I’ve recently returned from this year’s National Christian Youth Convention (NCYC), it’s a national gathering of young people from the Uniting Church in Australia that’s held biannually, it moves around a bit and this year it was in NSW.

Adrian Greenwood, Drew Hanna, a number of friends & I coordinated a space that we called “Cafe-Praxis” in it we held intentional Q&A sessions with elders and leaders from the UCA, Daily Bible Study, Worship, Open Mic, Lightening Talks and a few other things…

There’s a lot to say about what we did at NCYC, but I thought I’d focus on the three worship sessions which we based around community participation, story and passion.  The themes for each of the gatherings were

a) Naming Our Passions
b) Living Out Our Passions and
c) Sustaining Our Passions

Much of what I used to do in alternative Worship was to create spaces that would grow over time, but would allow for individuals to enter into and participate at their own speed.  For these gatherings we had about an hour to play with and I’d intentionally attempted to create a liturgy that involved community participation and engagement, rather than stations I’d create space for us to engage.

And to do that I used three story books to help engage with the themes at hand

a) A Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham
b) The Tomorrow Book by Jackie French & Sue de Gennaro
c) Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr Seuss

I thought I’d take some time and put the liturgies (where I have the liturgy) online for people to access if they’d like. All in all I think they were beautiful spaces and I had a lot of fun both creating them and seeing how people engaged with them, each other & God in the space.

Worship 03 (45 minutes)

Youth Camps are often talked about as “Mountaintop Experiences” personally, I think that’s partially because of the arrogance of those running the camp, who’s to say that this camp will be the most outstanding spiritual experience the young person will ever participate in? Who’s to say that this event will stick with them for life? Who’s to say that the arrival home will be so depressing?

But the reality is that we regularly set young people up for a bit f a fall, when they arrive home and head back to church after a gig like this, back to the predominantly older community who, perhaps like their hymns, and, as much as they’d like to understand can’t really grasp all the things the young person’s come home talking about. And how do other congregations live up to an experience where the large cross cultural community the young people have seen and participated living in for a week, it might be a bit too much.

And perhaps we cram the worship with so much joy and dancing that we don’t give people the resources to lament, or to live out their faith when what they return to looks nothing like the camp they’ve just come from.

With that in mind, our final worship for the gathering was a service of lament, no final hype building dance off of a worship service, no happy clappy music, we’d do a sad service, one where we can ask the question of how do we sustain our passions, or at least how do we continue living them out even if our passion leaves us?

After Sister Theresa’s death some of her journal writings were released, among them were a number of entries that I’d classify as lament, we decided to use a piece from one of these entries alongside our Psalm for the morning. Personally I find it interesting that a lot of people were shocked to hear that Sister Teresa had these feelings, and were dismayed by it. Instead of being dismayed I find it a powerful testimony that she continued to stayed true to her passion throughout her struggles in faith, instead of walking away she was able to speak to God and name her struggle but continue to follow her passion to love others.

This service was be based around a reading of the book “Oh The Places You’ll Go” by Dr Seuss ( http://homepages.ius.edu/harrisla/places.htm ) throughout which we stopped at intervals and allow for an action or another reading.

We had filled a number of balloons with helium and attached ribbons, at the end of the ribbon we’d placed small cut outs of hot air balloons. If the roof was lower we would have had the balloons in the space creating a bit more atmosphere, as the ceiling was REALLy high we had to hand the balloons out during the service and take our chances that they wouldn’t be let go and get caught in the ceiling.

We also hung party banner/bunting/flags around the space so as to colour up the space more and fit in with the reading of the story.

Our gift for participants was a jigsaw piece from a world map, along with the piece was a card with Psalm 13 printed on it.

Liturgy:

Music – 

Call to Worship

Hello, & welcome to Cafe Praxis
God is here!
God’s Spirit is with us!
This is not a youth event
This is an opportunity to worship God
This is not a performance
This is our worship
We invite each other to use the environment, the visuals, the music and the words to stimulate our thoughts and draw our hearts to wonder at the goodness of God.
You are invited to participate & join in our worship
If you are visiting to look for ideas for your local church, we invite you to put aside your own agendas and simply join in worship – we are more than happy to spend time with you after the service and to help you in whatever way we can in your situation.
But today let us come together to meet God in a way that includes everyone here as a participant.
In as much as we give in worship, so might we receive from God.
This is an act of faith.
Today’s theme will help us to focus on sustaining our passions
even when things get tough
We invite you to bring your whole self, your thoughts, fears, suspicions, hurts, joy, faith, hopes and love …to God.

Story:

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look ’em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.”
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you’ll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you’ll head straight out of town.

It’s opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along.
You’ll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

Hello

This time of worship is God’s gift to us.
Let us be God’s gift to each other.
Let’s spend the next 5 minutes saying hello to those around us we don’t know as a sign that in God’s kingdom, all are accepted, all belong.

Story:

“You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so
but, sadly, it’s true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You’ll be left in a Lurch.

You’ll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you’ll be in a Slump.

And when you’re in a Slump,
you’re not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.”

Reading:  A journal entry lament from Mother Teresa

“Lord, my God, who am I that You should forsake me? The Child of your Love — and now become as the most hated one — the one — You have thrown away as unwanted — unloved. I call, I cling, I want — and there is no One to answer — no One on Whom I can cling — no, No One. — Alone … Where is my Faith — even deep down right in there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness — My God — how painful is this unknown pain — I have no Faith — I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart — & make me suffer untold agony.

So many unanswered questions live within me afraid to uncover them — because of the blasphemy — If there be God — please forgive me — When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven — there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives & hurt my very soul. — I am told God loves me — and yet the reality of darkness & coldness & emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart?”

Discussion:

How do we sustain passion when things sometimes seem too hard, or when God seems far away?

Story:

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right…
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…

…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you’ll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Action:

We invite everyone to write or draw the passions that have been ignited, re-ignited or extinguished during this gathering as a means of acknowledging their leaving this space. do this on the flags overhead.

Story:

Except when they don’t.
Because, sometimes, they won’t.

I’m afraid that some times
you’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t win
’cause you’ll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you’ll be quite a lot.

And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance
you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

Reading – A Psalm of Lament – Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, ‘I have prevailed’;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Action:

Pull down a balloon from the ceiling. Write a prayer of lament that you might want to offer to God, a prayer that names the struggles or fears you’ve had, or think you shall have when you head home.

Be honest, these Psalms of Lament remind us that God takes these prayers seriously and hears them and is big enough to take them on, even your darkest fears.

Story:

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you’ll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You’ll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

Prayer:

Together we shall pray over our prayers of lament or prayers of struggle or prayers of fear

We invite you to tie your balloons together with those around you into a bunch of balloons and, as you do share each other’s prayers, know you’re not alone.

Story:

So…
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

Blessing: “Hope” taken from “A Book of Blessings” by Juli Allen

i encourage you
in times when you forget what it is to smile,
when your heart is so heavy it hurts,
and it feels as though no one understands. .
i encourage you in your ‘lostness’,
in your dark nights,
as you descend the depths of silence,
and as you brush the bottom of your soul.
.
as your voice grows hoarse,
as your confidence weakens,
as you question-as you doubt,
as you wonder who is friend,
and who is foe.
.
i encourage you
to passionately wait,
to diligently seek,
to quietly hope,
to grit your teeth,
to clench your fist,
and to continue on.
.
for God has not forgotten you,
you have not been abandoned.
God will renew you each morning
and will deliver each promise.
.
feel yourself held.
rest.
breathe.
trust.
and above all else,
hope.
amen.

Gift: 

We have a small gift for you to take with you as you leave worship this morning, you’ll find it on the Foosball table in the centre of the worship space.

Action

As a final act of prayer and of passion we shall release our balloons outside, knowing that God has heard, and will continue to hear our cries and that, even through the tough times, where our passions might seem insignificant God is present.

Music – Home by Eat The Menu

I’ve recently returned from this year’s National Christian Youth Convention (NCYC), it’s a national gathering of young people from the Uniting Church in Australia that’s held biannually, it moves around a bit and this year it was in NSW.

Adrian Greenwood, Drew Hanna, a number of friends & I coordinated a space that we called “Cafe-Praxis” in it we held intentional Q&A sessions with elders and leaders from the UCA, Daily Bible Study, Worship, Open Mic, Lightening Talks and a few other things…

There’s a lot to say about what we did at NCYC, but I thought I’d focus on the three worship sessions which we based around community participation, story and passion.  The themes for each of the gatherings were

a) Naming Our Passions
b) Living Out Our Passions and
c) Sustaining Our Passions

Much of what I used to do in alternative Worship was to create spaces that would grow over time, but would allow for individuals to enter into and participate at their own speed.  For these gatherings we had about an hour to play with and I’d intentionally attempted to create a liturgy that involved community participation and engagement, rather than stations I’d create space for us to engage.

And to do that I used three story books to help engage with the themes at hand

a) A Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham
b) The Tomorrow Book by Jackie French & Sue de Gennaro
c) Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr Seuss

I thought I’d take some time and put the liturgies (where I have the liturgy) online for people to access if they’d like. All in all I think they were beautiful spaces and I had a lot of fun both creating them and seeing how people engaged with them, each other & God in the space.

Worship 02 (45 minutes)

The second service we curated at NCYC in the CafePraxis space was themed “Living Out Our Passions” and was focussed on what the Kingdom of God could look like if we decided to live out our passion for God’s Kingdom.

It was based on an installation space I’ve ran a few times now, its a great concept and really needs a larger group of people and a few hours to pull off really well. This time round we’d only have 45 minutes and only about 50 young people in the space.

If you’re keen to see what can be created over a few hours check out this Flickr set from the last Adelaide NCYC in 2005 where I ran a similar space.

The equipment needed really depends on what you have available, I have a few containers of craft material that I use for a variety of things, so grab some magazines, cardboard, boxes, scissors, glue, sticky tape, paint, pipecleaners etc

We gave away a small gift again at the completion of this service, a lego block & card that had these words on it

“For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice for ever
in what I am creating;”

After the service I put up a small invitation to participate in the space that we left there for the rest of the gig, I’ll include that after the liturgy below.

Check out all the photos from this space on Flickr here

Liturgy:

Music:

R.E.M “Talk About The Passion”
1 Giant Leap “Passion”

Call to Worship:

Hello, & welcome to Cafe Praxis
God is here!
God’s Spirit is with us!
This is not a youth event
This is an opportunity to worship God
This is not a performance
This is our worship
We invite each other to use the environment, the visuals, the music and the words to stimulate our thoughts and draw our hearts to wonder at the goodness of God.
You are invited to participate & join in our worship
If you are visiting to look for ideas for your local church, we invite you to put aside your own agendas and simply join in worship – we are more than happy to spend time with you after the service or during the week and to help you in whatever way we can in your situation.
But today let us come together to meet God in a way that includes everyone here as a participant.
In as much as we give in worship, so might we receive from God.
This is an act of faith.
Today’s theme will help us to focus on living out our passions
We invite you to bring your whole self, your thoughts, fears, suspicions, hurts, joy, faith, hopes and love …to God.

Hello

This time of worship is God’s gift to us.
Let us be God’s gift to each other.
Let’s spend the next 5 minutes saying hello to those around us we don’t know as a sign that in God’s kingdom, all are accepted, all belong.

Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25

For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice for ever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labour in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.

Story – The Tomorrow Book by Jackie French & Sue de Gennaro

Invitation:

In the centre of the space you will see some craft material.
We invite you to imagine the world as it could be if you lived out your passion…
What could the Kingdom of God look like if we lived out our passion?
We invite this community to create the Kingdom of God here, in NCYC as it is in heaven…

Video/Prayer – Lord’s Prayer (Just Prayers)

Just Prayers – Lord’s Prayer (with subtitles) from mark pierson on Vimeo.

At this time we invited people to place their piece alongside everyone elses. We had set aside a spall space for the creation to take form.

When the Kingdom dream space was created we spent a small amount of time just looking at it before moving on.

Sending Out (2 voices – from Navigatio Pocket Liturgies available through Proost)

Creator of the desert – Designer of the chaos
Power of the storm – Rhythm of the tides
Builder of the coastline – Author of the currents
Lead us,
draw us,
use us.

Architect of community – Parent of all people
Inventor of culture – Originator of relationship
Engineer of peace – Painter of love
Lead us,
draw us,
use us.

God of here and now – God of hope
God of passion – God of surprises
God of justice – God of mission
Lead us,
draw us,
use us.

As you leave this space we have a small gift for you, you’ll find it on the foosball table in the centre of the space.

Blessing:

May this day
bring you new dreams
new visions
new hope
that the Kingdom of God is at hand

May this day
give you glimpses 
of what is possible
what is necessary
what is already happening

May you hear God’s invitation
to join in on the dream
and get involved

May you have the courage
the vision
the joy
to say yes

Invitation (placed on the site where we built the kingdom piece):
If you were asked to build a city for God, what would you build?

What games would people in this city play?
Would there be fences?
Would there be churches?

What would schools look like? Would there be parks?
What would the buildings look like? Would there be cars?

Would the people need to work?
How would the people have fun?

Right here, right now spend some time building a city for God, use the equipment around, in your pockets, at your campsite to create something and add it to the city.

As you build spend some time in prayer for the world around us.

After you’re done please leave a small explanation of what you made on the space provided. There will be someone hanging around to take a photo of you with your addition to the city.

I’ve recently returned from this year’s National Christian Youth Convention (NCYC), it’s a national gathering of young people from the Uniting Church in Australia that’s held biannually, it moves around a bit and this year it was in NSW.

Adrian Greenwood, Drew Hanna, a number of friends & I coordinated a space that we called “Cafe-Praxis” in it we held intentional Q&A sessions with elders and leaders from the UCA, Daily Bible Study, Worship, Open Mic, Lightening Talks and a few other things…

There’s a lot to say about what we did at NCYC, but I thought I’d focus on the three worship sessions which we based around community participation, story and passion.  The themes for each of the gatherings were

a) Naming Our Passions
b) Living Out Our Passions and
c) Sustaining Our Passions

Much of what I used to do in alternative Worship was to create spaces that would grow over time, but would allow for individuals to enter into and participate at their own speed.  For these gatherings we had about an hour to play with and I’d intentionally attempted to create a liturgy that involved community participation and engagement, rather than stations I’d create space for us to engage.

And to do that I used three story books to help engage with the themes at hand

a) A Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham
b) The Tomorrow Book by Jackie French & Sue de Gennaro
c) Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr Seuss

I thought I’d take some time and put the liturgies (where I have the liturgy) online for people to access if they’d like. All in all I think they were beautiful spaces and I had a lot of fun both creating them and seeing how people engaged with them, each other & God in the space.

Worship 01 (45 minutes)

We set this space up with four “bus” spaces. Each bus was made from 5 pieces of corflute with the front, and each side of the bus painted on it.

The buses were painted using black acrylic paint and by projecting an outline of a bus so we could trace over the outline.

We used a small shed shelving system to create the frame for the corflute to be stuck to and give the structure enough integrity to be able to paint on.

On one of the busses there was a Foosball table with rubber balls and a quote from the book, these were gifts for those who participated to take with them as they left the space.

Enough coloured paint and brushes were distributed around the space for people to create and paint, we gave them a lot of time to paint.

Check out photos of the worship service on flickr…

And all of the written liturgy was ad-libbed so what is written isn’t exactly what happened… but you get the gist.

Liturgy:

Call to Worship:

Hello, & welcome to Cafe Praxis
God is here!
God’s Spirit is with us!
This is not a youth event
This is an opportunity to worship God
This is not a performance
This is our worship
We invite each other to use the environment, the visuals, the music and the words to stimulate our thoughts and draw our hearts to wonder at the goodness of God.
You are invited to participate & join in our worship
If you are visiting to look for ideas for your local church, we invite you to put aside your own agendas and simply join in worship – we are more than happy to spend time with you after the service or during the week and to help you in whatever way we can in your situation.
But today let us come together to meet God in a way that includes everyone here as a participant.
In as much as we give in worship, so might we receive from God.
This is an act of faith.
Today’s theme will help us to focus on our passions
We invite you to bring your whole self, your thoughts, fears, suspicions, hurts, joy, faith, hopes and love …to God.

Hello

This time of worship is God’s gift to us.
Let us be God’s gift to each other.
Let’s spend the next 5 minutes saying hello to those around us we don’t know as a sign that in God’s kingdom, all are accepted, all belong.

Reading:

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

 And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

Story – A Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham

Invitation:

In this space there are a number of buses,  we invite you to

a) paint a symbol of what you are passionate about on the side of the bus, perhaps you aren’t sure what you’re passionate about and want to paint something that symbolises your search for a passion
b) mould something with the playdough provided that represents your passion and place it on or inside the bus

We invite you as a community to talk with each other, get involved, participate, hear what others are passionate about and share with them your passions also.  Why are you passionate about this, do you think the passion has come from God, how do you live out this passion?

Blessing of the Passions:

Together we have created symbols of our passion, of something that burns within us, this morning we have shared a piece of ourselves, our own journey, our search, our faith, our passion.

You are now invited to wander around and take in the passions of those around you, as you do we invite you to trace the symbol of the cross alongside the passions as a way of blessing each other’s passions, each other’s journey. Perhaps you.d like to dip your finger in some paint and trace a cross alongside the image…

Sending out

May your passions be ignited during this gathering,
May your passions find company with the passions of those around you
May this gathering provide space where you hear the voice of God calling you to live out these passions with each other

As you leave this space we have a small gift for you, you’ll find it on the foosball table in the centre of the space.