(with thanks to the Revd Bruce Jenneker, Canon Precentor & Cathedral Administrator, St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town)
NOTE:
Text in italics is for information only and
NOT TO BE SPOKEN ALOUD. As per the normal Anglican convention, the
congregation joins in the worship by saying aloud the text in BOLD
type.
The Paschal Candle is in a prominent place
in the
Sanctuary,
and is already lit when the service begins. The HIV &
AIDS Candle is in front of the Paschal Candle. A very large, clear
glass bowl
filled with water is
in a prominent place, in full view of the people. A large,
clear glass pitcher is
near by.
Opening Responsory
Our times are in the hand of God
and the love of God supports us all the day long.
The Lord is our light and my salvation;
whom then shall we fear?
Even now the Lord lifts up my head
and sets me high upon a rock.
The Lord is our light and my salvation;
whom then shall we fear?
For in the day of trouble God shall keep me,
and hide me in the safe shelter of God's dwelling.
The Lord is our light and my salvation;
whom then shall we fear?
Hymn: This Little Light of Mine Traditional; Negro Spiritual
The Lord is here.
People God’s Spirit is with us.
The Officiant says this Prayer for Light as the AIDS Candle is lit from the Paschal Candle. The people remain standing.
Let us pray.
O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come; be near us in this present time of suffering and challenge that by the brightness of your presence we may know you to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning forever.
AMEN.
Lighting the Candles for the Four Corners of the earth
The People remain standing. The Reader lights his or her candle, says the prayer, and then takes the light to one of the three corners of the Church the Paschal Candle being the light in the East End.
Reader 1
We light this candle in the name of God,
the maker of all things, our mother and our father
who made us and breathed the breath of life into us
and into all people everywhere.
The Lord is our light and our salvation.
Reader 2
We light this candle in the name of God,
the giver of every good gift,
whose will for us is health and salvation
and who reaches out to touch and heal us
and all people everywhere.
The Lord is our light and our salvation
Reader 3
We light this candle in the name of God,
who is present everywhere,
whose loving embrace encompasses the world
and who blesses our souls with yearning for health and peace,
and the souls of all people everywhere.
The Lord is our light and our salvation;
Hymn: Thou whose almighty word tune: Moscow
Thou, whose almighty word chaos and darkness heard
and took their flight;
hear us, we humbly pray,
and, where the Gospel day
sheds not its glorious ray, let there be light!
Thou who didst come to bring on thy redeeming wing
healing and sight,
health to the sick in mind,
sight to the inly blind,
now to all humankind, let there be light!
Spirit of truth and love, life-giving holy Dove,
speed forth thy flight!
Move on the waters' face,
bearing the gifts of grace,
and, in earth's darkest place, let there be light!
Holy and blessèd Three, glorious Trinity,
Wisdom, Love, Might;
boundless as ocean's tide,
rolling in fullest pride,
through the world far and wide, let there be light!
Words: John Marriott, 1780-1825
Music: Moscow, Felice de Gardini, 1716-1796
After the hymn is sung, the people remain standing
God is above us,
God is beneath us,
God is beside us,
God is around us,
God is ever with us:
God alone is our beginning and our end, the everlasting One.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The People remain standing
Collect
Let us pray.
Loving and compassionate God, come among us with your gracious Spirit and let your love transform our lives: where there is darkness, let there be light; where there is suffering, bring hope; where there is prejudice, let there be genuine understanding and respect and where there is sadness, let there be joy. In the midst of disease and pain and death, let us cast our cares on you, find new life in your life, and grow in the knowledge of the consolation of your love; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Saviour, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God in glory everlasting. AMEN
Our times are in your hands, O God;
For you are our light and our salvation.
The Word of God
The people sit.
First Lesson Genesis 1:27-28a
A reading from Genesis.
"So God created humankind in his image in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'"
Hear the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 8
Second Lesson Romans 8:31-39
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.
"What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
'For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Hear the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Hymn
Gospel John 4:4-30
Listen to the Good News proclaimed in the Gospel according to Saint John.
Glory to Christ our Saviour.
"Jesus had to travel through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’
Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ They left the city and went on their way to him."
A Response of Faith and Hope
A very large, clear glass bowl filled with water is in a prominent place, in full view of the people. A large, clear glass pitcher is near by. As the Leader[s] lead each of these responses, they scoop up water from the bowl with the pitcher and as the people respond each time, they pour it back into the bowl.
You know the gift of God:
ask, and your loving God will give you living water.
With joy shall we draw water from the wells of salvation.
You will say on that day:
We give thanks to you, O Lord, for ever and ever.
Surely God is our salvation.
We will trust, and will not be afraid.
For the Lord God is our strength and our might;
The Lord alone is our salvation.
All who are thirsty find their salvation with the Lord.
With joy shall we draw water from the wells of salvation.
All who are afraid find strength in the Lord.
With joy shall we draw water from the wells of salvation.
All who are despised and rejected find their dignity and worth with the Lord.
With joy shall we draw water from the wells of salvation.
You know the gift of God:
ask, and your loving God will give you living water.
With joy shall we draw water from the wells of salvation.
Sing praises to the Lord, for the Lord has done gloriously;
Let God’s mercy and loving-kindness be known in all the earth.
A Litany in the Time of HIV and AIDS
God is with us;
It is God’s spirit that speaks in us as we pray.
God the Creator,
Have mercy on us.
God the Redeemer,
Have mercy on us.
God the Sanctifier,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, Everlasting God,
Have mercy on us.
We lift up to you, loving and compassionate God, the moments of our fear, the days of our pain, the years of this pandemic.
Hear the cries of your people, O God.
Restore us, renew us and make us whole.
We lift up to you, that you might bless us, all of us affected by HIV: all living with the virus, the sick and the healthy; make of this Church that is living with HIV and AIDS a community of wholeness and compassion, that in this time of stigma and sickness we may be beacons of hope, healing and faithfulness. Hear the cries of your people, O God.
Restore us, renew us and make us whole.
We bring to you, that you might forgive us, our unwillingness always to expend ourselves for the sake of those who suffer; our failure consistently to work together to manage the HI virus effectively and to prevent its further spread; our despair at the enormity of the task and the limits of our resources.
Hear the cries of your people, O God.
Restore us, renew us and make us whole.
God of grace, you nurture us with a love deeper than we know, and your will for us is healing and salvation;
We praise and thank you, O God.
God of love, you enter into our lives, our pain and our brokenness, and you stretch out your healing hands to us wherever we are;
We praise and thank you, O God.
God of strength, you fill us with your presence and send us forth in love and healing among those we meet;
We praise and thank you, O God.
Touch and heal our bodies suffering from sickness, injury and disability, and make us whole again;
Hear us, O God of life.
Touch and heal our minds from darkness, confusion and doubt, and fill them with your light;
Hear us, O God of life.
Touch and heal our hearts burdened by prejudice and anguish, despair and isolation, and set us free in love;
Hear us, O God of life.
Break the bonds of our imprisonment to fear, our easy rejection of ourselves, of those who are different, and our negligence in caring for those who suffer;
Hear us, O God of life.
Give courage and hope to all who suffer; support those who are alone in their pain; lift up those whose spirit is broken.
A time is provided for names to be offered, either silently or aloud
O God of all the ages, you are our rock and our salvation;
Come with your healing power, O God.
Take into your hands the dying, and bring us through death into your loving presence;
Come with your healing power, O God.
We lift before you all who have died from AIDS-related illnesses. Receive them more and more into your joyful presence.
And grant them the joys of everlasting life with you.
A time is provided for names to be offered, either silently or aloud.
O God of all the ages, you are our rock and our salvation;
Come with your healing power, O God.
Rejoicing in the communion of all the saints, we entrust ourselves and one another, all our life to Christ our God.
To you, O Lord, our God.
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