Koonung Heights – Surrey Hills Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Pentecost 12 – 31 August 2025 – 10am or whenever possible
Simply Sharing Sunday
Service led by the Social Justice Group
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: “What does the Lord require” – (TiS 618)
What does the Lord require
for praise and offering?
What sacrifice desire or tribute bid you bring?
Do justly; love mercy;
walk humbly with your God.
How shall or life fulfil
God’s law so hard and high?
Let Christ endue our will with grace to fortify.
Then justly, in mercy,
we’ll humbly walk with God.
Lighting the Christ Candle:
We light this candle
as a reminder that the light of Christ is always with us,
the light of God’s love enfolds us.
It is the light that the darkness cannot extinguish.
We know that Christ is with us.
Acknowledgement of Country:
As we meet to worship today,
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung People of the Kulin nation,
the first inhabitants and custodians of this place
from time beyond remembering.
I pay my respects to their elders, past and present
and all future generations.
I also remember and pay my respects
to those who have faithfully worshipped,
and shared their gifts and lives with us at Koonung Heights-Surrey Hills.
I pray the God of love will continue to speak to us all.
Call to Worship (words by Dorothy McRae McMahon):
We believe in God
who takes our smallest moment of hope
and grows it forth like a tree
with spreading branches
for the sheltering of new life.
We believe in Jesus Christ
who walks tall among us,
seen in our faces, felt in our hearts,
bedded deep in the longing of our souls
for all that is true, just and full of hope.
We believe in the Holy Spirit
who waits on our moments of openness
and springs into the unknowns with joy and delight,
that we may be called on
beyond where we thought we could go
where every step in walked on holy ground.
We Sing: “Love is the fulfilling” – (TiS 630)
The law of Christ alone can make us free, and love is the fulfilling of the law.
As children of our God we’re sisters, brothers;
but will God’s love to all the world be known
if we do not reflect his love to others? In charity and justice God is shown.
The law of Christ alone can make us free, and love is the fulfilling of the law.
Millions believe the law of life is cunning within a world of cruelty and greed;
how can they know God’s charity and justice
if helping hands have never reached their need?
The law of Christ alone can make us free, and love is the fulfilling of the law.
Christ is at work through us who are his body, he chooses us to witness and to teach,
to heal and raise and liberate and strengthen,
to be his hands and eyes, his heart and speech.
The law of Christ alone can make us free, and love is the fulfilling of the law.
There is no promise that we shall not suffer,
no promise that we shall not need to fight;
only the word that love is our redemption
and freedom comes by turning to the light.
The law of Christ alone can make us free, and love is the fulfilling of the law.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession:
God of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar,
God of travellers, migrants and refugees.
Thank you for the beauty and uniqueness
of this southern land which we share.
Grant your protection and grace
to all who shelter here.
Forgive the racism and destruction
that have been part of our history,
and our disregard for the pain and oppression
within the Australian community today.
Help us shed our provincial expectations.
Take away our cultural tunnel vision.
Open our hearts to be caring neighbours to each other.
Direct our lives to just and peaceful action.
God of a thousand faces, help us also to acknowledge you are worshipped
in many languages, in different songs and rhythms of life from our own.
May we respect these religious insights in each other
and assist each faithful expression of you.
We rejoice in you, God, in whose image we are brothers and sisters
and by whose example in Jesus Christ
we know the breadth and depth of your universal love.
Amen.
Words of Assurance:
Whatever we have done or left undone,
nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Our sins are forgiven.
Thanks be to God.
The Peace:
The peace of the Lord be always with you …
and also with you.
Time for All: Daria
This morning I’d like to share with you a letter, written by a fifteen-year-old girl, who is a refugee from Ukraine. Her name is Daria. Before the war, she led a happy teenage life. Everything changed when her neighbourhood in Odesa was bombed.
Daria, her mother, Olga, and her younger brother, Sergey, fled their home, becoming refugees.
Eventually, they found shelter at a University dorm in the capital city of Moldova, Chișinău. Their lives are difficult, and completely different to the lives they knew.
Daria wrote this letter to other teenagers, but I think it has a message for everyone. She urges us to enjoy what we have and not to waste time worrying about things that aren’t really important.
Daria writes:
Dear friend,
Before the war I had a lot of friends. We used to go out, do homework together, go to each other’s houses for tea and just have fun. My biggest problems back then had to do with my studies, or arguments with my friends and parents. I realise now I didn’t have any serious problems, I just worried about little things.
We left the day after the explosions started. When I first heard them, I was sleeping. I thought someone was trying to wake me up to go to school. Instead, my mum told me to pack my stuff fast.
I took a few things with me like shampoo and a pillow. I also took a toy with me – a small giraffe. I never really thought about refugees before, because it was never something I thought might happen to us. I never imagined I would experience war and find myself in this situation.
For me, being a refugee means having problems finding food, a place to stay and clothes. It also means having psychological problems. I’m sure I’ll have bad memories of what’s happened, even if I don’t want to remember.
My advice to kids in other countries is to appreciate the time they have now, the quiet and the peace they live in, and the joy of their family and friends. Don’t worry about the little problems in life – just try to appreciate what you have.
Yours sincerely,
Daria.
Let us pray:
Dear God, we pray for refugees like Daria and her family, who are living daily with problems we can’t even imagine. Lead us, and our governments, to be generous and compassionate.
We pray for peace, so that people won’t have to flee their homes and live the difficult lives of refugees.
Help us to deeply appreciate the good things in our lives, such as peace and joy, family, friends and community. Give us grateful hearts that thank you daily for your blessings.
Teach us to share and guide us to love one another as you desire us to.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
We Sing: “When I needed a neighbour” – (TiS 629)
When I needed a neighbour, were you there, were you there?
When I needed a neighbour, were you there?
And the creed and the colour and the name won’t matter, were you there?
I was hungry and thirsty, were you there, were you there?
I was hungry and thirsty, were you there?
And the creed and the colour …
When I needed a shelter, were you there, were you there?
When I needed a shelter, were you there?
And the creed and the colour …
Wherever you travel, I’ll be there, I’ll be there,
wherever you travel, I’ll be there.
And the creed and the colour and the name won’t matter, I’ll be there.
Bible Reading: Leviticus 19:33-34
33 When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Bible Reading: Matthew 25:31-45
– The Judgement of the Nations
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
Reflection:
Guest Speaker: Lauren Daly.
We Sing: “Beauty for brokenness” – (TiS 690)
Beauty for brokenness, hope for despair,
Lord, in the suffering, this is our prayer.
Bread for the children, justice, joy, peace,
sunrise to sunset your kingdom increase.
Shelter for fragile lives, cures for their ills,
work for the craftsmen, trade for their skills;
land for the dispossessed, rights for the weak;
voices to plead the cause of those who can’t speak.
God of the poor, friend of the weak, give us compassion we pray;
melt our cold hearts, let tears fall like rain.
Come change our love from a spark to a flame.
Refuge from cruel wars, havens from fear,
cities for sanctuary, freedoms to share,
peace to the killing-fields, scorched earth to green;
Christ for the bitterness, his cross for the pain.
Rest for the ravaged earth, oceans and streams,
plundered and poisoned, our future, our dreams.
Lord, end our madness, carelessness, greed;
make us content with the things that we need.
God of the poor …
Lighten our darkness, breathe on this flame
until your justice burns brightly again;
until the nations learn of your ways
seek your salvation and bring you their praise.
God of the poor …
Prayer for Others (prepared by Paul Tonson):
Through our prayers today, we express solidarity with refugees worldwide and nearby and pray for justice in their lives.
We pray for the refugees of this world.
We pray for refugee agencies and their personnel.
We pray for refugees within our own society.
We pray for ourselves in solidarity with refugees and all who struggle.
The Lord’s prayer in fresh words:
Eternal Spirit, source of all that is and ever shall be,
Loving Parent source of all that is holy,
May the sense of your presence inspire all peoples,
and generate a commonwealth of peace and freedom on earth.
May all humanity heed the prophets call to justice and compassion.
May we find the bread that we need for today.
For the hurts we cause on one another,
may we be forgiven in the same measure that we forgive.
In times of trial and temptation, may our integrity win through.
When life seems overwhelming, may our courage enable us to endure.
May your Spirit empower our love to bring reconciliation in every place.
Amen.
We Sing: “Lord let me see” – (TiS 681)
Lord let me see, see more and more,
see the beauty of a person,
not the colour of the skin,
see the faces of the homeless
with no-one to take them in,
see discouragement
because she’ll never win:
see the face of our Lord in the pain:
Lord, let me see.
Lord let me hear, hear more and more,
hear the sounds of great rejoicing, hear a person barely sigh;
hear the ring of truth, and hollowness of those who live a lie;
hear the wail of starving people who will die;
hear the voice of our Lord in the cry: Lord let me hear.
Lord let me care, care more and more,
care for those who feel the loneliness, for those who have no say,
care for friends who have no job and find it hard to face the day,
care for those with whom we sing and work and pray:
and in care Jesus Christ will be found: Lord let me care.
Lord let me learn, learn more and more,
learn that what I know is just a speck of what there is to know;
learn from listening to my neighbour when I’d rather speak and go;
learn that as we live in faith and trust we grow;
learn to see, hear and care, with our Lord: Lord let me learn.
Lord let me love, love more and more,
love the loveless and the fragile, help them be what they can be,
love the way that I would like them to be looking after me;
for to know you is to love them and be free,
and in love Jesus Christ will be found: Lord let me love.
Blessing and Sending (from the Sabeel Center):
Almighty and merciful God,
whose Son became a refugee and had no place to call his own;
look with mercy on those who today are fleeing from danger, homeless and hungry.
Bless those who work to bring them relief;
inspire generosity and compassion in all our hearts;
and guide the nations of the world towards that day
when all will rejoice in your commonwealth of justice and of peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Thanks to Rose Kentwell and Peta Lowe who have prepared this liturgy.