The Spirit of Witness

Description

The term ‘witness’ has become synonymous with evangelism, but true witnessing is usually found in dissenting: it refuses to bow to idols, or to take the easy road, or deny Christ and all he died for. This collection is rooted in that belief that having the mind of Christ means we will do things differently. It offers practical resources for pastoral care that celebrates people on the margins of the church, and provides liturgies for those who suffer racism or injustice, who experience tragedy and loss, who raise their voices in protest or lament, and more. These texts do not carry the stamp of approval of any church body, but will bring the light of the gospel where it is needed. Arranged in six sections, it includes contributions from well-known and new voices covering the themes of: • Witness in Ordinary Time • Communion • Birth and Baptism • United in Love • Suffering Presence • Death and Resurrection

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Practice
• Christian Rituals
• Philosophie et théologie
• Liturgy
• Worship

Informations

• Publié par: Hymns Ancient & Modern
• Date de parution: 28 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786224477
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Spirit of Witness
Unauthorized Liturgies, Prayers, Poems and Sermons for Dissenters
Martyn Percy
Emma Percy
Jim Cotter
Heather Carter
Rebecca Parnaby-Rooke
Dave Lucas
with
The Ordinary Office
Los Olivos Retreats
The Church of the Holy Family, Blackbird Leys






© The Contributors 2023
Published in 2023 by Canterbury Press
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Canterbury Press.
The Authors have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the Authors of this Work
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The quotation marked NASB is from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
978-1-78622-445-3
Typeset by Regent Typesetting
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd



Contents
About the Contributors
Introduction: Witness in Ordinary Time
Witness in Ordinary Time
Liturgy (The Ordinary Office)
Poems – Five Witnessing Women
The Parable of the Sower
Truth was Given
A Blessing
Prayer for Peace in Ordinary Time
Communion
Beware the Leaven of Christians
The Body of Christ
Bread for the World
A Eucharist for the Home (Robin Gibbons)
For a Celebration of Holy Communion (Jim Cotter)
Shorter Eucharist (Church of the Holy Family)
‘A Fragrant Offering and Sacrifice’
Birth and Baptism
A Simple Service of Baptism (Church of the Holy Family)
The Nature and Nurture of Jesus
Does the Bible Really Advocate the Nuclear Family?
Can a Eunuch be Baptized? Reading Acts 8
Night Prayer (Jim Cotter)
United in Love
Does the Bible Really Give Us a Clear Definition of Marriage?
Celebrating Christian Marriage
A Celebration Service for N and N (Jim Cotter)
The Blessing of Civil Partnerships (Jim Cotter)
Suffering Presence
Protest (Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
John the Baptist: St George’s Church, Kingston, Jamaica
Solidarity and Struggle
Three Christmas Homilies
Mary Needed Room
A Prayer in Suffering (The Ordinary Office)
A Service for Racism Sunday (The Ordinary Office)
A Service for Bereaved Parents at Home Preparing to Lay Their Child to Rest (The Ordinary Office)
Suffering in Silence
When You are Ground Down
Stretch
Suspension
Blessed are the Meek
Limbo
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Breathe
Fig Leaves
Prayers in the Midst of Domestic Violence
Prayers for Pride Month (The Ordinary Office)
Death and Resurrection
Ripening
Humbled
The Sign of Jonah
Chaz
A Prayer for Easter (The Ordinary Office)
Coming Through Fire: Notes on Connections Between Daniel and Jesus
The Anointing Woman
A Prayer for the Resurrected Church
Kingfisher
There Were Also Women… (Mark 15.40)
Easter Hope
Bursting Our Minds
New Beginnings
Candle
Resurrection – Group Exercises?
Easter Futures
Thawing
Leaving It to God: A Sermon for St Matthias
Closing Prayers




About the Contributors
The Revd Heather Carter is Minister of the Church of the Holy Family, Blackbird Leys, Oxford. The church is a designated Local Ecumenical Project and under Heather’s leadership provides extensive outreach and support to the community.
Jim Cotter was an Anglican priest and wordsmith whose prayers, psalms and hymns enabled many to forge a new spirituality. Writing and speaking for nearly 50 years, he developed a network through Cairns, a publishing enterprise he began in the 1980s. In his spiritual writings, he described the challenges of being gay and latterly his battle with leukaemia (which led to his death in 2014 at the age of 72). His personal story, particularly his bouts of depression, helped others to come to terms with their life, sexuality, suffering and spirituality. He described his ministry as ‘free-range’: quiet prayer, simple hospitality and thoughtful conversation.
The Revd Canon Dr Robin Gibbons is a Melkite Priest (Catholic, Eastern Rite) and is a teacher and writer in the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford. He is also an Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
David Lucas is the founder of ‘The Ordinary Office’, an online church community based on Twitter with a weekly service on YouTube. Raised a Catholic, he discovered a new sense of God through his two guide dogs, Abbot and Jarvis. David is an activist lobbying churches to change their attitudes to disability and inclusion.
The Revd Dr Daniel Muñoz is an Anglican priest and theologian with a particular interest in exploring the intersections between art, poetry and Christian spirituality. He is the chaplain of Los Olivos Retreats in Spain.
Rebecca Parnaby-Rooke is a writer and music therapist. She co-leads the inclusive online community ‘The Ordinary Office’ and has published in the online devotional library ‘Our Bible App’ and in the short-story compilation ‘Queer Hands of God’.
The Revd Canon Dr Emma Percy is an Anglican priest and theologian. She writes and teaches on practical feminist theology and ministry studies and is a former Chair of WATCH (Women and the Church).
The Very Revd Professor Martyn Percy is an Anglican theologian and priest. He writes and teaches on faith, culture and public life, and also on the sustainability of churches in contemporary culture.



Introduction: Witness in Ordinary Time
MARTYN PERCY
You would be forgiven for thinking that this book might be another about witnessing and how to pass on your faith to others. You may be familiar with that genre of Christian writing – lots of stories, techniques, handy hints and encouraging tips. If so, you will be disappointed. This is not that sort of book. Indeed, we hope the subtitle has given you a clue as to what to hope for.
Witnessing to the truth, to the Spirit and to Christ is about something far more important for Christians. True witnessing is usually found in dissenting. No, we won’t bow to idols. Nor will we take the easy road. No, we will not seek safety. Nor will we turn from the cross. No, we will not deny Christ or any and all he died for. Nor will we exclude those who harm and hate us. Christian witness dissents. Our faith is not conformed to the world. Having the mind of Christ mostly means we are bound to do things differently.
‘Witness’ is a term that has become synonymous with evangelism and it has been tamed, domesticated and emasculated by successive generations of Christians in modern times. It has come to mean something that is either written or spoken by some and then done to others. As though folk could be persuaded by a cogent argument or slicker presentation. It has become a hobby for specialists; for brave souls, a somewhat trivial pursuit implying eager and enthusiastic enterprise; a sort of practice that everyone can have a crack at but is otherwise optional. So much so, in fact, that we can pay for others to do that which we either can’t or won’t do ourselves. I ask you, who would be a Christian witness? I mean, seriously ?
As I say, this is not that kind of book. Perhaps like you, I am rather wary and weary of any more offerings on improving techniques for sharing the gospel. If the key to evangelism lay in slicker presentation, or clearer or cleverer explanations, then we would have discovered this long ago. In truth, we are evading what we already know, deep down. That is this: to be a witness – a true one – costs everything. It is fundamental to our being Christian.
In this short collection of poems, prayers, reflections and liturgies, we have sought to express the witness of dissent with contributions that are not stamped with any approval, authorization and licensing by the Church. You will find liturgies and prayers for lovers, civil partnerships, bereaved parents mourning an infant, racism and Gay Pride. Our poems and reflections are intentional exercises in dissent, so that we can recover authentic Christian witness from the clutches of a safety-first, risk-averse faith. True witnessing causes trouble; it questions the worldly powers and religious authorities. Witnessing requires courage, care and kindness. None of these are for the timid.
Our old English word ‘witness’ meant ‘attestation of fact or an event’ and ‘from personal knowledge’. Just as we use the term in legal proceedings, the witness is ‘the one who so testifies’. There is an older word – hardly used now – which is ‘inwit’, and our forebears used this as a synonym for the mind or seat of thought and consciousness. While we use the English word ‘wit’ for humour, our forebe