Welcoming of the stranger. Inclusive of all people. Sharing the faith journey together. Informal and friendly Christian community..
Author: Margaret Reeson
Matthew 28:16-20
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
It is really hard to say goodbye to people you love. Have you ever waited at an airport, or a railway station, waiting for that last moment when you have a final hug and walk away? Nothing seems important enough to say. You would like to say something memorable, but you just seem to talk about the weather.
[Read more…]Reflection
In the beginning
God gathered God’s self together
to create the universe,
fashioning with goodness the sky
with its galaxies and constellations,
its suns and moons,
its light and darkness.
And there was some fun and mischief along the way
as God messed about with incredible light shows
and sent the planets into orbit
and played around with tides and seasons
and day and night.
And then God created the earth
with its mountains and valleys,
its oceans and streams,
its continents separated by vast seas and deserts,
its forests and ice caps
and plains of fertile land.
And God enjoyed attending to detail
the bumps and the curves,
the flow from one landscape to the next,
the separation of water from land
and earth from sky.
And God loved that beautiful world
and wanted to share it.
So God created animals
for the hills and the plains,
for the sky and the sea,
for above and below the earth,
each with a place and, largely, a purpose.
And then, with a flourish,
involving dust and breath,
God created human beings
who would care for all of creation,
for all that God had made
and who would be co-workers with God
in nurturing and sustaining creation.
God saw that it was good
and delighted in all of creation.
As it was in the beginning, so it is now.
God delights in us.
Desiring nothing more than relationship,
Inviting us to be part of
the divine dance:
the dance of Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.
God invites us to be caught up
in the mystery that is God…
Instead, we spend our time
trying to unravel that mystery.
We tie ourselves in knots
instead of enjoying the different kind of knowing
that is offered by God;
we distance ourselves
rather than entering into relationship;
we ponder how we can change the world
when God’s invitation is simply to dance…
In that dance we discover compassion
that moves us to care for creation.
In that dance we discover anger
that fuels us to root out injustice.
And, in that dance
we discover freedom
made up of Love, Joy,
Peace, Patience, Goodness,
Faithfulness, Gentleness,
the fruits of God-control,
the elements of the dance
that sustain the world.
God’s laughter and delight
and tears and compassion
form the rhythm that draws us in
and sends us out
to dance.
This week’s Home Brewed Worship provides you all a number of ways to enter into prayer and to explore the story from Acts. If you’re at home with family, a partner, a friend or a spouse please consider working through some of this with them. If you’re alone, consider phoning someone else and inviting them to join you in worship.
A special thanks to Margaret and Pauline for the liturgy and prayers throughout the material in the order of service for people at home.
Carve out some space sacred space in your home, perhaps you have candle, some colourful material, a cross, a bible, some pictures of the world, artwork or images of Jesus…
You don’t need to use all of this material, nor do you need to do it all in one sitting, perhaps some of these prayers and music can travel with you throughout the week. Use the material as part of daily exercises, music to carry you through the week, reflections to ponder as you walk or stay at home.
For some your focus may be to hear the gospel preached, others the gospel sung, while others may want to find a practice that they can enter into over the course of the week to make space for the Holy Spirit to work on us.
Here’s an order of service curated by Margaret Reeson for people worshipping at home
Here are some resources for families to explore the story and faith together at home.
A Blessing & Sending for Pentecost
Prayers of Intercession by Ron Reeson
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
John 20:19-23
Here is a playlist of music that explores the scripture from this week, there are a lot of Holy Spirit songs.
What are your favourite Spirit songs? Can you send them in and we’ll add them to our playlist.
This week there are two reflections, one on the birth of the church and our annual prayer for renewal and revival, the other invites you to imagine God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit artistically.
If you go the artistic route I invite you to consider sending in your creations, if you sculpt, collage, paint, sketch, etch, mould, write poetry or build please show us your creations.
If you go the route of reflecting on renewal and revival then perhaps you may like to email in your own prayer for revival, let us know what you’re praying for this week.
Wanting to bring some colour into your homes?
Godly Play is a multi sensory storytelling practice inviting the hearer to enter into the story and wonder. This story invites us to reflect on the Holy Spirit.
I’ve admired the work of Sue Wallace for a long time now, she has been a creative community leader in the church in the UK working on multimedia and multi sensory worship.
This week Sue has curated a series of stations reflecting on the Holy Spirit. You can access each of the stations this week on youtube on the Stations Of The Spirit channel. Perhaps you might find the time to interact with each station every day of the week.
The Bar Theology series is a great way to dip your toes into some deep theological conversations. Over a couple of drinks Dr. Walter Brueggemann, Bishop Thomas Breidenthal & the Reverend Jane Gerdsen engage in a Q&A theological conversation. This short piece includes a conversation on the Holy Spirit.
The Bible Project created a number of resources exploring the Holy Spirit including other videos, podcasts and study notes.
The Bible For Normal People Podcast recently released an episode focused on The Holy Spirit.