Koonung Heights Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Easter 6 – 5 May 2024 – 10am or whenever possible
You may like to light a candle during your time of worship.
Feel free to text the Peace to other members of the congregation.
During the service we will share Communion so you might like to have the elements ready.
Introit: “Santo, Santo” – (TiS 723)
Santo, santo, santo. Mi corazón te adora!
Mi corazón te sabe decir: Santo eres Señor!
Holy, holy, holy. My heart, my heart adores you!
My heart knows how to say to you: Holy are you Lord.
Candle Lighting:
As we light the Christ candle today,
we remember that Christ was born of love,
that Christ came for love,
and that the love of Christ is always with us.
As we are bathed in this love may we also share it.
Acknowledgement of Country:
This land is God’s land and God’s Spirit dwells here.
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung
People of the Kulin nation,
traditional custodians of this land under God.
I pay my respects to their elders and leaders,
past and present, and to all future generations.
Let us commit ourselves again
to working for justice in this land.
Call to Worship:
God of love,
you are our creator,
our redeemer,
you command us to love you
and all that you have created.
We gather to offer you
this time of worship,
to renew our vow to love
and to offer ourselves to you.
Draw near to us
as we draw near to you.
We Sing: “Come, O God of all the earth” – (TiS 181)
Come, O God of all the earth:
come to us, O Righteous One;
come, and bring our love to birth:
in the glory of your Son.
Sing out, earth and skies!
Sing of the God who loves you;
raise your joyful cries;
dance to the life around you.
Come, O God of wind and flame: fill the earth with righteousness;
teach us all to sing your name: may our lives your love confess.
Sing out …
Come, O God of flashing light: twinkling star and burning sun;
God of day and God of night: in your light we all are one.
Sing out …
Come, O God of snow and rain: shower down upon the earth;
come, O God of joy and pain: God of sorrow, God of mirth.
Sing out …
Come, O Justice, come, O Peace: come and shape our hearts anew;
come and make oppression cease: bring us all to life in you.
Sing out …
Prayer of Praise and Confession:
God of all the earth,
with the best of our music we offer you our praise.
Loud instruments, delicate strings,
melody of human invention alongside the wonder of creation.
We hear the seas roar as waves crash on beaches;
we hear the wind call out in praise to you;
the thunder announces your presence
and waters speak of life for the whole created order.
Lord of inclusive love,
we have so much to praise you for.
In our best moments
we delight and wonder at the life you give us,
making it so that
nobody is outside the reach of your love.
No person is excluded from the invitation
that you issue again and again,
to live within the circle of your everlasting love.
Despite all of this, we get it wrong so often,
hurting you, ourselves and one another.
We confess that as humanity,
we have created divisions and segregation between peoples,
not always grasping inclusive and mutual love in the way we should.
We confess that at times we are guilty, as individuals and nations,
of creating comforts and security for ourselves
forgetting that we are called to look out for one another.
Challenge us to do better and help us mend our ways,
following Jesus’ example of true friendship,
so that we might work to be at one with you and all people.
We confess that we have also failed in caring for our world,
neglect and greed turning what is best into a place of crisis.
We have seen the earth as a thing to exploit,
and have lost a sense of our place as just one part of all you have given.
Help us to see the earth through your eyes,
in the creative balance of flora and fauna that is so wonderfully made.
Help us stop squeezing more from this planet than it can bear.
May our instruments sing again in melody and harmony
with the breath of your Spirit in creation.
Amen.
Words of Assurance:
God has remembered God’s steadfast love to all people,
and we are called again to be God’s beloved children and witnesses.
Receive that healing love and share it with all you meet.
Share the good news that God is love.
A Time for All: A Conversation
Chris: Peta, did you notice that banner hanging at the front of the church today?
Peta: Yes Chris, I did.
Chris: So what’s it all about?
Peta: At the recent Social Justice Committee’s meeting we discussed Rise Up Melbourne’s forthcoming event about public moneys continuing to be poured into fossil fuel exploration and development.
We thought the Congregation might be interested to hear a little of what is behind their concerns and we put up the banner.
Chris: Of course! Of course! I forgot. It’s a good idea because Australians have suffered massively in the past decade or so from devastating floods, bushfires and drought and the State and Federal governments have pledged to act on climate change. Both levels of government have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050. These are fine ambitions, but do they sit well given public moneys are still being given to subsidise fossil fuels?
Peta: That’s a good question, Chris. Australia has a long history of financing fossil fuel projects through its export credit Agency, Export Finance Australia. Did you know that between 2009 and 2020 Australia has spent $1.7bn on coal, oil and gas developments and just $20m on renewable energy!
In the 2021-2022 budget period, Australian Federal and State Governments gave $11.1bn of spending and tax breaks to support fossil fuel industries. And there are subsidies in forward estimates have increased, from $55.3 to $57.1 billion. That’s about 14 times more than the balance of Australia’s Disaster Ready Fund, used to respond to climate disasters.
Chris: I’m pretty shocked by these figures. I think we need to ask the question “How does the continued support of fossil fuel industries by State and Federal Governments complement their stated aim of reducing greenhouse emissions to net-zero by 2050?”
I think we need to let our community know about this contradiction and even join Rise Up Melbourne’ event at Treasury Place at midday, on Thursday, 9 May.
Let us pray:
Creator God,
Bless the tear we shed for the resources we have squandered.
Bless the sigh we breathe out for the atmosphere.
Bless the head we hang for the creatures lost and exploited.
Bless the hands we wring for the things we have broken and wasted.
Bless us as we lament.
Cradle us as we regret.
Restore us as we start afresh.
Amen.
© Lament by John Polhill
We Sing: “Touch the earth lightly” – (TiS 668)
Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently,
nourish the life of the world in our care:
gift of great wonder, ours to surrender,
trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
We who endanger, who create hunger,
agents of death for all creatures that life,
we who would foster clouds of disaster,
God of our planet, forestall and forgive!
Let there be greening, birth from the burning,
water that blesses and air that is sweet,
health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children,
regeneration that peace will complete.
God of all living, God of all loving,
God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,
teach us, deflect us, Christ re-connect us,
using us gently and making us one.
Bible Reading: John 15:9-17
9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Bible Reading: Acts 10:44-48
44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46 for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47 “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
Reflection:
It is terrible to be left out. I’m sure we all know the situation – everyone else seems to be in on the invitation to a party but you know nothing about it. You really love the game but because you’re not one of the best players you don’t get invited to be part of the team. Actually that is one of my memories from primary school – I was never good at sport and so it was hard to fit in at a school where sport was so important. Such experiences can be really hurtful, because we are never immune to the human longing to be included. For some people, this need to fit in tempts them to do whatever it takes to please someone else, even though it is not what they choose. We all want to fit in, we all want to belong, and today’s readings remind us that we all have a place, for God makes room for us first and foremost.
Before we discuss the passage from Acts, which I would like to focus on this week, I’d like to touch briefly on the gospel reading from John. In this passage we are witness to part of Jesus’ farewell speech. This is a time of high anxiety for the disciples, and Jesus is sharing with them the things that he wants them to hold on to. Again we hear about love – God’s love for us, our love for God, and our love for one another. The disciples must have been comforted to hear Jesus assurance and invitation to ‘abide in my love’ (John 15:9). This text goes on to differentiate between servants and friends – friendship being a relationship based on mutuality and reciprocity.
Again we hear Jesus’ command to love one another, and it makes me wonder why this has to be commanded of us, for surely we would all desire to live in love. My sense is that Jesus issues this command because love doesn’t come naturally to us. Love is hard because love is about more than attraction or how we are feeling at any particular time. Love is about being present and acting in caring, respectful ways to those who frustrate us and those we don’t like. It is the Spirit that enables us to do this because God wants to invite us into the Divine vision which says that no-one needs to be left out.
In the passage from Acts we have four short verses of a much longer series of dramatic events. This is one of times the lectionary does us a disservice and so I think it’s helpful if I offer a little backstory. At the beginning of Acts 10, we meet Cornelius – an Italian soldier who is a devout and prayerful Gentile. Cornelius has a vision in which an angel tells him to send some of his men to find a man called Peter and bring him back with them. At the same time Peter, the primary leader of the new Jesus movement, is having a vision of his own. While waiting for lunch, he sees the heavens open and a big sheet float down, filled with all kinds of animals that faithful Jews are not permitted to eat. Peter hears a voice tell him to eat, and when Peter protests, he hears the voice say that what ‘God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ (Acts 10:15) This is when Cornelius’s men show up at Peter’s door and persuade him to come with them, and once they arrive at Cornelius’ house, Peter starts preaching the gospel. This is when something surprising happens, and it’s where our reading for today comes in.
While Peter was speaking, the Holy Spirit came upon everyone – even on the Gentiles! This wasn’t a gentle arrival but dramatic, as the Holy Spirit ‘fell upon all who heard the word.’ (Acts 10:44). As this happens, Peter wonders aloud ‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ (Acts 10: 47). God has interrupted what is happening and disrupted the assumptions of the ‘circumcised believers who had come with Peter’ (Acts 10:45).
From the very beginning of Acts we can see why Jesus chose Peter. He is a gifted preacher, and a wise and discerning leader. It is Peter who recognises the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; Peter who is not afraid to speak on behalf of the other disciples, and Peter who believes enough in the power of God that he can cure the sick and even raise someone from the dead. Today’s story shows us that Peter is what we would now call an ‘adaptive leader’ – someone whose leadership responds to emerging challenges that have no clear solutions. While the vision that overturned centuries old food laws and the invitation to enter the home of a Gentile must have shocked Peter, he keeps going and trusts in the Holy Spirit to lead him into an unknown future.
Peter going to Cornelius’s house may not sound like such a big deal to us, but this is among the most significant encounters in all of Acts. Jews and Gentile didn’t interact socially, so it would have been perfectly acceptable, even preferable, for Peter to refuse to go to see Cornelius. But instead Peter says yes.
He enters the home of a Gentile to share God’s love revealed in Jesus, and ends up extending that love to a whole new group of people. Peter says ‘yes’ before he knows how it will turn out and what it will mean. Peter steps out in faith, but he steps into where God is already, where the Holy Spirit is active.
We might think that Peter is the central character in this story, or see him as the leader of the early church, but really it is the Holy Spirit. When Peter starts preaching to Cornelius and his household, the Holy Spirit cuts him off. For the first time in Acts the Holy Spirit shows up and pours itself out on Gentiles, a whole new set of people, not when they are baptised or after they are baptised, but before they are baptised. This is God living into the reality that no-one should be left out.
So what does this mean for us?
Firstly, I think this passage reminds us that the church is not really about us – our words, our wisdom and our abilities. Rather, it’s about God’s Word (Jesus) and God’s wisdom (the Holy Spirit). We are invited to move beyond our own limited vision, into the vision of who we are called to be as God’s church. Those who are in positions of leadership need to let go of assumptions and agendas and allow the Spirit of God to move, to interrupt, and to pour out on even the last people we would ever expect God to choose.
Secondly, the passage reminds us that God is already active in the world before we know it. We hear our First Peoples speak of how the Creator and the Spirit were present in this land before the Bible arrived, and in this is the sense of that understanding. The Spirit will push and prod and pull us to go places we never would have imaged, but God is already at work in these places.
This might sound challenging, but when we are willing to be attentive to the call of God, the Spirit will lead us into the future. Where might God be trying to disrupt us? Are we open to this in our risk-adverse world? Are we willing to be led to places we could never predict? Are we willing to take seriously the commandment to love one another? Just maybe, if we say yes, we will be led to places where we will experience the boundary-breaking, custom-defying, all-encompassing love of God.
Amen.
We Sing: “A New Commandment” – (TiS 699)
A new commandment I give unto you
that you love one another as I have loved you,
that you love one another as I have loved you.
By this will others know that you are my disciples
if you have love one for another;
by this will others know that you are my disciples
if you have love one for another.
Prayer for Others (prepared by Peta Lowe)
When you hear the words: “Lord, hear us”,
you are invited to respond: “Hear our prayer”.
Creator God,
We join our voices with those of the Psalmists, in praising you for your marvellous Creation, which gives glory to you.
We lament the exploitation and destruction of so much of your beautiful Creation, by humankind.
Forgive us, and help us to be better stewards of your Creation.
Lord, hear us. Hear our prayer.
Loving God,
We thank you that you love all your Creation, including all people.
Thank you that you revealed to your servant Peter, that you do not show favouritism, and that you do not discriminate between people, as we tend to do.
Forgive us for thinking in terms of “us” and “them”. We know that this type of thinking, forms the basis of attitudes that can lead to war, terrorism, persecution, discrimination and exclusion.
God of all, help us to see “them” as “us”.
Lord, hear us. Hear our prayer.
Jesus, you called your disciples your friends. Thank you for making us your friends.
Help us to be friends with those you love. Increase our awareness of those people who feel friendless, left out, rejected, marginalised, abandoned, neglected or lonely, and guide us how to respond.
Lord, hear us. Hear our prayer.
Holy God,
Guide your church world wide to ardently pursue the ideals of peace and inclusion.
Help your church to avoid “us” and “them” thinking. Help us to be honest about the “favourites” we include, and the outsiders we reject, and guide us to address this.
We pray for all people of faith who are working for peace, inclusion and fairness.
Lord, hear us. Hear our prayer.
God who does new things,
We ask you to show us what new things you want us to do.
Guide us to discern which tasks to relinquish, and which to take up.
Show us where to direct our energy.
Lord, hear us. Hear our prayer.
Caring God,
We pray for our congregation, the Presbytery of Yarra Yarra, and the wider Uniting Church.
With thanks and love we pray for Rev. Heather and her family, and for Rev. Heather’s ministry here at Koonung Heights and across our Presbytery.
We hold before you our Church Council, Project Sow Group and all the activities of our church life.
Lord, hear us. Hear our prayer.
God of life and love,
We remember before you our families and friends,
Those who are ill and those facing special challenges.
Deeply loving God, help us all to walk more fully into your love, day by day.
Lord, hear us. Hear our prayer.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
We Sing: “You are Holy” – (TiS 753)
You are holy, you are whole. You are always ever more
than we ever understand. You are always at hand.
Blessed are you coming near; blessed are you coming here
to your church in wine and bread, raised from soil, raised from dead.
You are holy, you are wholeness,
you are present, let the cosmos praise you, Lord!
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, our Lord!
Communion:
The Peace
The peace of the Lord be with you and also with you.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
It is right that we give you thanks and praise at all times and in all places
for you have created and sustained us.
We praise you that through your eternal Word you brought the universe into being
and you made each one of us in your own image.
You have given us this earth to care for and delight in.
You love us and have bound yourself to us.
Above all thank you for Jesus, the living Word, born as one of us, living our common life
and walking the path to death, yet through his actions reconciling us to you
and to one another.
Therefore we gladly join our voices to the song of the Church on earth and in heaven, singing:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of love and light,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
On the night of Jesus betrayal and arrest, as he shared a meal with his friends,
Jesus took bread; gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his followers, saying:
“Share this bread among you; this is my body which will be broken for justice.
Do this to remember me.
When supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to his disciples, saying:
“Share this wine among you; this is my blood which will be shed for liberation.
Do this to remember me.”
Invocation
Creating, Redeeming, Sustaining God,
let your Spirit come upon your people gathered here and in their homes.
Spirit of compassion, bless us and this bread and wine.
May this meal be food and drink for our journey –
renewing, sustaining and making us whole.
When we eat and drink may we experience again the presence of the risen Jesus in our midst.
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name;
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the Kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.
Amen.
Distribution
The bread we take is a sharing in the body of Christ.
The wine we take is a sharing in the blood of Christ.
These are the gifts of God for the people of God.
The bread of life – the cup of hope.
May this meal nourish and refresh you, strengthen and renew you,
may it remind you that you are loved. Amen.
(Eat and drink)
Prayer
God of love, we give you thanks for satisfying us with this meal.
Send us from here to reveal your love in the world.
Inspire us to use our words to point others to the Word.
Inspire in us the resolve and the courage, the compassion and passion
to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with you.
Amen.
We Sing: “Holy Spirit, go before us” – (TiS 420)
Holy Spirit, go before us, every heart and mind prepare
for good news of life in Jesus, for the joyful hope we share.
Gently lead the lost to safety, gently teach them Wisdom’s way,
till they come to seek you gladly, till we find the words to say.
Holy Spirit, come and help us, give us words to speak of Christ.
Teach us how to tell all people: deepest darkness can be light!
Help us tell how faithful God is, and how Jesus sets us free;
take our words, and make them gospel, so that many may believe.
Holy Spirit, stay to show us how to serve as Christ served us.
May our words of love be grounded in love’s actions, first and last.
Your good news is news of justice, and the strong befriend the weak
in your service, till compassion buildings the peace that nations seek.
Blessing:
Friends, you are loved.
Jesus loves you and calls on us to love others.
Let us go in peace to do just that
going where the Spirit leads.
And may the love and peace of Christ
go with you this day and evermore.
Amen.
Thanks to all those who have assisted in preparation for this liturgy with encouragement, prayers and conversation. I have also utilised the following resources: Spill the Beans (issue 38), Ministry Matters, A Sermon for Every Sunday and Fig Tree Worship.
A Time for All was taken from the following information collated by Sally Dugan, member of Social Justice Group.