OP/EN 1 - 'no bag for your journey'

Welcome to op/en

Each part is dedicated to one of the elements that make up a normal service – preparation, confession, God’s word, prayer, sending out - with images, words, activities and music available to help us do or experience these things.

So tonight, instead of being drawn through the service at the pace set by the leader, you can spend as much time or as little as you like exploring and responding to each part, according to your own need and the way the Spirit moves you.  We’ve suggested an order to move through the church, but this is only a suggestion:  you can go a different way round, leave bits out, just stay at the back drinking coffee...

Leave your bags and burdens...

...here in front of the Cross. Confession is at the heart of the Christian’s preparation for worship. It is the unburdening of the soul before God, the reception of his forgiving grace and the renewed determination to follow Christ. True confession involves repentance, which literally means to ‘turn around’ – to change the direction of our lives and walk God’s way.

At this station you are invited to confess your sin on the post-it notes nearby and place them on the large cross, symbolizing Christ as the bearer of our sins. The notes will be destroyed at the end of the service.

Once you have finished your confession, receive the ‘absolution’ (to be absolved means to be released from guilt) of Christ:

        May the God of love and power
        Forgive you and free you from your sins,
        Heal and strengthen you by his Spirit,
        And raise you to new life in Christ our Lord.
        Amen.

Take no bag for your journey

• What does it mean to travel light?
• We can’t do it without leaving things behind.
• We can’t do it unless we can bring ourselves to believe that God will take care of us and that what we really need will be there for us.
• Sometimes we have to trust Him to take care of what we leave behind.

In this section there are a lot of “things”. They were collected by a few of us to represent some of the things, people and ideas in our lives. Most of them are good in themselves. But are they so good if they get in the way of what God is calling us to do.

In the next section you are invited to use the psalm for today as a journey. Before setting out you might like to think about what you could leave behind and what you find it hard to let go of. If it helps, write the name on a label, stick it on one of the bricks or weights on the rug and leave it behind or, if you aren’t ready to do that, put it in a bag to take with you as you go. There will be another opportunity to leave your bags and burdens towards the end of the journey...

Walking the psalm

As you walk the psalm, following the rope, and look at the pictures, which are all of Gipsy Hill, you can use the words, ideas and images to reflect on your journey through life, on issues you may be struggling with at the moment, and on the things for which you are grateful.

Like all the psalms, this one is full of different emotions, different ways of relating to God. If you find a particular verse resonating with your mood tonight, feel free to stay with it, to make a note of it and to take it with you into the week ahead.

There is space before the altar to leave bags and burdens, and beyond is a place for rest, refreshment and reflection on the journey so far.

Further images from op/en 1 can be found in the Christ Church image gallery