It's always a little confusing to be confronted with John's Prologue weeks after the candlelit solemnity of Midnight Mass, so when it cropped up a week or two back, I was slightly perplexed as to how to make it work for "Breathing Space". In the event, I needn't have worried. God turned up and made the evening take wings, so I've decided it's worth keeping a record of it, just in case...
Station 1:
A gold gift bag beside the font, with cards spilling out of it, each with a message from Scripture, a message from God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
Station 1:
A gold gift bag beside the font, with cards spilling out of it, each with a message from Scripture, a message from God.
"I have loved you with an everlasting love"
"You are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased"
"I will never leave you or forsake you"
"I have called you by name, you are mine"
"I am with you always, to the close of the age"
"See, I have written your name on the palm of my hand"
"You are precious in my sight...and I love you"
Script: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
“In
the beginning was the Word”…
God is all about communication - relationship - reaching out to us, wanting to make Godself known.
What God was, the Word was....As John puts it, Jesus is first and foremost God's word, God's expression of Godself. In what he said and what he did, he showed us what God was like, what mattered to him, what he cared about. If you want to know God, says John, look at Jesus - the Word that sums God up.
If
Jesus is God’s word to us – then what does he have to say.
Here
at the font, where we mark the beginning of our Christian journey,
take a card with a
word to you from God.
word to you from God.
Spend
5 minutes reflecting on it...Carry it with you….Believe in its
truth.
God’s word to you today and for the weeks ahead.
God’s word to you today and for the weeks ahead.
......................
Station 2 at the chancel steps: An orchid in full flower, a jug of tulips, images of natural
beauty and of the miracle of life in the womb
beauty and of the miracle of life in the womb
Script: All things came
into being through him, and without him not one thing came into
being.
Jesus was there
when the world began. The power of love that we see in his life is
the same power that holds everything in being. The whole of creation
might be seen as a love-letter from God. Enjoy these
examples of creation. Ask God to help you to recognise God’s work
day by day.
..............
Station 3: a large laminated world map spread on the floor beside the Kiel globe candle stand.
Baskets of tea-lights.
Script: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Station 4: Beside "The Plumbline and the City" a pile of "certificates", and pens
Script: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
Like Amos, whose vision of a plumbline over his city set the true course for a nation that had gone astray, John the Baptist was called to speak out, to invite people to look at their lives in the light of God, to reconsider and to repent. He was to be a signpost, pointing to Christ.
Station 5: the (closed) gates to the railing at the Lady Chapel
Script: He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
Station 3: a large laminated world map spread on the floor beside the Kiel globe candle stand.Baskets of tea-lights.
Script: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Think of the dark places and the dark situations in our world. Perhaps there are even some in your life. Take time to be glad that God’s light has not and never will be overcome...That all the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of even the tiniest candle. Light a candle – or many candles – for all those who specially need the comforting light of God’s presence, and place them on the world map on the floor.
..............Station 4: Beside "The Plumbline and the City" a pile of "certificates", and pens
Script: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
Like Amos, whose vision of a plumbline over his city set the true course for a nation that had gone astray, John the Baptist was called to speak out, to invite people to look at their lives in the light of God, to reconsider and to repent. He was to be a signpost, pointing to Christ.
That calling to John is a calling for us all. We too are sent to
testify to the light….Each
of our lives can speak of God, passing on something of his love to
others if we let that happen.
Take
a card and write your name in the space. Spend a bit of time with God
thinking about how you might be a witness, your life a gospel through
which others may come to see God at work. Carry the card with you as a reminder in the days ahead.
"Kathryn...Sent to bear witness to the light"
................Station 5: the (closed) gates to the railing at the Lady Chapel
Script: He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
Sometimes Jesus can be a real bother! There’s his voice that
reminds me when I’m getting too pleased with myself...Or beginning
to think that it’s all about me. He speaks again, challenging me if
I think I might not bother to do whatever act of kindness is
obviously there in front of me, which just feels a bit too much like
hard work. He keeps on saying “Love God first. Love others the way
you love yourself”. And there are times when I really want to shut
the door in his face and live life on my terms.
And he never ever forces himself on me. He just stands there waiting
at the edge of my life, when I know I should keep him at the
centre…God excluded from the very world that God made. God stuck on
a cross to keep him out of our way, to stop him from interrupting our
agenda.
Think of some of the ways you try and keep God out of your life….It’s
really easy to open the gate and be close to him – but we use all
sorts of things to keep him safely out the way. You might want to
write some of them down and fix them to the railings….
..........
Station 6: in front of the tapestry, inside the Lady Chapel
Station 6: in front of the tapestry, inside the Lady Chapel
12 But
to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to
become children of God,13 who
were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of
man, but of God.
Look at one another. God became human like us….so that we, in all
our human frailty, might become like God. God settled with us...to
show us what a God-shaped life would look like – and invites us to
live that life, to be His body here and now.
We can help one another to see him and to welcome Him in all the
wonder of his love, that is full of grace and truth
Look at your hands – see the touch and the tenderness God’s own for the world
Look at your feet – see the path and the direction God’s own for the world
Look at your heart – see the fire and the love God’s own for the world
Look at the cross – see God’s Son and our Saviour God’s own for the world
This is God’s world and we will serve God in it
May God bless you
May God keep you ever with great care
and lead your lives with love
May Christ’s warm welcome shine in our lives and peace in heart
and home prevail
til greater life shall call. Amen.
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