Suggestion: ’Refresh’ each page before reading to make sure to get my latest edition
‘The Other Lectionary’ is a suggested ‘southern hemisphere’ Lectionary (with a few Resources added) offered in parallel to,
or even replacement of, the RCL which is in standard use by many.
A GATHERING LITURGY FOR THE
CELEBRATION OF LIFE
“...in the end the universe can only be explained in terms of celebration.
It is all an exuberant expression of existence itself”f”
15 June 2025. Trinity C/All Heretics Day. (White).
Acknowledgement of Country/First Peoples
(An act towards reconciliation)
For thousands of years Indigenous people have walked
in this land, on their own country.
Their relationship with the land is at the centre of their lives.
We acknowledge the (NN) People of the (NN) Nation, past, present, and emerging leaders,
and their stewardship of this land throughout the ages.
First Peoples Statement to the Nation 2017 is called “Uluru Statement from the Heart”
A Response from Common Dreams5 Conference of Religious Progressives,
Australia/South Pacific 2019
Both available in Affirmations/Manifestoes
And we recognise and give thanks that we humans
are creatures of the Earth living in the ecosystem
—flowers, trees and insects; land, waters and mountain range—
that is unique to (NN).
May we honour one another and honour life itself.
(NN) is a safe place for all people to worship regardless of
race, creed, age, cultural background or sexual orientation
GATHERING
Rich and Striking Visuals
“The function of beauty… is to make us aware of a reality which is richer and deeper
and more marvellous than anything we can dream or conceive.” (Henry N. Wieman)
Artwork OR Floral/Symbols display (cloths, candles, stones, wood, leaves, flowers, earth, water) OR projection of Film/Video
Gathering Music
Entry into the Celebration
The gong is sounded three times
v2 'Today is a day the Lord has made', says an old religious writer,
'let us therefore rejoice and be glad in it'.
v1 It is indeed! It is also good to be together again!
For it is a sacred time, this.
And a sacred place, this.
So let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life.
Lighting of Community Candle
The Community Candle is lit
We light this flame to honour our past.
We light this flame to endorse our present.
We light this flame to symbolise our future.
Note: Check out 'Special Liturgies’ (this site) for the following:
(i) A suggested process for introducing new hymns is called Hymn of the Month
(ii) Additional Special Purpose Hymns cover major international events or themes. They include these categories: 1. Bush (Brush) Fire, 2. Tsunami, Storms/Cyclones, 3. Earthquakes, 4. War/Remembrance, 5. Caregiving, 6. God as Mother, 7. Human Trafficking, 8. Disabled, 9. Migration/Refugees, 10. Terrorist Attacks, 11. Science/Cosmology
(iii) Specific resources on Terrorism
(iv) On Wonder, Awe, and Nature
Hymn/Song The people stand as they are able, to sing
“Song of Celebration” (Tune: ‘Keith’, 11.10.11.10) 113 SSCL
For this world we sing our song of highest praise,
For labor, for the fellowship of life.
Here we celebrate the beauty of our days,
And all their splendid avenues of love.
We have looked upon the earth, the hills and sky,
And know this place to be our native home;
Here it is that we will live our passing years
Through all the thousand centuries to come.
Add the strength of wood and steel to flesh and bone,
Until all power and pity, like the sun,
Shine in comfort and in plenty on [us all],
To make the races and the nations one. (Kenneth L. Patton)
OR
“The Silent Stars” (Tune: ‘Surrey’, 88.88.88) 7 RP
The silent stars, the turning globe,
the rivers rushing to the sea;
the certain rising of the sun,
all witness to God's sovereignty;
yet human values shift and drift.
God's wisdom is the greater gift.
Our human toil is wearisome,
while those who die are lost to mind.
Our great endeavours turn to dust,
there's nothing new for us to find.
We chase for rainbows through the rain
and own a deeper loss than gain.
Then what remains for us to do,
what satisfying task or scheme
will fill this endless stream of days,
will help us sound a greater theme?
God give us wisdom, knowledge, joy.
Plant hope that nothing can destroy. Andrew Pratt
Remain standing
Opening Sentences
We live at mystery's edge
watching for a startling luminescence
or a word to guide us.
All In fragile occurrence the Holy One presents oneself
and we must pause...
Daily, there are glimmers, reflections of a seamless mercy
revealed in common intricacies.
All These circles of grace spill out around us
and announce that we are part of this mystery. KWehlander
Words of Awareness
The earth turning…
Exploding orb of helium and hydrogen,
firing our lives into existence.
We are here.
We mindfully take our places in life again.
Imagine… we are one, connected, human family.
Be and know that you are the ones the world awaits.
Each of you here and now:
a difference,
a beautiful presence.
Each… of you (Adapt.Bob Kleinheksel/C3Exch).
OR
We pray:
Holy One of many names,
whose presence we most often recognise only in retrospect,
bless us this day.
May it be so.
Hymn/Song "Celebrate a New Day Dawning" (Tune: ‘Joyful Joyful’)
Celebrate a new day dawning,
sunrise of a golden morn;
Christ Sophia dwells among us,
glorious visions now are born,
Equal partners 'round the table,
we make dreams reality;
Calling out our gifts we nurture
hope beyond all we can see.
Christ Sophia lights the pathway
to a world of harmony;
Sister Brother love surrounds us,
nourishing our synergy.
Earth joins in our rich communion,
grateful for our healing care;
Leaping deer and soaring eagles,
all earth's fullness now can share.
Sing a song of jubilation,
dance with joyous revelry,
Clapping trees and laughing rivers
join our call to liberty.
Free at last to blossom fully,
flow'ring forth in beauty bright.
We become a new creation,
bursting open into light. JAldredge-Clanton/ctl
The people sit after the hymn
Welcome
Or in your own words
A warm welcome is extended to all.
Especially those who are gathering at (NN) for the first time
or who have returned after an absence.
Your presence both enriches us and this time of celebration together.
Refer to printed liturgy.
Fellowship hour following the Gathering
Those visiting, please sign our Visitors book.
Meditation
“The One who Brings Life out of Barrenness”
By John & Norma Brown. Images of God/22.
Sarah, Rachel, Ruth, Elizabeth,
carried within them - nothing.
Women of worth,
women of faith,
empty, hopeful, hopeless.
Then God spoke, and barren wombs swelled with life.
Out of darkness new life sprang into the light of day.
Moans of lament became shouts of joy to God
who brings life out of death.
It is ever so.
God's promises of life come to us
in our barrenness
and our deaths,
calling us to a faith that waits in hope
that acts on God's promises
that empowers with love for the world…
faith in the one who rolled away the stone
and released into the world eternal life.
Centering Silence
Centering prayer and meditation are age-old techniques to put us in touch with what Jesus called ruah in Aramaic, the holy breath, a living and animating field that gives birth to the self, seed, storm and stellar nebulae…
In this time of silence may we move
from busy-ness to quietness...
(Silence)
God of life
God of peace
God of wonders that will not cease...
Present with us now.
(Silence)
Music of Reflection
EXPLORING
Wisdom from the World/Religious Traditions
“Wisdom is not just special knowledge about something. Wisdom is a way of being, a way of inhabiting the world.
The beauty of wisdom is harmony, belonging and illumination of thought, action, heart and mind.” (John O’Donohue)
Reader: Into the silence of our hopes and dreams,
words work upon us to break, crack, open us
to new understanding.
All May we experience, in these words,
a seeking after truth, that we may lift ourselves
to this same desire. (Gretta Vosper/ab)
• Proverbs 8:22-23, 27-31 (Inclusive Text)
The Wisdom of God cries aloud:
You, my God, created me when your purpose first unfolded,
before the oldest of your works.
From everlasting I was firmly set,
from the beginning,
before earth came into being…
When you fixed the heavens firm, I was there;
when you drew a ring on the surface of the deep;
when you thickened the clouds above;
when you assigned the sea its boundaries… and
when you laid down the foundations of the earth,
I was by your side,
a unique craftswoman,
delighting you day after day…
delighting to be among the human family.
OR
• “Tradition and Faith2”
An extract by Roy W. Hoover. From “Tradition and Faith in a New Era” in
The Jesus Seminar (ed). The Future of the Christian Tradition. Santa Rosa. Polebridge Press, 2007
Those who insist upon the unaltered retention of traditional forms of religious understanding and language and who retreat from the challenge posed by the actual world after Galileo want to direct the Christian community into the confines of a sacred grotto, an enclosed, religiously defined world that is brought completely under the control of scripture and tradition; and they want to turn the ordained clergy into antiquities dealers. This is the only course open to those who regard it as necessary for Christians to live within the world of their sacred texts and in submission to the authority of their tradition. The irony is that the Judeo-Christian tradition can be a resource for an enlightened faith in our time only if its heirs live outside of its sacred texts rather than inside them. By outside of them I mean: see them as texts to be read in the light of an historical and global context, not in the blinkered light of a Christian grotto that is isolated from new knowledge and the wisdom that may be derived from that new knowledge.
Withdrawing from the actual world into an ethnic or religious grotto in order to preserve the purity and power of a tradition is a tragic miscalculation. A cave is the most unsafe place for a religious tradition to be: at worst it will entomb the tradition; at best it will preserve it only as an archaeological relic.
OR
• “Life”
By Fredric John Muir. Heretics’ Faith/130
Nature, the Cosmos—let’s call it Life with a capital “L’— is prejudiced toward a balance or harmony which It determines.
Because we a part of that process, we also can flourish. In this sense then, there is Life outside of ourselves, and yet we—and other creatures—are all a part of this life, as in an interdependent web: we are the interdependent web in the same way that Life is.
Life is good because Life keeps us living: Life is good because it is the meaning of living.
We don’t study it to have meaning, we live it, we dance meaning into life, we embrace living into meaning.
Life is not a problem to be solved, life is a mystery to be lived, to be lived in harmony and balance with the rest of the world, to be lived with an open mind and a tender heart. The meaning is in the mystery, but this is so difficult to understand…
Learning how to walk on the earth, learning how to see life, learning that life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived—this is the way to meaning.
• John 16: 12-15 (Inclusive Text)
Jesus said to the disciples:
'I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now.
‘But when the Spirit of truth comes
she will lead you to the complete truth,
since the Spirit will not be speaking as from herself
but will say only what has been learnt;
and she will tell you of the things to come.
‘She will glorify me since all she tells you will be taken from what is mine.
‘Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said:
All she tells you will be taken from what is mine.'
(For those interested... You can purchase a copy of the Inclusive Texts/Readings from:
Inclusive Language Project
PO Box 1303
Toombul QLD 4012 Australia)
Contemporary Exploration
Silence for Personal Reflection
AFFIRMING
A Celebration of Life (Optional)
The people stand as they are able
v1 Before first life -
All A sea of primal broth.
v2 Before the child -
All A seeded egg shook and split.
v3 Before humans spoke -
All Only utterance and signs.
v1 Before bridled fire -
All A raw and frigid world.
v2 Before awareness
All Subsistence sufficed.
v3 With reflection
All Came experience recalled.
v4 Myriad thresholds
reached and transcended.
All From every this, something else
otherwise and unexpected.
v4 How strange that we
move our pens to essence.
All Stranger still
that we are here at all. (Robert Charles Howard/ut)
Sharing 'The Peace’
Let us take a moment to celebrate each other.
May a heart of peace rest with you.
All And also with you. (David Galston/q).
You are invited to share the peace with your neighbours
OR
Namaste
Facing the person with right hand on your heart and a slight bow of the head…
The Divine in me honours the Divine in you.
OR
The Light in me recognises the Light in you.
OR
The spirit within me sees the spirit within you.
Hymn/Song People stand as they are able, to sing
“Name Unnamed” (Tune: ‘Samuel’, Irreg.) 31 SLT
Refrain:
Name unnamed,
hidden and shown,
knowing and known,
Gloria!
Beautifully moving, ceaselessly forming,
growing, emerging with awesome delight,
Maker of Rainbows, growing with colour,
arching in wonder,
energy flowing in darkness an light:
Refrain:
Spinner of Chaos, pulling and twisting,
freeing the fibers of pattern and form,
Weaver of Stories, famed or unspoken,
tangled or broken,
shaping a tapestry vivid and warm:
Refrain:
Nudging Discomfort, prodding and shaking,
waking our lives to creative unease,
Straight-talking Lover, checking and humbling
jargod and grumbling,
speaking the truth that refreshes and frees:
Refrain:
Midwife of Changes, skilfully guiding,
drawing us out through the shock of the new,
Woman of Wisdom, deeply perceiving,
never deceiving,
freeing and leading in all that we do:
Refrain:
Daredevil Gambler, risking and loving,
giving us freedom to shatter your drams,
Lifegiving Loser, wounded and weeping,
dancing and leaping,
sharing the caring that heals and redeems. (Brian Wren)
CELEBRATING
Offerings
Presentation
May the eternal presence of God expand and enhance our lives.
Our gratitude for life be expressed in our generosity.
Our faith be expressed in good causes.
And our belief in the future find full expression
in our daily attitude of mind. Francis Macnab/fwb-adapt.
With the Children
Children gather on the conversation mat
Conversation:
"Somewhere someone:"
The kingdom of love is coming because:
All somewhere someone is kind when others are unkind,
somewhere someone shares with another in need,
somewhere someone refuses to hate, while others hate,
somewhere someone is patient - and waits in love,
somewhere someone returns good for evil,
somewhere someone serves another, in love,
somewhere someone is calm in a storm,
somewhere someone is loving everybody.
Is that someone you? (Binkley & McKeel/jke)
In Solidarity
Care Candle:
We are people of all ages who enter this space
bringing our joys and concerns.
Joys and Celebrations; Griefs and Concerns shared
Focused Thoughts:
Sung responses
“Yahweh, Breathe the Breath of God” (Tune: ‘Te Rahui’. By Colin Gibson) 158 HoS
1. Yahweh, Yahweh, breathe the breath of God.
Yahweh, Yahweh, draw the breath of God.
Fill me, empty me, catch the pulse of God.
Yahweh, Yahweh, breathe the breath of God.
2. Yahweh, Yahweh, breathe the life of God.
Yahweh, Yahweh, draw the life of God.
Fill me, empty me, catch the pulse of God.
Yahweh, Yahweh, breathe the life of God.
3. Yahweh, Yahweh, breathe the love of God.
Yahweh, Yahweh, draw the love of God.
Fill me, empty me, catch the pulse of God.
Yahweh, Yahweh, breathe the love of God. (Colin Gibson)
OR
Listening Response:
Each day brims over with possibility.
All In every second lie choices, chances,
in numbers too great for us to comprehend.
May we ever strive to see beyond our limitations,
choose beyond our immediate needs,
All and live into each day,
the fullness of its opportunity. (Gretta Vosper/hb)
And so we take this flame and light our special care candle...
The Care Candle is lit
For ourselves, for those named or remembered, and in solidarity with those
who have not the freedom to express their concern or celebration
for fear of discrimination or condemnation.
In all our joys and in all our concerns, may we be ever mindful
of the presentness of the sacred among us,
and to see new possibilities of the now.
The 'Abba’ Prayer (Optional)
You are invited to pray in the spirit of the Abba/Lord's Prayer, and in your original language, as that is appropriate
All Abba, may your name be respected among us.
May your reality be alive in us.
Help us to focus on what is really important.
Let us affirm this each morning.
The forgiveness of debt is your way of life;
let it be ours too.
And when we are carried into evil schemes,
let us have the strength to say no. Amen. (David Galston/Q)
PARTING
Hymn/Song The people stand as they are able, to sing
“O Threefold God” (Tune: ‘Unity’) 110 (v1-3) AA
O threefold God of tender unity,
life’s great unknown that binds and sets us free:
felt in our loving, greater than our thought,
you are the mystery found, the mystery sought.
O blaze of radiance, source of light that blinds,
the fiery splendour of prophetic minds,
you live in mystery, yet within us dwell;
life springs from you as from a living well.
Most loving Parent, Child of joys and pains,
creative Spirit, life-force that sustains,
in bone and flesh, in blood we touch your hand,
your face we see in water, air and land.
OR
“The Star of Truth” (Tune: McNaughton’, LM) 297(v1-3) SLT
The star of truth but dimly shines
behind the veiling clouds of night,
but ev- ‘ry search-ing eye divines
some partial glimmer of its light.
The certainty for which we crave
no mortal ones can ever know,
uncharted waters we must brave,
and face what ever winds may blow.
Though for safe harbor we may long,
we must not let our courage fail,
and though the winds of doubt blow strong,
upon the trackless ocean sail.
Remain standing
Parting Words
The God we worship is never confined to this holy place.
So go and travel with the God who is found
in ordinary and surprising places.
The Community Candle is extinguished
Go in faith, for there is God riding in the light on the water,
singing in the songs of the birds,
sitting in the midst of the feasts of life.
All We go in faith to live in joyous freedom,
to play in the creation, and to drink deeply
of the gracious cup of life. Dorothy McRae-McMahon
Words of Blessing
May the mystery of God be found along the road.
The wonder of the costly love of Jesus embrace you.
And the Spirit bless and keep you, always.
All May it be so.
Hymn/Song (Cont.) “O Threefold God” (Tune: ‘Unity’) 110 (v4-5) AA
In every making, each creative dream
and in the flowing of life’s healing stream,
when love is born or people reconciled,
we share your life, O Parent, Spirit, Child.
O threefold God of tender unity,
life’s great unknown that binds and sets us free:
felt in our loving, greater than our thought,
you are the mystery found, the mystery sought. (William L Wallace)
OR
“The Star of Truth” (Tune: McNaughton’, LM) 297(v4) SLT
From honest doubt we shall not flee,
nor fetter the inquiring mind,
for where the hearts of all are free,
a truer faith we there shall find. (John A. Storey)
The people sit after the hymn
'This Week' at (NN)
Notices
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Significant Events
Journey Candles
Recessional Music
Fellowship
Morning tea is now served.
You are invited to share in this time of fellowship
You are invited to keep this copy of the liturgy and take it home with you
to share with another member of your family, or with a friend
Please include any reproduction of hymns/songs for local church use
on your Music Licence returns, as appropriate
Some of the Resources used in shaping this Liturgy:
(AA) Alleluia Aotearoa. Hymns and Songs for all churches. 1993. Raumati. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust.
Binkley, C. G. & J. M. McKeel. 2001. Jesus and his Kingdom of Equals. An International Curriculum on the Life and Teaching of Jesus. Santa Rosa. Polebridge Press.
Brown, J & N. Mission Prayer Handbook: Images of God. 1991. Sydney. National Assembly, Uniting Church in Australia.
Duncan, G. (ed). 2002. Courage to Love. An Anthology of Inclusive Worship Material. Norwich. The Canterbury Press.
(HoS) Hope is our Song. New Hymns and Songs from Aotearoa New Zealand. 2009. Palmerston North. New Zealand Hymnbook Trust.
Howard, R. C. Unity Tree: Collected Poems. Createspace Independent Publishing, 2015
Inclusive Readings. Year C. 2006. Brisbane. Inclusive Language Project. In private circulation.
Macnab, F. 2006. A Fine Wind is Blowing: Psalms of the Bible in Words that Blow you away. Richmond. Spectrum Publications.
Muir, F. J. Heretics’ Faith. Vocabulary for Religious Liberals. Annapolis. Self Published, 2001
(SSCL) Patton, K. Services and Songs for the Celebration of Life. Boston. Beacon Press, 1967.
(RP) Pratt, A. 2006. Reclaiming Praise. Hymns from a Spiritual Journey. London. Stainer & Bell Ltd.
(SLT) Singing The Living Tradition. 1993. Boston: UUA.
Vosper, G. 2004/2010. Holy Breath. Prayers for Worship and Reflection. New & Revised edition. Brisbane. The Centre for Progressive Religious Thought Brisbane.
Web sites/Other:
Wehlander. UUA Worship Web. Boston. UUA. http://uua.org/spirituallife/worshipweb/index.php
B Kleinheksel. C3Exchange, Spring Lake. MI. <http://www.c3exchange.org/
David Galston. Quest Learning Centre for Religious Literacy. <http://www.questcentre.ca/>