WELCOME
Friends, we are all welcome in this place. 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 our God and God’s hopes and dreams for our lives. 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. Together let us seek to be Christ’s light and salt in the world. Welcome.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
We live on a land without Treaty between the Dharawal original inhabitants and its European invaders. We acknowledge the need for a treaty and for truth telling. We acknowledge and honour the Dharawal elders past and present and join with them in reconciliation and justice-making.
CHRIST CANDLE
We light this candle because it brings light to this place. We light this candle because it reminds us of Christ Jesus whom we proclaim is the Light of the world and we want His light to be part of our lives.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Come, people of God, remember who and whose you are.
Stand with the great cloud of witnesses, proclaim faith in the One who sets us free.
Holy One, lover of humanity, come among us today.
You are our God, set us free from our rebellious ways and restore us to your ways. Amen.
HYMN TIS 181 vs 1, 2, 3 & 5 Music – Leanne
Come, O God of all the earth:
come to us, O Righteous One.
Come and bring our love to birth:
in the glory of your Son.
Chorus: Sing out, earth and skies!
Sing of the God who loves you.
Raise your joyful cries,
Dance to the life around you.
Come, O God of wind and flame:
fill the earth with righteousness.
Teach us all to sing your name:
may our lives your love confess.
Come, O God of flashing light:
twinkling star and burning sun.
God of day and God of night:
in your light we all are one.
Come, O Justice, come, O Peace;
come and shape our hearts anew.
Come and make oppression cease:
bring us all to life in you.
Words and music: Marty Haugen Copyright © 1985 by GIA Publications, Inc. 7494 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638 www.giamusic.com. 800-442-1358. All rights reserved. Used by permission. CCLI Licence # 31951
BIBLE READINGS Karen & Genelle
ISAIAH 5: 1 – 7 (NIV) I will sing for the one I loved a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
SONG Sinead O’Connor “If you had a vineyard” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf24-rgyOel
If you had a vineyard
On a fruitful hill
And you fenced it and cleared it
Of all stones until
You planted it
With the choicest of vine
And you even built a tower
And a press to make wine
And you looked that it would bring forth sweet grapes
And it gave only wild grapes
What would you say
Jerusalem and Judah
You be the judges I pray
Between me and my vineyard
This is what God says
What more could I have done in it
That I did not do in it
Why when I ask it for sweetness
It brings only bitterness
For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts
Is the house of Israel
And the men of Judah
His pleasant plant
And he looks for justice but beholds oppression
And he hopes for equality but hears a cry
Jerusalem and Judah
This is God’s reply
Sadness will come
To those who build house to house
And lay field to field ’til there’s room
For none but you to dwell in the land
Oh in the land
And sadness will come
To those who call evil good
And good evil who present
Darkness as light
And light as darkness
Who present as sweetness
Only the things which are bitterness
For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts
Is the house of Israel
And the men of Judah his pleasant plant
Oh oh his pleasant plant
Oh that my eyes were a fountain of tears
That I might weep for my poor people
For every boot stamped with fierceness
For every cloak rolled in blood
Jerusalem and Judah
I’d cry if I could.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
We have been your vineyard, O LORD, your people planted in loving endeavour and purpose.
You expected grapes of the finest wine, but we produced vinegar of self centredness.
We took your faithful abundance & kept it for ourselves as individuals and as your People.
We have stopped weeding and tending the soil of your vineyard, taking its goodness for granted, the agape love of your Son has been forgotten, your grace and mercy taken for granted.
Your peace has been replaced by numbing anxiety & justice is only for me and those I love.
Forgive us O LORD, graft us again through your Son to the vine of new Life so that we may bear fruit worthy of your loving mercy. In His name all this is possible. Thanks be to God. Amen PWB
LUKE 12: 49 – 56 (NIV) “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? In this we hear God’s Word of new Life. Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE Guest speaker: Rev Jim McEwan from Nethybridge, Scotland
HYMN TIS 572 (i)
O Thou who camest from above
The pure celestial fire to impart
Kindle a flame of sacred love
On the mean altar of our hearts.
There let it for Thy glory burn
With inextinguishable blaze
And trembling to its source return
In humble prayer and fervent praise.
Jesus confirm our heart’s desire
To work and speak and think for Thee
Still let me guard the holy fire
And still stir up Thy gift in me.
Ready for all Thy perfect will
Our acts of faith and love repeat
Till death Thine endless mercies seal
And make the sacrifice complete.
CCLI Song # 2684677 Charles Wesley Public Domain For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use.
All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Bruce
HYMN TIS 465 (Words modified)
Our God in heaven, grant to your children
mercy and blessing, songs never-ceasing;
love to unite us, grace to redeem us,
Our God in heaven, our God is Lord.
Jesus, Redeemer, may we remember
your gracious passion, your resurrection:
Worship we bring you, praise we shall sing you,
Jesus, Redeemer, Jesus, our Lord.
Spirit descending, whose is the blessing:
strength for the weary, help for the needy;
sealing Christ’s Lordship, blessing our worship,
Spirit descending, Spirit adored.
Words © DT Niles by permission Christian Conference of Asia. Arrangement © LF Bartlett
Used with permission. CCLI Licence # 31951
BLESSING & BENEDICTION TIS 778
Shalom to you now, shalom my friends
May God’s full mercies bless you my friends.
In all your living and through your loving
Christ be your shalom, Christ be your shalom.
CCLI Song # 114122 Elise S. Eslinger © 1983 The United Methodist Publishing House (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951
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