Sunday Service Marsden Road
Call to Worship:
The heavens are telling
the glory of God; and the earth proclaims God’s handiwork.
How can we not praise and
worship this God of Creation – this Lord of our Lives?
Let’s stand and sing with
our very heart and soul.
Charles Wesley (1907 –
1888) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GH0aLQwhRY
Prayer
of Adoration and Confession:” This
morning Dermott spoke of the many forms prayer can take and shared with us a
prayer of reminiscence he was inspired to write about an event at this time two
weeks ago when he; “Enjoyed a sense of
wonder about God’s creation, a sense of our own smallness, a sense of grace and
an awareness that we share with others our joy in God.” Dermot invited us to go for a walk with God –
along the foreshore at Forster and up to Bennett’s Head.
“The air
was clear, the light a softer winter’s sunlight – the wind was strong and clean
and chilly. The pathway meets a bush
covered hill and begins climbing.
Periodically “galleries” open to the side – just like alcoves with
pictures hanging – on this track the pictures are vistas of sea, coast, lake
and hills – with startling colour and depth and width and ---- as the first “picture” opens before you,
your mouth falls open and you gasp and say – unthinkingly, ‘Who did this?’ - It is a stunning display of the heart of
creation – and you tear yourself from it to move again. What could there be next? - and you begin to move with delicacy for
this place has become a holy place – you do not own it – it is God’s garden, a
place of wonder and encounter.
Finally you
emerge and in silence come to the top of the great sandhill at the north end of
One Mile Beach – and you stand immobile in the face of beauty as the ocean
below crashes upon the sand and the rocks – what to do? Be still and just be –
in humility and wonder, you sit and keep silent.
I sat – and
I thought of you here, at worship. And I
wondered, ‘Could I meet God in this place?’ – my head dropped in humiliation as
God was there and who was I to wonder.
But I soon was able to lift my head – it was as if a friendly arm came
around my shoulders and I lifted my eyes to see a sparkle in the eye of my
closest companion – God was present and the eyes were the eyes of the Son – and
I understood that I was loved.
· And I sat and shared in this ageless time – with the cosmic,
eternal Creator – the God we seek to know here today
· And I in the end turned and rose – and discovered that I was
not alone – I had been joined by others who had sat quietly also upon that hill
– just being – just wondering
· And so I was not alone, I had shared with a congregation
after all – experiencing creation, being healed and being prepared for life.
· Thanks be to God. Amen.
Children’s Message:
Dermot told the children
about the excitement in the town of Dubbo last week when it was announced that
Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex were soon to be visiting the
town. He said it reminded him of a time, “A long time ago when a small town in a
Kingdom whose name has been long forgotten, also heard that their Prince was
going to visit them. But the Mayor
wondered how the prince would be recognised because nobody knew what he looked
like.” When the town’s people were
speculating about his looks and his horsemanship, his dress and his speech,
everyone heard a “quite quiet voice call
out; ‘He is nothing like that’” Then
he smiled and thanked his people for their concern about how to welcome him and
the people cheered the prince.
The message for the
children was that we should be careful when we make up our mind about what
people might be like and that it is really important that we get to know the
real Jesus, not just somebody we imagine.
“Jesus is the one who shows us
what God is like”.
Offering &
Dedication: Dermot
invited us to make our offering with feelings of joy.
Hymn TiS 547 “Be
though my vision, O Lord of my heart”
This is an 8th Century Gaelic Hymn which was translated by
Mary Elizabeth Byrne (1880 – 1931)
When Jesus asked his disciples; “Who do men say I am” he followed up
with a very personal question; “Who do
you say I am?” What must the
disciples have felt when Jesus told them to tell nobody about him and went on
to describe the grim future he faced?
Then came the difficult message: “Anyone
who wishes to be a follower of mine must leave self behind; he must take up his
cross and come with me.”
Reflection: “Who
is Jesus?”
Dermot first commented on
this Bible reading as being “critical”
and being in fact, the core of the whole
Gospel which teaches us that “Jesus is
not simply a man – he is not an angel – he is not a mere prophet – he is the
Christ..” He went on to explore the
declaration that “Jesus is the Christ.”
Dermot suggests the
essence of what this means is; “In Jesus,
humanity is able to know just how close God is to humanity – for the nature of
Jesus was the nature of God – there was a oneness in essence. By the life of Jesus, we can know God – and
we can also know that we have a divine essence.
Jesus’ life puts us in touch with the nature of God.”
“But let’s not get too carried away with this – for the
overarching fact remains that God’s gift to us, as well as life itself, is free
will – and it is our free will which keeps us from knowing God fully.” Dermot went on to speak of the things we want and do
that do not reflect the nature of God. “We want constantly to feed our egos – our
desire for power, authority, comfort and pride, - our self-centredness creates
the divide from God. But when we turn and
realize who God is and reach for the nature of God – which means we turn self
off – then we close the gap and God will always be there, facing us with open
arms. This is what the Jesus story is
really all about.”
Dermot spoke with some
excitement, of a course he has been studying at the Uniting Theological
College
However, he says this
2,000 years of debate should not confuse us, because; “Ultimately, Faith in Jesus arises from our encounter personally with
the inner truth, with a sense of knowing a God of Love and Grace, who is
revealed in the life of Jesus and who we know deeply within, as the Spirit
which is always with us.”
“So, who was this man?”
Dermot
asked again and he went on to say; “In
Him I can see that which has driven Graham Long of the Wayside Chapel; driven
Deitrich Bonhoffer who challenged injustice and died for it; motivated Mother
Theresa in her work and moved William Wilberforce and others to fight to end
slavery; and in Jesus, maybe we can see what we know inside ourselves, a
little, as Love and Grace. For all that
is good – all that is Love – is of God.”
Hymn TiS
223:
“How sweet the name of Jesus sounds”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfumgpnshag
This
hymn was written by John Newton (1725 – 1807).
John Newton wrote his own epitaph, and he
said, "I earnestly desire that no other monument, and no inscription but
to this import, may be attempted for me".
"John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of
slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,
preserved, pardoned and appointed to preach the Faith he had long laboured to
destroy".
Prayers of the People: Dermot led the prayers of Intercession today
and after reading the names of those for whom prayers had been requested, he
stressed that God knows our thoughts and struggles, fears and hopes and he
hears our needs. We then shared in
saying the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn TiS 231: “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow”
This hymn was written by Caroline
Maria Noel (1817 – 1877) who was an invalid for the last 25 years of her
life. She wrote the bulk of her hymns
after her long illness in middle age began.
Her father was a vicar and also a hymn writer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdksnOdgPG4
Benediction: “The world we live in might know the name of Jesus,
but few actually know Jesus. So it falls
to us to share Jesus with the world. Let
us do so, knowing the presence within and without of the God who is Creator,
Son and ever present Spirit. Amen.
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