Women in Zimbabwe speak - what has 28 years of independence brought women?

The following was published by Women's Watch
You can get updates on women in Zimbabwe from http://Kubatana.net

WOMENS WATCH 9/08
[24th April 2008]

What has 28 Years of Independence brought Women

As we commemorated Independence Day on Friday 18th, Womens Watch thought it would be interesting to hear what women are mulling over after 28 years of freedom. We spoke to women across the board and here are their reflections on Independence and Women.

**********
What comes to my mind is the economic independence most Zimbabwean women have attained. Right now in this current socio-political climate it is women who are carrying the sustainability of Zimbabwean households on their shoulders. Most women - whether they are doing care work overseas or cross border traders, accountants, doctors, lawyers or even vegetable vendors - are ultimately out-earning husbands or partners.

In addition the education we have received in Zimbabwe enables us to compete equally at all levels and I have noticed that, particularly in civic society sector where I am active, we make decisions and our voices are reverberating across the nation. We are strong and powerful and we are being recognised for that. In fact many of the movements are being headed by women.

One of the difficulties is that some of us are unable to reconcile the power and independence we hold with the way we were socialised but it is extremely encouraging that this situation allows us to be positive influences on both our girl children and boy children. My daughter is being brought up knowing that anything is possible and achievable.

Abigail Gamanya, Media activist, Coordinator of Media Alliance of Zimbabwe

**********
Twenty eight years of Independence has given me the opportunity to get connected with myself. I was privileged enough to get my first degree in the late 80s and I used that qualification wisely. I now work as a freelance consultant in the region and I am thankful that Ive managed to be who I am.

Im sad that I cant imagine what the future will be for my children. At least I can afford great quality education for them but I worry because there is no future for them in this country. All institutions have collapsed - education, health, social fabric and just the infrastructure of Zimbabwe as a whole. I know that there are lots of kids with great qualifications who are loitering on the streets, cleaning old peoples homes and looking after the aged in the diaspora. They are not enjoying the benefits of their great education like I did. Now I wonder with this bleak future compounded by political uncertainty - not knowing who our future president will be - what plans, if any, one can make.

Faced with these complexities I resort to my spirituality and pray that ONE DAY soon, the sun will rise, we will arise and conquer the demons that have infested this beautiful nation.

Varuseve, independent regional consultant.

**********

What hurts me the most is that, while there is all this posturing by the leadership over the election results and men decide what they want or dont want or what they will or will not accept, it is others who suffer. For the majority of women life goes on - the need to put scarce food on the table, the continuous attention and response required by home-based care, and the general disregard for womens concerns in this whole fiasco.

Virginia Muwanigwa, Gender Activist

**********

I cant say Ive celebrated although I knew it was 28 years since we gained Independence There are so many things I am expecting as a woman and a mother of two daughters. I dont see a future for my daughters in terms of their employment, their dreams, their aspirations or them starting a life on their own. Buying anything - a bed, a fridge, a car or even a house is out of their reach.

The state of health care has deteriorated. A lot of health care personnel have left the country. The cost of drugs is high and medical care is expensive and so are the contributions towards medical insurance.

I am looking at inflation and the impact inflation has on my savings. I have no real savings and my pension has been eroded. What affects me is that because of the crisis we are not able to save money to help our parents. Our salaries do not stretch and many people have to supplement the income from their regular jobs. They have to find other ways of earning money and so they dont concentrate 100 percent on their jobs.

I am concerned by the breakdown of families. Many women have to leave their families to make a living in the diaspora. I have a daughter in Manchester and another daughter elsewhere. Family relationships are affected - mothers and their children, spouses and siblings. Distances can make families lose their bonding. We are becoming strangers and that is not natural for us.

What I am saying really is that there is a bleak future for post-Independence children.

Sheila Matindike, Director of YWCA, Woman Activist

**********

It has been a period where many changes in laws that affect women were enabled or amended. But all these gains have not been realised for lack of implementation/political will by authorities. I view this period with both joy and sadness. Joy because we have all the beautiful instruments assented to by the Government but these laws have not really improved the status of women in Zimbabwe.

The 2008 elections have further marginalised women in Zimbabwe, i.e. there are fewer women in Parliament to represent their concerns, and that means no voice for women at that level. Independence should be a total package that will benefit both men and women but the playing field has never been level. This situation will get worse as 2008, unfortunately, could just mark the beginning of further violence against women due to instability in the rural areas where acts of intimidation, rape are being recorded following the unannounced polls. To me 28 years of independence as a woman have rekindled the images of violation of women during the war of liberation. We had healed the wounds, but the wounds have re-opened.

Zimbabwe needs sober women leadership that will restore and heal the pain the populace is feeling. No nation is truly free until the voices of women are heard and recognised.

Ropafadzo Maphimidze, Veteran journalist

***********

What can I say about the struggle for womens rights?

After 28 years of Independence Im thinking that supporting a woman to get into political office should be a given in Zimbabwe. But first I have to ask if she belongs to a party that believes in burning other women on their buttocks if they do not toe a certain party line.

At a personal level it is my daughters witnessing of police beating up people who had become riotous in the sugar queue. Now she thinks that police and soldiers are there to beat up people. I would want her to know that the police are there to help should you get lost or need any other type of help. But can I really tell her in all honesty that the police in Zimbabwe do not beat up people, because despite 28 years of Independence, they do.

Catherine Makoni, Lawyer and gender activist

**********

I can vividly recall the image of Independence that is buried somewhere in my mind - Robert Mugabe the guerilla turned leader, Prince Charles and legendary Bob Marley. It embraced such diversity. I was still in school and quite politically naïve but it moved me when I heard the word reconciliation being hailed. Having been one of the first five non-white girls to attend my particular school, I was moved by the Speech of Independence. I needed to know that things were going to change and we would all be embraced regardless of colour, religion, race, etc. under the flag of red, black, green, yellow and white.

I face great difficulty when I attempt to conjure up that same passion. I have to force myself to remember that there are many changes to celebrate. We have gained entry into places that were once forbidden - particularly as women in our own right. We are in positions of power and prestige. We are a voice to be reckoned with. We have contributed to changes in legislation, health, education, business and even governance.

But then I am disheartened that we still have to deal with the same power dynamics as before in certain spaces. In fact it appals me. Women are being assaulted, raped and tortured. How tragic!!! I really did not want my daughters to grow up witnessing more of the same. I thought we were liberated in 1980.

Reyhana Masters, a believer in justice

Please send in your views

Womens Watch would like to know what other women feel about their position in our society after 28 years of Independence. We would particularly like to hear from women outside Harare. If you have a comment please email: veritas@mango.zw.

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

Liturgy for the World Day of Prayer for Zimbabwe

Ecumenical Centre Chapel Monday April 28th 2008

Day of Prayer for Zimbabwe

A service asking for justice, peace and healing in Zimbabwe

Organised by the WSCF and the World YWCA

Call to prayer
We gather to remember and accompany the people of Zimbabwe, in the name of the blessed Trinity, one God, now and forever.
Amen
O Lord, open my eyes,
that I may see the need of others,
open my ears that I may hear their cries,
open my heart so that they need not be without succour.
Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong,
nor afraid to defend the poor,because of the anger of the rich.
Show me where love and hope and faith are needed,
and use me to bring them to these places.
Open my eyes and ears that I may, this coming day,
be able to do some work of peace for you.

Song: Uyai, O vanhu ve se, u yai kuna Mambo Jesu (Come all you people, come to our Lord Jesus)

Confession of sins
God of liberation and justice,
Defender of the poor and marginalized,
we seek your guidance.
Give us the vision and confidence to become prophets when resources are looted.
Let us hear the cry of the widows.
Let us feed the orphans.
Let us denounce injustice by the powerful.
May we demand drugs for the sick.
May we demand care for the abandoned.
May we denounce wastefulness by the affluent.
Forgive our silence.
Forgive our complicity.
In your mercy, forgive our condemnation of people living with HIV.
Forgive us when we deal lightly with the wounds of your people.
Forgive the times when we have offered artificial solutions.
Empower us to tackle corrupt systems,
Make us instruments of your peace.
Make us agents of transformation.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen

Reassurance of pardon
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily;
(Isaiah 58)
Almighty God who pardons all who truly repent, forgive your sins, strengthen you by the Holy Spirit, and keep you in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our redeemer.
Amen

Old Testament Reading: Psalm 85

Song: Verses I and 2 of Rakanaka Vhangeri
(Come and hear now the gospel, hear the good news)

Gospel reading: John 14:15-21

Song: Verse 3 of Rakana Vhangeri

Testimony

Intercessions
Sung response: Kunda Kwenyu Nga ku it we. (Your will be done Your will be done O Lord)

We pray for the political situation in Zimbabwe that it may be resolved quickly and peacefully.
We pray that whatever announcement is made in the near future, peace will be restored to the land.
All sing: Kunda Kwenyu Nga ku it we

We pray that calm leadership will prevail, not leadership fuelled by half-truths and propaganda.
We pray that intimidation and violence will cease.
All sing: Kunda Kwenyu Nga ku it we

We pray that in the face of intimidation and violence people will remain firm in the truth of their convictions and will continue to vote their real desires should there be a runoff.
We pray that if there is a runoff, that it will be done in fairness and peace, with international observers who will truly validate the results.
All sing: Kunda Kwenyu Nga ku it we

We pray that the person of God's choice will be brought into the position of authority.
We pray that the church in Zimbabwe
will remain faithful to minister the Gospel in an uncertain atmosphere.
All sing: Kunda Kwenyu Nga ku it we

We pray for wisdom for retaining security and safety for women,
children and men in Zimbabwe.
We pray for the young people used by politicians,
that they may stand up and refused to be used.
All sing: Kunda Kwenyu Nga ku it we

We pray for courage and strength for the people of Zimbabwe
as they face their current challenges.
We pray that the needed change must surely come through God’s own way.
All sing: Kunda Kwenyu Nga ku it we

The Lord’s prayer - said by each in their own language

Hopes for Zimbabwe
We take a moment to write words of hope and courage for Zimbabwean people.

Song: Tenzi werumu komirai nesu zvi no.
(Christ of the resurrection stand by us now, so that at this moment we are made holy by you).

We carry our words to the Zimbabwean cross in the foyer.

Prayer at the cross
The cross is the way of the lost
The cross is the staff of the lame.

The cross is the guide of the blind
The cross is the strength of the weak.

The cross of the hope of the hopeless
The cross is the freedom of the slaves.

The cross is the water of the seeds
The cross is the consolation of the bonded labourers.

The cross is the source of those who seek water
The cross is the cloth of the naked.

The cross is the healing of the broken
The cross is the peace of the church.


We place our words of courage and hope for the people of Zimbabwe at the foot of the cross.

Blessing
Now go out into the world to sow seeds of peace with justice,
And may:
The God of overflowing creative energy
The Jesus of vast compassion
The Holy Spirit who turns chaos to life enhancing wholesomeness
Be with you as you go.
Amen.

Sources
Call to Prayer pp. 148-49 Shona prayer,“The Prayers of African Religion
Uyai, O vanhu ve se p 113 WCC sixth assembly worship book
Confession of sins Dr. Ezra Chitando
Reassurance of Pardon p 38 A New Zealand Prayer Book
Rakana Vhabngeri No 76 Agape
Kunda Kwenyu p 67 Worshipping Ecumenically
Intercessions YWCA
Tenzi werumu P 124 WCC sixth assembly worship book
Prayer at the cross Tenth century African hymn
Blessing YWCA

Call to an international day of prayer for Zimbabwe

The Call to Prayer from the Anglican Diocese of Harare

A desperate cry from the hearts of Zimbabwe screams across the world.
It calls upon all Christians of every denomination in every nation to focus their prayers, in churches, halls, homes or elsewhere, on Sunday 27th April, 2008 on the critical situation in Zimbabwe, a nation in dire distress and teetering on the brink of human disaster. Let the cry for help touch your heart and mind. Let it move you to do what you can immediately to ensure this Day of Prayer takes place in your country and neighbourhood.
Please pass on this message right now to all the churches and Christian organisations known to you and to the media as well as to everyone anxious to rescue Zimbabwe from violence, the concealing and juggling of election results, deceit, oppression and corruption, and to bring about righteousness, joy, peace, compassion, honesty, justice, democracy and freedom from fear and want.
May a continual strong stream of prayer and supplication flow up to the Lord on behalf of all the people on this Day of Prayer, exhorting His divine intervention throughout the nation.“It is by making the truth publicly known that we recommend ourselves to the honest judgement of humankind in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:2)

Some advice to Zimbabweans
“Who so putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” (Proverbs 29:25)
“Stand fast, and do not let yourselves be caught again in the yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1) “Make no mistake, you cannot cheat God.” (Galatians 6:7)
“Do not be overcome by evil but overcame evil with good” (Romans 12:21)

How can we know the way? - A sermon by Jane Stranz on John 14

Sermon on John 14 1-14
preached by Jane Stranz in the Ecumenical Centre chapel on 21 April

How can we know the way?

"How can we know the way"
in the gospel reading we've just listened to the question comes from Thomas,
who will later be called doubting Thomas
I can quite understand why he asks Jesus this question -
John's gospel is never very straightforward! -
And Jesus' farewell discourses and conversations with his disciples are both very long and particularly complex, with many depths and layers of meaning
Thomas' question: “How can we know the way?” Seems to be a cri de coeur
- please I don't understand?
- I'm frightened, are you going to die?
- you seem to be saying goodbye and telling us to go somewhere?
- but how can we know that way?

Jesus replies in two ways
Firstly he says
I am the way

Part of me really wishes that we had a digital recording of those words to try and get behind the tone and meaning – even if not many of us here this morning would be able to understand Aramaic

So did Jesus say:

I am the way, or
I am the way
I am the way
I am the way ?

(several sermons could be preached on each of those ways of emphasizing the phrase)

His second response to Thomas' question actually precedes or prefigures the question
We find it in the previous chapter to our reading this morning
At the Passover meal at which this long last conversation takes place
Jesus washes his disciples feet
He prepares their feet for the way ahead
It's a gentle and humble preparation
It nourishes their way ahead – in the same way that the Eucharistic bread and wine in the other gospels is also nourishment.

This physical caring for their feet at their last meal together
Is a powerful way of caring spiritually for the path they will have to tread.
Without him …
It gives them something real to remember
As they also remember his words
I am the WAY

And the path that lies before the disciples is a labyrinthine way
of grief, betrayal, death,
of a crown of thorns and denial and cocks crowing in the dawn and a cross...

And after the cross an even stranger path begins
bringing news of an empty tomb and a risen Rabouni who speaks to Mary
The most complex path to tread will be the path from the empty tomb to bear witness to the transforming extraordinary good news of resurrection

The good news of death overcome,
of fatalism transformed,
of joy restored

We know how hard that way of resurrection is when we hear words like
Iraq, Zimbabwe, Tibet...
Or words like sex abuse, weapons of mass destruction, murder, domestic violence

And yet although our lists of words which speak of death are long and even seemingly endless
the resurrection calls us to tread the path
of belief in hope
in transformation
in overcoming evil and violence

In this paradox we can sense something of what Julia Esquivel calls the menace or threat of resurrection

This week Christians following the Julian calendar are starting Holy Week
While those of us following the Gregorian calendar are already beginning the fifth week of Easter time
This week because of the way the church calendars fall – with a very early Easter for one and a later one in the other – passion and resurrection are one
Today’s text from John’s gospel which takes us back to before the cross and passion, yet clearly offers hope for the resurrection, shows us that the resurrection way is a way backwards and forwards, an iterative path between suffering and hope.
Perhaps resurrection can only be borne witness to in the midst of a suffering world.

And that speaks to us of our own labyrinthine Ecumenical journey – backwards and forwards
Resurrection calls us out of the tombs of resignation and despair
To bear witness to truth, life and unity
Christ is our path
He continually offers words of encouragement for the way
“Let your hearts not be troubled …
In my Father’s house there are many mansions, many dwelling places …
I am the way.”

Litirgy for Monday 21 April - Ecumenical prayer cycle Somalia and Djibouti

Worship in the Ecumenical Centre
Monday April 21 2008
Praying through the ecumenical prayer cycle for the people of Somalia and Djibouti

Music Enter Into Jerusalem

Welcome

Christos anesti!
Alithos anesti!

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!

Cristo ha resucitado!
!En verdad ha resucitado!

Le Christ est ressuscité!
Il est vraiment ressuscité!

Christus ist erstanden!
Er ist wahrhaftig erstanden!

Christos anesti!
Alithos anesti!

Song: Roll Away the Stone
They have been saying all our plans are empty.
They have been saying “Where is their God now?”
REFRAIN – Roll away the stone, see the Glory of God. Roll away the stone.

They have been saying no one will remember.
They have been saying power rules the world. REF

They have been saying no one hears the singing.
They have been saying all our strength is gone. REF

They have been saying “All of us are dying”.
They have been saying “All of us are dead”. REF

Prayer
When we are all despairing
When the world is full of grief
When we see no way ahead
And hope has gone away:
Roll back the stone.
Although we fear change;
Although we are not ready;
Although we would rather weep
And run away:
Roll back the stone.
Because we hope where hope is vain;
Because you call us from the grave
And show the way:
Roll back the stone.

Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, we give you thanks.
Because you are resurrected from the dead,
we can also be raised from our mortal lives
with you, the giver of eternal life.
ask you to appear before us,
As you appeared to your disciples.
Breathe on us your Holy Spirit,
So we can go out
And be your witnesses
With peace love and happiness.
In your name we pray. Amen

Sing Alleluia

(Translation : We are ambassadors of God, all ambassadors of Jesus
Thanks to our God we are all Ambassadors.....we are all ambassadors of Jesus
Alleluia we are all Ambassadors…we are all ambassadors of Jesus)

Gospel Reading John 14. 1-12 ~ read in Arabic
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’
Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Sing: Alleluia

Meditation ~

Prayers of intercession ~ with the peoples of Djibouti and Somalia
O God Eternal, good beyond all that is good,
Fair beyond all that is fair, in whom is calmness and peace: reconcile the differences which divide us from one another and bring us back to the unity of love which may bear some likeness to your divine nature. Grant that we may be spiritually one, both within ourselves and with one another, through the grace mercy and tenderness of your son, Jesus Christ.

Sing Agape 110:
Yarrabba ssalami amter alay na ssalam
Yarrabba ssalami imla’qulubana na ssalam.

O God, you who are glorious and truly bounteous,
we pray to you for the countries and peoples of Djibouti and Somalia.
Even where drought and famine reign,
may sustenance be given to those suffering from malnutrition and facing starvation.
Even when rivers run dry and rain doesn’t fall,
we pray that all may have access to clean drinking water;

Sing: Yarrabba ssalami amter alay na ssalam
Yarrabba ssalami imla’qulubana na ssalam.

O God, your Son also once had “nowhere to lay his head”,
we pray to you for the hundreds of thousands of Somalian refugees throughout the world,
and for the refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia who have fled to Djibouti;
we pray that they may find shelter, protection and people willing to welcome them and offer practical support.
As we remember them,
we also pray for all refugees and displaced peoples in our world today.

Sing: Yarrabba ssalami amter alay na ssalam
Yarrabba ssalami imla’qulubana na ssalam.

O God of peace,
we pray for peace in Somalia;
that clan leaders and warlords may repent of the devastation they have caused
and seek the way of peace and justice for the whole country.
With heavy hearts we pray
for peace in our time and in the times to come;
that throughout our world swords may be beaten into ploughshares.

Sing: Yarrabba ssalami amter alay na ssalam
Yarrabba ssalami imla’qulubana na ssalam.

God of resurrection and promise
we pray for the Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world;
may it always exercise its power with integrity,
bear witness to your kingdom and seek the unity Christ prayed for.
And we pray also for ourselves, for our work here and elsewhere,
for our families, friends and loved ones, for those we find it hard to love.
Teach us also to beat our swords into ploughshares.

Sing: Yarrabba ssalami amter alay na ssalam
Yarrabba ssalami imla’qulubana na ssalam.

The Lord’s Prayer ~ said by each in their own language

O Creator and Mighty God
You have promised
Strength for the weak, Rest for the labourers, Light for the way,
Grace for the trials, Help from above, Unfailing sympathy, Undying love.
O Creator and Mighty God help us to continue in your promise.
Amen

Blessing en français

Sing Agape 77:
Reamo leboga
Modimo wa rona

We give our thanks to God
We give our thanks to God

Wir danken unserm Gott
Der Dank gilt unserm Gott

Merci à toi Seigneur
Nous te rendons grâce

Who Is My Neighbour? Beyond an Anthropocentric Answer ~ a sermon on Luke 10 by Jooseup Keum

Who Is My Neighbour? Beyond an Anthropocentric Answer
Luke 10:25-37
A sermon preached on Monday 14 April 2008 by Jooseop Keum

How Do You Read It?
The Parable of the Good Samaritan begins with the lawyer’s question about eternal life(v 25). However, Jesus replies to him with a hermeneutical question, how do you interpret the law of love. This reply does not allow any dualistic approach to eternal life. Rather it requires a hermeneutics of praxis. “Go and do likewise”(37ff) is Jesus’ way of interpreting the text, which is necessary for us in reading the Bible. Jesus raised a question of interpretation and also gave us a key.

At the same time, verse 37 is an answer to the question of eternal life. In the story, the robbed neighbour is not merely a person who needs our help. The poor are more than the object of our sympathy. If we read the text carefully, we have to appreciate the existence of the poor in this world because for the poor “go and do likewise” is the only way to inherit eternal life. Therefore, the poor exist for the salvation of all of us. How do you read the story of the Good Samaritan?

Who Is My Neighbour?
When I was a Sunday School boy, there was a teacher who used to teach us the story of the Good Samaritan very often. She emphasized that the Good Samaritan was neither Jewish nor a person in a higher position of the political and religious hierarchy. “He was a gentile but he knew enough about how we should love our neighbours.” She requested each of us to be a Good Samaritan in our children’s context.

Later, I and my Sunday School friends became university students and members of ecumenical youth movement in Korea. As young people who lived under the military dictatorship, our interest on the story moved from the Good Samaritan to the robbed. We asked a question, “Who is the robbed neighbour in our society?” Then we went to urban factories and rural villages to teach the workers and farmers in the night schools. However, as a matter of fact, we learnt more from them about the reality of Korean society. Furthermore, the people in the minjung communities taught us how they share their resources; how much they enjoy their own cultural richness; and how much strength and self-dignity they have, in spite of their poverty.

When these innocent Christian students, who saw for the first time the reality of people’s lives, came back from the lesson, their focus on the Good Samaritan story was altered once again. “Who are the robbers in our society?” “What kind of social system produces the victims and the exploited?” “How do we transform this robbing system?” These questions brought the students to stand on streets struggling with the robbers and the system, which justified their robbing in the name of “development”. Many of us were kicked out of the university campus by the dictator and became labourers and farmers, organizing people like the minjung who have a consciousness for the transformation of history and society. Some of us met each other in a jail. These were hard times but we were happy because we thought that we were becoming the Good Samaritan, as our Sunday School teacher had taught us.

Eventually, Korean society became democratized. We found that most of us became pastors in minjung churches. As minjung pastors, we raised the question again about the Good Samaritan. We began to think of the work of the Good Samaritan as a mission of community beyond an individual act. The minjung Christians had intended to, and became “organized Good Samaritans” for community mission and ministry. Indeed, the story of the Good Samaritan has not been only a story in the text but a living story, which transformed the lives of many young people in Korea.

Sam Bo Il Bae (Three Steps and One Bow): A Korean Interfaith Solidarity for Life
While we were on the journey to try to answer the question, “who is my neighbour,” there was a forgotten robbed neighbour. Recently, the Korean government announced a land reclamation plan in Samangeum, which is one of the largest mud flats in the world. A huge area of arable land will appear on the western coast of the Koran peninsula if the plan is successfully carried out. The government justified the plan by saying that the land will be used for agricultural purposes to support the starving North Koreans. But it’s not true.

One day, four religious leaders : from Buddhism, an indigenous religion, Protestant Christianity and Roman Catholicism appeared in Saemangeum. They distributed their statement, but did not talk. Then they started to walk three steps and to bow once. It was not a half bowing but a full Buddhist bowing made by kneeling, making contact with the head on the earth and stretching arms out to the front. The four religious leaders marched about four hundreds kilometers to the Parliament in Seoul doing “three steps and one bowing.” It took almost three months to reach Seoul. But, still they did not say a single word during the whole march. They just kept silent!

However, for these three months, all of Korean society was astir with the news. There were controversial arguments on issues of development and environment. Many people joined the march of Sam Bo Il Bae with tears for the asceticism of these four priests. In Samangeum, there were only four, but when they arrived in Seoul, an inter-religious group of thousands has joined the march, and were following the actions of the priests.

In the statement, the priests had said, “We hear the cries of numerous living creatures in Saemangeum every night.” “The lives in this mud flat called us to stop the wind of death in the name of development.” “Therefore, we, as priests of Korean religions, begin Sam Bo Il Bae for the repentance of all human exploitation against nature.” They declared, “The lives in this mud are alive and breathing, our neighbours as much as humanity!” This statement was a strong request for the repentance of modern humanity. It requires us to convert our way of life from emphasizing only material riches. The message of the four priests echoes that the other living creatures have the same nature and value of life from heaven as each human being. They affirmed, “the spirituality of co-existence in the network of life is the only way to heal the sin of our greed.”

These four priests read together the story of the Good Samaritan from an entirely different perspective. They approached the text beyond an anthropocentric view. They interpreted that all creation is the neighbour of humanity. In their method of protest, they chose not a struggle but Sam Bo Il Bae, which is a traditional ascetic discipline for repentance in Korean Buddhism. They expressed their message as an act of asceticism like the suffering of the lives in the mud flat. As is the way of a Roman Catholic retreat, they did not speak out in spoken language during the discipline, but prayed as a whole body for three months. This was a soundless spiritual echo to all Koreans.

Poverty, Wealth and Environment
So far, my friends and I in the minjung movement have interpreted the story of the Good Samaritan from firstly a charity, and later from a socio-political and economic perspective. However, we regarded the issue of the environment in development to be something of a luxury discourse of the rich white people. While many people were killing in the third world context because of unjust political and economic systems, talking about the environment seemed like a way to avoid the issue of justice.

However, through the contribution of the interfaith praxis by the four religious priests, we were able to read the Good Samaritan story from a holistic perspective. Issues of charity, justice, environment and spirituality have begun to be inter-connected in the reading of the Good Samaritan story in the Korean context. The question of Jesus, “who is your neighbour?” is being answered beyond an anthropocentric dimension. The notion of who is my neighbour is not merely about human relationship, but it means living in the network of life in all creation. The question is not a relative question asking about the others. Rather, it is an ontological question asking us whether we are existing among the network of life for co-existence, or in the world which justifies material success as the good. In order to closely co-exist with other creatures in God’s life-network, a sensitive spirituality is essential just as the priests listened to the silent tears of small creatures in the mud flat every night. It is necessary to experience a spiritual “re-incarnation,” which will enable us to feel a part of a whole organic creation.

Therefore, the question, “who is my neighbour” is a call for us to hear all the cries of suffering creation and humanity with sensitive ears of spirituality. It is a calling to commence a pilgrimage of the Good Samaritan, who was Jesus himself as the Suffering Servant, for life in all its fullness.

Liturgy prepared by Jooseop Keum for April 14th

Ecumenical Centre Morning Prayer for 14 April 2008
In the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle this week we pray for the peoples and churches of North and South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Welcome

Call to Worship
Our faithful God of Love and Hope!
They say there is no way to escape the net of injustice.
They say it is the rule of economy,
that there are always losers and winners,
and actually losers have no voice.
But we still have voice. We can tell stories.
How can we stop proclaiming the Gospel of Hope?

They say it is better to obey the rules of the global players.
“Buy more software, hard ware and other ware.
Come to the warehouses then you will be happy.”
But we come to you.
Although we are a small group, we still follow the rule of love.
How can we obey the rules of the world market rather than you?

Give us strength, God of the whole cosmos.
Let us continue to hope for the day,
in which the true justice will blossom
like the lilies of Taiwan in the darkest valley and on the street.

Hymn Sekai no tomo to te o tsunagi (Here, O Lord) Thuma Mina, 225

Psalm 105:1-4
Give thanks to the Lord, invoke him by name;
make known his deeds among the peoples.
Pay him honour with song and psalm
and tell of all his marvellous deeds.
Exult in his hallowed name;
let those who seek the Lord be joyful in heart.
Look to the Lord and be strong;
At all times seek his presence.

Choir

Gospel Reading: Luke 10:25-37
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into in the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Reflection Who Is My Neighbour? Beyond an Anthropocentric Answer Jooseop Keum

Hymn Sound a mystic bamboo song Global Praise 2, 103

Intercessions
This week in the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle we remember the peoples and churches of South and North Korea, Taiwan and Japan. We particularly remember those who are working for peace and peace and reconciliation the North East Asia.

Silence for our prayers

Sung Response Chuyo chuyo (Lord Here Our Orayers) Thuma Mina, 42

In addition to these countries, we particularly remember the people of Tibet with the following poem.

Against Violence by Hong Chong-Myung (Korea)
If one does not love the neighbour,
it is violence
If one does not teach the way to a child who lost his way,
it is violence
If one does not give a cup of water to a child who is thirsty,
it is violence
If one does not anything to a hungry people,
it is violence
If one does allow violence of personality,
It is also violence

Silence for our prayers

Sung Response Chuyo chuyo (Lord Here Our Prayers) Thuma Mina, 42

Lord’s Prayer - each in our own language

Blessing – Psalm 67:1-2 (stand)

May God be gracious to us and bless us,
may he cause his face to shine on us,
that your purpose may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.

Sending Hymn Enter into Jerusalem

A meditation for World Health Day 2008 - in recognition of climate change by Ted Karpf

A Meditation for World Health Day 2008
In Recognition of Climate Change

Preached the Ecumenical Centre on 7 April 2008
By the Reverend Canon Ted Karpf
Partnerships Officer
Office of the Director-General
Partnerships and UN Reform
World Health Organization
Geneva, Switzerland


Let us pray:
“Come Holy Spirit, cleanse the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love; send forth your Spirit and, together, we will renew the face of the earth.”

Hear again these words:
"He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke24:25)

And let me add:
How foolish you are who would have us believe that there is no relationship between our exploitation and abuse of the environment and global warning.

How foolish are you who would have us believe that decades of environmental plunder and our constant craving for the bread of the world, rather than hungering and thirsting after the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation, would leave us in a world without consequence.

How foolish are you who would have us repudiate the voice of the prophets, especially the ones who tell us to minimize our profits as the cost to creation is too high, in order to mislead us in way of life.

“How foolish are you and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.”

Today is World Health Day. This year we are recognizing and highlighting the environment and impact climate change on health. “Impacts of climate change on human health are occurring today and attacking the pillars of public health. They provide a glimpse of the challenges public health will have to confront on a large scale”, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan warned today.

Here are additional facts to back-up that claim:
Climate impacts human health now and it will be greater in the future.
Climatic events – e.g. floods, drought, heat waves – affect human health today and provide a glimpse of the potential risk to human health in the future.
Projected changes to our climate will affect the health of all of us, but especially so among vulnerable populations in the developing world.
Climate change endangers health in many ways:

- drought threatens food security and increases malnutrition,
- extreme weather events can result in death and injury,
- scarcities and excesses of water increase the burden of diarrhoeal disease,
- heat waves can increase death and illness through cardiovascular and respiratory disease,
- higher temperatures can increase ground-level ozone and speed the onset of the pollen season contributing to asthma attacks,
- changing temperatures and patterns of rainfall are expected to alter the geographical distribution of insect vectors that spread infectious disease – notably malaria and dengue.

And consider some of the realities of our immediate past:
1) European heat wave 2003. Estimates suggest that approximately 70,000 more people died in that summer than would have been expected.
There is now strong evidence that the human influence on climate more than doubled the likelihood of this event occurring.

2) Rift-Valley Fever in Africa. Major outbreaks of Rift Valley Fever are usually associated with heavy rains, which are expected to become more frequent as the climate changes.

3) Malaria in the East African Highlands. In the last 30 years, warmer temperatures have also created more favourable conditions for mosquito populations in the region and therefore for transmission of malaria.

4) Hurricane Katrina, 2005. Over 1800 died and thousands more were displaced. Additionally, health facilities throughout the region were destroyed critically affecting health infrastructure.

5) Recent warming temperatures have moved the freeze line -- which limits transmission of schistosomiasis in China -- further northwards, exposing over 20 million additional people to risk of this disease

What is the way forward? At the World Health Organization, we will continue to safe guard the public health and the family of nations by focusing our efforts on continued technical research, and the issuance of public health guidelines, including recommendations focusing on the water and air quality and the environment impact on disease of climate change. We will continue our surveillance and scrutiny of disease outbreaks, which according to scientists will appear in places where they are seldom or rarely experienced. WHO will continue to hold the world accountable for health and wellbeing so that all people may attain the highest possible level of health.

But this is where it will take more than the collective effort by the governments of the world. Through the international organizations we can only do part of the job. We need people of faith, we need the ecumenical community to hold us all accountable, to continue the prophetic utterances of truth and judgement, justice and mercy, faith and hope. This Centre in the heart of the international community stands as a witness to the world of the prophetic power of faith and the commitment of Christians across denominational boundaries to a higher righteous and more potent justice and vision of wholeness of humankind. Would you do less or be less in the face of environment challenge and climate change.

Can you not call all of us to a reckoning of our spiritual and material values, which if left untended can lead us down the road of apocalypse and destruction? I call upon you in your capacities for justice and peace, for prophetic witness and faithful caretaking to be a model to the world, a light to the nations of what people can do to address environmental degradation and human consumption. Forget not your high calling and faithful witness. Let your hearts burn with demands for restoring to the creation to wholeness and shalom.

I invite you to stand with us in the international communities, among the international organization and bear your standard of judgement and mercy, of calling the world to repentance for environmental damage, and by pronouncing the word of forgiveness that allows all of humanity to move forward in peace together in a restored Garden of Eden.

Notice again the lesson from today.
“Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. . . Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread." (Luke 24:31-35)
After they recognized him in the breaking of the bread, they found yet again that Jesus had forgiven them their hardness of heart, their unyielding and disbelieving spirits, and their obsession with loss. He forgave them, liberating them to new life and new possibilities. Can we believe that He would do less for us in the face of our foolishness and slowness to understand?

We then must ask God to come among us and bless us as Jesus did, and recognize that Jesus does come to bless and forgive, and that Jesus will come again, and again, until we get it right. This is our claim and this is our call.

Let us pray:
“O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of the bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all of His redeeming work, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.” (Collect for Easter III Book of Common Prayer)

An Easter sermon on John 20 by Rev. Shanta Premawardhana

Salaam Aleikkum ~ An Easter sermon by Shanta Premawardhana
Rev Shanta Premawardhana has been director of the WCC's inter-religious dialogue and cooperation programme since November 2007. When working with the National Council of Churches in the USA he also wrote a blog.

Let me greet you with the words our Lord Jesus Christ used to greet his disciples when he appeared to them in the upper room: Salaam Aleikkum. If the risen Christ were to approach you in the guise of your Muslim neighbor, he might greet you in the same way. And of course, most of you know the correct response -- Aleikkum Asalaam! Would you turn to you neighbor and say Salaam Aleikkum and respond with an Aliekkum Asalaam!
Let me quote from John 20:21ff, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And before we go any further with this, I want you to notice “As the Father has sent me” is about God’s mission to the world, “So I send you” is about Jesus commissioning us for our mission. When he had said this, Jesus, fully knowing that we cannot do any of this by our own power, breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'"
On this the first day of the week after Easter when many of us return after the Easter holidays, energized and ready to get back to work, isn’t it good to know that the risen Jesus breathes on us again, and again offers us the gift of the Holy Spirit that we may indeed be energetically engage with God’s mission.
That word reminds me of the great ecumenist Bishop Lesslie Newbegin. “There is nothing called the mission of the church,” he said. “That is a misnomer. There is only God's mission and the church is the vehicle of God's mission.” But too often, he says, the church lacks the power of the Spirit, is not attuned to God's mission and therefore has no alternative but to put its trust in its own structures and traditions. And then can become the very antithesis of God's mission. Indeed, it is when we are filled by the power of the Spirit that we are attuned to God's mission and have the power to be engaged in it.
It makes sense then, to take a brief look at how Jesus engaged in God’s mission and ask ourselves what we must do in our context to continue the work of Christ here. There is no better place to begin than in Luke 4:14ff, which describes one of the first days of Jesus' ministry. We didn’t read this scripture this morning, but I commend it for your reflection this week. Luke begins his narrative of Jesus' ministry with this descriptive phrase: "Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit."
Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, i.e. attuned to God's mission and having the power to be engaged in it, returned to Galilee and the religious community got excited about him. Like how politicians go to their home towns to announce their candidacy, Jesus went to Nazareth, his home town, to announce his campaign. He stood up to read and this famous preacher, the hometown hero was given the scroll of Isaiah, and he read those famous words from chapter 61, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. That is sat down to preach. In those days, you stood to read the scripture and sat down to preach. And their eyes were fixed on him. There was an air of expectancy that filled the room. And he said, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." That was his announcement. That was his manifesto. He is saying, this is a description of God's mission and I am empowered to be engaged in God's mission.
In those days people didn't stay politely and quietly until the entire sermon was over – unlike you all! When the preacher said something unexpected, stunning or controversial, and preachers filled with the power of the Spirit often do, people said something right then and there. Now, these people don't seem to have caught the impact of what he said immediately, perhaps their eyes were still glazed by his reputation. They were still amazed and said, "Is this not Joseph and Mary's son?"
Now, as Jesus gets warmed up in his preaching, he is trying to expound on what this means. He is very aware that these people who seem so receptive to him now are not going to be so, when the preaching is over. The preaching on the reign of God is going to take him into an area which the congregants at the synagogue at Nazareth are not going to like. Jesus is going to tell them that God's mission goes against their tradition. He told them that when there was a three and a half year famine in the land, and God's prophet Elijah, one also filled with the Spirit, was called to go, where now? To a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. He was sent to a foreign widow. Not to anyone in Israel, the chosen ones. And then, a widow, a woman whose husband had died, and therefore considered not to be in God's best favor. Jesus does not stop there, he gives another example. Elisha, another prophet filled with the Spirit was also sent to a foreigner, Naaman the Syrian. Why, weren't there any lepers in Israel? Of course there were. But God chose the Syrian.
So, what's the point? The point is to say that God's mission is different from the synagogue's mission. The synagogue thinks that they need to simply cater to the Jews, God's chosen people. But Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, fully attuned to God's mission preaches, no, God's mission is an inclusive mission. You could hear their protest, can't you? But we are the chosen people. This is consistent with scripture. Why would God be interested in the making this an inclusive community, when scripture says that it we are the chosen ones? Aha! But Jesus is also within scripture. His examples are taken right from the book. Jesus unfreezes Isaiah for them. They had never read Isaiah that way, they had never considered Elijah's visit to the widow at Zarephath or Elisha's to Naaman the Syrian that way. How can this be, they are wondering.
Friends, throughout history, people in religious authority who interpreted scripture, chose particular scripture passages they wanted to highlight and that became the norm, the tradition. Such interpretations often led to claims that were designed to exclude people who were different from those who held power. When questions arose, around who or what is legitimate and what interpretations were orthodox or the right belief, they were resolved by referring to this tradition. This way, religious authorities consolidated power.
I am helping organize this May in the United States a Missiology consultation to examine the missiology of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, a port in Virginia. This was a place of massacre of Native American populations and the port of entry for the slave ships from Africa. These atrocities were based on a particular missiology that which legitimized colonization in order to convert. And don’t we remember South Africa’s there was Apartheid system. Now, there are a couple of places in the Bible where one could find support for these atrocities. And that was enough justification for them. Never mind, everything else the Bible had to say about there being no Jew or gentile, slave or free in Christ Jesus. Never mind, what the Bible said about God's love for the slaves and the oppressed. Never mind Jesus' manifesto that he came to proclaim release to the captives. This was how the religious authorities maintained their power. You remember that it took a Martin Luther King, a Cesar Chavez, a Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu to change our thinking on that subject. Many Evangelical churches, the Vatican, and even some of our churches still use a similar argument to keep women from the pulpit and the priesthood. Never mind that the Bible says there is no male or female in Christ Jesus. Never mind that some of the illustrious prophets of Israel were women. Never mind church planter Lydia and pastor Priscilla. The tradition has consolidated the power in males, and it is the same tradition that is used as a guide to resolve this question as well.
The religious authorities in Jesus' day considered themselves to be legitimate heirs of the long line of authoritative interpreters of the faith. So, when later in the gospel story, Jesus meets people who are sick and disabled, people whom the religious authorities said were in disfavor with God, therefore sinners, Jesus does not hesitate to go to them, touch them despite the religious prohibitions about contamination and heal them even on a Sabbath. That he would go out to those who had found disfavor in the eyes of society was a real problem for the religious authorities.
That day, in the sermon at Nazareth, Jesus basically told those people that the reign of God is about a community that includes those whom religious power has disenfranchised. And you know what they did? They ran him out of the synagogue, ran him out of town and tried to kill him. What Jesus was saying about God's mission may have been based totally on scripture, but it ran thoroughly counter to their tradition, assumptions, prejudices and biases, which said, God could not possibly love the widow of Zarephath or the Naaman the Syrian. It is the same religious authorities that ran him out of the synagogue, that expelled the man born blind from the synagogue, that opposed him every time Jesus tried to share God's love with the disenfranchised, and ultimately took Jesus to his cross.
Friends, there’s plenty more in the gospel story that point to this. And I know that you already know this. It is hard to work in this building if you don’t. But it is necessary that at this time of new beginnings to examine again our own biases, prejudices, assumptions and power plays that we are so used to that keep us from engaging in not necessarily the church’s mission, but in God’s mission. To empower us to that task, the risen Jesus who comes to us with a salaam aleikkum, also says to us, “as the father has sent me so I send you.” And knowing that we cannot do it on our own, indeed knowing that the church cannot do it alone, he breathes on us, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Would you turn to your neighbor and say, “Receive the Holy Spirit!”

April 4th Morning prayer

WORSHIP ECUMENICAL CENTRE, Friday, 4 April, 2008.

Call to worship

Leader: O Lord open our lips
All: And our mouth shall show forth your praise.
L: O God make speed to save us.
A: O Lord make haste to help us
L: O God show your mercy upon us.
A: And grant us your salvation.
L: This is the day which our Lord has made.
A: Let us all rejoice and be glad in it.

O God, early in the morning I cry to you. Help me to pray and to concentrate my thoughts on you: I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness. But with you there is light; I am lonely, but you do not leave me; I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help; I am restless, but with you there is peace. In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience; I do not understand you ways, but you know the way for me.
Restore me to liberty, and enable me so to live now that I may answer before you and before men. Lord, whatever this day may bring, your name be praised. Amen
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Agape 64 O healing river

Psalm 46
Men: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Women: Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

Men: Though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

Women: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.

Men: God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.

Women: The nations are in an uproar,
the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.

Men: The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

New Testament Reading: 1 Peter 3 8-12

Tribute to Martin Luther King on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death.

Intercessions
We trust that beyond the absence:
there is a presence.
That beyond the pain:
there can be healing.
That beyond the brokenness:
there can be wholeness.
That beyond the hurting:
there may be forgiveness.
That beyond the silence:
there may be the word.
That through the word:
there may be understanding.

All: That through all understanding: there is love.
Amen

Let us pray,
Lord God of our birth and our creation, we thank you for the amazing gift of life. Help us to treasure all life and work toward ending violence. Strengthen us to abide by your laws, to keep your commandments to love and respect others, as ourselves.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy hear us

God of Grace, we pray for the church, for the leaders of the churches and this week in the Ecumenical prayer cycle we pray for people and churches of Brunei, Malaysia and Singapour. Strengthen and guide them so that they may follow your ways.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy hear us

Lord, we thank you for our community in the ecumenical centre, for the spirit of fellowship and the bonds of friendship - unite us in our worship and work.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy hear us

God of all nations, we pray for a closer dialogue between all people, so that fear is replaced with trust and understand, and our lives are enriched by the diversity of cultures, so that we can live in peace.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy hear us

Compassionate god, may the peace we speak of be such an integral part of our lives that we may become vessels of peace in our homes, communities and the world.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy hear us

God of love and care, embrace all those who suffer with your healing touch, we pray particularly today for those suffering from war – Iraq, the Middle East and Darfur. Bless and protect those who protect and care for them.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy hear us

Father God, we entrust to you our families, friends, colleagues, those we love and those we find it hard to love. We hold in your presence those who are sick we thank you for the lives of those who have left us, especially remembering today the life of Martin Luther King.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy hear us

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow charity;Where there is injury, pardon;Where there is error, the truth;Where there is doubt, the faith;Where there is despair, hope;Where there is darkness, light; andWhere there is sadness, joy. O, Divine Master,Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;To be understood as to understand;To be loved as to love;For it is in giving that we receive;It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;And it is in dying to ourselves that we are born to eternal life.
Amen. Saint Francis of Assisi

The Lord’s Prayer

Grace
The blessing and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit through his love for humanity be with us all now and always.
Amen.

An order for morning prayer during Easter time

The following order for morning prayer was prepared by Yvette Milosevic for morning prayer on Thursday, 3rd April, 2008 in the Ecumenical Centre Geneva

Leader: O Lord open our lips
All: And our mouth shall show forth your praise.
Leader: O God make speed to save us.
All: O Lord make haste to help us
Leader: O God show your mercy upon us.
All: And grant us your salvation.
Leader: This is the day which our Lord has made.
All: Let us all rejoice and be glad in it.

Sing Thuma Mina 6

PSALM 16:
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

READING: Acts 2: 14a, 22-32

Sing Thuma Mina 46

Prayer
Lord, when I am hungry,
give me someone needing of food;
When I am thirsty,
send me someone needing a drink;
When I am cold,
send me someone to warm;
When I am grieved,
offer me some to console;
When my cross grows heavy,
let me share another's cross too;
When I am poor,
lend me to someone in need;
When I have not time,
give me someone I can help a little while;
When I am humiliated,
let me have someone to praise;
When I am disheartened,
send me someone to cheer;
When I need understanding,
give me someone who needs mine;
When I need to be looked after,
send me someone to care for;
When I think only of myself,
draw my thoughts to another.
Mother Theresa of Calcutta

Prayers of Intercession

O God of Grace, we thank you for bringing us here together today, people from different churches and countries, we thank you for the work of the World Council of Churches and other church organizations, the YMCA and YWCA , all with office in Geneva, we thank you for the many ecumenical and international agencies based in Geneva, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the agencies of the United Nations. We ask for help to make time in our busy lives to nurture the spirituality which is a gift from you to each of us.
God of Grace,
Hear our prayer

O God of Peace, we pray for the peoples and churches of Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore. We thank you for those who struggle for human rights against great odds. We ask you to strengthen the people who are persecuted for their faith. Guide them through your paths of peace, justice and reconciliation.
Inspire political leaders with your Holy Spirit.
God of Peace,
Hear our prayer.

O God of Love, help us to be the voices of Your vision of hope and love. Help us to grow in our own faith, so as to be able to reach out in faith to others of faith, instead of condemning them or shutting them out because of our own small-mindedness, ignorance or fear
God in your love,
Hear our prayer

O God of Compassion, we ask you to open us to one another and to enable us to see that of God in each of our colleagues. Enable us to reach out to each other for support, break down barriers between us, help us to care for the vulnerable and sick, and to share with those in need.
God in your Compassion,
Hear our prayer

Lord our God,
Enlighten your church,
That wherever it may be,
It will never seek for its interests
But will only serve you faithfully.
Grant your church wisdom and courage,
That it may break down all boundaries,
So that humankind will become one again.
In Jesus’ name.

THE LORD'S PRAYER (each in your own language)

CLOSING PRAYER

Eternal God,
the sun never sets on the earth you created.
Grant to all your peoples, from east to west,
the light and life that are ever new in Christ.
From morning until evening let us praise you,
and in your presence do our work day by day,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.

An order for morning prayer in Easter time

The following order for morning prayer was put together by Yvette Milosevic

Ecumenical Centre, Geneva an order for morning prayer in Easter time Tuesday, 1st April, 2008

L Eternal God, as you created humankind in your image,
Women and men, male and female, renew us in that image:

All: God the Holy Spirit, by your strength and love
Comfort us as those whom a mother comforts:

Lord Jesus Christ, by your death and resurrection,
Give us the joy of those whom pain and suffering become,
In hope, the fruitful agony of travail:

All: God the Holy Trinity, grant that we may together
Enter into new life, your promised rest of achievement and fulfilment,
world without end. Amen

L. You are the gathering one
Who calls us into community with the whole creation;

All: to live in harmony
To cherish and renew
Let us worship the God who makes us one.


HYMN Tuma Mina No. 9 (Verse 1 Shona , 2 German, 3 English)

PSALM 123:

Men To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

Women As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us.

Men Have mercy upon us, O Lord,
Have mercy upon us,
For we have had more than enough of contempt.

Women: Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease,
Of the contempt of the proud.

All: 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


READING: John 20: 23-31
Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Sing: Tuma Mina 46 in Spanish

A Prayer of Intercession

Lord Jesus, bruised for and by our iniquities, risen for our salvation, please receive our prayers for all your world. Especially we pray this Easter for those members of your human family who are dying, and for all who are grieving their passing.

Wherever this day death arrives with the roar of bombs or the rattle of machine guns, come risen Christ Jesus;
Come quickly living God with your Easter light and salvation.

Wherever today death arrives with the malnutrition and disease of refugee camps, come risen Christ Jesus;
Come quickly living God, with your Easter light and salvation.

Wherever today death arrives with the assassins knife or the bullet of the hit man, come risen Christ Jesus;
Come quickly living God with your Easter light and salvation.

Wherever today death arrives with the swallowing of illegal drugs or the insertion of an injection needle, come risen Christ Jesus;
Come quickly living God with your Easter light and salvation.

Wherever death arrives today with the squeal of car tyres or the shouts of an alcoholic brawl, come risen Christ Jesus;
Come quickly living God with your Easter light and salvation.

Wherever death arrives today despite the best of medical care, and watched over by loved ones, come risen Christ Jesus;
Come quickly living God with your Easter light and salvation.

Whenever death arrives today as a most welcome friend to those whose bodies are wasted and who long to go home, come risen Christ Jesus;
Come quickly living God with your Easter light and salvation.

Wherever death has left in its wake desolate loved ones, desperate orphans, or angry people looking for revenge, come risen Christ Jesus;
Come quickly living God with your Easter light and salvation.

God of Easter, let it be written indelibly on our mind and soul, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, nothing can sever us from your grace. Let is be so written that we awake each morning with faith and hope ingrained, and with love ready to flow through every deed we do, to the glory of your wonderful name!
Amen.

Prayers of Intercession

O God of Peace, we pray for the peoples and churches of Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore. We thank you for the amazing diversity of life. There are many species of plants and animals which are found in these countries and nowhere else.
We pray for the Chinese inhabitants of Brunei who have been denied citizenship and face discrimation. We pray for peace among the many ethic groups within these countries.
God of Peace,
Hear our prayer.

O God of Love, help us to be the voices of Your vision of hope and love. Help us to grow in our own faith, so as to be able to reach out in faith to others of faith, instead of condemning them or shutting them out because of our own small-mindedness, ignorance or fear
God in your love,
Hear our prayer

O God of Compassion, we ask you to open us to one another and to enable us to see that of God in each of our colleagues. Enable us to reach out to each other for support, break down barriers between us, help us to care for the vulnerable and sick, and to share with those in need.
God in your Compassion,
Hear our prayer


THE LORD'S PRAYER (each in your own language)

CLOSING PRAYER

L: Let us now go and take up the tasks
Which have been given us for this day and for this week.

All: Let us go forward in faith and trust
Because God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is with us.
Amen

An order of Worship for the time of Easter.

This service was compiled by Shanta Premawardhana and Yvette Milosevic



Morning Prayer for Monday, 31 March, 2008

Welcome and Call to Worship

Leader: Eyes exposed to the suffering of Christ in all humanity,
may we see your promise in the Empty Tomb.

May we see beauty before us.
All: Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Voice 1: Ears may we hear the love song of your Word.

May we hear beauty behind us.
All: Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Voice 2: Lips burning from the bitter tang of rejection,

may we taste the sweetness of your decisive Claim in our lives.

May we taste beauty above us.
All: Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Voice 3: Hands bloodied from lifting the Body broken,

may we touch the strength of the risen One.

May we touch beauty below us.
All: Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Voice 4: Noses numb from the rancid odor of decay,

may we smell the fragrance of the Gardener’s flowers.

May we smell beauty around us.
All Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Voice 5: Opened fully to the experience of despair, may we know the beauty of Resurrection. May we experience beauty within us.
All: Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Leader: Christ is risen!
All: Christ is risen indeed!

Song Agape 72 Tenemos Esperanza

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-25 (An Adaptation) © 2001 Nathan Nettleton

G1: Thank you, LORD, thank you!
Thank you for your goodness!
Thank you for your love — .rock solid and timeless!
May all your people recognize that your love and loyalty last forever.

G2: Our energy and strength come from you, LORD;
our peace and safety were won by you.
The sound of singing rings out
from the homes of all who are honest and true.
They sing of what you have done, LORD,
for you raised your hand and saved the day.

G1: Now we know that our lives are safe;
we will live to tell of what you have done.
You gave us the tough medicine we deserved, LORD,
but you didn’t let death get its claws into us.

G2: Thank you for answering our prayers, LORD;
for coming to our rescue and putting us right.
From a rejected stone found in a rubbish pile you cut and polished a priceless jewel.
This is obviously your work, LORD, and we can hardly believe our eyes!

All: Today is your day, LORD, the day you have made,
we will celebrate with joy and laughter.

Glory to God

Gospel Reading John 20: 19-22

When it was evening of that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Alleluia

Sermon by Rev. Shanta Premawhardhana

An Easter Affirmation
All: We believe in God --
who works in the hidden stillness of every dawn;
who beckons us to visit the tomb of our fears so we might discover the birth of hope;
who sends recurring dreams, fragrant flowers, good friends and bright angels
with messages of joy and possibility.
We believe in Jesus, the risen Christ --
who meets us on every path;
who greets us with respect, names and calms our fears, and bids us walk and talk as
children of the Light;
who is always going before us into our workplace and playspace.
We believe in the Holy Spirit --
who gathers us into a kindred community;
who works through the lame and the late, the wrinkled and the newborn, the
hurting and the hopeful;
who nudges our prayers, kindles our longings and prompts our praise.
We believe we are called to be Easter people --
challenging despair with glowing hope, acting peacefully in the midst of painful
good Fridays, and living joyfully even in the midst of harsh realities.
We believe in the church --
the hand holding, hearty singing, passionate and caring fellowship of
seekers and finders.
This we believe.

Intercessions

L: We bring to God
someone whom we remember today and for whom we want to pray

(followed by a moment of silence and then a sung response, Ya, Tuhanku)

L: We bring to God
the people and the churches of Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore
We give thank for the religious and cultural diversity in these countries and pray for the protection and encouragement of religious freedom.

(followed by a moment of silence and then a sung response, Ya, Tuhanku)

L: We bring to God
Those who are persecuted for their faith, or those who have lost their faith,
…

L: We bring to God
our colleagues at this Ecumenical Centre,
especially those who are sick or grieving
…

L: We bring to God, silently,
someone whom we find hard to forgive or trust
…

L: We bring ourselves to God
that we might grow in generosity of spirit,
clarity of mind,
and warmth of affection.

The Lord’s Prayer

Benediction

L: God of power,
may the boldness or your Spirit transform us,
may the gentleness of your Spirit lead us,
may the gifts of your Spirit equip and refresh us
and send us forth into the world with a passion for service.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
All: Amen.

Song: Agape 56 May the Love of the Lord