Sunday 13 March 2022
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
We gather to praise God our Creator on Dharawal land. We acknowledge their continual connection with this land for over 1,600 generations and we acknowledge also their elders past, present and emerging as we pledge to work together in reconciliation and justice-making.
LENTEN CANDLE LIGHTING
Darkness draws near. We will not be afraid. Evil is strong. Goodness and faithfulness are stronger.
Jesus draws ever closer to Jerusalem. Will we draw ever closer to Him? We light our Lenten candle.
CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 27 selected verses
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.
One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord.
Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path.
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong
and let our hearts take courage. Let us Pray…
SONG ‘The Lord is my light’ Taize
The Lord is my light, my light and salvation
In Him I trust, in Him I trust. (repeats several times)
WELCOME
GOSPEL READING Kathy
LUKE 13: 31 – 35 (NIV) At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’
In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
In this we hear God’s Word of Life. Thanks be to God.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
There are many images that I may have of you Lord that inform and direct the life I lead, some I’m drawn to others perhaps I avoid: Saviour, Shepherd, Son of God, Brother in Christ, the Bread and Wine of new Life; the alpha & omega…but never Lord the image of you as a Mother hen.
Today, you are courageous, fiercely protective, standing your ground in time of imminent danger;
Too often we flee or turn aside.
Today, your response to threats and intimidation in the face of Herod Antipas, who wants your head, is to resolutely continue your ministry of embracing and welcoming people and setting people free;
Too often we live in fear of getting into trouble or seek just our own comfort.
Today your vulnerability & tears, your deep sense of grief is clearly seen; too often we hide them.
Because it isn’t only over Jerusalem that you weep, today, we remember how much doing our own thing, going our own way grieves you deeply.
Forgive us Lord for turning our backs on you, for the times when we lack courage, for being immune to your call by ignoring those nudges of the Spirit that want to claim us fully as your own.
Help us Lord to listen to your call and claim upon our lives.
Hear the Good News: Christ longs to gather us into his warm embrace, into the empowering and renewing shelter of God’s loving kindness. May this be our Lenten calling and prayer this day. Amen
HYMN TUNE Londonderry Air
O Jesus Christ, may grateful hymns be rising
In every city for your love and care
Inspire our worship, grant the glad surprising
That your blest Spirit rouses everywhere.
Grant us new courage, sacrificial, humble
Strong in your strength to venture and to dare
To lift the fallen, guide the feet that stumble
Seek out the lonely and God’s mercy share.
Show us your Spirit, brooding o’er each city
As once you wept above Jerusalem
Seeking to gather all in love and pity
And healing those who touch your garment’s hem.
O Jesus Christ, may grateful hymns be rising
In every city for your love and care
Inspire our worship, grant the glad surprising
That your blest Spirit rouses everywhere.
CCLI Song # 1670373 Bradford Gray Webster | David Evans © Words: 1954. Renewed 1982 The Hymn Society (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company) Music: Public Domain For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951
MESSAGE Jesus the mother hen!
There isn’t one person here or on Zoom who hasn’t wept tears of deep grief or of loss at some time
or on many occasions in their lives. Tears that overwhelm, emotions that can’t be contained.
In western society such shows of emotion are not encouraged, we will almost always automatically apologise for ‘our tears’, for the vulnerability we may feel or for the discomfort or powerlessness the person watching may feel. Perhaps too, we seldom saw our parents shed a tear and so had to learn how to on our own. Yet such tears are an important part of being human, they can also be cathartic.
If you know your Sunday School Bible quiz ‘what’s the shortest verse in the Bible?’ It is ‘Jesus wept.’ from John 11 vs 35 when he hears of the death of his friend Lazarus, the brother of Mary & Martha.
Today’s setting in Luke 13 is also deeply personal for Jesus.
He’s looking at Jerusalem and all her people mean to him and all he hopes for them and if that isn’t enough he does so with the shadow of ‘that fox’ Herod Antipas breathing down his neck. This too is a costly shedding of tears. Jesus has given much for these people. They have by and large rejected him even though his teaching and healing ministry & calls for a deeper relationship with God has brought much fruit. But he has upset their sensibilities and those of powerful people in politics & the Temple.
He shares these things, as if he needed to explain, through the powerful image of a mother hen.
A mother hen who draws her line in the sand, at the place of danger confronted and gathers in her own. Jesus is telling us that he is like that! Standing in the place of danger, never taking a backward step, facing his future openly, honestly, bravely.
We see elements of this in how Ukraine has responded to the Russian invasion and in how people who have lost everything, again, after yet another flood seek to be there with and for each other.
I write these words amidst yet more heavy rain, with the small courtyard in our place for the 3rd time in a week risking overflowing into our townhouse. Such contexts tend to focus our attention!
Jesus grieves for the world he loves, for God’s 1st people the Hebrews and for all peoples.
He weeps at their intransigence, the turning of their backs, at their deafness to his call even when he has brought much healing, comfort and purpose to their lives – when Life in His name conquers death.
But because these are living words of Scripture, they also apply to us. At best we too often take what he offers for granted, at its worst we dismiss his message and demands with irritation, annoyance or just plain indifference. How dare he ask or require me to change! I see no need of it!
These words of Jesus recalled and written by Luke’s faith community 10 years after the destruction of Jerusalem is therefore filled with even more pathos and grim reality. There are always consequences to the decisions we make in life. If you’ve heard the phrase, said perhaps at a couple’s 50th, 60th or 70th wedding anniversary ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’ then something very sad has happened.
We are NOT perfect. There are always things we would do differently for we are at heart both selfish and selfless, there is always that battle royal within us or as Psalm 139 phrases it “I am (both) wonderfully and fearfully made”.
Today, Jesus is calling us out about our choices and today Jesus is showing us the depth of his courage, his care and his love for us. In this 2nd week of Lent Jesus in effect asks ‘Is what I AM and what I offer enough for you?’ Do you believe that you ARE made in God’s image, do you believe that death IS the end or is there in His invitation something more? Will you come and follow or will your last chance be, with the echoes of his last words in today’s passage from Luke , recall his later entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, of cheers and Hosannas – that fall away.
Jesus leaves us with the powerful image of a courageous Mother hen sorely needed in our world and with that, a choice for you and I to be engaged with him personally and also on his behalf in the world where many foxes still seek to rule by fear and intimidation. It is there in those places and there in our hearts and minds where Jesus is to be found, in us. To his name be honour, courage and joy. Amen
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & OFFERTORY PRAYER Heather
HYMN Ode to Joy – Joyful, Joyful, we adore thee
Joyful, joyful we adore you
God of glory, Lord of love
Hearts unfold like flowers before you
Opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
Drive the dark of doubt away
Giver of immortal gladness
Fill us with the light of day.
All your works with joy surround you
Earth and heav’n reflect your rays
Stars and angels sing around you
Centre of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain
Flowery meadow, flashing sea
Chanting bird and flowing fountain
Call to praise you joyfully.
You are giving and forgiving
Ever blessing, ever blest
Well-spring of the joy of living
Ocean-depth of happy rest.
You our Father, Christ our Brother
All are yours who live in love
Teach us how to love each other
Lift us to the joy above.
CCLI Song # 25321 Edward Hodges | Henry Van Dyke | Ludwig van Beethoven © Words: Public Domain
Music: Public Domain For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com
CCLI Licence # 31951
BLESSING & BENEDICTION Sing unaccompanied
May the feet of God walk with you
And His hand hold you tight
May the eye of God rest on you
And His ear hear your cry
May the smile of God be for you
And His breath give you life
May the Child of God grow in you
And His love bring you home.
CCLI Song # 1272771 Aubrey Podlich | Robin Mann © 1983 Podlich, Aubrey Mann, Robin
For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951
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