Call
to worship by
Noelene
Hymn TiS
100 All
creatures of our God and king
We sang all seven verses with great
gusto – with Roger playing the organ as loudly as Grahame would have done – AND
with little Oliver standing up blocking his ears with his tiny hands –
Priceless!
Prayers of
Thanksgiving and Confession & The Lords Prayer
Children’s
address Backpack and carrying stuff – one by one
Noelene pulled items from her back pack and asked the kids if Jesus would have
approved of the things she had carried for just one day as a volunteer – when
he told the disciples they must go out with nothing. She held up little Calliope who was dressed
in a tulle ballet skirt and had a little conversation with her about one of the
things in the bag (but I can’t remember what it was). I suppose I was too busy enjoying the moment!
Announcements
Hymn TiS
182 Bring
many names
Bible reading Luke
10: 1 – 11, 16 – 20
Sermon Sending
out the 72
Noelene
delivered a sermon which challenged us to take “new and risky paths” - a theme
being promoted by the Uniting Church Moderator.
She did this with a gentle and caring approach. To set the scene in an unintimidating way she
began with an amusing story of door to door missionaries.
In
speaking about the 72 followers sent out by Jesus and referred to in the Bible
reading, Noelene stressed they were told to take nothing with them and
instructed to go into towns and villages, ahead of where he was planning to go.
If any town offered no hospitality they
were told to move on, “wiping the dust from their shoes.” By carrying “No stick, no beggar’s bag, no
food, no money, not even an extra shirt” these missionaries, who were sent to
discover the places which would be receptive to the message of Jesus, were seen
to have come in peace and with no threat to the people they approached for
hospitality.
Jesus
said, “I am sending you like lambs among wolves.” Noelene told us that this was a warning that
wolves eat lambs for dinner. By
following the instruction not to stop and talk along the road, these 72
disciples were being encouraged to talk to large groups of people and this they
did as they gathered crowds and healed the sick and paved the way for Jesus to
follow.
We
reflected together on the different ways the church has tried to reach people
with its message of the Good News of Jesus. The door to door missionary approach is just
not working today and although travelling the world and holding great crusades
like those of Billy Graham in the nineteen fifties and sixties influenced and
converted many people this approach is not the way to go today either. Noelene pointed to the similarities in the
way local churches prepared the ground for the arrival of Billy Graham to the
preparation made by the 72 for the arrival of Jesus.
“Our
challenge today is to get the message of Jesus Christ across to people who
don’t care and don’t want to know” and “Everywhere, where membership numbers
are dropping, churches are asking questions about how to attract new people to
the church.” Noelene told us. She
challenged us to explore our hearts about what is the reality in society today
about the good news of Jesus Christ and encouraged us to face the fact it may
not always be a message people want to hear. “We could talk about seeking justice for
refugees and asylum seekers. Not the most popular topic in Australian society
at the moment. But didn’t Jesus say he
was sending his followers out like lambs amongst the wolves?”
Back
to the Moderator’s theme of New and Risky Paths which Noelene told us had both
her support and encouragement. She asked
the question – “How can we catch that vision?”
Earlier
during the service she had referred to Fair Trading Products and the 25 year passion
she and her husband have had for promoting them; so this made her comments in
the sermon more important and underlined them for her listeners. We were told of a
Fair Trade Fair held in November last year and how a “risky” invitation to the
Moderator to attend had been readily accepted.
The last meeting of Synod passed a resolution that churches use Fair
Trade tea and coffee.
“So
what are your new and risky paths? What is your mission and how do you find new
ways to do mission? You’ve probably already
worked out things you do. I pray you will be open to others. Because sometimes it just happens.”
Noelene
certainly threw out a serious challenge for us to try and answer some of those
questions and yet her challenge was gentle - so much so that when
the poignant story of the baptism of the stillborn child was told – she could
barely speak and had to stop a couple of times to gather her composure. Not knowing how to face this situation the
Canadian hospital Chaplain took a tissue and wiped his tears and the tears of
the parents and with these tears he baptized the child and brought her into
Christ’s kingdom.
The message here was
surely to trust our instincts and to be always open to God’s message in
whatever form it comes to us.
Hymn (Tune TiS
679) The
Summons
Offering /
prayer
Prayers
for Others
Hymn TiS
609 May
the mind of Christ my saviour
The words
of the final verse rang out as a challenge:
His beauty rest upon
me
As I seek the lost to
win,
And may they forget
the channel,
Seeing only Him.
Dismissal
and Benediction BOFL
p 236
As we sang
the final blessing we felt the encouragement we needed to go out and walk our
new and risky paths:
May the feet of God
walk with you, and his hand hold you tight.
May the eye of God
rest on you, and his ear hear your cry.
May the smile of God
be for you, and his breath give you life.
May the Child of God
grow in you, and his love bring you home.
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