Liturgy for the Service of Installation of Olav Fykse Tveit as WCC general secretary

Installation Service for Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit
Ecumenical Centre, Geneva 23 February 2010

(stand)

Processional

Prelude and hymn: The church’s one foundation
(1st and 2nd stanza in English, 3rd and 4th in French)

L: In the name of the Father, and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen

(sit)

Welcome (Moderator of WCC Central Committee Rev. Dr Walter Altmann)

Opening
L: Praise to God for the gifts of the past:
All: For the witness of the people of God who went before us.

L: Praise to God for the gifts of the present:
All: In all our struggles to be true to Christ.

L: Praise to God for the gifts in our future:
All: In the Spirit we are led on into crucifixions and resurrections.
Amen.

♪ Psalm of Repentance: So much wrong and so much injustice
(in English; verses by soloist, refrain by all)

Bible Reading
1 Corinthians 2: 1-5

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

(stand)
Song: El mensaje que hoy proclamamos (in Spanish)

Gospel Reading
Matthew 5: 1-10

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(sit)

Song: Dong-tian yi wang / Winter has passed (solo)

Dongtian yi wang, yushui yi zhi, bai hua kaifang bai niao ming ti,
Hebi dengdai hebi chiyi, “Wo di jiaou yu wo tong qu.”
Refrain: Yesu wo Zhu wo ai suo gui,
Wo shen wo ling yong shu yu ni
You gu zhi zhong si ni xin qie,
Yu ni tong qu jin you chun hui.

1. Winter has passed, the rain is o’er, earth is abloom, songs fill the air.
Linger no more, why must you wait? “Rise up my love, come follow me.”
Refrain: Jesus, my Lord, my love, my all, body and soul forever yours,
In dale so dark I long for you, abide with me in spring anew.

2. O Lord, your face I long to see, your still small voice reveal to me.
Your tender care, your joy so dear, “O precious dove, with me be near.”

3. O my beloved, I’ll follow you, far from the rocks, the hills and sea.
Midst all the song and blossoms new, in your firm step, I’ll follow you.


Sermon: Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit


L: Let us affirm our faith:

(stand)

All: We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate
form the Virgin Mary
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried;
on the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven.
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
he will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father;
with the Father and the Son
he is worshiped and glorified;
he has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in the holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed

Song: Vi rekker våre hender frem
(1st stanza in Norwegian, 2nd to 6th stanza in English)

2. Alt godt, til vårt ig andres vel,
er dine gaver.
I svakhet fremmer du ditt verk,
vår bare kvist skal skyte knopp!

3. Vi løfter våre hender opp
i bønn for verden.
La dem som lider, finne vern
mot kalde hjerters is og sne!

4. La våre henders nakne tre
få blomst og blader.
La våre liv få bære frukt
til legedom for andres sår!

5. Vi venter, efter smertens vår,
din nådes sommer.
Og sorg og glede blir til vekst
med frukt vi ikke selv kan se.

6. Din nådes skaperverk skal skje
i tomme hender.
O Gud, all godhets giver: Kom,
ta bolig i vår fattigdom!

2. What good and blessing you bestow
is freely given.
Your power will make the weakest strong
and barren branches start to bud.

3. We lift our hands to you, o God,
our world upholding.
Let those who suffer shelter find
from human hearts of ice and snow.

4. O make our barren trees to grow
our hands to blossom,
and let our lives bring forth such fruit
that heals our neighbour’s grief and pain.

5. As summer follows springtime’s rain,
so grace to sorrow
and grief and joy shall bear much fruit,
though hidden from our eyes.

6. Through grace your new creation lies
in open, empty hands.
God, giver of all goodness, come,
dwell with us in our earthly home!

(sit)

Act of Installation

Rev. Dr Altmann:
We all pray for you, and for your ministry.
As you assume this important task at this historic moment in the life of the World Council of Churches,
may the Triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
bless you and guide you in all your journeying.

All:
Almighty God: you have established one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, and you invite us into communion. We give you thanks for calling your servant Olav to leadership within the ecumenical movement. Give him the gifts he needs to accomplish this work. Fill him with the Holy Spirit; and give us the grace, courage and discipline to support and accompany him in the service of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Words of blessing from the WCC regions by members of WCC Executive Committee

Song: Before your cross (3x, in English)

Intercessions

L: With faith and love and in union with Christ,
let us offer our prayer to the Father.
Lord, we come to the cross.

Sung response: Hør vår bønn!

L: With faith and love and in union with Christ,
let us offer our prayer to the Father.
Lord, we come to the cross.

Sung response: Hør vår bønn!

L: Have mercy on your people,
for whom your Son laid down his life.
Bring healing and wholeness to people and nations,
and have pity on those torn apart by division:
Lord, we come to the cross.

Sung response: Hør vår bønn!

L: Strengthen all who are persecuted for your name’s sake,
and deliver them from evil.
Look in mercy upon all who suffer,
and hear those who cry out in pain and desolation:
Lord, we come to the cross.

Sung response: Hør vår bønn!

For the leaders of the nations,
that you will guide them in the ways of mercy and truth.
For the needy, that they may not be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor be taken away:
Lord, we come to the cross.

Sung response: Hør vår bønn!

L: For the sick in body, mind and spirit,
that they may know your power to heal.
For the poor in spirit, that they may inherit the kingdom of heaven
and see you face to face:
Lord, we come to the cross.

Sung response: Hør vår bønn!

L: Let us commend the world, for which Christ died,
To the mercy and protection of God.

All: Amen

The Lord’s Prayer (each in his or her own language)

(stand)

Sending Forth

L: God, in your grace, you have allowed the formation of the Ecumenical Movement
to serve you in this turbulent world.
Now, we humbly ask you to guide and strengthen the World Council of Churches
and its new General Secretary
to serve you in these difficult times.
Let the Cross of Christ, the symbol of humiliation and self-sacrifice
always be the mast of the ecumenical ship as it sets sail for its service.

All: We are confident that God is calling us to go on our way together.
We share a common pilgrimage as people who hope in the resurrection.
We set out obediently on the path with Christ,
with ears and hearts attuned to hear, and our senses open,
to choose anew the way of the pilgrim.
Obedient to the vision we have received,
we give our time and gifts, strength and love,
in the service of the Prince of Peace and a life of hope.

♪ Blessing: May the road rise to meet you (in English)

Please remain seated for words of greetings.

This service was put together by Sabine Udodesku and Hannelore Schmid of the WCC worship and spirituality. Copyright WCC where not otherwise indicated

And Ash Wednesday order of morning prayer

This simple order of morning prayer was prepared by Theodore Gill of the World Council of Churches

MORNING PRAYER – Ash Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Mark 1:9-13
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the
wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the
angels waited on him.

Prayer
Lord, we depend upon you alone.
Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you.
Lord our God: you led your people out of the house of slavery,
when slavery seemed inevitable.
You offer your people hope, when all seems hopeless.
Reveal to us again that, with you, all things are possible.
Teach us to doubt the “inevitability” of any human plan.
Prove to us the power of repentance,
and the triumph inherent in the things that make for peace.
Lord, we depend upon you alone.
Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you.
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil that distracts us from your saving purpose.
Deliver us from the curse of war, and the human sin and pride that lie behind it. Deliver us from national vanity and political greed
that pose as patriotism or principle;
from blind boasting and self-worship that admit neither guilt nor shame.
Deliver us from leaders who lust for power and possessions,
but also from leaders deceived by their own self-righteousness.
Deliver us from human power and wisdom
that divert our eyes from Jesus, our ruler who reigns from the cross.
Lord, we depend upon you alone.
Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you.
Deliver us from seeking first the kingdoms of this world,
from trusting in weapons, and from mistrusting the councils of peace.
We pray for your guidance among leaders of the nations,
and among citizens who may have an impact on them.
We pray for the United Nations, for all international agencies
and other instruments of caring, that they may contribute to justice and reconciliation. Deliver your creation, Lord,
from everything that prevents the fulfillment of your promise of peace.
Lord, we depend upon you alone.
Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you.
Almighty God: we pray for manifestations of your kingdom on earth
to people of every nation, race and class. And we pray for your church in the world: This week, we pray especially for Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain –
and for people and churches of all nations caught up in war and terror –
and for the life and ministry of our own congregations.
We pray for those who suffer, who mourn, who seek some sign of hope.
We pray for those whom we once remembered regularly in our prayers,
but have since forgotten. Hold them in your heart, Lord, for you alone are faithful.
And with Christians throughout the ages, we pray –
each in our own language – the prayer that Jesus taught us, saying…
(The Lord’s Prayer)

Blessing and Benediction
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find.
Knock, and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and whoever seeks, finds.
And for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Lord, have mercy upon us; Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and grant us your peace.
Go out from this place in peace, to love and serve the Lord.
The Lord’s name be praised!
And may the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be upon us now, and remain with us always. Amen.

A sermon by Jenny Borden - Fast for Life, Food for Life

A sermon by Jenny Borden for Ash Wednesday to launch the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance's Food for Life and Fast for Life campaigns.

The EAA’s campaign is called “Food for Life”. Today we are asking people to “Fast for Life.”

More than one billion people are suffering from hunger around the world. Despite the goodness and bounty of God’s gifts to us in creation so many people experience scarcity: famine, hunger, deprivation and want. And yet at the same time there are people in all parts of the world who suffer the effects of too much – too much salt, sugar, fat, calories – too much choice, too many things, too much wealth.

The EAA’s food campaign aims to build and strengthen the ecumenical movement for food justice, and our “fast for life” aims to create awareness of these issues and a desire to take individual and collective action to change things.

And Ash Wednesday is a good time to think carefully about the injustice of the world food situation, where food is unjustly and unsustainably produced, and unjustly and unsustainably consumed, and where the right to food for all people is not met.

There are so many themes that run through Ash Wednesday, and through this service, including sorrow and repentance, hypocrisy and passion. But the one that attracts me most – probably because of what I do – is hinted at in a number of places but especially in our Old Testament reading: “Is this not the fast that I choose – to loose the bonds of injustice….to share your bread with the hungry……to let the oppressed go free

In this passage certain kinds of religious practices and fasts are rejected in favour of “the fast that I choose…….So what fast do we choose?

The EAA is asking it members and supporters to take time to consider the issue of food this Ash Wednesday and this Lent. And to be in solidarity with those that are hungry by fasting for a day – and to choose between fasting from food, fasting from fossil fuel or fasting from consumption, as an act of solidarity and a means of raising awareness.

The challenge in this passage from Isaiah is to leave on one side the religious gestures that might make us feel better but don’t do the hungry much good, in favour of actions that really make a difference.

Our fasting, our Lenten practices, our tiny life-style changes, our charitable giving, our guilt infested prayers may all be examples of empty gestures – and incidentally most of them rather public rather than hidden, as we are warned against in our gospel reading.

And it is not just our personal efforts. We know too that all of our work has its problems – is it effective, is the money well spent, do we enjoy engaging in policy debates about structural issues while millions are hungry and can’t wait for the world to change?

So where does this put our campaigning and advocacy work, our fasting for a day from food or fossil fuel or consumption? Can we, if we work very hard at it, use it to help build up strong, intelligent, realistic, persistent voices and actions with our companions across the world? That together, over time, can challenge the systems and structures and powers that leave people hungry? Can we keep working together and trying until we make a real difference?

Or do we give up or do nothing or enjoy the empty gesture of cynicism where we continually ask the question “Well So What?” and indulge in the “Is there any point, the problem is so big, nothing works, my tiny efforts won’t change things”.

Not if we stand with the Christ like God of Palm Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Easter Day. No:

- we heed the warning about empty gestures – the fast he does not choose – but we do take action to remind ourselves that one billion people are hungry and raise awareness of this issue, and play our own small part in the way that we live our lives, and the way that we fast and pray,
- we goad and encourage one another in Christ to be part of and build up justice movements that really make a difference,
- we live in the hope of a costly cross that proved love to be creative and not a disaster
- and we accept that we’re never going to get it all right and so live confidently in the sorrow and forgiveness of Ash Wednesday, that does not reject us because we fail but wraps us around and includes us all as part of a community, where even failures like us are still valued for what we can achieve. Amen

Copyright (c) Jenny Borden, EAA

A simple order for morning prayer in the workplace

These order of prayer was prepared by Hielke Wolters.

The joy of living and working in the space of God’s love
Morning prayers Ecumenical Centre, February 12, 2010

Assurance of God’s love
God’s love is costly, generous, and trustworthy,
Deeper than our expectations, higher than our hopes,
Accept in your heart the promise of new life,
And proclaim with your lips
the inexhaustible goodness of God.

Holy, Holy, Holy,
Love’s empowering might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
We give you glory, God most high!

Reflection: Love your enemies (Matthew 5: 43-48)

Closing prayer
Sending God,
You call each of us to share in your mission,
to proclaim,
to nurture,
to love,
to transform,
to renew.

Help us to be faithful to your calling.
Give us wisdom and insight to discern your voice.
Give us patience and humility to work with others.
Give us courage and strength when we feel overwhelmed
by the tasks before us.

Remind us of your presence with us.
Surround us with your all-embracing love.
Fill us with the joy and energy of your Spirit.
Prompt us to recall the example of Jesus.

And as you now send us out,
to our offices and our meetings,
to our duties and our responsibilities,
keep us close to you,
this day and for ever more.

From and inspired by Francis Brienen (ed.),
What does the Lord require?, CWM

Service for the lenten campaign to end violence against women

Worship in the Ecumenical Centre
Monday 15 February 2010
A service to launch the Lenten campaign for an end to violence against women

Is there anyone among you who,
if your child asks for bread, will give her a stone? (Matt. 7:9)

Words of greeting and introduction

Silence

Call to Worship
In the beginning the Spirit God danced over the void.
It was a dance of creation, of joy, of freedom of wholeness, of power. . .
And God, knowing that all that is good is shared,
held the Earth tenderly and yearned for relationship.
And humanity was born in the yearning of God.
We are born to share the earth.
(adapted from: Blessing the Earth, Carter Heyward, USA)

Sing: Schweige und höre ~ Thuma Mina 23
Schweige und höre, neige deines Herzens Ohr, suche den Frieden (3 times)

A litany of violence against women from the Bible
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw Dinah, he seized her and raped her. (Gen 34:2)

Choose life. (Deut. 30.19)

But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. (Judges 19:25)

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

But he refused to listen to Tamar, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.
On the day that Amnon raped Tamar, Absalom decided to kill him. (2 Samuel 13:14; 32)

I have set before you life and death.

On Zion and everywhere in Judah our wives and daughters are being raped.
(Lamentations 5:11)

I came that they may have life.

Let me send out my daughter instead. She's a virgin. And I'll even send out the man's wife. You can rape them or do whatever else you want, but please don't do such a horrible thing to this man. (Judges 19:24)

Choose life. (Deut. 30.19)

Sing: Fais taire nos voix ~Thuma Mina 23
Fais taire nos voix, ouvre nos vies à la foi, donne nous ta paix.

Please rise holding your stone in your hand as we listen to the gospel of Christ

Gospel reading John 8:2-10
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

Sing Gloria à Dios ~ Thuma Mina 56

Prayer of confession and laying down of stones
(After each prayer a stone is laid down, at the end of the formal confession everyone is invited to come forwards and lay down their stone in a communal act of confession. If you wish to say a word of confession aloud you are welcome to do so.)

God of heaven and earth before you we confess our sin
God of transformation hear our prayer
Sing: Nkosi Nkosi, yibaneceba. Krestu Krestu, yibaneceba.

We confess the terrible physical and sexual violence that so many women and girls across the globe are subjected to.
God of transformation hear our prayer
Sing: Nkosi Nkosi, yibaneceba. Krestu Krestu, yibaneceba.

We confess how even into our own time scripture has been used to justify violence against women and their exclusion from a full role in society.
God of transformation hear our prayer
Sing: Nkosi Nkosi, yibaneceba. Krestu Krestu, yibaneceba.

We confess a violent culture which turns women's bodies into sexualised commodities and sees women as part of the spoils of war and commerce.
God of transformation hear our prayer
Sing: Nkosi Nkosi, yibaneceba. Krestu Krestu, yibaneceba.

We confess the structural violence of our institutions including the church which too often exclude women from decision-making, power or authority.
God of transformation hear our prayer
Sing: Nkosi Nkosi, yibaneceba. Krestu Krestu, yibaneceba.

(please move forwards to lay down your stones)

Assurance of forgiveness and transformation
There appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment”. When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. (Luke 13:11-13)

Let us stand to listen to words we can trust, words which help us and our societies to stand up straight, be transformed and walk humbly in God's paths. (please rise)

Behold says God I am making all things new.
I will wipe every tear from their eyes (Rev. 21:5, 4)

For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,
says the Lord, who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:10)

In the name of Christ we are forgiven,
Alleluia, amen!

Stand firm O stand firm (sung three times)

Meditation

Stand firm oh stand firm (sung three times)

Prayers

Great God we give you thanks that you call us out of silence to name hidden and domestic violence.

Today we pray for all those women who despite suffering from violence, continue to care for family and children, to grow and prepare food, carry water, earn a living and offer support to others.

We pray for women who are trafficked as domestic or sex workers; for women who are raped and do not know how to find words to name their pain or a way into the future.

We pray for transformation of our societies which often find it easier to judge the victims of violence than to solve the problems of injustice

We pray that women's voices may be heard and taken into account in all peace and reconciliation work.

We pray for a transformation in the violent way many men act towards and think about women.

We pray for right and just relations between women and men that together we may transform and overcome violence in all its forms and learn to celebrate our diversity and interdependence

We look forward to the age of peace, when violence is banished, both women and
men are able to love and to be loved, and the work and wealth of our world is justly shared.

Silence or free prayer

Lord's Prayer

Benediction
May the God of Eve teach you to dance.
May the God of Hagar bring you comfort in the desert.
May the God of Miriam bring companions to you when you struggle.
May the God of Deborah teach you courage for your battles.
May the Christ who knew Mary and Martha show you the way of balance.
May the Christ who healed the bent-over woman heal your pain.
May the Christ of Mary Magdala send you out to proclaim your story.
In the name of Christ who is the memory, hope and authority of the future.

Sing Ameni

Copyright (c) Jane Stranz / WCC

A sermon by Jet den Hollander on Love

This sermon was preached at the chapel of the Ecumenical Centre on February 8 as we were praying for Belgium, the Netherland and Luxemburg


Next Sunday is Valentine’s day,
and even though in Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands this is not a big tradition, as the preparatory group for this morning’s worship we decided to take our theme from this: “All you need is love”
- Hence the Beatles
- the “sweet hearts” in the basket (please take some when you leave the chapel)
- the candles in the shape of a heart.

As we were brainstorming on love and Valentine’s Day, I remembered an evening years ago in Cuba. I was staying with Carlos Ham and the family and we were going out for the night. First to Che Guevara’s cabaña – in a fort on the harbour where he used to work when he was a government minister in Castro’s revolutionary government. Not a big place but full of Che’s stuff: his doctor’s kit, books, binoculars, diaries, cigars, photos of his wife and children.

Then it turned towards 9 pm and we had to rush outside for the - what Carlos called – “the cannonball ceremony”: an incredible spectacle because Cubans dressed up as the 18th century Spanish soldiers - complete with wigs and lances - marched up to the large cannon. And, as it has happened for three centuries, commands were shouted and the cannon was fired to tell the population that the harbour – and in the old days the city of Havana – was now closed.

Just then across the harbour a large tourist boat floated by, illuminated - here in revolutionary Cuba - by a huge red heart of lights.

Three worlds, three completely different realities in the space of an hour on that same square next to Che’s cabin –
- The Cuban Revolution – with its vision of justice and opportunity for all, though with its own inherent problems
- The colonial period - with all its pomp and privilege for a few, and exploitation and harshness for many - that in a real sense provoked that revolution
- And the Valentine’s Day cruise – that symbol of commercialism that has found its way into our many societies, and yet, for all its play on the market (I understand chocolate factories in Britain have their biggest turnover of the year between Valentine’s day and Easter) that inspires a lot of thoughts of love.

Which one is the real Cuba? Or are all of them together the real Cuba?

The same question can be asked of my own country, the Netherlands, or of Belgium or Luxemburg for which we pray today.

Three rather small countries, yet within each of them there is such a diversity,
- of landscapes and architectural traditions;
- of norms and values and ways of life: for instance certain ways of doing things may be rejected in the Randstad in the west of the Netherlands but still linger on in the rural parts in the East near Germany,
- a diversity of languages and dialects; even in the Netherlands there are two official languages (Dutch and Frisian) but then there is a great variety of dialects, not to mention the many languages spoken by the "allochtoon" part of the population.
- Even that word itself points to two different realities: “allochtoon” means those originated from a foreign land; "autochtoon" means “of the land itself”, so, the immigrants and the “indigenous Dutch”, each have an often quite different view of what is Dutch reality today.
- And then of course there are the many different ways of believing, speaking of God, experiencing God in our highly secularised societies

Last week Jane described the experience of even your own mother tongue becoming unfamiliar. I recognise that. Each year the Dutch identify a new word that has become accepted into our language. In 2009, the "Word of the Year" was "ontvrienden", a Facebook term that means "de-friend", when you no longer "want to be friends" with someone on Facebook. What kind of a society choses this cold concept as "Word of the Year"? Jane talked of the sense of alienation and confusion and conflicting realities in a world that you thought you knew but turns out to be Babel, the place where we do not understand each other anymore. I think it’s an experience that is very widespread today, and yet – an experience that is probably of all times.

One theologian who has done a lot to help people to grapple with that experience of multi-realities all criss-crossing in the same space was Edward Schillebeeckx, who died on 23 December after a long and – in his own words – happy and fulfilled life.

Schillebeeckx was born in Belgium in 1914 but lived for most of his life in the Netherlands and so as Dutch and Belgians we can both claim him as “ours”. He was a Dominican priest, a radical thinker, a prolific writer and a great interpreter of the theology underlying Vatican II. From the early 60s he was the moving force behind the renewal in the Dutch Catholic church province – liturgy, priests who married, rethinking the sacraments, etc.

His books are not easy, but he led Protestants and Catholics alike back to the sources, and made faith transparent again, often through pithy concepts like:

 God is new every day
 God is “ons rakelings nabij”, so close to us we almost touch
 Jesus, the story of one who lives

And then there was, already in the 1970s, his book: Justice and love, liberation and grace.

Schillebeeckx used the word “love” seldom “sec” but always in context and often in combination with that other concept that for us today is so important: justice. Which brings us back to 1 Corinthians 13: love.
"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude." 1 Cor 13.4

Love that comes from God, and shines through us, focussed on the other. That love for God, for others and for creation came through in what Schillebeeckx said and wrote. It’s good to know that he, in a unique combination of making things clear and yet keeping the mystery, now has the privilege of seeing God no longer as in a mirror, but face to face.

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Cor 13: 7
But is that real? Do-able? Isn’t it sometimes unwise, unrealistic ....

(poem Erich Fried - read by different voices)

It is what it is: Love
Do-able because Jesus did it.

May that love be concrete today in what we say, how we speak to each other and deal with the issues on the table. May it be God’s love that shines through us today.

Amen.

Copyright (c) Jet den Hollander WARC

All you need is love - a service prior to valentine's day

This morning colleagues from the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg led our worship, giving it the theme "all you need is love".

Ecumenical Centre Morning Worship

Monday 8 February 2010
Praying with the peoples and churches of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands

All you need is Love

(Red candles in shape of heart on the altar “Sweet-hearts” in basket next to the liturgies)

Musical prelude – Beatles, All you need is love, on piano, guitar, flute, drums


Words of welcome
- welcoming all and especially visitors
- the countries on the prayer cycle this week...
- Invitation to stand and begin this morning’s worship as is customary in Dutch churches, by expressing our trust in the One who called us here together ....

Votum and greeting Lucette
(all stand) Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Whose steadfast love endures for ever
Who does not forsake the work of his hands.

Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:3)

In response to God’s peace we sing to God:

The Gloria(sung in Dutch)
Ere zij de Vader en de Zoon en de Heilige Geest
Als in den beginne
Nu en immer
En van eeuwigheid tot eeuwigheid
Amen

(Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,
now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen)

Ps 100
Hymn Juicht Gode toe, bazuint en zingt – All people that on earth do dwell
(Psalm 100 in the language of your choice, attached)

Scripture reading 1 Cor 13:1-13 raed in Dutch

Reflection Jet den Hollander
Ending with a question that serves as invitation to begin the poem

Poem What it is (Erich Fried)

Lucette stays at the 2nd mike and invites to sing the song ( remain seated)

Hymn Lumière de Dieu (Thuma Mina 150, in French, German, English)

Prayers of thanksgiving and intercession (Lucette and Lut)

For Gods goodness ….
Nous chantons / we sing: Lumière de Dieu (French only)

For the peoples and churches of Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands
Nous chantons / we sing: Lumière de Dieu

For our world
Nous chantons / we sing: Lumière de Dieu

For ourselves and our colleagues in the Ecumenical Centre
Nous chantons / we sing: Lumière de Dieu

Closing song The Love of God (Thuma Mina 219, in the language of your choice)

Zegen / Benediction, in Dutch

Musical postlude as we leave the chapel - All you need is love.

A sermon by Dagmar Heller on Ephesians 3:14-19

Homily preached by Rev Dagmar Heller
at the closing worship of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute Graduate School 2009/2010

Biblical text: Ephesians 3:14-19
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Dear sisters and brothers,
This text was originally chosen by our six religious sisters for today’s evening prayer. And when I read it, I thought: It seems that they must have something like a prophetic skill. Because, isn’t this a perfect text for the end of a Graduate School? What could be more appropriate for such an occasion than a prayer to God the Father for the people who have been our students and who are now about either to leave to go home to their countries or to continue with further studies?
“I pray that … he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being … and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith … I pray that you may have the power to comprehend …and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filed with all the fullness of God.”
This is a whole series of wishes, but there are mainly three things Paul is praying for.
There is a prayer that your “inner being” be strengthened. And this strengthening has three components. It is “with power through his spirit”, and “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”, “as you are rooted and grounded in love”. In other words, this strength is a power which is given by the spirit; It means that Christ should be in the centre of your life – this is meant by the idea of him dwelling in our hearts; And this is shown in mutual love, in the life of the community. The inner being thus is not just limited to the individual person and her inner feelings and thoughts, but it is part of the life of community. – So far the first wish.

The second concern Paul has is not just an additional wish, but it is a further step, which builds on the strength of the inner being: “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ…” – It is about comprehension and knowledge. If you have the inner strength in the power of the spirit and in the love of Christ in the community, then you can reach understanding, comprehension of what we are, where we are coming from, where we are going to … And there is an interesting remark: this comprehension is “with all the saints”. Maybe this sounds a bit strange, but this says nothing other than: you cannot reach comprehension just by remaining by yourself, in your study room – comprehension happens in community, together with your brothers and sisters in faith.

And this is what we hope can happen here in Bossey. This is what we hope happened to you – at least to a certain extent. We, the teachers and the staff, we cannot MAKE this happen, we can only pray that you experienced something of this.
But this experience here in Bossey is not and should not be something which is limited to this place. You are now going home, going to your families, serving your churches. And we hope and pray that you will convey something of this experience to the people you meet there.
But – those of you, who did their research papers with me, have probably noticed that one of my favorite questions is “why?” Why do we pray that you are strengthened in your inner being? Why do we pray that you comprehend and know the love of God?
Paul gives the answer in his third concern: "so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God”. This is the last aim of our journey as Christians, to reach the fullness of God, to no longer be separated from him, to see him as he is.
I cannot say it better than Paul did. The prayer of Paul is my wish for you, and I would like just to summarize it: It is my wish for you and for us all: that you may return to your homes, strengthened in your inner being, through the power of the Spirit and through Christ in your hearts and through your communion with your friends, your brothers and sisters from other churches as you found them here in Bossey, so that you may comprehend and know the love of Christ in order to reach God in his fullness.
Amen.

Copyright (c) Dagmar Heller

Morning Prayer from Iona

Mark Taylor has been leading morning prayers this week in the Ecumenical Centre based on this outline from the Iona Community

Iona Community Prayers

Opening Responses
The world belongs to God
THE EARTH AND ALL ITS PEOPLE
How good and how lovely it is
TO LIVE TOGETHER IN UNITY
Love and faith come together
JUSTICE AND PEACE JOIN HANDS
If Christ’s disciples keep silent
THESE STONES WOULD SHOUT ALOUD

Song or chant

Confession
Loving God, Maker of all
HAVE MERCY ON US
Jesus Christ, Servant of the poor
HAVE MERCY ON US
Holy Spirit, Breath of life
HAVE MERCY ON US
Let us in silence admit our frailty and confess our failings

Silence

Before God, with the people of God, I confess to my brokenness:
To the ways I wound my life, the lives of others and the life of the world
MAY GOD FORGIVE YOU, CHRIST RENEW YOU, AND THE SPIRIT ENABLE YOU TO GROW IN LOVE
Amen

BEFORE GOD, WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD, WE CONFESS TO OUR BROKENNESS:
TO THE WAYS WE WOUND OUR LIVES, THE LIVES OF OTHERS AND THE LIFE OF THE WORLD
May God forgive you, Christ renew you, and the spirit enable you to grow in love
AMEN



Move among us, O God; give us life
LET YOUR PEOPLE REJOICE IN YOU
Make our hearts clean within us:
RENEW US IN MIND AND IN SPIRIT
Give us again the joy of your help
WITH YOUR SPIRIT OF FREEDOM SUSTAIN US.

Word and Wisdom
Listen now for Word and Wisdom:

(Readings)

This is the word of God
FOR THE WORD OF GOD IN JESUS
FOR GOD’S WISDOM ALL AROUND US
FOR GOD’S WORD AND WISDOM IN US
THANKS BE TO GOD

Affirmation
With the whole church
WE AFFIRM THAT WE ARE MADE IN GOD’S IMAGE, BEFRIENDED BY CHRIST, EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT
With people everywhere
WE AFFIRM GOD’S GOODNESS AT THE HEART OF HUMANITY, PLANTED MORE DEEPLY THAN ALL THAT IS WRONG
With all creation
WE CELEBRATE THE MIRACLE AND WONDER OF LIFE, THE UNFOLDING PURPOSES OF GOD, FOREVER AT WORK IN OURSELVES AND THE WORLD

Song or chant

Prayer for the Iona Community (ALL)
O God, who gave to your servant Columba the gifts of courage, faith and cheerfulness, and sent people out from Iona to carry the word of your gospel to every creature, grant, we pray, a like spirit to your church, even at this present time.
Further in all things the purpose of our Community, that hidden things may be revealed to us, and new ways found to touch the lives of all.
May we preserve with each other sincere charity and peace, and if it be your holy will, grant that a place of your abiding be continued still to be a sanctuary and a light.
Through Jesus Christ, Amen

Universal Prayer for Peace (ALL)
Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our lives, our world, our universe.
Peace, peace, peace.

Prayers of the Community
God of power and promise,
You gather and scatter your people to the ends of the earth;
But wherever we go, we are never beyond the reach of your love.
Gather us together now with the Iona Community as we share in the common prayer…

(Prayers of gratitude and concern are invited)

(The leader prays for the priorities of the community, for the world, for the Full and Associate Members)

May they not fail you
NOR WE FAIL THEM

The Lord’s Prayer (ALL)
(In our own mother-tongues)

Silence

Closing responses
In work and worship
GOD IS WITH US
Gathered and scattered
GOD IS WITH US
Now and always
GOD IS WITH US

Copyright (c) Iona community

Mother Tongue - Foreign Land

Mother tongue - foreign land - an exercise in non-conformity and cognitive dissonance
A sermon preached by Jane Stranz at the Ecumenical Centre in the context of praying for Britain and Ireland in the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle. Liturgical outline here.

A room with a view
There is a wonderful view from the back bedroom of my parents' house. It was the room where my mother gave birth to my brother, less than a mile from where her own mother had given birth to her.
The view is of rolling fields and greenery, trees and hedges; in the distance 40 miles away are the Malvern Hills (not quite Mont Blanc or the Alps but beautiful nevertheless). Further away still and only to be seen on a clear day is a glimpse of another country the outline of the black mountains in Wales, and a reminder of a different and more ancient Celtic language, which the English language has pushed to the margins – just as the English language is pushing so many other languages to the margins these days.
This is the view my brother and I still sit on the back step to drink in on our rare visits home.
That view has hardly changed in our lifetime. It speaks to us of childhood and beauty. It is also a landscape we have simply always known, a landscape that seems to know and welcome us back into its beauty and our memories.
The view I love so much would probably still be recognisable to William Shakespeare who was born just 10 miles away. When I think of where I come from that greenery and stretching view come to mind straight away. I understand that landscape like I understand my mother tongue.

And yet …
These days when I think about "home" it's often an exercise in cognitive dissonance
Home is not just a long way away, though not as far as for many of you, but “home” is also to some extent a long time ago.
These days when I go back I often feel as if I'm in a foreign land - even though people all around speak the same language as me. I feel caught between Babel and Pentecost, which is why I've chosen those texts this morning.

In my first month working at the WCC, my colleague in the language service Rosemarie Dönch, who will later this year retire after more than 35 years working for the WCC gave me a precious piece of advice she received from one of her professors when learning about translation: "Your first foreign language is your mother tongue." It's a useful reminder that even our mother tongue - which ever language that may be - remains a strange and complex language, perhaps even to some extent a foreign land.

The biblical story of the tower of Babel is actually very humorous - full of wonderful babbling wordplay and alliteration that is sadly lost in translation. But what holds a kind of sad fascination in the story is the fact that here are people who speak a common language yet nevertheless do not seem to have achieved real understanding:
Are they building their Ziggurat ever taller as a reaction to the destruction of the flood? or because of the fear of no longer being in the beautiful garden of Eden? Is it a desperate expression of the longing for structure and a big project in the face of meaninglessness and chaos? Or do they build because they no longer know how to communicate with God - despite all speaking the same language? Perhaps (as we human beings do all too often) they have confused their role with God's.

God disperses them not to monolithic empire building but to dispersed, embedded, rooted living in human community across the face of the earth - speaking the local language.

In this house we seek to speak the language, the mother tongue if you will, of ecumenism. Sometimes we speak the language so well that we fail to realise that others need quite a bit of interpretation and translation when we’re talking.
Sometimes working for ecumenical and international ideals and realities we can also feel quite a bit of cognitive dissonance, our ecumenical "home" is changing as fast as we try to work for it and understand its wonderful and brilliant diversity
I do also wonder whether I have in my heart learnt the language of ecumenism assiduously enough, perhaps I haven’t spent enough time learning my ecumenical verb tables and vocabulary, perhaps the language of ecumenism is an accent I just put on sometime. Try being the unfortunate colleague who recently assumed that because I was English I must be an Anglican. Just hearing the tone with which I said "I am NOT an Anglican" makes me wince with hindsight – that remark certainly touched a raw nerve!
Even if ecumenism is our mother tongue we still have lots to learn from what will always also be a foreign language.
Sometimes I am still back at Babel, baking bricks for a tower of insignificance. Fearful that everything is changing, wanting to hold on to my beautiful unchanging view and thoughts of the past - of life and church as it used to be when I first started looking at the far off hills. My tiny insignificant denomination in Britain is struggling, once it saw its future as being ecumenism, now it tries perhaps too late to affirm its identity. Yet other very different churches are growing, bearing witness in new and exciting ways. Do I grieve or give thanks - or in an ecumenical spirit a bit of both?

Some months ago I went home to my mother's 70th birthday and I realised that the view from the house has changed. My mother has a new partner, a new man in her life (this was quite a profound change for her children to accept!) and her partner has transformed the unruly garden relaying the hedges, coppicing and chopping down the rotten trees. The already beautiful view has been completely opened up, and a new horizon has appeared, new hills can bee seen – that perspective and horizon were previously hidden.

The Spirit of Pentecost blesses the disciples with fire, with words and with understanding. IT changes everything. It offers us also the promise that it will not be through monolithic towers but through the Spirit-filled relational structuring of diversity and messiness that the mother tongue of ecumenism can continue to be shared.
The Spirit is after all the great interpreter and comforter.

Are we ready to receive the new life and new insights in all their diversity that the Spirit offers - granting us a homecoming even when the mother tongue of the gospel and of ecumenism seem foreign to us.

Or would we rather babble at Babel?