Sermons

Hello Faith Pals, I have included my last sermon/service, and an item from Bill Pugh about angels. News: Alan has had some good news.  The cancer cells have not been found in his organs, or in his lymph nodes, but they seem to be hiding in his bones.  His oncologist will be speaking to Peter Mac re further tests to see if Alan is suitable for targeted radiation therapy.  If this is not possible, other options will be considered. Myrtle is to have surgery next year for her heart problems. She has a number of important tests lined up for early in the new year. Lex: on the mend, slowly recovering from heart surgery. Oh, it has reached that stage…which is good…because it means Heeyoung will be starting next week, and you will then have a permanent minister…but sad because I will miss you, you have found your way into my heart, even during this time of lockdown! Oh I had so much I wanted to say, but it won’t come out right.  You are so wonderful and even though I have got to know you via the phone and the internet-that was sufficient for me to realize, and feel, the love from this church community.  I will miss your laughter, your patience, your faith, your compassion…you are true pilgrims. When I began, I thought I’d be caring for you through visits and Sunday worship.  Well, we do worship differently now (and we have learned that this is okay too-we can still worship and pray when we are physically absent from the church building). I feel cheated that I haven’t  had the opportunity to meet most of you in your homes, see your photographs etc.  BUT I think we have coped quite well.  The most important thing during lockdown was to keep each other safe…and you did that…without complaining.  Well done, thy good and faithful servants!  I have tried my best…if I have neglected anyone, I am truly sorry. I have tried to keep your spirits up.  We have laughed, shared favourite books/films/music/Scripture etc.  You have put up with Kermit the frog, angels, my haiku, and my many ramblings. I never got to ask you what cartoon character you are most like, or would most like to be.  I think I am most like Grover, the furry blue monster from Sesame Streetwho just wants to love everyone, and comfort them.  Thank you for allowing me to love you. I want to share a story, that I shared with several people yesterday: The Seven Wonders of the World, author unknown ‘Junior high school students in Chicago were studying the Seven Wonders of the World. At the end of the lesson, the students were asked to list what they considered to be the Seven Wonders of the World. Though there was some disagreement, the following received the most votes: 1. Egypt’s Great Pyramids 2. The Taj Mahal in India 3. The Grand Canyon in Arizona 4. The Panama Canal 5. The Empire State Building 6. St. Peter’s Basilica 7. China’s Great Wall While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl, hadn’t turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The quiet girl replied, “Yes, a little. I couldn’t quite make up my mind because there were so many.” The teacher said, “Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help.” The girl hesitated, then read, “I think the Seven Wonders of the World are: 1. to touch… 2. to taste… 3. to see… 4. to hear… (She hesitated a little, and then added…) 5. to feel… 6. to laugh… 7. and to love. The room was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop. May this story serve as a gentle reminder to all of us that the things we overlook as simple and ordinary are often the most wonderful – and we don’t have to travel anywhere special to experience them. Enjoy your gifts!’ When I conclude, I will tackle those boxes and mess in the lounge-I need room to put on the Christmas tree.  Did I tell you I love Christmas?  I am sure I have! I have two books that I need to finish writing, one with a deadline that is looming, the other two years away (but time does go fast…faster as we get older). Thank you for your care, love, and prayers for me, and also those for David.  If surgery happens in February, we will remain in isolation/lockdown until May because of his suppressed immune system. I wanted to conclude with something profound. Oh you lovely band of faithful pilgrims, with pure hearts, and an ability to see God’s amazing world…I thought I would conclude with this quote.  It isn’t one from the Bible, indeed the spiritual teacher was not a Christian…but it sums up our calling: We are here helping each other through life, and beside us is our friend and Saviour. Wallow in God’s goodness, embrace God’s love.  Know you are NEVER alone, for Christ walks beside you-indeed you carry his name, ‘Christian.’ ‘Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God…for God is love.’ -1 John 4: 7 May you and Heeyoung be a community of love, a church filled with joy, with a thirst for compassion, and justice. Blessings and love, you remain in my prayers, and in my heart, Barbara Virus-free. www.avg.com

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