After
the service I was speaking with Kaye and we were of the same mind. We found
Sunday services uplifting because when we, as a community, gathered together we
laid aside all other concerns and focused as one on worshipping the God of all.
The resultant peace mended many of the week's wounds and strengthened us for
the week ahead.
Jan
welcomed us and read Psalm 107: 1-3 as a Call to Worship
O give
thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let
the redeemed of the Lord say so, those he redeemed from trouble and gathered in
from the lands,
from
the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
We
then joined in a simpler version of the same sentiment: TIS Hymn 106 "Now
thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices: that is, with our
all.
Jan
led us in the Prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving addressing the loving God who heals
and frees and nourishes us, thanking him for his love and care and asking that
our response of praise and thanksgiving be acceptable. She thanked God that we
do not have to bear the weight of our frailties which was lifted from us by the
sacrifice of the life of God's son, Jesus Christ.
We
then confessed our transgressions in our own voices in the song:
Create
in me a clean heart, oh God and renew a right spirit within me.
Create
in me a clean heart, oh God and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast
me not away from Thy presence, oh Lord and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me
Restore
unto me the joy of Thy salvation and renew a right spirit within me.
Keith
Green music: words Psalm 51
And
Jan announced the Words of Grace: "Our sins are
forgiven"...Thanks be to God.
We
watched a video which impressed upon us how much good can be done with just a
little gift from us during Lent. I was going to call it a sacrifice and for
some of us it could mean giving up that one little treat we normally brighten
our lives with or perhaps eating more plainly during lent. But how many of us
truly go without something we actually need? I haven't - not once in my entire
life have I gone to bed hungry or been without clothes or shelter or medical
care when I needed it.
We
gave our Offering and Jane prayed that it would be used to further God's
kingdom.
As we
sang Hymn TIS 598 we asked that God would transform our lives into what
we should rightly be. The last line "O still small voice of calm"
alerts us to the need to listen. We can shout above it that we know better and
lose our chance for peace.
The Bible
Readings: Joan read to us Numbers
21: 4 - 9 and John 3: 14 - 21 which are linked and in a way also linked back to
the call to give to others, at this time, especially. Whatever things we think
we need, our only true needs can be met by God. Numbers speaks of the time in
the desert when the people had begun complaining and being impatient. The Bible
says that God sent serpents among them but then ordered Moses to make a serpent
on a pole and lift it up that everyone who looked at it would be saved from the
venom of the snakes. (And their own
venomous thoughts?). The NT reading refers back to that time and relates it
to Christ's sacrifice on the Cross - that whosoever believes in him should
have eternal life.
Sermon
"God's
love for us no matter what."
Jan
began by relating to us that during her training she spent time experiencing
the sort of situations she might have to minister to after ordination, among
them the wards at Westmead Hospital. There she saw the wonderful things that
could be done to restore people to wholeness and related that to the medical
insignia of a serpent on a pole harking back to the healing effects of that
sign in the wilderness, so long ago.
Despite
God's provision for them all through their journey, the people were impatient
and turned to complaining. Jan made the point that it was more likely that the
snakes just happened to be there but the people would have interpreted that as
God's action. So the people asked Moses to take away the snakes. (Notice
that he didn't do that but constructed a serpent on a pole which the people had
to look up at to gain protection - God's answer doesn't always coincide with
our idea). Jan drew our attention to the fact that the people were asked to
look at what they feared. (Sometimes the thing we fear to look at is
ourselves - we don't want to see what's there).
Jan
drew our attention to God's unending patience with the people (Fortunately
that patience extends to us, here today, this minute.) and just as the
people had to look to the serpent to be healed, so we must look to Jesus for
wholeness.
To
quote Jan "Believing in him not only head but heart, is essential for the
message to bring life and hope for us. It is not a message of condemnation but
of compassion. God's love is so generous and encompassing, that anyone and
everyone, can find a place within it."
And
again "Let us look to Jesus who brings hope and wholeness to a lost world.
Let us make that grace our own, and pray for others to open their lives to him.
Let us renew our conviction, to share that love with others around us, that they
will come to believe that forgiveness is possible, and life can begin anew, no
matter what!! Amen.
This
theme was continues in the next Hymn "The great love of God" TIS
164 as it told us of God's love being "yours, it is ours, O how
lavishly giv'n! It's for each one of us - no matter what!
During
the musical interlude provided by Grahame we thought on those things we needed
to offer to God for his care, after which Jan led us in the Prayers for the
People. She offered our love joined with God's, reaching out, shining God's
light to the world. With her we prayed for those close to us and those in the
community around us. We particularly prayed for all those involved in the Royal
Commission: the victims that they will find healing and peace, and the
perpetrators that they will face their crimes and seek forgiveness in the power
of the Spirit. We then joined in The Lord's Prayer.
Hymn
TIS 147 "To
God be the glory, great things he has done." We sang with full voice and
full hearts, thanking God and praising him for him amazing goodness which comes
to us in so many ways.
Jan Blessed
us and then we offered our blessing to each other, singing Hymn
TIS 779 "May the feet of God walk with you"
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