All posts by admin

Music, original music, Tyler

Go And Tell (song)

Leave a comment

On this Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C, we read Luke 4:14-21 as the gospel text in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL).

In 1999, the BC Synod of the ELCIC held a youth gathering in the Okanagan. The theme of the gathering was “Go and Tell,” and the guiding text for the weekend retreat was Luke 4:18-19.

In the spirit of youth gatherings, and in congregational song, here is a piece you might use in your community!

To hear it as it was done at that 1999 youth gathering, check out this YouTube clip.

Downloadable pdf-file of the song: Go And Tell

Liturgy and worship, Tyler

Order of Release (Bondage and Liberation – Confession and Forgiveness)

Leave a comment

In our worship orders, it can be common to use an “Order of Confession and Forgiveness” – often at the beginning of a service.  …and sometimes we’re more likely to include this part of the service when we’re in the reflective season of Lent – a time where we’re invited to ponder mortality, and our human nature and who we are in the world.

As an alternative, words using language about being bound to unjust systems and accepting responsibility for our part in such systems, as well as words of absolution that talk about being freed to live otherwise, are offered here (see pdf-files at the bottom of this entry).

We know that our food is often produced in far-away places, sometimes using chemicals that can poison water-sources and shipped on barges and trucks that release carbon into the air; we know that people work in poor conditions for long hours to sew the clothes we wear; we know that the coffee we drink, the chocolate we enjoy, the metals used in the production of our electronics… all of these have significant human and environmental cost – and we don’t need to turn a blind eye to such costs. We can work to change those systems.

The first step to change is to acknowledge the injustice and our part in it. So, more than saying that we are bound by “sin,” let’s name those places where our lives are detrimental to relationship with others. Let’s say it out loud, and let’s work to change our living.

God is gracious, God frees us to live justly – to work at living in a way that all may have life.

(The image of hands that is used was found in Sundays and Seasons a number of years ago – credit to Augsburg Fortress)

 

pdf file: LITURGY_bondage-liberation_pew-insert

pdf file: LITURGY_bondage-liberation_presider

resource written by pastors Tyler Gingrich, Nolan Gingrich, Vern Sundmark

Christian Education, Liturgy and worship

Burying the Alleluia’s for Lent (Children’s message)

Leave a comment

This activity is meant for Transfiguration Sunday (ideally at the end of the service) or Ash Wednesday or Lent 1 (ideally, at the start of the service).

I have typed up the words “allelujah” a few times in a few different fonts to be pasted around the worship space. The children will be invited to gather them, and then they will be “buried” for the season of Lent.

Attached to this post, at the bottom, you should find a pdf-file with Alleluia/Hallelujah – print it out (perhaps a few times if you have lots of kids and/or a big worship space). Cut up the pages so each word can be put up separately. If your congregation is a musical one, plan a song or two – talk with your musicians! (The stand-up, sit-down Sunday School classic – “Allelu, allelu, allelu, allelu-ia! …Praise Ye the Lord!” – works well!) The picture of the rock with water coming from it (which I found in Sundays and Seasons a number of years ago – credit to Augsburg Fortress!) is supposed to be purple, and you can paste it to the outside of a medium-to-large-sized envelope. This envelope will be used to contain the paper Alleluias.

Talk with the children about the word and what it means. It comes from the Hebrew for “Praise God!” We hear it regularly in worship texts, especially ancient ones like the Psalms. We stand to sing it before the gospel reading on Sunday. And, it’ll be sung louder (and “prouder”) than ever on Easter morning! …but for the season of Lent – a time of fasting, prayer, and alms-giving – we put our Alleluias away. In a sense, we “bury” them.

So, in this moment, before we move into the solemn, contemplative season of Lent, we sing out the Alleluias one last time!

Then, gather the Alleluias from around the worship space and put them in the envelope.

The envelope of Alleluias may be placed under the altar for the season of Lent (also a reminder that we don’t sing Alleluia in Lent).

At the Easter morning service (or the Vigil, if you have one; or the Sunrise service), get the kids to “uncover” the Alleluias again – and sing them out with gusto!!

pdf-file: Alleluias

Food, Justice, Recipe

“All Saints Love Cookie” (recipe)

Leave a comment

3/4 cup – whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon – baking powder

1/2 teaspoon – baking soda

2 teaspoons – cinnamon (really good for you!)

1 cup – crispy rice cereal

1/2 cup – raisins

1/2 cup – rolled oats (cholesterol-busting)

1/4 cup – coconut

1/2 cup – butter, melted (from our farmer friends)

1/4 cup – honey (natural sweetness)

1 egg (free-range from the farmer down the road)

2 teaspoons – vanilla

2 tablespoons – frozen orange juice concentrate (for vitamin C)

1 tablespoon – finely grated orange peel

 

Preheat over to 175 degrees C (350 F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, rice cereal, raisins, oats, and coconut. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine butter, honey, egg, vanilla, juice concentrate, and orange peel. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Drop dough by generous tablespoon one and a half inches apart. Use the back of a spoon to gently flatten the dough and bake for about 12 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

 

Creative cooks who came up with this recipe: Carolyn Gingrich, Cathryn Aune

Food, Liturgy and worship, Uncategorized

Words of Institution

Leave a comment

LITURGY_EucharisticPrayers-Presider

Sometimes, when we invite people into our midst who may not have the benefit of a church background, our words in worship sound foreign. In this case, what does it mean to share “the body” and “the blood” of Jesus. It has to do with Jesus’ presence and life, and we are sent into the world to be Jesus’ presence and life in the world after having received at the Table. The words may be used to convey that meaning.

At the Table – using words that convey meaning

Words of Institution

On the night
on which Jesus was betrayed,
he sat at supper with his disciples.
While they were eating,
he took a piece of bread,
said a blessing, broke it
and gave it to them with the words,
‘This is my body. I am present with you.
When you share this one loaf, remember me.’

 Later, he took a cup of wine, saying,
‘This is the new relationship with God made possible because of my life,
When you share this cup, remember me.’

 

Post-Communion Blessing

Now may the presence and life which you have received in these elements of bread and wine strengthen and keep you in God’s grace into life everlasting.

 

Adapted by Rev. Tyler Gingrich, Rev. Vern Sundmark (All Saints Lutheran Church 2005-2012)

 

Recommended resources:

“A Wee Worship Book” (Wild Goose Worship Group), and “Shaping Sanctuary” (edited by Kelly Turney)

Food, Recipe

Communion bread (recipe)

Leave a comment

Wheat-free, gluten-free, yeast-free, lactose-free* …and still tasty (!)
Communion bread

1 cup soy flour (or low-fat soy flour)
3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
3 tsp xantham gum
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
7 tsp baking powder

300 ml water (3 Tbsp milk powder – *optional)
3 Tbsp oil or melted margarine
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vinegar
Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Use a whisk to thoroughly blend the flours and get out any lumps.
Mix the wet ingredients.  Add the wet to the dry using a wooden spoon.  Do not over-blend.
Put about 1/4 cup of brown rice flour on a clean surface.  Using your clean hands, HANDLING IT LIGHTLY, take out enough dough to make a small round (about 1/3 cup) placing dough on the floured surface.  Turn to coat the other side and then gently form into a nice round shape.  Place on a baking sheet which has been covered with parchment paper.  Repeat until all dough is in rounds.  This batch uses 2 extra large cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 – 375 for as long as it takes for them to become puffed up and lightly browned (about 20 minutes, but check after 15).

 

When cooled, the bread can be frozen or stored in the fridge for a few days.

 

recipe courtesy of Cathryn Aune (All Saints Lutheran Church 2005-2012)

 

Tyler

Advent 1

Leave a comment

Advent… the time of waiting, preparing, anticipating, and hoping for a new thing.

Author, Carl Sandburg is quoted, “A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.” New life breaks into the world and we are changed! New life is a gift, and it also challenges us – we have to nurture it, love it into being, and also bear with it as it may annoy us and get on our nerves! But if the world is to go on with this new life in it, and if God is the source of life, we can celebrate change!

Peace and blessings to you in this advent journey, and in the year to come!