Author Archives: CraigT

BasisBits – Paragraph 1: The way into union A

BasisBits Logo - 2 WITHOUT SThe Congregational Union of Australia, the Methodist Church of Australasia and the Presbyterian Church of Australia, in fellowship with the whole Church Catholic, and seeking to bear witness to that unity which is both Christ’s gift and will for the Church, hereby enter into union under the name of the Uniting Church in Australia. They pray that this act may be to the glory of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They give praise for God’s gifts of grace to each of them in years past; they acknowledge that none of them has responded to God’s love with a full obedience; they look for a continuing renewal in which God will use their common worship, witness and service to set forth the word of salvation for all people. To this end they declare their readiness to go forward together in sole loyalty to Christ the living Head of the Church; they remain open to constant reform under his Word; and they seek a wider unity in the power of the Holy Spirit.

From Paragraph 1 of the Basis of Union (1992)

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BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

LitBit Commentary – Worship (UIW2) 2

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LitBit: In worship, we speak to God in a direct way, in praise and adoration, intercession and thanksgiving, confession and lament. It is the primary speech of the community to God, rather than speech about God, the secondary speech of reflection and discussion. It is also God’s speech to us – for example, in the word of grace at the declaration of forgiveness, in the proclamation of the Scriptures, in the blessing that rings in our ears as we leave. …the speech of worship is nonverbal as well as verbal, including such things as gesture and movement, colour and sacrament, silence and music.               Uniting in Worship 2

 

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LitBit Commentary – Worship (UIW2) 1

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LitBit: When we cross the threshold into a service of worship, we bring with us the concerns and joys of our lives. In other words, we bring the concerns and joys of the mission field in which we live. The Sunday service does not provide ‘time out’ from our daily mission; liturgy and mission are integrally related. The word ‘liturgy’ (in Greek, leitourgia) literally means ‘the work of the people’; yet it is primarily the work of God, in which God graciously enables us to participate. It is our graced response to God’s gracious acts; through it we are brought into relationship with the triune God, and we offer worship as the body of Christ, in the Holy Spirit.

Uniting in Worship 2

 

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LitBit Commentary – Gordon Lathrop on the Lord’ Prayer 1

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Bread and forgiveness, the matters alive at the centre of the Lord’s Prayer, are “practices.” They involve us in enacting the things that we believe God is doing. That enacting is first of all ritual, communal, repetitive: in the prayer itself, but also in ritual acts of mutual forgiveness and in the ritual meal. But then our hearts and lives are invited to follow—in forgiving others, in exercising hospitality at all of our meals, in sending “portions …to those for whom nothing is prepared,” as Nehemiah 8:10 has it. Such practices are nondistancing, nondistinguishing. They still do not separate us from the rest of humanity, the condition of which the prayer so eloquently articulates. On the contrary. They connect us, in bread and forgiveness.

From Gordon Lathrop, The pastor: a spirituality, p.33f

 

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Galatians – A Sunday series June-September 2016

Over the course of June-October 2016, most of our Sunday services will feature a preaching focus on the book of Galatians.

Galatians features in rather a potted way in the Revised Common Lectionary on six Sundays over this period, leaving out large sections of the book and including sections which are large enough to justify two or three weeks’ reflection.

We’ll be considering the text in a sequential treatment over this time.

LitBit Commentary – The Eucharist (UIW2) 1

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The centrepiece of this part of the liturgy is The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving. The origins of this central Christian prayer lie in Jewish prayer at Passover and in the grace at every meal. Jesus built on these at the Last Supper. Our present sacrament also derives meaning from other meals hosted by Jesus – e.g. after the resurrection at Emmaus (Luke 24), or by the seashore (John 21). Its essence is thanksgiving for the mighty acts of God. It is a ‘Great’ Prayer because it is the expression of all the gifts of God for our salvation, above all in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Uniting in Worship 2

 

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