December 2016: Seeking Light

Setup

The centre of the church cleared of benches. A selection of Ian Adams' reflections 'Seeking Light' hung up along each side, out of numerical order, plus the Magnificat and Benedictus on stands at the front. A single central candle. Individual candles are on the font cover in the lobby - the congregation gather here for the introduction and to pick up their candles before entering. In the church they will only have their candle to see by. The introduction and the closing liturgy are on printed sheets. The screen is not used.

Introduction

Advent is particularly associated with waiting. Whether we are waiting for a darkness to pass - or yearning for a light to come, the waiting and the yearning deserve our care and our attention.

 

One of the many gifts of Christmas is its capacity to nurture within us an openness to new possibilities coming into being, unseen, unlikely, unnoticed. Closer than we may imagine, something new is always being birthed. God coming towards us, God with us, God within us. A stream of light spilling under the door of darkness. May we not miss the wonder of this moment.

 

The holy child Jesus may somehow be a gift for us all. In seeking light we may discover that we too are bearers of light.

 

Grace this evening is an exploration of a series of reflections written by Ian Adams. They are hanging in the church space. The church will remain in darkness but we invite you to light a candle and to read the reflections by the light of the candle.

Be careful - we don’t want anyone to trip. Once you go in your eyes will adjust. There will be music playing all loosely around the theme of seeking light . So feel free to read one or all of the reflections.

Our advice is to linger with something that catches your attention. But also please feel free to sit in the space and wait and pray and long and hope and listen to the music.

There will be about 40 minutes to explore and we will then use the liturgy on the sheet to draw things to a close together.

 

There is darkness, there is light. And this is life, and this is waiting.

 

Opening Prayer

In this season of waiting, of longing, of looking for you to come into our world
We are seeking light

[Light candles]

In our own lives 
We are seeking light

In our neighbourhoods
We are seeking light

In our families
We are seeking light

In our work
We are seeking light

In Grace
We are seeking light

In our nation
We are seeking light

In our world
We are seeking light

In… [please add your own longings]
We are seeking light

Seek and you shall find
Knock and the door will be opened
Ask and it will be given to you

Jesus Christ you are the light of the world
May we have eyes to see you
  And ears to hear you
Come into our world today
Amen

The reflections

Numbers 1 to 19 were used, plus the Magnificat and the Benedictus.

Closing Liturgy

[we stand in a circle around the central candle at a distance from it and one another]

[say together]

we are seeking light
but we ourselves
are the bearers of the light we seek

often the light that we have seems lonely and insignificant
compared to the darkness that surrounds it

imagine you are a streetlight
around you on every side is darkness
you can only see one or two others of your kind
your pools of light barely touch
when you look into your neighbour's light
all you see is the rain

in summer your light was hardly needed
even the nights were never really dark

but now the dark hours outnumber the day
and even the daylight is dim
your light seems monochrome and weak
a poor substitute for the sun
it would be easy to lose hope
and to feel that it is not worth shining any more

[we come close together around the central candle]

but above you out of sight
is god and some other people
on the international space station looking down

from space our tiny lights add up to a great blaze
huge cities and great highways of light
cutting through the darkness
trapping it in a net
reducing it to manageable chunks

all that a pilgrim down on earth needs to do
is go from one tiny light to the next

[we place our candles around the central candle]

[say together]

Holy God, who lives in unapproachable light,
now dismiss your servants in peace, in accordance with your word;
for our eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all nations,
a light for revelation to the world
and for glory to your people everywhere.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Glory be to the Creator
and to the Redeemer
and to the Comforter

Amen