Category: 2ndSunday

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2ndSunday Creative Worship

December 2nd Sunday Liturgy

Waterfall by Rob Oo
Waterfall of refreshment

Welcome to the 2nd Sunday creative worship service in December. It’s the 3rd Sunday in Advent! Pink Candles, St Lucia and much more!

Whether you are avoiding #Whamageddon or are a #Whamhunter please join us in taking some time out to use this at your convenience or meet us online at 3.
(No in person meeting today)

https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kebGFZBsh4

Meeting ID: 816 9536 5641

Passcode: 289878

You are not in this alone, and we have the heritage of the Church spread throughout time and space to draw on. Take time to become aware of your feelings, your thoughts, your breathing, and may the peace of God be with you.

I. Third Sunday of Advent Anticipation

V           O God, make speed to save us;

R            O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

II.        Reading and Psalms

Luke 1 : 46b – 55 and Psalm 126

Time for Reflection Activities

Today we are remembering Mary singing a song. This song links to the words of the prophets in her tradition, and has inspired generations who follow after her.

Each person, community, generation …ethnos, takes what they value and expresses it. We also learn to sense value through immersion in this stuff of culture. If this is done with respect then the transition between generations can flow smoothly. Times of technological advance, scarcity, famine, and other crises can threaten this natural growth however and the 20th century has seen massive change.

One such change is the rise of social media. With it has come the rise in popularity of things like visual memes. Perhaps they are a bit like the hit songs of the 60’s. They help define subcultures, and people to express their thoughts and feelings. This time for reflection will help you make some of your own.

The first thing to notice is that they are never simply a picture of text. Even if they are a picture of text.

By combining text with an image (or lack of one) they attract the viewer’s attention and evoke a response. Successful memes invite you to use them to express your identity, establish your boundaries by incuding other people. To be a little provocative, but perhaps in a way which makes people laugh, then think, then laugh again.

Some memes simply state an opinion. Draw attention to what looks like a fact of life.

Other memes build on people’s experience of the type of meme to make simple statements about quite complicated issues.

Look at the passage or psalm we started with. Mull it over in the context of prayer. Talk with someone if that helps you both! Find somewhere quiet if that is your thing.

Are there any words of phrases which stand out?

Are there any pictures which come to mind or reinforce your thoughts?

Does it remind you of a good joke?

Express yourself. You could write it as a simple piece of text or a memory verse. You could add graphics or paint a picture. Using technology you could take the words and overlay them on a photo – or find a meme already in use and adapt it.
There are even resources online to help you make your own memes
(like Imageflip but look around for one which you are comfortable using, and remember to ask if you are not paying to use it – what other costs are involved?)

Finally.

Worship and prayer can happen wherever people are, at any time, and whether they are alone or with others. But Liturgy is the structured and shared worship that Christians engage in when they are together – as Jesus said, ‘where two or three are gathered in my name.’

What is Liturgy? (S.E.C. explanation)

The last year has seen many people move online for shopping, work, socialising and to maintain their relationships and community. For some it has been like moving to another country. For some, especially those under 50 it is the country they have grown up in. If meeting and sharing is core to liturgy, then having visited this ‘new online world’ by learning the skills like creating memes you have made, adapting to accommodate this form of expression, we can help grow a Church which is less ‘alien’ for many people.

Magnificat

1.           My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord:

my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;

2.           for he has looked with favour on his lowly servant:

from this day all generations will call me blessed;

3.           the Almighty has done great things for me:

and holy is his name.

4.           He has mercy on those who fear him:

in every generation.

5.           He has shown the strength of his arm:

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

6.           He has cast down the mighty from their thrones:

and has lifted up the lowly.

7.           He has filled the hungry with good things:

and the rich he has sent away empty.

8.           He has come to the help of his servant Israel:

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

9.           the promise he made to our fathers:

              to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.

Silence or words

Kyrie

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Lord’s Prayer

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.

Do not bring us to the time of trial

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power and the glory

are yours, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect

Stir up our prayers, Lord, and hear us:
that they who are sorrowful and suffering
may rejoice at the Advent of your only-begotten Son;
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

Lord God almighty, come and dispel the darkness from our hearts, that in the radiance of your brightness we may know you, the only unfading light, glorious in all eternity.
Amen.

Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!

The God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing:
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Please send in photos of your responses! :

And if you were wondering about the Saint Lucia reference:
https://www.facebook.com/QuartzInStJohnsDumfries/posts/3517208631702797

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2ndSunday Creative Worship Uncategorized

2nd Sunday in December

Waterfall by Rob Oo
Waterfall of refreshment

Creative Worship for the 3rd Sunday in Advent (the 13th of December)

Firstly, my appologies if you thought this was happening this weekend. A bit of a calendar clash – 2nd Sunday in December is the 3rd in Advent.

Psalm 126 or Lk 1: 46b-55

The texts linked to above are taken from the readings The Scottish Episcopal Church will be exploring as part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Read them in your prefered translation, if you follow the links you can read them in a multitude of translations and paraphrase though. Pray and let the Holy Spirit breathe through the looseness of language. Think critically and check your thoughts with the measuring rods of tradition and reason.

On the 2nd Sunday we will be thinking creatively and taking inspiration from the text to work out some everyday mantras. Short things to mull in your mind while you wait in a queue 2m apart from people. Prayers for putting on your mask. Habit forming phrases to help infuse your life with the flavour of God. Prayers we can work on together that will weave inner and outerwear to build Christlike minds and bodies which are ready for any apocalypse.

Please use the comments to suggest anything you find in advance. Trawl through your meme stash and see what is fitting to offer.

As usual, the liturgy for the evening will be available online – we will have a zoom link and a chance to meet in person- use the registration form.

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Artwork

The thoughts, dreaming and poetry from last months creative worship.

Clicking this link will take you to a page with all the blog posts about 2nd Sunday creative worship events.

Explore 2nd sunday content
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November 2nd Sunday Creative Worship

Please use the pop up to register, e-mail Quartz(AT)wordsmithcrafts.co.uk or phone 07572 006290.

When you register, please say how many people are in your household group! this will help us plan the layout.

We will meet online as well as in St Johns. The creative response will involve clay and Psalm 46, which seemed particularly appropriate this year.

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2ndSunday

November 2nd Sunday

#NithMirror in Deer Park, Dumfries

The nights are drawing in and the clocks have changed so the next few 2nd Sunday creative worship services are changing too.

If you are up for it, the plan will be to meet in St Johns hall. Hopefully online too! The service would start at 1500 (GMT) and run till 1600. We plan to use the evening prayer liturgy as a “spine” for the service, and give it “flesh” using contemporary visual and audio art. We will also provide a hands on way to respond to the content.

Space in the hall is finite! So people will need to book.

Keep in touch!

Please let us know if you are interested – and to say what you would like to see happening at 2nd Sundays creative worship.

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2ndSunday

Reconciliation 3rd Sunday Update

There are still brambles on the bushes, apples ripe for picking on the tree. The yard is secluded, and the birds find space to sing. This is an industrial yard, a coal yard, but times have changed and its use has changed with them.

There is broadband so we can meet transatlantic friends and pray together. The physicality of hand skills is used to help people make sense of their surroundings and find confidence. Academics have travelled here to experience primitive firefighting techniques. Philosophy is pursued whilst cleaning mud from tent pegs.

We must not cling to the past, or buildings will become rocks that wreck the future. Even then, the memories, associations and loyalties people have bound up in a place will drag them down with it, swimming trying to keep the memorial afloat.

Which is a negative view! But what can or should be saved from the shipwreck? Why have generations abandoned ship and found fulfillment for their spiritual needs elsewhere? What spiritual assets are locked into victorian stone, and how can we help them sing? What pre-modern learning has been loaded into liturgy, and how can it be laid out as lore for a post modern community dislocated by the experience of global warfare, neo liberalism, and climate crisis?

How can we reconcile ourselves with the past, and meet with Jesus in the present, to empower our walk into the future?

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2ndSunday

Reconciliation Update

Come and rest a while. There are still brambles and apples to harvest.

Draw or write on the board. Or e-mail and I’ll print it out and stick it on for you.

Zoom in for some i-spiration

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2ndSunday

Reconciliation

The art board so far.

“Don’t cling to me”

The first response has been posted on the creative worship board. What does Jesus mean when he gives this instruction to Mary? Can you hear the words thousands of years away in time and still sense the tenderness from the context?

When so much is out of kilter, what to we need to let go of?

When so much is out of kilter, what do we need to keep a firm grasp of?

Take some time out and drop into the wordsmithcrafts workshop yard. Listen to the birds singing while you reflect on the stories.

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2ndSunday

2nd Sunday Liturgy (Nov)

Welcome to the 2nd Sunday creative worship service in November. Whether you are online, or in the St Johns building there will be a lot that seems strange.

Join us online in the zoom meeting

Set this time aside to rest from the strain, don’t ignore it as the challenge of encountering the unfamiliar can be healthy and helpful, but rest. You are not in this alone, and we have the heritage of the Church spread throughout time and space to draw on. Take time to become aware of your feelings, your thoughts, your breathing, and the peace of God be with you.

I.         INVOCATION

V           O God, make speed to save us;

R            O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

II.        PSALM

Psalm 46

Another (extended) version of this playlist can be found here if you are online, have a bit more time, and don’t mind a bit more metal)

Time for Reflection Activities

The psalm for this Sunday is followed by a playlist of music videos on the theme of refuge. The following activities have been chosen to suggest a wide range of ways to respond to the psalm. Have a look at the headings and have a go at one or all of them. They will be available online at least unitl the 2nd Sunday in December!

In the St Johns building we will be providing clay, but these reflections activities could be carried out using a wide range of materials at home.

Some Questions

Where do you find refuge? What are the foundations you build your life on? When have you felt alone? When has God been your refuge?

Want to make something with an obvious use?

Labyrinths can be used to help guide your meditation, they can be a visualisation of calming down and placing things in order. Becoming aware of God at the heart of your life.

  • Roll the clay into a ball
  • Flatten it and roll it out as a disc
  • Make a dot in the middle
  • Lightly draw 5 circles radiating out from the dot
  • Use these lines to trace the path into the centre
  • The white lines in the picture are the path your finger takes!
  • For a comprehensive discussion about labyrinths have a look at the Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal (Winter 2019) (This links to a downloadble pdf file)

Like to work with texts?

You could use this time to write references or words on clay pebbles, stones – or even a wall to remind you of texts you find helpful.
The Cornerstone Standing Stones Legal Refuge Assurance

Graphical Truth, meditation on meaningfulness

If you draw a right angle, wrong, the house will be insecure.

You can discover and explore truth with a bit of string and a straight edge, and these are the foundations on which archetecture is based.

Roll out a flat sheet of clay and take some time exploring the making of patterns (or a pencil, ruler and pair of compases on paper).

There is a pattern of circles within which all the Euclidean solids can be formed – perfectly- and this is constant within the human expereince of physical time and space.

So when you look at a building, perhaps you can wonder at the amazing ability given to Humans? Can it be a way to sense less physically accessible truths?
Perhaps you could make a more permanent reminder of this as a clay mandalla – or a window frame?

Or of course, do your own thing …

III. CANTICLE AND PRAYER

Magnificat

1.           My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord:

my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;

2.           for he has looked with favour on his lowly servant:

from this day all generations will call me blessed;

3.           the Almighty has done great things for me:

and holy is his name.

4.           He has mercy on those who fear him:

in every generation.

5.           He has shown the strength of his arm:

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

6.           He has cast down the mighty from their thrones:

and has lifted up the lowly.

7.           He has filled the hungry with good things:

and the rich he has sent away empty.

8.           He has come to the help of his servant Israel:

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

9.           the promise he made to our fathers:

              to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.

Silence or words

Kyrie

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Lord’s Prayer

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.

Do not bring us to the time of trial

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power and the glory

are yours, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect

Lord, God almighty, come and dispel the darkness from our hearts, that in the radiance of your brightness we may know you, the only unfading light, glorious in all eternity.

Amen.

Please send in photos of your response! :

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2ndSunday

A blank canvas

This will be the site of our October project.

The theme is “Reconciliation”

When a dream dies and is buried, how can you hope again?

If you are abandoned, who can you trust?

If you have let someone down, what conversations can reconcile you both with each other and the memory of the event?

You will be able to bring your own artwork and add it on, or write, draw or even paint responding to what you find there. This project will be exposed to wind and rain, so prepare accordingly.

Please remain in your household bubbles. Remain 2m apart, and follow the gov.scot guidance. Use the gel in the lobby to clean your hands before and after interacting. Act as if you are infected, protect those who aren’t.