Carolyn
welcomed us all to worship and acknowledged the traditional owners of the land.
Hymn
TIS 181 "Come,
O God of all the Earth: come to us, O Righteous One;" A song to the One
who is the Lord of all the Universe, to fill the earth with righteousness and
bring alive His love within us, drawing us all together.
Prayer
of Thanksgiving and Confession
Praise
to you, the light of the world and the hope of the nations, who, despite the
chaos that exists, is eternally just. Your steadfast love endures; your realm
prevails; may we always praise you, remaining awake to your love within our
lives.
Most
gracious and merciful God, we come to you in times of
struggle and pray
for deliverance so that we are not
brought down. We rely on you to hold us close to you that we do not lose our
sense of who we are. We are sorry for those things that come between us and
seek your wisdom. Teach us the truth. May we find reconciliation, forgiveness
and fullness of life. Amen
Assurance
Our
sins have been dealt with once and for all. Let us live as children of light.
Offering
Our
young worshippers collected the offering and Carolyn prayed that our
thanks-offering would be received, as it is given as love and service to
others.
The
children's talk was given and then the children forwarded out to Sunday School
as we sang: "I've got a voice to sing out loud" as we have the whole
of ourselves - all to praise our God. Doing it is sometimes difficult because
we focus on ourselves instead of God's will for us. A song like this makes us
stop and think.
Readings
Psalm
139: 1 - 12, 23 - 24 The realisation that God knows everything. Everything we
do; everything we think; everything we almost think and almost do. And there is
nowhere we can escape this scrutiny. Everywhere we go, all about us is known.
But we can depend on God to be with us, every second, every place, always. And
even though we know it is happening anyway, we ask God to seek into every
secret part of us - it is our only hope.
Matthew
13: 24 - 30; 36 - 43 A message about the intended crop and the weeds which grow
together. Carolyn's reflection on this situation opened up new possibilities
for all of us.
Reflection
Carolyn
spoke from her life experience to illustrate the Matthew reading and the most
telling example concerned the "growing together" of the crop and the
"weeds". She pointed out that the parable is not simplistic. Our
roots are intertwined. The soil is the same, the tending is the same. Every
human being carries the possibilities of good and evil. A weed is an ordinary plant
growing in a place where we don't want it to be.
v
"In
the intertwining of roots in the earth, where there is a depth of God's being,
we are called to be a presence that lives, teaches and offers hope. This means
being able to hold to our Christian virtues of truth, generosity and
forgiveness."
The
parable teaches us that God's goodness will prevail, however it is not our task
to judge. Our task is to love and not let our humanity be poisoned or our
relationship with God be broken in any way.
Hymn
TIS 136
"There's a wideness in God's mercy" God’s mercy is beyond anything we can imagine. Continuing the
theme of Carolyn's reflection, we should be focusing our energy on drawing
others into the arms of our merciful Lord.
Prayer
for the People Carolyn
prayed to our loving God with our concerns for others in this world which is in
confusion and turmoil. She prayed for the victims of hate, and all other evil
or just victims of circumstances. She prayed that God would drive evil from our
midst and that His presence would provide healing and hope. She prayed for the
safety of those moving about; for the victims of all the disasters worldwide;
for the bereft and for those confused and worried by war. Carolyn prayed that
God would encourage conversations that bring about reconciliation. She prayed
for those in chronic pain; for those with personal concerns; the worried, the
confused, the homeless; and asked for
God's gentle touch on all those longing for healing and restoration; and for
those alone in this world. Carolyn prayed for the concerns of the congregation.
She then thanked God that He hears and answers prayers according to His perfect
will and led us in the Lord's Prayer.
Amen
Hymn
TIS 609 "May
the mind of Christ my Saviour" A prayer for the mind, word, peace and love
of God to dwell in us, with our looking only unto Jesus. That sounds like an
unbeatable plan. If only we could be faithful to it.
Commissioning
Go into
the world to seek the lost. Proclaim the good news of God's love and mercy.
Show forth the light of salvation. Lift up the fallen. Declare the never-ending
reign of God.
Benediction
May the
Glory of God, mother and father, rest upon us. May the love of Christ be within
us. May the power of the Spirit keep us strong. Amen
And
then as we left we blessed each other:
Now
unto him who is able to keep. Able to keep you from falling.
And
able to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
With
exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Saviour. Be glory and majesty,
Dominion
and power, Both now and forever.
Amen.
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