ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
With flannel flower and wattle, with acacia and blue gum branches we dance our own corroboree
as we continue to celebrate the risen Christ Jesus. We welcome him into our lives on Dharawal
land, gifted by the Creator since time immemorial. We acknowledge their land and their elders
past and present joining our voices with theirs in our search for reconciliation and justice making.

CALL TO WORSHIP
In today’s Service and next week’s, John 14 is set as our Gospel Lectionary Reading. Perhaps the
most familiar of its words are the first three verses: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
Today and next week we will listen to the stories of a number of women who helped the Gospel
become what it is today.
We gather because we believe in a God who has room for each one of us and more.
We gather because we believe Jesus is the Way to God’s house of many rooms.
We gather because we believe Jesus gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit so we might not lose our
way. Come, let us worship God together this day. Amen

HYMN
Give to our God immortal praise
Mercy and truth are all God’s ways
Wonders of grace to God belong
Repeat God’s mercies in your song.
God built the earth, God spread the sky
And fixed the starry lights on high
Wonders of grace to God belong
Repeat God’s mercies in your song.
God fills the sun with morning light
God bids the moon direct the night
God’s mercies ever shall endure
When suns and moons shall shine no more.
God sent His Son with power to save
From guilt and darkness and the grave
Wonders of grace to God belong
Repeat God’s mercies in your song.

CCLI Song # 2756299 Isaac Watts. Public Domain For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use.All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951

RESPONSIVE PSALM 31 adapted, John & Robyn
In you, LORD, I have taken refuge
let me never be put to shame
Deliver me in your righteousness
Turn your ear to me
Come quickly to my rescue
Be my rock of refuge
A strong fortress to save me.
Since you are my rock and my fortress
For the sake of your name lead and guide me.
I trust in you, LORD for you are my refuge.
You are my God.
My life is held in your hands
Let your face shine on your servant
Save me in your unfailing love.


PRAYER OF CONFESSION John & Robyn
Today’s Gospel reading includes the words ‘do not let your hearts be troubled’ ‘believe’, ‘trust’,
‘do not be afraid’…so often Lord we hear these words at a crossroad in your life & in your disciples
lives. We can claim these words of assurance and presence in our lives too amidst the many
crossroads we have faced & will continue to face today & amidst all our tomorrows. You do know
us well LORD. For we are often troubled, often afraid, finding it hard to trust and believe in you.
Remind us again & again of your constant love and presence. Forgive our to frequent looking back
& our too often looking forward whether in regret or in anxious distracting fear.
Be our Lord for this day. May we always be reminded of the love and room in your heart.
Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. So do not let your
hearts be trouble and do not be afraid. I am with you, always. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen

TWO GOSPEL STORIES John & Robyn
Matthew 15: 21 – 28 (NIV) Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 
A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on
me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his
disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He
answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him.
“Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the
dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter
was healed at that moment.
Luke 8: 42b – 48 (NIV) As Jesus was on his way (to see Jairus about his very ill daughter) the
crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve
years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and
immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it,

Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone
touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could
not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told
why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter,
your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” In this we hear God’s word of life. Thanks be to God.

HYMN – All Together Whatever
Like the woman of old, each day
We go to the wellsprings of life
To find Jesus there.
Some days the well seems dry.
We can’t reach the water –
It’s too hard.
Some days our legs won’t take us
Our hearts are aching, crying.
Some days our minds are reeling
There’s too much happening –
We need to stop.
Some days our souls are parched
We need the water – so thirsty.
Some days we’re resurrected
We feel new life -inside us.
Some days our faith moves mountains
We feel life’s glory – earth and heaven.
Words and music: Don Stewart ©1995 Used with permission. CCLI Licence # 31951

Discussion during and after the sermon: What forms of disruption to worship would you find most difficult, and why? What topics or issues – currently taboo – should the church discuss? What “women’s issues” have been sidelined in the church because of men’s discomfort?

HYMN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI0lahZHrTw
God’s Table (Since the world was young) Lyric video
Performed by Ruth & Joy Everingham ©2021

Since the world was young
There’s a song that’s been sung
Of a promise coming true
Hungry folk will eat
And long lost friends will meet
And the Lord will make all things new.
God has a table
Where He calls His friends
To a feast that never ends
God has a table
And one day we’ll meet Him there.
Jesus saw a crowd
Who were hungry and vowed
That they didn’t have much food
So He fed that bunch
With a little boy’s lunch
As a sign that God is good.
Chorus
Jesus told a tale
Of how rich people fail
To accept God’s summons to dine
Then before their eyes
Those without earthly ties
Share heaven’s finest food and wine.
Chorus
Till we hear that word
From the mouth of the Lord
Saying join Me at My table
For the world we’ll care
And its good things we will share
As long as we are able.
Chorus
CCLI Song # 1559195 Graham Maule | John L. Bell © Words & Music: 1987 WGRG, c/o Iona Community, Glasgow, Scotland (Admin. by Willow Publishing Pty. Ltd.) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951


HOLY COMMUNION
This is the joyful feast of Jesus. Bread for beloved children
A meal for those expecting scraps, and a banquet for last-minute guests!
Come, your place is at the table. Here Christ meets you, and calls you God’s own.

GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Hear the words…
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you
That the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed,
Took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said:
‘This is my body which is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me’.
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying:
‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, for the remembrance of me.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup
You proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
The Lord be with you
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
With all we are, we give you glory;
Trinity of love, the one and Holy God
Sovereign of all time and space.
We bless you for this wide, red land
For its rugged beauty, its changing seasons, for its diverse peoples
And for all that lives upon this fragile earth.
You have called us to be the Church in this place
To give voice to every creature under heaven.
We rejoice with all that you have made
As we join the company of heaven in their song:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might
Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed, the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
To Adam and Eve, children of dust, You gave the world and its wonders. But we misused your gift
of freedom: We reached out rebel hands to be like you. We bless you for your mercy, for you
never cease to call our restless hearts, until they find their rest in you. Again and again, you raised
up men and women to speak your word to guide, to challenge and convert.
At the last, Father, you sent Jesus Christ, child of your love, God with us. Born as one of us, he lived
our life and died our death, offering us, both now and forever, eternal life with you.
Through him, in him and because of him, we affirm the Church’s faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
PRAYER OF INVOCATION

BREAKING OF THE BREAD

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Bruce
THE LORD’S PRAYER
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen.

HYMN
We are Your people, Spirit of grace
You dare to make us, to all our neighbours
Christ’s living voice hands and face.

Joined in community, treasured and fed
May we discover, Gifts in each other
Willing to lead and be led.

Rich in diversity, help us to live
Closer than neighbours, open to strangers
Able to clash and forgive.

Glad of tradition. Help us to see
In all life’s changing
Where You are leading
Where our best efforts should be.

Christ, as we serve you, in different ways
May all we’re doing
Show that you’re living
Meeting your love with our praise.
CCLI Song # 2574471 Brian Arthur Wren © 1975 Hope Publishing Company. For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951


BLESSING & BENEDICTION