The Collective Worship Resource - from the Culham Institute in association with The National Society

'Thanks for the Memory'

There is a 'Mission to Mars' game on the film's web site video.go.com/m2m/index.html
Playing it may help remind students of this act of worship.

AGE: Secondary

THEME: 'Thanks for the memory' (Easter)

PREPARATION:

This unit refers to the film Mission to Mars. If you have suitable facilities and permission to use video, you could play the relevant sequence from the film at the start of the worship. The clip, which occurs about three quarters of the way through the film, shows the three astronauts marooned away from their spaceship, outside the atmosphere of Mars and in grave danger. End the clip where the self-sacrificing astronaut burns up in the Martian atmosphere. If you cannot use the film, consider displaying a large poster of a space explorer or spaceship as a focus. You could also have bread and wine (perhaps in the sort of vessels used on a Christian altar) for the later part of the worship.

DEVELOPMENT:

Either: Start by playing the video clip. Or: Introduce the idea of space travel and its dangers. Is there any way of travelling safely in space? When the Challenger space rocket blew up just after take-off, everyone on board was killed. Would it really matter if nobody ever went into space? Why bother to take the risk? Is the journey really necessary? The film Mission to Mars is described as 'the extraordinary story of the astronauts of the Mars Recovery Mission, the nearly insurmountable dangers that confront the heroic crew on their journey through space, and the amazing discovery they make when they finally reach Mars.' And it is an incredible journey. They are looking for water, the basis of all life. Nothing can live without water. But it's so dangerous. They need courage - and conviction - to overcome the perils. In one of the most dramatic moments of the film, three astronauts (two men and one woman) are drifting loose in space, stranded away from their space capsule. They are about to be dragged into the Martian atmosphere, which will burn them up in seconds. They are running out of power. The position has become impossible. Out there in their spacesuits, with no-one else to turn to, the three present an image of utter vulnerability and utter isolation. It's decision-time. One man, Jim, makes the decision to allow himself to die in order to give the others a chance. His wife (one of the other astronauts) finds it impossible to accept: 'We will not leave you' she cries. But Jim has made his decision. There is no magic fix for him. His choice is to cast himself loose to certain death, knowing that his action may still save the others. He does it freely, willingly. This is the man whose original aim was 'to stand in a new world and look beyond it... to the next one.' What was the point of it all? You'll have to watch the film yourself to see the ending. Perhaps we might imagine for a minute that we are those astronauts and we reach Mars safely. What sort of memorial might we want to raise to Jim who, his companions say, 'found another life'? And what does all this have to do with a loaf of bread and some wine? They are also memorials to someone who decided to do something that he did not want to do, that made his friends desperately sad but that inspired and saved them. Christians use the symbols of bread and wine to remember and represent the fact that Jesus gave his life for them. The Last Supper was a time at which he made it clear that he knew what he must do and showed his followers how to remember him - as they have been doing ever since. Memory and memorials can make us sad, as we think about people and things that we can no longer see and communicate with. But they are also causes of joy. The Christian celebration based on the Last Supper is known as the Eucharist - meaning 'rejoicing together'. The astronauts were eventually able to be grateful for their friend who had chosen to give them life. Memorials are ways of saying 'Thanks for the memory'.

PRAYER AND REFLECTION:

Let's remember the people that are important to us, and think about friends who give us something at their own expense - not necessarily anything dramatic, but even small things that cost time, money, effort, thought. Let's remember things that we have felt grateful for, the times that stick in our memory. Let's hold all these in our consciousness for a moment... (pause) And now let us say, in our own silent words, 'Thanks for the memory'... (pause) Amen.

BIBLE READING:

Luke 22: 14-20

MUSIC:

Either the title music from Mission to Mars (Hollywood Records), or from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Alternatively, choose any of the movements from Gustav Holst's Suite The Planets. 'Mars' is one of the most dramatic and discordant so may not be the most appropriate to use. Listen first to decide whether it gives the effect you want.