The sermon can be watched here
Welcome! Friends, you are welcome in this place as I am welcome. Our time together is God’s gift to each of us. We come with what we know of and have experienced in life, we come seeking to discover what we don’t yet know about God and God’s hopes and dreams for our lives. Whether we believe or don’t believe, whether we know much or not at all, all are welcome. We declare in Jesus’ name that this is a safe physical, emotional and spiritual environment for all who search for meaning and purpose in life, regardless of age, race, gender, sexuality, or abilities.
God, you invite us to experience your goodness today and every day.
You welcome us when we are full of joy and when we are in despair.
You welcome us when we feel alive and when we feel dull inside.
You bring us into your love and into your community.
We do not take your invitation for granted, God of all goodness.
We know ourselves welcomed, and we rejoice.
Amen.
Acknowledgement of Country
‘In the spirit of reconciliation this church acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We acknowledge the Dharawal people and pay our respects to their elders past and present and emerging.
Lighting the Candle
The Light of the world is much needed in many dark places. Help us serve people living in shadows, the shadows of pain, poverty, loneliness, prejudice, guilt and much more.
Jesus Christ, with us now as we worship and fellowship, shine in our hearts we pray with warmth and hope.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Come, let us live in the love of God.
Come, let us sing of God’s goodness.
Come, let us speak of God’s faithfulness.
Come, let us pray in hope.
Come, let us worship together.
Come, all are invited, all are welcome.
Hymn
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist cry
Tune Winchester
Verse 1
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’ cry
announces that the Lord is nigh;
come then and hearken, for he brings
glad tidings from the King of kings.
Verse 2
Then cleansed be every heart from sin;
make straight the way for God within;
prepare we in our hearts a home
where such a mighty guest may come.
Verse 3
For you are our salvation, Lord,
our refuge and our great reward;
without your grace we waste away
like flowers that wither and decay.
Verse 4
To heal the sick stretch out your hand,
and bid the fallen sinner stand;
shine forth, and let your light restore
earth’s own true loveliness once more.
Verse 5
To him who left the throne of heaven
to free us all, let praise be given;
and praise be to the Father done,
and Holy Spirit, Three in One.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
We come to our prayer of confession. Why do we include this prayer every week? There may be lots of answers to that question. Nowadays secular and religious counsellors realise the damage done from long term held guilt- false or otherwise_ and the need for an individual to make amends.
Probably the pre-reformation church realised what guilt does to individuals- before all the therapists and mental health experts we have around today. How damaging and crippling unresolved guilt can be -whether it be a child wrongly assuming the blame for a parents break up, giving a child up for adoption because there was no other way 50 years ago (see TV programs on families reunited, long lost families from 50 and 60s adoptions), involvement in an accident, not being able to make it to a sick bed, or just realising that someone was hurt through a sharp word, …The church gave the opportunity to be regularly absolved by God – a much higher power than the church, and forgiveness pronounced. But the church acted as agents in this process. Priests pronounced absolution and forgiveness. [Think back to the annual day of atonement in the Old testament.] People would go away with hope, renewed self-esteem, and a determination to do better in the future, and even now an assurance that is public or from another person seems needed, rather than just a quiet prayer and inner knowledge of forgiveness.
We could say that the weekly confession was a way of keeping people in their place, make them wrack up a list of misdoings, realise how imperfect they are, and the church shows how much the church itself is needed, put themselves up on a pedestal. Only a cynic would think that! No, Martin Luther called out the indulgences, where confessions were said and forgiveness had to be paid for by acts of penance or money. By the late Middle Ages, indulgences were used to support charities for the public good including hospitals. However, the abuse of indulgences, mainly through commercialization, had become a serious problem which the church recognized but was unable to restrain effectively. Indulgences were, from the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, a target of attacks by Martin Luther and other Protestant theologians. Eventually the Catholic church curbed the abuses of indulgences. As you know the confessional remains an important part of many churches, not only Roman Catholics.
Personally, I have noticed a change coming from another denomination to the Uniting church here. Here there is less emphasis on personal “sin” but more a community lamentation and acknowledgment before God that our systems in society and structures are less than perfect. We belong to them and need to help repair and fix or change them – with the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit. With the referendum coming up, how does modern day Australia reconcile its guilty past?
Here is a quote from a recent novel I read: ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ by Bonnie Garmus
Well, he said, realising he’d never seen it that way before, “I agree that society leaves much to be desired, but when it comes to religion, I tend to think it humbles us- teaches us our place in the world.”
“Really?” she said surprised.” I think it lets us off the hook. I think it teaches us that nothing is really our fault; that something or someone else is pulling the strings; that ultimately, we’re not to blame for the way things are; that to improve things, we should pray. But the truth is, we are very much responsible for the badness in the world. And we have the power to fix it.”
“But surely you’re not suggesting that humans can fix the universe.”
“I’m speaking of fixing us, Mr Roth – our mistakes.”
Let us make our confession:
If we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins,
God is faithful and just
and will forgive our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
O God,
We confess the blindness that is not even aware of sinning;
the pride that dares not admit that it is wrong;
the selfishness that can see nothing but its own will;
the righteousness that knows no fault;
the callousness that has ceased to care;
the defiance that does not regret its own sins;
the evasion that always tried to make excuses;
the coldness of heart that is too hardened to repent.
God, we are sinners; be merciful to us.
Amen.
And now, there follows a pronouncement of forgiveness. An Absolution. We are absolved. We are reassured that we do not have to carry around this load of guilt. Where there is an ordained person they may choose to say “I declare that your sins are forgiven, etc” but we know the person upfront equally identifies as a mere human and is only passing on the church’s authority to declare forgiveness. I have always seen it more as strong definite word of reassurance rather than a priestly type thing. We all need forgiveness but we also need to forgive each other, and ourselves. Richard Rohr delves into the history of the sacrament of reconciliation within the church, and concludes how vital and important it is for individuals to find forgiveness and healing for the well being of the whole community, on a regular basis.
A Hymn to God the Father
BY JOHN DONNE
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow’d in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son Sun
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more.
We might paraphrase Donne’s argument (debate with God) in ‘A Hymn to God the Father’ as follows: ‘Will you forgive my sins, which I was responsible for, though many have committed them before me? If you will forgive me for those sins, then your work will not be done – for I have more sins to confess when we’ve done those. Will you forgive me when I have led others to sin, and even introduced them to the world of sin, acting like a door to welcome them in? Will you forgive me for the sin which, barring a couple of years of abstinence, I practised for twenty whole years? Again, if you will forgive me for those sins, then you should know: there are more. I also have another sin – that of fear, (not fear of sin) or specifically, fear of death. But if you, God, can swear that when I die, I will see your son, Jesus Christ, shining and there to save me, then all is all right: I fear no more.’
I will repeat the quote from a Islamic 13 century Sufi poet I put up last time:
God is busy with the completion of your work, both outwardly and inwardly. He is fully occupied with you. Every human being is a work in progress that is slowly but inexplicably moving toward perfection. We are each an unfinished work of art both waiting and striving to be completed. God deals with each of us separately because humanity is a fine art of skilled penmanship where every single dot is equally important for the entire picture.
Persian poet, Sufi (mystical branch of Islam)
Absolution
This is the best of all:
When we are empty, God fills us;
When we are disheartened, God is compassionate;
When we are wounded God brings healing;
When we confess our sin, God forgives.
In Christ, through Christ and because of Christ,
Our sins are forgiven.
Thanks be to God.
You refill the cup of life, O God.
In Christ we find refuge and strength.
Allegri in the Sistene chapel: Psalm 51
Psalm 51
Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your loving kindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
John 1 29-42
John Testifies About Jesus
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[f]
John’s Disciples Follow Jesus
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Reflection: Baptism as repentance
Today we have the reading of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, not quite a repeat of last week as this is from John the apostle’s point of view. What did baptism mean within Jewish culture during that time, and why did Jesus get baptised. Surely he did not need to acknowledge wrong doings and turn to God or “repent”. He had nothing to confess did He, theology suggests he was a perfect human, being God as well? Paul spoke of this last week, the tension between Son of God and human.
What is the history of baptism or the baptismal ceremony? John the Baptist baptized Jews before Christ came on the scene. Where did he come by the practice of baptism?
But in first-century Judaism, baptism had a different meaning. In the book of Leviticus, God instructs Jews to cleanse themselves from ritual impurities, contracted through such acts as touching a corpse or a leper. Washing primarily fulfilled the legal requirements of ritual purity so that Jews could sacrifice at the Temple. Later, as “God-fearers” or “righteous” Gentiles expressed their desire to convert to Judaism, priests broadened the rite’s meaning, and along with circumcision, performed baptism as a sign of the covenant given to Abraham.
While Christians may relate to baptism as a sign of covenant and purity before God, these still don’t bridge the gap to John the Baptist’s “baptism of repentance”-or to the messianic thrust of his message. While there’s still room for speculation, one possible bridge is the community at Qumran-the ascetic desert sect best known for creating the Dead Sea scrolls. Like orthodox Jews, the Qumran sectarians baptized for reasons of ritual purity. But the community rule, also stated that a person could not become clean if he failed to obey God’s commandments. “For it is through the spirit of God’s true counsel concerning the ways of man that all his sins be expiated,” observes their Manual, “and when his flesh is sprinkled with purifying water, it shall be made clean by the humble submission of his soul to all the precepts of God.”
Some scholars think John the Baptist may have been a member of the Qumran sect. His ministry did centre in the same area. But even if he wasn’t, John’s message was compelling to those familiar with the desert ascetics: “I baptize you with water of repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandal I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
Hymn: Dear Lord and Father of mankind
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow Thee.
O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by love!
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Generous and loving God,
We also offer –
our time, energy, desires, and love –
our hope for a new and better world.
Receive these offerings and receive us as eager participants in your new world.
Amen.
Prayers of the People – Karen
Announcements
COMMISSIONING AND BENEDICTION
On screen
We are – all of us acceptable to God.
We are – all of us, welcomed by God in every moment of our lives.
Help us to break free of traditions and systems that entrap us, guilt that inhibits us, and share with others the way of Jesus.
Let us go into our lives in the joy of knowing we are loved.
Let us go in that truth and in that peace.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
Shalom my friends
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