WELCOME Today the Dharawal Elders of this land would bid us come in peace, with respect and generous hearts with the voice of their own song lines, lives linked to our Creator.
For we gather on their land gifted by God before recorded time. So welcome, may you find a measure of Christ’s Peace with respect and with generosity for all whom God has made.
CHRIST CANDLE Darkness is strong, but light is stronger. Christ is the Light of the world and not even death has overcome His light. Praise be to God whose light gives hope to all the world.
CALL TO WORSHIP Responsive Psalm 19: 1 – 6
The heavens declare the glory of God
the skies proclaim the work of God’s hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth. Praise be to God!
SONG ‘The heavens shall declare’ (repeat)
The heavens shall declare
The glory of His name
All creation bows
At the coming of the King
Every eye shall see
Every heart will know
Every knee shall bow
Every tongue confess
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
See the coming of the King
Holy is the Lord.
Geoffrey William Bullock 1955 – By permission Nightlight Music Group CCLI Licence # 31951
PRAYER OF CONFESSION inspired by the ‘Liturgy of St Mark’ 5th Century Peter or Sarina
Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, Word of everlasting God, you have borne the griefs of this past week and of many weeks and you have carried all that weighs us down and that of all your world.
By the loving interest and power of the Holy Spirit, Sophia, forgive, renew and set us free to be your people for all that the heavens shall declare. Comfort and strengthen us in our fears by sending us out to be your healing touch and presence in the world. These our lives and these our prayers, this week, on this day we shall declare your praise & glory for all eternity, holy and loving God. Amen
GOSPEL READING Peter or Sarina
Matthew 21:33 – 40, 43 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way. Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from them and given to a people that produces its fruits. May our Lord help us to understand these Spirit inspired words so they may bear fruit in our lives for the good of all humanity.
VIDEO CLIP ‘Bruce God Almighty’ (First 2 mins 15 secs)
MESSAGE (There was a problem with the recording of the sermon for today, so Paul’s notes have been provided instead of the usual video.)
Vineyards (Israel) & grapes are common metaphors in the Old Testament as an image of God’s People and their fruitfulness, just as is the image of the Shepherd (God) and the sheep (us)! Here in this parable is a brief history of the last 1,000 years where God repeatedly sent prophets all of whom in their day by and large were ignored though remembered and honoured later.
I wonder what parable could be written about Engadine Uniting Church or about us individually that could sum up so succinctly our past 40-70 or even 90+ years! (Discuss with your neighbour)
And it isn’t just a broad looking-back. Whatever Jesus’ original meaning regarding fruitfulness, a common theme of his, for the first century early Church saw this passage as God’s rejection of the Jews for their killing of ‘the Son’, and the transfer of responsibility for the vineyard to the followers of Jesus.
As Scripture is a living word able to speak to every generation then it must also be speaking to us. Not just about fruitfulness (‘many will call me Lord’ Matthew 7:21) but also if we aren’t fruitful then the Lord will find others to share his Good News. There is a warning here. The Church isn’t the only place that God is at work in the world…we already know that mission isn’t just about taking the gospel to others but of also finding and joining the places/people where God’s Spirit is already at work.
And the crunch point? Todays’ parable has brought us to the unpalatable truth that we too in our day may want to steal/gain “the son’s inheritance”. That’s a bit like being us wanting to be God-like.
If only for a week, as in this movie clip. In the parts earlier in today’s clip, the character of Bruce has let the ‘I can do anything I want to’ notion of what it means to be God go to his head, and is self-centred in all he does.
It’s a Hollywood script for the spectacular, the superficial and the supernatural like the Evil One’s temptation that Jesus entertain the crowds, then they’ll follow you. Neither is there compassion and love which is foundational to our understanding of God who ‘being able to do anything’ takes the lowest place and comes as a servant, born in a manger & with a towel wrapped around his waist.
In this clip God at least has finally had enough when all that Bruce can do with his new found ‘power’ is a parting of the waves like Moses of a bowl of tomato soup! We too can abuse/misuse the gifts when we make important decisions about our lives without reference to our faith and the ‘what would Jesus do’ stuff; or when we make important decisions about our lives without reference to the gathered wisdom of our faith community the Body of Christ then we are saying to God, ‘I’m in the centre, I’m the sole arbiter of all that is my life.’
When we don’t follow the Great Commandment: to love God with every part of our being & to love our neighbours as we love ourselves then we become atheists – worshipping just ourselves.
So what will you choose? A tokenistic faith that mouths the words and sings the songs or a life transformed? Through the prism of Christ Jesus with his focus on ‘the widow & the orphan’ (as we move from Self → wholeness) or a life focused on SELF? Amen
HYMN
Let him to whom we now belong
His sovereign right assert
And take up every thankful song
And every loving heart.
He justly claims us for his own
Who won us at great cost
As Christians live to Christ alone
To Christ alone we die.
We come in deep humility
Your easy yoke to prove
And own it perfect liberty
To serve the Lord we love.
Our whole lives we-offer you
With joy we give to you
Our all, no longer ours, but yours
for all eternity.
Charles Wesley 1707 – 1788 Public Domain. CCLI Licence #31951
ANNOUNCEMENTS
OFFERING PRAYER
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & LORDS PRAYER Leanne
HYMN
Your hand, O God, has guided, your flock from age to age
The wondrous tale is written, full clear on every page
Your people owned your goodness, and we their deeds record
And both of this bear witness:
One church, one faith, one Lord.
Your heralds brought glad tidings, to greatest as to least
They bade them rise and hasten, to share the great King’s feast
And this was all their teaching, in every deed and word
To all alike proclaiming:
One church, one faith, one Lord.
Your mercy will not fail us, nor leave your work undone
With your right hand to help us, the victory shall be won
And then by all creation, your name shall be adored
And this shall be our anthem:
One church, one faith, one Lord.
Edward Hayes Plumptre 1821 – 1891 Public Domain CCLI Licence # 31951
BLESSING & BENEDICTION unaccompanied, sing as a round…
Sent by the Lord am I, my hands are ready now
to make the earth the place, in which the kingdom comes.
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