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Selfish Genes and Generous Spirits

Attached is a liturgy we used recently as we began to explore our family backgrounds.

A couple of years ago at Vaux we did a series of meetings around 'My Urban Practice', which were simply an opportunity for individuals in the group to have an evening to talk about their day to day work. It was amazing how much we more we discovered about people.

So we decided to do something similar and give people a chance to explore/share something about their family background. I just went through all of my patriarchs, back to my 4 great grandfathers. It was great just to explore some of that history anyway, and nice to open some of that up to people, hopefully to allow them to understand me better.

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Selfish Genes and Generous Spirits

Opening Prayer

Oh God, who is jealous enough to punish the children for the sins of their great-grandfathers,
and loving enough to show mercy to a thousand generations beyond,
be kind to us today as we gather.
We cannot enter our mothers’ wombs again,
yet you promise us rebirth
into the holy and mysterious family that is each other, and you.

Bryson

Welcome. And congratulations. I am delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn't easy, I know. In fact, I  suspect it was a little tougher than you realize. To begin with, for you to be here now trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and intriguingly obliging manner to create you.

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Embracing Our Finitude [1]

We used this piece in a service reflecting on our 'finitude'. We'd love to see ourselves as immortal. We're not. And Lent is a good time of 'mini deaths' to reflect on this.

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We remember God, falling to earth as a seed, to live in our dirt, to suffer our pain, to understand our weakness, and to die and be buried. We struggle to understand life beyond death. We live as though immortal, and though death surrounds us on every side, we do not often confront it. In this communion, we remember God who died, and we hold the mystery of this death as comfort for our fear, pain and mortality.

[Call]
As we prepare to accept these symbols of God's death, we remember:
Those who have died
Those who mourn
Those who face death

[Response]
But if it dies, it produces many seeds

[Call]
As we prepare to accept these symbols of God's death, we acknowledge:
Our fear of death
Our deadness of spirit
Our frailty and mortality

[Response]
But if it dies, it produces many seeds

[Call]
As we meditate on these mysterious symbols of life beyond death, help us:
To live with uncertainty
To hold on to the world lightly
To comfort those who mourn

[Response]
But if it dies, it produces many seeds

Dismissal (after communion)

[Together]
Accept these symbols of life and death. May they lighten your spirit, enrich your life and give you peace. Amen.

Originally uploaded at vaux.net

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Valentine's Day Shared Meal | 'The Parliament of Foules'

Valentine's Day falls on one of our meetings days this year. We thought about canceling to allow people to sneak off and be romantic, but everyone agreed they'd rather meet and enjoy a shared 'love feast'!

This is the piece of liturgy we're going to share tomorrow night.

Saint Valentine is a bit of a myth. The day came about because the 14th of Feb - Saint Valentine's day - was also the traditional day in Spring when birds chose their mates. As Chaucer put it in his piece 'The Parliament of Foules':

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

So the liturgy is not directly about love, but takes a quick journey through avine metaphors in the Bible... The spirit hovering over the water, the dove sent out by noah, the 'wild goose' of the Spirit, the dove settling on Christ, the assurance of the Father's love even for the birds... All ending with us eating

'these breadcrumbs, this bird-food, as a sign of our love,
this wine, your blood, as a memory of yours.'

As ever, feel free to share, and use with imagination.

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Crucified Earth | An Environmental Mass

An environmental communion first used at Vaux.

The earth is one, though it is made of many parts;
And though its parts are many, they form one earth.
So it is with Christ.

We were all born to one earth, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and were all given the one earth to use.

Now the earth is not made up of one part, but many.
If the valleys should say, "Because I am not a mountain, I do not belong to the earth." it would not for that reason cease to be part of the earth.

And if the soil should say, "Because I am not stone, I do not belong to the earth." it would not for that reason cease to be part of the earth.

If the whole earth were stone, how would plants grow? And if the whole earth were soil, where would solidity be?

But in fact, God has arranged the parts of the earth just as they were meant to be. If they were all one part, where would the earth be? As it is, there are many parts, but one earth.

Humanity cannot say to the forests, "I don't need you." And the city cannot say to the ocean, "I don't need you."

On the contrary, those parts of the earth that are dirt, are indispensable, and those that are alien, we should respect.

God has summed the parts to make a greater whole,
so that there should be no selfish abuse,
no extinction,
no polluting,
no exhaustion of resources
no genetic modification
no contamination
no food mountain
no battery meat
no vivisection
no enforced relocation
no germ warfare
no Agent Orange

The earth is one,
though it is made up of many parts;

So it is with Christ.
As we are part of the earth, we are part of the body of Christ.

If we crucify the earth, We re-crucify Christ.

We share the body of Christ
Committing to turn outside ourselves for strength.
Acknowledging our interdependence with the earth.

We share the blood of Christ
Committing to share in Christ's sacrificial nature.
Acknowledging our hand in destroying our environment.

Originally archived at http://www.vaux.net

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Introduction to a Eucharist: Soliton 2007

This is the introductory reflection I wrote for the Celtic Soliton Sessions in Northern Ireland in February 2007.

It is based around some thoughts I had on an alternative reading of the Judas narrative. What if Judas had actually thought he was doing Jesus a favour? What if he, just like the other disciples, had got it all wrong, and though Jesus needed a helping hand to catalyse his military coup? This would obviously explain the kiss a little better...

At communion we are offered a piece of bread. Just as Judas was. Often we are about to go out 'into the night', just as he was. So what are we going to do with these gifts of bread and wine? Be like Judas and try to co-opt Jesus into our own revolutions, or be like Christ and walk the way of sacrifice?

The longer text towards the end of the piece is taken from the final chapter in my book Signs of Emergence, or The Complex Christ in the UK.

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