Epiphany #resistharm worship suggestions
A person could ask, “why are
you worrying about Epiphany resistance worship on Christmas Eve? Have you not
known that January 1st occurs on the first of January all year? And
that Epiphany is always the 12th Day of Christmas?" Rather than
asking the question, a person could quietly proceed with doing their best and
give thanks that Jesus continues to show up, on Christmas and every day.
What follows are very basic liturgy
helps for those planning worship services around the themes of Epiphany and
resisting the harm of the Traditional Plan - from one of your friends in the
Great Plains Conference of the UMC.
Thinking about our gathered group
I am predicting that at our
Omaha location our worshipping group will have quite a diversity of experience
when it comes to advocacy and resistance in the UMC. Because the former
Nebraska Conference endured two church trials twenty years ago, some of our
folks will come with a great deal of resistance experience. Others who gather
with us might be feeling very new, and perhaps will be unsure what to expect.
Because of our location, we will likely be welcoming people from both the most
populated areas of the state and some of our smaller towns; we may also find
worshippers joining us from bordering states outside of our jurisdiction. For
these reasons, at the Omaha site we hope to create a very simple flow of
worship that mimics the order of worship one might find in a Sunday morning
service.
Theme
We are working from both the
theme of resistance that is found in the baptismal vows, and the powerful Epiphany story
of the wise ones who choose to travel home by another way.
Story-telling
This is still evolving at our
sites, but I think worship participants will hear from at least one person who
will help interpret the story of the wise ones choosing to travel home another
way and at least one person sharing a personal story of hearing God’s call
inviting them to journey towards a new way of understanding God’s will for an
understanding of a diverse and inclusive embrace of all of God’s people.
Baptismal Vows
The Congregational Reaffirmation of
the Baptismal Covenant found in the UMHymnal on pages 50-53 offers
strong words of resistance, especially in the first two sections.
Do you
renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,
reject
the evil powers of this world,
and
repent of your sin?
Do
you accept the freedom and power God gives you
to
resist evil, injustice and oppression
in
whatever forms they present themselves?
An advantage of using this
covenant from the hymnal is that draws attention to this tool of resistance.
Hymnals are still fairly accessible to church members and therefore available
for study by small groups and personal study. In particular, laity who feel isolated
might be relieved to be reminded of this resource.
Liturgies/prayers other people wrote
I have not yet written “my
own” prayers for the #resistharm Epiphany service. If and when I do, I’ll add
them to this post. If someone I know writes something and gives me their
permission, I will add their words.
For now, some suggestions of
existing resources:
Ruth Duck, Bread for the
Journey, Epiphany selections beginning on page 26
Ruth Duck, Flames of the
Spirit, Epiphany selections beginning on page 25
Tirabassi and Tirabassi,
Before the Amen, Epiphany section is Chapter 3
You are probably thinking,
“Steph, are you just grabbing liturgy books off your shelves and reading the
table of contents?” And I’m responding, “Yes. Yes I am. Our theme is universal,
Epiphany prayers are universal, and we are called for such a time as this. So
the story-tellers we recruit will help bring this all together.”
Other resources
In case you are trapped in a
blizzard with your UMW library, I recommend The Call: Living Sacramentally,
Walking Justly (McClain, Norberg, and Kruh, editors; many authors).
I strongly suggest
downloading Songs for the Holy Other: Hymns Affirming the LGBTQIA2S+ Community
from the Hymn Society.
This section may have other resources added
after Christmas Eve crunch and aftermath have ended.
Other rituals
Both Great Plains services
will include the ritual of hospitality. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but
baked goods might be involved. I can not guarantee the gluten levels involved. We
plan to have greeters at our outside doors, because a good number of
worshippers might not have visited our worship spaces prior to these services.
One location is fully equipped for slides, while the other site is more
purposefully ancient modern; we will do our best to anticipate the needs of
those attending so they can follow along with the order of worship.
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