For the Week of Sunday November 8, 2020

Using, amending or adapting Prayers and Quotes

from the Very Rev. George MacLeod (1895-1991), Founder of the Iona Community
--Rev. Dr. Chris McMullen, Parish of the Upper Kennebecasis, Kings Co. NB
Call to Worship
“In Celtic days they knew the early baptism.
Gathered on the East bank of the river were the Faithful,
The ecclesia, those who were already ‘drawn out’
From seeing the world with sub-human eyes;
Delivered from the natural; decay that is the lot of all that is created…
Gathered on the West bank were those who had been instructed
In the Faith, and who knew that in them as well
There was a dying to be done, and a burying…
[By the sacred act of Baptism] they would move to the West bank<
To be joined to the Fellowship of all believers,
And shout with them the Creed, “We Believe,” and sing the Te Deum”.
The Very Rev. George MacLeod, We Shall Rebuild: The Work of the Iona Community on
Mainland and On Island (Glasgow: Iona Community Publishing Dept., 1945, 1962), p. 57

Hymn
“O God, You Gave Your Servant John” Voices United # 718
O God you gave your servant John
a vision of the world to come;
a radiant city filled with light,
where you with us will make your home;
where neither grief nor pain shall dwell,
since former things have passed away,
and where they need no sun nor moon;
your glory lights eternal day.
Our cities wear great shrouds of pain;
beneath our gleaming towers of wealth
the homeless crouch in rain and snow,
the poor cry out for strength and health.
Youth's hope is dimmed by ignorance,
unwilling workers idled stand;
indifference walks unheeding by
as hunger stretches out its hand.
(Continued…)
 (2)
Come, Lord, make real John's vision fair;
come, dwell with us, make all things new,
we try in vain to save our world
unless our help shall come from you.
Come, strengthen us to live in love,
bid hatred, greed, injustice cease.
Your glory all the light we need,
let all our cities shine forth peace.
Jay F. Patterson alt. © 1989 Hope Publishing Co.
Tune: “Ye Banks ‘n Braes” (Candler). Used with permission CCLI # 3117248

Prayer of Approach
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Yea, Lord, have mercy.
We know that You are the Way for us:
But we do not like the steepness of the brae.
We know that You are the Truth for us;
But we do not like the starkness of Your Word.
We know that You are the Life for us:
But still we fear that days would be dull or too demanding
If we gave up ours…
“Wilt Thou not turn and quicken us,
That Thy people may rejoice in Thee?
Make me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit in me.”
You have renewed a right spirit within us.
You have turned again and quickened us.
[You have climbed the brae. Calvary is won for all.]
…Really and truly we believe Your whole Good News.
Behold us: “Thy people who now rejoice in Thee.”
Iona Community, The Whole Earth Shall Cry Glory: Iona Prayers by George MacLeod
Glasgow: Wild Goose Publications, 1985), p. 58. (Updated from Elizabethan English)

Psalm
1-2
Sing God a brand-new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing!
Sing to God—worship God!
2-3
Shout the news of his victory from sea to sea, Take the news
of his glory to the lost, News of his wonders to one and all!
4-5
For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs.
His terrible beauty makes the gods look cheap;
Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags.
(Continued…)
 (3)
5-6
God made the heavens—Royal splendor radiates from him,
A powerful beauty sets him apart.
7
Bravo, God, Bravo! Everyone join in the great shout: Encore!
In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might.
8-9
Bring gifts and celebrate, Bow before the beauty of God,
Then to your knees—everyone worship!
10
Get out the message—God Rules! He put the world on a firm
foundation; He treats everyone fair and square.
11
Let’s hear it from Sky, With Earth joining in,
And a huge round of applause from Sea.
12
Let Wilderness turn cartwheels, Animals, come dance,
Put every tree of the forest in the choir—
13
An extravaganza before God as he comes,
As he comes to [judge the earth,] –set everything right on earth!
Set everything right, treat everyone fair.
Eugene H. Peterson, The Message (© 1993, 2002, 2018)

Scripture
I Thessalonians 4: 13-18
Meditation
Affirmation of Faith
What [we] find in the Bible –
Which differentiates our faith from all other[s] –
Is precisely that God is to be found in the material.
And that He came to redeem [humanity] –soul and body.
The Gospel claims they key to all material issues
Is to be found in the mystery that Christ came in the body,
And healed bodies and fed bodies,
And that He died in a body, and rose in a body:
To save [humans] body and soul.
Christ is the key to every mortal thing!
The baker simply knows that whole-meal bread is better.
The farmer simply knows that organic agriculture is healthier.
The psychotherapist simply knows that a human is a unity;
The scientist, that this unity is reflected in all nature.
(Continued…)
 (4)
…The really exciting thing for our day about Christ
Is that He is the emergent Key for all this simple knowing.
[Christ comforts the baker in bereavement; the farmer in anxiety;
The doctor in his emergency room; the scientist in his lab.
But Christ’s reign is not] merely personal. Of course, he heals souls;
But he does all that, because He is the cosmic Key to all life.
Ron Ferguson, ed., Daily Readings with George MacLeod, amended.
(Glasgow: Wild Goose Publications, 1991), pp. 60 f.
Intercessions
Let us pray for our own churches, where we were brought up,
Where we now worship, of which we are grateful or proud.
Children, in all the dross of clutching the gold, still forgiving
Because they know they are forgiven.
May we go about fearless, knowing that evil is conquered!
Old folk not afraid of crossing the bourne,
And sorrowing folk derives of dear ones.
May we not be bitter, knowing the old chair will not be empty forever.
Young folk, distracted by passion and acquisitiveness,
Who have been stayed from lust or dishonesty.
May we loyally remember what we learned of God’s Law,
Through fellowship with humble, penitent, experienced older saints.
We remember our churches’ frailties; too frail for the modern storm.
Too conformist to a dying world,
too respectable to make the wretched feel at home.
We ask You, Lord, so to invade our church homes,
That they become careless of money and budgets,
More careful of drunkards; more courageous for peace;
More acquisitive in love.
When we are tempted to speak critically of our churches, our homes,
May we feel your silent gaze on us, saying,
“What will you do, to overcome the frailty of my Church?!”
Adapted from George MacLeod, Iona Community, The Whole Earth Shall Cry Glory, pp. 46 f.

Thanksgiving
Christ above us, Christ beneath us, Christ beside us, Christ within us:
Invisible we see you, Christ above us.
With earthly eyes we see above us, clouds or sunshine, grey or bright.
But with the eye of faith, we know You reign:
Instinct in the sun ray; speaking in the storm;
Warming and moving all creation; Christ above us!
 (5)
We do not see all things subject to you,
But we know humanity is made to rise.
Invisible we see you, Christ beneath us.
With earthly eyes we see beneath us stones and dust and dross…
But with the eye of faith, we know You uphold.
In you all things consist and hang together.
The very atom is light energy; the grass is vibrant;
The rocks pulsate [in Your love]
…“Underneath are the everlasting arms:” Christ beneath us!
Inapprehensible we know You, Christ beside us:
With earthly eyes we see [people], exuberant or dull, tall or small.
But with the eye of faith, we know You dwell in each…
You are imprisoned in the doper and the drunk, but You are there.
You are released, resplendent, in the loving mother,
The dutiful daughter, the passionate bride,
And in every sacrificial soul.
Inapprehensible we know You: Christ beside us!
Intangible, we touch you, Christ within us.
With earthly eyes se see ourselves, dust of the earth, earth of earth…
But with the eye of faith, we know ourselves all girt about
With eternal stuff our minds capable of Divinity,
Our bodies groaning, waiting for the Revealing,
Our souls redeemed, renewed.
Intangible we touch You, Christ within us!
…It is so.
Adapted from George MacLeod; Iona Community, The Whole Earth Shall Cry Glory, pp. 16 f.

The Lord’s Prayer

“Millennium Prayer” (Our Father)
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name!
Thy kingdom, come, thy will be done, On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread, And forgive our sins
As we forgive each one of those, Who sins against us.
And lead us not to the time of trial, But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, The power and the glory.
…Let every heart's desire be joined, To see the kingdom come…
Let all the world sing with one voice; Let the people say Amen!
Paul Field and David Deal © 1998 Meadowgreen Music Ltd.
Used with permission, CCLI # 3117248
 (6)
Hymn
“We Shall Go Out with Hope of Resurrection” VU # 586
We shall go out with hope of resurrection;
we shall go out, from strength to strength go on;
we shall go out and tell our stories boldly;
tales of a love that will not let us go.
We'll sing our songs of wrongs that can be righted,
we'll dream our dreams of hurts that can be healed,
we'll weave a cloth of all the world united
within the vision of new life in Christ.
We'll give a voice to those who have not spoken;
we'll find the words for those whose lips are sealed;
we'll make the tunes for those who sing no longer,
expressive love alive in every heart.
We'll share our joy with those who still are weeping,
raise hymns of strength for hearts that break in grief,
we'll leap and dance the resurrection story, including
all in circles of our love.
Words: June Boyce-Tillman 1993 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Tune: “Londonderry Air,” Traditional Irish. Used permission CCLI # 3117248

Benediction
Lord Jesus, You are above us, reigning. We believe it.
That is what gives us serenity to achieve…
Lord Jesus, You are before us, directing. We believe it.
That is what gives us courage to go on.
Lord Jesus, You are beneath us. We believe it.
When we slip, You catch us.
When we kick You in the face, You just serve us…
You come further down just to be beside us.
In awe, we thank You!
Lord Jesus, You are within each of us.
Our hope of glory; of being complete. We believe it.
It is not just the interior of our church walls,
It’s our own inner beings, You have renewed.
…So we bless You…!
George MacLeod, Iona Community, The Whole Earth Shall Cry Glory, pp. 44 f.