Welcome to the Uniting Church in Australia

Hospital Chapel

Service

Liturgy

Lent 2016

Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength

Harold Small,Pr Rosemary MyersRev Jean Shannon,

Music by Richard Bramley, Joan PrattBarbara Hall

The Uniting Church in Australia

Chapel is held every Thursday @ 9:30 & 2:30—everyone is welcome – no matter what your faith background or engagement might be or might have been. You are welcome to join us for a small moment in community.

Uniting Hospital Chaplaincy

Canberra Hospital

Phone: 62443768

Afternoon chapel is an informal ecumenical meditation service

Call to Prayer

From the desert

starts a journey.

From a spring

starts a flow.

From the road

starts a promise

From the soul

A singing.J Shannon

The journey of the year has truly begun just as Jesus has been set upon the path of his mission and towards Jerusalem. Wholly committed – ultimately to give everything.

The theme Heart Soul Mind Strength, comes from Jesus’ answer to the question: “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

Lord, we begin this moment to try and offer you everything.

Amen.J Shannon

Hymn: CD - TIS 448(with words below)

The gospel tells a tale

Of his humanity –

How Jesus struggled with himself

Sometimes in agony.

2. Desires to meet his needs,

To have authority,

And bring some magic to his cause

Sapped all his energy.

3. Temptation is too real;

And Jesus knew it well;

What struggles were his major ones

We cannot really tell.

4. But inner tensions came,

Just like to you and me;

Each day he had to choose again

To live love constantly.

5. There is no quick release

From wrestling with the wrong

And Jesus wrestled just like us;

With him we can be strong.

Of course – it’s not about us. We carry so many people in our hearts; people who need our prayers. We pray for them; our friends and neighbours and also the lost and lonely; the homeless and helpless; the dispossessed.

Light the care candle

Readings from our Biblical tradition:

Hymn: TIS 650 Brother Sister Let me Serve you

Forgiveness & surrender –

Our world is strewn with brokenness. We have all had our deserts and our temptations. There have been times when I cared too much to let go or too little to lend a hand. At times, I have forgotten to be open to you, first.

Silent reflection

Gracious God, we acknowledge that when the going gets rough, we sometimes try to tough it out alone. I know that there are times when I could have turned to others, or to you, but my ego was louder than my heart. I know there have been times when others were tempted and troubled and I could not be bothered wiping their brow. I know, at times, I have been half-hearted, half-faithful when I could have been whole hearted and completely yours. In your compassion, help us learn through the grace of Jesus. Amen

J Shannon

The good news is that we depend not on ourselves, but on the spirit of God to give us vitality. Thanks be to God. Ruth Duck Flames of the Spirit

Affirmation of faith

In the God of all creation, we have our life and being,

Children of divine imagination, born from love,

For freedom and for truth and human being.

In the God in Christ, we see the vision for our journeying,

Walking unknown paths, through crucifixions and resurrections,

Treading past our bleeding

With passionate hearts

Into small spaces where life is reborn.

In the Spirit of joy and dreams, we live on in the face of struggle

Laughing and weeping

In the centre of our pain,

Celebrating in the power of our solidarity

With all who stand for love and hope

And victory of the good.

Adapted from The Glory of Blood, Sweat and Tears, Dorothy McRae-McMahon

Invitation& Thanksgiving

God invites us to the table: the strong, the weak, the carefree and the heavy. It is a time to put down our load and join for one joyous minute the promises made from that table long ago. It matters not whether gentile or Jew. There is one requirement – that you love God. So please join me as we dedicate these precious gifts. J Shannon

God who is the source of everything we are and everything we have

We offer you these gifts.

We offer you this bread, product of many grains, crushed to bring forth new life.

God be blessed for all good gifts of creation.

We offer you this wine, product of many grapes, crushed and fermented. The blood of new life.

God be blessed for all good gifts of creation.[1]

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Holy God, we worship you, author of our innocence,

in rain that falls on the just and unjust world,

in newborn things which tremble unsecured,

before the risks of all the awful freedoms in our life.

We worship Jesus Christ, the one who walked towards our pain

and joined the weeping then for all that’s lost in our betrayals

of good and truth and hope and trust,

and rose reborn to life and love of us.

Holy Spirit, we give you thanks strong centre in the brokenness,

The healer of the wounded ones, present in the struggle

For the grieving and the vulnerable.

Seed of hope in the face of despair.

God in the torn apart, God in the wholeness, God in the emptiness, God in the fullness, we worship you in songs of never ending praise.

Adapted from Echoes of our journey, Dorothy McRae-McMahon

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Power and Might.
Heaven and Earth are full of your glory
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord
Hosanna in the highest!

We remember that on the night before he was betrayed,

Jesus gathered with his disciples for the Passover meal.

He blessed and broke the bread, saying:

“This is my body which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.”

We remember that after supper Jesus took the cup,

and looked forward to your reign, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.Do this as often as you drink,

in remembrance of me.”

As we break this bread and share it, we receive a God who shares our brokenness.

As we pour this cup and share it, we are pouring out our pain and sharing in a dream of reborn hope.

Let us be one at heart and carry this precious gift together.

Bread and wine are shared

Prayer after Communion

We thank you, gracious God, that we receive life and food from you and each other, so that love may be carried into the world. Amen

Hymn: TIS 699A new commandment

Words of mission

Jesus was baptised and led into the desert where he was tested and through this experience He became confident of his mission. He struck out on that path – knowingly. We too have had our trials and hopefully have learned what core is our rock. We have been called to praise the victim not the victor.We have been tested and know our weakness can be our strength - if we give ourselves fully to praise and gratefulness.

Blessing

God go with you in all that is gentle.

Christ go with you in all that is brave;

And the Spirit go with you in all that is free.

Amen Dorothy McRae-McMahon

We pray The 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.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

The candle is extinguished

Final Hymn – Anna’s Song Vs 1,2, 4 & 5 (Next week vs 6)

168 hours

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. (Isaiah 55:1-2)

You heard me preach about 27 000 days. It is something that clearly occupies me as I get older. We have an allocation of time but it’s how we choose to use it that is often puzzling. In one of the few equalities in life, we all have 168 hours in a week. We use it differently but one thing we have in common is most of us feel it’s just not enough. There are not enough hours in a week.

Isaiah asks his listeners why they spend good money on what doesn’t satisfy them. It’s a good question…the same question goes for time. Why do we spend time on things that don’t satisfy us? If I look at my calendar – or yours – what would it say I value the most?

I struggle to find the time to pray, to journal, to read scripture and to think about my faith. I, like everyone else, whine that I’m busy – too busy. We make time for the things we really care about. That’s not a judgement – just a fact. If we care about something or someone enough, we find a way to make time.

Lent is a time we are asked to look into our lives – and get rid of what is not working. Sometimes that means saying ‘no’ to being busy, and saying ‘yes’ to things that give you joy.

Our readings call for us to repent. If I am not mistaken the Greek meaning of repent is ‘change direction’. It’s not about seeking forgiveness or confessing your weaknesses – That’s a very modern and political interpretation. It’s about doing things differently. So how am I going to find a way, not to spend time on those things that don’t fill me up and instead, spend more time on things that feed me???

Adapted fromHeart soul mind strength, Lent devotional from the Still Speaking Writer’s Group; UCC, 700 Prospect Street, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA

[1]Study for Christ in the Wilderness - Kramskoĭ, Ivan Nikolaevich, 1837-1887 . Study for Christ in the Wilderness, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. [retrieved February 8, 2016]. Original source: