The Seed Disperser - October 2021
Discover more from The Seed Disperser
The Seed Disperser - October 2021
This month's feature - Worshipping outdoors
What’s in this month’s Seed Disperser
What’s new this month
The big move to Substack
Lectionary in EPUB and PDF
Featured this month – Preparing for Advent
Counting Down to Christmas
Twelve Days of Christmas
Taking Flight – Advent/Christmas
Inspiration this month – Worshipping outdoors
Walking a route
Picnic prayer boxes
Labyrinths and pathways
Outdoor stations
Hunt and find
Lectio Divina in nature
Public spaces and parks
Installations
Collaborations between churches
On a personal note
More about our move to Substack
What’s new this month
The big move to Substack
You’ve likely already noticed that this month The Seed Disperser looks different, although the content follows the same pattern as previous editions. We’ve moved distribution of our weekly and monthly resources to Substack. You will continue to receive The Seed Disperser every monthly for free. You can read more about our move at the bottom of this email and find out ways you can support our work.
Lectionary & Calendar 2021-2022 Year C - Luke
The Lectionary is a method by which, over a period of three years, much of the Bible is read aloud in church. Full coverage requires Bible readings every day of the year. This Lectionary, being oriented towards worship, includes readings for every Sunday and major festivals when they fall during the week. The one exception to this is Holy Week, which is given in full.
This Lectionary and Calendar follows the Common Lectionary Revised (1992) produced by the ecumenical liturgical body the Consultation on Common Texts (CCT), and is produced by permission of the CCT as a service to parishes and preachers. The booklet is edited and produced by the Methodist Faith and Order Committee on behalf of the Methodist Church of New Zealand/Te Hahi Weteriana O Aotearoa and the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Andrew Gamman is the current editor of this Lectionary.
Broadly speaking, each year is ordered according to the liturgical year, observing the church seasons such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. This Calendar shows the dates of the church’s festivals in the current year. It also shows dates of other important national, international and ecumenical celebrations and days of remembrance.
The booklet in a printed format is available both from the Administration Division of MCNZ or the Resource Centre of PCANZ.
Kereru Publishing offers electronic versions in both PDF and EPUB. These are a free download and complement the Kereru Publishing Lectionary resource, Taking Flight. Download a copy of the Lectionary here. Taking Flight can be purchased on our website.
Featured this month – Preparing for Advent
We have a number of Advent and Christmas resources available on our Kereru Publishing website. Here’s a few we wanted to feature for those beginning to prepare for Advent.
Counting Down to Christmas
Drawing from traditions of Advent Calendars, we present a short daily dose of inspiration delivered direct to your email inbox each morning. The resource is written by Caroline Bindon. Emails begin on Saturday 27 November 2021, and will arrive every day throughout Advent ending with a final email on Christmas Eve.
This year our theme is RHYMES, RHYTHMS AND RITUALS 2021. As our world continues to experience the disruption and challenges of the COVID pandemic our usual Christmas routines are yet again uncertain. Gathering with family and friends may not be possible this Christmas. The flavour this year is to offer soothing and comforting inspiration for these troubled times.
Each daily email will draw from the rhythms and rhymes of one of the Christmas songs or carols from a curated playlist. A link to the song will be provided each day along with a short reflection, a little bit of interesting info about the song choice, and an idea for an experiential ritual to carry out in your own time and space.
Also included in our Counting Down to Christmas resource are the following:
LIGHTING ADVENT CANDLES - A PDF download for those wanting to light candles on an Advent wreath on each of the four Sundays. Each of the four weeks follow the traditional Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.
ADVENT BIBLE READING PLAN - A curated Bible Reading Plan will be provided with either weekly or daily readings covering the words of the prophets and the Christmas story as recorded in the gospels. This will also be in the format of a PDF download.
12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS - INCLUDED FREE to Counting Down to Christmas subscribers.
Subscribe to Counting Down to Christmas
Subscribe to Counting Down to Christmas on our Kereru Publishing website
Individual (single email address) $25 (NZD)
Groups (multiple email addresses) $7.50 (NZD) per person (minimum 4 people)
Twelve Days of Christmas
The traditional period of Christmas is known as the twelve days of Christmas. This begins on 25 December, Christmas Day, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus and ends on 6 January, Epiphany, where the celebration marks the revealing of Christ to the world.
Our Twelve Days of Christmas includes the following:
A worship outline and printable resources to hold an 'at home' worship experience on Christmas Day. If getting out to church or gathering with friends and family on Christmas Day isn't possible this year, then this resource will help you mark Christmas Day in an experiential and meaningful way.
A playlist of 12 songs available to listen to or sing along with on Spotify or YouTube Music. Short written reflections are included, one for each of the 12 days between Christmas Day and Epiphany. These are each based on a song from the playlist.
A few fun and festive ideas to mark Epiphany and hold your own feast and celebration in your own home.
Personal/Family $20 (NZD)
Church or group $50 (NZD) Limit to 50 copies to be distributed by purchaser. If you are planning on distributing to more than 50 people, please buy more than one subscription or contact us for a quote.
TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WILL BE INCLUDED FREE to Counting Down to Christmas subscribers or can be purchased as a stand-alone resource.
Taking Flight for Advent/Christmas
If you’d like additional Advent inspiration for lectionary-based worship services, you can subscribe to our Advent/Christmas Taking Flight package. If you are an existing subscriber to Taking Flight this is included as part of your subscription.
Includes resources for the four Sundays of Advent as well as an extra issue for Christmas Day.
This year’s themes…
Advent 1 - 28 November – A wonderful promise - Jeremiah 33.14-16
Advent 2 - 5 December – God has come - Luke 1.68-79
Advent 3 - 12 December - God is here to help you - Isaiah 12.2-6
Advent 4 - 19 December – A Bethlehem shepherd - Micah 5.2-5
Christmas Day - A brief family service (in-person, video or Zoom) with carols and a nativity play
Boxing Day - 26 December - Pleasing God and people - Luke 2.41-52
Purchase Taking Flight for Advent/Christmas from the Kereru Publishing website - $15.00 (NZD).
Inspiration this month – Worshipping outdoors
The pandemic has created many challenges for meeting together for worship. As well as complying with government restrictions and denominational guidelines, most churches and faith groups are managing the practical realities of gathering safely with others in these Covid times. We’ve come up with a few ideas for worshipping outdoors, if that’s an option depending on your current restrictions. As our subscribers in the northern hemisphere head into winter months, these ideas might not be so easy to relate to, or use, but tuck them away for another season when they just might come in handy.
Worshipping outdoors might seem as unconventional and as novel as worshipping online, but there’s a long tradition we can borrow from to explore the idea. Jesus himself is recorded in the gospels as teaching and preaching in the great outdoors. Many will recall large open air gospel rallies or outdoor church services where numbers are so large meeting inside a church building wasn’t possible. The idea of holding a worship service outside evokes images of sound systems and stages, serious organisation and technical expertise. It sounds daunting.
Our ideas for outdoor worship are simpler and easier for smaller churches to try. Our Avenues Church has had loads of outdoor worship experiences. So most of these ideas come from our own tried experiences over the last twenty years. These ideas are able to be implemented by groups of volunteers, sharing the responsibility and creativity and providing a sense of belonging as people work together. When we’ve taken our worship out into public spaces and places, we’ve found people want to join in who might not be so keen to enter a church building. Meeting outdoors opens new possibilities. Please take these ideas and adapt them to fit your circumstances. And have fun in the process!
Walking a route
Map out a prayer route around your church neighbourhood. Provide a map for everyone to use and mark on it spots to stop. Invite participants to gather on your church lawn or other easy meeting place. Make sure you encourage everyone to be socially distanced and wearing masks before heading off to walk the route in small groups. You might want to provide prayer starter ideas, add a Bible reading at each stop or a short inspirational thought to share. If possible, make your route a loop so everyone heads back to meet up again for a brief gathering as a wider group before dispersing.
Picnic prayer boxes
Meet at a local park with a large grassy area allowing plenty of room between groups sitting down. Invite participants to bring along their own picnic blanket and picnic. Hand out packed prayer boxes. Include some tactile items and instructions for praying a series of experiential prayers. For ideas use 5 Senses to Prayer book or come up with your own experiential prayers. Some items that are easy to use with minimal instructions include pipe-cleaners, playdough and crayons and paper. Include a printed outline with an opening prayer for people to pray together and a benediction to read. Encourage each picnic blanket group to work through the box at their own pace.
Labyrinths and pathways
If you have a grassy area on your church property or access to somewhere you can use a set up for an extended period, set up a labyrinth or a pathway on the ground with stops along the route for people to pause and reflect. You may have to create a booking system to allow groups to access the labyrinth at different times. Theme your labyrinth or pathway for Advent or other topical themes.
Outdoor stations
Make use of spaces to set up different stations. At each station set up a small table or picnic blanket, a plastic covered sign with instructions for the station and the equipment in a sealed plastic container. Invite participants to move around the outdoor stations. You could create stations based on an Advent theme or use our Stations for Parables of Jesus book for ideas.
Here’s a 25% discount for our book, Stations for Parables of Jesus. Offer valid until 30 November 2021. Just click on the link.
Hunt and find
Think of ‘hunt and find’ as a treasure hunt for all ages. In a large open space hide painted rocks or something similar for people to find. Provide participants a set of clues of locations and things to look for around the park or space. Give each group a downloadable set of instructions to print out before they come, or provide each group with a set of envelopes to open as they reach each clue. The envelopes might include an excerpt from a sermon, broken into smaller chunks, Bible readings or prayers. You could make the clues sequential or random.
Lectio Divina in nature
You’ll find several websites and blog posts on using nature as a text in Lectio Divina. Whether offering a Bible reading or an observation of nature, this ancient spiritual practice works well outdoors. Provide participants with instructions. Suggest people bring something to sit on and encourage everyone to find their own space in your selected outdoor setting to carry out this exercise.
Public spaces and parks
Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we live in a beautiful country with lovely parks, beaches, reserves and open spaces. Make use of the public spaces and parks around your location. Create a meaningful reflection to read before participants begin moving around the park or reserve. Invite specific things to notice and pay attention to in the space. Allow plenty of time for individuals or small groups to meander around the space, taking notice and praying and reflecting. If it’s possible to do so safely you could gather together at the end for a picnic blanket morning or afternoon tea.
Installations
Lockdowns around the world have resulted in some creative installations in windows and doors and lawns. From vegetable installations to spoon installations and many more ideas, creative things are happening. Set a theme for your faith community and create your own installations. Make a route for your group to venture out and visit all the installations. With Advent coming, Christmas themed installations might provide a visual feast not just for your regular church members but for others in your local community.
Collaborations between churches
If your church is setting up labyrinths, or prayer paths, or installations, why not collaborate with other local churches so more than your own congregation can benefit from your creativity. Arrange a progressive church installation crawl, allowing different days or schedule times for the different congregations to move between the spaces in the different churches. Now is the time for collaboration and sharing creative resources and energy.
On a personal note
Spring and Autumn
September and October were busy months with both Stroll for Your Soul happening in our spring followed quickly by Autumn Rambles hosted by The Prayer Bench in the northern hemisphere fall. We had many new subscribers this year across the resources and have received lovely feedback. Caroline and Janice are now already writing next year’s Stroll. We’ve enjoyed the signs of spring in the last few weeks. Here’s some photos from our spring walks.
About our move to Substack
We’re excited to join Substack. The focus here is on promoting writers and writing and we feel it’s a nice fit for our Kereru work. Currently we’ve moved The Seed Disperser, 5 Senses to Prayer, and Counting Down to Christmas, and we’ll shortly be moving Taking Flight. If you’re a subscriber to any of these resources, you don’t have to do anything – we’ll export your details from Mailchimp and bring them over to Substack. When it comes time to resubscribe to any of the resources you currently receive, you’ll be able to do so through Substack or we can send you an invoice if you’d prefer.
One of the reasons we’ve moved to Substack is due to an increase in the number of emails going missing in recent weeks when sent from our Mailchimp account. We are hopeful this will be less of an issue now.
Supporting our work
The Seed Disperser is our free resource. It has the largest audience and a high opening rate each month. From the email feedback we receive we know many of our ideas from The Seed Disperser are utilised in churches across New Zealand and the world. Our income for Kereru Publishing comes from sales of our paid resources and books. We don’t generate enough sales to provide either of us with a regular income. Kereru really is a labour of love. Moving to Substack provides supporters of our work an option to financially help us by becoming paid subscribers of The Seed Disperser.
We’ve set subscription costs for the Substack minimum $5(USD) per month or $30(USD) per year. There is also the option to set your own higher amount. The Seed Disperser will continue to be provided free but paid subscribers will receive a few extra discounts and offers.
Lockdowns and vaccines
We’re still in a lockdown in Auckland and coping with restrictions. For the most part our family have survived this time well. Our house is a busy place with different things happening all the time. Andrew’s broken wrist has healed enough that he has been able to get back into the garden, but not yet out fishing. He’s also been involved in making some videos for online worship. Caroline has been working many extra hours in her construction job as a changeover of software systems she has been co-ordinating happened right on the eve of lockdown. A little harder to make the change remotely but also more enjoyable to be home-based.
Everyone in our bubble is double vaccinated. We were super impressed with our local medical centre and their flexibility and compassion in providing a very bespoke service for our daughter who has Sensory Processing Disorder and a needle phobia. She was extremely determined to get vaccinated and play her part in protecting other vulnerable people, despite the many challenges this presented for her. We are hopeful to see vaccination rates continue to climb rapidly in Aotearoa New Zealand as our covid cases rise. It’s a tough time and we’ve been protected for so long in our country.
Our prayers of hope and peace are with you all.
On the journey
Andrew and Caroline
Kereru Publishing – Resourcing Christian Spirituality
The story of the Kereru is a metaphor for the church in New Zealand and in the western world. Our dream is to provide resources to engage, encourage and inspire a generation of seed dispersers for the Christian faith.
Andrew Gamman and Caroline Bindon are founders of Kereru Publishing. They live among the kereru on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula just to the north of Auckland city in New Zealand.