THEME Made in the image of the God who makes and remakes.
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
PRAYERS
All: I AM A LOVABLE, CREATIVE PERSON
MADE IN THE LIKENESS OF GOD.
I GIVE MYSELF PERMISSION TO ENJOY BEING MYSELF
TO LOVE WITHOUT FEAR OF REJECTION,
TO CREATE WITH IMAGINATION,
TO CHANGE WITHOUT FEAR OF THE FUTURE,
TO WORK FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE AS A SINGER AND DANCER
WITHIN GOD’S ALL EMBRACING CREATIVITY.
O God, we acknowledge that we have not fully used all the gifts which you have given us.
You have given us eyes but we have not always noticed the beauty of the world nor the hurts of other people.
You have given us ears but we have not always heard the songs of nature nor listened to what people are really saying.
You have given us fingers but we have not always felt the world with reverence nor touched other people as tenderly as we could.
You have given us a sense of smell but we are part of a society which pollutes the air as well as the earth, the rivers and the sea.
All: HELP US, STARTING FROM NOW, TO ENJOY OUR SENSES AND TO WORSHIP YOU WITH OUR SEEING AND HEARING, OUR SENSE OF SMELL AND OF TOUCH, AS WELL AS WITH OUR THINKING.
O God, you are the God of right distribution,
the right distribution of color, line,
shape, mass, texture,
movement and sound;
and you are also the God of the right distribution of wealth and power.
Give us a new commitment to work to replace
ugliness with beauty,
oppression with liberation
and poverty with sufficiency,
that all your children may share the quality of life
which is their birthright.
O God, you are the earth-maker Cosmic Creator. Help us to make and to love like you, with you and for you.
HYMNS
May the sap flow in our hearts. (BL)
From the womb of mother Earth. (BL)
In the world of nature’s weaving (BL)
God the one forever making. (BL)
From the silence God created. (BL)
When skin becomes the surface of the Earth. (BL)
As flesh reveals a path. (BL)
Come let us think. (BL)
Who is this Herod in my heart. (BL)
Gift of the solar fire.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
God molds the shapes of life.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
With God we shape compassion’s robe.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Rise O my heart.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
The spring will come again.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
God the sacred cosmic life-blood. (STS1)
Throughout the realms of being. (STS2)
Be like young children. (STS2)
If my heart grows icy cold. (STS2)
Come dream the pattern. (STS 2)
Singing the Sacred Vol 1 2011, Vol 2 2014 World Library Publications
SONG FOR TEENS
Abraham had stirring dreams. (SYSJ)
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
THE PATTERN OF THE ACT OF CREATION
THE FIRE
‘Why do you write poetry?’ he asked.
The answer is simple;
sometimes, suddenly
a pattern of words
catches fire
in my brain
and I must
wrestle with it,
commit it to paper,
if I am not to suffer a small death
at the hands
of its searing intensity.
That fire is not an enemy indeed, I wrestle
with it
with reverence
as in some way,
beyond my comprehension, I know
the fire
is God. (see John 1:4)
A SONG
Between the thing that I see
And the thing that I am
There lies a song.
THE TRANSPARENT JESUS
Between decadent ornamentation and puritanical ugliness stands the transparent Man of Galilee neither dependant upon ostentation nor of vilification of the flesh but clothed in simple garments which hide a coherent inner complexity.
THE ACT OF CREATION(Genesis 1:1-2:4)
In the beginning was the person, an organism consciously or unconsciously recording all the stimuli to which it was exposed.
Then came the desire to create, the subsequent wrestling with ideas, followed by a great silent darkness falling upon the person’s mind.
Suddenly there was an awakening premonition and just as instantaneously, a flash of insight. The stored stimuli and conscious ideas had been re-organized by the subconscious mind to create something NEW – something that filled the person with ecstasy and allowed them to experience a great sense of relaxation.
Then came a refining and testing of the insight and the production of appropriate strategies.
Lastly, came the action – the giving of flesh to ideas.
The creative incarnation was complete.
THE STORY OF ELIZABETH
Once upon a time there was a girl called Elizabeth who wanted to make something different, something new. Elizabeth noticed everything that was going on around her. She dreamt about new ways of making things, she had fun playing and she enjoyed having a rest.
Then one day a new thought suddenly flashed into her mind ‑
‘WOW’ said Elizabeth, ‘this is like heaven, this is like being God. I wonder where that thought came from?’
But it was not enough for Elizabeth to have that new thought -Elizabeth had to test it to see if it would work; Elizabeth had to turn it into something that could be seen or heard or touched or smelt.
If she had not done that, the thought would have stayed in Elizabeth’s head and no one apart from Elizabeth would ever have known what it was.
Can you guess what Elizabeth made?
UNFETTERED MIGRANTS
Though I am more than my words
My words are also more than me:
liberated they explore where I could never go
Landing in hearts of people I could never know.
These linguistic migrants
Leave behind the space
Of imperfection and mistakes
To become
Unfettered
Emanations
Of the within
And beyond
Of I AM’s
Realm.
CREATING
If we are called to be like God and to work with God then we are surely called to create beautiful new things as well as to remake what is broken. But to create we must first see, hear, touch and smell the wonderful and painful world around us.
THREE STAGES OF ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY
FOCUS FOR ACTION
LOGO NOTE: At the heart of the mystery all the separate boxes disappear and all is one, all is love.
Text and graphic © William Livingstone Wallace but available for free use.
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