Introduction to Moira Laidlaw

I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, married to John for 53 years and resident of Australia since 1955 - we came out here on our honeymoon and stayed! We have 3 adult children, 6 grandchildren and 1 great grandson with another expected March 2009.

God's call to ministry came when I was "over the hill" figuratively speaking so I was minister in only two Uniting Church Parish settlements - one in Sydney and one in Central West NSW. I retired early to pursue a further call to write liturgies related to the lectionary.

These liturgies grew out of my attaining my Doctor of Ministry degree through San Francisco Theological Seminary back in 1992. My dissertation/project concerned the use of art forms in the worship of the Uniting Church in Australia, concentrating on writing liturgies with Australian imagery wherever possible. There were not many liturgical resources with such imagery available at that time but thankfully there are many more available online these days.

I found while in parish ministry that worship preparation time could become extremely limited due to the pressure- expected or unexpected - of other ministerial tasks and duties. These liturgies are therefore presented as an aid for ministers and worship leaders and have been previously published online . I have added three sermons related to particular Sundays in addition to material kindly supplied by Mrs Eva Donaldson and Rev. Douglas McKenzie.

We are each happy for you to use the material with acknowledgment and with the knowledge that ownership of the worship material presented in this CD belongs to each author.

Hymns used in the liturgies are from The Australian Hymn Book or Together In Song unless otherwise indicated and the New Revised Standard Version is the recommended Bible. Suggested congregational responses are slightly indented.

I hope you find the material helpful. Moira Laidlaw