(Image of hand and water by Yoann Boyer on UnSplash)
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF FIRST PEOPLES
For thousands of years the indigenous peoples have walked this land, have harvested from its rivers, lakes and seas and have never defiled those waters. We acknowledge the Dharawal People of this place, who have dwelt here and who have cared for the land and its waters.
We are attentive to their wisdom in managing the waters without destruction, in harvesting from their bounty of life without exploitation, and we live in commitment to the ongoing journey of reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
CHRIST CANDLE
We gather as a people of God looking to Christ, as Word, as Light and as Wisdom in and through whom all things in heaven and on earth have their being and in whom all things are reconciled.
CALL TO WORSHIP
As many rivers merge together into the sea
We gather in our homes to worship our God, the fountain of living water.
As we worship God in spirit and in truth, let our hearts overflow with praise
Let us be cleansed by the waters of God’s grace and forgiveness.
Let us be refreshed and restored by Jesus Christ
Who promises us the waters of life through his resurrection.
HYMN TIS 181 Sing out, earth and skies.
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.
Refrain: 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.
Refrain…
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.
Refrain…
Come, O God of snow and rain; shower down upon the earth.
Come, O God of joy and pain; God of sorrow, God of mirth.
Refrain…
Come, O Justice, come, O Peace; come and shape our hearts anew.
Come and make oppression cease; bring us all to life in you.
Refrain…
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.
PRAYER OF ADORATION AND THANKSGIVING
With hearts welling up in praise for God the fountain of all goodness, let us adore the Lord.
God of the deep ocean and the tiny brook
We praise you and adore you for the gift of water that sustains all life.
At this time of worship, we remember with thanksgiving
The many signs of your grace through the gift of water.
We remember the waters of Massah and Meribah – water from the rock
And we praise and thank you for you are the God of gracious provision.
We remember the healing waters of the pool of Siloam
And we praise and thank you for you are a God of ceaseless compassion.
We remember your baptism in the waters of the Jordan river
And we praise and thank you for you are a God of transformation and calling.
Today we worship and adore you, God of provision, compassion and transformation.
Let this worship enable us to be responsible stewards of your provision,
channels of your compassion and agents of your transformation. Amen
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God, the very source of life, whose spirit hovered over waters at the time of creation;
God in Jesus Christ, who came as living water to quench the thirsty; God the Holy Spirit, who waters and brings forth its fruit; we come to your presence confessing our attitudes of greed, dominance and insensitivity towards your wonderful creation, and particularly towards water.
Let justice roll down like rivers, and let rivers roll out in justice.
We confess that we have been irresponsible in our use of water, wasting it to satisfy our comfortable lives. Many times we have treated water as a commodity to privatise, a natural resource to be owned.
In the name of development projects, water resources have been drained or polluted with industrial waste, or aquafers contaminated, bringing risk and ill health to all life.
Let justice roll down like rivers, and let rivers roll out in justice.
We acknowledge the lack of cooperation between different authorities and organisations to manage water resources fairly. The Murray – Darling basin plan is typical of these struggles. We confess our failure, as faith communities, to address water justice and seek forgiveness for not speaking out in our role as caretakers of God’s creation. We confess to being silent spectators as many vulnerable communities across the world walk many kilometres each day in search of clean water for their families and communities. Let justice roll down like rivers, and let rivers roll out in justice.
God who brought water out of the rock, who quenched the thirst of those dying in the wilderness.
God who in Jesus gave us living water, listen to all those who truly confess and grant us forgiveness so that we act responsibly in our use of water.
May we become sensitive to the desperate needs of those without water, and gain wisdom in conserving & preserving water so that rivers will roll out in justice among all nations and all peoples.
HYMN ‘Come to the water’
Come to the water! You who are thirsty!
Though you have nothing, I bid you come!
And be filled with the goodness I have to offer!
Come! Listen! Live.
Why spend your money on what cannot fill
The emptiness deep in your heart?
Listen to My word and you will enjoy
Goodness and peace in your heart!
Refrain…
Just as the heavens are high above earth;
My ways and thoughts beyond you!
Call me your Father and know I am near!
I will be Father to you!
Refrain…
Just as the rain falls to water the earth;
Just as a seed becomes bread
My word upon you can never return
Until My longing is filled!
Refrain … © Frank Andersen and Chevalier Music
BIBLE READINGS
Proverbs 1: 20 – 33 (NIV) Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: “How long will you who are simple, love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.
But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
Mark 8: 27 – 38 (NIV) Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” In these words we find Life, the Life of Jesus, the Way, the truth and the Life. Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE Rev Paul Bartlett: ‘Who and whose wisdom do you follow?’
(You can view Paul’s sermon here: https://youtu.be/DCCKsZbdLvY)(18min)
“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words…”
This part of today’s Gospel reading is one I’ve seldom focused on or remembered. I’m more captivated by Peter’s bold proclamation ‘you are the Messiah’ and of Jesus’ rebuke ‘get behind me Satan’.
Not far from where we live is a bloke I’ll call Bill. Over the past 12 months or so, we’ve become good neighbours, enjoying a chat when I walk past his place on my walks. About my age and just retired.
He swears like a trooper and doesn’t have a good word to say about the part of the Church he grew up in as a kid. From time to time he’d talk about his work and I’d say ‘have a safe trip’ and when I’d next see him I’d ask him how the trip went. He knows I work P/T but not what I do. He hasn’t asked. I’m looking for the day when I might say “I’m part of Engadine UC”. His neighbours know that. But his colourful language and strong views on most things make me hesitate in sharing anything more.
When I read today’s Gospel, the phrase I began with jumped out at me. Am I ashamed of Christ Jesus and his words? I hope not, but sometimes I feel like I’m balancing on a knife edge. I don’t want to spoil what we have but neither do I want to deliberately hide who I am. I’ve more than once said in relation to something ‘I’ll keep you in my prayers’. To which I receive his thanks but no other comment.
Do you struggle with such things? With sharing something of Jesus to others? I know one day I will tell him.
Please pray for me that I’ll know when the right Kairos or God’s time to tell him!
Let us pray…
We know that for all living things to survive, that they must have regular access to water!
Each day you and I are told we should drink at least 2 litres of water, to be sparing in the shower, to not water our driveways or put sprinklers on our lawns in the heat of the day. We understand water’s necessity and increasingly also its preciousness. Such ‘water wisdom’ is mostly known and understood.
Yet when it comes to how we live the rest of our life as individuals, in community and as stewards of God’s creation, we may be like the fools that Proverbs refers to. And Wisdom doesn’t pull any punches.
She is scathing of our ignorance and our wilful deafness. Why? Because as this Proverb says she has tried 24/7 to engage us without success. Wisdom in Hebrew is feminine, in the Greek she is called Sophia.
Wisdom is closely linked to the concept we understand as Holy Spirit.
So why is Wisdom so angry? Because, and the same insight applies today, if these words of Scripture are to be in any sense ‘a living word’ to us, she continues to shout her message from the roof tops and in our streets but we continue to live our ‘simple ways’, ‘to mock’ and to ‘hate knowledge’.
We are seeing each day in our current pandemic a hatred of knowledge, an openness to conspiracy theories plus by some an ability to be easily led by those with alarmist voices who say ‘trust us’.
Yet, apart from science based knowledge that still plays a crucial part in our society, the knowledge that the writer of Proverbs says we have no interest in, is the knowledge of who and whose we are!
Put bluntly, the knowledge God’s people too often value is the knowledge of a self-centred prioritised world, where mine or my family’s wants & needs come before all others. But that’s normal isn’t it?
A knowledge that lives for the present status quo as it affects us or our families.
A knowledge, that gives no central place to God in our day to day life. Such lack of wisdom, St Paul, several hundred years later calls ‘foolishness’, whereas the wisdom he promotes is the foolishness of the role and purpose of the Cross in the life and ministry of Jesus in our lives.
Humility, sacrifice, unconquering love and grace available for all, are at the centre of St Paul’s foolishness.
A centre that loves God with every part of our lives and values community as equally as we do family.
A wisdom that gets the jab ‘for the love of humanity’ and gives sacrificially out of what we have ‘for the love of humanity’ and to the glory of God. Because when we give of ourselves sacrificially others cannot but know that we are Christ’s and He lives his miracle of love in every part of our lives.
This same wisdom in Proverbs 1, I believe, is behind the conversations Jesus had with the disciples at Caesarea Philippi about his identity and purpose, and of Peter’s perception that this stuff which Jesus is talking about is its own foolishness – this talk of sacrifice, humiliation and death on a Cross. Jesus, for a split second, is tempted, to follow Peter’s advice with his ‘get behind me Satan’ (tempter) comment.
Jesus then goes on to clearly outline not just his own journey towards Jerusalem which he freely makes in faith and love and trust; but also the journey all who would embrace His Wisdom must make.
Jesus compares his choice and our choice as like gaining the whole world and all its comforts while losing our very identity, our very soul, our very purpose, made in God’s image, as children of God.
Do you want to live your life ‘alone’ with self at the centre as your reference point, or do you want to live it in the company and fellowship of Christ Jesus with whom there is an invitation to an abundant Life that death cannot destroy? It can’t be both! Either Christ is at the centre or you are.
In our uncertain world false wisdom speaks of secret codes, hidden meanings or fantastic theories to predict or understand what is happening. We are called to focus on the Cross, on the empty tomb, on the ministry of Jesus and on the work of the Holy Spirit whose 9 relationship based fruit define where the Lord is at work.
His wisdom I want to follow and listen to for the rest of my life – Jesus, the Wisdom of God.
“So, do not let your hearts be troubled (or distracted) and do not be afraid.
Trust in God, trust also in me”, Jesus said.
May His wisdom continue to transform how you view and care for and protect all of God’s creation, the soil, the earth, of last week and the waters of life, today, lest we leave a legacy of unsustainable life for all.
May the Holy Spirit ‘move over the waters of creation’ of your life
as she did in the beginning (Gen 1:2)
And may this be, in part, your song from Mary Shekleton:
It passes knowledge, that dear love of thine, my Saviour Jesus, yet this soul of mine
Would of thy love, in all its breath and length, its height and depth and everlasting strength
Know more and more.
Over the past few days, we have celebrated an ‘T’was lost, but now I’m found’ moment
in the discovery of little 3 year old ‘AJ’ at Putty SW of Singleton.
AJ’s family’s sheer relief and joy echoes these words from John Newton
and all who discover Jesus, Living Water, the very Wisdom of God. Amen
Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently,
nourish the life of the world in our care:
gift of great wonder, ours to surrender,
trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
We who endanger, who create hunger,
agents of death for all creatures that live,
we who would foster clouds of disaster–
God of our planet, forestall and forgive!
Let there be greening, birth from the burning,
water that blesses and air that is sweet,
health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children,
regeneration that peace will complete.
God of all living, God of all loving,
God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,
teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us,
using us gently, and making us one.
Shirley Erena Murray Words © 1992 Hope Publishing Company, 380 S Main Pl, Carol Stream, IL 60188
ANNOUNCEMENTS
OFFERING
SONG: ‘Spirit of Creation’ with permission from Craig Mitchell
PRAYERS FOR OTHERS Let us pray
(hold up glass of clean water) Lord let this glass of clean water remind us of the available resources of fresh drinking water. Help us to protect the gift of water and utilise it with the spirit of sanctity and responsibility. May our lives be so balanced that greed makes way for need and the tendency to waste makes way for a commitment to save. Fountain of life, let there be water for our world.
(Hold up a glass of salty water) Let this salty water remind us of the tears of those whose lives have been threatened by the excessive salination of their water resources. Let those who contribute to the rising sea levels shed tears of repentance and learn to lead a simple life that others may ‘simply live’.
Creator of new life, transform us so that we may be channels of life.
(Hold up a bottle of soft drink) God of justice, we pray for all those who are resisting multinational corporations and their targeted advertising which adversely affect the livelihood of millions. We pray for all organisations involved in the preservation of water, and with it, your gift of life. Help, guide and sustain them in their endeavours.
God of justice strengthen those who seek to preserve and to protect your creation.
(Hold up the empty glass) Lord, we pray for all communities involved in issues of water justice. Give us compassion to walk with those who are denied access to water through development. Fill us with a vision of solidarity and fellowship so that we can work together with all peoples in conserving the gift of water. God of justice strengthen those who seek to preserve and to protect your creation.
Lord, we pray for the Church and its mission. Inspire and transform us to be good stewards in our communities modelling water conservation and the availability of clean water for all. May this start in our own kitchens, bathrooms & gardens and through the programs of organisations like UnitingWorld.
CONTEMPORARY LORD’S PRAYER
Dearest One, closer to us than our own hearts, farther from us than the most distant star. May your powerful presence become obvious not only in the undeniable glory of the sky, but also in the daily lives we live on the earth. Give us what we need, day by day, to keep body and soul together, because clever as you have made us, we still owe our existence to you. We recognize that to be reconciled with you, we must live peaceably and justly with each other, putting hate and bitterness behind us. We are torn between our faith in your goodness and our awareness of the evil that exists in our world, so deliver us from the temptation to despair. Yours alone is the universe & all its majesty and beauty. For so it is. Amen
HYMN ‘For you deep stillness’
For you, deep stillness of the silent inland
For you, deep blue of the desert skies
For you, flame red of the rocks and stones
For you, sweet water from hidden springs.
From the edges seek the heartlands
and when you’re burnt by the journey
may the cool winds of the hovering
Spirit soothe and replenish you.
In the name of Christ, In the name of Christ.
BLESSING & BENEDICTION
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