Wheres Wally — Fractals for Worship

Origin: Blackstump Festival, 2003. Sunday 5 October 9-10.30am

Theme:
God is active and present in all places at all times, we need to look

Mood:
Reflective

Setup:
Carpet and walls of newspapers as entry, wall of newspapers separating communion elements from general worship area, elements on tv-altar stack covered with fabric drape, video camera on bread running to video projector on another screen, smoke machine behind altar,

Gear:
communion elements, wall banner, glue sticks/sellotape, magazines x 20, newspapers x 20,

TRACKS: ‘Smoke on the Water’ by Deep Purple, various ambient.
VIDS: nature, thurifer loop
SLIDES: Welcome, nature, Jesus, Christ is the Word,
TEXT (Powerpoint): Responsive Chant, lyrics Wonderful Life.

Entry: walk over carpet and through walls of newspapers

1. Prelude: Punters take strip of newspaper as they arrive

VID: nature/creation imagery
SLIDES: nature/creation imagery
AUDIO:

Light candles to indicate start of worship

2. Call To Worship: Reading of Psalm 19:1- (Message?)

VID: continue
SLIDES: continue
AUDIO:

Link: God created the visible world, and God is visible in creation. A lot of people have experienced an encounter with the power and the beauty of God in the natural world, as described by the psalm we just heard. But God is also in our urban reality.

VID: static
SLIDES: off
AUDIO: off

Can we encounter God in the world that we live in day by day? How do we learn to see God in the places where we live and work?
3a. Transition Reading: John 1 ‘moved into neighbourhood’
VID: ‘moved into the neighbourhood’ biblical text ex POWERPOINT.
SLIDES: black continues
AUDIO: off

4. Native American Cinderella Story: told by Kristin

VID: continues
SLIDES: black continues
AUDIO: off

[Silence]

5. Transition:

VID: biblical text/urban scenes (2 projectors?)
SLIDES: cityscapes/urban/Jesus montage
AUDIO:

6. Responsive Chant: The Kingdom of Our God (see below)

VID: text. PPT
SLIDES:
AUDIO: nil

Guided Meditation: Review of Consciousness. Based loosely on Benedictine method. (See text below)

VID:
SLIDES:
AUDIO:

8. Active Response: Take magazines and tear out a symbol or picture or words that express where you want to see God at work and paste them on your newspaper strip and the hang it on this prayer wall…

Incense: Thurifer carries censer through congregation with words, ‘…and God moved into the neighbourhood’ ex Message John1/14, or ‘the kingdom of our God has become…’ or ‘God’s presence in all of life’ or something similar. Cense prayer wall.

VID: Thurifer loop.
SLIDES:
AUDIO:
This slot moves over top of the next one.

Wall Tearing: (Music starts — Smoke on the Water intro loop -, smoke starts, lights up on wall and altar behind, altar tvs start running, two people tear newspaper wall to reveal communion altar setup.)

LINK: Our torn world is revealed as the place God is present and actively at work.

Communion: LINK: We invite you to take bread and wine as an expression of your desire to discover Gods presence in your world,

to light a candle as a symbol of your prayer for yourself or a situation where you want to see God work.

WORDS OF INSTITUTION: On the night he was betrayed, Jesus…
Enter your world and encounter the risen Christ in bread and wine, as in all places.
VID:
SLIDES:
AUDIO:

12. Postlude:

VID:
SLIDES:
AUDIO: Track Wonderful Life, ex Nocturama, Nick Cave. #1

#3a Bible reading John 1:1-?, 14

The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.

Everything was created through him;
nothing – not one thing! –
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
…

The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighbourhood.

#7 Modified Review of Consciousness.

Relax…become aware of your breathing…cast your mind back over your past day or the weekend, or even your week before you came to Blackstump…ask God to make you aware of an experience, an event, or a person in that time …

Was this an encounter, a situation where God was at work, where God was present?
Did you notice that at the time?

Go over the situation in your mind again…what was God doing here?

What is God saying to you by bringing this event to your mind?…

What do you want to say to God at this time?

(Prayer: God, as we move through our daily lives, make us aware of your presence in all that we encounter. Give us eyes to see and hearts to respond to you, wherever we find you in our world.)

# 6 The Kingdom of Our God (Rev 11/15 as Response)

God made our world;
The world rejected God.