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This Lenten project was designed by Greater Victoria Artists
Collaborate and was originally experienced in Victoria, BC, Canada on
March 8, 2007.
Thanks to Ron Cole, James Kingsley and their crew for sharing the resource.
A description of the event can be found here.
Images of the evening can be found here.
Original video with original music and lyrics used at the beginning of the event can be found here.
And here’s the liturgy:
A liturgy…of Sorrow to Glory
(begin with mellow/minor/sad instrumental to)
the gathering opens here…
In the midst comes the sound, of moaning and crying.
We recognize the sound…for it has been us, and it has been our world.
It disturbs us.
Do we run and hide from sorrow.
Or do we draw near, with Christ, in Christ
to redeem and restore…sorrow for glory.
Two People Read the following:
(Reader #1) In the face of a disappointed world of betrayal
A world in which all fixed points have proven illusory
A world in which we are anchorless and adrift
Christ is the foundation
The origin
The way
The truth
And the life
In the face of a culture of death
A world of killing fields
A world of walking dead
Christ is the head of the resurrection parade
Transforming our tears of betrayal into tears of joy
Giving us dancing shoes for the resurrection party
(Reader #2) And this glittering joker who has danced in the dragons jaws of death
Now dances with a dance that is full of nothing less
Than the fullness of God
This is the dance of the new creation
This is the dance of life out of death
And this is the dance of all that was broken
All that was estranged
All that was alienated
All that was dislocated and disconnected
What was once hurt
What was once friction
Is reconciled
Comes home
Is healed
And is made whole
Because grace makes beauty out of ugly things
Everything
All things
What ever you can imagine
Visible and invisible
Mountains and atoms
Outer space, urban space, cyberspace
Every inch of creation
Every dimension of our lives
All things are reconciled in him
(Reader #1) And it all happens on a cross
It all happens at a state execution
Where the governor did not commute the sentence
It all happens at the hands of the empire
That captured our imagination
It all happens through blood
Not through a power grab by the sovereign one
It all happens in embraced pain and sorrow
For the sake of others
It all happens on a cross
Arms outstretched in embrace
And this is the image of the invisible God
This is the body of Christ
This is the Son that glorifies the Father
The son who took sorrow…transforming it into Glory
One Person reads: Prayer of St. Basil the Great
God, Lord of hosts and Maker of all creation, who in Your great
compassion and mercy sent down Your Only-Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, for the redemption of mankind and by His precious Cross
destroyed the record of our sins, triumphing over the source and power
of darkness: O Lord and Lover of mankind, accept also the thanksgiving
and fervent prayers of us sinners. Deliver us from every dark and
harmful transgression and from all the visible and invisible enemies
that seek to destroy us. Nail our flesh to the fear of You, and do not
incline our hearts to deceitful words or thoughts, but wound our souls
with love for You, that always looking to You, guided by Your light,
and seeing You, the eternal and ineffable Light, we may give You
unceasing praise and thanksgiving: to the Father without beginning,
with Your Only-Begotten Son and Your all-holy, good and life-giving
Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
One: Let us worship the God who calls us!
Let us bring our sacrifice of brokenness!
Let us declare the Glory of God!
All: We come from the broken places of the world,
gathering the shards of harried lives,
bringing our offerings of tears and sorrow.
All: We gather as the ever-broken,
ever-risen Body of Christ,
our lives poured out for the healing of the world
redeeming and restoring, for God’s Kingdom, for His Glory
All: Let us worship the God who calls us.
Let us bring the sorrow of all that is broken.
Let us declare the Glory of God.
1st Reading: Isaiah 53: 1-5
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Sung Response…
Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison
Spoken Resonse…
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Reflection and Confession…read by two people
Hear our cry, O God
Hear this, our prayer of longing
The smoke of our desire rises up to you
We come to you broken hearted, full of sorrow
The cracks in our fragile world
Grow wider every day
Split by our greed and complacency
We come to you broken hearted, full of sorrow
We take as much as we can grab
Our idol is scarcity
We do not remember our neighbor
And tuned out the cries of the orphan, and widow
We come to you broken hearted, full of sorrow
Those who sit out side the doors of our world
Unable to walk and with little to eat
We try not to look as we come and go
We come to you broken hearted, full of sorrow
2nd Reading … Isaiah 58 : 6-9
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
( at this point people come forward with a fragment of paper on
which they have written a sorrow and place it in a burning bucket )
Everyone says…
Here on this altar
We bring the broken places of your creation
We trust, that with you, and in you we will knit together
The new creation…revealing your Kingdom, and your Glory
Sung Response
Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison
Read Response
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Have someone Give a Brief Reflection…
( Everyone reads the following )
God makes homecoming in the midst of exile
God makes creation in the midst of chaos
God makes resurrection in the face of crucifixion
In the midst of sorrow…God brings Glory
3rd Reading … Isaiah 60: 1-3, 16b-20
1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior,
your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze,
and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor
and righteousness your ruler.
18 No longer will violence be heard in your land,
nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 The sun will no more be your light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun will never set again,
and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your days of sorrow will end.
Sung Response
Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison
Read Response
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
At this point in the service we tore a curtain to reveal an image of the crucifixion
Reflective Reading … John 12: 23-28
23Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground
and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces
many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man
who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also
will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
27″Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me
from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
28Father, glorify your name!”
One Person reads…
In this hour darkness, sorrow and death come
They cover lives, and the earth like a curtain drawn for night
Your shed blood, and life sacrificed tear to shreds this curtain of sorrow
Through it we see the dawn of a new day, the Glory of God
Here there can be a reflective song … as participants move outside
Now outside and gathered around the burning bucket, everyone says the following as the sorrow papers are lit
One person reads…
Let us build an altar
from the fragments of these broken times;
Let us cry out for those who have no voice;
Let us work with what we have,
to help bring healing, justice and mercy
to those whose lives
are filled with fear and suffering;
and know that God is with us,
even in the dark of doubt, and in sorrow.
The smoke of our desire rises up to you
Here we light taper candles and say together:
We leave knowing, and trusting in your faithfulness
That even in the darkest sorrow, your light is the glimmering hope
Of Glory to come.
Amen.
Amen.
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