Sermons

Service and sermon  October 11, 2020, Leighmoor Uniting Church -Rev Barbara Allen Suggested Hymns TIS 703: As the deer pants for the water TIS 134: Praise my soul, the King of Heaven TIS 675: Lord, the light of your love is shining (Shine, Jesus, shine) TIS 474: Here in this place new light is streaming TIS 416: Great God, your Spirit, like the wind TIS 544: Since the world was young TIS 545: Shout for joy! TIS 242: I danced in the morning TIS 585: I heard the voice of Jesus say TIS 755: You shall go out with joy Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving and Confession O God, our Loving Parent in Christ, we thank you for the gift of life. Although we cannot share our lives face to face with many others, we are grateful for the people in our lives-be it face-to-face, or via zoom, the internet, the phone, or written letter. We thank you for your wonderful creation, which we delight in. For the bright spring flowers, the refreshing spring rains, watching the winds sway and bend during the strong winds, to be able to inhale the fragrance of the season, and to delight in the warmer days and nights. We give you thanks. We thank you that during these difficult times, there are still many signs of hope. We thank you for newborns, and for the newly pregnant. We thank you that charities are still undertaking their important work, that people are still trying to save endangered species, and that patients are recovering from illnesses, including covid-19. As we remember and give thanks for your many gifts and blessings to us, we realize that at times we have left the way you commanded us to follow, following  instead our own wills. Forgive us. Forgive us when pride in our human successes has kept us absorbed in ourselves, so that we have neglected to fully respond to your invitation to live differently, to live for others. Forgive us when we put human obligation ahead of heavenly opportunity. We make excuses as to why we cannot commit or follow right now, yet we presume to judge who should be invited to your table, and who doesn’t warrant an invitation. Forgive us. Forgive us our tendency to procrastinate, rather than to participate. And in a time of silence, we remember other things for which we seek forgiveness. (silence) God is love. Through Christ our sins are forgiven. (Thanks be to God) Take hold of this forgiveness and live your life in the power of the Spirit. Amen Bible Readings: Exodus 32: 1-14 Psalm 106: 1-6, 19-23 Philippians 4:1-9 Matthew 22: 1-14 Sermon ‘Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.” (Matthew 22: 1-2) Parties. Wedding banquets Celebrations. We are missing them, aren’t we? Most of us love parties, especially if they’re celebrating a wonderful event, such as a wedding, an engagement, a baptism, an anniversary, a graduation. We do like to celebrate! Sometimes we forget how often Jesus not only talks about parties- but GOES to parties. Read any gospel (preferably Luke or Matthew) and note how often Jesus is at somebody’s party -at someone’s celebration. John’s Gospel, chapter 2, opens with the account of Jesus’ earthly ministry-and where is he? -at a wedding reception-turning water into wine. -preventing embarrassment –allowing the wedding reception to continue. -he goes to parties (‘this man eats and drinks with sinners”-he parties with sinners). He speaks of celebrations: the large party the father organised for the return of the prodigal son. There was the Last Supper -a foretaste (as were the other celebrations) of the great, final, most splendid party of all-the Heavenly Banquet. In Revelation 19: 9: ‘And the angel said to me…Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ In Jesus-the whole world is invited to a party. The kingdom of heaven is like a party. God, the King, isn’t upset at anybody -doesn’t bear a grudge -isn’t in the business of striking anyone off the guest list because his son is here. God wants everyone to come to the party. Because God’s happy-God wants everyone to be happy. ‘And he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast.’ Now, some knowledge of wedding customs is helpful to aid our understanding of this story. In biblical times, when the invitation to a feast was sent out, the time was not stated -but when the feast was ready, servants were sent out with a final summons to the banquet. So-you would know the day and date-just not the time. When the cooking was finished, THEN all was ready. -servants would call on you. So, in this parable, with all the comings and goings, we needn’t be concerned about the food being over cooked or being left out for too long. But things aren’t always that easy. Jesus said that those who were invited to the wedding party wouldn’t come. The world, says Jesus, is full of people who can’t seem to recognise a good thing when they hear about it, who will not accept -free grace -dying love Total acceptance. Are we more likely to accept an angry God, than a loving, accepting one? Are we? Jesus hasn’t finished telling the parable. The king, undeterred from his desire to throw a party for his son, sends out more servants. “Tell the uninvited, behold the feast is ready; come to the marriage party.” The guests ‘made light of it’- made light of the renewed invitation-the Greek translates into something quite harsh, more along the lines of  ‘don’t give a…’ Moreover, they not only make light of the invitation, they kill the kings’ servants. Such behaviour seems excessive. They don’t just ‘forget’ to RSVP. They also murder the postmen. Now follows a blood bath. ‘The king was angry’ says Jesus. ‘He sent his soldiers

Blessing of the Animals service.  Leighmoor UC, October 4, 2020 -Rev Barbara Allen Suggested hymns TIS 100: All creatures of our God and King TIS 107: Sing praise and thanksgiving, let all creatures living TIS 156: Morning has broken TIS 155: O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder TIS 135: All things bright and beautiful TIS 175: Did you ever see a kookaburra laugh? TIS 690: Beauty for brokenness TIS 650: Brother, sister, let me serve you TIS 626: Lord of creation Prayer of Adoration, Thanksgiving and Confession. O Loving  God, Creator of all creatures, great and small, we celebrate the gift of life-for all. We give thanks for our fur friends, our feathered friends, our friends with scales, and fins and wings, our friends who have the breath of life as we have, for those non –human friends who share our lives, or have in the past. For the ones who give us a reason to get out of bed, or go for a walk. For the wild ones who amaze us with their beauty and power, we thank you. Creator God, thank you for the gift of animals, those in the wild, on farms, in our homes. You brought into being that which we could not imagine for ourselves, life we cannot see without the aid of microscopes, animals we can only see in pictures and on screens, from remote regions of this planet earth. We thank you for abundant life; for the birds we hear in the morning, for the drone of the bees when we are outside, for the vast tapestry of life which is interwoven. We thank you for the gift and blessing of our own animal companions; for the joy they bring us, for the unconditional love and forgiveness which teaches us about you; for the confidant, the listener, the stress-releaser, for the benefits they are to our health and to our Spirit, we give you thanks. As we celebrate their God-given lives, we pray for compassionate hearts, we pray that we may care for them, be good stewards of this earth, and care for all creation. As we come together to thank you for the blessing and gift of other creatures, we know that we have not always been faithful caretakers of the animals. Forgive us when we have dirtied their environment, erased places of shelter, polluted the waters, killed off their food supplies, or neglected to feed or tend animals in our own communities. Forgive us when we have neglected our own animal companions; when we have said we are too busy to play, when we have shooed them away, when we have made excuses, saying we are too tired…too busy…more important engagements have come up…so that we do not walk them, cuddle them, or spend time with them. Forgive us. Forgive us when we have not considered the wider picture, when we have neglected animals in the wild, ignored cruelty inflicted in the name of ‘sport’ or in the name of food production. Forgive us when we have focused on our favourite wild creatures, and neglected the care of the supposedly less beautiful, those who hold a lower public profile. Each year, more animals become extinct or are added to the endangered species list: forgive us for allowing your creatures to disappear from the earth. Forgive us when we neglect to see all animals as part of your creation, forgive us when we neglect to acknowledge that your love beats in all hearts, and that you give breath to all creation. In a time of silence we remember other things for which we seek forgiveness. (Silence) God is love. Through Christ our sins are forgiven  (thanks be to God). Take hold of this forgiveness, and live your life, knowing that you are forgiven and deeply loved. Know that the Holy Spirit will enable you to love fully, richly, and deeply. Amen Bible Readings Genesis 1: 20-31 Job 12: 7-10 Psalm 104: 10-25, 27-30 Galatians 5: 22-23 Sermon ‘Animals and humans are cut from the same spiritual cloth by the same divine hand and sustained by the same love.’ wrote Linda and Allen Anderson, in their book God’s Messengers: What Animals Teach Us About the Divine. In the series The Vicar of Dibley, one episode is devoted to a Blessing of the Animals service.  In a sense…as with many things Vicar of Dibleyish-it is more of a ‘what to avoid’ than a ‘what to do.’ But, at the end of the day, as Alice and the Vicar sit quietly over a cuppa, Dawn French, ie Geraldine the Vicar, asks Alice why people love their animals so much.  Alice…and this is important…for her response is NOT what we expect from this scatter brained, naïve, kooky individual…she replies along the lines of ‘Well…they’re nicer than human beings.’ ‘they’re nicer than human beings.’ Blessing of the Animals is an old festival, it dates back to an ancient Roman celebration of a pre-spring fertility festival to honour the goddesses Ceres and Terra, during which a pregnant animal was sacrificed, and garlanded oxen were paraded by the crowds.  By the 8th century, this Roman festival had endured to the point where the work animals were given a symbolic ‘day off’, while their owners sought the church’s divine protection for their work animals (ie so they could perform the work needed, rather than out of fondness or love). Although we tend to celebrate the Blessing of the Animals on October 4th, or the Sunday closest to that date, because it is the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, Patron saint of animals (and the date the secular world has procured and deemed ‘World Animal Day), in some communities a different date is observed, that of January 17th, the feast day of St Anthony the Abbot (also known as St Anthony of Egypt).  Services that used to be held in Catholic churches, that were part of the Franciscan order, are now conducted in many Protestant

Service September 27, 2020   Leighmoor Uniting Church -Rev Barbara Allen Suggested hymns: TIS 693:  Come as you are TIS 256: From heaven you came, helpless babe TIS 640: Kneels at the feet of his friends TIS 692: Sometimes a healing word is comfort TIS 609: May the mind of Christ my Saviour TIS 613: Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy Prayers of Thanksgiving and Confession Glorious God, we thank you for the gift of life. After sleep, we awake, to a new day, a day of possibilities, coloured with hope. Even though for most of the day we are confined to our homes, there are plenty of blessings around us. We thank you for magpie choruses that herald the dawn. After the more subdued hues of winter, we delight in the vibrancy of spring, finding new blooms and plants we did not know were embedded deep within the earth. We thank you for the plenty of harvests, for the variety of food items we can purchase from the supermarkets and food shops.  If we are short of prayer, let us pause in the produce aisle, marvelling at your creativity, your variety. We thank you for the sounds of children, out on their bikes, playing with friends and family.  -for their chalk drawings on footpaths, for their laughter and ability to remain in the present. Help us to hold on to our own child-like spirit and nature, so we may delight in the present, and be excited by what we see and experience. Help us to ask similar questions: how big is the moon?  How does a cake rise?  Who invented writing?   Keep us interested, keep us from the virus of boredom, save us from a lack lustre faith. And yet, most wonderful God, at times we become so caught up in the greyness of the world, the hard things going on, that we neglect to notice the good. Forgive us. Help us to acknowledge the goodness of people, their willingness to look out for their neighbour, following your teachings, even if they do not know it. Forgive us when we have been too quick to judge, too quick to point the finger, rather than acknowledging that we all make mistakes. Forgive us when we focus on what we can’t do, rather than on what we can do. In a time of silence, we remember other things for which we seek forgiveness. (silence) God is love, Through Christ our sins are forgiven. (thanks be to God) Take hold of this forgiveness and live your life as forgiven people,  the power and love of the Spirit. Amen. Bible Readings: Exodus 17: 1-7 Psalm 78: 1-4, 12-16 Philippians 2: 1-13 Matthew 21: 23-32 Sermon French priest and writer, the late Michel Quoist, wrote: ‘Before giving the floor to ‘thinkers’ at meetings, let’s give it to the ‘doers.’ Yes…but the problem is they’re not present- they’re out working.’ -a bit harsh!  C.S. Lewis said, “A person cannot remain just ‘a good egg’ forever.  Either one must hatch, or rot.”  -either one must hatch or rot. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is accosted in the Temple, while he is teaching. The chief priests and elders interrupt to question the source of his authority. Jesus is not just a good teacher-he is an excellent teacher. It was common practice for rabbis or teachers, to answer a question with a question. In today’s classrooms (face-to-face or via the internet in lockdown mode) this is still seen as sound teaching: “What do you think?” means the student has to bring forth information or evidence. The perceptive teacher can detect gaps in the child’s knowledge etc. This technique is not confined to class rooms-it is found at dinner tables, work places, social clubs, board rooms, and most sermons have questions for the ‘hearers’ to answer in their lives-how they carry out their daily living -their moral choices. And here, the chief priests and elders are in a ‘no-win’ situation! Listen to the debate: “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?  Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.  Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, “we do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’ Regardless of how they reply to Jesus-they’re caught. They are unable to answer the question concerning authority. What does Jesus do now?  He enlarges his class size- In vs 28: ‘What do you think?  A man had to sons…’ By introducing a story, and the question ‘What do you think?’ WE are now part of the class! The story is a simple one. There was a father who had two sons. The father asks them to go out and work in the vineyard. He asks for help. One of the sons refuses- ‘he answered, “I will not.” A little later, the father looks up from what he’s doing and there is his son, in the vineyard.  He has changed his mind and does what his father asked him to do. (this may have happened to your children when they were young-perhaps asked to help set the table-a little protest-then they come back and do the task). His other son, who had answered politely “I go, sir” meaning ‘nothing would please me more than to go out and work in the vineyard for you.”-but he doesn’t follow through. -I bet that has happened at home too!  The sound of the garbage truck, trundling down the

Service September 20th 2020 Leighmoor Uniting Church -Rev Barbara Allen Suggested Hymns TIS 153: God is love TIS 738: My Jesus, my Saviour TIS 129: Amazing Grace TIS 164: The great love of God TIS 624: Christ be my leader by night as by day TIS 619: Have faith in God, my heart TIS 666: We are marching in the light of God Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving and Confession Gracious and loving God, we give you thanks for a crisp, new day, full of promise. Thank you for helping us through a troubling week, time spent, for the most part, behind closed doors. We thank you for the scent of spring, for the colours of blossom and bulbs, for the warmer evenings, the lighter mornings. You are here with us. We thank you for all that keeps us believing that our lives have meaning, that the world is full of good, that our comings and goings are noticed by you, that disappointment, sickness, fear or death does not cut us off from you, that always there shines the light of Jesus Christ to sparkle in our happiness,  or to lighten our darkest hours. We thank you that you are a God who goes beyond justice, to overflowing grace, that though we are forever indebted to you, no weight of debt is held over us. Thank you for your lavish, undeserved generosity. And yet, we confess that we do not always look favourably upon your acceptance, forgiveness, and love for others. We have an ‘us’ and ‘them’ in our minds and hearts that is revealed in our prejudices and discriminations- even though your love accepts everyone. Forgive us. We are guarded, reasonable people who choose who and how much we will love, who choose what is deemed ‘sensible.’ Forgive us. We confess that this can lead to not loving our neighbours, not hearing the cry of the needy. Forgive us. Forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct us to what we shall be. Forgive us and renew us. God keeps no account of wrongs, but assures us in Christ that our debt is completely cancelled. Our sins are forgiven and forgotten. We are free to begin again in newness of life, justified by our faith in Christ. Our sins are forgiven (Thanks be to God). Go and live your lives as forgiven people, loved by God, Amen Bible Readings Exodus 16: 2-15 Psalm 105: 1-6, 37-45 Philippians 1: 21-30 Matthew 20: 1-16 Sermon Jesus told many of his parables, NOT to give us information, BUT RATHER to get our adrenalin flowing!  There were two parables that drew lots of responses when I was a minister in a rural parish: the prodigal son (for most of the farmers were the elder son, staying to work on the farm), and this one, for they could identify with the subject matter.  They may even have been one of the hired help. This week’s parable is one of his best. The previous two Sunday’s Jesus’ parables in Matthew have dealt with forgiveness -forgiveness for the community -forgiveness for ourselves-and how we then forgive others. We know how hard, how unnatural it is to forgive. Today, we consider God’s graciousness, God’s abundant gift of grace. Why does God’s graciousness sometimes cause grumbling?  Or whinging? Part of the problem lies in the verse before today’s parable, and today’s concluding verse: ‘so the last will be first, and the first will be last.’ When we get to the end of today’s parable, and hear ‘so the last will be first, and the first will be last’, it seems as though it is the logical moral to the parable BUT if we examine the parable carefully, it is a poor fit. -a poor fit. As well as parables, there existed groups of ‘sayings’, one liners, that were usually attached to the end of a parable. A bit like Aesop’s fables…the moral is…’ Sometimes the moral at the end of the parable doesn’t seem to fit the story. The Parable of the Vineyard, unique to Matthew’s gospel, is NOT a parable about the reversal of fortunes (the first will be last, the last will be first). -for a REVERSAL implies that someone will be a significant loser. Nor is it an insider/outsider story, for all the workers get paid the wage agreed upon-no one is left out, or goes away unpaid. In this parable, everyone seems to win equally-and that is the shock. The theme is: God’s generosity, which is beyond human comprehension. This is shocking. The message of the parable, that everyone receives exactly the same reward-no matter how much or how little effort they have put in-does a number of things: It confounds those who expect a type of justice from God which rewards obedience and punishes transgressions; It frustrates the pious, who think they will get preferential treatment; It unnerves those who think their beliefs are right-and all others inferior to their faith and practice; It illustrates that there is no seniority in God’s kingdom. All will be treated equally-from the disciples, who had left everything in order to follow Jesus-to us.  From those who have left everything, or cloistered themselves in monasteries, or have worked hard at salvation-seeing their hard work as a way to earn salvation? Is that how we look at God’s generosity? We can’t earn God’s love. We can’t earn God’s love. BUT how often do we work or act as though we can? No, we don’t go around helping others in order to score Brownie points-we do it BECAUSE we can’t help but help others, BECAUSE we follow Christ’s example of love. BUT we hear this parable and say: “What about the vineyard owner’s actions?  He is a good employer, he follows the law-Leviticus 19:13 ‘You shall not keep for yourself the wages of a labourer until morning.’ The employer, faithfully, pays his day-labourers before the sun sets, BUT his payment method is somewhat

Service September 13, 2020  Leighmoor Uniting Church -Rev Barbara Allen Suggested hymns TIS 100: All creatures of our God and King TIS 161: Tell out my soul TIS 129: Amazing grace TIS 607: Make me a channel of your peace TIS 609: May the mind of Christ my Saviour Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving and Confession Loving God,  We marvel at your works, which delight us as we embrace these warmer days of spring. We see your power in the wind, as gales dry our washing and make the trees dance, we are reminded of the gift of your Spirit. We delight in delicate blossom, bulbs shooting up through the earth, worms continuing their work of aerating the soil, birds greeting us at dawn with their angelic song. Oh there is so much to delight us, if we take time to be still: to see, to listen. Oh God, even though we are not permitted to travel far, we can remember what our favourite places are, and the blessings they have been in our lives -for weekends away, for family holidays, for a day in the hills, a picnic in the gardens, a stroll through the park, a dabble in the Bay, a cycle along the Yarra, we give you thanks. You have given us so much, one other gift being that of forgiveness. Lord, we turn to you now, with heavy hearts, for during the past week, we have fallen short. Forgive us. You have forgiven us, teach us to forgive as you forgive. We nurture our past hurts, cherish old wounds. We tend to magnify the wrongs that others do to us and minimize the wrong that we do towards others. Forgive us. You are the restorer of relationships, help us build bridges with outstretched hands, and open hearts. And in a time of silence, we remember other things for which we seek forgiveness (silence) God is love. Through Christ our sins are forgiven (thanks be to God) Take hold of this forgiveness and live your live in the power of the Holy Spirit, as forgiven people, loved by God, Amen Bible Readings: Romans 14: 1-12 Matthew 18: 21-35 Sermon ‘When we extend our hand to the enemy, God reaches out to both of us.  For it is God first of all who extends our hand to the enemy.’ -Thomas Merton ‘Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord…how often should I forgive?  As many as seven times?” And Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18: 21-22) Forgiveness. I touched on the topic last week. Yet-it crops up again, in today’s reading from Matthew. -so-it must be a pretty important topic! OR We are hard of hearing!  -slow to get the message. It is as though we have missed the point back in verse 15, so we have to come to it again in verse 21! Jesus is addressing life in the community of faith-leaders and followers. Peter-representing the church, asks: “Lord…how often shall I forgive?” Jesus answers, as was his custom-with a story. We remember stories rather than lectures Peter asks a valid question, and even supplies a possible answer-7 times. The answer is part of tradition.  At the time, rabbis advocated 4 times (maybe taking the number from the book of Amos, where it says ‘for three transgressions…and for four I will not punish…’ (repeated 8 times in this short book) SO-Peter has increased that number. Maybe Peter has another biblical tradition in mind-back in Genesis where Cain is to be avenged sevenfold (Genesis 4:15), Peter proposes a sevenfold forgiveness. One can almost imagine a twinkle in Jesus’ eye- “Well done Peter-but I’ll outdo that.” When Jesus names a number that is so much bigger than Peter’s-70 x 7 (the answer is 490) Jesus is not playing a mathematical game. Jesus is not involved in multiplication sums, BUT in the nature of forgiveness. The bottom line here is:  Whoever counts, has not forgiven –rather, they are biding their time. Think for a moment. How much can we remember? As we get older, this may be harder. We might remember 2 or 3 instances, perhaps, with practice, 7-but can we hold 490 instances in mind?  70 x 7? Grocery shopping…at what point do you have to make a list, rather than relying on your memory? IF we have to try to remember the number of times we have forgiven someone-then forgiveness has not really happened, has it? Then Jesus, in his best teaching manner, tells a story about the kingdom of heaven. In the story, the servant is forgiven a huge debt.  HUGE! A debt that he owes to the king, the most powerful person. BUT The story continues, because this servant, freed from this enormous debt, is unforgiving of a debt a fellow servant owes him. Once this is reported to the king, the king is angry. Let’s consider the first debt-the servant owes the king 10,000 talents. This is an IMPOSSIBLE figure!  One talent equals about 15 years wages for a simple labourer SO 10,000 talents = 150,000 year’s wages!  One commentator estimates it to be approx. $7.04 billion (calculated using the minimum wage in the United States) So when the king orders the servant to pay back this amount, or he, and his family and all his possessions will be sold, the servant pleas for more time, promising to pay everything (how could he ever do this?).  The big surprise here, is not only does the king agrees, BUT out of pity for him-he cancels the whole debt. He cancels the debt of 150,000 year’s wages. Wow! Now, this would be a good place to end the story, wouldn’t it?  Perhaps with ‘so go and do likewise’ added at the end, so we get the message.  But the story continues, with the servant running into another servant, who owes him 100 denari, and demands instant payment of this amount.  Labourers received about 1 denarius per day,

Sermon and Service September 6th 2020 Leighmoor Uniting Church -Rev Barbara Allen Suggested hymns: TIS 156: Morning has broken TIS 693: Come as you are, that’s how I want you TIS 635: Forgive our sins, as we forgive TIS 699: A new commandment TIS 650: Brother, sister, let me serve you TIS 598: Dear Father, Lord of humankind Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving, and Confession (we begin with words from today’s Psalm-had to include it because of the use of the word couch-appropriate for worship from home!) ‘Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song. Let us praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre. For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; He adorns the humble with victory. Let the faithful exult in glory; Let them sing for joy on their couches.’ (Psalm 149) Lord of life, and love, and hope, and peace, we praise you and thank you for all your blessings, for church family, for our own families, for friends, and children, and pets. We thank you for a new day, with opportunities to reach out to people via technology.  We give you thanks for the inventors of this means of communication, knowing it has made a difference during these past months. May our hearts and minds be open to your presence in our lives and to trust your guiding hand.  Do not let anxieties and fear overcome us, but help us to continue to be instruments of your love and peace, even in the midst of a pandemic. Loving God, often we forget to notice, or to acknowledge, your many blessings in our lives. Forgive us. We sometimes neglect to tell others how much we love them, or appreciate them, or how proud we are of them. Forgive us. As we become over critical, perhaps due to lockdown, help us to be forgiving-of ourselves-and of others. You showed us how to forgive in the death of Jesus, help us to be more Christ-like in our behaviour. Help us to be less judgmental and more forgiving. The tongue is indeed a powerful instrument.  Let us use it to bless you and others, rather than as a sword to hurt others, by the cutting things we say. In a time of silence, we bring before you other things for which we seek forgiveness. (silence) God is love! Through Christ our sins are forgiven (thanks be to God!) Take hold of this forgiveness, and live your life in the power of the Spirit, as forgiven people, being free to forgive others. Amen Bible Readings Exodus 12: 1-14 Psalm 149 Romans 13: 8-14 Matthew 18: 15-20 Sermon In the book Why Forgive?  the story is told of Steven McDonald , a young police officer  who was shot in 1986 by a teenager in New York’s Central Park, an incident that left him paralyzed. “I forgave [the shooter] because I believe the only thing worse than receiving a bullet in my spine would have been to nurture revenge in my heart,” McDonald wrote. Another story about forgiveness: After a long shift at the fire department, Matt Swatzell fell asleep while driving, and crashed into another vehicle, killing June Fitzgerald and injuring her 19-month-old daughter. Fitzgerald’s husband, a pastor, asked for the man’s diminished sentence, and began meeting with him for coffee and conversation. Many years later, the two men remain close. “You forgive as you’ve been forgiven,” Fitzgerald said. And another:  In May 2014, Peter Hiogo began a photo essay project in Rwanda to demonstrate the forgiveness between the Hutus and Tutsis—the two cultures involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide that took millions of lives. In the photos, members from both cultures stand by side illustrating a story of forgiveness and how their lives are now connected in a positive, forgiving way.  How do we feel after hearing those stories? Could we forgive in a similar situation? Forgiveness is tied to love.  “If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.” —Mother Teresa, ‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.’ (Matthew 18: 15) ‘forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.’ ‘forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.’ People often say that religious people are idealistic, unrealistic. Religious people walk around with their heads in the clouds, never touching the earth, never in the ‘real world.’ I am sure you have all heard that before-and I must admit, most church people I have met over the years DO NOT FIT this category!  We are part of the world, the community…not apart from it. But for many secular folk they think we are sweet, idealistic, having fluffy notions and not concerned about what is happening in the world. Reality. What is reality? Who defines what is real? The gospel doesn’t just want us to reach out and speak to our present situation, it wants us to CHANGE it! And sometimes that means changing ourselves! Today’s passage from Matthew is not idealistic, indeed, it is painfully practical. This is a text which is simple, clear, specific, practical-real. And isn’t that just the problem? Jesus says, ‘When someone [in the church] sins against you, tell the offender.  You, as victim, must take charge and attempt to work it out.  If that fails, tell the church and let the church take charge and try to work it out.  Failing that-the church takes the extreme step of excommunication. Sounds like something from a previous era,  And of course there would be none of those problems in Leighmoor Uniting Church, or at Heatherton-Dingley Uniting Church. I was only with you for two weeks before lockdown, and I didn’t see any disharmony-so I can still picture in my mind two congregations of angels, never a harsh word said. Am I correct?  Or has lockdown saved me from reality? We know that, in the past, the church took these exhortations seriously. This text-urging

August 30th, 2020 Leighmoor Uniting Church Suggested hymns: TIS 132: Holy, holy, holy TIS 690: Beauty for brokenness TIS 658: I, the Lord of sea and sky TIS 473: Community of Christ TIS 477: Jesus calls us here to meet him TIS 607: Make me a channel of your peace TIS 624: Christ be my leader by night as by day Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving and Confession In the words of the Psalmist:  ‘O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, Make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works.’(Psalm 105) We join our own praise to those of long ago, telling of your hand in history, the imprint of your fingerprint on our own lives and hearts. You are an amazing God, creator and dreamer of all that is good, and beautiful, and all that works together to your glory. The heavy rain last weekend, the days of sunshine during the week, the frost over night, and the cloud cover during the day…what variety there is in the little we notice. As we turn on our heaters, or see the bright red of camellia bushes, or bottle brushes-may we remember the story of the burning bush. You may not reveal yourself to us in as dramatic a fashion…but you do…if we but take note. Thank you for caring about us, Thank you for all your gifts-of the natural world, of our own family and friends. Thank you for involving us in ministry, partnering with you to bring hope to this troubled world. Thank you for the divine line-the network of prayer. And yet, as we remember your many gifts to us, we know we have fallen short of all you wish us to be…and know that we can be. Forgive us. Forgive us when we have allowed anxieties to cloud our vision of you, when we have allowed the media to dampen the seedling of hope that we water in our souls with prayer and Scripture. Forgive us when we have succumbed to our human frailties. In a time of silence, we remember other things for which we seek forgiveness. (silence). God is love. Through Christ our sins are forgiven  (thanks be to God) Take hold of this forgiveness and live your life in the power of the Spirit. Amen Bible Readings:  Exodus 3: 1-15 Psalm 105: 1-6, 23-26, 45b Romans 12: 9-21 Matthew 16: 21-28 Sermon Call…and response. That’s what happens in good Gospel music-often a soloist or preacher sings or shouts something, and the choir or congregation responds with their answer. We may have seen this on tv, or in films, or been fortunate to be at such a service in the United States. Call. In today’s reading from Exodus, we hear of Moses’ call. Some of us may envy such a dramatic call: I’m not saying we would necessarily notice burning bushes in the suburbs of Melbourne, but a neon sign in the sky with “Yes, I have called you to pursue the path to ordained ministry’ would have been appreciated. At least in my case.  I struggled with a sense of call for a number of years, thinking God had either made a mistake (but God doesn’t make mistakes) or that I had heard incorrectly.  Surely God did not mean me?  Maybe God meant my next door neighbour?  I am not smart enough, knowledgeable enough…those and many other excuses arose in my heart, and came out of my mouth. BUT When I speak of ‘call’ this applies to each one of us…for we are called to be Christian, we are all involved in ministry. Moses-he is not a priest, or a prophet. He is just minding his sheep, not expecting or indeed inviting a divine intrusion. It is his curiosity the leads him to hear the call.  Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight…” AND is surprised by what happens. God hears the cries of God’s people, and responds by calling Moses. This is God’s story, as well as Moses’s story. God hears, remembers, sees, and knows. God is intimately involved in their suffering.  This is not a God who is remote, safe and secure, untouched by the sufferings of the world.  God knows it from the inside. God calls Moses to help in the work of liberating the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery. The call. Moses has a conversation with God.  God promises to be with him.  God reassures Moses; the God speaking to and with him is the God of his ancestors, God can be trusted. It is worth noting that even though Moses recognizes the holiness of God ( ‘Moses hid his face…’ ) Moses hesitates. -he hesitates…before the Holy God. In Chapter Four, Moses protests: “suppose they do not believe me, or listen to me.” God intervenes by providing him with a staff that becomes a snake. Another sign is when his hand becomes leprous-then changes back to normal when placed back within the fold of his cloak -and another sign-water from the Nile changed to blood. Moses protests.  “Oh my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past not even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow in speech and slow of tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals?  Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind?  Is it not I, the Lord?  Now go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” Yet…even after God’s wonderful promises and reassurance, Moses begs: “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”  “Please send someone else.” Some of us may have voiced the same words, as we tested our call to be Christian, to follow Christ, to be in ministry with him. Moses dares to challenge, dares to question, is open with God. From worship-to conversation This is a God who invites interaction. This

Service August 23rd, 2020 Leighmoor Uniting Church -Rev Barbara Allen Hymn suggestions: TIS 132: Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty TIS 444: Dear Shepherd of your people, hear TIS 564: O God of Bethel, by whose hand TIS 590: What a friend we have in Jesus TIS 547: Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart TIS 619: Have faith in God, my heart TIS 779: May the feet of God walk with you Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving and Confession Loving, Creator God, We marvel at the world, the world you created out of love. We thank you for the gift of water: from rain, oceans, waterfalls, creeks and rivers, trickling streams, to the water that comes out of our own taps. We need water in order to live our physical lives.  We need you in order to live our physical, emotional and spiritual lives.  Water reminds us of our emotions: rain drops resemble our tears. Water reminds us of our spiritual life: the waters of baptism, cleansing and becoming fresh and renewed once more. Water reminds us of what can be achieved: as droplets of water form the ocean, our giving and loving  actions extend outwards to a wide community. Thank you for the gift of water.  Help us to reflect on all your gifts, and what they can teach us about our faith. God of majesty, we come before you, mindful of your power, of your might, which is bigger than any wave crashing against a cliff-yet you can be as gentle as a light mist, caressing our cheeks. As we are in awe of you, we are mindful of having fallen short of your dream and vision for each one of us. Forgive us. Forgive us for when we have become all-consumed by other things, by other matters, and have neglected you. Forgive us for closing inwards, for being in ‘lock down’, shutting out our care and concern for others. Forgive us for when we have doubted you, or when we have forgotten your love for each one of us. In a time of silence, we remember other things for which we seek forgiveness. (silence) God is love. Through Christ our sins are forgiven (thanks be to God) Take hold of this forgiveness, and live your life through the power of the Spirit. Amen. Bible Readings: Exodus 1: 8-2:10 Psalm 124 Romans 12: 1-8 Matthew 16: 13-20 Sermon I remember when I read the book The Contemplative Pastor by the late Eugene Peterson-because I was shocked when I read: ‘Pastors think people come to church to hear sermons.  They don’t; they come to pray and to learn to pray.’ I don’t agree with all of that statement; we gather together as a community of believers, to be ‘fed’ or ‘nourished’-by way of the Scriptures, by singing our praise, by listening and (hopefully) responding to the sermon, in fellowship afterwards-and by praying together. But reading that remark did make me stop to think…and I am trying to work out what would be an appropriate sermon for this time in lockdown. I have been urging you to exercise the ministry of prayer- So, this week, I am deviating from the lectionary readings, to focus instead on the topic of prayer. Prayer is a key pivotal part on our lives together, as a church body, and alone, in communion with God. The Uniting Church is called to be a worshipping church, and therefore a praying church. Prayer is original research in unexplored territory -it is prayer itself that brings us into the deepest and highest work of the human spirit -real prayer is life creating and life changing. BUT this is a warning! -to pray is to open yourself to change. -if you don’t want to change-don’t pray! Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God-the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ. All who have walked with God have viewed prayer as the main business of their lives. It was an integral part of Jesus’ life: Mark 1: 35: ‘In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.’ Matthew 14: 23: ‘And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray.’ There are many other examples too. When the apostles were tempted to invest their energies in other important and necessary tasks, they were determined to give themselves over to prayer, and to ministry of the word: Acts 6:4- ‘while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.’ Martin Luther declared, ‘I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.’ He also said ‘he that has prayed well has studied well.’ John Wesley said, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer,’ and backed up his conviction by devoting two hours daily to prayer. For these people-prayer was not something tacked on to their lives-it was their lives.  For them, to breathe was to pray. Many of us, however, are probably feeling discouraged rather than encouraged by such examples.  Those ‘giants of the faith’ are so beyond anything that we have experienced that we are tempted to despair. BUT we should remember that God always meets us where we are-and slowly moves us along into deeper things. Runners don’t suddenly enter an Olympic marathon. They prepare and train themselves over a period of time. We, too, should do the same when it comes to prayer, and our prayer lives. Now, what I’m about to say sounds like a contradiction: Real prayer is something we learn AND It is natural to pray BUT it isn’t a contradiction- as you’ll see later. -for it is natural to pray. Before the end of today we will have eaten

Service and Sermon: August 16th, 2020 Leighmoor Uniting Church -Rev Barbara Allen Hymn Suggestions TIS 156: Morning has broken TIS 693: Come as you are TIS 154: Great is your faithfulness TIS 232: O the deep, deep love of Jesus TIS 690: Beauty for brokenness TIS 653: This is the day of new beginnings Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving, and Confession Amazing God, You fill the skies with lights for the morning, and for the night time. You fill our lives with light: bright candles in the form of families, friends, and faith. We thank you for the light of the world, your Son, Jesus Christ. As light decreases the darkness around it, may your light lessen our anxieties. We thank you for the gifts of simplicity.   During this time of covid 19 may we remember the lives you meant us to live, where we remember others, where we have time for you, where we are mindful of our many blessings. We thank you for priceless, precious, eternal gifts of love, of compassion, of hope. And yet, O God, we are a forgetful lot. Help us to remember the bounty we have-rather than the things we do not have. Help us to sit in quiet reflection, drawing on our memories of good times, rather than be stuck grumbling about what we cannot do at this time in history. May we be reminded that prayer is action, and praying for someone, or for the community, or for the world-is an act of hope, an act of faith, an act of blessing. Forgive us when we think small-rather than when we are empowered by you, supported by your Spirit, to think BIG. And in a time of silence we remember other things for which we seek forgiveness. (silence). God is love. Through Christ our sins are forgiven. (thanks be to God). Take hold of this forgiveness, and live your life in the power of the Spirit. Amen Bible Readings Genesis 45: 1-15 Psalm 133 Romans 11: 1-2a, 29-32 Matthew 15: 21-28 Sermon Crumbs. Crummy. What does the word ‘crummy’ mean?  It originally meant something that was good.  It also meant ‘plump’-referring back to the soft or fleshy part of bread (as opposed to the crust).  Among soldiers, the word, instead of meaning something ‘good’ came to mean ‘lousy’, initially in the literal sense-infested with lice-hence our sense of ‘crummy’ to mean inferior, poor. The reference was to the eggs of a louse, which were like crumbs of bread.  So crumbs- are they good or bad? Plump or inferior?   Do the crumbs from your slice of bread or toast, get eaten, or are they rinsed from your plate? Perhaps they get vacuumed up by your dog!  Our dog Harry nearly always gets a bit of the crust from a slice of toast, or a cut off wedge from a crumpet. Vs 26: ‘He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”  She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” When today’s reading from Matthew is set against its background, it becomes one of the most moving and extraordinary in the life of Jesus. Jesus has moved on- he is now in the region of Tyre, part of Syria which lay between Galilee and the sea coast.  Jesus is in Gentile territory. Why? This incident is wedged between two accounts of feeding-feeding the 5,000 (the lectionary reading 2 weeks ago), and the feeding of 4,000 (found at the end of this chapter). Bread.  Crumbs.  Lots of them. In the episode before today’s story, there’s a dispute about what is clean and what is unclean-the debate with the Pharisees in regard to ritual cleansing -and then, this event, the movement into foreign territory, into Gentile land. Why? This is an important move on the part of Jesus, for Jesus moves out of Galilee. He was in danger: 1. The Galilean’s support for Jesus after the feeding of the 5,000 angered Herod Antipas and his supporters.  Herod was to be feared; he had already had John the Baptist killed, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill again. Jesus was regarded as a threat, a menace. 2. Some Jewish rulers were against him because of the dispute over ‘uncleanliness’.  He broke rules and regulations.  Perhaps some may have seen him as a threat to their influence. The point is, Jesus went north for peace (many were following him due to his power, the miracles of healing, the miracles of feeding-his fame had spread) Or to escape danger -or both For the next few months, Jesus and his twelve disciples travel to Gentile lands. This is when we are shown the first glimmerings of understanding of Jesus’ true identity and mission: I’ll come back to this later. So here is Jesus, Jesus on the move, moving out of his native habitat Galilee into foreign territory. WE are on the fringe with Jesus It is important to note that when the gospel writers use geography, they use the setting to tell us something about Jesus, or something about his mission. And indeed, IS HE REALLY ENTERING FOREIGN TERRITORY? Joshua 19: 29: ‘the boundary turns to Ramah, reaching to the fortified city of Tyre.’ -where is Jesus?  In the region of Tyre! And to continue from Joshua: ‘This is the inheritance of the tribe of Asher according to their families-these towns and their villages.’ Perhaps it was not a strange land into which Jesus came, it was land God had given them long ago. But it is also worth noting, that maybe for that very reason, great bitterness had built up between the Jews and the Gentiles in this border region between Tyre and Galilee.  There was social and economic prejudice. It had been enemy territory since the time of Jezebel. So, Jesus goes north, for rest, or to escape, or maybe for both- But his fame has spread, he finds no rest.

Service and sermon August 9, 2020 -Leighmoor UC,  Rev Barbara Allen Hymn suggestions TIS 119: I sing the almighty power of God TIS 138: Eternal Father, strong to save TIS 580: Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us TIS 589: Jesus calls us!  O’er the tumult TIS 590: What a friend we have in Jesus TIS 392: At the dawning of salvation TIS 585: I heard the voice of Jesus say Call to Worship You are a God who speaks and there is light, a God who wills, and there is life, a God who moves, and there is change. Come to us, quieten our frightened hearts with the calmness and peace of your presence. Amen Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving, and Confession Loving, Creator God, we praise you with the whole of creation. As your human creatures, we gather in our homes to worship you. We give you thanks for diversity, for the gifts of each season. At the close of a glorious summer, we rest under the vibrant colours of autumn. Without the chill of winter, we would not be as thankful for the growth during spring. We see these seasons in our own lives. In the midst of our own storms, at sea during the world’s calamity, we would not appreciate or be aware of other gifts -stories of hope and compassion, a recognition that we are stronger than we thought, a stronger sense of you being beside us in our boat in the middle of the world’s rough waves. Give us the grace to see you walking beside us, comforting us in our struggles, encouraging us in our sadness. As we are more mindful of your presence, in awe of your majesty, may be conform more and more to the blue-print of the Christ-like nature that is your will for each one of us. With you beside us, we are able to face all that life throws at us, with courage. With you walking ahead of us, we are able to walk with confidence, for you are our God. And yet, we confess, at times, our lack of faith, especially when fears and anxieties pull us down into the waters. Forgive us. Forgive us when our own worries have prevented us from noticing the needs of others, when we have neglected our neighbour, when we have not prayed for the world. Forgive us. Forgive us when we have done things, or neglected to do things which make it hard for us to forgive ourselves. In a time of silence we remember other things for which we seek forgiveness. (silence) God is love. Through Christ our sins are forgiven (thanks be to God) Take hold of this forgiveness, and live your life in the power of the Spirit. Amen Bible Readings Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28 Matthew 14: 22-33 Sermon (Matthew 14: 22-33) ‘A young man was apprenticed to a master artist who produced the most beautiful stained glass windows anywhere.  The apprentice could not approach the master’s genius, so he borrowed his master’s tools, thinking that was the answer. After several weeks, the young man said to his teacher, “I’m not doing any better with your tools than I did with mine.”  The teacher replied, “So, it’s not the tools of the master you need; it’s the spirit of the master you need.” -it’s not the tools of the master you need; it’s the spirit of the master you need. v.30: ‘But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Two questions appear in the New Testament over and over again: Who is Jesus? and What is the life of true discipleship? -what does it mean to be a disciple? Today’s story, of the wind-battered boat, of Jesus’ walk on the lake- of Peter’s doubt and fears- tackle both these questions. For many of us-this is a familiar story and the trouble, or danger, with a story we know is-that we skim when we read it, or tune in a little when we hear it. -oh, that story!  I know what happens! -which is often our approach/manner when hearing the Christmas story, or the Easter story. We skim-and miss so much. That’s a danger with this story, too. So let’s take some time, listen, and allow this episode to take hold of you-and the way you live your life. Today’s story follows on the heels of the account of the feeding of the 5,000. In that episode, Jesus brings home to his disciples that they will later be in charge-that they will, in a sense, be leaders, or shepherds of the flock. When Jesus says to them ‘They (meaning the 5,000) need not go away; you give them something to eat’ Jesus wanted the disciples to realize that, as shepherds or leaders, they could not undertake that function in their own strength-they needed his power as well. So let’s keep that story in the back of our minds-because it helps us understand today’s reading. Jesus has demonstrated to them his power in the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Now-Jesus is to outline his power-and their role as his disciples in another way. But first- as I mentioned earlier- The question: ‘Who is Jesus?’ is answered. Here- the sea or lake-is part of the answer. Jesus has sent his disciples on ahead of him, across the lake, while he went up the mountain to pray. When Jesus finished his time of prayer, he was able to see from the mountain that the boat was having problems in a rough sea against a head wind. Between three and six o’clock in the morning (the 4th watch) he came towards them-walking across the sea. The sea. Water. The sea can conjure up two different types of experiences: The pleasurable –holidays at the beach, a picnic on the sand,