From time to time we write our own prayers and liturgies, come up with original ideas and so we decided to share them on this page. You are welcome to use anything we post and we would be grateful if you would acknowledge Third Space when you do so.
Liturgies
Litany of thanksgiving:
For this time, this place, this day, these people
For calling us to this church, this freedom, this worship
We give thanks to the Lord for he is good
His love endures for ever.
For the changing seasons, light and weather,
For trees and birdsong and river and skies
For needless beauty and endless diversity…
That all creation joins with our praise today
That the sun sings and the earth hums…
If we were silent the very stones would sing his praise
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,
the whole earth is full of his glory
For those we love, for those who love us
For those we struggle with and those who struggle with us
For old friends and new ones, for friendships yet to be made and for reunions
For all human goodness that speaks of your presence
For our frailty that drives us to acknowledge our dependence on you
We affirm that you Lord are God
It is you who made us and we are yours
For you know how we were formed
You remember that we are dust
For the freedom we enjoy
For choice and wealth and healthcare and education and opportunities and democracy
For holidays and leisure and comfort
For the privilege to be called to give to those who do not have these things
In this sacred place we remember that these are your gifts and affirm our calling
Your kingdom come, your will be done
On earth as in heaven
For the shalom you promise
For the call to press on together as companions on the journey
For your foundational underpinning, support, comfort, direction and strength
For your constant presence – your very name spoken with each breath we take
For Jesus – for all he has done, all he does, all he will yet do for us
For loving us
Salvation and glory and power belong to you our God
***
ThirdSpace’s Canticle of the sun
Great God be praised by all your creation!
Brother Sun, we thank you for rising this morning to bring us hope and life
Your solar flares radiate out loud songs
Declaring the glory of all that is made.
Sister sky, we thank you for the ever-changing colours and moods we find in you
You remind us of the sun even when your clouds obscure him
And that God is with us when the darkness descends.
Brother earth, we thank you for the mystery of all that lies beneath your surface
For the life you sustain and the networks you support
Out of you we came, God remembers that we are dust
And out of this clay, our Potter makes all things new.
Sister Derwent, we thank you for the life you sustain and your beauty as you flow by
The sound of your water and the glory of your reflections
Remind us of God’s sustenance and that God’s justice shall flow like a never-failing stream.
Brother and sister birds, we thank you for the songs that you share with us
Filling our hearts with hope and joy, day by day, season by season.
Recipients of the words of Francis, you share in our worship today.
Sister trees, we give you thanks for your steadfast witness to our existence
For measuring the seasons and speaking truth in each one.
Your winter bareness declares the truth that death is not the end
Your blossom, resurrection life.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us testify that God, our Creator is good.
How can we fail to voice our praise?
Let every breath declare: God is good. God is good. God is good.
***
God-Creed ThirdSpace 2021
God believes in stuff, in matter, in atoms –
And so much so that she created all that is created out of this dynamic and palpitating element
And God works with the stuff to shape and to bring to order
And God so loves the world that she becomes en-atomed in Jesus, the baby and the man
And God commits all of herself to the mission of matter as Mother and Bearer and Nourisher of all.
God believes in us – and in all of the us’s in her creation
She breathes us forth from the red clay and appoints us stewards of her stuff, fellow workers with her
So much does God believe in us that she appoints us prophets and artists and justice servants – co-builders of the Kingdom Jesus himself inaugurated when he was one of us.
God believes in the rescue and redemption of us and of the world and this belief comes at great cost.
God believes in time – an aspect of her created order
God believes in the what-has-been, the now and the what-will-be
God has and is and will
All that is created will work out her purposes in the fullness of time and we are invited to that end of term feast
And this we anticipate in the meantime, as companions together; we meet around these dynamic elements – the bread and wine – redolent with the story we believe.
Bread
Wine
Amen
***
MAUNDY THURSDAY WORDS
A Maundy Thursday Supper
Opening words: Jesus’ last supper with his disciples, before he was arrested that night and crucified the following day, was a Passover meal. It was the annual Jewish celebration of God’s rescue of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. At the last supper, there were no requirements made of those present. All were welcome at the table – betrayer, the denier, the doubter, the conflicted, the confused… None were quizzed on what they believed or what their values were. They were welcomed and offered a feast, with bread and wine, without qualification.
Tonight, we identify with them – Welcome to the table – you are loved.
The bread and wine: We share any needs and the names and stories of those we know who need Jesus now. We will symbolically include them at the table and take bread and wine for them as well as for ourselves…
During the week-long festival of Passover, the bread was always unleavened. They considered leaven or yeast as representing sin (being puffed up with pride). It was also a reminder of the bread carried on the exodus journey from slavery to freedom, which had no time to rise. The Israelites were ‘with-breaders’, with God as their ‘com-panion’.
At the Seder meal of Passover, there are 3 ‘matzot’ on the table – named after the 3 Patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is the middle one that is broken – the Isaac – the one who was taken for sacrifice. The other half is hidden and called the ‘afikomen’, the ‘afters’ or the ‘that which is to come’. It was this that Jesus redefined as his body broken for us… The Afikomen is broken and shared around the table.
We read, in turn:
- This is the bread of the Passover which Jesus shared with his friends at the Last Supper
- It is the unleavened bread – the ‘without-sin’ bread
- It is the middle matzah that Jesus broke – the Isaac – the bread of sacrifice
- It is the afikomen – the ‘that-which-is-to-come’ bread.
- It is the bread prescribed to the Hebrews to take on the exodus from Egypt – they were sent out ‘with bread’ – with God as their ‘com-panion’
- This is the promise of Jesus as our ‘with-breader’ – our companion on the journey
- This is the body of Christ broken for us We eat the bread.
We fill our cups.
There are 4 cups of wine drunk during the course of the Passover meal, recalling 4 promises from Exodus 6: 6 – 7.
The first cup is for the promise ‘I will bring you out’ and is known as the cup of deliverance.
The second recalls the promise ‘I will deliver you from slavery’ and is known as the cup of freedom.
The third remembers the promise ‘I will redeem you with a demonstration of my power’ and is called the cup of redemption. It is also known as the cup of thanksgiving and gives its name to ‘Eucharist’ meaning ‘thanksgiving’. This was the cup redefined by Jesus as his blood of the new covenant.
The fourth cup promised ‘I will acquire you as a nation’. This was referred to as the cup of consummation, and it was this cup that Jesus did not drink.
We read in turn:
- This is the third cup of the Passover meal which Jesus shared with his friends at the Last Supper
- It is the cup of redemption
- It is the cup of thanksgiving
- It is the cup of the new covenant
- It is the cup of promise
- It is the cup of suffering
- It is the cup of joy
- It is the cup of healing
- This is the blood of Christ shed for us
We drink together and say our Amen!
***
PENTECOST BREAD AND WINE
There are advantages to being 1,986 years old. I have always had some advantages even when they weren’t apparent. “The Bride of Christ” is what they called me. Really! And I was barely out of nappies then.
I have carried that with me though – in the difficult times. I have had to. Remember those dear Copts will you?
People ask what the secret is to a long life. I think they’re expecting me to keel over tomorrow. I always reply, “Taking a little wine” and they laugh! Not realising, I suppose, that the blood is that which gives everlasting life. Wine and a little bread.
I suppose that age lends a certain perspective. Highs and lows – leaven leavens unevenly. Some ground is stony. But we march still. Eyes fixed on the Bridegroom – he who laid down his life for us.
So take now the bread – for you it might be us, the body or his body. Let it nurture.
So take now the wine – for you it might be Happy Birthday wine, the wine of renewal and resurrection.
And so in our 1,987th year, let’s now go out with hope as our guide and with faith our firm foundation. May you and yours be entwined in the Trinitarian God. Amen.
***
Divine Entanglement with Bread and Wine
Look up, all around, entangled and surrounded, mind-blowingly all enveloping – God’s breathing, God’s love sweeping down and curling around.
Acknowledged blessing and unacknowledged blessing, love noticed and unnoticed, blessings overt and covert. Incidences and coincidences and God-incidences too complex for us to sort through and untangle. We are caught – in the web. God behind us, God in us, God before us.
Surrounded and enveloped by God’s care, those blessings obvious to us now and those blessings only to be known about in the future and those blessings perhaps never to be known by us.
God at work in us and in those around us and in those we love and in those we despair of. God’s love touching us, our ground, our lives through His humanity and love incarnated in Jesus.
We are surrounded in our space and time by roots, by branches, by leaves, by this living and growing 360 degree, multi dimensional, 24/7, God who loves. We are not tree hugging, but we are God- hugged.
And so while we are still indifferent, ignorant, hostile, unblissfully unaware, God loves us and in our hands we hold the bread and wine which expresses, encapsulates and enfleshes that Jesus love.
So why us? Why are we invited to this banquet under this umbrella of God’s love? Because we deserve it, merit it, lead good lives and have good theology? No, because God loves because he loves because he loves….
And so together as one body within God’s enveloping, connected with the worldwide family, we eat bread.
And so together as one body within God’s enveloping, connected with the worldwide family, we drink wine.
And so we have communed with God in this banquet but we do not now take our leave of Him. These roots and branches encircle and will not let us go even though we depart from this holy ground. He goes before us, marks our steps and our way.
And so we pray for all:
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.
AMEN!
***
The Interconnected Liturgy
We like to think of ourselves with Enlightenment eyes asIndividualsAuthentic choosersFreewill warriorsSingle autonomous soulsBut what if we are community?But what if I am a community?A host of manyMore multitudinous than we can imagineLiving in bewildering symbiosisPart of a greater interdependent whole.What if that rich bio-chemical soup makes up me? I am my microbiome. It is integral to my selfhood, my decisions, my likes, dislikes, values and my shalom?What if I am formed and nurtured in the crucible of generational love and struggle? That others whose names I only distantly recognise or whose names are inscribed upon my heart, have a part to play in my story.So we might say, “Though we are many, we are one body.” Gathered today through choice around the bread and the wine with their story of sacrificial love, redemption and renewal.So we eat the one body…And drink the one wine…And we are jointly and severally co-missioned as artists and prophets, as lamed vavniks and kingdom seekers. Blessings. Amen
***
The NOW Liturgy
We are caught in NOW. We have no option. We wrestle to change the past and mould the future. But we know you call us to NOW; you gift us NOW. This NOW moment is for us alone and we give thanks.
We thank you for past faithfulness – for the created order in which we live and breathe, for our journeys of discovery to this point, for your enduring love expressed in Jesus who first took bread and transformed it in his self-giving on the cross.
We thank you for our future hope of all things renewed. A future free of anxiety and fear and tears, where the Kingdom of Justice and Righteousness shall reign, the Lion and the Lamb shall sit together and on the throne: King Jesus dispensing renewed wine.
And NOW we take and eat bread together – our common fellowship transformed. AMEN!
And NOW we take and drink wine together – our little fellowship joined with those around the world into eternity. AMEN!
And NOW may all be blessed, freed from past regrets and future worries. Send us out into new NOWNESS to join Jesus who is of course already there. Hold tightly and wait for the LORD. AMEN!
Epiphany bread and wine words
E – PIF – FAN – Y
those flowers need to go
the tat taken down
the lights packed away
a hard journey awaits – exile – the ray-al-lit-tay will not be denied.
E – PIF – FAN – Y
Rev-a-lay-shon – for which we yearn, seek after, clutch at, mindfully meditate for is…
quixotic, capricious, not to be managed, ordered up, down-loaded, owned or controlled
that twin sense of knowing and being known
of existing between the here and the there, the now and the somehow else
that liminal third-space
of being cradled awesomely – hay-zel-nut-ted
the veil rent asunder just for a moment.
Old wise women and old wise men wait and wait and journey and defiantly hope that the ray-al-lit-tay is merely my-as-mat-tic
a pea-souper
an atmosphere that obscures
a heavy corrupting vapour which will not endure
that dark glass which needs to be seen through.
Simeon and Anna on an ordinary transformed day – “this child shall be a light, a redemption for Jerusalem and all humankind. This is the child-Christ, the Christ-child whose kingdom shall not end.”
And so to bread – an ordinary fare transformed
“the body res-ur-rek-ted”
and to wine – standard plonk newly wine-skinned
“the wine of res-ur-rek-shon”
So companioned together, we wait and journey and defiantly hope. AMEN
…
Autumn Liturgy
In the fading of the summer sun,
The shortening of days, cooling breezes
Swallows’ flight and moonlight rays
We see the Creator’s hand.
In the browning of the leaves once green
Morning mists, autumn chill
Fruit that falls, frost’s first kiss
We see the Creator’s hand.
In the cold, wet, wind and dark
Dormancy and Death
Hibernation
A storing up for Winter
We see the Creator’s hand.
In the crunching of golden leaves under foot
In low-lying sunlight
Shiny conkers
In their soft velvet wraps
We see the Creator’s hand.
In the shortening of days
A real fire at night and warming meals
The golden reddening leaves
Shortening days and drawn curtains
We see the Creator’s hand.
In dark nights and shelter in autumn winds
A legacy of harvest and
Multiplying seeds- a mystery
We see the Creator’s hand.
In the shutting of doors and lighting of fires
Hunkering down
The dormancy illusion
Death planting preparations
We see the Creator’s hand.
***
Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer by Third Space
God, who cares for us,
The wonder of your presence fills us with awe.
Your name, your very nature, is holy.
All creation resonates with it!
Let all people come to proclaim it!
May we move into your presence and unimpeded love.
Let not our will, but your will and purposes be fulfilled in our lives here on Earth.
Give us the material things you know we need to survive.
Release us – as indeed we release others – from the debt of wrong doing.
Strengthen us for difficult times.
Liberate us from all that is evil.
For You reign in majesty, in love,
Power and glory from the beginning of time and forever more.
Amen
***
Prayers of intercession
For those living in fear, under attack or displaced in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, South Sudan, Yemen and so many other places
Jesus be close
For those living as refugees in foreign lands having left loved ones or all they had held dear
Jesus comfort and restore
For those harried by injustice and threat
Jesus save
For those whose marriages or home lives are the source of distress and pain
Jesus help
For those suffering grief and loss
Jesus heal
For those struggling with mental health
Jesus come to them
For those awaiting medical findings, who are afraid
Jesus en-courage
For those dependent on others to bring justice and safety
Jesus advocate
For ourselves with the mission to be salt and light and good-news-bearers
Jesus inspire
Amen Amen Amen
***
The bread and Wine
Jesus, teacher, healer, leader, story teller and friend,
We meet together to remember you.
Your life and example,
Your words of guidance,
Your sacrifice as a gift of love.
We remember with bread
Jesus wedding guest, table sharer, foot washer and affirmer,
We drink wine together to remember you.
Your actions and relationships,
Your wisdom and compassion,
Your death and resurrection.
We remember with wine
The bread
It represents
The provision of God
The bountiful harvest
The work of the labourer
The hands of the baker
In remembrance
Of bread broken
And shared
Of a body broken
Of a people blessed
And a forgiveness shared
The wine
It represents
The provision of God
The bountiful harvest
The work of the labourer
The skill of the vintner
In remembrance
The ransom paid
The hands pierced
The blood shed
The redemption
The celebration of the resurrection
***
Seasons 
In the Spring of my life the bread and wine spoke of
physical pain and suffering endured on
my behalf to save me from everlasting torment
In the Summer of my life the bread and wine spoke of
heartbreaking abandonment of the
Son by the Father to save me from
everlasting separation and emptiness
In the Autumn of my life the
bread and wine speak of completion
and fulfilment to allow me to bring a harvest
In the Winter of my life the bread and wine
will speak of deep preparation to allow
me an entrance and homecoming
This is the bread of the seed sown, the plant grown,
the grain harvested and the strength gained.
We break it and remember our Lord of the seasons
This is the wine of the vine planted, the fruit grown,
the grapes crushed and the richness gained.
We drink it and remember our Lord of the seasons
***
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***
An Emerging Creed.
We are people who…
Have found Jesus to be beyond compare
Invite all to join us, witjout insisting they become like us
Find more reality in searching and questioning than in certainty and absoloutes
Realise that how we treat others is the greatest test and expression of what we believe
Firmly believe in the equality of men and women, that no-one is greater than another and that all people bear God’s image
Recognise that following Jesus is costly and we need to support each other in the work we feel called to do: being peace-makers, striving for justice, befriending the lonely, healing hte sick, serving the hungry and destitute, visiting the sick and the elderly, inspiring children and young people, caring for God’s creation….
***
Blessings
A Blessing for 2023. Written by Grayden in 2014
may you take the risk of bringing your vulnerable, broken self and not your sorted self so that the gospel can flow
may you take small actions that become graced in the least predictable ways
may you resist the temptation towards a theology of answers
may you remember to pause and reflect
may you always be willing to listen
may the deep joy of the spirit make you a bringer of fun, play and laughter
may you accept the invitation to express venturesome love
may you take the risk of conversation that is two way
may your faith guide you to choose wisely and ethically for the good of others
may you develop the practices of soft eyes, compassionate responses and hospitality
may the holy spirit enliven your imagination such that you find the world magical, enchanted, awe-inspiring and breathtakingly wonderful
amen