We all contributed to making a service from scratch in a night. It was on the theme of creation/ Genesis 1 and we used any/ all resources and materials to hand. And having planned a section of the worship in small groups, we then worshipped together using all of that at the end of the evening. A great example of what can be made out of next-to-nothingness when working together.
Here's the bones of what we did:
Candle lighting
I light this light in the name of the Maker, who made the sun and the moon, the day and the night.
I light this light in the name of the Redeemer, who is the Light of the World and shows us the way.
I light this light in the name of the Sustainer, the living flame, who burns within us and throughout the world.
We light these lights for the Trinity of love and light. Amen.
Introduction/ reflection on the theme
An edited retelling of the opening sections of Genesis, whilst hanging a map of the world on a washing line, and then other postcard images of people, animals, plants, landscapes. We were then invited to go forward and add something to this line in response to "creation".
There was a reflection and duscussion on the themes of creation/ destruction and some concepts emerged:
- the cycle of creation-destruction-recreation
- the image of the bread broken to share in newness of life
- cells dividing to multiply
- tiles being smashed to make a mosaic
- God destroying nothingness to create somethingness
Finally, we were invited to consider the images of God's "second start" through the flood, and Noah sending out the bird in hope of finding land... We were then able to make an origami bird to symbolise our own flight of hope for finding creation out of destruction.
Confession and absolution
We explored this through the image of brokenness (personal, social, environmental) that is given later in Genesis - taking and eating the fruit. We wrote confessions of brokenness on the back of paper apples, and then remembering that the seed has to die to grow anew, we tore our apples in half (and cut a real apple and planted its seed) as a symbol of God's promise of newness and hope. We finished with a reading of Matthew's telling of the story about the mustard seed that eventually grows to be a home to the birds.
Bread and wine
A simple help-yourself station with two sheets of paper to allow people to write a response as they took bread and wine.
Prayers
A set of prayers themed around the Genesis paragraphs about the sun, moon and stars:
- remembering people who've died
- listening to Moby's We're all made of stars
- considering humanity's divine intention to prosper - thinking of those "stars" who govern our country and world, praying for people, situations, places by writing on paper stars
Blessing
An adaptation of a Northumbria blessing
Candles...
...and an invitation to take on the service at the end of the month having seen how easy it is to create something out of next-to-nothingness. Be in touch about that.
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