The Call to Worship Rowena welcomed us warmly; no matter what our
circumstances or our frame of mind. She
welcomed us wherever we are on our faith journey and even if we have doubts, or
are faltering in our faith. We felt we
could relax and feel accepted and embraced in God’s love and care, knowing that
we are all part of the family of God.
Although each of us have had different experiences on our journey this
week – some happy, some sad, some lonely, some feeling valued – but all
accepted equally as we came together to share our journey and gain strength for
the week to come.
Hymn TiS 596 “Fill thou my life, O Lord, my God”
Horatius Bonar was born and educated in Edinburgh
Fill thou my life, O Lord, my God, in every
part with praise,
that my whole being may proclaim thy being
and thy ways.
Not for the lip of praise alone, nor e'en
the praising heart
I ask, but for a life made up of
praise in every part.
Announcements: Among a number of other notices, we were reminded about the Bible Study at the Church on Tuesday night and at the Village on Wednesday and the Pancake Morning Tea next Sunday after church. We were also invited to volunteer for a committee to plan the 150th Anniversary of our Church.
Prayer of Confession/Words of Assurance
Rowena’s prayers with us reminded us
that as we readied ourselves to centre ourselves in God, we probably considered
we are mostly nice people, although we sometimes struggle in a difficult
world. We don’t lie and cheat; we pray
for peace – yet we know that we fall far below the “love standard” set by Jesus
– frustrated and undermined by negativity – we become too busy. We humbly joined in asking for your pardoning
Grace and for self honesty and for help to become agents of peace to help
others. Rowena declared; “God knows us and yet loves us still. You can depend on it – you are forgiven and
set free.” “Thanks be to God.”
Offering / Prayer: The offering was taken by the stewards and children and the prayer was offered. “Let us return some of your gifts to the church and to the world. We are all in this together – accept what we give to help heal the world.” Amen.
Children’s Message This special message to “children of every age” is obviously one of Rowena’s favourite times in the service. She had gathered a small number of objects and asked the children what these things might have in common. There was a small vase of flowers, a pretty card, a colourful book, a beautifully wrapped box and a Bible. The children agreed they were all things you could give to people as gifts and Rowena nodded and said they were all also things to share. Then she told the children that God gave himself to us as a gift we can all share with everyone and she offered the children the interesting looking box to take out to Sunday Kids and share with their teachers. I wonder if they realized that their teachers would be busy sharing God’s love with them as they all enjoyed the chocolates everyone knew were hiding in the wrapped box?
Hymn TiS 685 “The Power of Your Love”
This modern hymn written by Geoff Bullock – beginning with the words: “Lord, I come to you; let my heart be changed” provided
a thoughtful way to approach our Bible Reading and Reflection.
Bible Reading
Our reader today was Mae and this beautiful Psalm, telling of the joy of
praising our God and of his care for all things and all people was a comfort to
hear. The passage from Mark described
the way Jesus was much in demand with acts of healing and preaching all through
Galilee – yet he knew he needed to set aside time for himself – to be alone and
to pray.
Reflection: "Let
God and let go!”
It was interesting to hear that Rowena had struggled for inspiration on
reading the set passages for today. She
admitted the Gospel reading just did not resonate with her until the third
reading – when she realized it was not just a nice story of a day in the life
of Jesus going about his ministry. It
was, she finally realized, a “meaty” message – “Let God and let go.”
This ministry was the job that Jesus was sent to do, so he could not
allow the business and the excitement of the people he healed and preached to,
or the business of each day, to overcome him and impede his progress. He needed to move on because he came to live
among us to call people to repentance and to teach them about how they might
live their life to enter into the Kingdom
of God
Rowena highlighted the very important message that Jesus realized that
he was suffering from exhaustion and he needed to “escape” the pressures and
activities of his schedule to renew himself for God’s work. A person rested, renewed and inspired can
overcome obstacles and solve problems as they face the day refreshed.
Did it seem strange and uncaring at first when Jesus withdrew to a quiet
place where he could be alone with his thoughts to pray and renew his physical
and mental health so he could move on and begin again refreshed by God? Perhaps so – after all there were still
people waiting and clamoring to be healed and to hear his preaching in that
place – but I wondered if this eagerness of Jesus to move on might also be a
sign that once we have heard the message of God’s love, we are trusted to share
it where we are planted. Perhaps we
don’t have to look for extreme situations to share the message.
However the simple message that we should allow God the opportunity to
take control of our lives by letting go and resting and renewing our spirit is
a BIG message to accept for most of us.
As we rush around trying to make sure we are fulfilling all our duties,
keeping our schedules going and not letting other people down, we are often
taking on much more work than is good for us.
The “parable” Rowena related about the person who is standing on one
side of a field looking at a huge pile of stones that must be moved to the
opposite side of the field amused us – but – if our friend with a huge truck
offered to transport our “stones” across the field in one big load would we be
able to let go? Or - would we cling to
our own wheelbarrow to keep control and spend hours, running back and forth
with our own wheelbarrow, in order to move those stones?
How much better would our frantic lives be if we relied on our friend
God, to load up our stones while we renewed ourselves and clearly sought his
guidance to find a better way to live our lives?
Hymn TiS 595 “O Jesus I have promised”
This well loved old hymn takes us back to our childhood when it was
easier to make such promises with confidence, but as adults we grow in
experience and learn how easy it is to stray from such good intentions. However, it is always comforting to renew the
promise and try again.
Prayers of the People: Rowena led these prayers in a different way
and invited us to stand and face north in the direction of Indonesia, where the
two young Australian men and their families wait for news - Taiwan where the
lives of 33 people were cut short by a plane crash and to Papua New Guinea where
refugees are seeking asylum. We faced
south as we remembered the God of Ice and Snow and the pristine beauty of
Antarctica which is entrusted to us and we turned east as we prayed for women
and girls abused in Chile Africa
with Ebola and poor and oppressed people with little hope. We prayed for Australia
Hymn TiS
658 “Here I am Lord”
How
fitting it felt to sing Daniel L. Schutte’s Hymn where we could offer ourselves
to do God’s work - after we had symbolically turned to face the places in the
world where we might serve His people.
The
Benediction & Blessing
Rowena sent us out with a Blessing that we should trust in God’s mercy
for ourselves and allow His Spirit to be the “wind beneath our wings” so we can
rise up like an eagle. Amen.
Retiring hymn: “Now
unto Him who is able to keep”
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