Category Archives: Illuminating Liturgy

BasisBits – Paragraph 1: The way into union B

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In this union these Churches commit their members to acknowledge one another in love and joy as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, to hear anew the commission of the Risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, and daily to seek to obey his will. In entering into this union the Churches concerned are mindful that the Church of God is committed to serve the world for which Christ died, and that it awaits with hope the day of the Lord Jesus Christ on which it will be clear that the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of the Christ, who shall reign for ever and ever.

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.

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BasisBits

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INTRODUCING: “BasisBits”!

In 1977 the Uniting Church in Australia was formed through the union of three previously separate traditions: Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian.

The “Basis of Union” is a statement of common belief approved by The Congregational Union of Australia (1973), The Methodist Church of Australasia (1974) and The Presbyterian Church of Australia (1974). In 1992 the Basis of Union was revised to remove some of the gender-exclusive language present in the original; it is the text of this revision which is included in the these suggested snippets from the Basis of Union

BasisBits are snippets from the Basis of Union for occasional in Sunday pewsheets. They might serve simply as a means of reminding your congregation of the theological ground upon which our denomination was established, or as a reference point for some aspect of the preaching or liturgy. Like our LitBits, they are a copy-and-paste resource; we hope soon to be able to be provide them in a simple JPEG format.

The BasisBits do not cover the whole of the Basis; some of the more administrative commitments in the Basis have been omitted. The full text of the Basis (1977 and 1992 versions) can be found here. The full listing of available BasisBits is below.


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BasisBits – Paragraph 1: The way into union A

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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)

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

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.

Posted in BasisBits, LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

LitBit Commentary – David Tripp on the Eucharist

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LitBit: When we take part in the Eucharist, our individuality is affirmed but also lifted into a corporate richness in which the individual is saved progressively from individualism. The model for this manifold transformation, and the power that enables and bestows it, is the life of the triune God, in whom “person” is not a closed and self-defending private world but an openness that knows no limit to giving and a shared life that reaches out in shared sacrifice. Growing into trinitarian life includes a new vision of hope for the whole human community, as well as for the church.

David Tripp, “How often should United Methodists commune?”

 

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LitBit Commentary – John Wesley on the Lord’s Supper

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LitBit: It is the duty of all Christians to receive the Lord’s Supper is often as they can … because it is a plain command of Christ, … because the benefits of doing it are so great to all to do it in obedience to him; viz., the forgiveness of our past sins, the present strengthening and refreshing of our souls.… This is the food of our souls: This gives strength to perform our duty, and leads us on to perfection.

John Wesley, “The duty of constant communion” alt

 

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LitBit Commentary – Gordon Lathrop on the Lord’s Prayer 1

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LitBit: The ecclesiology of the Lord’s prayer is this: the assembly is the community given this prayer, taught it in baptism, repeating it at Eucharist, invited to stand articulately with humanity—indeed, with all things—where Christ is amid the loss and fear. The assembly is made up of ordinary people, people themselves in need but also people willing to stand with the need of others. The assembly is also the community which, by the power of the Spirit and the presence of the Risen One, is given now, as an earnest-gift of all that God intends for the world, the bread and forgiveness that the world needs. The assembly is the community, therefore, that confesses the enfolding presence of the triune God and is called to practice the word of forgiveness and the meal of resurrection.

Gordon Lathrop, The Pastor, p.34alt

 

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LitBit Commentary – Gordon Lathrop on the Lord’s Prayer 3

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LitBit: …in the heart of the Lord’s prayer, we ask God, with an astonishing confidence—there is that word again—to forgive us now and give us bread now. …we borrow first-century Jewish apocalyptic language, but here we find that language transformed, reversed. These things are the presence now of expected end-time gifts. Only God forgives, and that at the end. Only God will spread the great, life-giving feast for the called ones: at the end. Here, in the assembly, in celebration of the actual presence of these things, Christians turn to each other in mutual forgiveness, which corresponds to and receives God’s forgiveness now, and the community holds a meal that it believes to be already God’s meal. Christians dare to do this, of course, because of the presence of Jesus Christ in the Spirit, the source of forgiveness and the grounds of the meal.

Gordon Lathrop, The Pastor, p.32alt

 

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LitBit Commentary – Gordon Lathrop on the Lord’s Prayer 4

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LitBit: The Lord’s Prayer has been so central to Christian practice that it may be taken as a symbol to stand for all of the assembly’s liturgy. It is one of the summary gifts of Baptism, a central pillar of the catechism handed over to us as we come to join the Christian assembly or as we rehearse, lifelong, the meaning of our participation. It recurs in every Eucharist, as the table prayer of the community, as the final text of the thanksgiving at table. It is as if we come to the end of a presider’s best effort—”praying and giving thanks as well as she or he can,” as Justin would say—and we stutter out again “Lord, teach us to pray,” using that beginner’s prayer as the best conclusion we can give to our common thanksgiving at this holy meal.

Gordon Lathrop, The Pastor, p.23f

 

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LitBit Commentary – The Eucharist (UIW2) 2

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LitBits Logo - 2LitBit: The various names given to this meal by our traditions show something of its meaning: it is the Lord’s Supper, instituted by Christ on the night of his betrayal; it is the Holy Communion, a sacrament of union between Christ and believers, and of the union of the believers themselves; it is the Eucharist, from the Greek word meaning ‘thanksgiving’. Indeed, its primary note is thanksgiving – honouring God for all that God is, and giving thanks for all that God has done in the work of creation and salvation.

Uniting in Worship 2

 

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