A St. George's day celebration, 23 April
Planning
If you are using the prayer of intercession you will need to research current Christian Communities under persecution and make sure you know where to find them on a world map.
Write each country on a piece of card and distribute these to individuals before the service.
Prepare the space
Display a map of the world, the bigger the better. Depending on the size of the congregation and availability of projection, you could choose a paper map or a globe or display on a screen.
Display images of dragons. You might project some scenes from The desolation of Smaug (Hobbit Part 2) along with its music.
For an English congregation, make liberal use of the English flag, with one or more draped or hung in a visible place.
Gather
Gathering words
Today we celebrate St George, Patron Saint of England, the Scout Movement and many other people and places as well. We’ll tell the story of the real St George and the legend about how he killed the dragon and we’ll think about what it means for us to struggle for Christ whoever we are, wherever we are.
Call to worship
Take up the whole armour of God.
Fasten the belt of truth about your waist.
Put on the breastplate of righteousness.
As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready
to proclaim the gospel of peace.
Take the shield of faith.
Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
(Based on Ephesians 6.13-17)
Gathering activity
Ask the congregation to get into pairs or small groups, preferably mixing up the generations. Invite them to share in their groups anything they know about or associate with St George. This is about what’s in our heads, not about hard fact, so there are no right and wrong answers.
After a minute or two, ask the congregation to report anything interesting that has been shared.
Prayer of confession
St George was brave! (You might refer to some of the specific memories that have just been shared). He stood up for Jesus and for what was right; he risked his life fighting the dragon and setting people free from fear; he died for Jesus and for his Christian friends.
Let us take a few moments to remember the times we have not been brave and confess them.
Short silence
Dear God,
We are not as brave as we would like to be.
We remember the times when we have run away,
or got angry or panicky,
or turned our back when you wanted us to speak the truth and hold firm.
We know you love us and want us to be our best selves,
so we ask you to wipe out those times
and to fill us with your peace.
Help us to know that you are always at our side
so that we don’t need to be afraid.
Show us how to overcome evil with good,
like Jesus did, and like St George.
Amen.
Word
Present the reading
Revelation 12.7-12 War in Heaven
In advance arrange for a second reader to be in a high place (ideally the gallery, or a high pulpit) and to proclaim verses 10-12 very loudly.
If there are plenty of children present ask for volunteers to help you with the reading. Divide your volunteers into two teams, one representing Michael and the angels and the other the dragon and his angels. Tell them they are going to mime what happens in the reading as they hear it.
During verses 7-8 children mime a fight; encourage them to do this without touching anyone else. At verse 9 encourage the dragon and his angels to mime defeat by falling back among the congregation or descending from the platform and Michael’s angels mime victory.
John 15.18-21
Catch the rhythm of Jesus’ words by reading these verses responsively.
Sections A and B can be left side/right side, men/women, etc.
Section A: If the world hates you,
Section B: be aware that it hated me before it hated you.
Section A: If you belonged to the world,
Section B: the world would love you as its own.
Section A: Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world –
Section B: therefore the world hates you.
Leader: Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master’.
Section A: If they persecuted you,
Section B: they will persecute you;
Section A: if they kept my word,
Section B: they will keep yours also.
Leader: But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
Explore the reading
You could have two people prepared in advance to tell the following two stories in their own words:
The real St George
The people who decide what goes in the lectionary have given us a story about St Michael, probably because there’s a similar story about how St George killed a dragon. But who was the real St George? He wasn’t English, but born in Palestine of a Palestinian mother and a Greek father, and brought up a Christian. He was a soldier, in the Roman Army, and a very good one, loved and admired by the Emperor Diocletian. But in 303 Diocletian ordered that every Christian in the army should be arrested. George objected. The emperor was upset because he liked George – but George went ahead, publicly declared himself a Christian and renounced the Emperor’s decision. Diocletian tried again to persuade George, but he stood firm. So the Emperor had to have him tortured and put to death. He was beheaded on 23rd April 303. He was quickly honoured by the Christian community as a martyr.
The legendary St George
The story goes that there was a dragon who made its nest at the spring which provided water for the city of Silene. Every day, they had to get the dragon to move in order to draw water for the townspeople. They did this by offering the beast a sheep. But sometimes no sheep was to be found, so they offered a young girl instead, drawing lots to choose who it should be. One day the lot fell to the princess. But St George, who is passing by on his travels, appears. Facing the dragon, he signs himself with the cross, kills the dragon and rescues the princess. The whole city turns to Christ as a result.
St George is widely venerated throughout the world. If you are using a map, indicate some of the places where he is patron saint besides England, including the countries of: Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Syria and many cities – for example Genoa, Beirut, Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona and Moscow. (This list is not exhaustive; if the congregation is international people may know of others). He is the patron saint of the Scout movement, many professions, and of leprosy sufferers. He is highly respected by many Muslims and in Beith Jala in the Holy Land there is a Christian shrine where the neighbouring Muslims bring people to be cured.
Respond to the Word
Global links
St George has connections all over the world and with very diverse groups of people. What connections with other countries do the people here today have? Point them out on the map, or use small sticky dots. Give thanks for our diversity.
Defend your faith
George was killed for standing up for his beliefs. What beliefs would you be prepared to stand up for – or even die for, if put to the test? Explore this in small groups and ask each group to choose one core belief and write it on a placard. You will need to provide large pieces of stiff card, chunky marker pens, sticky tape and a broom handle or piece of bamboo for each group. During the final hymn, all the placards are paraded around the worship space by a chosen member of each group.
Putting on armour
We don’t believe in dragons these days – but they are a powerful symbol. What does the dragon in the story of St Michael and the story of George represent? Encourage people to think about the internal struggles we have with temptation. Use Ephesians 6.13-17 as in the Call to worship to help the congregation visualise how we can protect ourselves against our own temptation to negativity and that of others. If you have some child-sized fancy-dress armour, have someone put on each piece as the Call to worship is read again, and stop to ask/chat about what each piece means in our own everyday lives. Follow by singing the hymn ‘When a knight won his spurs in the stories of old’.
Strong language
John’s Jesus talks about his followers being hated and the original audience of John’s gospel was very likely suffering real and dangerous persecution. Where have we met the language of hatred, directed either towards ourselves or others? How do we deal with it? You might ask a teenage/adult congregation to discuss this in pairs or small groups, and all together afterwards list some instances; then lead into prayer for those who allow themselves to hate others.
Prayer of intercession
You will need a large map of the world – you could use the one shown at the beginning of the service.
We pray today for people who suffer for their beliefs. We remember them as our brothers and sisters. We pray for those of other faiths who suffer for their religion, for political prisoners and for whistle blowers.
Invite those who were given cards before the service to place a marker on their country and to say, ‘We remember today the people in…’
When all the cards are used, say the following:
Please God, comfort these people and give them courage to stand up for what they believe in. Help us to remember that whatever suffering we may have to go through, Jesus has been there before us.
Amen.
A prayer to use with very young children
God, make me
brave like St George (Stand up straight.)
gentle like St George (Mime putting an arm around the princess.)
truthful like St George (Point to lips)
and help me to love Jesus as much as he did (Hand on heart.).
Amen.
Live in faith
Be ready to struggle with whatever is wrong in ourselves and in our world, armed with the peace and the joy of Jesus.
Send out
Gracious God, we take with us
the truthfulness, the love, the peace and the courage
that only you can give
and we promise to live and struggle for your kingdom,
thanking you every day and every moment
for all your gifts to us.
Amen.