LITURGY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF LIFE Welcome to the Canberra Hospital Chaplaincy Uniting Church Service Liturgy 26 July 2012 Jean Shannon presiding Organ Constance Aronsen Presbytery Hospital Chaplaincy Leader The Uniting Church in Australia Presbytery of the Canberra Region Based on the liturgy from St James Uniting Church, Curtin GATHERING Now is the time, the time when we meet together to affirm the beauty of life and our commitment to contribute to the holiness of all creation. Together we make this building a holy place.
Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life in the present-ness of God. Lighting of the Community Candle The candle is lit Let this light guide all of us on a path of kinship with each other and with the earth; creating a more compassionate world, beginning with ourselves. (Adapt/GKowalski) HYMN Prayer of Awareness Centering Silence Now let silence gently enfold us. (Silence) May the silence which we now share quiet us, touch our need, refresh our courage, enlarge our wonder.(silence) Readings from the Biblical Tradition Mark 10:35-45 and a poem by St John of the Cross 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 (GVosper/ab) AFFIRMING 2
A Litany Upon the shoulders of those who have gone before, we stand: Thankful for those whose faith enabled them to see a better way. Upon the shoulders of those who have gone before, we stand: Thankful for a faith that grows and changes with each age. Upon the shoulders of those who have gone before, we stand: Thankful for the freedom to see with new eyes and comprehend with new understanding. Upon the shoulders of those who have gone before, we stand: Hopeful that those who stand on our shoulders will see life more clearly, embrace life more freely, and live life more generously. The Peace Divine Grace makes it possible for us to sit lightly: with our beliefs and practices. May Grace draw you into an experience of deep peace. May Grace draw us all into peace. HYMN Reflections and Prayers Care Candle: We are people of all ages who enter this space bringing our joys and concerns. 3
Joys and concerns shared. May our thoughts be filled with transformation, May our words reflect the yearnings of our hearts. And may the spirit that binds within us hallow each and every moment we know here together (Adapt.GVosper/ab). And so we take this flame and light our special care candle. The Care candle is lit Listening Response: In all our joys and in all our concerns, may we be ever mindful of the presentness of God among us, and to see new possibilities of the now. The 'Abba' Prayer: 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, 4
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. Amen(NancyLSteeves) Celebrating community: sacrament of holy communion Thanksgiving Prayer As we gather around this table we give thanks for the mighty sweep of love which embraces all people and all creation. We are thankful that in Jesus Christ the walls of hostility and suspicion which divide the earth's people, have been broken down; through him our eyes have been opened to all-encompassing love and from him we have heard the call to live in the unforced rhythms of Grace. We are thankful for this feast of love which is for us both a memorial of Christ and a foretaste of the time when peace shall be known and lived by all. Now, Spirit of love present amongst and through us, make sacred this meal we share. 5
As grain once scattered on the hillsides, was gathered together to became one loaf, so may all people be gathered together into the community of Grace. As the juice will be poured out that all might drink, so may the lives of people of faith and goodwill be poured out in compassion, for this world. Through eating together we embrace the promise of shalom. Through drinking together we give ourselves to the unforced rhythms of Grace. After Communion As the many threads are made one in the cloth, as the many grains are made one in the bread, as the many grapes are made one in the wine, so we who are many have been made one through our gathering around the table. (Adapt. NSlee/bb) Amen! Let it be so! SCATTERING Words of Mission Let us go in faith to ponder in our hearts the mystery and the wonder of this season... The candle is extinguished 6
A blessing on you who are poor. yours is the realm of God. A blessing on you who mourn, you shall be comforted. A blessing on you who hunger for justice, you shall be satisfied. A blessing on you who make peace, you shall be called children of God. A blessing on you who are persecuted in the cause of right, yours is the realm of heaven. Words of Blessing Let us, each one, go from this place to live lives that are open to the presence of the Divine; Let us, each one, go from this place sharing Good News with all you meet. We will go in faith to be the people we are called to be. Amen! Let it be so! HYMN 7
Life is a leap of faith Why Chaplains? Life is a leap of faith...and that s without being pushed. Chaplaincy is a radical, public theology that fosters change by modelling a different way of being with people, actually seeing them - Mindful in the world and very much a part of the world out there. Civil society is based on the assumption that others will treat you as you would like to be treated. We need to build that trust in our communities. We need to seek opportunities to broaden the levels of that conviction. It needs to be nurtured in every way...or it will die. So much of our positive world depends on unstated consensus. Our laws and our democracy only work because people want them to work. Without that belief, society breaks down. Love thy neighbour as thyself calls us to extend our view of neighbour. It asks us to act on what we believe. What if we believe we are loved? Or we believe people care? Every pastoral visit re-enforces in another that we are a community of care that they, the human you are meeting, are worth something...and that plants a seed. What if they treated others with the same care because someone cared for them? This liturgy is a gift of the Uniting Church in Australia. Please feel free to take it with you. The chaplaincy team is available on 6244 3768 8
Readings for 26 July 2012 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and asked, Teacher, will you do us a favor? Jesus asked them what they wanted, and they answered, When you come into your glory, please let one of us sit at your right side and the other at your left. Jesus told them, You don t really know what you re asking! Are you able to drink from the cup that I must soon drink from or be baptized as I must be baptized? Yes, we are! James and John answered. Then Jesus replied, You certainly will drink from the cup from which I must drink. And you will be baptized just as I must! But it isn t for me to say who will sit at my right side and at my left. That is for God to decide. When the ten other disciples heard this, they were angry with James and John. But Jesus called the disciples together and said: You know that those foreigners who call themselves kings like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over the people they rule. But don t act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be everyone s slave. The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people. CEV This one is by St. John of the Cross - also translated, of course. The Spiritual Canticle I THE BRIDE Where have You hidden Yourself,
And abandoned me in my groaning, O my Beloved? You have fled like the hart, Having wounded me. I ran after You, crying; but You were gone. II O shepherds, you who go Through the sheepcots up the hill, If you shall see Him Whom I love the most, Tell Him I languish, suffer, and die. III In search of my Love I will go over mountains and strands; I will gather no flowers, I will fear no wild beasts; And pass by the mighty and the frontiers. IV O groves and thickets Planted by the hand of the Beloved; O verdant meads Enameled with flowers, Tell me, has He passed by you? V ANSWER OF THE CREATURES A thousand graces diffusing He passed through the groves in haste, And merely regarding them As He passed Clothed them with His beauty.