A Post election liturgy

The Sunday before the election and the Sunday after I attended services where no mention was made of this important moment in the life of the country. I really couldn't believe it. It's not about taking political sides, rather it's about showing we are not some holy huddle cut off from the rest of life.  If our worship is not rooted in everyday life we should not be surprised if people think we are irrelevant. 

Knowing I would be leading the mid-week Circuit Thursday communion I had to write a liturgy for it. 

I haven't attached the reflection that went with it, though it was a call for the church to live a new culture which is the Kingdom of God as revealed in the life of Jesus Christ. I even managed to make reference to Antonio Gramsci an Italian Communist who died under Mussolini. Gramsci understood how aspects of a culture , religion, politics, education etc all play their part in holding a society together. This allows a ruling elite to stay in control as people buy into the system even when it makes them poorer. The church at times shows the same characteristics and fails to live truly the life of the Kingdom. The Kingdom with its values which turn the world upside down. Any way this is the liturgy and those who want to may use it with the correct acknowledgement.

 Liturgy - Hope within a Christian culture.  

Opening responses

Leader: In whose Love do you place your lives?

ALL: God our Father

Leader : In whose footsteps do you follow?

ALL: God our Saviour

Leader: By whose Wisdom do you Live?

ALL: God our Spirit.

Leader: Who have you come to worship?

ALL: God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

One in perfect community

in whom we have our Hope.

Song - There’s a quiet understanding

Prayer

Let us pray

God,

in Jesus

you have shown us 

that in your kingdom

leadership comes from the one who serves.

We thank you for revealing this way

though it’s tough for us to do the same.

Show then compassionate understanding 

when we fall into the trap 

of being impressed by those who make

big promises

and who revel in being popular.

Give to us wisdom

to discern truth

to be unimpressed by wealth and power

and so walk in the ways of the Kingdom.

May we heed the words of scripture

to be wary of the shepherds 

who do not put the needs of the people first.

May we follow

the one true Shepherd

who cares 

for lamb and flock alike

and who will bring us 

safely into the fold

of your eternal presence.  Amen

Reading - Jeremiah 23:1-8 

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord.  Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord.  Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold,

and they shall be fruitful and multiply.  I will raise up shepherds over 

them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt’,  but ‘As the Lord lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.’ Then they shall live in their own land.

Reflection

We make our prayers for God’s world, the needs of our neighbours and ourselves. 

Let us pray

We pray for all those newly elected to represent their constituents.

May they do so with integrity

and may Wisdom direct their decision making.

We pray for those who were not elected, 

and those who lost their positions of responsibility

May they discover new ways to serve others

and do so with love and respect for all.

We pray for those nations 

whose leaders abuse their positions of power

who often through rigged elections claim legitimacy

May Your Holy Spirit,

empower those who speak out for justice and peace,

while putting their own lives at risk.

We pray for all who find themselves in position of leadership, trade unionists, councillors, head teachers, hospital mangers,

chief executives and others.

May they always recall 

who they serve and how they should serve 

to bring about the wholeness of all.

We pray for a world community

where the earth and all its peoples

come before profit.

May your wisdom O God

lead us into a unity

that cares for the creation

and enables our planet to sustain life

in all its fullness.

Help us then O God

to look to you

our Leader,

our True Shepherd

and so faithfully walk the way of the Kingdom

until Your Culture of 

mercy, 

compassion, 

forgiveness, 

hope and Love.

Becomes the only way we live. Amen

Song - She sits like a bird brooding on the waters

Holy Communion

When Jesus met with his disciples he often did so over meals. 

There was table fellowship that fed both body and spirit. 

A place to physically eat and spiritually ponder the days events, 

and what was it that Jesus meant when he told that story. 

They didn’t always get it and neither do we. 

So we gather around a table. 

We have maybe shared a coffee first, a biscuit and shared news, entering into the culture of Jesus’s movement. 

Where everyone is accepted and you don’t have to understand everything. 

Where worship and work flow one into the other.

For there are no distinctions for God.

Gathered round a table knowing we are loved 

and that we are to Love. 

For God believes we are capable of working out what it means to Love. 

He gifts to us Wisdom, and She leads us into truth slowly but surely.

Sometimes we will get it right 

and sometimes we will get it wrong, 

but Jesus came not to condemn. 

So we eat and ponder together

what it means to be loved and to Love.

So we thank you God

for coming to us in Jesus,

and revealing 

the nature of your Love.

We thank you Jesus

for your leadership

through serving

and being willing 

to pay the price

of annoying people

by creating a new culture

God’s Kingdom.

We thank you Holy Spirit

for filling our lives

and directing our loving

in the ways of the Kingdom.

We thank you God

for feeding us.

So at a table

sharing a special meal

with his friends

men and women

he took the bread

blessed it

broke it

and gave it to them

to share.

When you eat this bread

remember me.

How I loved, 

how I led

how I forgave

how you were welcomed

accepted

now go and do the same.

(The bread is broken)

Then at the end of the meal he took the cup

blessed it

and gave it to them 

drink it all of you

and remember me.

Remember that 

I forgave,

showed compassion,

transformed lives,

now go and do the same.

(The wine is blessed)

Bread broken

wine poured

Body broken

blood shed

the Kingdom of God

is costly.

Loving God

may we who take this bread 

and this wine

be willing to 

give costly love

that the world

might know

we are your disciples.

We sing twice

Take oh take me as I am

summon out what I shall be

set your seal upon my heart

and live in me.  

Sharing of the bread and wine

Prayer

We pray

For feeding us

with word, bread and wine

we thank you God. Amen

Song - All my hope on God is founded

Closing responses

Into God’s world we go

To live the life of the Kingdom

Into God’s world we go

To offer mercy and forgiveness

Into God’s world we go

To offer Hope, Joy and Love

God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit 

One in perfect community

We go in your name. Amen

© Mark Goodhand 11th July 2024