prayer for Uniting Church's anniversary

This week the Uniting Church in Australia celebrated its 34^th anniversary. Our prayers for others at Belair, then, were prayers for our church.

God of Love and Peace

We thank you for the embodiment of the Body of Christ that is the Uniting Church in Australia.

We thank you for the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches who preceded us, and who continue in Australia and around the world.

We thank you for the dream your people dreamt, for a uniting church, for an Australian church, for a witness to the unity we know through Jesus Christ.

We pray now for the Uniting Church in Australia.

For Alastair McRae, the President of the Assembly, and for Andrew Dutney, President-elect. We pray for the preparations for the 12^th meeting of the Assembly to be held in Adelaide in 2012.

We pray for Rob Williams, our presbytery chairperson and Synod moderator. We pray for those who are employed by and volunteer for the Synod & Presbytery of South Australia, and we pray for Uniting College, and Uniting Church agencies and schools. We pray for the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.

We pray for ministers, lay and ordained, the whole people of God living out your dream in this land.

We pray for this community of faith at Belair Uniting Church, our council, leaders of children and youth, and all of us as we show care and loving service for each other and our wider community with our various gifts.

We pray for the church around the world, embodiments of the Body of Christ in all their glorious diversity. May we be united in our commitment to  your dream of Love and healed wholeness for all creation.

Amen

flu complaint

I don't often complain
but at moments like these –
confined to the bed
I have all to myself
a mountain of slimy tissues
and soothers wrappers
growing on the floor
struggling to breathe
wincing as I swallow
each cough travelling deeper
towards my lungs –
I think of those who have
a partner to bring lemon tea
chicken soup and medicine
and I would really like
my voice

a weekend with jonathan welch

another exciting thing i'm involved with is planning a weekend with jonathan welch, of the choir of hard knocks and jail birds fame, with the centre for music, liturgy and the arts.
we had our first planning meeting as a team on monday, and i must say, there is already some fabulous energy around this event.
i'm really looking forward to hearing jonathan's stories, his experience and wisdom in the are of social inclusion, and to singing in a big choir.
if that sounds like a good weekend to you, too, stay tuned to the cmla website, and get in early with those registrations, which will open later this month.

in the mean time, if you feel like a good sing, get along to brougham place uniting church on 19 june to sing with michael hawn, who has a wealth of experience in community singing and world music. go to the cmla website for more, or email Jennifer Hughes for information.

reading the Bible aloud in gathered worship

I led a workshop this weekend just gone, with some of the Bible readers from Payneham Road Uniting Church, on Biblical Storytelling.
The first part of the day was led by Ray, a member at Argent Uniting, and right from the first moment, I learnt something new. Gotta love that. Gotta not love what I learnt, though. Did you know that in a recent survey of what people enjoyed and appreciated most about their gathered worship, the Bible reading was at the bottom of the list? My heart sank.
We spent some time wondering about why that might be. The consensus seemed to be that there has been a trend with reading the Bible aloud, for one reason or another, that has led to people not being expressive or engaging in their reading. It might be nervousness. It might be concern about not taking too long and making 'church' too long. It might be that somewhere along the line we decided that Sacred texts needed to be revered through a 'pious' tone. or that we decided we can't interpret the Bible, so we'll take all expression out of the reading. and sometimes, it's simply that we have stood up to read the Bible aloud without having prepared.
Well. here are my thoughts on that:
nervousness - prepare, and if you're not a person who is comfortable speaking in front of people, perhaps your gifting is not in reading the Bible aloud.
taking too long - the Bible is the foundational text of the Christian faith, give it all the time it needs and deserves.
revering the bible - revere it by giving it due attention so that you communicate meaning, not communicate meaninglessness or a sense that this Book is somehow without meaning.
interpretation - every time we read the Bible, aloud or not, we are interpreting it; take the time to prepare so that your interpretation is considered, intentional, and open to God revealing Godself through these holy words rather than the haphazard interpretation that happens when we try not to interpret it at all.
and not preparing - well, that's just plain disrespectful, to the text, to our community, to God.

and we talked about these things over the two sessions, and about how it is important to make the connection emotionally with the text so that we can communicate meaningfully with our listeners, with our community of faith. They were a good bunch, and open to working on their reading because they are passionate about it, about the Biblical Story, about God, and about sharing God's word with others.
in the afternoon, I introduced Biblical storytelling, and some seemed ready to take the plunge and learn this craft. I hope they do.
And I hope it is as rewarding for them as it is for me - to be able to be free of the page so you can look in the eyes of your travelling companions on this Way as you tell them our story, God's story, the story of God's relationship with us and all creation - it's beyond description as a holy, sacred, God moment.

Please get in touch with me if you'd like to encourage your Bible readers with a workshop on reading aloud, interpreting the Bible for reading aloud, or Biblical storytelling - I would love to come and share with you. sarahagnew@adam.com.au