THEME: CHRISTIAN IDENTITY IN A SECULAR WORLD
WE GATHER AS FOLLOWERS OF THE WAY OF JESUS
Before the service, please observe prayerful silence for a few minutes after the minister has entered the church.
We are ordinary people taking part in a great drama. When we worship we affirm what is most worthy in our lives and in the world, which is our life in the Spirit, following in the Way of Jesus.
SYMBOLS OF FAITH – Please stand
The Bible: Truth to hear. The Candle: Light to see;
Sung Response:
Minister: Jesus bids us shine, with a bright, strong light,
shining like a candle burning in the night.
People: Jesus, light in darkness, gives us light to shine,
you in your small corner, and I in mine.
Peter C Aumann
A candle is lit.
TO FOCUS OUR THOUGHTS Paul Tonson
It is likely that the term Christian was a nickname decided by others, just like Methodist and Baptist. But today we recall that those who followed Jesus already had a name they chose themselves.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Tui Beggs
We acknowledge that we meet on the land of the people of the Wurundjeri Woirurung people.
We receive their heritage as a precious gift to us all.
We admire their gracious patience, despite long years of displacement and discrimination.
We pray that they may be given full voice in the councils of our nation so that their traditions are safeguarded and their ancient wisdom may bear full fruit.
HYMN: As we come together George Stuart – remain seated Tune TiS 344
As we come together,
We make time to pray;
Seeking for direction –
How to live each day.
As we come together,
Some may come to pause;
Stressed and in depression,
Looking for the cause.
As we come together,
Some in happiness,
May we each be conscious
Of those in distress.
As we come together,
Some to be surprised;
May we gain new insights,
And be energized.
As we seek together
At this time and place,
May we sense God’s presence
And imbibe God’s grace.
TOGETHER IN A SPIRIT OF PRAYER Jane Kessler
This house of prayer is a place to belong and to be ourselves:
- Here there are no insiders and outsiders, no strangers, no favourites.
We gather as people who believe in the examined life, to be mindful of the divine in each person, and to let our inward reflection transform our lives.
- We bring our many rich experiences in life to share them for the encouragement of others.
We acknowledge that we have fallen short of our own standards and we have exerted our own self-interest ungraciously.
- In this community of faith and hope we seek to be fully responsive to the wind of the Spirit and lovingly present to each other.
Now we lay aside all our concerns about things we have to do and focus our thoughts on how we should be.
Let us keep a mindful silence ….
THE PEACE
SONG If you’re black or if you’re white
If you’re black or if you’re white or if you’re in between, God loves you.
If you’re tall or if you’re small or if you’re fat or lean, God loves you.
S/he loves you when you’re happy, s/he loves you when you’re sad.
S/he loves you when you’re very good and when you’re very bad.
No matter what you look like, no matter what you do,
God loves you, oh hallelujah!
God loves you, oh sock-it-to-ya! God loves you! [REPEAT ALL]
(Last time, add) Shooby dooby dooby doo, doowah!
Words and music: Anonymous
Young people may leave for their meeting
WE LISTEN FOR THE WISDOM OF JESUS
READINGS
“Many will say to me: ‘Lord, Lord’ .. Matt 25:31-46 Maurice Lee
People of the Way Acts 19:8-10; 24:10-14 Margaret Lord
RESPONSE: May our ears welcome the truth we need to hear
- May our lives demonstrate the truth we need to live.
SINGERS: I don’t believe in a God up in the sky words and music by Robin Mann
REFLECTION
CHRISTIANS or FOLLOWERS OF THE WAY.
As a boy in the 1950s one of the great dramas of church was a service of baptism by immersion. Our heroes among the older teenagers were dressed all in white as they gave a word of testimony and then were dunked backwards under the water. At age 15, I decided to be baptized and the same formula was pronounced ‘Paul Tonson, on profession of your faith in Christ as Saviour and Lord, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But decades later I came to think that the language of Christ and Saviour and Trinity did not really express what my baptism was about. Are you troubled by some Christian language?
Just a few years ago, Lorraine Parkinson and I presented to a group of progressive minded ministers the Communion liturgies we had developed. Mine emphasised taking Bread and Wine with the theme of remembering Jesus and did not mention body and blood. Afterwards I was shocked when a senior minister affirmed what I had offered then asked: ‘But why have you got that word Christ in there?’ I began to realise I am more a Jesus person than a Christ person. Which do you prefer?
Since the creeds of the fourth century the Christian church has detoured into a space where what we believe and think about Christ and God, the language of theology, has become the measure of true faith rather than the Way we live. Theology generates a kind of identity politics that divides people. But a self-giving way of living makes us one with all kinds of people regardless of ideology eg in response to disasters.
Our readings today remind us that the first followers of Jesus, and even St Paul, called themselves ‘People of the Way’ before they were called Christians. Is this a label you like? This Way is not a path to travel but a pattern of self-giving to follow, such as we see in Jesus or Mahatma Gandhi or Ruth – ‘Your people shall be my people”.
The primacy of Behaviour over Believing is starkly presented in Matthew. The Parable of Sheep and Goats describes people who were shocked to be rejected by their Lord because they had no compassion. A similar scene in Matt.7:21ff describes people in ministry who talked “Lord, Lord” but Jesus doesn’t want to know them. Jesus totally subverts the Belief paradigm of Christianity and presents a Behaviour paradigm: care for the hungry and thirsty, the naked and the sick, the homeless and those in prison – Asylum seekers. Such caring behaviour IS the Lordship of Christ in our lives.
Some reflections from our group members illustrate the Way of Jesus. “Being a Christian is ‘a state of being rather than a distinguishing name”. “My Christian identity is being prayerful for others.” One member told how a friend asked her: ‘Are you a Christian?’ and was surprised by the answer: ‘Yes I am’. The friend replied: “I never realised!” This story is about being ‘salt of the earth’ in the Way we live, rather than waving a big Christian flag in front of others. Karl Rahner happily called this ‘Anonymous Christianity. It is precisely the Way of living that Jesus taught.
These biblical and personal insights show us how to talk about our faith to our grand-children or to our secular friends. We do not need to speak of Christ or God, or Sin or Salvation but we can talk about the Way of Jesus. We can balance our Christian walk and talk by advocating for his Way of love and justice and forgiveness. This is so much easier, more welcome more effective than preaching beliefs. Let’s find our own words to tell children and friends why we are committed to follow the Way of Jesus.
SONG: We would honour one called Jesus, SANS 2/ 28 Tune TiS 186
We would follow one called Jesus,
wisdom teacher, Jewish sage.
Nurtured by his own tradition
and religion of his age,
long ago he took his journey,
setting forth from Galilee.
Through distinctive oral sayings,
by the parables he told
of inclusiveness and justice,
of integrity so bold,
he invited others trust in
his great vision for his day.
Life, one’s neighbour, and the ‘Sacred’
re-imagined when he taught;
Table fellowship was open,
symbol of his warm support.
As we too share in his vision,
we affirm and follow him.
George Stuart
THE PEOPLE OF GOD GIVE VOICE
What story from the life of Jesus is most interesting or most important to you?
WE RESPOND IN THE LOVE OF JESUS
COMMUNITY NOTICES
PRAYERS FOR OTHERS Liz Pace
OFFERING
HYMN Take my life and let it be consecrated. TiS599(ii)
COMMISSION
Following in the Way of Jesus,
We are forgiven for what we have been,
We can change how we are,
and mature to what we should be.
Following in the Way of Jesus, we will do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with GOD. Amen
BLESSING TiS 781
Father bless us as we go,
Jesus walk beside us,
Holy Spirit guide us.