ANNOUNCEMENT

1. Welcome
2. Bus Trip – Saturday 26 June. See Margaret Treble or the Minister

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR THE FIRST PEOPLES

 

Elder says:

From before recorded time,

the Eora Nation cared for this land.

 

We praise the Creator

for the beauty of this Land and

honour those who have offered themselves

in tending it.

 

We acknowledge the Elders and communities

of the Walloo-metta People

who have told the sacred stories and

nurtured faithfulness to the Creator.

(CONTINUED NEXT PAGE)

 

We ask God’s blessing on those

who continue to work for the healing

and restoration of this Land

and Her Communities.

 

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

 

What are you thankful for today?

I am so thankful to God for the community I belong – this church, Boronia Park Uniting Church.

 

Leader:      We are here to give thanks

for the faithfulness of our ancestors in faith

All:      For God has given us gifts of faithfulness.

 

Leader:      We are here to celebrate

the gift of diverse ministries

that give life to community

All:      For God has given us gifts for ministry.

 

Leader:      We are here to ask

a blessing on the future

as we move in confidence
into a new day.

All:      For God has given us

the gift of hope,

a hope that will carry us into a new day.

In this still singular moment

we become ready,

ready to take with us our stories

from the past,

and ready to look into the future,

a future filled with promise for us,

and for all.

 

Leader:      We come to encounter the promises of God.

All:      Thanks be to God!

 

Leader:      Let us worship God.

 

HYMN

Now thank we all our God (TiS 106)

 

Verse 1

Now thank we all our God

with hearts and hands and voices,

who wondrous things has done,

in whom the world rejoices;

 

who from our mother’s arms

has blessed us on our way

with countless gifts of love,

and still is ours today.

 

Verse 2

O may this bounteous God

through all our life be near us,

with ever joyful hearts

and blessèd peace to cheer us.

 

Lord, keep us in your grace,

and guide us when perplexed,

and free us from all harm

in this world and the next.

 

Verse 3

All praise and thanks to God

who reigns in highest heaven,

to Father and to Son

and Spirit now be given:

 

the one eternal God,

whom heaven and earth adore,

who ever was, is now,

and shall be ever more.

 

 

THE PEACE

 

Seungjae:

The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ

be always with you.

All: And also with you.

 

Let’s exchange the sign of peace only

with people sitting next you.

 

VIDEO CLIP

 

A message from the President of UCA

 

CHILDREN’S TALK

 

Jenny Warren tells kids’ story.

 

 

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

 

Let us pray:

 

Lord of our days,

we come to you as many and as one.

With many histories and one history,

with many tomorrows and one tomorrow,

with many ministries and one ministry.

 

Call us together in faith;

      trusting that where we are now

is where you would have us be.

Knowing, deep down,

and despite our confusion,

that all is well and all manner of things shall be well.

 

Call us together in hope;

believing that there is a new day

for the world.

Stir us into action,

that we may be participants

in bringing good news

to bear on a troubled creation.

 

Call us together in love;

      embracing the different steps

in our common journey

so that, together,

we may be a sign and symbol

of your active presence in the world.

Lord of our days,

we come to you as many and as one.

 

Called together by you

in faith, hope and love,

we commit ourselves to ministry

and look towards tomorrow.

Amen.

_{Words: Susan Wickham and Leanne Jenski}

 

 

 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

 

Leader says:

Let us continue to pray to God

in the prayer of confession.

Please join me in saying the responses

which are in bold font.

 

We who are one,

confess the times we have been many.

Times we have dispersed into our individual lives

and forgotten to pray for, and care for, each other.

Forgive us

if we have lost the dream of your life.

All:      Bring to us your surprising grace,

Jesus Christ.

 

We who are one body,

      confess the times

we have fragmented into areas of interest,

and competed against each other

for power, money and influence.

Forgive us

if we have lost the dream of your life.

All:      Bring to us your surprising grace,

Jesus Christ.

 

 

We who are one in community,

      confess the times

we have been exclusive;

times we have thrown out the welcome mat for those

who are like ourselves,

but shut the door fast

in the face of those

different from ourselves.

Forgive us

if we have lost the dream of your life.

All:      Bring to us your surprising grace,

Jesus Christ.

 

 

We, who are gathered here

      as one community gathered in Christ’s name,

confess the times

where our own desires and priorities have swamped the legacy of hope and the vision of peace and of justice

that we have inherited from our ancestors in faith.

Forgive us

if we have lost the dream of your life.

All:      Bring to us your surprising grace, Jesus Christ.

 

Silence is kept

 

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS

 

All:     

The faithfulness of God is stronger

than our doubt.

The compassion of Christ is stronger

than our guilt.

The Spirit of love surrounds us here

and now to make us whole.

Thanks be to God!

 

 

HYMN

Praise my soul the king of heaven (TiS 134)

 

Verse 1

Praise, my soul, the king of heaven;

to his feet your tribute bring;

ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,

who like me his praise should sing?

Praise him, praise him, sing to our God,

praise the everlasting king!

 

 

Verse 2

Praise him for his grace and favour

to his people in distress;

praise him still the same for ever,

slow to chide, and swift to bless:

praise him, praise him, sing to our God,

glorious in his faithfulness!

 

Verse 3

Father-like he tends and spares us;

well our feeble frame he knows;

in his hands he gently bears us,

rescues us from all our foes:

praise him, praise him, hallelujah,

widely as his mercy flows!

 

Verse 4

Frail as summer’s flower we flourish,

blows the wind and it is gone;

but while mortals rise and perish

God endures unchanging on.

praise him, praise him, hallelujah,

praise the high eternal one!

 

Verse 5

Angels, help us to adore him,

you behold him face to face;

sun and moon, bow down before him,

dwellers all in time and space:

praise him, praise him, hallelujah,

praise with us the God of grace!

 

 

 

SCRIPTURE READING

Jean Boyd

John 17:1-11 (New International Version)

 

Jesus Prays to Be Glorified

 

17 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

 

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

 

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

 

Jean:    The Gospel of the Lord.

All:  Praise to you,

Lord Jesus Christ!

 

 

 

SERMON

 

All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. (John 17:10, 11. NIV)

 

Let us pray:

 

One God, One Lord, One body of Christ,

we bless your name this time as we come together in the splendour of your presence.

Within One Lord,

let us be your people who are able to flourish

the gift of union in Christ,

unity regardless of cultures and languages and

uniting with each other until the promised end.

The Word of God,

please speak the truth to us

so that we will be sanctified by the truth in days to come.

Amen.

 

I would like to update for all of you, where I am today. This Sunday is the first Sunday after my 1-week holiday which was actually a study leave. I was going to join the annual event called Myall Creek Memorial Ceremony. I planned to go there with my Joshua, purchased a tour program for two in order to join it. However, on Thursday 10 June the organiser cancelled the tour because the Victorian couple that one of them had tested positive stayed over in Moree a couple of days. Moree was the basecamp for the tour group where all our venues are located. Motel and thermal pools, restaurants and the Moree Uniting Church that was also going to host a dinner for the group. All members were disappointed by the cancellation and felt sorry for the organiser and the town, Moree and its community affected by Covid-19. For the Ceremony, fortunately it was held as planned. I was glad that Rev. Barnabas Joo and his Christian Review media team went join the Ceremony. I was praying that the Ceremony goes well as many participants are called to remember those massacred and commemorate the path to our future passing through the past.

 

Due to the cancellation of the tour, I needed plan B. But I hadn’t so I was in panic for a while. To be honest, I am not a person of plan B. I am such an optimist who would prefer a single perfect plan. In my plan, everything was perfect. But once it was cancelled not by my will but by the incident in Moree due to Covid-19, I was mentally collapsed. In the meantime, I was thinking to myself “Seungjae, you would better have plan B next time when you plan. See, you are in panic because you don’t have plan B or some other things that you may replace them. Plan B would become Plan A when it doesn’t work. Do you understand?” I nodded. I must accept it. Planning or preparing things in future with Plan B doesn’t meant that I am worried about neither less confident of it. And I know it will be so difficult for me to set plan B because I have not been trained for plan B in my 46 years’ life. Next time, if you work with me for the Sunday worship or other services of the congregation, you should confirm what my plan B is. I will try not to let you down when plan A does not seem to be ok. I am updating you that your minister Seung Jae is now a person of plan B. Excited because it is a new territory where I will journey through.

 

The other thing is this: a new resolution during the season of Pentecost. I am now returning to a simpler way of doing ministry. Simply I am getting back to the basics of ministry – God’s Love, Christ’s Grace and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, that you may know well. In order to fulfill the basic, I commit myself to those practices: Seeking God’s will in prayer and meditation, studying about the Word, and communicating with all God’s people. What else should I need? This finding has been in my knowledge and daily ministry practices, but it has been not easy to concentrate on them. I would love to extend my interests and learning skills in my ordained life and ministry in the sake of Christ’s mission and ministry. But sometimes I have been easily distracted and disturbed by things that are less important. I said to myself, “this is an urgent matter so that I need to do it now.” All urgent matters are not important things that I need to initiate or complete right now. Rather, I should discern what kind of things and works Jesus Christ would want me to do at that time. I will not fight against the procrastination that I was better. Instead, I will celebrate with gratitude the fact that God calls me as Seung Jae, who really I am for his works, tasks, mission and ministry that has been revealed in the words and deeds of Jesus Christ our Lord. And in our Lord’s prayers, particularly today’s passage, talking about Jesus who prays for himself and his disciples, his prayer can recharge me to be able to continue seeking to find a sacred place and time where God’s purpose in me might come from. I give thanks to God that Jesus offered the prayer within joy and sorrow in that upper room before the cross. That upper room became the Temple because Jesus prayed on behalf of the disciples, turning their lives inside out and upside down to see where God really is and who God really is. That is in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

In John 17, Jesus says farewell to his friends and disciples by offering a prayer. So this prayer is called ‘Our Lord’s Intercessory Prayer’ by Joseph Benson because “it is considered as a pattern of the intercession he is now making in heaven for his people.” Also it is well-known to us as the High Priestly Prayer. This was named by a Lutheran theologian, David Chytraeus. This is so true because Jesus is the one and only Priest. Within him and his priesthood, we are chosen and royal priesthood, holy nations and God’s special possession. (1 Peter 2:9) We are found by inclusion alongside Jesus as priesthood and church, living the life that he has given for us. In this prayer, we are able to be God’s people who are in splendour of God’s presence and Jesus’ unique falling and rising in salvation. In this prayer, Jesus was bringing all together – himself, his disciples, followers and then all believers the utter holiness of heaven and the utter wickedness of earth, the utter joy of heaven and the utter foolishness of earth. Jesus, the High Priest, in his prayer, stands at the painful and holy place where the brokenness in creation is healed, revealing God’s glory as Father’s one and only Son. In this prayer, the Word became flesh in the midst of gathered people in the upper room. And this moment, as we are studying about the words and meaning of prayer, Jesus is revealing who God is in our midst. I am hoping we are able to find God in Jesus Christ whose very nature is love.

 

The prayer in John 17 has three sections: from verse 1 to 5, Jesus prays for himself to be glorified. Then Jesus prays for the disciples to be one as God the Father and himself are one (vv. 6-19). And though it is not in the passage today, from verse 20 to 26, he prays for all believers to see the glory in the world. Jesus wanted all God’s creation including you and me to be God’s nation and special possession. Jesus enabled all God’s people to be God’s people as he was praying. Jesus’ praying invites us, every single one of us whether we are baptised or only believing in Him, to find our true identity within the identity of Jesus Christ, to learn to pray with his prayer, to learn holiness within his holiness, and to discover what it means to form a church here today where we believe that heaven and earth meet. As Jesus prayed before the cross that God’s glory and the painful reality in the crucifixion coexisted, we are here to gather together to bring all heavenly things and all earthly things – birth and death, sowing and harvest, ups and downs, bright future and tough present, joy and sorrow, hello and farewell, growth and shrink, and achievements and failures etc. When we face the consequences of all earthly things that might get us hardship, our heads go down. We might doubt, disobey or even run away. But look at Jesus in this prayer. When he realised the hour has come, the hour of the utter earthly challenges and frustration has come, he looked up toward heaven and prayed. Dear my brothers and sisters in Christ, I may encourage all of us to look toward heaven when time is tough and there seems no one to help you. The one and only Son Jesus Christ, and our prayer offered in his name are only way to walk through. When you look to him, all helps may come from him and then make a way for you. Because Jesus prays for us as the High Priest who only reveals God’s will to us and to all God’s people. When we look to Jesus, seeking his face shining upon us, we enable to find our true identity, God’s people, within the identity of Jesus Christ and the glory that Jesus found in himself and his father God. If you want to know who God is, you must look at Jesus. If you want to love God you must learn to love Jesus. When you and I know who God is in Jesus Christ and learn how to love Jesus and each other, I believe that we grow the kingdom of God together in our midst. If we truly live out the knowledge and the love, we may declare that Christ is now in us as the hope of glory and the advance sign that one day the glory of God and Christ Jesus will flood the whole creation. This is written in the book of Habakkuk. “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:24. NIV) This is a vision that we might see today in this place. This is also a vision that our young people and their children will celebrate with awe and gratitude tomorrow. This would be a vision of the Uniting Church in Australia, the Church we belong, and its unity under the cross and within Christ from the very beginning of its union.

The Uniting Church in Australia lives and works within the faith and unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, acknowledging that the vision of unity is built upon the one Lord Jesus Christ. (Basis of Union Para. 2 and 3) The Uniting Church believes that Christians in Australia is called to bear witness to a unity of faith and life in Christ which transcends cultural and economic, national and racial boundaries by working together and seeking union with others. Basis of Union, the fundamental church document clearly speaks that God in Christ has given to all people in the Church the Holy Spirit as a pledge and foretaste of that coming reconciliation and renewal which is the end in view for the whole creation. (BoU Para. 3) On this foundation, the Uniting Church continues journeying and growing together the purpose of God in this land called Australia. In its very first beginning, there was only the union of three churches – Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Church. Then the Church has acknowledged the First People’s faith in Christ and the Sovereignty written in the preamble of the Constitution and Regulation. It has proclaimed that Uniting Church is a multicultural Church. The Church we belong is wide open for the people at the margin of our society, having prophetic voices proclaiming the word and deed of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of the strange and bold presence within the Australia society, I truly believe that the Uniting Church has increased the circle of inclusion that Jesus might have demonstrated and witnessed in his public ministry and the prayer that we are learning today. Basis of Union paragraph 18 speaks that the Uniting Church affirms that it belongs to the people of God on the way to the promised end. Here, my reading and its interpretation is that the people of God may include all human beings because all human beings are made in the image of God and becoming more Christ-like. We are becoming together in and for the glory of God. We are growing together the purpose of God as God’s people in splendour today and in days to come. The Uniting Church prays that God will bring the gift of the Spirit into deeper unity and use its worship, witness and service to God’s eternal glory through Jesus Christ the Lord. The vision found in our Lord’s intercessory prayer is embedded in the spirit and ethos of the Uniting Church in Australia, the Church we belong, and we love.

 

Dear my brothers and sisters in Christ, remember this in days to come. We are who we are because the Father has given us to the Son, because we have received the words of the Son and know the words come from the Father. We are who we are because we have been formed and transformed by the Holy Spirit in the love shared between the Father and the Son.

 

We are who we are because the Father loves the Son and we are enfolded within the Son’s answering love for the Father. All our services, lives, purpose and reason flow from that. The glory of God may come from that too. We are clothed in glory. We are all God’s people. Jesus Christ is the only one who enables us to be who we really are – the people of God. So work for it. Pray for it. And remind ourselves  that Jesus prayed for us to be God’s people. Live unity not the cheap one but the hard one and the high one that Jesus prayed and then died for. Live in union with Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. God will then sanctify us, giving all his glory in our midst and in days to come.

 

I give thanks to God for calling us to journey together within the life and ministry of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

 

 

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH

 

God of pilgrim faith, as we are called together to be your people, we will seek to live by the values and hope of Christ Jesus whom we follow.

We will honour one another, and seek to be an inclusive community in which each one is given justice, dignity and love.

 

As your spirit prompts us, we will seek to discern your will for us and act on your call in our lives.

 

We shall be open to discovering your purposes for us in all aspects of our personal and corporate life.

 

We commit ourselves to a deepening of our knowledge and love of you: in relationship and solidarity with one another, through worship together and shared reflection, through faithful action in the wider community, and in honest fellowship.

 

We commit ourselves in the life of Boronia Park Uniting Church; for, by your love, it is here that you have called us to serve.

 

And we commit ourselves to live in faith beyond this building and this body; for we believe we are partners with you in the ministry of reconciliation in your world.

 

Amen.

 

 

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Jenny Warren

 

Our father in heaven

Today we would like to thank you father for the uniting church you established 44 years ago, with it being the 44^th anniversary on Tuesday.

 

Thank you for the 44 years the uniting church has gathered to worship your name, to share the love and teachings of Jesus, to give guidance and support to those who seek you. Thank you father for the uniting church’s loving open arms to all, being diversity of age, cultures and languages, that all have been welcomed to gather together to share your word and will. Thank you for the work the uniting church has continued to do worldwide and the individuals who dedicate their lives to your mission, please bless them always lord.

  

we thank you father for the Holy Spirit who is at work always , please send the holy spirit to empower our lives to produce your fruits of  love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control..

 

Father We pray that you will guide us to continue to love one another with patience and compassion as Jesus Christ does.

 

We ask you lord to be with us through any trial or suffering and to hold our hand with loving reassurance.

 

We thank you lord so much for the freedom we have here in Australia, may we never take it for granted and that coronavirus or any other threat does not compromise that freedom. Please continue to protect us.

 

We pray for healing for those who are physically or mentally unwell, please lord heal those who call on your name. Some may need a miracle right now and we ask for your blessing of miracles please father, if it is your will.

 

Please forgive us for the things we think, do or say that upset you, please have patience and teach us the right way.

 

We thank you Jesus for your sacrifice so that we may have a relationship with our father and live eternally in peace with you. We love you father, you know us best, you know our hearts, you know what is best for us because you love us too, please be with us always.

Amen.

 

 

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 forever.

Amen.

 

 

OFFERING

 

Generous God,

the gathering of gifts reminds us

of your eternal grace and creativity.

May these resources be used

wisely and abundantly

to renew this world and its people.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

 

Amen.

 

 

HYMN

Worship, honour, glory, blessing (TiS 772)

 

Worship, honour, glory, blessing,

Lord we offer to your name;

Young and old, their praise expressing,

join your goodness to proclaim.

As the saints in heaven adore you,

we would bow before your throne;

As your angels serve before you,

so on earth your will be done.

 

 

 

CALL TO ACTION

THIS WEEK
I COMMIT TO
LOVING GOD AND NEIGHBOUR
BY _______________ .

 

Call us on to the adventure

of your passionate life, O God.
Carry us past the boundaries,

the near horizons of our small dreams.

 

Paint our world in vivid colours

so that we see a whole new vision of your possibilities.
Hold the cup of living water to our lips and breathe into our souls the life of your Spirit.

 

 

May we be those who dare to take into our hands

your cross of courage, justice, hope and love

and plant it as the tree of life, abroad in all the earth.

We ask this in the name of the One

who walks this way before us to the promised end.

Amen.

 

 

BENEDICTION

 

Go in peace

to love and serve the Christ and the world.

 

And may God the creator, go on creating within us.

God in Jesus Christ, sit at table in our midst

And the Spirit surround us all with grace.

 

The blessing of God almighty,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

be upon us and remain with us always.

 

All:      Amen.

 

 

SUNG BLESSING

Now unto Him

 

Now unto Him, who is able to keep

Able to keep you from falling

And present you faultless

Before the presence of His glory

With exceeding joy

 

To the only wise God our Saviour

Be glory and majesty

Dominion and power

Both now and forever

Amen.