Koonung Heights Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Pentecost 13 – 18 August 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.
Introit: “Holy, Holy, Holy” – (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:
Jesus is the light of the world
the One who brings love and peace to everyone.
As we light this candle,
may we remember that Jesus is always with us.
Acknowledgement of Country:
As we worship today,
I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians
of these unceded lands and waters,
the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung People
of the Kulin Nations.
I pay my respects to Elders, past and present,
and to all future generations.
As First and Second Peoples walking together,
we commit ourselves to be people of the covenant,
listening, truth-telling and seeking justice for all.
Call to Worship:
Beloved of Christ,
we gather today in the presence of our loving God,
who calls us from every corner of creation
to celebrate and worship.
Today we come together not as separate threads,
but as a vibrant tapestry
woven by the hands of our creator.
We come to worship God,
the Weaver of all life,
who brings us together in love and unity.
In this sacred moment,
we are reminded of our call, to weave Christ’s love
across cultures and boundaries,
creating a fabric of hope and compassion.
We have come to worship God,
the Giver of Grace,
who empowers us to be
instruments of peace and reconciliation.
Come let us worship God,
and let the threads of our lives be woven together
into the beautiful tapestry of God’s love and grace.
We Sing: “Sing praise to the Lord!” – (TiS 96)
Sing praise to the Lord! Praise God in the height;
rejoice in God’s word, you angels of light;
all heaven adore him by whom you were made,
and worship before him in brightness arrayed.
Sing praise to the Lord! Praise God upon earth,
in tuneful accord sing praise for new birth;
praise God who has brought you all grace from above,
praise God who has taught you to sing of this love.
Sing praise to the Lord! Thanksgiving and song
to God be outpoured all ages along;
for love in creation, for heaven restored,
for grace of salvation, sing praise to our God!
Prayer of Adoration and Confession:
Amazing God,
your power is matched by your gentleness,
and your wisdom is matched by your willingness
to take the most outrageous of risks
in the interests of love.
We give thanks for the tiny fragments
we have come to know and understand of your ways,
and we stand in awe of all there is yet to discover.
God of wisdom,
we come to you as ordinary people.
We come seeking wisdom.
We come offering ourselves,
knowing our need of you.
We know we have not always been wise
in our care for other people.
We shut our eyes
to those who need shelter, clothing and food.
In our care for the world
we have taken the gifts of creation for granted.
In our faithfulness to you
we have often thought more of ourselves.
So we come asking for forgiveness,
offering our regrets,
our impulsiveness,
our forgetfulness,
and our failure to live up to our desire
to follow the ways of your Son,
our example, Jesus the Christ.
We come asking all this,
knowing that you hear us,
love us and forgive us,
in Christ, through Christ and because of Christ,
in whose name we pray.
Amen.
(partly adapted from Uniting in Worship 2)
Words of Assurance:
Out of our lives laced
with foolish mistakes and unwise choices,
God is able to weave a tapestry of grace,
forgiveness and healing.
God is for us all.
God has fed us with the healing bread of life.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
© Thom Shuman
We Sing: “Jesus put this song into our hearts” – (TiS 670)
Jesus put this song into our hearts,
Jesus put this song into our hearts,
it’s a song of joy no-one can take away:
Jesus put this song into our hearts.
Jesus taught us how to live in harmony,
Jesus taught us how to live in harmony;
different faces, different races, he made us one:
Jesus taught us how to live in harmony.
Jesus taught us how to be a family,
Jesus taught us how to be a family,
loving one another with the love that he gives:
Jesus taught us how to be a family.
Jesus turned our sorrow into dancing,
Jesus turned our sorrow into dancing,
changed our tears of sadness into rivers of joy:
Jesus turned our sorrow into a dance.
The Peace:
God makes peace within us – let us claim it.
God makes peace between us – let us share it.
The peace of God is here … to stay.
Thanks be to God.
© Rex A E Hunt
A Time for All: Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF)
(prepared by Peta Lowe)
It was the mid-1940’s, post-World War Two, when the idea of launching a Christian air service, to help isolated people in need, came to fruition.
Two of the founding fathers, Jack Hemmings and Stuart King, flew from England to make the inaugural survey flight across central Africa, guided solely by a map and compass, and using the Nile River as their key point of reference on the ground.
Over ten months, they visited more than 100 remote mission outposts across central Africa, highlighting the urgent need for airstrips to support isolated communities. Their efforts laid the foundations for small planes to safely transport essential supplies, medical aid and personnel, significantly reducing travel hardships where there were no roads.
In February 1946, twenty-five year old Betty Greene became MAF’s first pilot. Ove the next sixteen years she flew in twelve countries and landed in approximately twenty more, later working in MAF headquarters.
Today, MAF serves in twenty-nine countries, including Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Papua and remote inland Australia. MAF flies 117 aircraft and has 1,400 staff.
MAF serve as air ambulances, responding to accidents, disease, disasters and childbirth complications. The crews transport patients, medical personnel, medicines and vaccines.
MAF’s Disaster Response Team ensures swift, coordinated aid in natural disasters, medical epidemics, conflicts or famine. Their readiness and efficiency, supporting governments, NGO’s and churches, play a vital role in saving lives.
MAF deliver food to isolated areas, and assist communities in transporting food for trade, thus contributing to improved livelihoods and economic sustainability.
MAF transport tools and building supplies to construction and infrastructure projects in isolated communities.
They facilitate education, by transporting students, teachers and essential school materials in remote and inaccessible areas. They help to spread the hope of the Gospel by making it possible for missionaries and local evangelists to reach remote communities, aiding indigenous church workers in isolated villages, as well as their work with skills training, Bible translation and distribution.
All this important work costs money. We can help by making tax-deductible donations to buy fuel for MAF’s planes. Our contributions can help MAF to save lives, spread hope, facilitate education and improve the lives of people in isolated communities.
Let us pray:
Loving God,
We thank you for the work of Mission Aviation Fellowship,
and for all those who work to serving isolated people.
We tend to think of flying as a luxury, but for many it is a lifeline.
We thank you for the pilots and other dedicated staff of MAF
who enable people to access the essential of life
as well as medical care, emergency food, and Christian hope.
As the Fuel for Father’s Day Campaign begins this year,
we ask that MAF will continue to be provided with all that they need
to carry on this important work.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
Bible Reading: Psalm 111
– Praise for God’s Wonderful Works
1 Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright,
in the congregation.
2 Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them.
3 Full of honour and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds;
the Lord is gracious and merciful.
5 He provides food for those who fear him;
he is ever mindful of his covenant.
6 He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the heritage of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy.
8 They are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
9 He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever.
Bible Reading: Ephesians 5:15-20
15 Be careful, then, how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Reflection:
A story is told of a proud young man who once approached Socrates, the fourth century philosopher, and asked him for wisdom. Socrates, recognizing the young man’s arrogance, led him to the sea and walked with him till they were chest-deep into the water. Then he asked him, “What did you say you wanted?” “Wisdom, O great Socrates,” said the young man. Socrates pushed him under the water and held him there for a few seconds. When he let him up, he asked him again, “What do you want?” “Wisdom,” the young man replied. Socrates pushed him under the water again, this time holding him down for a little longer. When he let him up, he asked him once more, “What do you want?” “Air!” the young man gasped. “I need air!”. Socrates then said to him, “When you want wisdom as much as you just wanted air, then you will find it.”[1]
The young man in this story was probably looking for a nice, quick solution to acquiring wisdom. He didn’t imagine that wisdom may not come as easily as he thought, but it seems that through his encounter with Socrates, he learned that he would find wisdom when it became vital to his survival … just like the air that he needed to breathe. We desire wisdom for ourselves too, and while we might not believe wisdom is something we can just ask for, it is certainly something that we value. When we don’t feel wise enough to make an important decision on our own we might seek the wisdom of a trusted friend, and while knowledge does not equal wisdom, we can even pay money to an expert in the area where we require help.
Wisdom features in both of the readings we have heard this week, and they say something significantly different about wisdom than we might usually hear. Wisdom is defined as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement. This seems a fairly good place to start, but our readings bring in an extra dimension.
Psalm 111 is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving, written in the acrostic style where the first line begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the second line with the second letter of the alphabet, and so on. Written this way, it was a perfect song for worship, and within it, the psalmist extols the wholeness of God and God’s work in the world, describing wonderful deeds, provision of food, and naming God’s faithfulness. In verse 9 we read, ‘he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name.’ God’s covenant and God’s name are foundational traditions of ancient Israel, and it is upon these that the community may depend for its future as God’s people.
The only appropriate response of the worshipper to this ‘holy and awesome’ God is to ‘fear the Lord’ (Psalm 111:10) which, according to the psalmist, is the beginning of wisdom. In the twenty-first century we tend to associate fear with something scary, something we want to get away from or avoid because we think it will harm us. Yet if ‘the fear of the Lord’ is the beginning of wisdom’, then surely it must be a positive thing. In the Hebrew Bible the word ‘fear’ (yara) is a synonym for ‘love’, ‘cling to’ and ‘serve’. While it is powerful in meaning, it is more about being in the presence of the holy other with cautious reverence than it is about the sweaty-palmed, shaking, gasping for breath of fear.
In his letter to Ephesians, Paul has been encouraging the readers to live out their lives according to their new identities in Christ. It is one of the key themes of Ephesians; the foundation for living well is in understanding what God has done for us in Jesus, and living well is our appropriate response to that. Much of Paul’s audience would have come out of the Greek culture where wisdom was highly valued, so Paul appeals to these sensibilities by saying that not living the lives we are called to live in Christ is an act of foolishness. In fact the passage opens with ‘be careful, then, how you live’ (Ephesians 5:15) but this reads more as play close attention to how you live, keeping alert so that you can live wisely.
So then, how are we to live wisely? What does it mean for us? Paul sets out an argument for how the congregation are to live which points us as to how we might live as the church today. Society often sees the church as being judgmental and critical, and at times hypocritical, as it points out moral failings which it has also displayed. As a church we are called to build bridges to our communities, rather than barricades, so that they can see the love of Christ. This does not mean that we need to soften our beliefs, but rather we need to realise that we are not a privileged people, but a people called to imitate God in our lives. Imitating God is living in love.
We are called to make the most of every opportunity, to recognise the call of God’s time and to engage fully in worship through enacting God’s love. We need to be alert to what is happening around us in the world and be joyful witnesses of what life in Christ can be. Our lives should reflect back to the world that same love that we have received from God.
Paul singles out drunkenness as one behaviour that is foolish to exhibit. While we cannot be sure why he picked this, it is probably because it was a contrast that could be easily understood by his readers. When someone is drunk, they are under the influence of a substance that alters their behaviours and perception, leading then to do things they probably would not have done without alcohol. For Paul, being filled with the Spirit means that we are under the influence of God. This will change our perception of things and we will not be the same people that we once were, for now we will do and say things that reflect the love of God. Being drunk on alcohol can give the illusion of joy and peace but leads to bad behaviour and negative consequences. Being drunk on the Spirit enables us to exhibit true peace and joy … as well as not leaving us with a hangover.
When we live wisely, we are led towards gratitude. We thank and praise God, recognising all that God does for us. We do this together, as we gather to worship, and individually. Living wisely in the will of God is both profoundly personal and also entirely corporate and we need both. As church we are called to be the forerunner of what God calls all of humanity too … and it’s a tall order.
Mitch Albom wrote the bestseller, Tuesdays With Morrie. The book is a series of discussions that Mitch had with his old university professor, Morrie Schwartz, who is dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease. In one of his discussions, Morrie turns to Mitch and says, “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
As people of faith we have died to the lives we had prior to Christ and we have the opportunity to really live in a new way. As we live wisely we will look for the opportunities that God places before us to show the beauty and love of God, and exhibit the wisdom of the One who came to bring us this life. As we celebrate this life together, we encourage one another, and the church has the capacity to catch the attention of a world that is dying to witness true joy and peace. Let us exhibit the wisdom of a life well lived.
Amen.
We Sing: “Be Thou my vision” – (TiS 547)
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
naught be all else to me, save that thou art
thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;
thou my great Father, thy child let me be;
thou in me dwelling, and I one with thee.
High King of heaven, after victory won,
may I reach heaven’s joy, O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O ruler of all.
Prayer for Others (prepared by Wendy & Graham Ray)
Let us pray,
Loving God, our light and salvation.
You are the stronghold of our life.
We place our trust in You.
We owe you so much,
and we give you thanks for our many blessings.
Your love and commitment sustain us.
We take courage from seeing your goodness.
But this is a world where some people struggle.
We pray for those who are: depressed, confused,
weary, anxious or lonely.
Give them courage.
We pray for the wider world: our Pacific neighbours, children in poverty, people at war, and countries divided by political turmoil.
At this time, we particularly pray for all those affected by the conflict in the Middle East.
Our hearts go out to all those involved.
Give them courage and hope, and right now, we send our prayers of love and support.
We pray for our church, here and around the world.
May there be unity, enthusiasm, determination and a real sense of purpose.
May all religious communities, be confident and strengthened to pursue their aims of love and justice for all.
We pray for ourselves and those whom we know.
Guide, strengthen and reassure us.
In a moment of prayerful silence, we bring before you what is on our hearts this morning … (time of silence)
At this time, trusting in God, may we walk with Jesus, with strength and determination.
We pray that when we walk in his footsteps, we will be an example to others, and this world will be a better place.
Let us now say the Lord’s prayer together …
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.
We Sing: “Jesus Christ is waiting” – (TiS 665)
Jesus Christ is waiting, waiting in the streets;
no-one is his neighbour, all alone he eats.
Listen, Lord Jesus, I am lonely too.
Make me, friend or stranger, fit to wait on you.
Jesus Christ is raging, raging in the streets,
where injustice spirals and real hope retreats.
Listen, Lord Jesus, I am angry too.
In the Kingdom’s causes let me rage with you.
Jesus Christ is healing, healing in the streets;
curing those who suffer, touching those he greets.
Listen, Lord Jesus, I have pity too.
Let my care be active, healing just like you.
Jesus Christ is dancing, dancing in the streets,
where each sign of hatred he, with love, defeats.
Listen, Lord Jesus, I should triumph too.
Where good conquers evil, let me dance with you.
Jesus Christ is calling, calling in the streets,
‘Who will join my journey? I will guide their feet.’
Listen, Lord Jesus, let my fears be few.
Walk one step before me; I will follow you.
Blessing:
May we be wise in the wisdom of God,
thinking before we speak or act.
May we have understanding minds
and discerning hearts
to hear God’s call and respond,
sharing his love and peace.
May God the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer,
One in Three, Three in One,
go with you,
and be with you every step of the journey.
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: Ministry Matters, www.laughingbird.net, Uniting in Worship 2 By the Well Podcast and The Fig Tree Worship Resource.
[1] Wisdom: Air to a drowning Man – Cam Taylor