Koonung Heights Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Pentecost 2 – 7 June, 2026 – 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: Bless the Lord – 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:
As we come together to worship today,
we light this candle to help remind us
that God is always with us.
We are never alone for we are held always
in the light of God’s love,
and as this candle shines,
so God’s light shines in us for everyone to see.
Acknowledgement of Country:
This is God’s land and God’s Spirit dwells here.
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung
People of the Kulin nations,
traditional custodians of this land under God.
I pay my respects to elders past and present,
and to all future leaders and generations.
Call to Worship:
As Jesus was walking along,
he saw a man called Matthew
sitting at the tax booth;
and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’
And he got up and followed Him.
(Matthew 9:9)
We have come to follow you,
Jesus the Christ.
Getting up from our comfortable places
of complicity and complacency.
Hearing your call,
we have come to follow you
into the future you have for us.
We Sing: Here in this place – TiS 474
Here in this place new light is streaming, now is the darkness vanished away,
see, in this space, our fears and our dreamings,
brought here to you in the light of this day.
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken; gather us in, the blind and the lame;
call to us now, and we shall awaken, we shall arise at the sound of our name.
We are the young, are lives are a mystery; we are the old, who yearn for your face;
we have been sung throughout all of history,
called to be light to the whole human race.
Gather us in, the rich and the haughty; gather us in, the proud and the strong;
give us a heart so meek and so lowly, give us the courage to enter the song.
Here will take of the wine and water, here we will take the bread of new birth,
here you shall call your sons and your daughters,
call us anew to be salt of the earth.
Give us to drink the wine of compassion, give us to eat the bread that is you;
nourish us well, and teach us to fashion lives that are holy and hearts that are true.
Not in the dark of buildings confining, not in some heaven light years away,
but here in this space, the new light is shining,
now is the kingdom now is the day.
Gather us in and hold us forever; gather us in, and make us your own;
gather us in, all peoples together, fire of love in our flesh and our bone.
Prayer of Praise and Confession:
Loving God,
we thank and praise you, God of all that it, was and will be.
You bring life out of darkness.
You establish order where there is chaos.
You disturb us into hope with your persistent presence.
Our words of praise cannot measure your glory,
you continue to weave us into one people,
bound together in your outpouring love.
We thank and praise you, Jesus the Christ,
for coming to us, and calling to us,
inviting us to follow you.
The threads of our lives entwine with yours,
our stories meet and meld as you lift us up,
so that we might do the same for others.
We thank and praise you, Spirit of Life,
Advocate, Comforter, Sustainer,
for being alongside and unsettling us,
tipping us into truth, confronting us with questions,
and showering us with enthusiasm and hope.
Despite all this, we know that we take wrong turns
and fail to follow in the way of Jesus.
We harm others and ourselves,
and spoil the world in which we live.
We gladly receive your love and grace,
but often fail to show the same to others.
In the quiet we bring those things we have done, or not done,
that weigh heavy on our hearts, asking you to forgive us
and to set us free from the burdens of guilt, shame or regret.
(Time of silence)
Knowing the grace and love that you extend to us,
again we ask forgiveness
for those things we have done or not done,
those we have done knowingly
and those we are unaware of.
In Jesus’ name we bring our prayers,
Amen.
Words of Assurance:
Siblings in love,
there is nothing in all creation
that can separate us from the love of God
shown in Christ Jesus.
Hear then these words of faith:
our burdens are lifted, our sins are forgiven.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
A Time for All:
Today … a story. Rose meets Mr Wintergarten by written and illustrated by Bob Graham (London: Walker Books 2023).
This morning the Summers family moved into their new house, they felt at home. Faith and Rose put up their pictures. Baby Blossom watched. Mr and Mrs Summers planted pansies, petunias, daisies and geraniums. Their garden was a carpet of flowers. All before the sun went down.
Each morning from their roof of their house, the Summers watched the sun come up. The sun never touched the house next door. Next door, everything bristled. Next door lived Mr Wintergarten.
There were stories in the street about Mr Wintergarten. ‘He’s mean,’ said Emily. ‘And horrible,’ said Arthur. ‘He’s got a dog like a wolf,’ said Naomi. ‘And a saltwater crocodile.’ ‘They say he rides on his crocodile at night,’ said Emily. ‘And GETS YA!’ Arthur shrieked. ‘I don’t believe you,’ said Rose. ‘Anyway, don’t frighten Blossom.’
‘My dad lost his football over there when he was a boy,’ said Emily. ‘You can just see it through the prickles, old and flat as a pancake.’ ‘No one ever goes in there,’ said Arthur, ‘in case Mr Wintergarten eats them.’ ‘If your ball ever goes over,’ said Naomi, ‘forget it.’ And just then, Rose’s ball went straight over Mr Wintergarten’s fence!
Rose went to tell her mum. ‘Well, honeybunch,’ Mum said, ‘you can get your ball back. Why don’t you just go and ask him?’ ‘Because he eats kids,’ said Rose. ‘We’ll take him some hot cakes instead,’ said Mum. ‘And maybe some flowers.’ Mr Wintergarten’s front gate had not been opened for years. Rose heaved and pushed. The gate groaned and squeaked. Then it slowly swung open.
Rose could see that there was a dog – a dog as big as a wolf! ‘I can’t see any crocodile,’ she said. ‘I should hope not,’ replied Mum, and threw the dog a cake. Rose knocked at Mr Wintergarten’s door. ‘Who the devil is that?’ shouted a voice from inside. ‘It’s me,’ said Rose, and tiptoed in.
‘What do you want?’ said Mr Wintergarten. ‘I’m Rose Summers from next door. I’ve come to ask for my ball back.’ She twisted her fingers in her handkerchief. ‘I’ve brought some flowers, and hot fairy cakes from my mum.’ Mr Wintergarten glared at her.
His dinner was cold, grey and uninviting, with bits of gristle floating in it and mosquitoes breeding on top. But Rose could see that he wasn’t eating children. ‘Please may I look for my ball?’ she asked. ‘No,’ growled Mr Wintergarten. ‘Clear off!’ But when Rose had gone, Mr Wintergarten slowly pushed back his chair – and did something he hadn’t done in years … Mr Wintergarten opened his curtains.
He sat on his front step in the sun. ‘No one has ever asked for their ball back,’ he said to himself. ‘Or brought fairy cakes.’ He saw Rose’s ball and thoughtfully pushed it with his toe. Next he did some darting movements that make his coat-tails fly in the sun. And then Mr Wintergarten kicked the ball … right over the fence!
‘Good kick!’ said Rose. ‘Thank you,’ replied Mr Wintergarten. ‘Would someone mind throwing back my slipper?’ he added. ‘I will,’ said Rose. She threw his slipper high into the air. ‘Catch, Mr Wintergarten!’ Rose called. And Mr Wintergarten caught it.
We Sing: Refresh my heart – TiS 744
Refresh my heart, Lord, renew my love;
pour your Spirit into my soul refresh my heart.
You set me apart, Lord to make me new;
by your Spirit lift me up, Lord; refresh my heart,
and I will worship you, Lord, with all of my heart,
and I will follow you, Lord, refresh my heart,
and I will worship you, Lord, with all of my heart,
and I will follow you, Lord, refresh my heart.
Bible Reading: Genesis 12:1-9
– The Call of Abram
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot and all the possessions that they had gathered and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran, and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
Bible Reading: Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
– The Call of Matthew
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ 12 But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.’
– A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed
18 While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ 19 And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 20 Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, 21 for she was saying to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’
22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And the woman was made well from that moment. 23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, ‘Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 And the report of this spread through all of that district.
Reflection:
When I first read the texts that are set down for today, I couldn’t believe how well they seemed to fit with where we are at this moment. I wonder if it’s a God-cidence that we are hearing stories of call and interruption on a day when we are taking steps to journey into the new thing that we are each being called into. Genesis features Abram audaciously following God’s call to leave his home. In Matthew, Jesus abruptly calls a tax collector (Matthew) away from his secure, exploitative booth into an entirely new, unpredictable life. Jesus, too, is interrupted on his way to see the daughter of the synagogue leader.
Calls interrupt us, coming at times we might not expect, challenging us and inviting us to move out of the places we know and the things that are comfortable. Yet if we are willing to risk something and say ‘yes’ to God’s call, those things that seem unlikely, improbable and impossible can become reality, because of encounters that happen along the way. We see this in both the story the texts we have read. When Rose was brave enough to go and ask Mr Wintergarten for her ball back, I imagine it was just the beginning of transformation for Mr Wintergarten and the whole community.
Let’s begin with the story of God’s call to Abram. God says ‘go’ and Abram does. This obedience seems unlikely and improbable, particularly when Abram goes straight into the desert. Abram, after all, is not moving by himself. He is relocating with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, as well as enslaved people who have to move with him. There is no question of a sit-down family discussion prior to this move taking place. God tells Abram to go, and he goes, taking all these other people with him. The many silenced voices in this text need to be attended to. We don’t hear from Sarai or how she felt about moving, neither to we see God talking to Sarai about the promise God just made to Abram about a child. It seems Abram’s family gets ignored, a little like children who have to move because of a parent’s career or spouses that move for the others job: their stories can become something of a backdrop. Calls are costly.
In the gospel passage, the tax-collector Matthew is called by Jesus. For a well-paid tax collector, on the Roman payroll who is often accused by his countrymen of being a thief or a traitor, to stand up, quit his job, and become the disciple of a poor, itinerant, homeless rabbi is both unlikely and improbable. Despite his unpopularity, or maybe because of it, Jesus says ‘Follow me’ and Matthew does. His response is quick and clear.
A leader of the synagogue interrupts Jesus, and asks him to come and see his daughter who had died. For a synagogue leader to seek help from an itinerant rabbi who has been widely criticised by the leaders of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and a range of national church leaders is unlikely. Jesus responds to the man’s request and they begin to travel to his home. On the way they are interrupted by a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years. She has been already seen by every expert that she could afford and is completely healed by touching the fringe of Jesus’ cloak. This is seemingly improbable, but Jesus’ stops and restores more than her physical health, calling her daughter and acknowledging her faith. When reaching the synagogue leaders home, the dead girl is returned to life. Something completely impossible happens.
Of course these things happen because God is the God of miracles, but they also happened because of the faith of those who are prepared to step out. God blessed Abram because he had the faith to do the unlikely, to walk away from his community and follow God into the desert. An unlikely and improbable tax collector becomes one of Jesus’ disciples because he had the faith to talk away from the comfortable life that he had. A woman with an incurable disease was healed because she had the faith to seek out Jesus, fight through the crowd that surrounded him, reach out and touch the fringe of his cloak. A daughter of a respected synagogue leader was raised from the dead because that leader had courage and faith to rebel against the conventional wisdom of his peers and ask Jesus for help.
Things that seem unlikely, improbable and impossible, happen when people step out in faith. We read of them in the bible but they are not confined to those days. God still does unlikely, improbable and seeming impossible things in our lives, and the life of our church, when we are willing to step out in faith.
Are we willing to move away from our comfortable lives and follow into the desert or the unknown as Abram and Matthew did? Are we willing to fight the crowd to seek Jesus the way the bleeding woman did? Are we willing to defy the status quo and risk our reputation so that we can seek Jesus like the Synagogue leader did?
We often pray that God will do things that seem impossible. What if we were willing to risk what we have in order to receive the amazing gifts that God has for us? What if we were happy to be interrupted and led into interactions that enable healing, hope and new beginnings?
When God calls, and we answer, the results can be surprising. Communities of God still make a difference in the world, so take courage. May we be willing to step out in faith into the calling that God has for us, for even if we can’t see where we will end up, God will be with us on the journey.
Amen.
Prayer for Others (prepared by Margaret Lord):
We bring our prayers for the Church and for the World:
God of the time of Abraham and of today – we pray that like Abraham, we may have the courage to grasp the opportunities of new beginnings, however they present themselves. May we always have the courage to start anew, embodying hope for the future.
May the church always be open to being re-shaped more closely into the image of Jesus, as a place of steadfast love, justice, forgiveness, and hope.
May we, the people of this congregation commit ourselves to following in pathways of faithful worship and loving service, using wise words and actions, so that everything we do moves us closer to Jesus’ vision for the world. May we accept that there is often need for change and new beginnings along this path.
God of righteousness and justice. We pray for wisdom, integrity, and common sense for all those in positions of leadership in our country, and around the world. May they use the authority and power entrusted to them, not for self – interest, but to bring justice and mercy. May we, all the ordinary people of the world, sustain and support them in this work.
Seemingly against all odds, we pray for peace in the various troubled regions of the world, that there might be relief for those suffering from the effects of war, violence, division and discrimination. We pray for peacemakers everywhere.
When we ourselves, despite our comfortable lives, are sometimes feeling stressed out and stretched thin, inspire us to look beyond our comfort zones, reaching out to those on the edges of society, in our local area and beyond.
May we all strive to be good neighbours, involved citizens, and faithful stewards of the amazing world we inhabit and which the Psalmist reminds us, is “full of the steadfast love of the Lord”.
We remember in a moment of silence, particular people and situations that are on our hearts today. May there be courage, wisdom, compassion and patience where it is needed.
Today we pray especially for our Minister Heather Hon, and for Tony and Elizabeth. We give thanks for all they have given to this community. We surround them with our love as they move to Colac, beginning another chapter of their lives, which is sure to be full of fresh opportunities and challenges. We pray for blessings upon them all.
We bring these prayers through the urging of the Spirit who searches our hearts, and we commit ourselves to striving to be the answers to our own prayers.
In the name of the One who walked the way of love, Amen.
We Sing: Table of plenty – All Together All Right 665
Come to the feast of heaven and earth! Come to the table of plenty!
God will provide for all that we need, here at the table of plenty!
O come and sit at my table where saints and sinners are friends.
I wait to welcome the lost and lonely to share the cup of my love.
Come to the feast …
O come and eat without money; come to drink without price.
My feast of gladness will feed your Spirit with faith and fullness of life.
Come to the feast …
My bread will ever sustain you through days of sorrow and woe.
My wine will flow like a sea of kindness to flood the depths of your soul.
Come to the feast …
Your fields will flower in fullness; your homes will flourish in peace.
For I, the giver of home and harvest will send my rain on the soil.
Come to the feast …
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
God you have been with us since the beginning.
You have never left us or forsaken us.
You continually encourage and confirm us, holding us up to what we can be.
Even when we get it wrong, you invite us to new mountaintop moments
which affirm that we are your beloved.
Your patient grace is always with us, and your love and mercy know no bounds.
You became the Christ, and set an example in Word and deed
of a vision of who we can and could be and how things can and could be.
You proclaimed the Kingdom of God and shared it with us.
In the greatest act of compassion and grace,
you accepted our brokenness and let it break your body to death,
but not your love.
You died and took with you the way of death, but death did not win.
You rose in hope and healing to carry us into the future,
and when the time came you gifted us with your Spirit to go with us.
For all this we thank you,
joining 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.
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,
and may it remind you that you are loved. Amen.
(eat and drink)
Prayer after Communion:
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, your Son Jesus.
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: May the feet of God – TiS 779
May the feet of God walk with you,
and God’s hand hold you tight.
May the eye of God rest on you,
and his ear hear your cry.
May the smile of God be for you,
and her breath give you life.
May the Child of God grow in you,
and God’s love bring you home.
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, WorkingPreacher.com and PastorPartridge.com.
Story
Rose meets Mr Wintergarten by written and illustrated by Bob Graham (London: Walker Books 2023).