Koonung Heights – Surrey Hills Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Lent 4 – 30 March 2025 – 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.
Introit: “Bless the Lord, my soul” – (TiS 706)
Bless the Lord, my soul, and bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul, who leads me into life.
Candle Lighting:
Like a torch we shine into dark corners,
the light of Christ shines into the dark places of our world,
bringing hope and healing and restoration.
We light the Christ candle today as a reminder of that light,
and our call to shine it wherever we can.
Acknowledgement of Country:
This land is God’s land and God’s Spirit dwells here.
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung People,
traditional custodians of this land under God.
We commit ourselves again
to working for reconciliation in this land.
Call to Worship:
Our God is a shepherding God.
Our God knows us by name.
Our God will never stop searching for us.
So if you feel lost,
then know that God is seeking you.
If you feel found,
then know that God will never leave.
This is the promise of scripture.
This is the promise of God’s love.
Let us worship our with-us God.
Opening Prayer:
Amazing God,
you love us more than we deserve
in grace, through hospitality and welcome,
we come to you in praise and thanksgiving.
You are our resting place.
You are our shelter in times of trouble.
You are loving and generous
even when we demand what is not ours.
You wait and look and look and wait
for the hope that we will be found again
when we have strayed.
We thank and praise you for your loving care.
Amen.
We Sing: “Glory to God above!” – (TiS 94)
Glory to God above!
Heavens declare his love;
praise him, you angels,
praise him all you high and heavenly host.
Worship him, sun and moon;
stars complement their tune;
grounded in God’s good purpose
let his grace become your boast.
O sing hallelujah
and praise God for evermore!
Glory to God below let depths of ocean show;
lightning and hail, snow, wind and cloud perform at his command!
Let every mountain range, forest and grove and grange,
creatures of earth and air and sea praise God in every land.
O sing hallelujah and praise God for evermore!
‘Glory to God your King!’ leaders and people sing;
women and men of every age unite to praise the Lord.
Worship God’s holy name and let your lives proclaim
God’s saving power extends to those who love and serve his world.
O sing hallelujah and praise God for ever, evermore!
Call to Confession:
Friends, in the Christian tradition many have used ‘lost’ and ‘found’ labels to describe people ‘out there’ versus people ‘in here.’ Many have used ‘lost’ and ‘found’ language to create a damaging dichotomy that Christians are found and non-Christians are lost.
But the truth is, each and every one of us is a little bit lost and a little bit found from time to time. Each and every one of us needs the love of the Good Shepherd.
So join me in the prayer of confession, as people who know both ends of that spectrum.
Let us pray …
Prayer of Confession:
If God is a painter,
let us be the brush.
If God is a musician,
let us be the song.
If God is an architect,
let us be the tools.
Let us be the hands.
Let us be the builders.
But if God is a shepherd,
who never stops seeking,
let us be willing to be found,
no matter how lost we feel.
Our God is never far away.
Forgive us for forgetting this good news.
Amen.
Words of Assurance:
Family of faith, we are all a little bit lost and a little bit found.
We grumble. We push back. We doubt God. We doubt ourselves.
We leave the flock and lose our way.
But fortunately for us, our God is a shepherding God who is always by our side.
So hear and believe the good news of the gospel:
No matter how far we wander,
we can never wander from the bounds of God’s grace.
We are loved. We are forgiven. We are not alone.
Thanks be to God!
Amen.
The Peace
May the Peace of God dwell with you:
and also with you.
Time for All:
Isn’t it frustrating when you lose something? Particularly when you know you’ve just seen it but can’t put your hands on it now. There are bible stories that talk about lost things and we will hear one of them later in our service. It’s about a lost sheep, so today I’d like to read you a story about a sheep that seems to be missing. It is called Where is the Green Sheep? and is written by Mem Fox with illustrations by Judy Horacek. It goes like this …
Here is the blue sheep. And here is the red sheep.
Here is the bath sheep. And here is the bed sheep.
But where is the green sheep?
Here is the thin sheep, and here is the wide sheep.
Here is the swing sheep. And here is the slide sheep.
But where is the green sheep?
Here is the up sheep, and here is the down sheep.
Here is the band sheep. And here is the clown sheep.
But where is the green sheep?
Here is the sun sheep. And here is the rain sheep.
Here is the car sheep, and here is the train sheep.
But where is the green sheep?
Here is the wind sheep. And here is the wave sheep.
Here is the scared sheep, and here is the brave sheep.
But where is the green sheep?
Here is the near sheep. And here is the far sheep.
Here is the moon sheep. And here is the star sheep.
But where is the green sheep?
Where IS that green sheep?
Turn the page quietly – let’s take a peep …
Here’s our green sheep, fast asleep.
I wonder if you can see a green sheep anywhere else?
In the story about the green sheep we keep looking until we find the sheep right at the end. In the bible story we will hear later, the shepherd looks for the one sheep that has gone missing because, even though he has ninety-nine other sheep, the lost one is important too. That story reminds us just how important each of us are to God. God loves us so much that God will always search for us, and when we might have lost our way or feel all alone, God is watching over us and ready to bring us back to where we belong.
Children’s Blessing:
God loves me –
from the top of my head to the tips of my toes,
from my wiggly ears to the end of my nose,
from my back to my front to my fingers that wiggle,
God loves me.
We Sing: “The king of love” – (TiS 145)
The king of love my shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his and he is mine for ever.
Where streams of living water flow my ransomed soul he leadeth,
and where the verdant pastures grow with food celestial feedeth.
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, but yet in love he sought me,
and on his shoulder gently laid, and home rejoicing brought me.
And so through all the length of days thy goodness faileth never:
good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise within thy house for ever.
Bible Reading: Psalm 23
– The Diving Shepherd
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
Bible Reading: Luke 15:1-7
– The Parable of the Lost Sheep
1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Reflection:
I wonder whether this has ever happened to you? You’ve spent time hunting for something that you’ve lost: maybe your car keys, the TV remote, or something very precious that you’ve misplaced. It can be frustrating, time consuming, and even funny at times – like when you’ve spent ages searching everywhere for your glasses, only to discover that they’ve been on the top of your head all the time! But it can be more than that too – the panic felt by a parent when they lose sight of the child they told to stay with them, followed by the sudden mix of emotions when that child is sighted again. The joy in finding what was lost is great because the thing that was lost is so important. But what about the times when we are lost?
The artwork for this week comes from Lisle Gwynn Garrity, who began creating the work in September 2024, just as Hurricane Helene was about to hit her town of Black Mountain, North Carolina. Lisle explains: When I began this artwork, I naively hoped to gain insight into Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep. I did not wish to become the lost sheep and live through the greatest natural disaster to hit my hometown … Now, over six weeks after the storm, what strikes me is the shepherd’s singular pursuit of the lost and vulnerable. … I almost hear him whisper, ‘I will never stop searching for the lost. I will never stop rejoicing when one is found.’
As we reflect on the Parable of the Lost Sheep, it is essential to reflect on the context, for what prompts the parable and who is listening, are just as important as what Jesus says. Like all good parables, there are many possibilities for interpretation and that can leave us with all sorts of questions. Firstly, I wonder whether Jesus is targeting a particular part of his audience, or all who are gathered around him. The passage tells us that ‘all the tax collectors and sinners’ are coming to listen to Jesus, so it would be easy to assume that Jesus is coming to speak to them, the ones who are seen to be on the outer. Yet the text also tells us that some of the religious elite, ‘the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling,’ complaining that Jesus extends his welcome to those who are normally excluded. I wonder if Jesus’ words are not just a message of comfort to those who are seen as outsiders, but are also a challenge to those who are prepared to let the ‘lost’ stay that way because they don’t want to move from their own comfort zones. Is Jesus again upending everyone’s expectations and inviting them to see things differently? Is he reminding the establishment that God’s kingdom is for all?
Secondly, I wonder whether our focus should remain on the lost sheep, the shepherd who is willing to leave ninety-nine sheep to look for the one, or whether there is something in the seeking itself that should hold our attention. In the text the sheep has become separated from the flock and finds itself in unfamiliar surroundings. It is easy to see ourselves here, as we can so easily find that we have wandered off somewhere, unsure of where we are or how we got there. The busy-ness and bright lights of the world can capture our attention and before we know it, we can find ourselves in unfamiliar territory. We might not be in a different physical space, but our thoughts and actions show that we are not where we should be, we are lost.
In saying that we are ‘lost’, I want to acknowledge that the language of ‘lost’ and ‘found’ can be problematic. At different times I have heard these words being used to wound or shame people who have ‘strayed from the flock’. I think this unhelpful and , at its worst, can be particularly harmful. Our lives have an ebb and flow about them – in one moment we can feel like we have it all together, and in the next we can feel overwhelmed. It seems to me that it is more helpful to recognise that we all travel the spectrum of ‘lost’ and ‘found’ at various points in our lives, and that what defines us is not where we are at any particular time, but that we are God’s beloved!
The shepherd is the one who continues to seek out the sheep until it is found. The fact that it is just one sheep from a flock of one hundred does not changes things for the shepherd, who appreciates the individuality and uniqueness of this particular sheep. Something will be lost when that sheep is absent from the flock, something that cannot be contributed by the other members. To our minds this seems to fly in the face of logic, defying what we might understand as best practice. In his book Telling The Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale, Frederick Buechner describes God as ‘the comic shepherd who gets more of a kick out of that one lost sheep, once he finds it again, than out of the ninety and nine who had the good sense not got get lost in the first place.’ He continues … ‘This parable can be read as a joke about God in the sense that what it is essentially about is the outlandishness of God who does impossible things with impossible people’.
If we see God as the shepherd, then the constant searching for the one makes a lot of sense. What human nature might see as ridiculous, does not seem at all far-fetched for God. The Bible is filled with stories of the shepherding God seeking out humanity and calling us back to the relationship we were created for. From the first chapters of Genesis where God spoke with humans in the garden, all the way through to God slipping into skin and living our human life as Jesus, we see the love of God compelling God to find the lost.
Jesus said,
‘Who among you wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine?
Who among you wouldn’t look for the one?’
Someone in the crowd probably rolled their eyes.
Someone squirmed and looked at the palms.
Someone sighed and thought to themselves,
‘This man doesn’t understand the business.
What fool would leave ninety-nine to look for one?
But maybe God was not talking about us.
Maybe God was talking about her own reckless love.
Maybe God was talking about her own willingness to turn the world upside down
for me.
My prayer today is that we might all sense the promise of the parable, that no matter how ‘lost’ we feel at any time, the Good Shepherd is always seeking us out and will be found by our side. May our response to this shepherding love, call us to open our eyes and be co-seekers of the lost in our communities.
Amen.
We Sing: “Lost and Found” – (Tune TiS 493)
In the flock I am surrounded by my siblings and my friends
Safe at home an feeling grounded with me shepherd to defend
But an aching, longing feeling as the stars shine late at night
Draws me in, my dreams revealing and I know I’m not quite right.
The horizon stars to brighten as I quickly slip away
I can feel my spirit lighten with each cautious step I take
Unfamiliar paths unfolding as excitement blends with fear
All creation now enfolds me like the flock I hold so dear
As I wander down the quarry a familiar voice cries out
It’s my shepherd searching for me, reckless love has tracked me down
Though I left my place of refuge, he has fallowed all along
But I had to lose myself to find myself where I belong.
Prayer for Others (prepared by Paul Tonson)
Let us pray,
Today we rejoice in everything we have found:
We rejoice in the self-esteem we have found through being loved and being fruitful with our gifts.
So we pray for those we know who are struggling
to find intimate partners,
for those lacking the assurance that they are loveable,
for those wondering what they can contribute to others.
We rejoice in each community of friendship we have found that offers us comfort and challenge.
So we pray for those very near us who feel that they
don’t belong,
for those who feel overlooked by leaders or key people
in their communities,
for those who find church is uncomfortable.
We rejoice in our Lord Jesus who says we have to lose our selves in order to find salvation.
So we pray for wisdom to let go of easy answers
and second-hand beliefs
and to speak of faith in our own words
for courage to venture well outside the comfort zone of church life
for the motivation as a congregation and as individuals to live dangerously
through acts of faith.
Today we meditate and pray in solidarity with all who have lost home, lost hope, or lost the holy.
Let us recall a time walking or driving or being on the wrong bus when we found ourselves lost in unfamiliar territory …
So we pray for the 40 million refugees on all continents in the world
and for those asylum seekers incarcerated in Australia, that they will not lose hope.
Let us remember times when we lost our sense of direction in life and did not know how to face the future …
So we pray for our own neighbours and family members who are facing an uncertain future
that we may be for them a little candle shining a light to walk by.
Let us acknowledge how easily we lose our compassion for those who struggle.
So we pray that we may never look down on others
especially those who find it so much harder than we do to live a peaceful
and purposeful life.
Let us admit that sometimes our greatest sin is being lost in our own self-interest.
May the Spirit of the Holy within us impart the light of true wisdom,
to know what should be lost and what needs to found.
May a compelling vision of our Lord Jesus motivate and empower us to shape our lives in the pattern of his.
The Lord’s Prayer for today
Eternal and motivating Lord, who dwells in all that is good,
Let your name inspire awe and love.
May your vision of justice and peace shape the world,
Let your will guide every heart and every hand, on earth, as in the heavens above.
Grant us today the wisdom we need,
Forgive us the harm we’ve done, as we learn to forgive those who’ve harmed us.
Lead us away from paths of temptation, and protect us from what brings despair.
For yours is the true community, the transforming energy, and the enduring splendour,
forever and always.
Amen.
We Sing: “I will sing the wondrous story” – (TiS 233)
I will sign the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me,
how he left the realms of glory
for the cross on Calvary.
Yes, I’ll sing the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me,
sing it with his saints in glory,
gathered by the crystal sea.
I was lost: but Jesus found me,
found the sheep that went astray,
raised me up and gently led me
back into the narrow way.
Yes, I’ll sing the wondrous story of the Christ who died for me,
sing it with his saints in glory, gathered by the crystal sea.
He will keep me till the river rolls its waters at my feet:
then he’ll bear me safely over, where the loved ones I shall meet.
Yes, I’ll sing the wondrous story of the Christ who died for me,
sing it with his saints in glory, gathered by the crystal sea.
Blessing:
As you leave this place,
may you know that God is always seeking you,
and may you find God in every messy middle.
May you know that the world is bigger than two sides.
May you trust that you are made in the image of God.
May you move through this world with an open heart,
with a curious mind,
and with the confidence that you do not go alone.
The blessing of God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
the One God who Mother’s us all,
be with you.
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: Fig Tree Worship and Sanctified Art (Everything in Between). Poem written by Rev Sarah Speed.
Lost and Found song words written by Anna Strickland.
Where is the Green Sheep? Written by Mem Fox, Illustrated by Judy Horacek.