Although Advent/Christmas is about the best-remembered season of all when it comes to ‘Remembering the Bible’, it can still be tricky. First of all, you need to decide what to do about Advent. In a school the term is likely to end before Christmas, which means Advent will be cut short if you stick to the traditional four weeks. You can accommodate this by merging weeks together to make maybe three weeks of Advent, or you can start a week earlier and have Advent 1 in the week before Advent Sunday, although this is also often national Anti-bullying Week.

If you go with three weeks of Advent, patriarchs, matriarchs and prophets can make Week 1, followed by John the Baptist for Week 2 and Mary for your final week.

Happy day

Advent God,

as we wait out these happy days

welcome us in from the draughty doorstep

of the tomb-lined garden

into the warmth of your company

to share the wine of your kin-dom.

Introductory words for Advent

Voice 1: Stories are told in many cultures.
In some a fire is kindled
and images are brought from dark corners
into the circle of warming flames.

(Advent candles are lit here, the number depending on the week or Sunday in Advent.)

Voice 2: In some a tree is planted
and people of all ages gather in its shade
to share the wisdom of youth and age.

(A cross is placed next to the candle/s.)

Voice 3: In some a book is opened
and words are collected together:
a source to feed many generations.

(An open Bible is placed alongside the candle/s and cross.)

Voice 1: O Fire-kindler

All voices: Ignite your truth in us.

Voice 2: O Tree-planter

All voices: Shade us with your love.

Voice 3: O Story-gatherer

All voices: Prompt us to act as one body.

Come to us in words and silence:
fill hearts and minds
with wonder and surprise
as we gather as your community.

Prayer for prophets in Advent

‘Advent is about repentance. Why don’t you tell them about that?’ – A boy, aged 13

About this time of year
prophets are appearing,
in the ups and downs of the market,
the talks about climate change, or the Euro,
the camps on pavements …
In financial centres or shanty towns,
you may hear their voices
calling us back to God’s standards,
the real ‘gold standard’,
reminding us to cherish the earth,
and think about our global responsibilities
and our real priorities.
Forgive us when, unmoved,
we fail to embrace the last-minute opportunities
that could transform us.
Help us to stay awake!
Forge us in the prophets’ fire
that we can be remade as your people,
brighter and sharper than ever.

Advent people

The now common practice of remembering people by leaving flowers, and perhaps candles or soft toys, at the place of their unexpected death can surprise us. The experience of coming across such memorials, and also across social media sites remembering friends or relatives, is something children and young people have spoken to me about …

Here we are, Advent people:
dead flowers on the pavement
the public mark of memories.

Here we are, Advent people:
pictures in my head
headlines ringing in my ears.

Here we are, Advent people:
waiting still
to be surprised by your coming
into this desperate world;
marvelling that this infant,
tiny, naked, vulnerable,
can be the means to make the world whole.

Advent prayer

On the pitch seagulls are waiting;
in the hedge small birds are waiting;
wait with us, Creator God.

In the lunch queue pupils are waiting;
in the car park parents are waiting;
wait with us, Jesus our friend.

In the library, knowledge is waiting;
in the classroom technology is waiting;
wait with us, Spirit of discovery.

And as we wait together,
may we not be limited to the passive waiting
of apathy and indifference,
but open us up to wait actively
with compassion and a thirst for justice
so that what we do as we wait today
may change tomorrow and give hope
to those for whom waiting seems hopeless.

John the Baptist in retirement

John the Baptist is an important figure to remember in Advent. As the forerunner of Jesus he introduces us to him and has an important ministry in his own right. I have some key props for remembering John the Baptist: a pot of honey – and a tin of fried grasshoppers. My mother won the tin of fried grasshoppers in a raffle when I was about 10 years old. I inherited it and have always used it for remembering John the Baptist (she didn’t have a camel-hair coat so I couldn’t inherit that).

Here’s one of my sketches for adults about John the Baptist, who, as you will see in this version, didn’t get his head cut off, because he compromised in order to have a safer, more comfortable existence: something we can all relate to.

When using this try to learn the words or retell it in your own way rather than just read it out.

The scene is the Nazarene Residential Home. Centre stage – and asleep on a chair with his TV supper (a jar of honey and a tin of fried grass-hoppers) on a tray in front ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• The same old way?: A liturgy for a new year, Thom M Shuman
• The best gift ever: An all-age service for worshipping with the Magi, Nancy Cocks
• One for the baptiser: All-age resources for baptism and Baptismas (the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus), Janet Lees
• God of desert places: An Ash Wednesday service of taking on and letting go, Rebeka Maples
• With intuition, imagination and love: A Maundy Thursday service of anointing, Sarah Agnew & Jan Sutch Pickard
• Seven actions: A service of prayer & Holy Communion for Maundy Thursday, Stephen J Maunder
• Seven moments: A service of prayer and reflection for Good Friday, Stephen J Maunder
• Pentecost is now: A short act of worship, Joy Mead
• Draw us into the dance: A liturgy for Trinity Sunday, Thom M Shuman
• As you come and go: Readings, prayers and poems for World Oceans Day (June 8th), Tom Gordon
• Every day is a day of joy: An all-age communion for summertime on the theme of play, Thom M Shuman
• Where you go, I will go: Readings and reflections for the UN International Day of Friendship (July 30), Tom Gordon
• An ordinary day, Joy Mead
• Moving house: A basic liturgy for saying goodbye, Kes Grant
• The heart of things: An all-age exploration of the Prodigal Son, Nancy Cocks
• The colour of love: Resources for World AIDS Day (December 1st), Tom Gordon
• Coming in from the cold: Advent & Christmas resources for remembering the Bible with children and young people, Janet Lees
• About the authors