Marsden Road Uniting Church Carlingford
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Is your heart hard?
Pentecost
19 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.
Theme
God’s Family. Family is God’s idea - we are born into families to be nurtured,
sustained and honoured. Families stick together through thick and thin - they
teach us faithfulness.
Faithfulness counts through the tough times we can face as families. The call to faithfulness is from God and goes beyond personal challenges: it extends into all our attitudes towards our own families, the communities of which we are part, and to the whole creation and to the God who made it.
Call to Worship
-
(David N Mosser and other Sources)
Come to Christ, children
of God, for all are welcome here. Receive life as a gift from God.
From troubled times and
difficult walks,
we come to the arms of Christ.
From separate journeys
and diverse experiences,
we gather to worship as one.
As brothers and sisters
in Christ, we come to God,
who welcomes us here.
Hymn
TIS 567: God of all power, and truth,
(Tune – Ombersley)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku_FyO8nr-s
Opening Prayer
Holy God, as we gather in your glorious presence, come and make us holy. Guide us this day, that we may receive your teachings and walk in your truth, even as we welcome others on the journey with us. Strengthen our holy communion, that we may create a community of belonging, where all are included, and where your grace binds us together in unity and love. Amen.
A Prayer of Confession
Holy God have mercy on us.
In your love and grace, save us from troubled
times. Rescue us when suffering comes, and comfort us when grief overwhelms us.
When we wander confused, guide us back to your
truth. When we waiver out of fear or weakness, strengthen our resolve and help
us put our hope and trust in you. When we are abandoned and alone, gather us in
the arms of your love, and remind us that we are your children and that you are
our Saviour.
In your holy name, we pray. Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
In God’s love and grace, we are being made
holy. In God’s compassion and mercy, we are named as sisters and brothers of
Christ. Rejoice and be glad, for in the power of God’s Holy Spirit, we are made
one with God and with one another in the body of Christ.
Thanks be to God!
The
Peace
From many paths, we gather as one in God. Let
us offer signs of unity and love as we share Christ’s peace with one another.
Peace be with you!
And also, with you!
(You may like to exchange a sign of peace with those around you.)
Offering
Holy God, thank you for your many gifts and your loving deeds in our lives. As we bring our gifts to your altar, send your Spirit through these offerings, that others may know your loving deeds, experience your abundant grace, and see your miraculous strength. With thanksgiving and hope, we pray. Amen
Hymn TIS 613: Lord
of all hopefulness Lord of all joy
(Tune – Slane)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8mti7VL3gg
The Service of Holy Communion
The Great Thanksgiving
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.
We
praise you O God through whom all things exist.
You loved people into being and invited them to live in harmony with you. When
they turned away from you and closed their ears to your words, you did not
abandon them. Through the prophets you
spoke to them in many and various ways, simply because they were chosen and
beloved by you. You revealed how unchanging your love is by speaking a new and
living word to us in the person of Jesus Christ, who blesses our lives with
healing and wholeness and a love, which like yours, is unending and
unconditional. And
so, with all the company of heaven and earth we rejoice before you and praise
your holy name saying:
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!
At this table we bear witness to the love which has
been poured into our hearts and lives. We remember when Jesus washed his
disciples’ feet and sat down at a table to share the meal with them. At that
meal - he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and
said, “This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way he took the cup also, after supper,
saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the
cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. We remember, and we give
thanks for such outpouring of love.
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again!
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, O God, and upon
these gifts of bread and wine, that they may be for us the life of Christ - his
life in us. Renewed by his life and
recreated in his image, we set our minds on fulfilling your purpose for us and
for this world of which we are a part. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
Blessing and honour and glory and power are yours for ever and ever.
Amen.
The
Breaking of the Bread
Because our bread has
come from one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the
one loaf.
The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.
The cup over which we
give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.
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,
children of God, for all are welcome here. Let us open our hearts and hands, as
we remember and partake together.
Prayer
after Communion
Holy God, we give you thanks that we have been fed and renewed by Christ’s life in us and we go now to share that life with others. Send us forth equipped with the power of your Spirit to follow Jesus, and to spread the message of his love to all whom we meet. In his name we pray. Amen
The
Service of the Word
First
Reading: Job 1:1; 2:1-10
The Gospel Reading: Mark 10:2-12,
After the final
reading the reader will say For the Word of the Lord
Please respond by saying Thanks be to God.
Readings: NRSV Translation
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
1 1 There was once a man in the land of Uz
whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and
turned away from evil. 2 1 One day the heavenly
beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among
them to present himself before the Lord. 2 The
Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord,
‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ 3 The
Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one
like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away
from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against
him, to destroy him for no reason.’ 4 Then Satan
answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save
their lives. 5 But stretch out your hand now and
touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’ 6 The
Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, he is in your power; only spare his
life.’ 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the
Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the
crown of his head. 8 Job took a potsherd with which
to scrape himself and sat among the ashes. 9 Then
his wife said to him, ‘Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and
die.’ 10 But he said to her, ‘You speak as any
foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and
not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Mark 10:2-12,
2 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ 3 He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ 4 They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ 5 But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” 7 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh.9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ 10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’
Preaching of the Word – Is your heart hard? –
Mark 10: 2-12
This Sunday’s gospel has words that are likely
to make us cringe. It is hard to hear them as good news! It sounds, on the face
of it, that Jesus is ruling out divorce. And so many of us are divorced, or our
friends and family members are. Where does that leave us?
As we reflect on this Gospel reading, we need
to think about how God created man and woman to help and to care for each
other. And that their relationship should be primary and permanent. This is the
ideal for relationship created by God for us. And when we prepare for
commitment to another person we long for the reality of this ideal. It is not
likely that anyone who comes to church for marriage preparation does not hear
this and intend it to be so.
But in the Gospel, we also hear the echoes of
the same story in the context of a sparring match between Jesus and the
Pharisees. The Pharisees never seem to really hear Jesus and like to accuse him
of blasphemy. In this particular scrap, they are trying to catch Jesus about
his knowledge of the law of Moses. They ask if it is lawful for a man to
divorce his wife. Jesus tells them that Moses allowed a man to write a
certificate of dismissal and to divorce her. But he then goes on to say that
allowing that was because of their hardness of heart. Now what does that mean?
Well, remember that in creation God gave us
the ideal of man and woman in a mutually responsible and caring relationship.
But in the time of Moses the status of women had dropped from that ideal to
such an extent that a man was able to divorce his wife on any pretext
whatsoever. She had absolutely no say in the matter. For Moses to say that a
man had to write a certificate of dismissal meant that the wife’s status was
raised so that she was at least not regarded as a prostitute. Which is the way
she would have been regarded had she just been cast off.
Now we come to Jesus. He says that Moses gave
his law because of the hardness of men’s hearts. They had been treating their
wives as a possession which they had grown tired of and had not even cared if
she was regarded as someone fit to be stoned. Moses’ law raised the status of
women a notch. But Jesus says that God made man and woman in the beginning of
creation. And in the relationship of husband and wife, they as one flesh are
clearly a condition of equal value for both the woman and the man. They are to
be mutually responsible in caring for each other.
Here the status of men and women is equally
valuable and so Jesus is raising the status of women even more and telling the
Pharisees that they must exceed the letter of the law. This, of course, upholds
the ideal of life-long, mutually loving relationships. And the pain that is
experienced by anyone who is going through a divorce only speaks to the
validity of that ideal in all of our hearts. Because we know that it is painful
to divorce. We hate it when a relationship is no longer mutually loving and
caring. We agonise about the hurt that will ensue from a rupture between a
couple. We work to lessen the difficulty for the children caught in such a situation.
Almost never have I heard of people who think nothing of getting a divorce. It
hurts.
God said in creation that it is not good for a
person to live alone. When one lives alone there is the chance that there is no
one to listen when we are upset. Or to celebrate the small joys of our lives
with us. To fix us a hot drink on a cold and wet night. We know that it is
better to have someone who cares deeply. Yet, when two people are caught in a
broken relationship it is painful.
There is still the loneliness. There may be
harsh recriminating words. There may be abusive behaviour to their partner of
their children. There may be abusive action toward the self. No matter what one
thinks there is pain. It is real and present. There is no easy way to make
thing right.
People who make a decision to divorce have to
live in the pain of realising that they have failed in living up to the ideal
God desires for us or that they desired for themselves.
But they also might have to live in the pain
of a frustrated and deadened life. One leached of meaning and satisfaction.
There is no easy solution here. None that is not painful.
We live in a world full of ambiguity. We also
live in a world we wish to make better. One that can fulfill our dreams. We are
constantly faced with choices that are difficult to make. And choices that may
have the possibility of avoiding pain, both for ourselves and for others.
Jesus does not offer us an easy world. Jesus was
constantly faced with the need to respond to those who were hoping to make him
seem wrong or foolish. He was steadfast in his faithfulness to God and set
before us a way of forgiveness and hope. He held up to us the responsibility to
be loving and just. And he held it up to us by living it out for himself. He
also held up for us the necessity to choose.
Throughout his public ministry he was
harassed. Not only by the Pharisees but by many others as well. In the letter
to the Hebrews, you will hear that Jesus was just like we are. That it was
necessary for him to be so in order for us to be saved from the power of death.
Jesus was just as we are. Facing all the
vicissitudes that life has to offer us. Jesus was a real living human being
just as we are. And he did not have an easy painless life. His life was not one
without choices all along the way. His was even a life wherein he could not be
any surer than we are that his decision was just the right one. He could only
pray and try to remain faithful to what he knew and understood to God.
We are called by God to love him and be
faithful. But not to live in an unambiguous world in which the choices are
spelled out for us in the beginning and are easy to figure. For someone
deciding whether to end a broken relationship the choice is never easy. But we
know that God loves us and dreams a creative, meaningful life for us. And all
along the way we must decide.
The letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus died that we might be saved from the power of death. Death haunted those around him as deaths sometimes haunt us. Death for us takes many forms. Physical death is just one of those forms. Death of a relationship is another. We must live trusting in God’s gift of freedom to us through the life of Jesus. A life of freedom is a life that is full of responsibility, and a life that is full of choices. Let us live in response to that good gift.
Hymn 516: Here, gracious Lord, we see you face to face.
(Tune – St Agnes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRl0p36-mcY
Intercessory Prayers
Pentecost 19
Sunday – Year B
Loving God, hear the
prayers we bring to you for the world and for the Church.
We pray for our
brothers and sisters throughout the world: for all who exercise authority, and
all who work for justice and peace; for your people enslaved and exploited,
hungry and homeless. Give to
us the generous heart of a little child, that we may be open, to receive your
reign of justice.
Loving God, in your
mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our
sisters and brothers with whom we share this land: for those whose ancestors
settled this land and those who are new arrivals; for those taken from their
families and those who are neglected or abused. Give to us the contrite and
forgiving heart of a little child, that we may be open, to receive your reign
of reconciliation.
Loving God, in your
mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our
brothers and sisters who are members of your worldwide church: for those who
are newly baptised or confirmed; for children in Sunday schools and youth
groups,
and members of this
congregation. Give to us the trusting heart of a little child, that we may be
open, to receive your reign of grace.
Loving God, in your
mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our
sisters and brothers with whom we live in this community: for civic leaders and
all who contribute to the welfare of this city; for our families and friends,
for our neighbours and for ourselves. Give to us the warm and welcoming heart
of a little child, that we may be open, to receive your reign of love.
Loving God, in your
mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our
brothers and sisters who are in trouble or need: for the unemployed, for those
trapped in addictions, and for all without hope; for the lonely and sorrowing,
for the sick and all who are in pain. Give to us the hopeful heart of a little
child, that we may be open, to receive your reign of healing.
Loving God, in your
mercy, hear our prayer.
We remember our
sisters and brothers in the whole company of heaven: all who throughout the
ages have followed you with child-like faith; all whom we have loved and those
of this parish who have gone before us. Give to us the faithful heart of a
little child, and at our death take us in your arms and bring us home, that
with all your children we may enter your eternal kingdom.
Loving God, 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
596: Fill
my whole life, O Lord my God.
(Tune – Richmond)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8d0bMPl2hY
Benediction
Even as we scatter to live our separate
lives, we are still one body of Christ. Even as we go our separate ways, we
travel this journey together. Go now to share this miraculous truth with God’s
world. And the blessing of God Almighty, Creator, Redeemer and Giver of Life be
with you and remain with you. Amen.
Hymn
TIS 779: May the feet of
God walk with you
(tune – Aubrey).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw1sjc3JVrw
