Theme: Vocation
Lighting of the Candles
We light a candle in the name of the Maker,
Who lit the world and breathed the breath of life for us…
We light a candle in the name of the Son,
Who saved the world and stretched out his hand to us…
We light a candle in the name of the Spirit,
Who encompasses the world and blesses our souls with yearning…
We light three lights for the trinity of love:
God above us, God beside us, God beneath us:
The beginning, the end, the everlasting one.
Silence (1 min) to confess our sins and still our hearts
Liturgy
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
As the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Father God at work around us:
Thank you for your redemptive work: saving and reconciling
Thank you for your creative work: fashioning and beautifying
Father God at work around us:
Thank you for your providential work: supplying and sustaining
Thank you for your justice work: defending and advocating
Father God at work around us:
Thank you for your compassionate work: comforting, healing & guiding
Thank you for your revelatory work: enlightening with truth
Father God at work around us
Apprentice us in your ways
For your glory and the flourishing of all that you have made.
Amen.
Alternative liturgy:
Creator God Like Anna who waited to greet the Christ child
Show us where you are at work in the world.
Like Bezalel, anointed as an artist in the temple
Equip us with skills to glorify you.
Like Samuel who sat up at the sound of your voice
Help us to respond to your call on our lives.
Like Daniel who refused to eat food that was tainted
Give us courage to be faithful to you in our world.
Like Lydia, a worshipper as well as a business woman
Help us to put you first in our lives.
Like Jesus, your son, our teacher and example
Help us to worship you in all that we do.
Amen.
Worship
Leader: “We will now take a moment to reflect on God’s work in our world across all of history; as all of creation groans and eagerly awaits the redemption of all things. We will be using a sequence of images from the impressionist movie, Tree of Life (2011). Please feel free to watch, pray or join in with the meditative Taize song.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCxDZaWRAvo The Tree of Life 6 min clip
“Bless the Lord” lyrics:
Bless the Lord, my soul, and bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul, who leads me into life!
God at Work Reflections:
Leader: “often we find it easy to imagine God’s creative work or compassionate work but forget other aspects of the work He does. Each week we will consider a different part of God’s labour in the world (loosely inspired by Robert Banks) to help us consider the ways in which we join Him through our everyday productive activities.”
Share any additional insights/reflections gained since previous meeting.
“Take a moment to consider: God is a ________________. In what sense/how is God a ____________?”.
Read and discuss associated verses/themes.
Wk 1: Composer/Performer (Deut 31:19, 1 Sam 16:14-33, Ps 42:8, Zeph 3:17).
Wk 2: Metal worker/Potter (Ps 8:3, Is 29:13-16, Jer 18-19, Ez 22:17-22, Is 45:18, Gen 1:27, 1:31, 2:7, Is 64:8, 45:9b-12, Ez 22:17-22, Ps 139:13-16, 2 Cor 4:7). Activity: make vessels from air-dry clay.
Wk 3: Gardener (verses are numerous – group to brainstorm). Group reflection using images of gardens. Activity: planting seedlings
Wk 4: Builder (Ps24:1-2, Ps 104:5, Ps 127:1, Heb 3:4, Matt 16:8, Acts 4:11, Mark 6:3, Mark 14:58, 1 Cor 3:9-15, Jn 14:1-3). Clip http://http//www.abc.net.au/tv/dreambuild/
Wk 5: Tentmaker (Ex 26:1-6 & 15-25 & 35:10, Lev 23:41-43, Luke 9:57-62, 2 Cor 5:1-5, Heb 8:2-5 & 11:8-10 & 11:13-16 & 11:38-40, Rev 7:15). Prayer for refugees and prayer that we all will ‘pack light’ as we follow Christ.
Wk 6: Economist/Investor (Matt 25:14-30). Watch animation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbPKhYBaWRg) Discuss how members feel and think about $. Will it be in the new creation? What would a kingdom economy look like?
Wk 7: Farmer. Watch Ram trucks ad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7yZdOl_e_c). Discuss how God both ‘subdues’ and ‘tends’ us. How should we subdue and tend through our work?
Wk 8: Family businessman (Lk 2:41-50, Jn 5:16-18 & 9:1-7 & 17:1-5). Discuss personal experiences, the idea of ‘apprentices’. How does it differ to other small businesses?
Wk 9: Participants consider their own profession
Dialogue
Wk 1: Video (3 mins) – LICC “frontlines”. Group share what our ‘frontlines’ are.
Wk 2: You Tube clip: “Carlos Nielbock: master craftsman metal worker”
Wk 3: “Work is Worship” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m06DYIAeCtU )
Wk 8: Urban Neighbours of Hope (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/stories/s3528672.htm)
Discussion
- Questions: What didn’t make sense?
- Challenges: Something you disagree with or want to clarify?
- Implications: ‘so what?’ (for your vocational stewardship)?
- Applications: something useful right now toward fruitfulness on the frontline
- Visual stimuli
Wk 1 God is a composer/performer: Group reflections on “the Banjo player”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ossawa_Tanner
Wk 2: Look at website www.theshalomimaginative.com (About, Gallery).
Wk 3: Wendell Berry’s poem “Manifesto: the Mad Farmer Liberation Front”
Wk 4: Body of Christ Art: “in his image” by William Zadanak.. Addressing insignificance and the ‘body of Christ’
Wk 5: Michael Parekowhai’s “The World Turns”; what does it mean to share power as a Christian?
Wk 6: National Geographic ‘Flowers Blooming’ footage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjCzPp-MK48). Consider the redemptive process. What would I look like fully redeemed?
Wk 7: A Rocha clip (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff2MOVruo3l). Discuss ‘flourishing’. Reflect: in what ways have you dominated/been inpatient/failed to consult/reinvented the wheel/been insensitive in your workplace?
Wk 8: Stephen Hart http://stephenhart.com.au/fellow-humans/
Wk 9: poetry and prayer, using rhyme, rhythm and repetition
Everyday Practice and Closing
Wk 1: Prayer tool: pouring water into a vessel until it over flows onto a sponge. Leader: “We are called to be the ‘Tsaddiquium’. We are called to overflow all that we receive from God. What do you plead God for in the mornings? Patience? Wisdom? Solutions to problems? The whole world is thirsty for these things. Don’t stop at yourself; pray them for those around you who don’t know God but can still be a force for good in the world!”
Wk 2: Paint inside of the clay vessel metallic, representing God’s kingdom and thereby enriching wk 1 practice.
Wk 3: Lord’s prayer with your seedling. Finish with “Lord, help us to cultivate a love for your kingdom’s coming”
Wk 4: Communion. Reminder that we are given community and God’s empowerment through Christ.
Wk 5: Helium balloon as a prayer tool. What would the Lord have me relinquish in my work today? Eg. power, resources, time, worries or frustations.
Wk 6: Daily reflection on beatitudes using children’s version of the beatitudes (from Children of God by Desmund Tutu)
Wk 7: Night sky listening (humility and listening). Ask God, what should I be seeing and hearing in my current workplace?
Wk 8: Read the Apology of Tertullian, AD 197. Activity: share different coloured cottons and plait together as a symbol of our strength together.
Wk 9: set up previous practices as stations. Free time for members to circulate and conclude by writing a prayer for their specific work and praying for each other in pairs.
Sing the doxology:
“Lets join with the many Christians gone before us, across the globe, throughout time and also with the heavenly hosts”
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise God above, ye heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Benediction (Read by Dave – we encourage you to stretch out your hands to receive):
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you;
May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm;
May he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;
May he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.
References
“Common Prayer: A liturgy for Ordinary Radicals” by Shane Claiborne et al pp.
“Iona Abbey Worship Book” by The Iona Community pg.
“God the Worker” by Robert Banks
Transforminglives.org.uk liturgy (http://m.transforminglives.org.uk/files/files/Liturgy-Transforming_Lives_Toolkit.pdf)
Christ's Pieces 