Word and Worship

Ekklesia

Description

In the introduction to the 2019 edition I made mention of how, from a very fledgling start, Word and Worship (W&W) has become an essential tool in the preparation
for worship. We continue to receive good reviews. Those new to the book appreciate being able to follow the liturgical year as the various seasons occur. It appears it
is not so much the chronological sequence as the unfolding of the feast days that is appreciated. There are those who still feel that the Holy Spirit must inspire a preacher, who will then select a text. In other words, the Holy Spirit must surprise and inspire the preacher. And this is quite in order. As I said in the previous edition; “This publication is by no means the authority on the texts of the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). Neither does it lay claim to any academic or scholarly standard. That was never the intention behind the publication.” Others again find the structured texts welcome and in themselves come as a surprise, especially since there has been no subjective influence or preference in the choosing of the text or texts. When I tune in to a broadcast or recording on the radio, I must say whenever a single text is read, sometimes only a few verses, I wonder if this does not leave the audience or congregation with not enough of the spoken word from scripture. I know I tread on thin ice. The radio is not visual, so the challenge to keep an audience focussed is tough enough. However, when the texts are announced at the outset, it allows those tuning in an opportunity to open their bibles to the prescribed texts. So it makes for a joint reading and thus also a reading ‘together.’ The Word must be central and through WW that is what we want to convey. Speaking of scripture. We reflected on the possibility of a South African edition of the RCL, with due consideration for important days such as Youth Day and Freedom Day, especially since the RCL is not a South African construct. However, we came to the conclusion that scripture is central and we must allow the context to interpret the text. We must trust the Holy Spirit to direct our thinking in this regard, rather than trying to get a text ‘to fit.’ If Jesus used a donkey on Palm Sunday, we must be open to be surprised by the Holy Spirit.

Informations

• Publié par: CLF Publishers
• Date de parution: 01 août 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781868045051
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Acknowledgements
The Editors wish to thank the following persons and organisations who have
given free ly o f their time a nd tal ents to bring this project to frui tion:


Origination: Drs Coenie Burger & Bruce Theron of Ekklesia
Editorial Committee: Keith G riffi ths
James Gribble
Bruce Theron

Proofreading: Mary van Blerk
Billie-Jean Holt

Administra tive: Divine Rober tson

Layout: Chrisna van der Merwe

Cover Design: Cal Theron






Writers were all asked to use the New Revised Standard Version o f Scripture.

Prepared by South Afri can clergy of a wi de variety of denomina tions
under leader ship of Ekkles ia, an organisation
of the University of Stellenbosch
Based on the
Revis ed Common Lectionary: Year B
Advent 2020 to Pentec ost XXVI 2021


ISBN 978- 1- 86804-505-1





Compiled by
Ekklesia, PO Box 3322
Matieland
7602

Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]


Published and distributed by
CLF
Private Bag x19
Wellington
Tel: [phone] – Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]




© Copyright Ekklesia 2020
I

I ntroduc tion to Word an d Worshi p
Welcome to the 10 th e dition of Word and Worship (WW).
As always, we are indebted to our writers. We a ppreciat e
their dedicatio n, sac rifice and hard work. Every year we
have every i ntention of keepi ng to t he deadline.
However, owi ng to pastoral press ures, we often have t o
mak e all owance for t he “ one or two late submissions.”
Inc reasingly we a re becoming aware of more Sunday
services and s ermons follo wing t he Re vised Common
Lectiona ry (R CL) format. It may not al ways be t he
easiest format to follow in order to craft a sermon. T he
‘temptatio n’ is always to select or choose or pray for a
text for Sunday. This is fine and quite in order. It may
work for s ome. T he one shortc omin g is that one ma y
have t he te nd ency to choos e certai n ‘hobby te xts.’ As
writers, we believe and hold dear t hat the context
interprets the text. T he text each week, read se parately
and in different contexts, will inevitably lea d to diffe rent
sermons.
Spea king of c onte xt. At the time of writing, we were in
the mi dst of th e COVID-19 pandemic. Our country wide
lockdow n started at the end of March a nd has brought
muc h of the country to a stand - still. Education, the
economy a nd industr y largely shut down. There was an
extensi ve restriction on mov ement; later a curfew was
instituted. T he country, if not the world, cam e to a
standstill. The loss of life ran into the thous ands. T ravel,
includi ng inte rcontinental travel, was disrupted. People
were confined to whe rever t hey were stayi ng at the time
of the lockdow n a nnou ncement. Hospitals were
inaccessible for pastoral visits. T hose who succ umbed to
the disea se had thei r bodies wrapped and s ealed and the
subseque nt f uneral was held with no viewing of the body.
Even t he fune ral had to take place under tight c onstraints
with a limit placed on t he number of people attending.
Relatives from afar c oul d not be prese nt owi ng t o the
travel restrictions. Only time will tell ho w restrictions
like this will have af fected morale and dealing with the
loss of loved ones, because peop le were not allowed t o be
prese nt physic ally to sa y farew ell.
The one thi ng that affected morale the most, was the
restriction plac ed on comm unal worship. Though many
churches opted for virt ual worship servic es, t his was a
poor substitut e for comm unal worship and fellows hip.
Whe n restrictions were event ually li fted, allo win g
churches to return to ‘normal ’, they opte d not to, i n the
interest of safety. Rest ricting num bers to onl y 50, with
physical distancing, sanitising the sa nctuary, as well as
those attendin g, a nd not allowing singing, was not wort h
the effort. We can only wait and pra y th at when we
resume ‘business’ again, t he aftermat h wil l not be t oo
gha stly. S ome of t he sermons and liturgie s refer to the
pandemic. What will be inte resting will be to s ee how
this translates into serm ons, one year hence.
We are still receivin g requests for WW to be made
available in e -format. For one thing, our circulati on is too
low to j ustify that expense. But we live in hope. As
always , it is not written for you. It is c ompiled with you
in mi nd. We do not know your congrega tion, yo ur
conte xt. That doe s not mea n we are oblivious t o, or
unc oncerned a bout your situati on. Far from it. What we
do have are willing writers, all clergy, with a pastoral
heart a nd lo ve for the c hurch and for God . Paul wrote
many of his letters without being with people, expre ssing
the ho pe a nd pra yer “to those who through the
righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have
receive d faith as preci ous as ours.” As t hey received an d
reflected on t hese pastoral lett ers, so it i s our prayer that
all of you will also receive t his c ompilation of liturgical
and sermon ou tlines.
Ministers from vario us liturgi cal traditions have worked
on this and other e diti ons. T he work was not done with
any speci fic tr aditi on or denomination i n mind. This is a
manual. Each liturgy or sermon is only an outline, a
frame , if you l ike. T he liturgy ta kes a simpl e format and
is easy t o foll ow. Whet her in a high chu rch or more
contem porary c hurch, everyone can bene fit from WW, I
know. Having said this is an outline, I am a ware that bot h
the worship service a nd se rmon will be const ructe d or
crafted in l ine with what is given, as one t hing we all
have in comm on is the outline. We gather for worship.
We have the word of God being proclaimed, the n we
respond t o the word. We ma y then or later celebrate at
the table. Then we se nd the people out. Every outline of a
liturgy follo ws this format, i rrespective of an e piscopal
tradition or not. I ho pe t hi s sensitivity t o tra dition is
evident.
Just ove r a year ago we attem pted a more current take on
the lectionar y readi ngs . We i nvited lect urers in both Old
and New Test ament, together with diffe rent ministers, to
take part i n a discussion on t he weekly readings . This we
did on a trial basis and made it available on YouTube. It
worked very well, inte rpreting the readings i n a more
current c ontext. We could not do this on a sustained basis
as it turned out to be too e xpe nsive. One in novation under
lockdown was the virt ual worship ma de a vailable on
social media e very S unday. Technol ogy has adva nce d so
muc h. What we attem pted to do at considera ble cost is
now rec orded on a sim ple cell phone.
Finally, we have no way of determi ning the s uccess or
othe rwise of WW. Plea se take a mome nt a nd
commu nicate with us. May t his tenth e dition of WW be
an esse ntial and important tool to wards making your
worship grace ful a nd C hrist filled. Much appreciation
and gratitu de t o our c ontribut ors and editors for their hard
and un sel fish labour. Mary van Blerk, Billie-Jean Ho lt –
who has also rece ntly joi ned us as a proofrea der –
Chris na van der Merwe, Divine R obertson and Revd
Keith Griffiths . Thanks to t he Christian Lit erature Fund
for t heir partnershi p and s upport i n t his jo int pr o ject. I
commend to you this 10 th editi on of WW, “ Year B” ,
2020/2 021, with e very blessin g.
Grace and peace in abundanc e through the knowledge of
God a nd of Jesus C hrist.
Grace
Bruce
i
T

T able of Cont ent s

Introduction

Intr oduction to
Word and Worship 2020 – 2020

Bruce Theron

i

How to use thi s book

Keith Grif fiths

1

About Key Te xts and Alternate Texts

Keith Grif fiths

3

Plannin g the Preachin g Programme

Keith Grif fiths

4

Intr oduction to the Incarnation Cycle

Keith Grif fiths

6

Season of Advent

Intr o duc t ion to the Season of Advent

Keith Grif fiths

7

Basic Litur gy for Advent

Keith Grif fiths

9

1 st Sunday of Advent

29 November 2020

Isaia h 64:1 – 9

Liturgy

Rodne y White man

11

Sermon

Rodne y White man

12

2 nd Sunday of Advent

6 December 2020

Isaia h 40:1 – 11

Liturgy

Rodne y White man

15

Sermon

Rodne y White man

16

3 rd Sunday of Advent

13 Dece mber 2020

Isaia h 61:1 – 4, 8 – 11

Liturgy

James Nicols on

19

Sermon

James Nicols on

21

4 th Sunday of Advent

20 Dece mber 2020

2 S amuel 7:1 – 11, 16