Eucharistic Song 1:
(Melody: The Wind in the Willows)
1. Come people in worship at table recline.
Come sing out our praises in scripture and rhyme.
Our table is open, inclusive for all,
As we celebrate Eucharist, our faith we recall.
CHORUS: As the sun shines upon us enriching our earth,
And the fruits of the seasons rejoicing the heart.
We bring to this table – gifts of bread and wine
To share on our journey with all humankind.
2. In setting our table we recall many ways
We’ve been nourished and fed for the length of our days.
Creation’s own table in abundant regard
Reminds us that God’s love is vividly shared.
3. With great thanks we offer what we have received,
The bread of the harvest from nature’s own fields.
And the wine that is crushed from the grape of the vine,
God’s gifts are poured out all abundant in kind.
4. The bread of our table is given for all.
Mid starving injustice we hear the poor call.
May our lives too be broken to serve all in need
And satisfy hunger beyond race and creed.
5. The thirst of our world is symbolised here
In the cups we pour out our dry hearts to cheer.
Like water abundant refreshing the soul.
May the wine of this Eucharist make all people whole.
6. We proclaim the feast open to all who believe.
Come share in this banquet, come now and receive.
And know in the heart that is hungry for more
That God’s love is with you wherever you go.
EUCHARISTIC SONG 2
(Melody: Great is thy faithfulness)
1. Come to the feast all you who are hungry,
Come as companions acclaiming the Word.
Come as you are, the table is open
And share in the banquet for breaking the Bread.
Chorus: Great is God’s faithfulness, food shared abundantly,
From God’s creation, all gifts we receive.
This is the table with food for the nations,
And everyone’s welcome to join in the feast.
2. Welcome the guest where no one’s excluded,
The poor and unworthy have priority.
The table is open with blessings abundant,
Come join in the feast with assured liberty.
3. Bread from the earth, prodigious its nature,
Wine from the grape, in justice we thirst.
Gratefully bringing what we have to offer,
Gifts that are poured out which God offers first.
4. Bread that is broken, the hungry seek justice,
abundant the earth for all to be fed.
Beyond the consumption and cruel exploitation
Let’s satisfy hunger with God’s daily bread.
5. All who are thirsting for life that flows freely,
Cups that are poured, the wine that is new.
Yearning for justice, with water abundant,
Let’s pour out our lives – empowering breakthrough.
6. We declare the feast open to all who are gathered,
With Jesus at table, true food to sustain.
And forth we will go – to nourish the nations,
Transforming creation, empowering God’s Reign.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, breathe down upon our troubled world.
Shake the tired foundations of our crumbling institutions.
Break the rules that keep you out of all our sacred spaces,
and from the dust and rubble, gather up the seedlings of a new creation.
Come Holy Spirit, enflame once more the dying embers of our weariness.
Shake us out of our complacency. Whisper our names once more,
and scatter your gifts of grace with wild abandon.
Break open the prisons of our inner being,
and let your raging justice be our sign of liberty.
Come Holy Spirit and lead us to places we would rather not go.
Expand the horizons of our limited imaginations.
Awaken in our souls dangerous dreams for new tomorrow,
and rekindle in our hearts the fire of prophetic enthusiasm.
Come Holy Spirit, whose justice outwits international conspiracy,
whose light outshines religious bigotry,
whose peace can halt our patriarchal hunger for dominance and control,
whose promise invigorates our every effort:
to create a new heaven and a new earth, now and forever. Amen.
Call to Silence
Our words have been spoken, our wisdom exchanged;
And questions arise that cannot be tamed.
We inhabit a mys’try that’s deep and profound.
The arc of creation rests on holy ground.
So rest now the words while the echoes endure
And come home to the silence where wisdom is pure.
And wait in the shadows with light seeping through.
Yes, wait on the Spirit, the source of the new!
In silence, the chaos can be held afresh;
Even in those times when the Spirit is crushed.
And the flickering wick can be fanned into flame.
While the Spirit of silence re-echoes our name. Amen.
The Spirit Who Blows . . .
How can we face the pain and the plight of those who live in the dark?
How can we open the locks that are tied round many a mind and a heart?
How can we liberate people in hope for the new day that dawns on us all?
The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind!
While parliamentarians fail to inspire and financiers convolute;
And the powers from on high are so blind and confused – even Church folk can’t
recognise truth!
While systems collapse and things fall apart, a new birth emerges elsewhere.
The future, my friend, is blowing in the wind, the future is blowing . . .
Let’s listen instead to the margins crying out, the voices for too long subdued.
Lets listen instead to our Planet, the Earth, whose story we oft misconstrued.
The wisdom of women ignored and repressed, is haunting our world anew.
So, new hope, my friend, is blowing in the wind, new hope is blowing . . .
How can we reclaim a faith to sustain the prophets that open new ways?
And can we discern the disturbing voice of the Spirit who now recreates?
We need a new heart and a mind open wide – receptive to this hour of grace.
Just listen, my friend, to the vibrating wind, the answer is blowing . . .
The Spirit that broods at creation’s first dawn, unravelling the chaos of life,
Continues to breathe in the birthing and dying, in the longing, the struggle and strife.
For God’s sake don’t tie down the Spirit that blows, reweaving the rhythms of time.
We’re called to befriend what’s blowing in the wind, the Spirit who blows in . . .
THE LORD's PRAYER
VERSION ONE: (Based on John Dominic Crossan (2010), The Greatest Prayer)
“We are as human beings co-responsible with the Householder
for the household of the world.” (P.50)
O Cosmic Householder,
Source of our wisdom, protector and provider,
embracing all that dwells in the Heavens,
naming all for holiness and justice,
in the Companionship of Empowerment,
spread throughout the entire creation,
as willed by Holy Wisdom.
In justice, may all be sustained by daily food,
and relieved of the burden of crippling debts.
Lead us not into collusion with any type of violence,
and deliver us from all forms of violent oppression.
For yours is the empowering desire to radiate on earth
the non-violent justice of enduring hope.
“We owe it to God to run God’s world responsibly. We owe the divine Householder
the conservation of the world house; we owe the divine Homemaker the consecration
of the earth home. We owe God adequate care of all God’s creation.
We owe God collaboration in honouring God’s name, in establishing God’s kingdom,
and in doing God’s will “as in heaven so also on earth.”
We owe it to God to cease focussing on heaven,
especially in order to avoid focussing on earth.” (p.155).
VERSION TWO: (Based on the original Aramaic – Neil Douglas Klotz)
O Cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration! Soften the ground of our being
and carve out a space within us where your presence can abide.
Fill us with your creativity so that we may be empowered to bear
the fruit of your mission.
Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with your desire.
Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs
to grow and flourish. Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us,
as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes.
Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose,
but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment.
For you are the ground and fruitful vision, the birth, power and fulfilment,
as all is gathered and made whole once again.
Unconditional Love.
Dear Human,
You have got it all wrong!
You didn’t come here to master unconditional love.
That is where you came from and where you’ll return.
You came here to learn personal love, Universal love.
Messy love. Sweaty love. Crazy love. Broken love.
Whole love. Infused with Divinity.
Lived through the grace of stumbling.
Demonstrated through the beauty of . . . often messing up.
You didn’t come here to be perfect; you already are!
You came here to be gloriously human, flawed and fabulous.
And then to rise again into remembering.
But unconditional love? Stop telling that story.
Love, in truth doesn’t need ANY other adjectives.
It doesn’t require modifiers.
It doesn’t require the condition of perfection.
It only askes that you show up – and do your best.
That you stay present and feel fully. That you shine,
and fly, and laugh, and cry, and hurt, and heal, and fall,
and get back up again, and work and live and die as YOU!
It’s enough; it’s plenty! - Courtney Walsh.
The Beatitudes as inspired by the original Aramaic
(Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven)
Fulfilled are those who devote themselves to the link of Spirit;
the design of the universe is rendered through them
(Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted)
Healed are those who weep for their frustrated desire,
they shall see the face of fulfilment in a new form.
(Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth)
Healthy are they who have softened what is rigid within,
they shall be open to receive the splendour of earth’s fruits.
(Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied)
Happy are they who long deeply for a world of right relationships,
they shall be encircled by the birth of a new society.
(Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy)
Healthy are they who from the inner womb birth forth compassion,
they shall feel its warm arms embracing them.
(Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God)
Happy are they whose passion radiates with deep abiding purpose,
they shall envision the furthest extent of life’s wealth.
(Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons and daughters of God)
Healed are those who bear the fruit of sympathy and safety for all,
they shall hasten the coming of God’s new creation.
(Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven)
Healing to those who have been shattered within – from seeking wholesome rest,
theirs is the ruling principle of the Cosmos.
(Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you)
Blessed are you when you are reproached and driven away by the clamour of evil on all sides, for my sake. Know deep joy even in your loss for this is the secret for claiming your expanded home in the universe; it is a sign of the prophets and prophetesses to feel the disunity around them intensely.
(Based on Neil Douglas-Klotz, Prayers of the Cosmos, HarperSanFrancisco, 1990, pp.44-76)
MORNING-TIME Prayers
1. Arise, O living Spirit, embrace the day ahead,
awake our eyes and ears for revelation.
Invoke anew the wisdom which is our daily bread.
Protect anew the pilgrim of the dawn.
We pray the gift of courage to make us brave in heart,
We pray the gift of truth in all we say.
We pray the light of vision upon which we embark,
Refresh anew the pilgrim of the dawn.
Illuminate our vision as planetary beings,
earth us deeply in the clay from which we're formed.
Yet stretch the inner longing in truth with cosmic strings.
Expansive is the pilgrim of the dawn.
We're stewards of God's creation, we're gifted into life,
Entrusted with the care of all that is.
We're called to work for justice beyond divisive strife.
Unite as one the pilgrims of the dawn.
Each day provides a milestone along the pilgrim's way,
surprising us with paradox and hope.
We're grateful for the blessing that is another day.
Embracing us as pilgrims of the dawn.
2. When the new day dawns and the sun lights up the sky,
the land awakes!
Our sleeping eyes and slumbering hearts
alloy to greet the day.
Horizon breaks to welcome yet another dawn of hope and joy
to reproduce in our waiting world
just one more touch of God's creative Spirit.
We face the dawn - its cool refreshing breeze,
of hope, of fear - God knows, perhaps, God alone!
And in our hearts God sows the seeds of quiet endurance
to live not just, but grow,
and like the dawn itself, envelop the horizon.
And time moves on, the traffic building up.
We move amid the web of life,
for motion is the essence of our being.
And life - that greatest gift we all receive -
unlocks the energy of God in office-place and factory alike.
Our world moves mid noise and restlessness,
in the pulsating dawn of the universe.
Enkindle in our hearts the inner dawn,
that we may see and understand the purpose of it all,
the beauty of our call,
and the hope of a waiting world
that it too may share in the new creation
where Christ is all in all. Amen.
3. For a WET morning
Its a morning for umbrellas as the rain is coming down
and the wetness of the Spirit floods our earth.
And the clouds are weeping hurriedly, immersing us in grace;
the wonder of creation flushes forth.
We lift our hearts this morning time amid the water's flow,
baptised afresh to face another day.
We're showered with many blessings in the waters of new life;
abundant like the ripples of the rain.
Forget we not, however, the parched and thirsty earth,
the water that's polluted and denied.
And the rains that are disrupted - for we don't understand
the damage and destruction we incite.
The rains they fall abundantly, on friend and foe alike,
reminding us of nature's rich resource.
The streams that flow throughout the earth, inebriating hope,
must not be damned for selfish gain or force.
So, water then the gradens of plant and herb alike,
and drink a tribute to each thirsting soul.
And on this rainy morning may the wells that overflow
bring justice, love and peace to all the earth. Amen.
EVENING / NIGHT-Time
a) Spirit who wakens the sunrise at dawn; Spirit who thrives in the height of the noon.
Spirit who brings home what each day achieves, Rest deeply within us this night.
Spirit who calls forth the work of our hands, Spirit enlightening the thoughts of each day.
Spirit inspiring our pains and our joys, Rest deeply within us this night.
Spirit who stirs up whatever begins, Spirit who fosters the desire to see through.
Spirit who calls what we failed to achieve, Rest deeply within us this night.
Spirit whose wisdom will always endure - Mid the fortunes befalling each day.
Bring all restless hearts the contentment of sleep, And waken us fresh to the dawn. Amen.
b) This is holy ground; we're standing on holy ground; our feet awalk upon the earth that's sacred.
Whether vale or mound, this is holy ground, And myst'ry rests in gracious gifts abounding.
This is sacred space, inhabiting sacred space, And the Spirit dwells in all that we're embracing.
And the air we breathe, graces all bequeath, For the Spirit blows in everything awaking.
This is resting time, mid the darkness rhyme; in the starlike gaze, the Spirit 'ere abiding.
Mild refreshing sleep, holy vigil keep, Till another dawn calls forth our undertaking.
Fasting and Feasting By William Arthur Ward
Lent can be more than a time of fasting. It can also be a joyous season of feasting.
Lent is a time to fast from certain things and to feast on others.
Therefore, let us pray for the grace to:
Fast from judging others; feast on Christ living in them.
Fast from emphasising differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from the shadows of darkness; feast on the gift of new light.
Fast from restless anxiety; feast on gratitude and peace.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from excessive worry; feast on the grace to trust.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicions; feast on truth.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on words that empower.
Fast from thoughts of weakness; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from the pollution of noise; feast on silence and solitude.
Fast from everything that separates us from the God: feast on all that nourishes faith
