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!