Marsden
Road Uniting Church Carlingford
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Gathering God’s People
We acknowledge the first people who have cared for this Land, where we
worship, the Wallumedgal.
May
our worship join with the voices of the First Peoples of this Land.
Call to Worship
(Scifres,
Mary J, The Abingdon Worship Annual 2017)
Give thanks for all the wonderful works of God.
Praise the Lord!
Sing a new song of praise to the God of all peoples.
Praise
the Lord!
Proclaim God's name to all the world.
Praise the Lord!
We are God's chosen people; God is with us always.
Praise
the Lord!
Let our hearts rejoice, for the Lord is God.
Praise the Lord!
Hymn TIS 211: Jesus,
lover of my soul
(Tune – Aberystwyth)
Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters
roll, while the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Saviour,
hide, till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last.
Other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not
alone, still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is
stayed, all my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenceless head
with the shadow of Thy wing.
Wilt Thou not regard my
call? Wilt Thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I
fall—Lo! on Thee I cast my care;
Reach me out Thy gracious
hand! While I of Thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I
stand, dying, and behold, I live.
Thou, O Christ, art all I
want, more than all in Thee I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the
faint, heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is Thy Name,
I am all unrighteousness;
False and full of sin I am;
Thou art full of truth and grace.
Plenteous grace with Thee
is found, grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams
abound; make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain
art, freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my
heart; rise to all eternity.
Words: Charles Wesley
Music: Aberystwyth Joseph Parry
Opening prayer
A Prayer of Confession
God of Mystery, we are constantly amazed
by the depth and breadth of your love.
Over and over again,
you turn our expectations inside out and upside down. And still we don't
understand the radical nature of your grace.
We play by our own rules of justice, even
when it means excluding those we are called to love and defend.
In our darkest moments, we doubt if we are worthy of your trust. God, help us remember that you give us all the tools we need; that through the solid foundation of your love, we find the strength to follow your call as true disciples of Jesus Christ.
Surprise us again, O God. Surprise us again.
Declaration of Forgiveness
Thanks, be to God! Amen
The
Peace
Rejoice, for you are standing on holy
ground.
The peace of Christ be with you.
The peace of Christ be with you always.
(You may like to exchange a sign of peace with those around you.)
A Word with the Children/Young People
There are number of yoke
images of yokes I can think of. (need pictures)
A yoke in Jesus’ time and still is in many parts of the world today
is both the wooden collar which fitted around the necks of a couple of
oxen to join two together for farm work such as ploughing, or a frame which sat on a person’s shoulders
to allow them to carry two buckets. There would be quite a strain on the
neck/shoulders of the animal/person wearing the yoke.
Jesus is saying that by sharing his yoke - he is
sharing our lives – giving any weight we may be carrying on our own to
him. By doing this we are sharing his
life – being gentle and kind like he is.
I also think of humans taken as slaves being
yoked together by their necks as they are moved. Then there is the yoke that is
used in constructing various equipment and other items.
Another kind of yoke is the part sewn into the
back of a garment which holds all the rest of the shirt or blouse together. The
sleeves, collar, front and lower back are all attached to the yoke. When you
grow or put on weight, you know you need a bigger garment because the yoke
becomes tight across your shoulders and is too uncomfortable to wear any
more. How many people are actually
wearing a garment with a yoke in it at that moment.
Jesus invites us to wear his yoke - one that we
need never grow out of and which gives us comfort rather than discomfort.
His yoke helps us to learn from him how to live like him - how to be gentle
with ourselves and with other people. So, just as the yoke in the
garments we wear is very visible, so the yoke Jesus offers us is visible, as we
care for and love others, especially those who may be sad or who feel that
nobody loves them.
Hymn TIS 245: We have a Gospel to proclaim
(Tune -
Fulda)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-SPYAgCtkw
We have a
gospel to proclaim
Good news for men in all the earth;
The gospel of a Saviour’s name:
We sing His glory, tell His worth.
Tell of His
birth at Bethlehem,
Not in a royal house or hall
But in a stable dark and dim:
The Word made flesh, a light for all.
Tell of His
death at Calvary,
Hated by those He came to save;
In lonely suffering on the cross
For all He loved, His life He gave.
Tell of that
glorious Easter morn:
Empty the tomb, for He was free.
He broke the power of death and hell That we might share His victory.
Now we rejoice
to name Him King:
Jesus is Lord of all the earth.
This gospel message we proclaim:
We sing His glory, tell His worth.
Author: Edward J. Burns (1968)
Tune: Fulda
The First Reading: 2 Timothy 3: 10-17
The Gospel Reading: Matthew 11:25-30
Readings: NRSV Translation
2 Timothy 3: 10-17
10 Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is[a] useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Matthew 11:25-30
25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank[a] you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.[b] 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Preaching
of the Word: Of One Book...,
From our Study:
Many Christians know John’s Wesley’s claim that he
is man of one book. “Let me be homo unius libri,” says Wesley, with Latin flare. But Wesley was far from being concerned with literally only one book. He read widely and required his
ministers to read many other books. Wesley scolded his ministers who claimed to
read only the Bible as exhibiting “rank enthusiasm.” That’s like calling
someone today a raving religious lunatic!
By homo unius
libri, Wesley meant he regards no book comparatively but
the Bible. Scripture is the first book of importance, but not the only
important book.
Wesley drew upon other
sources, including scholarly tools, when reading the Bible. He appreciated
textual criticism, says Maddox, but was less warm to historical criticism.
Wesley’s comments about the trustworthiness of the Bible focus on what calls the “rule of Christian faith and practice.” Wesley followed 2 Timothy 3:16–17, in which inspiration of Scripture is related to its usefulness for instructing in Christian belief and training in lives of righteousness. This was our first reading today.
Today, we continue and
finish our series of looking at how Wesley approached his faith and some of the
ways in which his relationship with God is reflected in his approach to
important life issues. Our final is to see how scripture informs our lives as
Christians. The scripture from 2 Timothy 3:16, gives us a really important
description of what the scripture actually is and how important it is for our
lives
In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul
writes this: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that
everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” And
off the back of that verse, we are going to be thinking today about what the scripture
is and why it is important to us and how we can incorporate what we hear
in scripture more usefully into our everyday lives.
And the context in which
the writer of Timothy is writing here is so important to us: the person may
have written this 2,000 years ago but could have written it yesterday! We seem
to live in what is now being called ‘a post-truth age’ in which Fake News receives
as much of a credible hearing as Truth itself. We seem to live in a consumer
age in which so many leaders across the world are seeking power through
populism and will shape their political or spiritual pitches to the public
according to what they know will be popular and win them power and influence,
often at the expense of what may be more wise, or more truthful, or more
helpful.
These are difficult
days to attempt to proclaim Truth - and the voice of the Church is just one
more voice amongst a cacophony of competing opinions. Its interesting to read
the next chapter in Timothy which says: “For the time is coming when people
will not put up with sound doctrine but having itching ears.” Doesn’t this sound
so much like the world we live in today as Fake News and the pursuit of
populism underpins so much of how we live today.
The key difference between
our approach to the scriptures and the populism that has become so rife in our
world today is simply this: That, yes, we want to read the Scriptures and be
affirmed and comforted, but we also mustn’t be afraid to read the Scriptures
and find ourselves being challenged by God and having our views challenged. And
we are called not to be afraid to be changed and transformed by God the more we
read Scripture. This is the path that John Wesley seems to advocate.
Scripture is not some
Populist Manifesto. It is God speaking to us, inspiring us to change and be
transformed ever closer into the likeness of Christ. We believe that God was
inspiring these people as they wrote and that they were being inspired by their
relationship with God but that the words they wrote are very human words. So, scripture
is a book of words written by human beings who were being inspired by God as
they wrote. It’s for that reason that we take the teachings in scripture
seriously and many people view it as being created through the power of God and
that what we need to know about God, our relationship with God and how to live
this in everyday life can be found there. But, because there is a human element
to it, we are not surprised when we find historical errors in it or some
contradictions.
There are wars and
battles, there’s physical violence and rape and murder, there’s betrayal,
there’s human failure and weakness, there are stories about lying to God,
running away from God, ignoring God, there are stories about human love and
human devotion, there are beautiful stories and ugly stories, there are stories
of courage, stories of shame, stories of hope, stories of despair… The whole of
human experience is contained in scripture - for good and for bad.
That’s what makes it such
a wonderful book, because as we read the words of Scripture we see ourselves
mirrored in its pages…our own failures, our own weaknesses, our own beauty and
our own ugliness, our own courage and our own shame, our own hope and our own
despair. Scripture can be viewed as a mirror in which we see ourselves
reflected before God.
Having seen ourselves in
this mirror, and also having read some of the incredible stories in scripture we
can then inspired to go beyond ourselves; to transcend our limitations and
become available to God to be used for God’s extraordinary purposes. As well as
seeing our own fallenness in scripture we also see our own potential for what
we could be if we submit ourselves to God’s Holy Spirit at work within us.
That means growth and that
means change - and we know that both change, and growth can be painful for us.
And so, as we read scripture, we feel uncomfortable and challenged by God
beyond what we might be either expecting or hoping for.
We are not reading scripture
to gain head knowledge, to gather historical data about the growth of a
religious movement, or to get information about God. We read scripture mostly
so that we can be comforted and challenged. We read scripture so that we can
grow in faith and be transformed slowly but surely into the image of Jesus
Christ. And that requires God to teach us. That requires God to chastise us when
we get it wrong. That requires God to correct us when we are heading off down
the wrong path.
As the writer of 2 Timothy
says here, is training for righteousness. And it can be painful. As I said this
is a counter-cultural experience in a world that panders to populism and Fake
News. Scripture does not offer us the easy way. It is not there just to make us
feel good about ourselves or to be some sort of Fortune Cookie that will
endorse all our life choices. Scripture provides a real challenge to us and can
speak deeply into our souls in the most uncomfortable of ways.
A relationship with Jesus is a conversation, a dialogue, a two-way thing. We are particularly good at praying to God, asking him to give us what we want. Let’s make sure that we balance that with a desire to listen to God as he speaks to us through scripture. Hearing God speak to us may well require us to stand on tiptoes and really make the effort to listen. But if we do that, we will be inwardly transformed, and who knows what God will do in you and through you as you draw closer into a loving relationship with Jesus.
Hymn TIS 570: Soldiers
of Christ arise
(Tune – Diademata)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44GUiMdFApA
Soldiers of Christ, arise
And
put your armor on,
Strong
in the strength which God supplies
Through
His eternal Son;
Strong
in the Lord of hosts,
And
in His mighty pow’r,
Who
in the strength of Jesus trusts
Is
more than conqueror.
Stand then in His great might,
With
all His strength endued,
And
take, to arm you for the fight,
The
panoply of God.
From
strength to strength go on.
Wrestle
and fight and pray;
Tread
all the powers of darkness down
And
win the well-fought day.
Leave
no unguarded place,
No
weakness of the soul;
Take
every virtue, ev’ry grace,
And
fortify the whole.
That
having all things done,
And
all your conflicts past,
Ye
may overcome through Christ alone
And
stand complete at last.
Author: Charles Wesley (1952)
Tune:
Diademata Composer: Elvey
Intercessory Prayers
Living, liberating God, we
give you thanks that you come to free us from all that binds and restricts us.
We pray for the peoples of
the world: we pray for those weighed down by oppression, tyranny and hardship,
for those bent low under
the weight of unrelenting daily toil.
Lay your hands on these
your children, that they may be freed from their burdens and take their
rightful places in the world.
Loving God, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Living, liberating God, we
give you thanks that you come to free us from the bondage of loveless legalism.
We pray for your church
throughout the world: we pray that we may be open to your spirit of truth; that
we may be brave to proclaim your gospel.
Lay your hands on us, that
we may sing your praise and people rejoice at your wonderful deeds.
Loving God, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Living, liberating God, we
give you thanks that you set us free to live by the
We pray for all whom we
love and for those we meet in our daily lives: we pray for those exhausted by
responsibilities beyond their strength, for those shamed by circumstances
beyond their control.
Lay your hands on these
your children, that they may be enabled to live complete and fulfilling lives.
Loving God, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Living, liberating God, we
give you thanks that you come to us bringing compassion and healing for those
who suffer.
We pray for all in need of
your consolation: we pray for those heavy-hearted with grief and despair, for
those crippled by pain and anguish.
Lay your hands on these
your children, that they may feel your loving presence and find healing and
wholeness.
Loving God, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Living, liberating God, we
give you thanks that you come to us to free us from the bondage of death.
We remember those who have
died who now live in your eternal presence: those from this parish who have
gone before us, and all whom we have loved.
Lay your hands on us and
transform our lives by your touch, that we may come with all your saints to the
heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
Loving God, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
Hymn TIS 425: Come, Spirit blest, our hearts inspire
(Tune –
Richmond)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-edsHvr10g
Come Holy Spirit, our hearts inspire,
let us thine influence prove;
source of the old prophetic fire,
fountain of life and love.
Come, Holy Spirit, for, moved by thee,
thy prophets wrote and spoke:
unlock the truth, thyself the key,
unseal the sacred book.
Expand thy wings, celestial Dove,
brood o'er our nature's night;
on our disordered spirits move,
and let there now be light.
God, through himself, we then shall know,
if thou within us shine;
and sound, with all thy saints below,
the depths of love divine.
Tune: Richmond
Benediction
Hymn MHB 693: Lord Dismiss us with thy blessing
(Tune – Sicilian
Mariners) 1 extra verse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9QDIA8zxhc
Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing;
Fill our hearts with joy and peace;
Let us each Thy love possessing,
Triumph in redeeming grace.
O refresh us, O refresh us,
Traveling through this wilderness.
Thanks, we give and adoration
For Thy Gospel’s joyful sound;
May the fruits of Thy salvation
In our hearts and lives abound.
Ever faithful, ever faithful,
To the truth may we be found.
So that when Thy love shall call us,
Saviour, from the world away,
Let no fear of death appal us,
Glad Thy summons to obey.
May we ever, may we ever,
Reign with Thee in endless day.
Text by: John Fawcett
1773
Tune: Dismissal. by
William Linton Viner 1845
