Sunday Service Marsden Road Uniting Church 15 December 2019

Alan led our worship this morning and challenged us to think about the focus of our Christmas celebrations.

He introduced the topic thus:

“Christmas is a funny time. In western countries, at any rate, we have concocted a peculiar and complex web of different traditions, which we cherish as ‘Christmas’”.

He then listed the types of features that pass as part of the Christmas celebrations of many in the Western World:

“gifts under a tree – which is often made of plastic, for goodness’ sake!; there’s a big meal, with a hot fruit pudding – and often much over-indulgence;”

My own family was no different for many years except we did not indulge in expense gifts, choosing instead to guarantee those less well off than ourselves were able to enjoy a pleasant Christmas Day.

Not all my family, then (or now), saw Christmas as the day when we celebrate the hope that the birth of Jesus of Nazareth brought to the world.

However, ironically, as my children grew into adults, without any religious profession, they rejected the over-indulgence in food and gift-giving. So, for many years now, our Christmas Day has been a day for our family to meet and affirm our love and support for each other.

It is quite a simple meal of food which is chosen to see that each of us has something we like and perhaps wouldn’t eat every week. Then a gift for each adult and some little things for the granddaughters . We all take leave of each other still feeling healthy and knowing we are still “glued” together by the love and goodwill shown throughout the day. And all the money saved goes to those who are doing it “tough”.

This year, my husband and I sent a cheque to a country town where people are in deep debt because of the drought and the cheque is being split between the pharmacist and the dentist to help pay for treatment of people who have no means of paying for medical treatment anymore. The thought that a burden is lifted from someone who can’t pay for some essential treatment is the best Christmas present I can think off. And gives hope to those who perhaps thought they been forgotten. I think Jesus would see that as obeying the commandment he gave us to love one another.

I have told the details of our Christmas Day to make the point that most of my family do not profess to be even religious, much less, Christian. But they live in a society which has been influenced and was initially built on Christian principles. They also read and watch the media where Christian ideas are sometimes spread and they have been raised to think of others.

So if a Christian, now or at some other time hadn’t let their light shine, perhaps the society  we live in would not have influenced my family to think the way they do. Perhaps the parents of my granddaughters wouldn’t know that to raise children, parents almost without exception need to sacrifice some or many of their own needs, thereby setting the template for the thinking of those little girls in relation to other people. The words of Jesus of Nazareth is still alive in unexpected places.

Alan went on:

“Amidst it all, as Christians, most of us find time to go to church, either on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning, or even both. Worship reminds us, in a way that the plastic nativity scene just doesn’t, that Christmas is actually about Jesus. It’s actually about the coming into the world of the saviour, Jesus Christ...Some Christian families seek to remind themselves that the festival is all about Jesus, by setting an empty place at their table. The empty chair is for Jesus...But who is the Jesus we invite to join us at our table... are we ready to meet the real Jesus? Are we ready to welcome him at our table.
 ...We have all had times of doubt and uncertainty. Perhaps those times too were occasioned by dashed expectations and disappointment.” Jesus’s reply (to John the Baptist) is interesting.
“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”

(Alan went on to develop his sermon further, but I cannot follow that in the space of this small blog.)

Jesus is not walking around the earth as he was at that time. But all of us who profess to be obeying his commandment are doing the work of his word in some way. The result of obeying Jesus commandments may not be miracles in the conventional sense. However,  the changes that have been wrought in us so that we obey, and as a result people that we have never met are freed from burdens that we know nothing about, are indeed miracles.

Whether Jesus is able to reach out to his children during the Christmas season  largely depends on those of us who know of his enlivening power; those of us who have already responded in whatever human way we can, to the amazingly generous and totally incomprehensible invitation given to us. The thing is, do we recognize miracles when they are happening before our eyes. Do we recognize Jesus acting through his children ....or anyone or anything he chooses?

Sunday Service Marsden Road Uniting Church December 1st and 8th 2019

Life  at this time of the year puts many demands upon our time. Getting our priorities in order is difficult and trying to see this blog is slotted in divides my loyalties.

This blog serves several purposes. One is to keep people from our congregation who are unable to attend church in the loop, but I also know that it is read further afield and may bring a sense of inclusion to people who have no congregation to which they can belong at all.

However, one responsibility on which I cannot turn my back comes in the persons of two little girls aged 4 and 6, my granddaughters, who crash into me with welcoming hugs. They stayed overnight and needed to be ready to go to Daycare and school the next morning.

Their Grandfather and I couldn’t think about anything else for hours, so much was left undone. But they left us feeling blessed by their love and innocence.

But now I turn my hand to the blog. At the service on 1st December, Joan led the Prayers of the People and that prayer made such an impact on me, I thought I should focus on that rather than do a poor reflection on the services.

Joan’s prayer began with a declaration to our Heavenly Father that we had gathered in anticipation, with joy, of the celebration of the time when Jesus was born and lived among us, “giving His people a glimpse of His Kingdom.”

Jesus did this in two ways: he taught the people of His time what the Kingdom entailed but, more importantly, and with a greater effect, He lived the life of One living in that Kingdom by building it through His example of what a building block of that kingdom would look like.

Joan offered our worship in prayer and hymns, with the hope that in doing so we would be helped by God to live like Jesus every day.

Joan gave thanks for God’s creation and its beauty which feeds our bodies and spirits. Having done so, Joan led us to pray for the church worldwide, and those persecuted for their faith. We may have lost a friend or even a promotion because of our faith but we know nothing of fearing for the safety of our lives because we follow Jesus. And once we respond to God’s call we cannot turn back. Neither can those in unsafe places. We and they cannot betray God or the Truth represented by God’s Being.

Joan asked that we be lifted above our despair in politics and that our dreams of justice and truth be revived along with our passion for good and right. Accordingly, Joan led us to pray that peace triumph and violence lose its power.

We are surrounded by the grieving and the lonely and in the following section of the prayer, Joan, asked that light be brought to all those dark places in our planet. At the time of the prayer, attention was on killing innocents in London and those of our own congregation who were grieving over loss of health and to that was added our heartfelt supplications for those who have lost not only their homes but their livelihoods in the bushfires. Now we have to face the dreadful trauma of the volcanic eruption and the horrible injuries and deaths which have been suffered.

How people can recover from such horror is hard to even think about. Our Father, hold everyone who has been traumatized physically or mentally in your hand.

Advent and Christmas brings families together, sometimes with the most unwanted results. Decades old enmities rise up. Help your people to bring peace at this time so that the focus can be on the celebration of the hope brought by the birth of Jesus.

Joan asked for blessing on the Parramatta Mission and Eastwood Community Aid which each  bring a measure of joy to the poor and lonely. They are among the many groups giving selflessly at this time, showing the Kingdom to the children of God, some of whom have not yet responded to the invitation for wholeness.

Joan asked for forgiveness when we forget to share God’s love with others, preventing them from seeing the Kingdom at work. My prayer is that the Spirit might enter our hearts and minds to remind us that our true task is to glorify God for the Hope and Wholeness offered by Jesus who was born at this time so long ago.

 
Amen! Amen! Amen!

 

Sunday Service Marsden Road Unitng Church 17 November 2019

 

The reading today was from Isaiah 65: 17-25, which Dermot explained was among the prophet’s last words.

They were words about God’s creation of a place where everyone, human and non-human thrived. 

There would be no premature deaths and the place would be a place where people would delight in the lives given to them and be joyful.

No more would children be born to die early, no more would people labour only to see others benefit from their labour.

And peace would reign.

This was so important because the fall of Jerusalem and the reign of David shattered the belief of the Jews and they needed a new vision.

Dermot told us to:

“Keep in mind that prophets were not people who saw visions of future events akin to crystal ball visions. They were priests and steeped in faith who, having an understanding of the nature of God and human conduct, might give spiritual and moral warnings to leaders or the people. There were schools of prophets. Isaiah is likely to have come from one of these schools. His writings are with us today because they have the potential to open our understanding today of God and God’s hope for us.”

But the next words of Dermot may have opened the eyes of some who either think the days of the prophet are over or that prophets can only be ordained ministers:

“And we have ‘prophets’ today – I remember being so impressed with some of the advice and commentary of Rev Dr Dean Drayton, a former head of the Board of Mission – and indeed, I found an article in the SMH by Julia Baird so confronting that it seemed to me that her writing was prophetic in that instance. The cartoonist Leunig has been described as a leading theologian in Australia and prophet.”

Many of us are aware of the defeat and disappearance of the northern kingdom. This was followed by the defeat of any survivors of that disappearance by the Babylonians, and the transport of those and the people of the southern kingdom off to Babylon.

Some survivors of that kidnap later moved south to Jerusalem - which survived for  another 200 years until the Babylonians defeated it.

“You can only imagine what a devastating experience it was for the followers of Yahweh to be defeated – twice - having believed that God would protect them. And so, while in exile in Babylon and after release back to Jerusalem, therewas a re-thinking of the relationship between humanity and God - between God and ‘God’s People’.  Much of our Old Testament comes out of this turmoil, albeit, it has been edited and amended over later centuries into what we are left with today.”

Dermot then pointed to the reading which tells of a time when God will create a world as it should be and that some think we can stand back and wait for that to happen or we could give that time a “little nudge”

“– remember President Reagan  who was over-heard (tongue in cheek) suggesting that we should ‘nuke’ the Russians.”

But Dermot went on to say

“the message is every bit about God’s Kingdom happening now, in the lives which are changed by God’s Spirit in every generation

-      the message is for us to be God’s servants and hands to accomplish the goodness of Christ about us in this world and time.

-      We, the hands and feet and voice of Christ on earth have a responsibility to bring the Kingdom of God into this world.” That sounds like a task far beyond us but Dermot is right on the money when he says: “God’s creative love and grace are available NOW – let’s get on board.” 

-      It’s up to us, powered by God’s creative love.

-      “And God will delight in God’s people and no more shall the sound of weeping be heard.. or the cry of distress – and “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together”. Amen

Sunday Service Marsden Road Uniting Church 3 and 10 November 2019

Gathering God’s People (November 3)

 Prelude: This time of quiet music is meant to be a preparation for the service to follow. Many of us are doing that by greeting each other so that we will worship as a unit, but we all need some time of quiet preparation to make a connection between ourselves and our Lord. We are not there to simply socialize although building community is important.

We are there to worship as individuals and as a church. Be still in the presence of the Lord.

Acknowledgement of First Peoples

From river to ocean, from campfire to hearth,

May the First People who have cared for this Land where we worship, the Wallumedgal, be blessed.

From breath to song, from step to dance,

May those who follow Your Song lines guide us on the journey of living honourably in this place.

From greeting to Amen, from silence to chorus,

May our worship join with the voices of the First Peoples of this Land.

Call to Worship - (B. J. Beu, Abingdon 2016)

Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song! Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; And from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.
Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song.

Expressing goodwill to people who hate us or abuse us is hard enough but praying for them and asking God’s blessing on them asks for a level of selflessness which is hard to meet.

BUT. Take courage, all you people. Take courage, says the Holy One, I am with you...

Opening Prayer

...Before your throne we are one with a great multitude which no one could number, and in praising you we join with people from every nation. Grant to your church on earth that as we celebrate the triumph of your saints in glory we may profit by their example and enter with them into the inexpressible joys you have prepared for those who love you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 A Prayer of Confession

 You call us to bring good news to the broken-hearted, and to be your living body to a broken and hurting world. Yet, we are afraid to claim your promise of grace, filled as we are with despair at the problems we see around us.

Forgive us when we forget your promise to bring justice and kindness.

Declaration of Forgiveness

Let us hear again, the word of truth: in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

And we need to do this over and over and over!

Thanks, be to God!

Announcements and Offering

Our response to God’s love working in us. We must, day by day, open ourselves to God, so that this can happen ...again and again. Stephen read to us from Ephesians and then

Luke 6:20-31Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. And then continued in the same way, saying that all those who we would say are lacking in God’s blessing are in fact, the blessed. Our values are all wrong.
Preaching 

Rev. John pointed out, using many examples, that Jesus’ values were nothing like ours. However, regardless of how many times we are told or how many times we are stung because we choose according to the values of the world, we still head off in the wrong direction.

A book I am reading points us in the right direction - again - via another route: if we enter into deep contemplation we allow ourselves to reveal the “essential us”. That is, we respond to God from the person we are. Not the person we present, covered by all sorts of defensive strategies or the person disguised by the right thing to say - the thing to say that we learned during our formal or cultural education.

We waste so much time and energy over things that don’t matter at all.

Benediction

In all things, give thanks to God, for you have been called to bear witness to the good news. And may the Creator of all, Holy Spirit, and Christ Jesus— one God, living in you and through you and around you, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and deed. Amen.

 

Gathering God’s People (November 10)

Call to Worship

Focused on Christ, our centre, we find faith, hope, life, and love. Anticipating these gifts, we bring our hearts of praise to worship. Great is our God, and worthy of our praise. How can we stop our lips from singing of God’s mighty deeds? How can we stop our hearts from rejoicing in God’s glory as the morning dawns? Great is our God, and worthy of our praise.

Can we just keep that front and centre????

Opening prayer

 Living, loving God, breathe among us this day. Breathe new life into our midst, that we may remember and reclaim our place as children of the resurrection.

Prayer of Confession

When sin floods our lives with deadly temptation, lift us from the flood into the safety of your mercy and grace.

It is so hard to see when we are acting in our own interests and not in the interests of others. Others who may be right before our eyes and in need.

Declaration of Forgiveness

 Do not be alarmed in times of trial, temptation, and doubt. Stand firm, for God is with you. Take courage, for Christ is our strength. And rest assured, that we are safe in the arms of God’s love and grace. In Christ’s resurrection, we are given new life to be children of the living God, now and forevermore.

Thanks be to God.

Offering

It’s not so much the amount we give or the time we give but more the attitude in which we give. We owe God our everything. Give with open hearts.

The Service of the Word

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 (The last sentence is the one to keep.)

 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

 

Luke 20: 27-38

(This is the part that grabs me:)... they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection...Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’

Preaching of the Word – Don’t Be Fooled (2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17)

...Have you ever been fooled? I have, but I don’t like to admit it. My hunch is that you have been fooled in various ways too. However, we don’t like to acknowledge our gullibility... 

The writer is trying in this Epistle to explain to the Thessalonians that they have been fooled. The Thessalonians have been fooled by teachers who claim to have come from Paul. Their message has upset the church.”  

This can be an important message today but in the space of the blog, I don’t want to do more than acknowledge that it was Rev. John’s theme. But something he said later in the sermon stands out to me:

“They have believed the truth of the gospel, and as a result they have been made holy by the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives...Their goodness follows out of their belief...”

“...the individual does not receive this gift as a reward for good behaviour. Good behaviour flows out of receiving the gift...” 

I was thanking someone, just last week,  for the help she has been. Her response was that God had put her together in a way that resulted in her being able to help people in certain ways... “to God be the glory”.

Benediction

As children of the living God, we go forth with the promise of new life, the hope of resurrection in our world, and the passion to keep our hearts focused on your love and life. And may the blessing of God Almighty, Creator, Redeemer and Giver of life be with you always. Amen.

 

 

 

Sunday Service Marsden Road Uniting Church 20 September 2019

MRUC Rev. John’s Blog 20 September 2019

 

We love to count and rank events, people, athletes, books, and so on. It seems that just about any time I turn on the Sports Channels or wait in line at the supermarket; I am bombarded with rankings and comparisons. Countless bookstore shelves and Internet pages are filled with sundry “Top Ten” lists. It’s not all that different when we come to our Christian Scriptures. Many of us probably have a verse that stands out and influences much of what we do, and that’s okay.

 

I think if we read the Christian Scriptures carefully, we find that there are certain stories or characters that just stand head and shoulders above the rest in terms of importance or impact. This is not to diminish the lesser known, more minor elements, but there is no denying that certain parts of the biblical story give meaning to the rest and inform how the subsequent narratives are read. We would certainly argue for Jesus as number one on our list of “Top Ten Bible Characters.”

 

However, without previous events and figures (for example, creation, Abraham, the Exodus, and David), the narratives surrounding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus wouldn’t be nearly as rich or meaningful. In fact, the four Gospels ooze complexity and meaning primarily because of that history.

Jesus’ own self-understanding was greatly influenced by his understanding of his own religious heritage.

Another event that should probably be in our top ten, is the Exile. It is nearly impossible to overstate the importance of the Babylonian exile for the people of Israel, for their theology, and for their future. The fall of Jerusalem fundamentally challenged the predominant view of the Promised Land and Israel’s place in it. The destruction of the temple led prophets and priests to think in new ways about how God is present with the people and what authentic worship of the Lord looks like. This has become an ongoing need and concern for Christians also.

 

 

The tragic failure of the Davidic royal line prompted the people of God to lament their circumstances and vehemently protest their situation. They looked inward, outward, and upward for explanations and answers to painful questions about the nature of suffering, hope, and divine presence. We remember from my blog two weeks ago that part of this painful search for meaning and truth includes authentic lament and truth-telling.

 

 

 

As devastating and traumatic as exile is, there is still a word of hope. This hopeful expectation looks to the future by understanding the past and the present. The odd thing about hope is that it never ignores the past or present; rather, hope pays close attention to life in honest and open ways. Hope doesn’t need to be kindled on bright days, but on stormy days and during dark nights. In fact, hope is a truthful commentary on the here and now, a prophetic thought that looks to a new dawn, but it is no sugar coated, fuzzy notion.

 

We may take this to heart when we hear the statement from Jeremiah 31:27-34 the remarks concerning the people’s current status? He says: “I have actively watched over you, my people, but not in ways you might have hoped or thought.” Now that sounds good. I like the sound of that as a follower of God. This spiritual path I’m on isn’t always easy, but it’s good to know that God is watching out for me. But God wasn’t done: “I have watched over [you] to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil.”

What kind of watchman does that? That’s not the kind of shepherd we want—certainly not the kind we think we need. The promised “coming days” are just around the corner, but they don’t erase a difficult past. Looking to the future means understanding how we arrived. Hopeful expectation means admitting that our present condition needs redeeming and that we are powerless to make it happen

 

This knowledge is an indispensable ingredient of life in exile; this is a part of living away from one’s true home. But God isn’t finished with hope as we hear the powerful verbal images to describe the “coming days”: sow, build, plant, and forgive. These are all anticipatory verbs pointing to a new beginning, a new chapter. Hopeful expectation understands that the future begins with the digging of a hole for a seed or with words like “I forgive you.” Yet hope, and all the expectation and anticipation it carries, never really gets ahead of itself. Strong trees don’t grow up in a year; troubled relationships don’t heal fully overnight; new habits are not formed in a day.

 

That’s probably just how most of our top ten biblical stories begin. If we see nothing else here, we see that hopeful expectation never lets go of the possibility that salvation can come to us in the most unexpected ways: on an ark, in a basket floating in the reeds, in exile, in a stable, on a cross, out of a tomb, or in a small but committed community of people who dare to bear the name Christian.

Sunday Service Marsden Road Uniting Church 6 September 2019

Much has been said in the various media about climate change and the possibility of  global warming destroying our home. For that reason Rev. John’s message today is most timely since many believe that we, God’s reflection, are responsible for much of climate change.

Therefore for today’s blog I have concentrated on Rev. John’s message.

 

Conservation of Creation (italics mine)

 “Conservationist, Aldo Leopold, once said that in order to save a place, you must first love it!  What places do you love!  What places have nurtured you during your lifetime?  Perhaps, your special place was a beloved tree in your backyard as a child. You would climb up on a limb of that tree and sit and dream dreams.  Was that tree a gum or an oak?  Whatever kind it was, I presume you loved that tree!”

This introduction struck home. During my primary school years, we used to congregate at the local park.. I could give you a minute by minute account of our time there, but the times I remember best were when we climbed, via a park bench, into the lower limbs of one particular tree. There was a core group of 5 and sometimes a few others joined us. We talked and talked. I don’t remember our exact exchanges but we were practising serious adult conversations, airing our “informed” views of the world.

Despite none of us actually knowing anything at all, we showed serious respect for the “opinions” of others. It is that deep listening I remember that tied us together, held together by the supportive branches of the tree. We could rely on the arms of that tree. No one ever fell. The branches grew out from the central trunk in such a way so as to cradle us while we got on with the business of growing up. Who knows? Someone may have uttered an informed statement at some time before we decided that we were too old to hang about in a tree.

But because of that time, in some ways that tree was as much a part of my upbringing as my family or school.

 All of us have places in nature that we love.  And we would be filled with grief, say if that tree was unnecessarily cut down, or that beach suffered an oil spill, or that trout stream became polluted.  Yet as Christians, we are called to love so much more!  More than just the places we have known and loved.  We are called to love the whole earth that God created and called good!  We are called to love places we will never see or know.  We are called to advocate for the restoration of places that are no longer pristine and pretty because of human decisions. 

 We are called to remember the words of scripture and the words of prophets down through the ages, who have spoken of the interconnectedness of all creation.  We are called to remember the words of one of the American First Nations Chiefs, Seattle, who said, “We did not create the web of life.  We are only a strand in it.  And whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.” 

 Since the start of the industrial revolution, we, human beings, have often forgotten or ignored the call of our various religious traditions to care for creation.  We have fallen asleep.  But today, prompted by worldwide concerns for climate change, (no matter how we believe it has occurred) we are waking up!  We are waking up to the ancient truths of indigenous peoples and the modern truths of scientists, who say, we are all interconnected. 

For some of us, that takes a long time. Some of us think it is only other humans who are our responsibility. Some will extend that to all sentient beings but exclude ants and crabs and worms AND PLANTS.

It takes quite a while for us to realize that all living things are within our circle of care, including the ones that irritate us. Every living thing including bacteria, viruses and flies have their place in the web of life. Our job as God’s stewards is to see that all are given their proper places to live.

Even fruit bats. They have a bad press for dirtying our cars or taking over parks. The way to avoid this happening is to see that their habitat is protected so that they don’t look for other places to live. As far as flies and ants and other “annoying pests” are concerned, we shouldn’t leave food around to attract them.

There is a place in the web of life for all of God’s creation. It is our job to preserve those places.