A Table of Fellowship

I was flipping through Alan Mann's Atonement for a 'sinless' society, when I came across this inclusive piece of communion liturgy.
I took the service at our local church last Sunday and rewrote a communion liturgy - which also majored on the inclusive nature of Jesus and the Table. I won't bother including my own as it's in French.

Here's Alan Mann's:

A Table of Fellowship

On the night that he was 'betrayed',
Jesus ate with his friends: 'betrayers' and self-betrayed, one and all.

Jesus broke bread and gave it to his friends
As a sign of his intent to die that they might have life.

He also shared wine with them
A symbol of his death
That opened to humankind the possibility of reconciliation to God,
To ourselves and to Others.

So we also come to the table of Jesus,
For that is what he desires.

We come to reflect on his story.
But we also come to reflect on our own story
And to the stories of those we love and those we struggle to love.

We acknowledge the absence of the Other in our own lives-
Both human and divine.
We have told our story for far too long
Isolated from the Other.

As we acknowledge the inadequacies of our own story,
We say that we are sorry.
For out of ignorance and weakness,
We have not found space in our stories for the presence of Others.

Though we are not against you
We have failed at being for you.
You have been absent from our lives.
As a result, we are against ourselves, for we are Your Creation.

Therefore, we lift our heads to gaze upon the cross and listen to these words of hope:
"Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Like prodigal child, we bring our story to the table of Jesus
Assured by the story of the Lord's Supper that we will find fellowship there.

We come
Without fear of exposure
Without fear of judgement
For this is the Lord's Table.

Though we withdraw from you and from Others
You do not withdraw from us
And so we thank you.

Our presence at this table means that we are your friends.

So, as we approach this table of fellowship
We recall those absent from all lives
And acknowledge the presence of Others here with us.

We gather
That we may become one with ourselves
One with each Other
One with God

Though we fear it.
We also come to this table so that we,
Like You,
Can 'die' to ourselves.
This is our Golgotha
This is our cross.
For we know and understand that in dying
We open ourselves up to the presence
Of Others in our lives.

Therefore, we offer Others a sign of peace
A symbol of our desire for the Other to be part of our story
And for ourselves to be part of the Other.

We come in the hope of at-one-ment.
That we may be reconciled to Others
And to the Other: God.

At this table
In this moment,
We are given another chance.
To put aside our denial of the Other
And embrace the story of Jesus as our own story.

God, into your hands we place our lives.
We look to Your story to become part of our story
And so be at-one with You, with Others and with ourselves.

Amen

Sat Mix Café Concert

I've just received some photos that were taken at our last SatMix - café concert:

Pascal & me...

Jackie explaining ABEJ - the charity that works with the homeless in lille.

Nicola - the wee scot with the scottish lilt...

The Prodigal Father

Here's an interesting thought provoking spin on one of Jesus' most well-known parables, brought to us by Nadia Bolz Weber.

What does prodigal mean? Wastefully extravagant.
Nadia suggests we regard our Father God in this way.

Our relationship to God is not determined by being nice or good.
Our relationship to God is determined by the wastefully extravagant love of God.

"All that is mine is yours"

Now that's good news!

http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber/files/2013/03/2013-03-10-NBW-Sermon.mp3

SatMix Café Concert

On Saturday we held a Café Concert. The first for SatMix.
The proceeds went to l'ABEJ a charity that works with the homeless.
Folk also brought donations of socks, wooly hats, gloves and scarves.

It was a great evening. An excellent turn out.

The music was diverse. Nicolas sang some of her own songs and covers. She has a sweet melodious voice, with a scottish lilt. Pascal sang his own french compositions that penetrated both soul and intellect - he's a great songwriter with an exceptional voice.
I gave a rendering of well-know covers with one of my own compositions.
I also sung a duet with Pascal - 'If God was one of us' and 'People help the people'.
Jackie gave a presentation of ABEJ with a wonderful testimony.

A great night

CHURCH ACTUALLY

Gerrard Kelly has written a delightful little book called Church Actually - rediscovering the brilliance of God's plan. In it he describes in radiant multi-colour the beauty and purpose of the church.

here are a few quotes from the book:

"I was not created to be a neutral presence in the world...I was made for significance; for fruitfulness.
My desire is to leave the world in a more beautiful condition than that which I found it.

We are sent into the world not to rescue people from it, but to bring to it all the change that grace can bring.

The deeper we dive into Him, the further we find ourselves thrust into His broken world.

The Spirit whose presence we seek in prayer is present already in the world. We do not lead him we follow. We do not bring him to the poor, we find him with them.

The inbuilt desire for human beings to seek wealth and power, and to secure themselves behind walls and fences of economic strength, will mean that the Kingdom tendency to move towards the poor will be resisted.

The church is an environment in which tribes in tension find power to coexist.

Abraham is not a model of the kind of faith that waits to be taken to a better place. He is a model of the kind of faith that knows that this place will one day be better.

The energy of our participation in the building of God's Kingdom will be dictated by the strength of our dreams."

May we all rediscover the brilliance of God's plan.

Thanks Gerrard for reminding us.

Moving On

There are times in our life when we need to move on. This could be a geographical location, a new job or a new relationship. In these moments of change we have to let go of that which we have known and adventure out into unfamiliar places.

My wife and I have moved on.
We've left an organization, WEC International, that we'd been with for 25 years. (That's a long time!)

My identity, and my security were once found in this organization, what I did and the recognition I received from others.

A singer once sang 'Life is full of moving on...' it's easier to sing about than it is to do it.

My God is a large God, not the god of a particular tribe or religion, but the creator God who holds the universe in his hands. A God who is LOVE and lavishes us with his GRACE.

My desire is to continue to journey with Him. The road may get difficult, with many twists and turns and unexpected encounters with angels and demons, friends and foes. I may find myself in strange places and roads less travelled.
I think in all our journeying it's important not to get too complacent, too comfortable with our experiences and achievements. The very essence of journeying is movement. It may be inward journeying which then proceeds to outward journeying. (As is our own personal case).

When we move on there is a sense of peace and freedom; but these feelings are often mixed with fear and anguish as we gaze towards an uncertain future.

None of us know what the future holds, we can only trust, and move on...