Sunday of Compassion 2008
Introduction
Theme: Through God’s care for his church,
the church becomes a caring church in the world.
The Lord is good to all,
he has compassion on all he has made. (Ps 145:9 TNIV)
We are living in a world in which man, animal and the entire creation need care everyday. Each day there are many Southern Africans who do not have food to eat or a house in which to live. A great number of children do not have parents to care for them. The earth is suffering as result of global warming and the abuse of resources. Water and energy resources are becoming scarcer. People are living with more and more uncertainties; things which earlier brought certainty, are fast changing. In this world of hardship, uncertainty and stress people experience high levels of aggression and violence and crime are on the increase. One often hears: Where is God in this broken world, when we are enduring hardship?
The Bible teaches us that God is the Creator of the earth, man and animal. It is God who promises to care for his creation and God who made a covenant with the people (Gen 15 and 17). There are many stories in the Bible bearing witness that God remains true to his covenant. The coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16) as the Redeemer is the culmination of God’s constancy, his compassion, care and concern. The Lord is truly good to everybody and has compassion for his entire creation as sung in Psalm 145.
There are also many stories in the Bible of how God calls upon his children, his church to be part of his ministry of compassion, his ministry of care and concern. Do read the story of the first multiplication of bread and fish in Matt 14: 13 – 21 again.
This is the focus of this Month of Compassion: to once again become aware of the fact that the Lord is good to everybody and has compassion for his entire creation. To once again realise that the Lord is calling upon his church to be fellow workers in serving his goodness, his care, his compassion to a world moaning and crying out in pain.
The theme of this year’s Month of Compassion is based on the lithurgy and texts for August on the reading list (published by Bible Media).
Rev WC van der Merwe
Background
Sunday or Month of Compassion is an ecumenical custom and usually celebrated by South African churches during August or October. Since 2005 the family of Dutch Reformed Churches have joined hands in these celebrations.
This guide has been prepared by a task team of the Dutch Reformed Church family’s United Service Group for Service and Testimony. Other churches are welcome to use this aid.
The task team has followed the reading list and used the RCL’s proposed Scripture readings and lithurgical proposals for the 15th Sunday in Kingdom Time, 31 August 2008.
Not all congregations will find the last Sunday in August suitable for Sunday of Compassion celebrations. These congregations should then rather move their celebrations to another Sunday.
Objectives of Sunday of Compassion
It is an opportunity to:
as a congregation, listen to God’s teachings about compassion;
as a congregation, listen to the pain and suffering of the poor;
during the services, Bible study groups, youth groups, children’s groups, join in discussions and prayers for those who are living in poverty or suffering due to the xenophobic attacks;
note with compassion the need in the community and the bodies and community organisations working locally;
as a congregation and church family come together in discussing the causes of poverty;
as a congregation and church family join hands in planning to become postively involved in fighting poverty;
call upon members of the church to become volunteers in a congregational action or community initiative striving to end poverty;
collect funds for local efforts of compassion.
A few Guidelines for Sunday of Compassion
There are many ways how the worship service can be arranged. Later in this document there are liturgical guidelines as well as a sermon outline. A few ideas you could incorporate are:
Get some idea of extent of the suffering in the community. Ask a social or community worker or someone from the local authority that may have the information to share it with the congregation
Provide information about other development or social services projects in the community.
Invite the local projects to display pictures and information about their work.
Invite the staff of projects / programmes to tell the congregation about their work during the worship service.
Create an opportunity for members to share their God given talents with others. Arrange a coin/note laying ceremony during the service and donate the funds to the local church program or to the regional synod ministry. Or collect cloths and food and distribute it to the destitute.
Challenge members to become involved with people less fortunate than themselves.
They can become volunteers at social service programmes or at a local development project (NGO). Get the congregation as a group involved .
Ask a member who is a volunteer somewhere to share their experience with the congregation.
Challenge members to get involved in environmental issues. What about arranging a cleanup of a pollute river or in the community. Involve the local authority. Arrange a competition for the best ideas on saving water and electricity.
Liturgy for Season of Compassion
This special liturgy remains under the umbrella of Kingdom Time in general, but focuses specifically on the church’s calling of compassion.
Conclusion
During these times in which we are specifically focusing on our efforts of compassion, we are reminded that it is not our efforts of compassion, but God’s efforts of compassion. Everything we do are only in reaction to that done by God and we are merely continuing with God’s continuous work of redemption (24 Aug)
All the praise should therefore be bestowed unto God, since He is the One who cares, blesses, helps and equips us for this task (3 & 24 Aug). He makes us his people so that we may be of blessing to the world (17 Aug).
As his hands and feet, we should merely put our trust in him and follow him. Although we know that, we do at times feel overwhelmed when we see the need and suffering around us.
God however, promises us that even though things might look bad, we must remember that He is in control. We should put our trust in this, hold onto this and live from this (10 Aug). This does not mean that things will only go well, which applies to our services as well, since to obey God is no easy task and often involve resistance, set-backs and failures. But we do have God’s promises that he will help us and save us (31 Aug).
Order of Service
God brings us together before Him
Opening words
Leader: Lord, your love reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds
Congregation: How precious your faithfulness, o God!
Leader: Lord, your righteousness reaches to the highest mountains, your justice to the depths of the sea.
Congregation: How precious your faithfulness, o God!
Leader: You care for man and animal, o Lord.
Congregation: How precious your faithfulness, o God!
Leader: You protect those who seek shelter with you.
Congregation: How precious your faithfulness, o God!
Leader: In your house they enjoy abundance, you let them drink from your streams of goodness.
Congregation: How precious your faithfulness, o God!
Leader: You are the source of life.
Congregation: How precious your faithfulness, o God!
(From: Gebedeboek met liturgiese voorstelle – translated)
OR
Leader: Accompanier of the lonely
Dresser of wounds
Seeker of the lost
Friend of the poor
Source of all things
Forgiver of sins
Voice for those who have no voice
Counselor for the confused
Shelter against the storms
Creator of heaven and earth
Congregation: We praise and we worship you in our humble way.
(Adapted from:Gebedeboek met liturgiese voorstelle – translated)
Benediction
Songs of praise: Hymns 190, 214, 464; NSG 20, 29, 33, 43.
Will of God and humiliation
Use Rom 12: 9 – 21 or Is 56: 1 (justice). May alternate with Matt 25: 31 – 46. Play the song by Bill Drake, Open my heart, as humiliation or dedication. Lord, we are asking God to help us and open our eyes and hearts for the need surrounding us.
Chorus
Open my eyes that I might see
A vision of lost humanity
Open my eyes that I might hear
The voiceless hurting ones
Open my hands that I might touch
The nails of godly sympathy
Open my heart that I might feel
The spear of selfless love
And if I should take the name of Christ,
and all my talk of sacrifice
and yet not touch the ones He died for
and if I could speak with angels tongues,
sing the best songs that could be sung
and yet not love then I deny the faith
that I said I’d die for
And if I should pray in Jesus name,
Gather with saints worship and pray,
But not let it move me into action.
And if I should study,
Get degrees, doctrinalize theologies,
But never feel any compassion
What is my faith oh Lord
And if I say I’m a Christian,
But not willing to obey
Then by my lips, and by my life,
I take your name in vain.
Another possibility for humiliation/confession of guilt is the following responsive prayer:
Leader: Lord, people are suffering all around us, but we are not feeling their suffering.
Congregation: Lord, have mercy on us!
Leader: Lord, we so easily justify our actions and thoughts and do not realise our sins.
Congregation: Lord, have mercy on us!
Leader: Lord, we are living for our own interests.
Congregation: Lord, have mercy on us!
Leader: Lord, we are not forgiving of others and showing mercy.
Congregation: Lord, have mercy on us!
Leader: Lord, we so badly wish to be better than others.
Congregation: Lord, have mercy on us!
Leader: Lord, so often we are too distracted and exhausted to care for others.
Congregation: Lord, have mercy on us!
Leader: Lord, we are not listening to others lovingly.
Congregation: Lord, have mercy on us!
Leader: Lord, so often we operate with unkind motives and hidden agendas.
Congregation: Lord, have mercy on us!
Leader: Amen.
(From the Gebedeboek met liturgiese voorstelle – translated)
Absolution
Confession of faith
We believe that God has revealed himself as the One who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among men; that in a world full of injustice and enmity He is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged and that He calls his Church to follow Him in this; that He brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry; that He frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind; that He supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly; that for Him pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their suffering; that He wishes to teach His people to do what is good and to seek the right;
that the Church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the Church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream;
that the Church as the possession of God must stand where He stands, namely against injustice and with the wronged; that in following Christ the Church must witness against all the powerful and privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm others.
We believe that, in obedience to Jesus Christ, its only Head, the Church is called to confess and to do all these things, even though the authorities and human laws might forbid them and punishment and suffering be the consequence.
Jesus is Lord. To the one and only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be the honour and the glory for ever and ever.
(From the Belhar Confession ).
Service of the Word
Prayer to open the Word of God
Sing in prayer “Ek wil kom stil word” (Flam).
Scripture reading
Children and message
Congregation’s response
Hymn 284 of 527/528 or SG 268, 285
Service at the Table
Preparation of the table
Prayer of Holy Communion
Dear Lord, at your prepared table, where bread and wine so clearly speak of your compassion, we bring our prayers for all the need in the world around us.
We, who are healthy, pray for the sick.
We, who have no pain, pray for those who are suffering.
We, who can walk and stand where we want to, pray for those who are bound to a bed or in a house.
We, who can talk, see and hear, pray for those who cannot talk, are blind or hard of hearing.
We, who can think clearly, pray for those who are mentally disabled.
We, who have the use of all our limbs, pray for those who are physically disabled.
We, who live in abundance, pray for the poor.
We, who have enough to eat, pray for the hungry.
We, who are living in houses, pray for those who live on the street or in refugee camps.
We, who are free, pray for prisoners.
We, who are living in peace, pray for those who are living in war-stricken areas.
On behalf of all those and those who are in mourning and lonely, we ask: Lord, have mercy! We do not wish to ask you today to have mercy on us if we ourselves are not prepared to do unto others. Therefore we pray for preparedness, love and means to relieve this need. So we live according to your will. Amen
(From the Gebedeboek et liturgiese voorstelle – translated)
Holy Communion
Point out 1 Cor 11 which specifically emphasises the community character of the Holy Communion.
In his letter to the Corinthians Paul addresses the discrepancy between the rich and poor during Communion. The rich brought an abundance of food but did not share this with the poor. In so doing they did not only neglect the poor but also made them feel inferior. When we celebrate the Holy Communion during this time of focussing on compassion, we should perhaps ask ourselves how are we treating the poor amongst us.
Communion is not something which happens in your own private corner, but in community with all believers. The focus of Communion is therefore on unity, community, mutual connectedness and charitableness, for as community who care about one another, we should also care for one another spiritually, emotionally and physically.
Distribution and use of the bread and wine
Intercession
Jesus Christ, my Lord, there are many things which upset and scare me, and make me feel sad.
But help me to have an unworried heart today,
because I know the luxury of your love,
and you give me the faith to trust you with my life.
From this safety I pray with me whole heart
for those who do not have the courage or strength or hope to pray themselves: Cancer patients who can only see pain and death ahead;
HIV-positive people who are expecting only increasing distress and rejection;
Expecting teenagers who are struggling with self-reproach and the judgement of others;
Business people whose hard work cannot prevent bankruptcy;
Welfare workers who can no longer handle the extent of the distress;
The unemployed who have given up hope and lost their selfrespect.
Please, dear Lord, help all those who are suffering and despondent. Make me your instrument in helping them. Amen.
(From: Groot gebedeboek, 30 July)
Offerings
Make the offerings something special by encouraging the congregation to bring tinned food, clothes, shoes, toiletries etc. in addition to (or instead of) their usual financial offerings, which will then be distributed specifically amongst those in need during the week. Make the opportunity lithurgically special by introducing a ritual or symbolic act, for example: the congregation could lay down food at the cross and/or a candle. Someone could then carry the candle and a few food parcels out of the church during the dispatch or the closing hymn.
Sending into the world
Commitment
Hymn
Song 533, 534, SG 202, 207
As alternative Louis Britz’s Lig vir die wêreld or Retief Burger’s Laat dit juig or Die uur is hier may also be sung.
Benediction
Sermon – MATTHEW 16:21-28
Text and context
This text is quite similar in all three of the synoptic gospels, even as far as the sequence of subtexts is concerned. In each it follows Peter’s confession about Jesus as the Christ. Here Jesus “reveals” (Mark – “teaches”) his way of the cross, his via dolorosa to his disciples. Matthew provides a strong link to the preceding part through the words “from that time on”. Peter’s earlier confession about Jesus as the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God, is purposefully being put in contrast with his unwillingness/lack of comprehension that Jesus must follow the way of the cross.