Liturgy for World Water Day

A liturgy for World Water Day
This service was put together by Maike Gorsboth of the Ecumenical Water Network

22 March 2010
Worship in the Ecumenical Centre

Welcome

Call to Worship

Holy Spirit, Life-Giver,
Who moved over the waters of creation,
who led your people through the waters of the Red Sea to liberation,
who descended like a dove above the waters of Jesus’ baptism,
draw us together as we gather in your name, seeking replenishment
for your task of repairing the world.


Creator God,
We thank you for your love in all creation,
Especially for your gift of water
to sustain, refresh and cleanse all life.
We ask your blessing on this gathering
as we come together as your people,
bringing our many stories and traditions,
mingling the waters of our experience and our faith.
May we find strength and refreshment in those waters.
Amen

Hymn: A Agua (Simei Monteiro)

Walkerton Water Litany

Creating God, how magnificent are the works of your hands. We remember how
you created the waters of the earth and out of these waters you created life.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We remember how you sent rains upon the earth to cleanse it. We remember how you sent the rainbow as a sign of promise each time it rains.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We remember how you created a new people by having them pass through the sea with a “wall of water on the right and on their left”. We remember how you provided water that was sweet for forty years in the desert.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We remember how the Psalmist called the sheep of his flock to find pasture beside the still waters. We remember how the Prophets announced a time when the wilderness would blossom forth with new life and justice would flow like a mighty river.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We remember how Jesus calmed the waters of Galilee. We remember how he
invited all to come and drink from a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We also remember how the waters of our lands were once pure and clean. We
remember how the lakes and rivers and streams sustained the people. We remember how our ancestors settled along the waterways gaining livelihood from the water.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

But we did forget. We took Your water for granted. We polluted it. We wasted it.
In many places people become sick of it and even die from it.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

Many years will pass and considerable resources will be needed if the waters are to run clean again in our streams, rivers, lakes and oceans.
ALL: Help us, Creating God, to never forget the sacred gift that is water.
Amen.

Prayer of Confession
Let us pray:
Creator of the waters, source of life,
We confess our incapacity to face
the many distortions of our world,
including the misuse of water.
We also confess our tendency
To establish limits to your free gift
Of love for everyone.
Forgive us when we become a disruption
To your kindness and justice.

Silence

Words of Forgiveness
Isaiah 41,17-20
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them, I will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, so that all may see and know, all may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.

New Testament reading:
Luke 4,14-21
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Reflection on the Word

Hymn: You are the spring of water (Trisha Watts, Australia)

Prayers of Intercession

We pray for those who do not have access to safe water and sanitation, who suffer from illness that prevents them from caring for their families, from going to school. We pray for those who cannot afford medical treatment and those who feel that their illness is a burden to their families.
O God, restore the dignity of the oppressed.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

We pray for the women who care for the ill. Who risk being raped as they go to fetch water or while looking for a place to relieve themselves. We pray for the girls who drop out of school upon reaching puberty because of the lack of toilets to protect their privacy and dignity. We pray for the mothers and fathers who lose their children to preventable diseases caused by too little water or polluted water.
O God, heal the sick and bring comfort to those in need.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

O God our Creator, you formed the earth and saw that it was good. You led your people through the waters of the Red Sea to liberation. Today our rivers are being polluted and are drying up. Your gift of water is unequally shared between the rich and the poor. This makes your people thirst.
O God, renew and refresh your people and make all things new.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

We pray for those who live “upstream”: Those who have access to water and other comforts, those who control the earth’s resources, those who wield economic and political power. Grant them wisdom and insight to use your gifts responsibly and to share them freely.
O God of mercy and grace, you make the last to be the first and the first be the last.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

God of all nations, through the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle we pray this week for China, Hong Kong and Macao. We pray for their councils of churches and their efforts towards unity. We pray for the growing numbers of people in China who are resisting the pollution of their water, air, and land for the sake of economic growth.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

We pray for this community. God of all peoples you have brought us together to fellowship in this place, may we make great your name.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer

Sending forth & Benediction

Go now from this service of worship to the service of God’s people near and far, marked by the water of your baptism and refreshed by the living water that Jesus offers to you.
Listen for the parched voices of the least of these; search out the dry places and the arid souls, and become for them a spring of living water, gushing up to eternal life.
And as you go, may the blessings of the God of life, the Christ of love, and the Spirit of grace be upon you this day and forevermore.
Amen

Closing hymn: Healing River (by Fred Hellerman, USA)


Make a stand for water and sanitation!

Today, 22nd March, 12:00
in the entrance hall of the ecumenical center

Join the global Guinness World Record to form the World’s Longest Toilet Queue – in order to raise awareness and show solidarity with the 2.5 billion people who lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation.

Please come, we need a minimum of 25 people to queue for 10 minutes to join in with the record!

Praying for Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - a liturgy

Worship in the Ecumenical Center on 15 March 2010
Praying for Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam
Living together in diversity

Welcome

Song: Tenemos esperanza – Agape 72

Opening prayer
O Dieu qui est bon au-delà de toute bonté,
Beau au-delà de toute beauté,
En qui n’est que calme, paix et concorde ;
Guéris les discordes qui nous séparent les uns des autres
Et ramène-nous dans une unité d’amour,
Qui soit à la ressemblance de la nature divine.
Toi qui es au-dessus de toutes choses,
Crée en nous l’unanimité d’un esprit bienveillant,
Afin que dans l’étreinte de la charité et les liens de l’affection,
Nous soyons spirituellement un,
Tant en nous-mêmes que les uns dans les autres ;
Par ta paix qui répand la paix sur toute chose,
Par la grâce, la miséricorde et la tendresse de ton Fils Jésus Christ. Amen.

Reading : Genesis 12, 1-3
Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

Gospel reading: Luc 10, 29-37
A lawyer stood up and asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’
Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

Prayer
O God, you have spoken to us your divine and saving words.
Illumine the souls of us sinners
to comprehend that which has been read,
that we do not appear simply
as hearers of your spiritual words,
but doers of good deeds,
true pursuers of faith,
having a blameless life
and a conduct without reproach
in Christ our Lord,
with whom you are blessed and glorified,
together with your all-holy and good, and life-giving Spirit,
now and forever and to the ages of ages.
Prayer from the liturgy of St James

Meditation: by Rev. Peter ALOKAN, Nigeria

Intercessions
Lord, we give thanks for the peoples and the Churches in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam: may their testimony of Christian life be a light for their brothers and sisters.
Response: 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.

For love, peace and reconciliation in the life of families, especially those who face difficulties and the threat of brokenness.
Response: O Lord, hear my prayer…

For an end to the violence and poverty that displaces so many people from their homes and homelands. For migrant workers, that they may labor and live in safe and just conditions. For the families and children of migrant workers, that they be reunited.
Response: O Lord, hear my prayer…

For an end to human trafficking, that the dignity of all God's children will be acknowledged and protected. For the law-makers, that they establish and enforce laws that protect the rights and dignity of everyone, especially those most vulnerable.
Response: O Lord, hear my prayer…

For all those who see "home" and all it means disappear behind them; for all those who cannot see a home in the days ahead of them; for all those who dwell in daily insecurity; for all those who are weary and without a safe place to rest their heads; for all families in migration we pray. May the image of the Holy Family fleeing oppression stay with us each night as we are blessed with returning to a home.
May we also be blessed with compassion for those still weary, still seeking, still with so far to go.
Response: O Lord, hear my prayer…

Music from Vietnam

Our Lord’s prayer

Prayer for all faiths (All)
O God, we thank you for the wholeness of the human family:
for people of other faiths and of none, especially those who are our friends and neighbours;
for the rich variety of human experience and the gifts we bring to one another when we meet in a spirit of acceptance and love;
for dialogue in community, and for mutual enrichment and growing understanding;
for movements to establish and sustain the legitimate rights of persons of every religious conviction.
And we pray to you
that people of all faiths may enjoy the freedom to set forth their conviction with integrity and listen to one another in humility; that the Church may perform a reconciling ministry in a world divided by suspicion and misunderstanding, and bring healing to those places where religious intolerance fractures human community; that the Church may bear a true and loving witness to the One it calls Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Final prayer
We are not worthy, Lord, to offer you a hymn of praise for the benefits you have vouchsafed to us, but grant us this also by filling our mouths with praise; and as you have given the grace of prayer to those who ask for it – that we may know for what and how to pray – so now give our lips the power to praise you.

Final Song : Viens et nous bénis (Agape 45)

A liturgy on Daily Bread for international women's day

A liturgy for International Women’s Day
Our Daily Bread, 8 March 2010

Call to Worship
We are gathered in the name of the Nurturing God.
We are called to share our gifts of life, and the symbols
from our different contexts and diverse expressions of spirituality.
God, our Sustainer, feed our bodies with strength and hope.
These symbols serve to remind us of the presence of our relational God, who takes care of creation.
Let us now reflect on these symbols, as we bring forward various experiences, instruments and tools used by women. These women care for our people, nurture our children and preserve life in our communities, creating healing, hope and wellness, even in the midst of despair.
God of Wisdom, we thank you for the breath of life in us.
Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will never forget you. See I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands, your walls are continuously before me. (Isaiah 49: 15-16)

God of Healing, embrace and reconcile us to strengthen our communion in your presence.
Prayer:
Let us pray acknowledging the nurturing God through nursing mothers:
We thank you, creating and nurturing God, for sharing the secrets of creating and nurturing with nursing women. As an expectant mother co-exists with her unborn child, You carry and com-mune with them in ways that only You can. You assure the mother of the certainty of life within her, and the baby of the mystery of life and love.
We want to thank you also for your provision to nursing mothers. We particularly thank you for providing gaat (porridge), prepared from barley flour.
We are grateful for the action of nurturing when women can take; ½ kg barley flour, ½ liter water per 100 g flour, and butter or margarine, pepper, salt, and yoghurt, to make a meal for three people.
For 10 minutes, they put the water in a pan and add a little salt. They add the barley flour gradually to the cold water and stir it energetically to avoid lumps. Stirring all the while, they leave the mixture to cook over medium heat until it becomes solid. They remove it from the stove and put it in a deep plate. Using a spoon, they make a big hole in the middle of the gaat to fill with warm butter (or margarine) pepper, and salt. They mix them together well and put some of the yogurt around the gaat and eat it while it is still hot.
As they do all this, they thank you, God, for sharing such birthing secrets with women.
And thank you also for creating barley and other produce that come from your bounty.
Yet, here we are, often so busy creating theologies and embracing spirituality that tends to overemphasize God’s power as if it were devoid of love and vulnerability.
(Gaat recipe, see LWF cookbook – Food for Life: Recipes and Stories on the Right to Food, p.64)

Response: Kyrie Eleison (Ukraine tune).

Call to Repentance
We acknowledge our inability to embrace the nurturing face of God, and we repent. Our daily ac-tions allow the dominant and powerful to flourish, even as God cares for and nourishes the needy. This practice of upholding the powerful over the vulnerable often leads us to become abusive, vio-lent and destructive, either by acting or by failing to act.
Our pride and incapacity to feel for others makes us too full of ourselves, while at the same time, we are like empty bowls.

Response: Kyrie Eleison (Ukraine tune).

Thanksgiving for God’s Forgiving Mercy
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits—who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
The LORD works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.
The LORD is merciful and gracious; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.
For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.

Psalm 103: 1-3, 6, 8-14.
Assurance of God’s Mercy and Healing
Together we commit ourselves to embrace your loving and nurturing qualities as the standard for our relationship with each other as part of your creation. We will embrace diversity as your divine gift to enrich our perspectives and renewal as we journey together toward transformative and re-storative justice. Yet, there are still some whose diversity is used as a justification for their margi-nalization and exploitation. Therefore, rooted in love, we will allow the Holy Spirit to stir us to restlessness until we seek justice together in all its forms. Go with us, loving, nurturing and just God, we pray.

The healing of our community should include physical healing, as part of our assurance of God’s mercy.
Learn from how the Meru people in Kenya use the njahi (black beans) for the restoration of health for our brothers and sisters who are HIV positive.
The women take a cup full of njahi, two medium size onions, three medium size tomatoes, garlic, and a dash of salt (to taste).
With loving care, the beans are washed and put to boil, until tender. Salt is added. The onions are peeled and garlic is crushed, and both are fried, adding in the tomatoes. The cooked njahi is added to simmer, until the stew is thick and appetizing. The beans can be served with steamed brown rice or ugali (maize meal cake).
We visualize the face of our God in the actions of these nurturing women.

Scripture readings

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: 2 Kings 4: 1-7
Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets the sons of the prophets');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* cried to Elisha, ‘Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.’ ²Elisha said to her, ‘What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?’ She answered, ‘Your servant has nothing in the house, except a jar of oil.’ ³He said, ‘Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbours, empty vessels and not just a few. ⁴Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.’ ⁵So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. ⁶When the vessels were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another vessel.’ But he said to her, ‘There are no more.’ Then the oil stopped flowing. ⁷She came and told the man of God, and he said, ‘Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest.’
New Testament: Matthew 15: 21-28
21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²²Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ ²³But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ ²⁴He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ ²⁵But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ ²⁶He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ ²⁷She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ ²⁸Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

Reflection on the Word - Fulata Mbano Moyo
Desperation as enemy to women's dignity

Intercession Prayers

The Feast of Life
By Elsa Tamez, Mexico/Costa Rica
(Alternately in two groups)
Come on; let us celebrate the supper of the Lord
Let us make a huge loaf of bread
And let us bring abundant wine
Like at the wedding at Cana
Let the women not forget the salt,
Let the men bring along the yeast.
Let many guests come,
The lame, the blind, the cripples, the poor.
Come quickly,
Let us follow the recipe of the Lord
All of us, let us knead the dough together
With our hands
Let us see with joy how the bread grows
Because today
We celebrate
The meeting of the Lord.

(All) Today we renew our commitment to the Kingdom. Nobody will stay hungry.

Leader: We thank you, God, the Source of never ending love and creativity. Fill us with your love and unite us.
Those who don’t eat alone are never hungry
Those who share will receive
(Haiti saying in LWF cookbook – Food for Life: Recipes and Stories on the Right to Food, p. 32)

Bakerwoman God
By Rev. Dr Alla Bozard Campbell
(The Episcopal Church, USA)
Bakerwoman God, I am your living bread.
Strong, brown, Bakerwoman God,
I am your low, soft and being-shaped loaf.
I am your rising bread,
Well-kneaded by some divine and knotty pair of knuckles,
By your warm earth-hands.
I am bread well-kneaded.
Put me in fire, Bakerwoman God,
Put me in your own bright fire.
I am warm, warm as you.
From fire, I am white and gold,
Soft and hard, brown and round.
I am so warm from fire
Break me, Bakerwoman God.
I am broken under your caring Word.
Drop me in your special juice in pieces.
Drop me in blood.
Drunken me in the great red flood
Self-giving chalice, swallow me.
My skin shines in the divine wine.
My face is cup-covered and I drown.
I fall up in a red pool in a gold world
Where your warm sunskin hand is there to catch and hold me.
Bakerwoman God, remake me.

Hymn -“There is a Line of Women”
(John L Bell) (melody: Stand up, stand up for Jesus)

There is a line of women, extending back to Eve
Whose role in shaping history God only could conceive
And though, through endless ages, their witness was repressed
God valued and encouraged then through whom the world was blessed

So sing a song of Sarah to laughter she gave birth
And sing a song of Tamar who stood for women’s worth
And sing a song of Hannah who bargained with her Lord
And sing a song of Mary who bore and bred God’s Word

There is a line of women who took on powerful men
Defying laws and scruples to let life live again
And though, despite their triumph, their stories stayed untold
God kept their number growing, creative strong and bold

So sing a song of Shiphrah with Puah in her hand
Engaged to kill male children they foiled the king’s command
And sing a song of Rahab who sheltered spies and lied
And sing a song of Esther, preventing genocide

There is a line of women who stood by Jesus’ side
Who housed him while he ministered and held him when he died
And though they claimed he’d risen their news was deemed suspect
Till Jesus stood among them, his womanly elect

So sing a song of Anna who saw Christ’s infant face
And sing a song of Martha who gave him food and space
And sing of all the Marys who heeded his requests
And now at heaven’s banquet are Jesus’ fondest guests.

The Lord’s Prayer, each in his or her own language.
Leader: Blessing and Sending
We embrace each other in love, reaching out to each other with our hands; left hand with palm up, in an open hand, which receives from the neighbor, and right hand with palm down, ex-pressing our ability to give to the other. As we hold each other’s hands, we connect ourselves in the web of creation; we celebrate diversity, which brings out the beauty of God, enhanced much more through diversity than through uniformity.
Let us sing and dance!
May all of you come!
Arranged in a file
May you come and dance!
Arranged in a file
May you come without feeling shame!
Well dressed, having adjusted your tarachi,
Having arranged your ornaments,
May you sing and dance!
Grasping one another by the hands
May you dance!
Grasping one another by the hands
May you dance!
Like the swallow which is moving his body to and fro,
Like the hawk, which is making his circles in the air,
May you sing and dance!
(From the Head-Hunters of Western Amazonas)

Closing Hymn – We shall go out with hope of resurrection - Agape 105

A group of women from the Geneva-based church organizations—Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation—jointly prepared this liturgy.

A sermon for international women's day by Fulata Mbano Moyo

Desperation created by systems of inequality as enemy to women’s dignity
A sermon for international women's day by Fulata Mbano Moyo

(2nd Kings 4:1-7 and Matthew 15:21-28)

When my husband, Solomon, was diagnosed with liver cancer on March 16, 1999, I refused to accept it. I determined to trust God for his healing. I restricted my understanding of God’s healing to a cure (restoration of his liver).
As his health deteriorated, I desperately tried any means of ensuring his cure. With a group of Christian friends all over the world we prayed fervently, without ceasing, reciting Psalms 118:17 that Solomon would not die but live to declare the goodness of God. Because of the desperation of
wanting my husband and best friend alive, during that time, I refused to engage with any critical thinking or rationalization. I actually read Scriptures literally. For example, in normal cases I would have been critical and very uncooperative to burning one of my African outfits in the name that it had certain patterns that were demonic and which therefore were blocking God’s
healing power for my husband. I went ahead and burnt my outfit.
Unfortunately, my husband died a few days after that. In retrospect now I am so thankful that I did that otherwise after Solomon’s death, I might have suffered unnecessary guilt on top of the deep pain of his loss.
If you love somebody and that somebody is in ill-health, you are more prone to being desperate for the restoration of their health. The woman we meet in Matthew 15: 21-28, loved her daughter deeply and desperately sought her restoration to health –“rescue from the torment of the demon”. She would try anything that would bring that restoration. The question of dignity and respect was not a priority at this point. Observance of the rules for example keeping away from other ethnic groups as a “Canaanite” (derogatory) was not an option for her. If being compared to a dog (insult) would bring healing to her daughter –“even dogs eat crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Despite her own desperation, she still strategically challenged Jesus
own human bias and insensitivity –“woman great is your faith”.
Hundreds of years after the first women marched in the streets of New York demanding dignity for women, we still live with the reality of many desperate women. Needless to say, patriarchal discrimination has taken more sophisticated expressions as cultures and religions have dynamically moved on. Many factors including social economic gender inequalities, mainly expressed through poverty that sometimes leads to prostitution and other dehumanisation; religio-cultural teachings and attitudes that have deliberately turned divine elements of power in women into disempowering attitudes and beliefs; have pushed women deeper into dehumanisation and loss of self-worth. The question is: as the ecumenical movement how are we
contributing to the restoration of this dignity? Or have we rather justified this dehumanisation through our biased interpretation of our teachings and practices? Let’s critically search ourselves.
Back to my story, on Thursday April 22 1999 my husband went to be with his creator through death. Even after his death, my desperation of restoration to health was expressed in my literal interpretation of the healing of Lazarus in John 11: as I held on to his body, I kept on whispering Jesus prayer of raising Lazarus in his ears. When he did not rise physically my mourning was that of the deep loss of my friend and partner. At that point of pain, I did not even have the capacity to think of the implication of this loss on my sexual life or lack of it. Yet it was not a mourning of desperation for the loss of my family’s means of livelihood. Although I was aware of so many widows whose tears and grieving was not just the loss of their friend but also the desperate cry in the face of the loss of their livelihood - the loss of their social economic status.
The widow who cried to Elisha in 2Kings 4:1-7 was at the verge of losing her two children to slavery because of socio-economic desperation. How many of really decent men and women find themselves in social-economic desperation and have to compromise on their human dignity so as to bring food to their families? In the ecumenical movement what is our commitment to ensuring that every human being lives with dignity and wholeness? How can we enhance and help implement existing processes of hope like the Agape and EHAIA (WCC), Covenanting for Justice in Economy and Ecology (WARC), Food sovereignty campaign (EAA), For the Sake of Life: HIV and AIDS Campaign (LWF)? What about the many creative initiatives by women’s and gender projects within the ecumenical movement like "Men and positive masculinity for partnership", "women’s spirituality of resilience", "healing and wholeness, so as to curb and end
violence against women"?
Elisha consulted with the widow about how to remedy her situation.
The solution to her problems is built on her being part of her community –“borrow vessels from all your neighbours”. She was empowered to pay her debtors as well as to have the dignity of controlling her domestic affairs in the future. How can we go beyond the politics of survival and encourage the community spirit of working together to solve problems of women’s desperation so as to restore their human dignity?
Women are the image of God and their bodies are the sanctuary of God’s spirit. Their dehumanization and disembodiment is a dishonour to their creator.

Copyright: Fulata Mbano Moyo/WCC

An order of service as the Ecumenical Prayer cycle turns to Switzerland, Austria, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Andorra ...

Worship Ecumenical Centre, Monday 1 March 2010

This week the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle invites us to pray for the countries of Andorra, Austria, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland, and for the churches in these countries

This order of service was put together by Rudolf Renfer LWF director of Human resources

Welcome – Invocation

God of the past
Who has fathered and mothered us
We are here to thank you.

God of the future
Who is always ahead of us
We are here to trust you.
God of the present
Here in the midst of us
We are here to praise you.

God of life
Beyond us, within us
We rejoice in your glorious love.

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

Hymn: In Dir ist Freude (stand)
Verse 1 in German, Verse 2 in French, Verse 3 in Italian

Prayer of Repentance and Forgiveness
Spirit of joy, through you, Christ lives in us, and we in Christ.
Forgive us when we forget you and when we fail to live in your joy.
Spirit of God, forgive us, and lead us to life in you.

Esprit d’amour, tu nous lies par amour, à toi-même et à ceux et celles qui nous entourent,
dans les liens de famille, la communauté des amis et à nos places de travail.
Pardonne quand nous faisons tort à ceux et celles que nous aimons
et nous détournons de l’amour de nos amis.
Esprit de Dieu, pardonne-nous et conduis-nous à vivre en toi.

Geist des Leibes Christi, verbinde uns in einer Kirche
durch deine lebensspendende Gnade und Hoffnung.
Vergib uns unser Stückwerk beim Aufbau deiner Kirche
und unser Versagen, deine Liebe in die Welt hineinzutragen.
Geist Gottes, vergib uns und führe uns zum Leben in dir.

As the dove gently settles on the tree, receive the gift of peace.
As the flame rises free with light and warmth, receive the gift of life.
As the wind moves and dances around the earth, receive the gracious gift of the Spirit
Amen
(In Spirit and in Truth, Worship Book WCC Assembly Canberra 1991)

Hymn sung by the Focolare Community

Bible Readings

Psalm 140 - Read in Romansch
Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers; protect me from those who are violent.
who plan evil things in their minds and stir up wars continually.
They make their tongue sharp as a snake’s, and under their lips is the venom of vipers.
Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent who have planned my downfall.
The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net,
along the road they have set snares for me.
I say to the Lord, “You are my God; give ear, O Lord, to voice of my supplications.”
O Lord, my Lord, my strong deliverer, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; do not further their evil plot.
Those who surround me lift up their heads; let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
Let burning coals fall on them! Let them be flung into pits, no more to rise!
Do not the slanderer be established in the land; let evil speedily hunt down the violent!
I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the needy, and executes justice for the poor.
Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall live in your presence.

Luke 13, 4 - 5
“Those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

Sermon: Risk, chance, crisis ... Rudolf Renfer

Hymn sung by the Focolare Community

Prayer of intercession
Lord, our God,
We thank you that any crisis is not only a risk, but also a chance.
We thank you that human disasters are not a fatality and that its consequences have nothing to do with punishment or disobedience.
We thank you to show us how and where we can repent, how and where we can assume our responsibilities and struggle for the justice of the poor.

We pray today for Andorra, Austria, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland, privileged small countries in Europe. We pray that their high standard of living will allow them to be examples of justice and good behavior among the nations of the world. We pray for the churches in these countries who live with a tradition of many centuries of Christian faith and service.

We pray for the ecumenical movement and for all organizations in this house. Give them the wisdom to assume the risks and to grasp the chances, in order to see any crisis as an opportunity for improving their witness and presence among the churches in the societies all over the world.

And we pray with the words of Nikolaus von Flüe, a Swiss monk of the 15th century:

You, my Lord and my God,
Give me all that leads me to you.
You, my Lord and my God,
Take away from me, all that separates me from you.
You, my Lord and my God,
Take me away from myself and offer me entirely to you.

The Lord’s prayer (said by each in our own language)

Hymn “Nada te turbe” (stand)
Verse 1 in Spanish, 2 in German, 3 in Italian

Blessing
O Lord, you have mercy on all,
take away from us our sins,
and mercifully set us ablaze
with the fire of your Holy Spirit.
Take away from us the heart of stone,
and give us a human heart, a heart to love and adore you,
a heart to delight in you,
to follow and enjoy you,
for Christ’s sake.


Hymn sung by the Focolare Community

Chance and risk - a sermon by Rudolf Rennfer

Chance and Risk - a sermon by Rev. Rudolf Renfer director of Human Resources at the Lutheran World Federation
This sermon was preached on 1 March 2010, the gospel text was the tower of Siloam falling down and killing 18 people. You can find the full liturgy here. A choir of 75 members of the Focolari movement also joined us for the service.
Perhaps "opportunity and risk" or opportunity and danger may work better for you that "chance and risk" but I think the meaning is clear.


It seems that in Chinese you use quite often two ideograms which separately mean one thing,
and together something else, but in relation with the two previous ones.
The ideograms on this worship sheet mean (above) “risk” and below “chance”. Together,
they express the concept of “crisis”.
In this context, I want to tell you an old story from China that I heard some time ago.
On the country side of rural China, a father offers a horse to his son who just got of age.
So the men from the village come to see the father and tell him:
“What a chance he has, your son, with such a wonderful horse.”
And the father answers:
“Maybe it is a good chance, maybe it is high risk.”
Some weeks later, the son comes back to the village with his horse, together with a wild horse that he was able to capture, a rare event.
So the men from the village come to see again the father and comment:
“What a chance for your son to capture such a wonderful wild animal.”
And the father replies: “Maybe it is a good chance, maybe it is a high risk.”
Some weeks later, when trying to tame the wild horse, the son falls down from his own horse
and breaks his leg, which is a tragedy in an isolated Chinese village.
So the men from the village come to see again the father and they complain:
“What a bad luck for your son, will he recover with his broken leg?”
And the old peasant answers:
“Maybe it is a high risk and bad luck, maybe it is a good chance.”
Some weeks later, a group from the army enters into the village and takes away all the young
men who can serve to fight on the battlefields. But one young man remains in the village; the
one with his broken leg.
So the men from the village come back to the peasant and comment again:
“What a chance he had your son not to be taken by the army.”
And the father says again:
“Maybe it is a good chance, maybe it is a high risk.”
As I said before: “Chance” and “risk” together in Chinese mean “crisis”. In fact, every
decisive moment in any life is a moment of crisis.
Every crisis has a chance and contains a risk.
We are praying this week, amongst other countries, for Switzerland. During decades, Switzerland has been seen as a blessed country, almost like a kind of biblical place where milk and honey flows. Everything works well, there is such a high standard of living, people are so friendly, and they make such wonderful chocolate and watches and cuckoo clocks and other clichés. But for several years, this image is vanishing, and the country is in the middle of a crisis, I would say mainly an identity crisis.
Look at the Swiss banking system and all these things that have happened behind the scenes
for many years in order to increase gains and profits, without respecting ethical principles, and these were all so friendly and nice Swiss people who did it.
Look at these dirty negotiations about secret bank accounts and names of French, American and German bank clients in Switzerland, and Swiss banks encouraging them to tax evasion.
Look at this incredible saga of two Swiss citizens detained as hostages in Libya, and the Swiss government who has lost any capacity of negotiation, leading finally the president of Libya to his stupid declaration of a jihad, due to the vote refusing the construction of minarets, where Switzerland has lost most of its credibility, and where some very unfriendly and narrow minded anti-islamic ideas become the majority view.
This is a crisis.
Look also at the ecumenical movement, at the organizations where we are working. Of course, there were always attacks from outside and from inside against the WCC and some of its positions, declarations and statements. But in general, it was a respected movement and
supported by the member churches. And now it seems that there is no more trust, that the churches and their agencies don’t see anymore a deep sense of what we are doing in this
house, and there is pressure on funding, on programmes, on staff. And even if we maintain the
hope that declaring this as a winter time where we can do a lot of things inside the house, and
that it is a good occasion for reorientation, we need to know that spring will be coming one day and that we have to get out of the impression of being in the middle of a crisis.
Or look at ourselves, at our own lives, at our chances and risks. Look at the moments we have
been going through or we are now confronted with, in our families, with our friends, at our workplace, with our neighbors, and we realize that life is full of crisis.
I would like to repeat that each crisis has a chance and contains a risk. The risk is to get used
to the critical remarks, to feel resigned and to conclude that in the end, nothing or almost nothing
can be done to reverse the situation. How can you convince member churches or agencies
that we are better than what they think of us? We are such a reduced number of staff, our
efforts did not show many results. Let’s do what we can, but without any illusions. This is a
risk indeed.
But the crisis has also a chance. It allows us to reflect on ourselves, to reorient our action, to
re-centre our activities, to learn from failure. Let’s be convinced that what we are doing and
living is full of meaning, will bring us forward and will overcome negative experience. What
sometimes might have the aspect of a tragedy, like the broken leg of the young Chinese man, can
suddenly be a blessing for a life and give new chances for survival.
In our biblical text from the Gospel of Luke, the disciples come to see Jesus and mention to
him the destruction and collapse of a tower at the city wall of Jerusalem, killing eighteen
persons. They ask him: Is this a fatality, and act of God, like the earthquake in Haiti or now in Chile was a terrible fatality? Were these victims more sinful than any other habitants of Jerusalem? Jesus clearly answers that there is no link between the causes (like an accident) and the effects.
However, what is important is to pay attention to what is happening in the world and to find
out where our responsibilities lie. Each "fatality" is an occasion for repentance. In other words:
obviously there has not been a good prevention when building the tower in Siloam. There has
not been enough consideration for the Haitian people for decades, and the risk that they
would suffer just another catastrophe was left too high.
So let’s look at the chances in a context in Switzerland where economic and political networking is based on justice and transparency and not on fraud and evasion.
Let’s look at the chances to open new spaces for the ecumenical movement where collaboration, confidence building and concrete new steps will be possible.
Let’s take the crisis as an extraordinary occasion for new departures, even if each occasion
implies a new risk.
Let’s be open to Christ’s call for a responsible way of using the opportunities in our lives.
Let’s repent, reorient ourselves, look ahead and start again, in order not to perish.
Not as a theoretical approach, but as a challenge for our daily important and nitty gritty work,
as the Chinese peasant said:
“Maybe it is a good chance; maybe it is a high risk.”
Amen

Copyright (c) Rudolf Renfer/LWF