p.1.
A Covenanting Service
to Celebrate the Internship
of Ha Na Park
Chemainus United Church
15 September 2013
(At
the VST convocation, 2012)
p.2.
WHAT IS INTERN MINISTRY?
Intern Ministry is a journey of
learning by doing ministry to be prepared for ordered ministry. While Ha Na
faithfully serves Chemainus United Church congregation, it is very important to
note that her primary focus is on pursuing three learning goals she has set up
as part of the learning covenant. They are: learning how to create an
enriching, meaningful worship for all ages, developing leadership skills in
facilitation learning, discussion and meditation in a group setting and
learning how to offer pastoral care to urgent pastoral needs. For example, she
writes prayers as well as sermons and messages for children, to learn creating
an enriching and meaningful worship, and updates them every week on her blog http://blogspot.peacemama3.ca. You can
visit her blog or email to peacemama3@gmail.com
to give your feedback.
A REFLECTION ON THE PAST JOURNEY
(an excerpt from a sermon in May,
2013)
There
is a saying that “If there were no changes, there would be no butterflies.” The
past sixteen months of this internship journey since May of 2012 have been a
time of great change for me. This immersion in ministry has transformed me,
deconstructed and reconstructed me, let me get lost on the way and found. The
greatest lesson, which took nearly one year to learn, was neither a grandiose conclusion
nor a flash of enlightenment; it was a reminder that it is okay to be just as I
am, Ha Na, just as you have been created to be as you are. Sing your own songs.
Pray your own prayers. Tell your own stories, your own childhood fables and
wonders, to the children. It is alright to give you. Stories don’t come
from nowhere; they bubble up within you, from you, from the bottom, the well of
experience and inspiration. The greatest change which a butterfly undergoes is
to be who she really is.
…
When
it seems that the path ahead is only thinning out and we feel that we can’t
continue down such an attenuated, hardly-visible trail, the only way we can
make it through, the only change we need to make, is to be lighter – by
allowing ourselves to be simply, lightly, gently us, ourselves. We let go
or take off anything unnecessary to become ourselves, to be truly who we are,
then we enfold ourselves in a cocoon – the thin place.
pp.3 -4. Order of Service
PRELUDE
CALL TO WORSHIP (responsively)
God calls us to be and to embrace
the process of “becoming”
to find a way to sing the faith
that is true to ourselves.
In your love, O God, fill us
with your creative energy.
We are a new creation.
Christ calls us to live a
courageous life, to be vocal, not silent,
about our God who sings justice and
love for all the human family and our Earth.
In your love, O God, fill us
with your creative energy.
We will sing a new song for a
new earth.
The Holy Spirit affirms us all with
our each unique gift
and brings to us the adventure that
faith is meant to be.
In your love, O God, fill us
with your creative energy,
which will lead us to a profound
joy.
Giving thanks and praise to you, O
God, that you feed us with your nurturing love every day, we open our hearts
and souls for one another in this sacred time of covenant as we celebrate this
mutual journey of learning, becoming and growing. In your love, O God, fill us
with your creative energy.
We will carry your love,
journeying together.
HYMN MV 6
Holy Spirit, Come Into Our lives vs. 1, 2, 3, 5.
PRESENTATION
David Thomas, chair of Lay Supervision Team
HYMN MV 122
This is the Day
SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 118 (VU 837)
Gospel of Matthew 4:12-22
HOMILY Rev.
Murray Groom, Educational Supervisor
HYMN VU 563
Jesus, You Have Come to the Lakeshore
PRESENTATION Ha
Na Park, Intern Supply Minister
– Standing at a Halfway Point, a Milestone
CONGREGATIONAL COVENANT (insert)
- for Intern Ministry with Ha Na Park and
Chemainus United Church
PRESENTATION OF STOLE
with the symbol of an arbutus tree
OFFERING in
support of the Education and Student Fund of Comox-Nanaimo Presbytery
OFFERING PRAYER
God of Generosity, we offer with
joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us…ourselves, our time, our
possessions, and signs of your gracious love. Receive these gifts and use them
for the continuing work of your church. Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Ha Na Park
HYMN VU 509
I, the Lord of Sea and Sky
BLESSING Rev.
Murray Groom
POSTLUDE
pp. 5-6.
The Covenanting
PREAMABLE
There are different gifts,
But it is the same Spirit who gives them.
There are different ways of serving,
But it is the same God who is served.
God works through different people in different ways
But it is the same God who achieves holy purposes through them all.
The Spirit gives each one gifts
To use for the common good.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Brothers and sisters in Christ, each of us is called by God to ministry and called to offer our gifts as we are able. Today we recognize that Ha Na Park has heard God’s call to ordered ministry and is here to serve this congregation as she trains for her vocation. As one called into this ministry she will need our prayers and faithful support.
COVENANT PROMISES
TO HA NA PARK Ha Na, God has called you into intern ministry within the congregation of Chemainus United Church and beyond. Your internship is a journey where you will learn by doing ministry. With the understanding and support of the congregation, you have established a learning covenant between you, the Lay Supervision Team and the Education Supervisor. We trust that you will continue to pursue your learning goals so that you will be prepared for ordered ministry. We anticipate that you will serve Chemainus United Church in supply ministry, embodying God’s love and caring for others as the Spirit enables you. We trust that, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you will continue to live out your faith with praise and thanksgiving. Ha Na, will you carry out these tasks and your responsibilities in this congregation and the wider church with integrity and joy?
I will, God being my helper.
TO THE LAY SUPERVISION TEAM Will you, the Lay Supervision Team, continue to accompany Ha Na in her intern ministry while you faithfully follow the learning covenant, promising that you will support Ha Na’s learning goals, practice active listening, share your knowledge from the congregation and CUC and offer truthful feedback?
We will, God being our helper.
TO THE CONGREGATION You, the members of Chemainus United Church, have recognized, honoured and supported Ha Na in her learning journey through her work in intern ministry. As a learning site, you have embraced creativity, flexibility and truthful feedback as leading principles for accompanying Ha Na in this mutual journey of embodying God’s love. Will you assist her through your prayers, your support and your example so that, together, you may be a community faithful to Jesus Christ?
We will, God being our helper.
THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE LST (DAVID) ASKS THIS PROMISE TO THE EDUCATION SUPERVISOR, THE REVEREND DOCTOR MURRAY GROOM Will you as the Education Supervisor for Ha Na Park continue to accompany Ha Na in her intern ministry? Will you support Ha Na’s learning goals, practice active listening, share your knowledge and offer truthful feedback?
I will, God being my helper.
PRAYER
Loving God, you have called Ha Na and this congregation to serve you. Send your Holy Spirit upon us all, that we may keep the promises we have made this day. Help us to fulfill our responsibilities, that our lives may reflect your love and grace always. Amen
DECLARATION
Ha Na, in the name of God: Creator, Christ and Spirit, we recognize and affirm your intern ministry here among the people of Chemainus United Church.
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