Café Church
‘Celebrate the City’
Last week I was up at the Signal Hill outlook in the morning - it was
quiet but for the bird song, there was the occasional murmur from the city
below and I could not help but think of all the life that was going on down
below and the life that had been here over time. And from those moments grew this prayer.
Prayer of Confession
God of new beginnings, who created this world and us in it, who was
before time and will be forever, we come together today as people of this
city,– long settled here, new, returning, visiting we each hold our memories
and experiences of this city Dunedin.
For many of us, when we are away from it, we long for it, for others we
want shake the dust and explore the world beyond. But for all of us it will always have a place
in our lives.
But before there was a city there was the tangata whenua, the waters and
mountains of Otepoti their turangawaewae, the bush and swamps, the land and
ocean their sustenance, whanau their community.
And before them there was life and living, creatures of the land and
sea, trees and plants, forces of nature shaping the land we know today.
This place has a long history and we are part of that story. Yet today we hold the story in some tension –
we are part of and proud of this community, yet there is much that we know is
broken too. People without homes, jobs,
friends/family, those who have no sense of community, kindness, peace. Land that is abused, waters that are
polluted, economic inequity, tragic suicides, and we ask Lord, if you look on
this your city and weep for every act of brokenness, every missed opportunity
for healing and hope. Help us to also
feel the pain of the city and its people as well as the enjoying the beauty and
peacefulness - so that we might be as
Jesus – celebrating every act of kindness and care and renewing peace and
speaking out against all that harms and hurts, especially to the vulnerable.
May we find new ways to engage with and support this our community, our
city - in Jesus name Amen
Assurance of Pardon
E te whanau – God looks upon the city, and says ‘these are my people and
I am their God in faithfulness and righteousness’ – in Jesus we are assured of
this …we are forgiven, we are set free. Thanks be to God
We Reflect on our City
Here in the busy city God walks on every street
in generous or greedy, the honest or the cheat,
and daily we must offer the good that goes unpriced
with vigour and with vision – the lifestyle of the
Christ.
Words Shirley Erena Murray;
What is our relationship with our
city? How well as Christians do we
encourage the lifestyle of the city with our vigour and our vision? How well, for that matter, do we know Dunedin,
not just our corner of it – now I know that for some of you this is not your
city – that you know your home, your community as elsewhere and maybe its not a
city but a smaller community. I think
this will still have meaning for you.
We are going to start with some
questions – a bit of a quiz really
What are the four ‘mountains’ of
Dunedin
A: Flagstaff, Signal Hill,
Cargill and Saddle Hill
Name the major street parallel to
and between Hillside Rd and Bayview Rd
A: Macandrew
Who is the deputy Mayor of Dunedin
A: Chris Staynes
To the closest hundred, how many
people attended the Community Christmas dinner in 2014
A: 500
DCC estimates there were how many
houses seriously damaged in the June floods in South Dunedin
A: nearly 300
Which of the Dunedin suburbs is
one of the three most deprived in the south Island
A: South Dunedin along with
having some of the highest rents in the city for the houses.
How much was raised from the
people of the area (not the grants) to enable the Night Shelter to buy a house.
A: $150,000
What was the first name of the
upper Signal Hill Rd township established in the 1870’s along side Opoho
township
A: Maybank
Do we really know what goes on in
our city? Do we have a dream that it
could be, should be a better place – not in fast broadband or how many big
concerts or sports events we get (cricket tests exempted of course) but in
things like a diminishing rich and poor gap, adequate employment and housing,
safety on the streets, celebration of who we are, welcoming the stranger, the
refugee, the students and caring for our elderly?
In Zechariah we hear of God’s
promise to the people in exile for their city, Jerusalem. “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Old men and old
women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem… and the streets of the city
shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets….even though it seems
impossible to the remnant of the people in these days, should it also seem
impossible to me, says the Lord of Hosts…”[1]
What is our dream,
our promise in Jesus name for our city, our community? Can you perhaps write down and bring up
something of this city (or your city if not here) that we are to celebrate and
as well anything that speaks to your heart needing prayer and engagement. And for each one, the good and the bad, we
light a candle, knowing that God’s light is shining in the happy and the sad
places of this city through us, the people of God and all who care.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Holy God, when we
stand on one of the hills of the city – looking down what is it that we see?
We see the
contours of a land shaped over time, we see people moving about their business,
the train waiting to carry people on an adventure, the solitary cloud sitting
over Flagstaff, the calm of the harbour, the endlessness of the ocean, the
stillness of the university with the seriousness of exams about it, in the
distance the Nuggets barely discernible and your people living, choosing,
working, playing, laughing and crying.
And we see a future, refugees feeling safer and hopeful, people sharing
their surplus and all have enough, people valued, land cared for, love and
compassion and justice around us everyday.
Jesus, in your
city, may the restless find peace, the homeless a safe place to lay their head,
the jobless worthwhile work, the hopeless some ray of hope, may the ambitious
find worth in what they are now, may the angry find forgiveness, the city a
heart for its people, the people a purpose for their hearts that builds a city
of love and caring, made possible in the love of Christ our Lord. Amen.
Margaret Garland
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