6am - Easter 2022 Dawn Service
All earth is awakening, resurrected, renewed and revived.
Life and Love, God in Jesus is with us.
Death is not our future, Christ is risen, Alleluia Alleluia!
Creation stories round a fire
Father God, Mother God,
By the energy of creative love you have brought all things into being, continually creating and restoring us, making us in your own image,
sharing in our humanity that we may share in your divinity.
We contemplate your creation; the darkness of the night past, the light of the dawn, our birth in the waters, all alike sustained and restored by your presence.
Silence as the Pascal candle is lit
We light the Candle of the Risen Christ that God may illuminate our flesh and our minds, our hearts and our imaginations.
May the light of Christ shine in the dark and the deep places of your being, and the darkness wherever we may meet it, that the Way may be followed until we all greet the Great Dawn with joy.
Fresh and salt water are poured
1. Freshwater carrier 2. The storyteller 3. Saltwater carrier
1. Here is the water of our survival day by day, drawn up as from a well
2. Here are waters that were broken to give us birth
3. Here is water of raging power, of tidal wave and destroying flood
2. Here is water of the Jordon river, rite of passage from slavery and oppression to the freedom of the promised land
3. Here is the water of chaos and the creatures of profound unknown, the roaring wind and fearful silence
1. Here is water that is the simplest gift to the thirsty and that washes the weary travellers feet
2. Here is the water of dying bearing us across the ancient river
3. Here is water that purifies, scours and cleanses us of all that is toxic
1. Here is water that springs up in barren ground to our unexpected joy
Our profession of faith
In times of belief and in times of doubt, in times of assurance and in times of perplexity, in times of presence and in times of absence, human beings in all their variety have come to recognise the divine mystery and desired to grow in the ways of love, to embody that love in intimacy and justice.
So we whisper our trust…..
That we and all human beings and all that is being created, are dearly loved by God for ever;
That in Christ we are freed from the powers of oppression and fear, of evil, pain, and death;
That we are are called to follow the Way of Jesus embracing the outcast with friendship and renouncing the ways of worldly power, at whatever cost and wherever it may lead.
That the Holy Spirit empowers us and guides us on that Way.
Let us take to ourselves again our baptism in Water,
In the name of the Creator, the Life giver, the Father-Mother of us all;
In the name of the redeemer, the pain-Bearer, the Son,
In the name of the Sanctifier, the love-Maker, the Spirit.
Confession
Are we willing to turn again to Christ,
to turn to the deep things of God,
to the Spirit of God moving within and among us,
to the mysterious Companion who is the Other within us.
Christ, truly divine and truly human,
living the way of unconditional love.
Are we willing day by day,
to turn our hearts and minds to repentance,
confessing our failures to love,
forgiving ourselves and others, and being forgiven.
Are we willing to refuse the way of evil,
of self hatred and hating others,
to keep steadfastly to the true path,
the Way the Truth and the Life of Jesus,
to have courage, to embrace the Way of the cross and participate in the Way of compassion.
In Christ there is no condemnation and our sins are forgiven us. Amen
Gospel reading
Let us pray for our own needs and for the needs of others.
Following the pattern that Jesus gave when he taught us to pray to God the Father…..
Through our love of the countryside, and the environment,
through our care of plants and animals,
through our respect for the gifts of technology,
Father, hallowed be your name.
On our farms, and in our homes,
as we raise and teach our children and grandchildren,
where machines are crafted and computers programmed,
where policy is planned and strategies envisioned.
Father your kingdom come.
By seeking your guidance,
by keeping your commandments,
by living true to our conscience,
Father your will be done.
For the millions who live in poverty and hunger,
for our own needs and the needs of our neighbours,
by cooperation, sympathy and generosity,
give us today our daily bread.
because we have broken your commandments,
doing what we ought not to do and neglecting what we ought to do,
Forgive us our sins.
If any have injured us by injustice, fraud or exploitation,
we forgive those who sin against us.
When prosperity lulls us with false security,
or hard times prompt us to despair.
When success makes us boastful and complacent
and failure makes us bitter,
lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
In the assurance of faith,
in the confidence of hope,
in the will to serve,
help us to love Christ as Lord and our neighbour as ourselves.
For the true kingdom is yours, forever and ever.
Amen
Material taken from Common Worship, New Patterns for Worship and 'Darkness Yielding' (Cotter and Percy)
