We were welcomed by Helen, with a reminder about the Monday afternoon bible studies at Alan Walker Village
The call to worship set before us the lavish invitation given to us by God and urged us to accept this by worshipping Him.
We then sang in Hymn 115 of our God of strength and power on whom we can rely for all things. He is our Saviour, our creator, our shepherd who asks for nothing other than our total allegiance. Given, this great gift offered to us, why is it that we sometimes hold back from handing over our all?
We then paused to give thanks for the many blessings bestowed upon us, at the same time being reminded of just how much we are given and how we sometimes take so much of it for granted.
For warmth
For pleasant places and rest
For family
For lively children
For all sacred times.
Sometimes I stop and think about this thing we have been given called "life" but I have to give up any attempt to understand it because it's too much for my brain and just be thankful.
HYMN 82 "God who made the earth" returned our thoughts to God the creator of all that is, who through his Son, showed His care for us. Remember back to our schooldays when we would be overjoyed to be noticed by the Principal. This is the creator of all that is! But if we are to accept that care or any other gift we have to remember that it’s for God's glory.
The Prayer of Confession was a wake-up call to remember that all the good gifts we have come from God and are given to us to share: not to grasp greedily. We were reminded that by sharing everything we have had showered upon us, we can break the vicious cycles of hostility to bring about peace and justice and abundance for all, keeping in mind that most precious gift that feeds us till we want no more. This is not a confession to simply ask for forgiveness: it is a confession that we need prodding into action - most uncomfortable - can't leave that at the church door with the hymn book.
2 Samuel 7:1-14a was a record of God's covenant with David. It was a reminder of God's great generosity to his people. But David decided to ride on this wave of abundance to carry out a plan of his own - to build a temple - but God said "No" but also told David of the plan He had for him - to be the founder of a much greater, if different type of house.
Mark 6: 30-34 reiterated this theme of generosity. Jesus and the disciples were exhausted but when the people followed them Jesus saw their spiritual hunger and taught them "many things"
This theme was continued in Hymn 81 " the King of love my shepherd is" where we sang of all God's spiritual gifts to us and how He is faithful to us, even when we forget to be faithful to Him. His faithfulness never fails.
REFLECTION
Helen began by confronting us about why we might need to sing God's praise "within thy house" - was the church so important - were we more attached to the church than the worship? She then pointed out that we can worship in a paddock or park.
These ideas were then linked to the reading from Samuel where everything was going well for David and so he decided that since he was in a position to do so, he would build a house for the Lord. But that was David's plan, not God's plan and God said "No". It must have been a bit of a shock. It would have seemed the best use David could have put his time and wealth to but the mistake he made was to forget to ask God what He wanted.
This plan was all about David, not about God. (likewise, we can have big plans!)
Helen then told of how this story had applied to her own life and how she and Graham had planned a ministry together in the Frontier Service but how that plan had been brought to a halt which shocked them because they thought it would be a great way of serving God and His people. You guessed it! God had other ideas involving Marsden Rd. UC which didn't please Helen and Graham back then, but Helen said that looking back they can see how they were given a task where they could minister together, just not the way they expected.
This was then tied in with the NT reading where the David's House reached fruition as Jesus put caring for the flock ahead of His own needs.
Reflections are not given to simply listen to and leave behind. Where are we in this story? What does God want of each one of us? What does He want? (What if He wants too much?)
Prayer - Ourselves at the Centre
The prayer that followed was a confession of our self- satisfied sense of entitlement, and that idea of our self-centred, self-congratulations was blown apart by the naming of God's part in our lives, reducing our amazing successes to dust.
Then we prayed for grace to hear
For freedom to trust
For patience to wait
For humility to yield
To God's large purpose.
In the name of Jesus, who is God's deep yes over our lives.
Anyone feeling overwhelmed by this point might be forgiven, but the Hymn 46, "Our God our help in ages past", laid out God's faithfulness to people from the beginning of time and the promise that His strength will be there for us forever.
The free will offering was given, our effort to see that what we had learned today could be worked out in the wider community and we prayed that what would be done would not be limited by our limited vision. Sometimes we let the "what ifs" get the better of us
We were then given a time for meditation. What did we think about? Were we already shrinking back from the call to mimic God's generosity or were we courageously embracing His vision for us as "channels of blessing" and opening ourselves to His plans for us? Scary isn't it? Go back to the hymns. Go back to the readings. Go back to Helen's message.
PRAYERS
The prayers of the people centred on victims of violence and made a plea for support for those given the task of resolving the problems that lead to such violence. We then prayed for support for our own community, for those that needed strength and comfort, leading into The Lord's Prayer, remembering last week's message of its real depth.
Hymn 14, "Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices", we sang this to its gentle melody but took in its strong message of a God who is our strength in any endeavour, large or small, to pass on His gift, to fulfill His purpose - for thus it was, is now and shall be evermore.
The blessing from Numbers 6 sent us on our way with our spirits glowing as we turned to each other and offered this amazing gift to each other:
The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.
Amen to that.
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