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’ themed service on this day co-curated by Arthur Amon and Brenda Stone. We usually try to have a fairly low key informal service of welcoming people back after Summer holidays on our first Sunday. The newsletter, besides the normal notices, carried a selection of quotes from various authors (including biblical ones) to do with God and beginnings, or newness, or change. These were the same as the quotes that were put on the overhead for meditation during the service. Also in the newsletter were the two questions:
Look back over the last year, and forward into the coming year. Where are you in your spiritual journey at the moment? What does following Jesus / having a relationship with God/ being a Christian mean for you in 2003?
Imagine that the church you belonged to fully facilitated/ supported/ nurtured you in relation to the reflections above. What would that church be like/ be doing?
Think about both the church as a community of people and what happens when the church meets together (i.e. services).
The order of service was as follows:
- Arthur – play music (Beautiful Day, U2 ex All That You can’t Leave Behind.) welcome people, light candle (some words here around Jesus as light etc.) and pass round baskets of chocolates. Pray for service.
- Arthur — introduce the service theme of God and beginnings. Play music (from Rachmaninov’s Vespers), put quotes up on overhead one at a time (roughly 30 seconds each) for people to meditate on.
- Brenda – lead congregation in ‘New Year’ responsive reading in newsletter (see Be Our Freedom Lord, Terry Falla p. 279)
- Brenda – point people towards the first question in the newsletter. Maybe flesh out slightly. Play music (Poulenc, The Sacred Music for Unaccompanied Choir, track#5. 5 minutes), encourage people to meditate and maybe jot down notes/doodles.
- Arthur – lead congregation in his own song/chant ‘In the beginning God…’ (see section 2.b.2 Songs and Meditations, for a copy of this).
- Arthur – point people towards the second question in the newsletter – maybe flesh out a bit. Co-ordinate people into small groups (roughly 5 people maximum). Give pen and paper to each group. Indicate that they will have 10 minutes to talk and write down ideas. Note that these will be read out later in the service and probably typed up for future reference. Remind people participation in discussion is voluntary.
- Brenda – play music (Van Morrison, ‘Evening Meditation’ ex Sense of Wonder), collect offering (Arthur hand round socks)
- Brenda – talk about prayer needs, collect any others from congregation, pray.
- At the end of prayers, do a prayerful reading out of group notes – Brenda and Arthur do some each. (this foreshadowed by Brenda in #8.) Ask for God’s guidance as we seek to be church together.
- Brenda – introduce planting process – Planter box at one end of the church (made by Arthur), filled with soil, with seeds beside it. Invite people to go and plant seeds. Suggest people might like to consider their own intentions about involvement; as they plant, feel free to talk with one another, to name these intentions out loud. Play music (Vivaldi, ‘Summer’ from Four Seasons).
- Arthur – welcome to morning tea – extra food today as welcome back, chance to catch up with each other after the break, then facilitate Benediction.