Vocations Sunday 2005

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Vocations Sunday 2005

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The Vocations Sunday 2005 pack has been compiled by Jan Berry, Lindsey Cottam and Peter Sharp from the North-Western Synod.

The theme of the Vocations Sunday material for 2005 is Transformation and the lectionary hearings used are those for the forth Sunday of Epiphany.

January 30th

However the material can be used at any time of year to fit into a local church's programme.

I Kings 17:8-16

John 2:1-11

I Corinthians 1:18-31

The ordinary becomes special
Scarcity becomes abundance
Foolishness into wisdom
Weakness into strength

A Sunday to consider your vocation
and that of your Church

Sermon Outlines based on the lectionary readings

1 Kings 17: 8-16

Psalm 36: 5-10

1 Corinthians 1: 18-31

John 2: 1-11

Prayers

Meditation

Hymns and Songs

The material for Vocations Sunday 2005 has been produced by Jan Berry, Lindsey Cottam and Peter Sharp from the North Western Synod.

Ideas for all age worship

1. Frodo, the ring-bearer and Harry Potter

In Lord of the Rings, Frodo is able to carry the ring of power because he is powerless. The ring would suck power out of the more powerful and make it evil. So it is Frodo’s weakness that is his strength. Also, his small size, being a Hobbit, enables him to hide from danger many times.

Harry Potter’s protection from Lord Voldemort is the love of his parents, which overcame the powerful evil magic: a case of love being stronger than death.

2. It’s what’s on the inside that matters

For a game famous to many folk tales and to “The Merchant of Venice”, have three parcels, wrapped in varying states, where the outside bears no relation to the inside, as those who open them will discover. This could be linked in to God’s call of people, which can seem foolish to the world. But God can see the inside, the potential, as well as the outside.

3. Image Matters

An easy way of showing how much we go by appearance is to have pictures, or people dressing up and the congregation guessing what they do as a living or where they are going. For example dog collar and robes, chef’s hat and apron, laboratory coat and stethoscope, boiler suit, Father Christmas outfit etc for occupations; school uniform, wedding outfit, football kit etc for where people are going. You could link this with God’s call, in that God knows us right through.The right clothes are not enough.

4. Growing in our gifts

If this is one of your themes, you could include examples in the worship, for example the children could teach the congregation one of the songs they have learnt. You could tell the stories of how people gets to their position in life. If you have someone suitable in the congregation, you could do a mini “This is Your Life”, as an illustration of how that person has grown in his or her gifts. This is also a good way of showing that serving God and others

is far broader than ordained ministry.

Being Creative

1. Make a display on the theme of transformation,

in the form:

From This To This

Seed Sunflower

Acorn Oak tree

Single cell Baby

Baby Grown up etc.

Cross Empty tomb

Include symbols of our faith and worship in this, for example bread and wine and the water of baptism, again as a way of showing them as means of transformation.

And include grain and a bottle of oil, and a water jar and some wine, to remind the congregation about the two miracle stories.

2. Make a display concerned with growing in our gifts

Use things that grow as a basis e.g. flowers, trees, animals and people, but then go on to growing in learning through school and college, and in sports and music by practising and real effort. You could have a display of local talent in the Church, e.g. art-work, music and achievements.

1 “Now Remember What You Were” (1 Corinthians 1 v26 GNB)

Theme: Transformation, of our weakness with God’s power

Readings 1 Kings 17: 8-16

1 Corinthians 1: 18-31

John 2: 1-11

This uses the idea from 1 Corinthians 1: 26 of “what you were” and then looks at what you are.

For 1 Kings 17, the widow of Zarephath was, with her son about to starve. After agreeing to help Elijah, the prophet, the three of them have enough food until the end of the drought. Interestingly, we do not seem to have abundance here. They are always only a meal away from starvation. Always, there is a little left, enough for the next meal. So it is an example of having “daily bread”, as in “The Lord’s prayer”. So, they were all about to starve. Now they are surviving, with God’s miraculous help.

For John 2: 1-11, what was water, has become wine. Again, there is a miraculous incident, where here servants obey God’s command, coming, this time, from Jesus. In contrast to the story of the starving widow and her son, it can seem like a miracle of unnecessary abundance, especially for those who do not approve of excessive alcohol consumption! In the passage, the transformed water results in a growth in faith in the disciples.

The main passage is from 1 Corinthians 1, especially verses 26 to 31, which contrasts what the Corinthian Christians were before being called: “weak, foolish, despised” by the world, with being chosen by God and transformed by “union with Christ Jesus” (verse 30 GNB).

In all three passages, something of little or no value is given, a little grain, some water, or lives that have no value in the world’s eyes. And they are transformed by God’s power. Our giving can seem a drop in the ocean when we look at the needs of the world. Our prayers can seem of little use when we look at the problems of the world. The talents we have can seem to be irrelevant when we look at our churches. But God transforms things and people. The small, daily miracle of enough for survival, that we find in the 1 Kings reading, may be particularly helpful when we think about our small churches struggling to survive. Vocation here is not for individuals alone, but for churches as they seek God’s call to their community.

2. Faith or Foolishness

This focuses on the actions within the miracle stories which show the faith or foolishness of the participants.

Readings 1 Kings 17: 8-16

1 Corinthians 1: 18-31

John 2: 1-11

In 1 Kings 17, the widow agrees to make Elijah some food before making her own. She is foolish enough to deprive herself and her son, because she has faith in Elijah’s God, despite being a foreigner.

In John 2: 1-11, the servants are foolish enough to take some of the water they have just poured into the washing jars to the chief steward for tasting:a real act of faith in Jesus.

In 1 Corinthians 1, the Corinthian Christians responded to God’s call to them, acting, in the faith of the cross, which is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (verse 23 GNB). They also act in faith in God’s personal call, despite seeming foolish and of no account in the world’s eyes.

Responding to God’s call can seem very foolish.

Should you give up a good job to do something that you think God wants you to do?

Should a small, mainly elderly church keep going, because they have a vision for the local people?

Should a church be willing to die and help to build another church?

Is there any point to prayer?

Should you make the first step in inter-faith dialogue or towards an ecumenical partnership?

Should you accept the request to be an Elder even though you are very busy?

Can we, in the United Reformed Church, help people to get it right: whether a call is faith or foolishness?

3. “God’s Foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1 v25 NRSV)

This takes on the idea from 1 Corinthians 1, that “God’s foolishness is wiser than man’s wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1: 25 NRSV).

Readings 1 Kings 17: 8-16

1 Corinthians 1: 18-31.

In 1 Kings 17, God chooses a widow, someone very poor, with no assistance, as the person to care for Elijah. As we see, she is near to starvation point herself. But, she is generous and full of faith, and willing to believe Elijah. So, the result is that she is kept alive too, a sign of God’s concern for the poor, for widows and strangers.

The passage from 1 Corinthians 1, can lead to a discussion about God’s foolishness in the people he calls. Who would have expected Jesus, the carpenter to be the saviour of the World? Who would expect his main followers and evangelists to be fishermen, tax-collectors and zealots? Where are the men of learning and the leaders? They are the ones who become Jesus’ enemies. Who would call Saul, the persecutor of Christians, to become the greatest evangelist to the Gentiles? If you were making up your ideal Church who would you choose? Look around in your Church, who has God, in his foolishness, chosen? How does God’s foolishness relate to God’s call to ministry of all kinds in the Church? When we, as a Church, test a call, can we do so with God’s wisdom and foolishness, rather than with the wisdom of the world?

Prayers

Loving God,

you speak to us in so many ways; through your creation and through your word, in story and song, through one another.

Sometimes we are like people who put our hands over our ears,

refusing to hear.

Sometimes we fill our lives with noise so that we cannot hear you.

Sometimes we hear so many voices we can’t make out which is yours.

Loving God,

help us to open our ears,

make times for quietness

and recognise your voice;

so that we can know what you are saying to us.

Amen.

Prayer of Adoration

God of the ordinary,

we praise you.

You take the drabness of our thoughts,

and brighten them into vivid imagination.

You take our everyday lives,

and transform them into holy, precious moments.

You take our meagre offerings

and multiply them into an abundance of delight.

Extraordinary God,

you light up our thoughts, our lives, our selves

with the wonder of your call.

We praise you.

Amen.

Prayer of Confession

When we hoard our resources scared to offer what little we have,

God, forgive us, and fill our lives with your plenty.

When we are reluctant to take the risk of giving in case what we have is not good enough,

God, forgive us, and fill our lives with your plenty.

When we are reluctant to take a step in faith because we are afraid of looking stupid,

God, forgive us, and fill our lives with your plenty.

God of abundance, when we hold back from answering your call, hoarding, foolish and afraid,

Forgive us, and fill our lives with your plenty.

Amen.

Prayer for all-age worship

Beckoning God,

we thank you for all those who have heard your voice and answered your call:

to tell the story of Jesus

and teach people about your love;

to care for people in need,

and to work alongside struggling communities;

to lead local churches and help them grow

and to work with churches in other countries.

Beckoning God,

we thank you that you have something special for each of us to do.

Help us to hear your voice and answer your call.

Amen.

Sermon Notes

Intercessions

God of miracles and mystery, help us to pray for our world.

We hear stories about transformation, and they fill us with faith.

But then, we look again at our world, and we lose heart, because we see such difficult problems, such injustice and many people who do not want to change.

Living God, look upon us in our weakness and have mercy upon us.

Give strength to all who try to help the poor and downtrodden.

Give courage to all who try to help people to work for peace.

Give vision to all who try to help others to grow in their gifts and to all who teach and train.

Give compassion to all who make important decisions that affect many people.

God of good gifts, give us in your Church your wisdom.

Help us as we try to help people to understand and follow your call for them.

Encourage us as we try to encourage others to step out in faith.

Give us eyes to see beyond external things to the heart and to the potential.

Give us all the faith that is willing to give, even when it is hard, and to take risks, even when it seems foolish.

But, help us to be able to tell the truth, in love, and not to lie to one another.

So, Living God, may your Church grow, not as we want, but in the image of Jesus Christ, our Lord. In his name we pray.

Amen.

Meditations

“Think what sort of people you are, whom God has called...”

(1 Corinthians 1 v26)

A meditation for several voices, with congregational response.

Voice 1: We’re not a very promising lot, really. We’re getting on a bit, and we do our best to keep things going, but it’s a bit of a struggle.