Koonung Heights Uniting Church – Service of Worship at Home
Easter 4 – 8 May – 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: “Jubilate Servite” – (Click on this link and skip the ads for the tune – TiS words below)
Jubilate Deo, omnis terra. Servite Domino in laetitia.
Alleluia, alleluia, in laetitia; alleluia, alleluia, in laetitia!
(Translation: Rejoice in God, all the earth: serve the Lord in gladness.)
Acknowledgement of Country:
As we meet to worship today,
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung
People of the Kulin nation.
I pay my respects to their elders,
past and present,
and to all future generations.
I am grateful for their care of this land,
and for their willingness to seek for solutions to the injustices they have suffered at our hands.
Call to Worship: (from Revelations Ch.7)
The people stood before the throne & before the Lamb and cried out in a loud voice.
Blessing and glory and thanksgiving and honour be to our God forever.
Opening Prayer:
We are here in the company of all the saints.
We are grateful for their example and their love for you.
We come wanting to make space to know you better.
Recognising our limitations and filled with gratitude that you love us anyway.
Thanks be to God.
We Sing: TiS 142 “Glory be to God the Father”
Prayer of Adoration and Confession:
Let’s pray.
Holy mystery we call God
You are constant in your drawing love and generosity to all.
Your love moves the stars across the heavens
And causes the full moon to rise in pregnant glory;
Your love signals the time for a baby’s birth through the breaking of waters
And enables the still wet, shaking foal to stand,
Then dance around its mother,
To think that we are invited to dwell in this mystery
And to live from its utter goodness
Is almost too much to consider or contain.
Praise be to you. Holy, holy and wondrous is your name!
Loving God, we admit that we fall short of your perfect love
When we have failed to love you with all our heart, forgive us.
When we have failed to be good stewards of your creation, forgive us.
When we have failed to love our neighbours as ourselves, forgive us.
When we do things in our own strength instead of abiding in you, forgive us.
Strengthen us with the power of your love and the knowledge of your living presence with us,
So that we may abide in you, and play our part in furthering your kingdom
of love, peace and justice on earth.
Amen.
Words of Assurance:
God of love, we thank you that you continue to hold us in your care
Even when we fail in thought or action.
You take us with all our faults and forgive us and use us again.
Thanks be to God.
A Time for all
As Easter passed, we saw Jesus appearing to His disciples after His Resurrection. Last week, we heard the story of the conversion of Peter and Saul, who met the resurrected Jesus and experienced transformation. To me, the story of forgiving Peter who denied Jesus three times and giving him a new mission was very moving. Also, it was very interesting to say that Saul’s conversion had faith, love and obedience that broke Ananias’ fear. It is said that Ananias’ dedication enabled Saul to experience transformation. Heather asked us if we have had such a transforming experience. I have meditated on this question.
When I thought about my conversion or transformation moment in my life, I couldn’t leave out the story of my grandmother’s devotion. Without her I would never have experienced transformation.
This is because the ground of my faith comes from my grandmother. My grandmother lived a life of being an orphan and a widow. However, her life completely changed after she believed in God when she was 35 years old. God comforted her in all her sorrows and accompanied her throughout her life. God became her parent, husband, and friend.
I still remember the moment when I was young, she told me a bible story and prayed for me. I still vividly remember my grandmother praying in tears. She loved me infinitely. So I could experience the love of God through my grandmother. She lived a life of sharing God’s love. She became the role model for my faith.
How about you? I believe that all of you would have experienced the love of your mother and grandmother like me.
Without our mother’s dedication and love, none of us would be here today.
As you would all know, today is Mother’s Day. It’s good time to remember the love of our mothers. I ask that you all pray together now for one minute. I hope to share a prayer of thanks to our mothers.
Prayer of Dedication
Gifts can be awkward things
Mistakes even,
If given without love.
Please take our gifts, all that we have and are
And transform them and us with your love
No longer awkward, or mistaken, but your hands and feet in the world.
Amen.
We Sing TiS 455 “For all the Saints”
Bible Reading: Acts 9:36-43
Peter in Lydda and Joppa
36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas.[a] She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37 At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42 This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.
We sing Psalm 23 The Lord’s my shepherd TIS 10 (Words below)
- The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want.
He makes me down to lie
in pastures greed, he leadeth me
the quiet waters by. - My soul he doth restore again:
and me to walk doth make
within the paths of righteousness,
ev’n for his own name’s sake. - Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale,
yet will I fear no ill:
for thou art with me; and thy rod
and staff me comfort still. - My table thou hast furnishèd
in presence of my foes;
my head thou dost with oil anoint,
and my cup overflows. - Goodness and mercy all my life
shall surely follow me:
and in God’s house for evermore
my dwelling place shall be
Bible Reading: John 10:22-30
Jesus Is Rejected by the Jews
22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah,[a] tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.[b] 30 The Father and I are one.”
Watch and listen to the reflection
Reflection:
Good morning my ovine friends….that is, my fellow sheep.
You may have noticed that sheep feature heavily in today’s readings and Heather did jokingly suggest we could get a few sheep in for this service, but we declined.
Let us look to the reading from John this morning. Chapter 10 starts with a long explanation of what a good shepherd does for his sheep and that, as a good shepherd, Jesus is doing just what God has asked him to do. That is the statement he makes before the assembled Jews in the temple forecourt.
This idea that Jesus is doing God’s bidding does not go down well with these Jews at the Temple and different groups begin to argue amongst themselves. Who is this common person claiming to carry out God’s work? This man is not one of the rulers, the acknowledged Rabbi. He doesn’t wear the rich garments to show his power.
How politically familiar today’s reading from John sounds, when Jesus is accosted in the portico of the Temple with one group of Jews trying for a “gotcha moment “. They are trying to get him to state openly that he is the Messiah, but he answers them by saying, Well you have never believed what I have been saying and you have never believed what I have been doing because you don’t belong to my flock…..my sheep. My sheep hear me and they understand me. No one will steal them. What I give them is eternal life because my Father and I are one. This statement also angers the assembled Jews even more. Jesus goes on to try to reason with this group but they won’t listen and attempt to stone him, but fail, then to arrest him and fail again.
To a modern Australian audience being referred to as sheep does not sit all that well, as we understand that sheep are rather stupid creatures who tend to follow each other mindlessly. If you look up sheep in a thesaurus you get an amazing selection of attributes from compliant, devoted, controllable, willing, dutiful and subservient and many, many others. It’s sounding a bit unflattering to be a sheep. Have you ever observed that when one of the sheep suddenly jumps over some invisible barrier then several others will automatically follow?
The sheep of Jesus’s day were bound up in the daily life of every person, for food, clothing and ritual, cared for by a shepherd and known individually by name. They were so precious that they needed to be protected day and night from wild animals, thieves and injuries. Not only did the shepherd know the voice of each sheep but the sheep also recognised the voice of the shepherd and would come to him rather than stray away. So, in order to make sense of today’s reading, we must think of Jesus’s flock in these terms rather than a huge flock of fat Merinos whipped into line by a barbed wire fence and a couple of nipping sheep dogs with not a shepherd in sight.
But we have even more sheep and shepherds.
Psalm 23 along with The Lord’s Prayer, is one of the most recognised passages from the bible. It is the full vision of how God’s shepherd cares for his sheep. He cares with love, and the sheep obey with confidence and trust, not with the fear of being nipped by a sheep dog.
The shepherd is patient, puts up with silly behaviour and encourages better choices, never giving up on even the seemingly lost cause.
You will notice the psalm does not promise a clear run through life, but rather support and comfort in any rough passage.
When Jesus talks about his sheep he states that they will have eternal life and not perish, nor will they be snatched from his hand.
I’m not in favour of biblical cliches, as there is so much that is presumed understanding in any saying and we are all at different levels of that understanding. Yet we use them as short cuts all the time. We speak of “a mother’s love”, “the love of God “, “eternal life “,etc. yet I’m sure each one of you will have quite different ideas of the meaning of each of these.
Take “eternal life “. What does that mean? Surely not living on for ever with the body and mind grinding to slow decline. I’m not for that explanation.
Is it then something that will only happen after this earthly life? I have known people who dutifully limit their lives on the understanding that, by doing so, they will be rewarded in a future life of the soul. The ones I know seem to me to lead rather miserable, risk free lives and are often rather joyless.
Osvaldo Vena (a New Testament Professor from Illinois) points out that it is God that is eternal and God is the source of eternal life. He notes that the deceiving misuse of the idea of eternal life, that is a life in heaven, was sold to the slaves of North America, who were told to wait for eternal life while they were toiling to provide for their white owners. The wealth and privilege of the owners in the USA was set up at this point. You can hear this deep grieving for freedom and the hope for a future abundant life in many of the Negro Spiritual songs. He also notes that recently the same teaching is happening in some conservative Churches in Latin America. This better life which must be in heaven, because it certainly isn’t here on earth. This is a complete reversal of the idea of Eternal life, for Eternal Life is the quality and abundance of life, not the length of life, nor a future life. It would be helpful to use the term abundant rather than eternal. An abundant life is a life lived to the full as humans, with all our physical and mental limitations, enriched with of joy, worn by hardships overcome, full of excitement and daring for as long, or as short, our earthly life might be.
Jesus also states his sheep will not perish.
Flowers perish, vegetables in the bottom of my fridge perish and our bodies perish too, so Jesus is not talking about that. It is the eternal love of God that does not perish even though many voices that do not belong to our Shepherd, try to pull us away. Maybe you have heard it said “Do this and you will be saved “ or “Believe this and you will be good enough to go to heaven “ or “Obey these rules and you can join us. “
Some denominations of the Christian Church are so rigid with their rules and regulations that the loving, caring voice of the Shepherd is often drowned out and they appear as unloving Christians. I find myself shouting at the Television asking where is the Christian love.
Many things and people try to corrupt us, give us false promises, tell us we would be better off if we went with them. We are being bombarded with a huge selection of voices telling us to vote for them because they promise to give you something in return or even just telling us what a terrible life we had to put up with. It is hard to hear the still small voice of the Shepherd when all this noise and chaos surround us. As Ray reminded us in his prayer two weeks ago we need to listen, because most of the time we have already heard the answer.
Jesus’s flock understood this as they grappled with the Roman Empire. All these rules and regulations made the Shepherd’s voice hard to hear. The early church suffered greatly at the time John was writing this gospel. The many voices of early Christian groups were not only fighting each other, but at the same time many Christians were being imprisoned and killed for their beliefs by the ruling Romans. It sounds horribly familiar doesn’t it.
Jesus tells his sheep,…. Calm down. “You belong to me already, no one can snatch you away.“ So while we scramble to keep understanding how we are meant to be living our full life, caring for others, learning new skills, all the time we are being cared for by the Eternal Love.
So my fellow sheep, are we going to be fat Merinos of impeccable breeding, on show for our wealth and celebrity, looking for public recognition and eating only the best pastures? Making it to the Guinness Book of Records or collecting Instagram followers? Does that sound like abundant life? Or is that perishable life.
Or maybe we might find ourselves in a group of rather rangy sheep, sheep that care for each other and take responsibility for the older or less able sheep, nurturing the young lambs and sharing the pastures with even the smelliest of their fellow animals. This flock is able to trust their shepherd and are grateful for every moment of life. Maybe, just maybe, those mindless jumps over those invisible barriers are actually jumps of abundant joy.
Amen
( Acknowledgement to Bruce Prewer and Working Preacher.org)
Prayer for Others (prepared by Peta Lowe):
Let us pray …
When you hear the words: “Lord of inclusive love, hear us”, you are invited to respond with: “Hear our prayer”.
God of love, whose love is for all people:
We pray for peace, particularly in Ukraine. We pray for the suffering people of Ukraine, and indeed, all war zones and places of conflict.
We pray for the refugees and those who host them, and for all aid workers.
Lord of inclusive love, hear us. Hear our prayer.
Closer to home, we pray for all the people along the East Coast of Australia who have lost their homes and livelihoods in the floods, and all who are helping them. Give them strength and hope, we pray.
We pray for all people suffering the effects of climate change, and we pray for swift and sensible Climate Action.
Lord of inclusive love, hear us. Hear our prayer.
God of love, whose love is for all people:
On this Mother’s Day, we pray for mothers everywhere.
We pray especially for mothers whose lives are very hard.
Mothers who have to labour and give birth in dangerous conditions or without medical care.
Mothers who have to watch their children die of preventable diseases or malnutrition.
Mothers caring for children in war zones and refugee camps, or during disasters.
We pray for mothers who are raising children in difficult situations, in poverty, homelessness or domestic violence.
We pray for all mothers of children who have special needs, and mothers who themselves live with disabilities or chronic illnesses.
We pray for mothers who grieve this day, and for daughters and sons who grieve for their mothers.
We pray for mothers who are separated from their children, and those who will spend Mother’s Day alone.
Lord of inclusive love, hear us. Hear our prayer.
Lord, we thank you for our mothers. We thank you for all the mothers who show unselfish love and make sacrifices for their children.
We hold before you all families who will gather today to celebrate and show appreciation of their mothers.
Thank you for the great love that so many mothers demonstrate, reminding us of your even greater love for us. Thank you Lord for the gift of love.
Lord of inclusive love, hear us. Hear our prayer.
God of love, whose love is for all people:
We pray that your Church worldwide will clearly show your inclusive love and hospitality to all people, regardless of race, ability or gender.
We pray that your Church across the world might model respect for women, and encourage communities to reduce gender inequality, especially in societies where women are disadvantaged, disrespected and discriminated against.
Lord of Inclusive love, hear us. Hear our prayer.
God of love, whose love is for all people:
We pray for our congregation, particularly those who have special needs at this time.
We pray for Rev. Heather and Kathryn D”Alessandro, and all who are participating in Assembly this week. Guide this gathering to be faithful and fruitful.
We also pray for the preparations being made for Synod in July.
Lord of inclusive love, hear us. Hear our prayer.
God of love, whose love is for all people:
Thank you that your arms are wide enough to to welcome us all.
Remove our prejudices and help us to imitate your inclusive love.
And now let us join in the prayer that Jesus taught his followers, aware that this prayer is for everyone, everywhere:
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: TiS 724 Hosanna
Blessing:
Go in the knowledge of God’s shepherding love,
Know too, that we are called to show that love to the world,
Because we bear your name.
We sing “May the feet of God” TiS 779
