Open with God Book - Flower Festival
Open with God Book - Flower Festival
by Christine Odell
FLOWER FESTIVAL Prayers for Various Occasions Reading Song of Solomon 2.10-13 Place a flower arrangement where everyone can see it. Let us gaze at the flowers: wonder at their colour and intricacy; appreciate their form and beauty; meditate on what they tell us of the beauty and …
Festivals Together - Food, feet and feelings
Festivals Together - Food, feet and feelings
by SPCK - Sandra Millar
Food, feet and feelings Maundy Thursday Maundy Thursday may not be an obvious occasion on which to offer all-age worship. Yet it is a vital festival in the church year, as we remember the pivotal events leading up to Jesus’ death on Good Friday. There are some very dramatic stori…
For exiles
For exiles
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: For exiles Proper 16 year A Exodus 1: 1.8 – 2.10 (In Egypt, the Israelites were first welcomed and then despised. The world doesn’t seem to have changed much, even after all this time.). Compassionate God, we pray for those who are living in a foreign country, tolerated, …
For the beginning of another year
For the beginning of another year
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: For the beginning of another year Time flies. The years slip away. Spring soon turns to winter and the days become shorter in the passing. Never-ageing God, when we begin to count the years it seems impossible that so many have passed. How did they slip by so quickly? Is …
Fortynine days to celebrate Easter - Pente - What?
Fortynine days to celebrate Easter - Pente - What?
by Margaret Mason
"Forty-nine days to celebrate Easter? That's seven weeks. We'll never make the Easter eggs last that long! And then Pente - what? " Pilate stamps the file, "Case Closed". He thinks that that is it. A distasteful business, but Jesus the Galilean isn't the first troublemaker he's b…
Poem: Always missing, never grasping
Poem: Always missing, never grasping
by Andrew Pratt
(Doubting Thomas after Leonard Cohen’s song 'Suzanne' which has the line: '…and Jesus was a sailor...') Always missing, never grasping, hope amid this shifting sea, coast and haven seem remote now, too far off to harbour me. Yet those fishermen are telling news that I can't compr…
Poem: Passion can distort our judgment
Poem: Passion can distort our judgment
by Andrew Pratt
Passion can distort our judgment, twisting love, distorting fate. Is this Adam's sin returning as endearments turn to hate? In the cold light of the morning, looking back on what we've done, even at the new day's dawning, feeling chill in morning sun. Continues... Also available …
Poem: Father of Jesse and father of David
Poem: Father of Jesse and father of David
by Andrew Pratt
Father of Jesse and father of David, born of a foreigner here in their midst: Ruth would nurse Obed, then comfort and nurture. Boaz brought safety it seemed she had missed. Now as we listen we re-tell this story, try to untangle the mystery and worth, one thing is certain: a love…
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger?
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger?
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger? Luke 2: 41-52 Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger? From Christmas to Easter God comes as a stranger. From Bethlehem's stable, a child in a temple, two people in exile, a man with a temper, Beyond all the tinsel the st…
Poem: Held in the cleft of the cold, dark rock
Poem: Held in the cleft of the cold, dark rock
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Held in the cleft of the cold, dark rock Held in the cleft of the cold, dark rock, the summit of human fear, pursued to the end of his life's reserves, the hunters were drawing near. God was remote, Elijah quaked, protection was hard to find, the One he had heard and sought…
Poem: Hear the echoes of the scripture
Poem: Hear the echoes of the scripture
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Hear the echoes of the scripture Hear the echoes of the scripture in the parting of the waters, see Elijah in the whirlwind, see Elisha, looking, waiting. See Elisha take the mantle, see Elisha strike the water, faith and action moving forward, faith is passed from hand to …
Poem: O what a place for living, divine accommodation