An Embodied Call to Worship for the Formation of the Northern Presbytery

About this Call to Worship

This embodied call to worship is offered as a shared resource for congregations across the new footprint of the Northern Presbytery, to be used as written or adapted to local circumstance and space.

It draws on Exodus 3:1-15, where Moses stands before the burning bush and finds himself on holy ground, and on Romans 12:9-21, Paul’s instruction on genuine love and mutual devotion within the one body. The call moves from the naming of land, into a shared silence in which the congregation builds a living panorama of the whole Presbytery upon the communion table, and out into worship.

Where the text reads [local Peoples], insert the name of the Traditional Custodians of the place where your congregation gathers.

Preparatory Materials

Gather items reflecting the character of each of the five regions, to be laid upon the communion table during the silence. Several suggestions are offered per region as ideas from you to choose from or add to.

Sydney Central Coast (urban sprawl and sandstone shores)

• A fragment of sandstone or a small sandstone pebble
• A scattering of toy cars 
• A sprig of gum leaves or bottlebrush
• A grey fabric swatch
• A of brick or paver

The Hunter (river flats and vineyard rows)

• A wine glass
• A small bunch of grapes
• A smooth river stone
• A green or gold fabric swatch
• A piece of coal

Mid North Coast (rainforest canopies and rich estuaries)

• A fern frond
• A eucalypt or rainforest leaf
• A river reed or mangrove leaf
• A deep green fabric swatch
• A small shell or jar of estuary sand

New England North West (granite tablelands and wide plains)

• A fragment of granite or a grey stone
• A dried sheaf of wheat or native grass
• A tuft of wool
• An ochre or rust-coloured fabric swatch
• A sprig of snow gum or gum blossom

Far North Coast (ancient calderas and white-sand beaches)

• A jar of white sand
• A fragment of dark volcanic rock
• A subtropical leaf (e.g. banana or macadamia leaf)
• A turquoise or blue fabric swatch
• A frangipani or hibiscus sprig

Also needed

• One candle and a means of lighting it — placed centrally, to be lit at the words “I AM WHO I AM.”

The Wording of the Call

As Moses stood before the burning bush
of God’s calling
and found himself on holy ground,
we gather today on Land long sacred to the [local name] Peoples
and look back at the journeys that have brought us
to this time and place
of wide-eyed wonder and barefooted freedom.

From the urban sprawl and sandstone shores of Sydney Central Coast,
to the river flats and vineyard rows of the Hunter,
to the rainforest canopies and rich estuaries of the Mid North Coast,
to the granite tablelands and wide plains of New England North West,
to the ancient calderas and white-sand beaches of the Far North Coast,
we step into the hopeful future as one Northern Presbytery
in the name of the One who declares
in and to and with and through us:

[The centre candle is lit.]

I AM WHO I AM.
I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.

A Time of Silent Response

Let us lay before God what has brought us here.

In silence, come and place upon this table what this land has given: sand from the shore, stone from the range, branch from the forest, cloth the colour of the ground beneath us. Let this table become, slowly, what our five have become: one.

[Silence.]

[When the table is complete, the minister/preacher/worship leaders, stretches their arms wide in blessing and prays:]

Five places. 
One table.
Gathered together, 
may we become holy ground:
joyful in hope,
patient in struggles,
faithful in prayer,
and devoted to one another.
Amen.