Welcome! Every year during September, Christians around the world and across denominations set aside time to celebrate God’s beautiful Earth and renew our shared commitment to preserving and restoring that beauty.
During the Season of Creation we unite as followers of Jesus, celebrating the bonds we share with each other and with “every living creature on Earth.” Together Christians celebrate the season by spending time in prayer, spending time in nature, considering ways to inhabit our common home sustainably, and lifting our voices in the public sphere.
Today we will join together in thanksgiving and lament for our Common home.
Let’s begin with our Acknowledgement of Country with this beautiful video by Safina Stewart (link here, 4min)
LIGHTING OF THE CANDLE
This candle brings light into the dark as the stars light up the skies at night, revealing the beauty and wonder of our Creator God, and the beauty and wonder of the whole of creation, the beauty and wonder of humankind!
Call to Worship
Friends, it is the Season of Creation.
Today we gather in the household of God, surrounded by our broken, beautiful, scarred and glorious world, joining our voice to earth’s song of praise.
We gather to worship the God of rivers and oceans and waterfalls, of rainforest and desert places. We gather to hear the cry of the prophets and the groaning of creation, and to join that mighty river of justice and peace.
We come to be quenched by living water, giver of life. We come to plant our feet on this earth, parched for justice.
May the Creator, fountain of life, Jesus the Christ, pulse of life, and Holy Spirit, breath of life, be always with you.
SONG – God of Creation Craig Mitchell (Morning Has Broken Tune)
- God of Creation, Gentle life-giver: Present at birth, and all through our days
Author of sunrise, Song in the night sky, Here in this place, we offer our praise.
2. Jesus, Companion, teacher and healer; friend of the grieving, suffering, the poor
Stand with your people, whisper among us: promise of mercy, goodness for all.
3. Spirit of Comfort, blow through Creation: stir up new life, breathe peace through our world.
Healer of hearts, and hope for tomorrow, weave all our sorrows into new dawn
4. Here we give thanks for life in its fullness: blessings received, your gifts to us all
Make us a people filled with compassion, selflessly giving, serving your world
Craig Mitchell, 2010 May be used in worship with acknowledgement.
Reflection: ‘Dadirri’, by Auntie Miriam Rose Baumann
Video – Dadirri – Miriam Rose Foundation
Prayer of Confession and Lament for the Earth:
Creator of the cosmos, You have filled this good Earth with complex wonders, abundant beauty, resilient interdependencies, and you invite us to share this abode with all your guests: with bandicoots and banksias, bacteria and blue whales, and the billions of beings like us.
But we have abused your divine hospitality. We’ve made a right mess of the place. We have kicked out other residents and falsely claimed ownership for ourselves.
We grieve the coral bleached white, the forests burned black, the dwindling glaciers, the silenced birdsong, the oceans emptying of fish and filling with plastic.
Forgive us our habitual greed, our stunted empathy, our careful ignorance. Forgive our complicity in systems built on lies, that extract too much and funnel wealth into the pockets of too few.
Fill our lungs with your fresh wind, your Holy Breath, your life-giving Spirit, that we may sing songs of resistance, renewal, revolution, and that we may walk together in the true and living way of Jesus so that in you, all may find a home.
Hear Christ’s love to you all. Healing is possible. Cleansing is possible. We can form a mighty river of justice and peace. Everything is possible with the love of God. AMEN
SONG – All Creatures Lament (Tune: All creatures of our God and King)
1. All creatures of our God and King, Lift up your voices let them ring: Fill the earth with lamentation.
Cry out abuses of our power, Tell what we lose with every hour, to our greed and depredation
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.
2. All creatures winging in the air, Cry out the failures of our care: Fill the sky with lamentation.
Shout through the clouds of smoke and ash, Choked with the fumes of poison gas, tell us of our degradation. (Lord have mercy, etc.)
3. All creatures hidden in the seas, Lift up your anguished prayers and pleas: Fill the sea with lamentation.
Teach us to see your wonders now. Help us to make a holy vow here to halt your devastation. (Lord have mercy, etc.)
4, All creatures dwelling on the land, Join as we lift each heart and hand: Fill the world with lamentation.
Mourn the destruction of our home, Weep with the fear of worse to come, Hear the groans of all creation. (Lord have mercy, etc.)
© 2022 Integrity’s Alleluia! Music; Kate Bluett Music; Paul Zach Publishing; PG Songs And Hymns
Bible reading Matthew 20:1-16
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Bible reading Job:12 1-12
12 Then Job replied:
2 “Doubtless you are the only people who matter,
and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have a mind as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know all these things?
4 “I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
though I called on God and he answered—
a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
5 Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune
as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
6 The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
and those who provoke God are secure—
those God has in his hand.[a]
7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear test words
as the tongue tastes food?
12 Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?
Sermon intro (by Kathy)
I am not going to reflect on the Matthew reading this morning, even though it is a passage that I really like. I asked Sue to include a reflection in the Bulletin this week, so you can all go and read that later on today or later in the week for your gospel reflection.
Instead we are going to focus on the Job reading. For a couple of reasons. At church council we have been discussing running some courses here at Engadine called preachnomics. This involves sessions on what is preaching, what makes for an effective preacher, what does it mean to preach the Bible, etc. It includes practical units including how to interpret a passage for preaching (as opposed to an academic essay), how to structure and use illustrations, and the art of orality. And then in the last two weeks, participants are invited to present draft sermons for workshopping and feedback, then present to the congregation if they feel comfortable. I know someone who has completed this course at another UC and enjoyed the experience and captured his preaching on video. It also happens to be relevant to the today’s service theme. Shane was a member here at Engadine until his university days and then moved to the Inner West. He is currently residing in Broken Hill – where he told me this week it is has been very hot!
Sermon: Shane Slade (sermon prepared as part of undertaking the “Preachonomics” course at Leichhardt Uniting)
OFFERING PRAYER
We are joined to every grain of sand: to every leaf and every drop of rain
We are joined to every creature’s breath: We are joined to every particle of creation.
We are joined forever to God’s remarkable love which brings us to a place of healing and action. We give generously, gifts of money, of food, the work of our hands, our hearts, and our lives.
May these offerings also be used to nurture potential, surprise and goodness in our community and in your world Amen.
Prayers for others – Jan C
Song GOD THE MAKER OF THE HEAVENS
God, the maker of the heavens,
and the planet that we share,
show us how to live, like Jesus,
lives of gratitude and care.
Make us mindful of the footprints
from the lives that we pursue.
Make us partners in your mission:
you are making all things new.
God, the gardener of Eden,
teach us how to tend this earth,
learning from the changing seasons,
times of fallow and new birth.
Lord, have mercy when we’re careless,
rich resources we misuse.
Use our hands to heal creation:
you are making all things new.
God of labour and vocation,
Lord of science, trade and art,
take our efforts and our passions
make them mirrors of your heart.
Every habitat and creature
loved and valued, God, by you.
May our lives reveal your Kingdom:
you are making all things new.
CCL# 7126825 © Sam Hargreaves / Resound Worship
SENDING OUT
Creating God, your name is written in every leaf, every bird, every river, every stone, every living being. Thank you for calling us by name. We give thanks for this season of creation. Make us attentive to the wounds of the earth. and willing to work for the healing of the whole creation. Send us out as your hands and feet to care for the earth and take action so that we those who come after us can enjoy an abundant nature and live a long life on earth.
Blessing: Fruits of the spirit and all of creation (by Brooke Prentis)
Creator God, May we see your love in each other’s hearts,
Your joy in the Golden Wattle, your peace in the morning sunrise,
Your patience in the mighty mountain, your kindness in the Quokka,
Your goodness in the Rainbow Lorikeet, your faith in the ancient Grasstree,
Your gentleness in the Leafy Sea Dragon, your self-control in the dry desert plains.
And may the blessing of God, pulse of all that is, Spirit of creation, brooding over the waters, and Jesus the Christ, who was clothed in creation, Go with us now from this place. Amen.
Now with the fruits of the spirit, and all of creation,
Go in truth, love, and hope. AMEN
Blessing Song
‘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.
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