Koonung Heights Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
River Sunday – 24 September 2023 – 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: “Like a Rock” (Seasons of the Spirit – words below)
Like a rock, like a rock God is under our feet,
Like the starry night sky God is over our head,
Like the sun on the horizon God is ever before
Like the river runs to ocean, our home is in God evermore.
Candle Lighting:
As we come together to worship this day
we light the Christ candle,
as a symbol of the light of Christ,
the light that cannot be extinguished.
As the river flows freely,
may God’s spirit flow freely through us –
inwards to encourage and uplift,
and outwards as a sign the world can see.
Acknowledgement of Country:
I would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung
People of the Kulin nation,
and pay my respects to their elders, past and present,
and all future generations and leaders.
Like the water, the flow of life ripples,
finding cracks and crevices,
glistening and sparkling with promise.
May we reach out to God and one another
as a covenant people,
bound by the Spirit of God
which flows with abundant life.
© A Koh-Butler, 2017 (adapted)
Call to Worship:
Let us celebrate –
the Creator-borne promise of grace:
“I will remember my covenant
that is between me and you
and every living creature of all flesh;
and the waters shall never again
become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
We give thanks for the Creator’s new beginnings!
Let us celebrate –
the Spirit-borne promise of renewal:
“When you send forth your Spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.”
We give thanks for the Spirit who renews and transforms!
Let us celebrate –
the Christ-borne call to vocation:
“Do not be afraid … come and see …
go and tell … Christ is going ahead of you.”
We give thanks for the Christ who leads!
We Sing: “Glory to God” – (TiS 94 – words below)
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, compliment 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 se 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 word.
O sing hallelujah and praise God for ever, evermore!
Call to prayer:
When we gather together
we remember that God wants us to be recreated,
and experience abundant life.
Like the rivers that bring life to the surrounding country
God invites us to experience abundant life.
We are watering our plant every week
to remind ourselves of God’s recreation,
recognising that we are loved as we are
and acknowledging God’s hopes for us.
So, let us come before God in prayer.
Let us pray.
Prayer of Praise and Confession:
In holy presence we gather:
moving into the waters of God –
deep silent pools, loud rushing rapids,
strong steady rivers –
as those whose life flows from God.
We lift our voice with the voice of rivers:
acknowledging many sources,
seeking outlets for sharing our gifts,
borne up by the current of Spirit toward hope.
We listen with the waters
for covenanted words and signs,
that we may trust and work toward
God’s promises with courage freed from fear.
In holy presence,
immersed in holy waters,
we gather to worship.
Our bodies, so science tells us, are mostly water.
Our planet, as we can see on a globe, is mostly water.
Water is life, and life is water.
Thank you, God, for water’s gift.
Earth’s waters form the core of one of our sacraments,
yet, so often, we pollute water,
or squander its gift so there is not enough for some.
This is what we have done, too often, to water.
Forgive us, God, for water’s abuse.
In parched land, water may restore life.
In treatment plants, water may be restored.
There is hope.
There is,
in God and in one another’s care-taking,
the possibility of water, and lives, healed.
Let healing and restoration be our aim,
even as it is our very source and hope of life in Christ.
Let your river-ed Spirit flow, God,
in water’s healing and in creation’s renewal.
Amen.
Words of Assurance:
As we water our plant,
hear that in God we are a new creation.
God sends the Spirit on us
and the whole creation is renewed.
This is good news … thanks be to God.
The Peace – A Celtic Prayer:
Deep peace of the running wave to you,
of water flowing, rising and falling,
sometimes advancing, sometimes receding.
May the stream of your life flow unimpeded!
Deep peace of the Creator of the running wave be with you …
and also with you.
We Sing: “The heavens shall declare” – (TiS 746 – words below)
The heavens shall declare the glory of his name,
all creation bow at the coming of the King;
every eye shall see, every heart will know,
every knee shall bow, every tongue confess:
holy, holy, holy is the Lord;
see the coming of the King; holy is the Lord.
A Time for All:
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
These words open Chapter 22 of Revelation, one of the readings listed for this week. As we listen to the words, we witness streams of life-giving water flowing through the city and out onto the fertile plains, bringing life and healing. We know that rivers and water courses are important sources of life, but unless we live on a river and our life is impacted by its ebbs and flows, our head knowledge remains just that. Let’s listen to Aunty Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, 2021 Senior Australian of the Year, as she reflects a little on being a person of the river.
Aunty Miriam Rose says … ‘Dadirri recognises the deep spring that is inside us. When I experience dadirri, I am made whole again.’ These words resonate with me. In fact they might be how I explain God’s spirit living within me. God’s Spirit is what refreshes me and what enables me to feel whole irrespective of what else is happening. It is knowing that I am somehow infused by something greater than myself. Is that how it is for you?
Let us pray …
Loving God,
Today we thank you for the rivers that flow.
We thank you that they are places of refreshment,
recreation and renewal.
We thank you, too, for the gift of your Spirit that flows through us,
bringing renewal and refreshment to us.
Amen.
Bible Reading: Psalm 104:27-33
27 These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
Bible Reading: John 4:1-15 –
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria
1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” 2 (although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized), 3 he left Judea and started back to Galilee. 4 But he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Reflection:
Throughout this Season of Creation we have reflected on Forest, Land, Wilderness and Outback and, today, we are thinking through the lens of River and Water. I wonder what image might come to mind for you when you think of rivers. Do you envisage a place of relaxation? Do you see amazing beauty? Do you think of a life-giving ecosystem where plants, birds and animals live together? Maybe river means home to you? Or it could be that you’ve had a frightening experience and so for you river evokes feelings of danger? Maybe, you think of rivers as sources of irrigation or a means of transport?
Water and rivers of life are strong images in the Scriptures. The ocean and large bodies of water are often signs of chaos and fear. The Red Sea is an obstacle for the Israelites to cross, and the story of Noah reminds us that too much water can be destructive. We have seen that destruction in our own country and more recently in the reports covering the devastation from flooding in Libya. Yet we know that water is also live-giving. The necessity of fresh water for life is emphasised again and again. In Psalm 23, we are told that the Lord will lead us to still waters, restoring our souls.
Today’s readings speak to the flow of life and explore the ways that God renews creation through the healing gift of Spirit as expressed in waters and rivers. In the Psalm we hear of the fruit that comes from life-giving water and the open hand that fills all creatures with good things. The psalmists response is to praise God ‘while I have my being’. When Jesus meets the Samaritan woman, someone he could have ignored, he speaks of the life-giving water that is available, and promises that she (an enemy of his people and an outsider) can have access to such water.
In the Psalm, God is celebrated not only as creator, but also as the one who provides and sustains. ‘Food’ and ‘good things for all’ come from God’s care. Food is a basic necessity of life, as is the air or breath or spirit. Human beings breathe about once every five seconds. On the one hand, respiration (that is, re-spiriting) can be understood as a natural process, but for the psalmist the breath of life is a divine gift. This breath or spirit is poured out and is life-giving water to all of creation. As part of creation, our existence and the ongoing existence of the world are grounded in God’s commitment to and enjoyment of life. Imagine what difference it might make if we viewed every bite of food we eat and every breath we take not simply as natural processes, but also as gifts. We would be a lot more inclined to gratitude and humility, and I dare-say, care of the world around us!
The psalmist goes on to say that in response to God’s care and provision, he will praise God for as long as he has breath. In fact this seems to be the only adequate response and the psalmist cannot keep from singing as he celebrates life as a gift from God. I wonder whether we love and enjoy the world as much as God does? Surely if we did then we would work to serve and preserve the world, rather than expecting that it should serve us.
We all know that we need water to survive – in fact as humans our bodies are, on average, 60% water. We know that we should drink water every day, and in today’s gospel passage it is this need for water that brings the Samaritan woman face to face with Jesus. She is an ordinary woman, going about a necessary daily task when she encounters Jesus. Jesus is tired from his journey and sitting near the well when the Samaritan woman shows up. She has come to draw water and Jesus asks her for a drink. It seems that he has nothing to draw water for himself, and what follows is a conversation in which Jesus offers’ this woman life-giving water that will become in her ‘a spring of water gushing up to eternal life’. Again we have the life-giving gift of God being offered freely. Like many of us, God comes to this woman when she isn’t looking. It seems to me that God often finds us when we are minding our own business and going about the tasks of everyday life. God meets us in the ordinary places … when we are standing at the sink, taking the dog for a walk or doing the shopping. When we least expect it God shows up and sometimes, this moves us from minding our own business to being engaged in God’s business.
On the surface this woman has a lot going against her. Firstly she’s a woman and secondly she’s a Samaritan (an outsider). If you read more of her story you will discover that she’s also had a difficult life. Yet despite all this, wrong gender, wrong race (and possibly wrong morals) Jesus engages with her and offers her living water. On an ordinary week day as she goes to draw water for her family, she encounters Jesus. What’s more, because Jesus encounters her, and because she is prepared to listen, she is taught some of Jesus’ most complex teaching. As Jesus shares about the living water she claims some for herself.
If you were to read further, you would see that she ends up running home to tell others about Jesus – she becomes involved in God’s business – something she would never have imagined when she left home to collect a bucket of water. She tells others and invites them to come and see. Her response flows out of her, just like praise flows from the mouth of the psalmist. Her encounter with Jesus is life-giving and her invitation to others allows them to also partake in the living water.
These readings remind us of God’s wonderful life-giving gift of the water and the spirit – one flowing to sustain life and the other offering the promise of eternal life. Our response should be one of praise, and surely if we praise God for these good gifts, we should treat them with the care they deserve, for the gift of life is not for us alone, but all creation.
We can also do some of what Jesus did. We can encounter and take seriously those who society expects we will ignore. We can look out for those we would normally dismiss. When we have the courage to do this, they might have the courage to listen, and when we are all open to the possibilities, maybe some more of the living water will start to flow.
Amen.
We Sing: “I heard the voice of Jesus say” – (TiS 585 – words below)
I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Come unto me and rest;
lay down, O weary one, lay down your head upon my breast.’
I came to Jesus as I was, so weary and worn and sad;
I found in him a resting place, and he has made me glad.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Behold, I freely give
the living water, thirsty one, stoop down and drink and live.’
I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream;
my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in him.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘I am this dark world’s light;
look unto me, your morn shall rise, and all your day be bright.’
I looked to Jesus, and I found in him my stay, my sun;
and in that light of life I’ll walk till travelling days are done.
Prayer for Others:
Let us pray …
Creating God,
we bring before you the prayers of your people.
May you walk beside us each day,
filling our lives and the Church with your Spirit,
so that what flows into us,
overflows into your world.
We pray for the Uniting Church as we go through the process of Act2,
may we listen for your voice as we listen to your people.
God of love and peace –
hear our prayer.
We pray for the world, facing disasters of fires and melting icecaps,
islands of rubbish that fill the oceans, and disappearing species.
Let us be guided towards answers and solutions to save the world for future generations.
God of love and peace –
hear our prayer.
We pray for the leaders of the world;
may they listen to your wisdom and be filled with your mercy.
We ask that they may take action against the exploitation of the earth and its resources,
against slavery and trafficking of people,
and that they may put an end to war in Ukraine.
May all leaders work to help victims of earthquakes, fires, floods and drought,
as well as economic disasters that plague their countries.
God of love and peace –
hear our prayer.
We pray for all who experience suffering, war and poverty,
displacement and hunger, pain and loss.
We remember those who are struggling financially
to provide homes and food for their families.
Let there be healing and let there be hope.
God of love and peace –
hear our prayer.
We pray for our country as the referendum draws close,
and we ask that our conversations may be respectful.
We pray for our families, our friends and ourselves.
Keep us in your loving care and fill us with your peace.
Hear us now as we join with Christians around the world,
praying the prayer that Jesus taught us …
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: “Guide me, O my great Redeemer” – (TiS 569 – amended words below)
Guide me, O my great Redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but you are mighty; hold me with your powerful hand:
bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore,
feed me now and evermore.
Open now the crystal fountain where the living waters flow:
let the fiery, cloudy pillar, lead me all my journey through:
strong deliverer, strong deliverer, be now still my strength and shield,
be now still my strength and shield.
When I tread the verge of Jordan bid my anxious fears subside;
death of death, and hell’s destruction, land me safe on Canaan’s side:
songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever give to thee,
I will ever give to thee.
Blessing:
As we leave this time of worship:
may you flow like a river from God,
whose waters bring healing
and embrace the hope of the future.
The blessing of the Creating God,
Redeeming Christ and Companioning Spirit
be with you evermore.
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:- Seasons of Creation (Intergen 2023), Seasons of the Spirit, www.workingpreacher.org, Fig Tree Worship, and water, wind, earth & fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements (Christine Valters Paintner).