Advent
Introduction Advent marks the beginning of the Christian year. It was introduced as a Christian season in the sixth century. It is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ – which can…
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The church year
29 resources
Advent Art 2001
Some thoughts about ‘The Three Wise Men (Halt of the Wise Men)’ by John La Farge. Origin: Advent in Art service, 9 December 2001, curated by Arthur Amon Theme: Art as above. Mood: Noisy Setu…
All Saints All Souls
Introduction All Saints Day is traditionally celebrated on 1 November. Initiated in the eighth century by the Catholic Church as a day to commemorate all the ‘official’ Saints or martyrs who…
Anzac Day
Anzac Day is April 25. It is a New Zealand and Australian day of remembering those who died fighting in wars . Imagery of the ANZACs (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) as voluntary sacri…
Ascension
Introduction Celebrated on Thursday, forty days after the resurrection (Easter Sunday), the feast of Ascension remembers that, after appearing several times to the disciples, Jesus was taken…
Ash Wednesday and Lent
Introduction Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, which is a season of preparation for Easter. Lent runs for 40 days and six Sundays up to Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday gets its name from…
Christmas
Introduction Christmas is a season not a day. In fact it is twelve days. The Christ Mass (a Twelfth Century English term) was probably first celebrated in Rome about 300 AD. The traditional…
Christmas Eve 1998
Origin: Cityside, Christmas Eve, 1998. 11pm. Theme: Reflecting on the Christmas story, with emphasis on Mary’s perspective. Mood: Reflective ambient, chilled out. Setup: CD/Mixer, candles/fa…
Christmas Eve 1999
Origin: Cityside, Christmas Eve 1999. Theme: Reflecting on the Christmas story, with an emphasis on Mary’s perspective. Mood: Reflective ambient, chilled out. Setup: CD/Mixer, candles/fairy…
Christmas Eve 2001
Origin: Cityside, Christmas Eve 2001. 11pm. Theme: Up beat yet reflective celebration of Christmas. Mood: Reflective, ambient, chilled out. Setup: 4 x tall candles, blackout, fader on video…
Christmas Eve 2002
Origin: Christmas Eve 2002, Cityside. 11pm. Theme: Celebration of the Christmas Event Mood: Reflective, ambient, chilled out. Setup: 4 x 200 hour candles, fader on video player, full PA, CDJ…
Christmas Eve 2003
Origin: Christmas Eve 2003, Cityside. 11pm. Theme: Celebration of the Christmas Event Mood: Reflective, ambient, chilled out. Setup: Full blackout, 4 x 200 hour candles, fader on video playe…
Christ the King
Introduction This is the last Sunday of the Christian year (i.e. the Sunday before the first Sunday in Advent). It is a celebration that looks forward to when Christ will return and establis…
Church Year Introduction
Observing the Church Year : What is it and why would you want to use it? This section has some explanation of what the Church Year is, followed by some of the ways we have recognised the eve…
Creationtide
A season in the Church year recently adopted by Cityside and some other churches to break up the otherwise long run from Pentecost to Advent. At Cityside (we’re in the southern hemisphere) i…
Epiphany
Introduction The season of Epiphany celebrates moments of revelation of Christ’s glory. It begins with reflection on the story of the Magi following the star, which points towards the revela…
Fathers Day
1. Prayer This prayer was used in our ‘Prayers for Others’ section on one Father’s Day Sunday. God, this Father’s Day, we pray for those among us who are fathers. We celebrate and affirm thi…
Holocaust Memorial Day
This is held around the world on the 27 January each year, which is the day that Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet armies in 1945. One year when this date fell on a Sunday, we observed H…
Holy Week
Introduction Holy week includes the events from Palm Sunday through to the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. “Keeping Holy Week” is much more than marking off the events that form the…
Kingdomtide
A recent addition to the Christian calendar, proposed in 1937. It begins on the last Sunday of August and continues until the first Sunday in Advent. Focus points are: The love of Christ tra…
Mothers Day
I try to always acknowledge this occasion in some way in the service. Some ideas and examples of ways to celebrate mothers in the context of a worship service follow: 1. In 2001, I had the f…
New Year
The first Cityside morning service for 2003 was on the 19th January. (We don’t meet formally from after the Christmas Eve service until about the third Sunday in January.) We had a ‘New Year…
Pentecost
Introduction This day celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit in a particularly spectacular way on a group of Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem. It is often acknowledged as the day of the ‘bir…
Pentecost Service
Origin: Cityside Quiet Service, 19 May 2002 Theme: The fire of the Holy Spirit as Revealer Mood: Reflective, noisy, upbeat. Setup: Campfire circle stack of 8 TV’s – 2 high. Running fire vide…
Seasonal Events
Spring Spring Equinox service – See Curator’s Notes, ‘Stations’ Winter Solstice (Matariki) In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Maori traditional New Year falls close to the Winter Solstice. It is m…
Thanksgiving
While not a New Zealand festival day we have been introduced to it by several Americans in our congregation. If we do anything in our service around this date it focuses on remembering what…
Trinity Sunday
Introduction Trinity Sunday affirms the imagery of threefold unity that was formulated and developed by early Christian thinkers, who determined from the biblical text that the nature and pe…
Valentines Day
Valentine’s Day — 14 February. There are several St.Valentines, but earlier than any of them is an Early Church priest, introduced to us with the following text by Andrew Rockell Valentinus…
Waitangi Day
Introduction: This is New Zealand’s national day of recognising the signing of a treaty between the first people of the land and the immigrant colonisers. It has many current and ongoing imp…
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