Origin: Cityside Quiet Service 19 September 1999
Theme:
God welcomes us all back at any time and regardless of our circumstances.
Mood:
Reflective
Setup:
Full width screen at one end, 3 slide projectors on different places on this single screen (Rear projected), few candles, incense bowl. Altar and cushions near screen.
Gear:
Handout, Rag strips, slides of Rembrandt painting ‘The Return of the
Prodigal’. (These come from St Pauls Multimedia. www.pauline-uk.co).
Running order:
Arrival -Slide 1 central and large. TRACK: anything ambient.
-Take a cloth strip as you enter. Handout with responsive reading.
7.05pm -Read Luke 15/11-32 (Message)
-Monologue re Rembrandt painting (These are taken from the notes that come with the slide set)
-(Silence for reflection)
7.15pm -Slide 2 (Leave slide 1 up)
-TRACK # 4 ex Moby, Play
-Monologue re Rembrandt painting
-(Silence for reflection)
-Responsive reading (Handout)
7.25pm -Slide 3 (Leave 1 and 2 up)
-TRACK behind Monologue?
-Monologue re Rembrandt painting
-(Silence for reflection)
7.35pm -Communion
-Intro :Welcome
:Words of Institution
:Prayer of Thanksgiving (on Handout)
:Elements -come forward and kneel in front of screen, at the feet of the father, with the prodigal; 2 servers
-leave cloth in pile on altar as take communion.
7.45pm -Benediction
-TRACK – Steve Apirana, It’s Inevitable # 5 ‘It’s Your Time’
NB: A version of this service using stations can be found at section 5 c.5 (1555)
Here’s another service some friends (Cathy Kirkpatrick and Andrew Lorien) in Australia did on the same theme.
Plunge Service based on Rembrandt’s – the Return of the Prodigal Son.
andrew and i have been planning and offering a lot of worship lately — to plunge and cafe church both. sunday was the 2nd of 3 weeks of mornings at plunge.
we borrowed a massive big poster from jim the catholic. a reproduction of rembrandt’s work — the return of the prodigal son…. we stuck it on the wall.
the group revisited the painting, with my help. this is what i loved about being an art teacher… gently leading people to really “see” an image. the light. its effect and intention. the sightlines. the palette. finding stories within the brushstrokes.
it was wonderful.
then, andrew told the story, from the point of view of the elder brother. in 6 parts. i weaved in my own story — the story of my brother buying the family business. of my father’s death and the will. of his eventual bankruptcy and my loss of inheritance, and worse, the impoverishing of my relationship with my brother….
jackie led a confession and contemplation with stones again. we invited people to come up to swap their stone for bread… and wine. while people came up, i played a tom waits track from his latest album “mule variations”. the song is called “come on up to the house” which is the phrase repeated after every other sentence. it is a wonderful track. come on up to take
communion. to the elder brother : come on up to the party and to reconcilation.