An order of morning prayer based on 1 John 1:1-4

MORNING PRAYER
Tuesday 14 September 2010
This order was compiled by Theodore A Gill

Opening Sentences
Clap your hands, all you peoples, shout to God with loud songs of joy.
God is king over all the nations. God sits upon the highest throne. Amen.

Hymn 20: “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”: first verse, in German (1), English (2)

Scripture reading: 1 John 1:1-4
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen
with our own eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. This life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. We have declared to you what we have
seen and heard so that you may also have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

A Time of Prayer: response 156 “O Lord, Hear My Prayer”

Almighty God… …Lord, hear our prayer.
O Lord, hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my prayer, when I call, answer me.
O Lord, hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my prayer, come and listen to me.

Christ, our Redeemer… …Lord, hear our prayer.
Gott, hör mein Gebet, Gott, hör mein Gebet: komm und er-höre mich.
Gott, hör mein Gebet, Gott, hör mein Gebet: komm und erhöre mich.

Spirit of Life and Love and Peace… …Lord, hear our prayer.
Entends ma prière, entends ma prière: Seigneur viens, écoute-moi.
Entends ma prière, entends ma prière: Quand j’appelle, réponds-moi.

The Lord’s Prayer / Vater Unser – each person prays in his or her own native language

Blessing:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you now, and remain with you always.
AMEN.

An order for morning prayer based on Proverbs 31

Morning prayer
Ecumenical chapel, Geneva
15 September 2010
This order of service was compiled by Theodore Gill

Proverbs 31: 8-9: A voice for the voiceless
Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute.
Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Thuma Mina number 150: “Lumière de Dieu”

Prayer for illumination (from In God’s Hands: the ecumenical prayer cycle)
May the God of peace bless the reading of these words, that God’s Word
may dwell in us richly, and that we may bear fruit to Christ’s glory. Amen.

Proverbs 31: 13-20: A woman of noble character
She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food from far away.
She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household
and tasks for those who serve her.
She considers a field, and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff and spins, and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches out her hand to the needy.

“Huswifery” by Edward Taylor (1644?–1729)
Make me, O Lord, thy Spining Wheele compleate.
Thy Holy Worde my Distaff make for mee.
Make mine Affections thy Swift Flyers neate.
And make my Soule thy holy Spoole to bee.
My Conversation make to be thy Reele
And reele the yarn thereon spun of thy Wheele.

Make me thy Loome then, knit therein this Twine:
And make thy Holy Spirit, Lord, winde quills:
Then weave the Web thyselfe. The yarn is fine.
Thine Ordinances make my Fulling Mills.
Then dy the same in Heavenly Colours Choice,
All pinkt with Varnisht Flowers of Paradise.

Then cloath therewith mine Understanding, Will,
Affections, Judgment, Conscience, Memory
My Words, and Actions, that their shine may fill
My wayes with glory and thee glorify.
Then mine apparel shall display before yee
That I am Cloathd in Holy robes for glory.

Prayer (from In God’s Hands: the ecumenical prayer cycle)
[Our prayers today come from the regions of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.]

O my Lord Jesus Christ, I have nowhere to turn except to you.
You are the only One who can heal me and who can cleanse me of my wounds.
You are the only One who can save me from feeling trapped!

We thank you, our Lord, that we may call upon you, when we are down,
when we’ve made mistakes and done things wrong from which there seems no way out.
Help us to return to you in prayer, convinced that you do not despise us.
Light the lamp of your holy word, and raise in us the dawn of your grace.
Show the right path to us, your poor servants, so that we may walk your path.
Rise before us as the morning sun, so that we may serve you with a clear vision.

We thank you, Lord, that in your word we find comfort and restoration.
We thank you that your forgiveness is not limited
and that we may live as your forgiven and forgiving people.
Help us to create a fellowship within the churches where forgiveness prevails,
where human lives are restored and where acceptance is the norm.

By the power of your Holy Spirit, help us to be ambassadors of your grace.
Help us to forgive those who have sinned against us,
whether or not they seek our pardon.
Make us faithful participants in your mission to the world,
setting up signs of hope, love, peace and justice everywhere on earth.

Hear our prayers for the whole world, Lord… have mercy upon us, and upon all.
And hear us as we pray this week for the people and churches in
Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.

We lift our prayers to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, One God.
O Triune God, bless our works and bless this world!

The Lord’s Prayer: spoken in the language of one’s choice

Thuma Mina 150: “Lumière de Dieu”

Sending and Blessing
Go out in peace, to love and serve the Lord.

And the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with us and remain with us always.
Alleluia! Amen.

A sermon on unnecessary theology - and much else besides - by Theodore Gill

Meditation on Psalm 14 and Jeremiah 4:22-28
Ecumenical Chapel, Geneva, Monday 13 September 2010
Rev. Theodore A. Gill, Jr.


“Theology is unnecessary, says physicist Stephen Hawking”. Or so reported the bottom-of-the-screen crawl on CNN International.

Saturday was a tough day on Theology, so far as CNN was concerned. My wife and I were visiting Zermatt for the weekend, discovering for ourselves whether the Matterhorn actually resembles a piece of Toblerone. In the event, we found it to be even more beautiful than we imagined.

But we are descended from northern Europeans, so we had to retreat from the bright mountain sunlight at regular intervals. Several of those times, we clicked on CNN.

In the morning, Central European Time, there was Professor Hawking’s interview with Larry King in which he dismissed the discipline of Theology as irrelevant to a contemporary understanding of cosmology. How did the universe(s) come into being? – no need for any theologian’s opinion!

Then there was the “theology” of the Reverend Terry Jones, the fundamentalist pastor in Jacksonville, Florida who was threatening to burn Korans that September 11th. And CNN covered many of the ceremonies in memory of “9/11” in 2001, when followers of another theology wrought their violence on New York, Washington and, as it turned out, a field in Pennsylvania. (One has to concede that there are brands of theology that are beyond “unnecessary”, theologies that we’d all be better off without.)

Throughout the day on Saturday there were CNN stories on the pope’s visit to the UK during this coming week, stories filled with harshly critical interviews. And finally, in the evening when it seemed safe to tune into CNN again, we encountered was a whole episode of “The World’s Untold Stories” focusing on Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople; the title of that report was “The Last Patriarch?”

A tough day for Theology. Much better P.R. for Science, which apparently has now solved the riddle of Creation without an assist from a Creator.

But I can’t help wondering whether the headline “Theology is unnecessary, says Hawking” will go down in the annals of journalism with “The end of history, says Fukuyama”. You remember “the end of history”, just after the Berlin Wall came down? But then, there was September 11, 2001…

And I also wondered: Whatever became of humility? And whatever became of Thomas Kuhn?

Twenty or thirty years ago, the academy found it hard to talk at all without speaking in terms of “paradigm shifts”. Thomas Kuhn, the author of that concept and of the book in which it appeared, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”, was reluctant to apply his idea to the social sciences. Kuhn was a physicist and a historian of science, and he was attempting to describe the development of scientific theories and worldviews – exactly the sort of thing that Hawking is now advancing.

David Bosch, the late South African missiologist, described Kuhn’s central thesis in his (Bosch’s) book “Transforming Mission” (p.184):

“In a nutshell, Kuhn’s suggestion is that science does not really grow cumulatively (as if more and more knowledge and research bring us ever closer to final solutions of problems), but rather by way of ‘revolutions’. A few individuals begin to perceive reality in ways qualitatively different from their predecessors and contemporaries, who are practicing ‘normal science’. The small group of pioneers sense that the existing scientific model is riddled with anomalies and is unable to solve emerging problems. They then begin to search for a new model or theoretical structure, or (Kuhn’s favorite term) a new ‘paradigm’, one that is, as it were, waiting in the wings, ready to replace the old… This seldom happens without a struggle, however, since scientific communities are by nature conservative and do not like their peace to be disturbed; the old paradigm’s protagonists continue for a long time to fight a rearguard action.”

And this has happened again and again. Each time, the “rearguard” has held a conviction that their worldview is the final truth, whether it be Copernican, Newtonian, Einsteinian… …or “M-theory”? The history of science has not succeeded in reaching its “end”, any more than history itself ended with the dissolution of the Soviet empire.

Whatever became of humility? It’s the sort of question the biblical prophets raised. In Jeremiah’s prophecy, he recognized the potential for disaster in the arrogant foolishness of his people and their leaders. He described a vision of horrific ugliness – an ugliness that was “waiting in the wings” unless his people changed their ways.

This vision in Jeremiah 4 was one of the inspirations that led Paul Tillich to write “The Shaking of the Foundations”. Along with passages from Isaiah, the Jeremiah text inspired Tillich at the beginning of the nuclear age. Here a theologian looked askance at the harvest of modern science and engineering, and particularly at the work of physicists – theoretical and practical.

Reason – so fundamental, so necessary in many ways to the human project – had led, among other things, to the Reign of Terror. Paul Tillich asked: Where may Science lead, in the absence of humility?

Tillich was a pioneer in the use of aesthetics as a dimension of Theology. I sense that what appalled him most in Jeremiah’s vision was the sheer ugliness of it all. Humanity is given the gift of the Matterhorn, of alpine meadows and long sunshiny weekends – but at best stays indoors watching CNN, and at worst trends toward shaking the foundations of earth and its beauty.

One of the questions that arises repeatedly in discussion of Stephen Hawking’s position is this: Why is there something, rather than nothing? Turning from television and looking out the window at the Matterhorn, I wondered: Why is there beauty instead of ugliness?

And the words of a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the 19th-century transcendentalist, came back to me. It is called “The Rhodora” and describes a wildflower growing far from human habitation. The subtitle of the poem is “On being asked, whence is the flower?”

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.


In former days, Jesus came out of the wilderness, and he said: “Behold, the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent, and believe the good news.”

Is “Theology” necessary? I don’t know. I really don’t. I suppose it depends on your goal.

But I do know that repentance is necessary. Humility is necessary. Careful – “care-full” – thought is necessary.

And… Beauty is to be desired, and affirmed, wherever we find it.

Copyright (c) Theodore A. Gill, Jr./WCC

Live love laugh ...

This service was put together in memory of colleague Suzanne Tomaiuoli who took her own life in a moment of despair just a year ago ...

Worship in the Ecumenical Centre 6 September 2010
Live Love Laugh
Carrying hope forwards

In the beginning was the word
Am Anfang war das Wort
Au commencement était la parole
Musical Prelude

Words of welcome and call to worship

We rise to praise God and sing "Shine Jesus shine"
Lord, the light of Your love is shining,
In the midst of the darkness, shining;
Jesus, Light of the world, shine upon us,
Set us free by the truth You now bring us,
Shine on me, shine on me.

Chorus
Shine, Jesus, shine,
Fill this land with the Father's glory;
Blaze, Spirit, blaze,
Set our hearts on fire.
Flow, river, flow,
Flood the nations with grace and mercy;
Send forth Your word,
Lord, and let there be light.

As we gaze on Your kingly brightness
So our faces display Your likeness.
Ever changing from glory to glory,
Mirrored here may our lives tell Your story.
Shine on me, shine on me.

Chorus

Prayer

A lament sung in Maori

From Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
O hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice!
Sing "Come Holy Spirit"

Litany of Repentance and Assurance of Pardon

While we live, we are always being given up to death.
Lord, to whom should we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Almighty God: Your love never fails,
and you can turn the shadow of death into daybreak.
We confess that we are slow to accept your promises,
and we are easily overcome by mourning.
We do not love as we ought to love, nor do we succeed in living as you command.
Lord God, have mercy upon us. Forgive us our sin and raise us to new life.
Grant that we may be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that we may live to serve you.
Help us to love our neighbours as ourselves, and to enter into the joy of your presence.

Sing Come Holy Spirit

Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us,
Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us.
Hear and believe the good news of the gospel:
God is love, and in Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Thanks be to the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Amen.

Sing: Hale Hale Hale luja

Reading Numbers 11:10-15
Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child”, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, “Give us meat to eat!” I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favour in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.’

Sing: Hale Hale Hale luja

Reading 2 Corinthians 1:1-11
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, 11as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted to us through the prayers of many.

Sing Here I am Lord

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
My hand will save.

Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?

Chorus

I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
Whom shall I send?

Chorus

Sermon

Musical interlude

Prayers of the people
When Suzanne died she had been knitting with this beautiful threed shot through with gold. the note she left was found underneath the knitting. Somehow even in her despair she had picked up the thread again. As we pray for her family and loved ones, as we pray for ourselves and the world, we also try to pick up the thread of life and meaning.
During these prayers and the singing those who wish to may light a candle and take some barley seeds to plant as signs of hope and new life.

Sing: Mayenziwe

God of life we thank you for all you give us;
We thank you for all that we have to eat and drink,
for the work of our hands and the work of our minds
for creative thought and caring action.
We thank you for those whose unseen toil contributes to the fabric of our society.

Sing: Mayenziwe

God of consolation,
Today we give thanks for our families, friends and colleagues
Remembering all who have died and giving especial thanks for the life of Suzanne, her work and witness in this place and beyond.
We pray for all who grieve her - remembering her mother, sisters and daughters;
praying also for ourselves.
May we learn to listen to those who grieve and are in pain.
Help us to share what we have to fulfil your command to love others
as we love ourselves.

Sing: Mayenziwe

God of justice, we pray for those who are facing an uncertain future
because of floods or drought
because of war and natural disaster
because of trade restrictions, corruption and lack of resources.
We pray for the people of Pakistan,
for the people and churches in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia

Sing: Mayenziwe

Time for silent prayer

Sing: Mayenziwe

The Lord's Prayer said in our different languages

Musical interlude

Et maintenant ces trois choses demeurent: la foi, l'espérance et l'amour

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
and the greatest of these is love.

Live love laugh …

The Blessing

Sing: Siyahamba