by EDOW | Feb 6, 2023
Can worship be playful and prayerful? Rowdy but righteous? Full of faith and fun?
Doubting Thomases, meet Common Threads: An Intergenerational Worship Series. Radically inclusive and highly participatory, Common Threads uses a stations model of worship and focus on storytelling to connect congregations across generations and abilities. Over four services – themed on joy, sorrow, hope, and change – participants engage in creativity, conversation, and worship, considering their own experience in light of Scripture. Each one-hour service culminates in Holy Communion.
Common Threads uses a worship format known as traditioned innovation. Each service follows a traditional four-fold worship pattern of gather, read the Word, respond to the Word, and celebrate Eucharist together. But much of the action takes place at worship stations designed to promote accessibility, choice, and interconnectedness in what planners describe as “parallel worship/play.” Tables (“stations”) for art making, drumming, guided storytelling, and discussion of short reflections surround a Communion table set in the middle. Services open with song and liturgy, and close with communion and a song, but in between, in lieu of a sermon, worshipers engage the day’s Scripture and theme by rotating among the stations.
During an evening devoted to the theme “Change,” a young man listens intently as an older man recounts his faith journey. In the drum circle, two young boys and two older men take turns changing up the beat. Drumming increasingly faster, they dissolve into peals of laughter. In the far corner, a table full of older women reflect on a passage from Frederick Buechner’s Listening to Your Life about the March on Washington in 1963–then share their own remembrances of attending that event. Pens, crayons, beads, and pencils are shared about the art station along with Scripture reflections and life stories.
The paperless music and paperless liturgy of Common Threads promote inclusive worship: Dispensing with the heavy hymnals and prayer books that can prove challenging for younger and older people alike, worshipers engage eye to eye. Stations allow younger and older participants to share their thoughts about the Scripture and theme, without any shame or trepidation about not being able to sit still through a long service The traditioned innovation extends to the Eucharist, too, with built-in moments for participant responses.
Common Threads is available as an on-demand course through the School for Christian Faith and Leadership. It includes a downloadable Common Threads guidebook containing four original liturgies and original music, plus six short instructional videos. On March 16th, the creators of the series will demonstrate how to conduct Common Threads at a live Zoom workshop. Register here.
Common Threads was developed by Seabury Resources for Aging®. Funding came from Vital Worship Grants from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment, Inc. Seabury partnered with area Episcopal and United Church of Christ congregations in piloting the series at Seabury at Friendship Terrace and Seabury at Springvale Terrace, senior living communities in Metro DC.
by Anne-Marie Jeffrey | Oct 15, 2022
En el nombre del Dios, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo. In the name of God, the Creator, the Christ and the Holy Spirit. My name is Anne-Marie Jeffery and it is my pleasure to serve this diocese as your Canon for Congregational Vitality. I will be speaking a little in Spanish, but most of the sermon will be in English.
Me llamo Anne-Marie Jeffery y sirvo a la diócesis como Canoniga para la Vitalidad Congregacional. Hoy es un día muy importante. Hoy ustedes declararán su amor a Dios. Hoy declararán su compromiso de seguir a Jesús – no de forma privada, sino en voz alta, frente a Dios y a todos nosotros.
Hace mucha diferencia cuando decimos algo en voz alta. Yo creo que esto nos cambia. Cuando te das cuenta de que amas a alguien, y llega el momento en que estás listo para decir “te amo” a la otra persona, algo ha cambiado en tu relación con esa persona, esa relación se ha hecho más profunda y fuerte. Y cuando tú dices “te amo”, tú cambias, así como también cambia la persona que recibe tus palabras.
Today is a very important day. Today you will declare your love for God. Today you will declare your commitment to following Jesus – not privately, but out loud in front of God and in front of all of us.
It makes a difference when you say something out loud. I believe it changes us. You know when you find that you love someone, and you get to the point where you are ready to say “I love you” to the other person.
When that happens, something has changed about the relationship. It has most likely gotten deeper and stronger. And then when you say “‘I love you” to the person, you are changed as is the person receiving the words.
You might be looking through the service bulletin for the place where you say “I love you” to God and you won’t find those exact words but the words we do say are those of love because in promising to follow Jesus, we are declaring our love for God.
Hoy preguntará si reafirmas tu renuncia al mal, y tu respuesta será: Así lo haré. Después te preguntará si quieres renovar tu compromiso con Jesucristo. Y tu respuesta será “Así lo haré, y con la gracia de Dios lo seguiré como mi Salvador y Señor”. Estas palabras son palabras de amor.
Today you will be asked if you reaffirm your renunciation of evil, your response will be – “I do.” You will then be asked to renew your commitment to Jesus Christ? Your response will be – “I do, and with God’s grace I will follow him as my Savior and Lord.” These sound like words of love to me.
You might say, Well, God knows I love God. So why do I need to say it? We say it because when we say these words out loud, I believe we are changed no matter if we have come for confirmation, reception or affirmation. To have witnesses to our words makes this action even more powerful, because those who are here today will support us and be reminded of their own love of God – their own commitment to Christ.
If you know anything about relationships, saying the words is just the beginning. This is where our gospel can give us some direction. Our love of God requires attention, faithfulness and especially persistence. This is not an easy road, this commitment that is so wonderfully described in our baptismal promises – to be faithful in worship and in the prayers, to return to God when we have strayed away, to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, to serve Christ in all persons, to strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being. All this requires persistence and the woman in our gospel is all about persistence.
Amar a Dios requiere atención, fidelidad y persistencia, que es lo que el Evangelio presenta esta mañana. Hay una mujer que necesita justicia y su única opción es este juez que no tiene temor de Dios ni respeta a las personas. No hay nada que lo mueva a ayudarla, excepto las acciones de esta mujer, así que ella no lo dejará tranquilo. Debido a su persistencia, el juez provee justicia, porque él no quiere ser molestado más por ella. Nosotros también debemos ser persistentes en nuestro seguimiento a Dios.
The woman in our gospel needs justice and her only option is this judge who does not fear God or respect people. There is nothing that will move him to help her except her own action and so she will not leave him alone. Because of her persistence, he gives her justice because he does not want to be worn out by her asking.
We have to be careful here. God is not like this unjust judge. We don’t have to wear God out to be in relationship with God. God is not a disinterested distant judge. God longs for us and God will grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night. We are the ones who need to be persistent to perceive and to receive the gifts that God is giving us.
Many of us have been persistent in prayer, in worship, in proclaiming the Good News, in seeking Christ in all people and in fighting for justice and we have not received the answer or results we have wanted. We wonder if God is showing up for us. We do not understand.
La escritora Debi Thomas dijo una vez sobre la persistencia en la oración que cuando ella ora como esta mujer viuda, con persistencia y de todo corazón, algo sucede en ella y su corazón se hace más fuerte.
One of my favorite writers, Debi Thomas addresses this work of persistence when it comes to prayer. She writes, “What happens when we pray like the widow? What is prayer for? I can only speak from experience, but I know that when I persist in prayer – really persist, with a full heart, over a long period of time – something happens to me. My sense of who I am, to whom I belong, what really matters in this life, and why – these things mature and solidify. My heart grows stronger. It becomes less fragile and flighty. Once in a long while, it even soars. And sometimes – here’s the biggest surprise – these good and substantive things happen even when I don’t receive the answer I’m praying for.1
This persistence is needed not just in prayer, but in all of our life with God. I was confirmed when I was quite young – 11 years old. At the time, I was very serious about my commitment to God and the promises I was making. When I got into my 20s, I found myself in and out of church and not sure about my relationship with God. It was during a period of not going to church that I came to realize that I would never find what I was seeking in a relationship with God unless I showed up. I had to persist in coming to worship, praying, studying scripture and living my life as one who follows Jesus. Over time, what I sought came to be and I remember in my late 20s coming before the bishop in a service very similar to this one for affirmation of my vows. I suspect that many of you already have your own story of persistence with God even if you are at the beginning of the journey.
I ask you, as you make your declaration of love for God this day, as you reaffirm your commitment to following Jesus Christ, will you persist in your following of Jesus like the widow persisted with the judge?
Will you worship persistently like the widow, even when life gets in the way? Will you proclaim the good news like the widow when you are afraid to say the words? Will you seek and serve Christ in the most challenging of people? Will you continue to fight for justice when the way gets hard?
When we persist over time, our relationship with God deepens and what starts with saying words of love out loud sinks deep into our hearts and changes us, making us stronger and closer to the people Jesus needs us to be in this broken world.
Los invito a todos ustedes aquí hoy, no solo a quienes han venido para ser confirmados, recibidos o afirmados, a decir las palabras de amor a Dios en voz alta juntos. Recuerden la persistencia que se necesita para seguir a Cristo. Sepan que Dios nos busca en nuestro peregrinar, y nuestros corazones serán fortalecidos y elevados por aquel que nos ama más de lo que podemos entender.
I invite all of us here, not just those coming for confirmation, reception and affirmation, to say the words of love to God out loud together. Remember the persistence needed to follow Christ. Know that God longs for us and in this journey we will find our hearts strengthened and lifted up by the one who loves us more than we will ever understand.
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1The Bothersome Widow from Journey With Jesus webzine
by Bishop Mariann | Aug 5, 2022
So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you. I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.
Numbers 11: 16-17; 24-25
Give judgment for me, O God,
and defend my cause against an ungodly people;
deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.
For you are the God of my strength;
why have you put me from you?
and why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me?
Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me,
and bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling;
** That I may go to the altar of God,
to the God of my joy and gladness;
and on the harp I will give thanks to you, O God my God.
Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?
and why are you so disquieted within me?
Put your trust in God;
for I will yet give thanks to him,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
Psalm 43
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Phillipians 4:4-7
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
John 10:11-18
An ordination liturgy in the Episcopal Church might be compared to a sonnet, a poem written within a tightly structured form. In its constancy, the form provides a scaffolding that sets parameters for our expression and experience. Yet within it, there is room for individual expression which makes every ordination unique, reflective of the persons who have long prepared for this moment.
So it is that while we all are taking our part in a ritual that tells us a lot about The Episcopal Church’s beliefs and spiritual practices, if we pay attention, we can also learn about the two who are poised to take their place as priests among us through the choices they have made within the liturgical structure given them.
We know, for example, who some of the most important people are in their lives, which is all of you gathered here, and in particular, those whom they asked to take on a specific role in worship. Having spent considerable time with both of them, I can attest to how much you mean to them, as well as countless others who cannot be here in person but are cheering them on from a distance, some from the other side of Jordan. They would be the first to say that they would not be here were it not for you, and they are grateful to the point of tears.
Each hymn has meaning for David and Catherine, so as you sing, you might ponder what that meaning might be for them, and what the music and lyrics tell us about their experience of God.
The Scripture passages that we’ve just heard and that you have before you in written form, while chosen from a set canon for ordination services, give us clues as to their understanding of ministry. These biblical themes have particular resonance for them, so let’s review them with Catherine and David in mind.
What is the message for them and from them in the passage from the book of Numbers, an ancient text that tells of God’s response to Moses when he was exhausted, overwhelmed by the burdens of his people, and, as we might say from a 21st century perspective, overfunctioning like crazy? God pointedly demonstrates to Moses that he is not alone in the work, and that it all doesn’t depend on him, by taking some of the spirit of leadership from him and distributing it among 70 others. There’s a clear message here, that what we are about today is not for the two of them alone, as if they were to carry alone the work and responsibility of being the church. No, the Spirit is shared among us. And so as we pray the specific prayers for David and Catherine a bit later on, don’t be surprised if you feel something, too, for the Holy Spirit may very well descend upon you, or rise up from within you. You may not feel anything, but it could happen anyway. May you open your hearts to receive all that the Spirit offers.
Moving onto Psalm 43, we hear an entirely different message, one of loneliness and personal lament, of intense longing for the presence of God. It concludes with a personal exhortation, as if the psalmist were looking in the mirror and saying to him or herself to the last lines:
Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?
and why are you so disquieted within me?
Put your trust in God,
Who is the help of your countenance, and my God.
David and Catherine both know what spiritual loneliness feels like, and so do you. Following Jesus does not give us immunity from times when our spiritual lights go out and we’re left to navigate as best we can. The faith required of us then is powerfully expressed in a song by Mark Miller, with words written by an unknown captive of a German concentration camp:
I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love even when I don’t feel it.
I believe in God even when God is silent.1
This is faith.
Shifting tones and themes quite dramatically, we hear in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians a call to live a hopeful, joy-filled life, by placing our intentional focus on what is good and lovely and true. This is an especially important spiritual practice in a time when the world is falling apart and it’s so easy to be astutely critical of merely everything and everyone. It doesn’t take much energy to be negative–not one ounce of creativity or effort is required. But to be joyful in the truest sense, and to lean toward hope in the midst of despair–that takes effort. Catherine and David are well aware of the issues facing us as a species, a nation; in the communities we live in and in our churches. They are committed to practices of hope and joy, not in a blind or Pollyanna sense, but rooted in their experience of God’s capacity to bring life out of death, and of light that illuminates even the most obscure path.
Lastly, we come to a gospel passage in which Jesus likens his relationship to us as a good shepherd who cares for his sheep and knows each one by name. Now I’m a city girl, so the shepherd/sheep analogy is a bit of a stretch, but of one thing David and Catherine are quite clear: they are not the good shepherd. In this analogy, they, like all of us, are among the sheep listening for the voice of our shepherd, entrusting ourselves to his guidance and care. Now those of us called to leadership in the church as priests–and bishops, for that matter–are also pastors, and thus we have a shepherding role, but it is always a subordinate one. Even those of us who carry a shepherd staff around as if we would have a clue of what to do if we saw an actual sheep, must always remember who is the true shepherd. We take our lead from him; we listen for him. And so this service, for all its focus on these two extraordinary people, is more about him and his work in and through and among us. Their role among us is to listen to him and follow.
Now I’d like to speak now to David and Catherine directly, drawing from yet another biblical text. It’s one in which Jesus is saying goodbye to his disciples and wants to give them assurance for the future: “I still have many things to say to you,” he tells them, “but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:12-13)
As we discussed yesterday, there is so much about what lies ahead that we cannot predict or control, some of it truly worrisome and some more life-giving than we dare to hope. But on this solid ground we stand: Jesus’ promise to be with us to the end of the age, and his assurance that the Spirit will give us what we need to meet the future with wisdom and courage.
Jesus has more to say to you. There is more for you to learn. There is more for you to understand and know and ponder than your hearts and minds can hold today. What this rather obvious statement suggests is that while you have completed a long and transformative formation process, you are embarking on yet another leg of a life-long journey as a learner. And hear this: in a spirit of humility, a leader can learn from anyone. In a spirit of curiosity and openness, a leader can glean wisdom and insight from anywhere. You can learn from the communities you serve and the ones you would rather avoid; from the people who inspire you and from those whose worldview you reject; from your friends and your adversaries–and from the fact that you have adversaries; from your accomplishments and your failures. Jesus will speak to you through it all, telling you what you need to hear when you can take it in.
As I bring this to a close, I’d like to return to the image of a sonnet, for indeed priesthood in The Episcopal Church is more like a sonnet than free verse. There’s a lot of structure–arguably too much–but there is room within it to bring all of yourself into this ministry. We not only want you to do that, we’re counting on you to, and so is Jesus. After all, the one to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid has called you. So be bold, as well as humble.
Finally, I want to publicly thank you both for having enough faith in this church to dedicate your vocational life to it. You do this with your eyes wide open, knowing how far we are from God’s dream of Beloved Community, and yet having seen enough of who we are at our best to realize what a gift Christian community can be.
In all our strengths and vulnerabilities, failings and glorious possibilities, we have all said yes to the One who calls us all by name. There’s far more at work among us than we will ever know. And your ordination, and mine, rests on this audacious truth: We will enter the Kingdom of God together, we won’t enter it all.
Amen.
____
1 I Believe by Mark Miller
