Marsden Road Uniting Church Carlingford
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Is There an App For Abiding?
Easter 5 Sunday - year of Mark 9.30am
Acknowledgement of First Peoples
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
-
(Abingdon 2021)
Christ is the vine. We are the branches. Abide in the vine, and you
will abide in love.
Come to Christ, the true
vine, and bear much fruit.
and to bear the fruit of
salvation.
Come to love one
another, for love is of God.
We have come to the
household of love, for God is love.
Come to set aside
your fears, for perfect love drives out fear.
We have come to love one another, as God has loved us.
Come! All are welcome here.
Hymn 153: God
is love, let heaven adore him.
(tune – Abbot’s Leigh)
Opening prayer
Divine Vinegrower, the soil of your love nurtures the roots of our lives each and every day. As we consecrate ourselves into your loving care, plant us in the soil of your love, that we may abide in Christ, our true vine, and bear the fruit of your love and grace. Give us rain in seasons of doubt and nourish our growth, that our harvest of love may bless the world. In your bountiful name, we pray. Amen.
A Prayer of Confession
Source of love and life, your glory knows no
bounds.
We yearn to set aside our fears, but we are
often afraid. We long to love our sisters and brothers, but we often feel
alienated from them.
We desire to abide in you as you abide in us,
but we can’t seem to figure out how.
Show us once more how to love, for only love
can cast out our fear. Show us how to love one another well, for only then can
we truly know you.
Show how to abide in your vine, for only then can we bear the fruit that glorifies your name. Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
When we abide in Christ, we abide in the vine
of love and grace. Abide in the vine and receive mercy beyond measure.
Thanks, be to God!
The
Peace
As we abide in Christ,
our vine, we bear the fruit of God’s love. Let us share the joy of our fortune
by exchanging signs of Christ’s peace with one another.
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.)
Offering Prayer
Bountiful God, you fill the poor with good things and cause the hungry to be satisfied. May these gifts be instruments of your grace and may our very lives be the means of spreading your blessings. Make these gifts be for the world a sign of your boundless love and your overflowing abundance. Amen.
Hymn 104: While morning still is
breaking.
(tune – Webb)
The Service of Holy Communion
The Lord be with you.
And
also, with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We
lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It
is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is right, and a good
and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God,
creator of heaven and earth. You formed us in your image and breathed into us
the breath of life. When we turned away from you, and our love failed, you
turned to us, again and again, and your love remained steadfast. You led us
from slavery to freedom, made a covenant with us, and set before us the way
that leads to life. And so with your people on earth, and all the company of
heaven, We praise your name and join their unending hymn.
Holy,
holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your
glory. Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed
is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!
Holy
are you and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. Your spirit anointed him to
preach good news to the poor, to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce the time when you would
save your people. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners. His
very presence was and is a sign of your victory over death. He was and is the
resurrection and the life. He led and leads us to freedom from sin and death.
And the meal that we share is a sign of your new and everlasting covenant.
On
the night in which he gave himself for us he took bread, gave thanks to you,
broke the bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in
remembrance of me.”
When
the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his
disciples and said, “Drink from this, all of you; this is the blood of the new
covenant, poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do
this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
And
so, in remembrance of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we
offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, claiming the promise that if we
have died with him, we shall also be raised with him, as we proclaim the
mystery of faith:
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again!
Pour
out your Holy Spirit on us, gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and
wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the
world the body of the risen Christ, redeemed by his blood. By your Spirit make
us one with Christ, one with each other,
and
one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and we
feast at his heavenly banquet. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy
Spirit in your holy church, all honour and glory is yours, almighty Father, now
and forever. Amen.
Blessing and honour and glory and power are yours for ever and ever.
Amen.
The
Breaking of the Bread
We break this bread and take this cup so that we can all share in the life of Christ. God's gifts for God's people.
Thanks, be to God.
Lamb of God
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the
world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the
world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the
world,
grant us peace.
Invitation to Communion
Come to the table of
grace, for Christ is the vine, and we are the branches.
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
Come to the table of
love, for whoever does not love, does not know God.
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
Come to the table of
blessing, for Christ is here to abide in us, as we abide in him.
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
Prayer
after Communion
This has been no ordinary meal. It has been one in which we have been fed and nourished with the life of Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord. May we go from this table, refreshed and eager, to share that life with others. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
The Service of the Word
The Gospel Reading: John
15.1-8
After
the final reading the reader will say For the
Word of the Lord
Please respond by saying Thanks be to God.
1 John 4.7-21
7 Beloved let us love one another, because love is
from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever
does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was
revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we
might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our
sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love
one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God
lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that
we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his
Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent
his Son as the Saviour of the world. 15 God abides in those who
confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we
have known and believe the love that God has for us.God is love, and those who
abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been
perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement,
because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in
love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and
whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because
he first loved us. 20 Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their
brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister
whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21 The
commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their
brothers and sisters also.
John 15.1-8
1 ‘I am the true vine,
and my Father is the vine-grower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no
fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3
You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide
in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless
it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine,
you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,
because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is
thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into
the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for
whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by
this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
Preaching of the Word - Is There an App For Abiding? - John 15:1-8
A common lament, whether working in an office or as a full-time
parent, is that there simply are not enough hours in the day. Schedules are too
full, responsibilities too numerous and commitments too demanding. Given this,
a common reason as to why we don’t eat better or exercise more or even pray
more regularly is simply, “Who has the time?”
We can easily mishear the invitation in today’s gospel passage as
yet another demand on our time. We can make the mistake of assuming that what
often works well in one aspect of our lives, works equally well in our
spiritual lives: in this case, the motto of every controlling and rushed person
– which is all of us at one time or another – “If I don’t do it, it won’t get
done.”
But listen to Jesus today, “I am the true vine, and my Father is
the vine-grower.” And Jesus goes on to tell us very clearly who is doing the
work, and it is not you or me, my friends. “He removes every branch in me that
does not bear fruit.”
This image of the people of God as “God’s vineyard” is a very old
one, going back to the Jewish psalms, as well as other places in the Old
Testament.
Listen to part of Psalm 80: “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you
drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took
deep root and filled the land.” Again, notice that it is God who is doing all
the planting here, not us. And think of all the other I AM statements found in
the Gospel of John: “I AM the light of the world,” “I AM the gate,” “I AM the
resurrection and the life.”
All these I AM statements in the Gospel of John point to the
reality of God’s availability. It is ironic that Christianity has the
reputation of being an other-worldly religion, focused almost exclusively on
how to get into heaven. Maybe you have seen the bumpers stickers declaring,
“Jesus is coming, look busy!” or “Friends don’t let friends miss out on
heaven!” It may sound surprising, but this kind of theology of a “distant god”
is what most of us are comfortable with, because it ultimately pushes God to
the sidelines, and we can remain in control. We are very good at being busy and
taking responsibility, and we rather prefer this to being on the receiving end
of change. But as Jesus in today’s reading, “Abide in me as I abide in you.”
In today’s gospel, Jesus addresses us twice with the phrase “I AM
the vine.” There is a promise here. “I AM the vine, and you are the branches.”
Jesus is asking each of us to simply be with him. This sounds deceptively easy.
Listen to the words of the Collect for Purity from the Anglican Prayer Book:
“Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom
no secrets are hid.” It’s OK to relax a bit and stop worrying about hiding
those parts of ourselves that we don’t want others, and surely not God, to see.
We can abide with God, instead of busying ourselves to keep God at a distance.
The promise of Jesus, the Vine, the Gate, the Light, is abundant
life here and now, not just in some future time. God is doing more in our lives
than any of us are aware. God in Jesus is simply inviting each of us to take
the time to notice. But the trick, of course, is to let God do what God needs
to do and for us to get out of the way. Jesus is very clear on this point when
he says: “I AM the vine, you are the branches.” That is what abiding in the
power of the Word is all about, not placing impediments in God’s way by trying
to do for ourselves what God wants to do for us: reshape our hearts, bodies and
minds to receive the forgiveness being offered.
Hopefully, now, you can hear Jesus’ words as the beautiful invitation it truly is: “Abide in me as I abide in you.”
Hymn 681: Lord, let me see.
(tune – Let me See)
Intercessory Prayers
After
the words: In your mercy,
please
respond with hear our prayer.
Easter 5 – Year B
Loving and merciful God, you
sent your Son into the world that all might have life through him: we pray for
the whole family of nations.
We pray for all who endure
poverty, starvation, oppression or war; we pray for peace between nations and
for a just sharing of the earth's resources, that we may live as sisters and
brothers, children of the same God.
God of love, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
You sent your Son to be the
Saviour of the world: we
pray for your worldwide
church.
We pray for all who bring
alive the Scriptures, for missionaries, teachers, theologians, writers and
preachers:
we pray for unity among
Christians, that together we may proclaim the gospel and live as sisters and
brothers, children of the same God.
hear our prayer.
You sent your Son into the
world that we might know your love for all people: we pray for this community.
We pray for our families and
friends, those we meet in our daily lives, for the hungry and homeless and
those without work; We pray for a community that values and cares for all its
members, that we may live as sisters and brothers, children of the same God.
God of love, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
You sent your Son into the
world to heal the sick, console the sorrowing and satisfy the hungry with good things:
we pray for all in need.
We pray for all who are
lonely and sad, for those in
grief or despair and for the
sick; we pray for compassion and generosity to respond to the needs of others,
that we may live as sisters and brothers, children of the same God.
God of love, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
You sent your Son into the
world that we might have eternal life: we remember your faithful people who
rest in your eternal love.
We give thanks for Philip
and all who have opened your Scriptures to others, for all who have carried
your good news to distant places and all who have shared your gospel with those
close at hand.
In life and in death may we
follow your saints, that with our sisters and brothers of every generation, we
too may abide forever in your love.
God of love, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.
Hymn 640: Kneels at the feet
of his friends.
(tune – Chereponi)
Benediction
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is
from God.
We
will be born of love each day of our lives.
Beloved,
let us abide in Christ’s love, for he is the vine, and we are the branches.
We
will grow as Christ’s disciples and bear fruit for a world in need.
Beloved,
let us care for one another, for the Spirit helps us abide in God’s peace.
We will glorify God in the lives we lead.
Hymn 778: Shalom to you
(tune – Somos del Senor)
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