Vfte Presiders Book

7/29/2019 Vfte Presiders Book

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Vigil for Planet Earth

GatheringSmudging (while people gather) Andrew Wesley

The officiant invites all to stand.

Officiant The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

People And also with you.

Officiant Welcome to this place. From ancient times this has been holy ground. Sacred to the Mississaugas of NewCredit First Nation, the land and streams which joinedhere before flowing into Lake Ontario marked a placeof rest and refreshment for people on their journeys.

We are privileged tonight to have Alanna Mitchell totalk to us. Alanna is a journalist and the award-winning author of Sea Sick: the global ocean in crisis.

Tonights ritual has its roots in the traditions of EasternChristians, specifically their celebration of the baptismof Jesus, the festival they call the Theophany. In our

ritual tonight, our western prayer traditions have beenadapted to include echoes of the Orthodox celebrationof Theophany. We celebrate the revelation not only of Gods purpose for Jesus, but of Gods purpose for water.


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Hymn Touch the Earth Lightly

During the Prayer in the Four Directions that follows, the officiant moves to the font andmodels the four directions by moving to different sides of the font, as indicated in the rubrics.


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Prayer in the Four Directions

The officiant moves to stand at the font facing the east.

Reader 1 From the East, the direction of the rising sun,we receive peace and light and wisdom and knowledge.

People

The officiant moves around the font to face the south.

Reader 2 From the South comes warmth, guidance,and the beginning and the end of life.

People Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of theearth. (sung)

The officiant moves around the font to face the west.

Reader 3 From the West comes the rain,purifying waters, to sustain all living things.


The officiant moves around the font to face the north.

Reader 4 From the North comes the cold and mighty wind,the white snows, giving us strength and endurance.



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The officiant returns to the chair.

Reader 5 From the heavens we receive darkness and light,the air of your breath,and messages from your winged creatures.


Reader 6 From the earth we comeand to the earth we will return.



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WordFirst Reading (Revelation 22: 1 - 5)

Reader 7 A reading from the Revelation to John:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.On either side of the river is the tree of life with itstwelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month;

and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of thenations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be init, and his servants will worship him; they will see hisface, and his name will be on their foreheads. Andthere will be no more night; they need no light of lampor sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and theywill reign for ever and ever.

(Silence.)

Reader 7 The word of the Lord.People Thanks be to God.



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Hymn Many and Great Are your Works, O God


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Gospel Reading (Luke 3: 3, 7 - 9, 15 - 17, 21 - 22)

Deacon The Lord be with youPeople And also with you.

Deacon The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christaccording to Luke.

People Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for theforgiveness of sins.

He said to the crowds that came out to be baptized byhim, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to fleefrom the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, Wehave Abraham as our ancestor; for I tell you, God isable from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; everytree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut downand thrown into the fire.

As the people were filled with expectation, and all werequestioning in their hearts concerning John, whether hemight be the Messiah, John answered all of them bysaying, I baptize you with water; but one who is more

powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie thethong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the HolySpirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, toclear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat intohis granary; but the chaff he will burn withunquenchable fire.


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Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, theheaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descendedupon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice camefrom heaven, You are my Son, the Beloved; with you Iam well pleased.

(Silence.)

Deacon The Gospel of Christ.People Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Address Alanna Mitchell

The officiant may choose to comment, following the address, on concerns of particularimportance to Gods people.



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Litany of lament

Reader 8 Hear the words of the Prophet Jeremiah:

My people are foolish,they do not know me, says the Lord;

they are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.

I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void,and to the heavens, and they had no light.

I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,and all the birds of the air had fled.

I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,and all its cities were in ruins.

Because of this the earth shall mourn,and the heavens above grow black.

This people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;they have turned aside and gone away.

They do not say in their hearts, Let us fear God,who gives the rain in its season and keeps for usthe weeks for harvest.

Your iniquities have turned these away,and your sins have deprived you of good.

An appalling and horrible thing has happened:the prophets prophesy falsely, and my people loveto have it so.

But what will you do when the end comes?


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(Wei, wei, wei chant; silence)

Officiant Gracious God,who made a covenant with our ancestors,we gather here tonight, a rebellious people.We want to act out your intentions for us, but we keep losing our way,distracted by the glitter of the world around us.You tell us to honour all creation,yet we use other people and other creaturesonly to feed our wants.You offer daily bread to every living thing,yet we steal from our brothers and sisters in our greed.You promise us new life,yet we shrink back in fear.Help us and heal us, O God,lest we destroy ourselves and desecrate your world.Teach us how to honour your presence among us;

for the sake of your great love,made known to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Reader 9 Hear the words of the Prophet Hosea:

There is no faithfulness or loyalty,and no knowledge of God in the land.

Therefore the land mourns,

and all who live in it languish,together with the wild animals and the birds of the air;

even the fish of the sea are perishing.



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Officiant Help us, O God, to accept responsibility for our sin:the way in which we abuse your creation;the role we play, both active and passive,in marring your imagein ourselves, in others, and in the earth.Help us also to accept your forgiveness,to learn from our mistakes,and to live more wisely;

through Jesus Christ the Lord.

Reader 10 Hear the words of the Apostle Paul:

The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;

for the creation was subjected to futility,not of its own will but by the will of the one whosubjected it,

in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay

and will obtain the freedom of the glory of thechildren of God.

We know that the whole creationhas been groaning in labour pains until now;

and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have

the first fruits of the Spirit,groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, theredemption of our bodies.

For in hope we were saved.


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Officiant Lord, help us to hear in the groaning of creationnot death throes but birth pangs.Help us to recognize in the grief of this momenta cry against the inhumanity of the present order,and a promise for the future.Help us to glimpse in acts of protestthe dawning of your justice,to see in the Cross the path to resurrection,and to find in suffering the seeds of joy;

through the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Peace

Officiant The peace of the Lord be always with you.People And also with you.


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Water

Hymn O Healing River(sung in call-and-response fashion)


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Thanksgiving Over the Water

Standing at the font, the officiant says,The Lord be with you.

People And also with you.

Officiant Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.People It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Officiant We give you thanks, almighty God and Father, for bythe gift of water you nourish, sustain and renew all

living things.People

Officiant We give you thanks that through the waters of the RedSea, you led your people out of slavery to freedom inthe promised land.

People Glory to you for ever and ever.

Officiant We give you thanks for sending your Son Jesus. For ushe was baptized by John in the River Jordan, repenting for the sin of the world and restoring to water itshealing work in all creation. For us he was anointed asChrist by your Holy Spirit that he might liberate theworld from all the forces of evil. For us he suffered the baptism of his own death and resurrection, setting usfree from the bondage of sin and death, and sharing


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Here the blessing

cross is plunged threetimes into the water.

with us his own ministry of new creation.People Glory to you for ever and ever.

Officiant We give you thanks for your Holy Spirit who teaches usand leads us into all truth, filling us with his gifts so thatwe might proclaim the gospel to all nations and serveyou as a royal priesthood and faithful stewards of allthat you have made.

People Glory to you for ever and ever.

Officiant Now sanctify this water that your

servants who have been washedand made one with Christ in hisdeath and resurrection may here berenewed in the power of his Spirit and may continuefor ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

We give you praise and honour and worship throughyour Son Jesus Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy

Spirit, now and for ever.People


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Procession to the Font

The officiant invites all to approach the font and drink from the water of thanksgiving, inthese or similar words,

Let everyone who is thirsty come.Let anyone who wishestake the water of life as a gift.

Two ministers approach the font and fill the chalices. The officiant is offered a drink first,and then the water is offered to all.

Hymn I Beheld a Stream of Water

(Silence)

Murray MacAdam and John Hill will each introduce proposals for action.



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Sending:

Hymn When Pain of the World Surrounds Us


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Officiant Let us pray.

Holy God, source and goal of all that is,pour out your Spirit on us and upon all flesh.Grant us a continual thirstfor the restoration of all things,that we may go now in loveto minister the healing of your kingdom.We ask in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord.

Deacon Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

People Thanks be to God.

Refreshments and distribution of water

(label on bottles provided at the conclusion of the service:)

O healing riversend down your waters

OFFER THIS PRAYERWHILE POURING THIS WATER OF THANKSGIVINGINTO ANY BODY OF WATER THAT IS THREATENEDBY ACIDIFICATION POLLUTION OR EXPLOITATION

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