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When the stories mingle

This is part of our communion liturgy for tomorrow evening. We'll have been in the church retelling stories from the Bible and singing psalms as people used to do here 50 years ago,m round the piano in people's homes of a Sunday evening. Then we will come through to the hall for supper and long table communion. This is the prayer of thanksgiving (sort of)...

When all our stories mingle in this one story
and all our hopes come together here
we break bread
because it is all we can do tonight

for the cross looms
and before sunrise you will be arrested
tried
and tortured

may we break bread with you tonight
that you may go through tomorrow
knowing we have tasted heaven
its sorrow and bitter cup
its brokenness and shattered alleluias

may we break bread with you tonight
that we may accompany you tomorrow
shoulder your cross when you no longer can
speak of love when your throat is too dry
face what is being done when the world turns it’s back
and with the full horror of your passion
sing the broken lines of the angels promise

Holy, holy, holy
God of power and might
heaven and earth are full of your glory
hosanna in the highest
Blessed is the one who comes in God’s name
hosanna in the highest

Come this night
and break bread with us
Spirit of Jesus
that we may feast
on the brokenness of heaven

So be it
Amen

What was the resurrection for?

Here's a wee thought:

Shrink the world's population to a village of 100 - with all the existing ratios remaining the same.
The village would have 61 Asians,12 Europeans,13 North or South Americans,13 Africans,1 from Oceania.
51 females and 49 males.
70 non-whites and 30 whites.
70 non-Christians and 30 Christians.
50% of the wealth would be in the hands of 6 people - all North America citizens.
80 would be living in substandard housing.
70 would be unable to read.
50 would suffer from malnutrition.
1 would have a college education.

To do what is just. To show constant love!!!

Perfume

What song does this perfume sing:
of grace and beauty
yet mingled with the lament of love?

What song does this perfume sing:
of faith in a God among the people
who then turn God’s traitors?

What song does this perfume sing:
of hope, alive in the world
too soon crushed and emptied?

For perfume sings a love song
of healing wounds and anointing grace
of knowing that which is sacred
of seeking out that which is found to be worthwhile
It is filled with the longing for what the future brings
and of giving life for that future
committing all to the possibility
just the possibility
that good may come of it

Perfume sings lullabies of hope
by grabbing hold of what is now
and wrestling the beauty out of it
taking tired feet
and soothing them that they may walk once more
taking furrowed brows
and easing the pain of tomorrow
taking the dust of the path
and finding an alleluia within it

What song does this perfume sing?

yet this jar is pierced
the glass shatters with the truth
the song: a lament of beauty
of longing in the brokenness
of seeing the shadows fall against the light
this song is glass, crushed
scattered fragments of what hope once was.

This anointing is of body

The song is silenced
now just the fragrance lasts
but for a short time only
for a short time only
scattered by the darkness
of what people refuse to believe

can you hear?

can you hear them?

they are crying out
in loves name
crowning him prince of peace
‘hosanna to the bread breaker’

they are crying out
to the man of sorrows
salvation’s gargoyle
and heaven’s menace

they are crying out

naming the healer
naming the befriender
naming the imbiber and table talker
friend of sinners and tax-collectors

it is a shout not heard in the corridors of power or of faith

teaming with the justice of God
this shout is the oppressors adversary
the torturer’s enemy
the racist’s traitor

betraying what is wrong
in the dissenting arguments of the world
the shout that exposes the silence of the status quo
and fills it out with the promise of heaven
the truth about Jesus
and the call of love

and when the crowd turns away
and the people vote for Barabbas
when the disciples run in fear
and the fearful choose to silence the man
still they cry out

not the followers
not the believers
not the fishermen or the women
not the church or her Christians
not the angels or the saints

but in the greatest silence and deepest darkness
of the moment after death
crushed at the tomb of a broken saviour
then they cry out their loudest
a long, deep, slow, rumbling alleluia
of the tombstone as it rolls

listen if you have ears
the very stones are crying out

These and other meditations that appear here along with many that don't can be subscribed to by emailing here. It is a monthly mailing at the end of the month of various worship pieces from the previous four or five weeks. It is called Mucky Paws and is free and for your own and congregation's use.

Holy Week Services

This week's services for Holy Week are at 7.30:

Monday: Central Wesleyan (in Radnor Parck Church)
Tuesday: Abbotsford
Wednesday: Radnor Park Congregational (Green Street)
Thursday: Maundy Thursday supper in Abbotsford
Friday: Kilbowie St Andrews

Holy Week Headlines

When they came near Jerusalem, a large crowd praised God in loud voices: God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

It was the week of the parade
the roadside crowds delighted in their pretender taking his throne
this is the way to riot the crowds
this is the way of love

He began to drive out the merchants shouting: My temple will be a house of prayer, not a hideout for thieves, and he drove them out.

It was the week of the temple
and the priests saw to it this pretender would have his throne
this is the way to conspiracy
this is the way of love

Jesus went to the home of Lazarus and Mary took half a litre of expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.

It was the week of anointing
the perfume had been saved for the pretender without a throne
this is the way to unbalance the establishment
this is the way of love

When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there and Jesus said, “Forgive them! They don’t know what they are doing."

It was the week of torture
the nails had been prepared to nail the pretender to his throne
this is the way to establish peace
this is the way of love

A large crowd followed him as he was led away, among them were some women, weeping. Jesus turned to them: Don’t cry for me, but for yourselves and your children."

It was the week of the cross
the wood had been waiting for the pretender to take his throne
this is the way to silence the disturber
this is the way of love

 

Spill the Beans

I've been involved with a group of colleagues who have been working together on new resource material for worship and all-age learning. The idea is to give our congregations something with a Scottish flavour, or at least something put together by Scottish folk and written in our own context for our own particular people. We're about to pilot it in our own and various other local congregations and you are invited to have a wee look at it too and try it out in your own context if you wish. If you do we'd like to hear from you and find out how you got on and what you and those who used it thought of it. We have a wee questionnaire we'd like you to fill in and if you email me I'll send it to you.

You can download Spill the Beans here and try it out. Do have a wee look and do give it a try. It's written by people who live their lives in local congregations here in west central Scotland. It's ethos is about the importance of the Bible stories: retelling the stories and letting them tangle with our own stories. It is lectionary based and runs from Easter 2 through to Pentecost. If you do download it just leave a wee comment to give us an idea how many times it as been accessed. Thanks and we'll have a conversation about it later.

Don't give up before Easter

Don't give up before Easter.
We have come so far.
Don't give up before we get there.
This is an ongoing story.
This week we don’t say, 'Goodbye and see you next Sunday.'
It’s not as simple as that.
Next week, none of us might be here
fickle as a crowd at Passover.

This is the story everything moves towards:
stables and wildernesses, mountaintops and bedsides.
So far the gospels have simply been introductions
to this story of the cost of love.
Everything leads here.

Let us not let Jesus do this on his own.
Let us accompany him.

Let us be here as he faces the temple and the anointing,
the betrayer and the denier,
the bread and the wine.
Let us not let Jesus face these on his own.
It is the least we can do
in response to what Jesus does for us:
giving of himself,
completely.

So this service does not end today
but continues tomorrow and each day this week.

You cannot have Easter without the passion:
stones don’t roll unless the tomb is filled,
dawn doesn’t break unless the darkness rolls in,
resurrection doesn’t happen unless crucifixion comes first.
You cannot know how to celebrate Easter
without first living the passion.

So let us journey with Jesus this week.
Just as we expect him to be here for us
may we be there for him
and keep the faith alive.

May we hold on for him
when he has to let go.
This is a journey of faith.
May we hold the hope that will let us travel it.

Go now,
come back soon,
it has only just begun.

For Holy Week

A dialogue: two people reflecting on the cleansing of the temple.

One	No way!
Two	Yes way!
One	Tell me that didn’t happen!?
Tow	Tell me that did happen!?
One	I jeered
Two	I cheered
One	The tables flying everywhere
Two	The money changers flying everywhere
One	The coins scattering into the shadows
Two	The stall holders scattering after their coins
One	The doves making a bid for freedom
Two	The sellers making a bid to catch their doves
One	He just stormed into the temple like a bull in a china shop and told everyone this was not the way the Temple should be. People should enjoy coming to worship God, not forced to pay tax. That’s stealing from people, especially the poor. They need their prayers heard the most but it costs them the most to come here. He was mad!
Two	He stormed into the temple like a man on a mission, and he was. He told everyone this was not the way the Temple should be and I was cheering inside. Everyone should be able to come and worship without paying to get in especially the poor. Their prayers are just as important to God as the priests are (you should have seen their faces at that comment). Jesus was livid.
One	How can he think he can change a system that has been in place for hundreds of years? It’s only right to pay for the sacrifices you need to worship God! Who is he to think otherwise! This has been going on for generations. You can’t just come along and in five minutes change the whole tradition of the people.
Two	He thinks he can change a system that has been in place for hundreds of years. Thank goodness someone does. Here’s someone who sees what is wrong and will do something about it. ‘God doesn’t want your sacrifices!’ Wow, that was a blow to the religious leaders. ‘God doesn’t want your money changing! That changes everything. If only they would listen to him. But they won’t. Leadership never listens to anyone who wants change, who will take away their comforts and their power. If only you could change the tradition in five minutes.
One	And then he went storming off and there was silence. A single coin was left rolling. A hush descended and people just stared. Then began to pick up the tables again and restore order once more. It took only a few moments and things were back to normal - the whole thing forgotten. It will never make any headlines. No one will remember it.
Two	And then he went storming off. But the hush that descended was shocking. You could hear a coin still rolling. What a fabulous message he left them with. So dramatic. So angry. No one will forget what they’d just seen. People will be taking about it for ages yet. Pity it won’t make a difference in the long run. Prophets never do.
One	It was shocking
Two	It was tremendous
One	It was appalling
Two	It was honest
One	It won’t change a thing
Two	It will change everything
One	I’m going to object
Two	I’m going to celebrate
One	He’s a danger
Two	He’s in danger
One	They’d better watch out for him
Two	He’d better watch out for them
One	After this who knows what will happen
Two	After this no one know what will happen
One	Down with Jesus!
Two	Hosanna for Jesus!

Solas 2010

Just a wee reminder. Don't forget. Put it in your diary. You may miss it. Don't see how, but you might. Rearrange everything for the Solas weekend.