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An Order for Evening Worship in Spring
From Death to Life
Breaking Fresh Ground
MARCH * APRIL * MAY
LENT ~ GOOD FRIDAY ~ EASTER ~ ASCENSION
PENTECOST ~ TRINITY SUNDAY
~ WORLD DAY OF PRAYER ~ MOTHERING SUNDAY ~
~ CHRISTIAN AID WEEK ~
David, Patrick, Joseph, Mary, George, Mark, Catherine, Philip, James, Julian, Matthias, Augustine, Elizabeth
Revd Gill Dyer asked Terry Garley whether she would prepare something to use on one Sunday evening a month beginning in October 2009. Terry writes:
Having given some thought to this request, my mind began to teem with ideas. What came to me was the need for a cycle of four seasonal variations with the possible prospect of using each one once a month during winter, spring, summer, and autumn.
The intention is to weave into each season’s order a number of threads drawing on a variety of influences. Broadly speaking, the idea is to bring together the natural cycle of our lives with some of the Anglican offices, for example, Evening and Night Prayer and some seasonal prayers. These and other material will give a sense of connectedness through time with ancient Books of Hours and the story of Christian Revelation as well as a sense of being linked with the Communion of Saints through history.
This inspiration came to me via The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift1. It is the story of the making of a garden in Shropshire, whose chapters follow the Benedictine Offices or Hours.
Doing things this way will permit us to explore together different parts not only of the Anglican treasure store of worship, but also to some extent that of other Christian traditions, for example Catholic, Reformed, Methodist and Monastic.
As John Hicks put it in a recent edition of Reform, the magazine of the United Reformed Church, in an article called ‘In Sure and Certain Hope?’- ‘responding to the universal divine reality is [an] environment for the growth of the soul.’
The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift published by Bloomsbury ISBN 978-0-7475-9258-7
PREFACE
‘It is strange that the colours of the liturgical year … should sometimes mirror so closely those of an English garden: purple for Advent and Lent, white for the special feasts of Christ and his mother – Lady Day, Easter, Corpus Christi, red for the Holy Ghost and for the feasts of the apostles and martyrs; and green for every day – the green of the English summer – from Trinity all the way round to Advent again. Yet not so strange: our flowers come from many climes … Lenten Roses are purple hellebores (Helleborus orientalis) from Greece and Turkey – ancient Byzantium. The Crocus tommassinianus … purple and silver and amethyst … comes originally from Hungary and Bulgaria – the Ottoman Empire. Even the reds of Whitsun – crimson peonies and the first red roses – have a whiff of the exotic about them. The red rose (Rosa gallica) and the European peony (Paeonia officinalis) both come from the warm south. The white of Easter, though, is of more homely descent: blackthorn, damson, pear, plum and cherry, wreathing the countryside with blossom in salutation of the day.
‘But there’s a glow of yellow too, coming and going like a patch of winter sunlight, growing stronger and stronger as the earth turns towards the sun: winter aconites and yellow crocuses, marsh marigolds and primroses, crown imperials and daffodils.
‘ … the Shropshire simnel preserves an older tradition … the yellow of marzipan, the yellow of eggs, the yellow of saffron: the colour of spring.’
From The Morville Hours , © Katherine Swift, used with her permission
SOURCES
Common Worship, Church House Publishing, © The Archbishops’ Council 2000
A Benedictine Passiontide Litany, © The Community of the Holy Cross, Nottinghamshire – used with permission
Part of this service is taken with permission from The Methodist Worship Book © 1999 Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes
Biblical quotations from the NRSV, © Oxford University Press
Seasonal Prayer, Mary’s Song and Affirmation of Faith © Terry Garley
You are invited to join in the responses written in bold print.
Please note the responses to readings (pp. 4 & 5) and to prayers (p.7)
PREPARATION
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east … Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 1: 8-9)
The Lord will comfort Zion; will comfort all her waste places and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. (Isaiah 51: 3)
After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. (John 18: 1)
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb … she turned around and saw Jesus standing there … Supposing him to be the gardener … Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni” (which means Teacher). (John 20: 11, 14-16 )
Let everyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise (garden) of God.
(Revelation 2: 7)
Brief silence for reflection.
I saw water flowing from the threshold of the temple.
All: Wherever the river flows everything will spring to life.
(After Easter only) Alleluia.
On the banks of the river grow trees bearing every kind of fruit.
All: Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail.
Their fruit will serve for food, their leaves for the healing of the nations.
All: For the river of the water of life flows from the throne
of God and of the Lamb. (c.f. Revelation 22: 1-2)
Let us return to the Lord our God as prodigal sons and daughters and say to him:
All: Father,
we have sinned against heaven and against you.
We are not worthy to be called your children.
We turn to you again.
Have mercy on us,
bring us back to yourself
as those who once were dead
but now have life through Christ our Lord.
Amen (c.f. Luke 15)
May the Father forgive us
by the death of his Son
and strengthen us
to live in the power of the Spirit
all our days.
All: Amen.
HYMN
THE WORD OF GOD
FIRST READING
Response at the end of the reading:
Reader: Hear the word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God
LITANY
Jesus said: I have come, not to condemn the world but to save the world: Lord, redeem your creation and bless your Church.
Lord, hear us.
All: Lord in mercy hear us.
I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep:
Bring us all, as one flock, to your fold, O Lord.
Lord, hear us.
All: Lord in mercy hear us.
The Father judges no-one but has entrusted all judgement to the Son: O Lord, do not mark our guilt, but cleanse us we pray.
Lord, hear us.
All: Lord in mercy hear us.
Anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life:
Turn our stubborn wills back to yourself that we may live, O Lord.
Lord, hear us.
All: Lord in mercy hear us.
The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again: Through that same love, O Lord, lead us from death to risen glory with you.
Lord, hear us.
All: Lord in mercy hear us.
(c.f. John 3:36, 5:22, 10:11 & 17, 12:47)
© CHC
HYMN
SECOND READING
Response at the end of the reading:
Reader: Hear the word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God
A VERSION OF MARY‘S SONG (c.f. Luke 1: 46-55)
My soul weeps
and my spirit lies battered within me
for the world belongs to
the heartless imagination of the wealthy
and greed for profit and fear of war
rule the earth.
All: The powerless go unheard
and the hungry are not fed.
The poor and the weak are oppressed
and great things are done
in the name of this generation.
Human success and addiction to debt
squander the inheritance of faith
while seeds of hope are consumed before they grow.
All: Who will save our children
for the promise of your mercy?
Who will scatter the darkness of our disobedience
to calls for justice?
You who have looked with favour
on your lowly servant, Mary,
will redeem your people in every generation.
All: Glory to the one who created us
and who recreates us.
Glory to the one who redeemed us
and who goes on redeeming us.
Glory to the one who sanctifies and sustains us
now and for ever. Amen.
© 1991 CCBI & TDG [adapted 2010]
TALK / ADDRESS / PRESENTATION / DIALOGUE OR
MEDITATION
HYMN
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
Let us profess our faith in God, the holy and undivided Trinity.
All: We believe and trust in God, the Father,
Creator of heaven and earth.
We believe and trust in Jesus Christ,
the incarnate Word of God,
who in life, death and resurrection
redeemed humankind.
We believe and trust in God, the Holy Spirit,
comforter and guide.
We believe and trust in one God,
Creator, Word and Spirit. Amen.
PRAYERS
INTERCESSIONS – Using this or other suitable response:
Lord, your mercy endures for ever.
All: Blessed be your name.
THE COLLECT FOR THE DAY
A COLLECT FOR THE MONTH:
Here may be said a collect or prayer in recollection of a saint or for a special intention of the month.
A PRAYER FOR THE SEASON:
God, the designer of our desire, deeper than our desire,
God the maker of our mind, mightier than our mind,
God the wisdom of our will, wiser than our will,
guide us in all things to seek
your deep desire, your mind and your will,
through Christ, who died to show us the way,
and the Spirit, who comforts and restores us to life in you.
Amen. © TDG
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Gathering our prayers and praises into one, as our Saviour has taught us, so we pray:
All: Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.
HYMN
BLESSING AND CONCLUSION
We say together:
All: The love of the Father enfold us,
the wisdom of the Son enlighten us,
the fire of the Spirit enflame us;
and the blessing of God, the Three in One,
be upon us and remain with us now and for ever.
Amen.
Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, … make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will. (c.f. Hebrews 13:20-21)
All: Amen.
The Peace of the Lord be always with you
All: and also with you.
These words may be added
Let us offer one another a sign of peace, God’s seal on our prayers.
(Some material copyright Common Worship)
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