The National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia appoints a General Secretary to help facilitate the administration, mission, and governance of the church’s national work.
My friend, Andrew Johnson, has recently taken up this role, and he invited me to collaborate with him on the liturgy for the service in which we, the church, commission him into that role.
We started be reviewing past services of General Secretaries’ commissioning. I chose some elements from these to include. We knew the President would compose the communion liturgy she would share with the ex-President, and we made minor adaptations to the official liturgy of commissioning for a Lay Pastor in the Uniting Church, making it appropriate for this occasion.
Then, it was my task to compose some new prayers for the broader liturgy that would hold communion, commissioning, and preaching; and to compose new words to an old hymn tune that paid homage to the original words.
Here are the pieces I composed.
Call to worship and invocation
The final lines of the first paragraph, and the people’s response, came from past liturgies.
Siblings in Christ,
we are here to worship God
in song, silence, prayer;
to hear the Word proclaimed,
and to proclaim it in our actions;
to feast at the Holy Table;
to commission Andrew Johnson as General Secretary of the National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia,
offering anew ourselves in love and faithful service.
All: Oh Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name.
May our worship be acceptable to You,
our rock, our redeemer. Amen.
Now thank we all our God
We thank you, Holy One,
from deep within our being.
We praise you, Parent God,
all life your love revealing.
From stardust to the womb,
from first steps to last breath,
we dance, we work, we play
in grace divine; we rest.
(verse one of three – download full words here)
Tune: Nun Danket Alle Gott (1) Johann Crüger
Sarah Agnew (2024)
Composed for the commissioning service of Assembly General Secretary Andrew Johnson
Inspired by ‘Now thank we all our God’ (Martin Rinkart)
Opening prayer – ‘Magnificent’
Holy One, she is Queen,
majestic, magnificent,
she is resplendent authority.He established the world
and it shall not be undone.Your dominion is all;
You are timeless, eternal!Floods rise, Holy One,
floods rise, and raise their voice;
floods roar their awe of you!How the waters thunder:
mighty, majestic, the waves, the sea –
and you are more!
Holy One is so much more!We can trust your voice;
we affirm your unique holiness.
Forever, forever, Holy One,
our Divine Monarch Magnificent!
From Pray the Story based on Psalm 93
Confession and Assurance of Grace
And now, in the presence of Holy One,
let us take knowledge of who we are,
and of God’s great love for us.
(these lines came from an earlier commissioning service)
All: We bring all of us into your presence,
Holy One, our loving God.
Each one of us, our whole self,
full of hope and potential,
carrying wounds and regrets.
Meet us here, each one,
imperfect as we are,
your beloved children.
All: We bring all of us into your presence,
Holy One, our loving God.
This body, gathered today for this occasion,
this Uniting Church, one movement
among your great Church, people of your Way.
Full of hope and potential,
carrying wounds and regrets;
meet us as we are,
imperfect, and loved.
All: We bring all of us into your presence,
Holy One, our loving God.
This nation, with its songlines through the nations of First Peoples,
its threads through descendants of many places;
our cultures, our communities, our contexts,
full of hope and potential,
carrying wounds and regrets;
meet us as we are,
imperfect, loved.
All: We bring all of us into your presence,
Holy One, our loving God.
Meet us as we are,
heal our wounds,
release our regrets,
remind us we are forgiven,
liberated into our potential,
free to live with hope.
Assurance of Grace
Friends, hear again this assurance:
grace is given, freely, generously:
receive it.
Receive God’s grace and return
to the Way of Love,
for that is who we are, God’s beloved.
Remember this,
and become who we are loved into being.
Amen.
Prayer for illumination
God of light and truth,
We open to Spirit, to Wisdom,
to Parent – teach us through this Sacred
inheritance, and may we not leave the encounter unchanged.
Intercessions
Those who led these prayers were invited to offer their own prayers, then speak the unifying refrain.
As we pray for Andrew and family,
we pray for our families,
intricately woven fabric,
holding each other, each one held.
May we remember we are fully whole
only as we are woven together.
As we pray for our church,
we pray for all movements within the Christian Church,
and for Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, and other faith communities,
intricately woven fabric,
holding each other, each one held.
May we remember we are fully whole
only as we are woven together.
As we pray for our world, our earth,
and for our place in it, we pray for peace, between us and within each place.
May we remember we – creation is whole
only as we are woven together.
Amen.
Blessing
May Holy One bless you and keep you,
may Their face beam with love for you,
may Their grace breathe life in you.
May Holy One remember you always,
and give you peace, deep peace.
Amen.
(the blessing comes from Pray the Story Volume II)
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