26 July 2020_Pentecost 8_Sunday Worship

24 Jul 2020 by admin in: Worship Online

CYCLAMEN

The flowers of Cyclamen are dormant throughout summer

but they come alive and show their true colours in autumn.

Photo: Scott Hawkins

(From website "12 Best Winter Flowers")

An Important Announcement - Moving to Reopening for Worship

By Rosemary Brook, the Chair of the Council of Boronia Park Uniting Church and Elders

It is so lovely to be with you today.

I (Rosemary Brook) hope you are all well and in good spirits.

Today, I want to talk with you about our plans for moving towards reopening for worship.

Our Boronia Park Uniting Church Council has completed a NSW Covid-19 Safety Plan to support restarting worship together.

While some people are keen to start meeting face to face, others might not. There is no pressure on anyone to worship face to face. Things are changing rapidly, we know.

We will plan to hold two 'trial' services on Sunday 9 and 16 August. If you would like to attend one or both these services, please email, text or phone your elder to tell them the date(s) you prefer and who will be attending. Please tell your elder no later than 4pm Friday 31 July. They will then confirm the date(s) with you.

The two services will be live-streamed at 9.30am so those at home can watch. The services will be recorded and you can watch the recordings at a later time on our website. A copy of the service can be provided in hard copy before each Sunday so those who are worshipping from home can do so as usual.

If you have any questions, you are certainly welcome to contact me on 0403 527 541.

Wishing you God's deep peace,

Rosemary Brook

Chair

Boronia Park Uniting Church

26 July 2020

Preparing for Worship

Welcome to Boronia Park Uniting Church and our weekly worship resources. You may wish to find a comfortable space and to commit yourself to sit. Lighting a candle may help you to remember the presence of Christ Jesus this day. If you are worshipping with others, you are encouraged to share the various parts of worship and read them aloud. We believe that where you sit and centre your heart upon God’s presence is a church, representing the work of God, the Creator.

This moment, I want you to begin this worship with any form of welcome – deeds, gestures or simply reminding those who welcome you always before speaking words. What would you feel in your welcoming gestures? Who are the people that welcome you always no matter when or where? We believe that God welcomes as who we are and there are people appointed by God to welcome us. Also God will now lead us in the invitation to this worship through the grace of Jesus Christ, whose life was given for us to receive for the kingdom of God. So please come.

Acknowledgement for the First Peoples

I/We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, Elders past, present and emerging, on which we gather this day. I/We recognize their special relationship with the land and all creation. And thank them.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray:

God be with you.

And also with you.

God of steadfast love,

like the parent waiting, with arms outstretched,

ready to embrace the wandering child.

God like the shepherd searching for the lost sheep

God like the mother hen gathering her family.

You have called us here.

No one is lost.

No one is left behind.

All are welcomed.

Let us join with you.

In your everlasting joy.

Which finds grace in every child of earth

and makes a community open to all.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Christ

Amen.

Confession and Forgiveness

God who made home within us and amongst us,

who came to us incarnate as the Word made flesh,

who knows the pain and joy of being in a body,

you are tireless in seeking out the lost amongst us;

As a church we have not welcomed many of your people.

We have institutionalised,

we have isolated,

we have ignored and we have betrayed,

we are sorry.

Forgive us,

when our faith has been small,

and when our welcome has been thin.

Generous God,

share mercy with us.

Generous God, You do not give up on a single one,

we give up even on ourselves.

Generous God,

share grace with us.

We gather here in all our brokenness, body, soul and mind,

we admit that by our lack of welcome

we have wounded others.

We confess, especially that by our actions of exclusion

we have wounded ourselves and wounded our world.

Silence

Hear Christ’s word of love to us all!

Your sins are forgiven,

Thanks be to God!

With God’s help we will seek to end exclusion,

and we commit to work for healing in this place.

With the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

we will renew our church.

So let us share a sign of God’s peace

as a symbol of our commitment to healing and justice.

The Passing of the Peace

As we practiced in the beginning, please find your own way to welcome and pass the Peace with others. And think about how this can be an inclusive gesture to do God’s love for those who have different level of ability and sensory experience OR who are very new to our practice of worship.

Song

Father Welcomes All His Children (491, KRISTIN)

Refrain

Father welcomes all his children

to his family through his Son;

Father giving his salvation,

life for ever has been won.

Verse 1

Little children, come to me,

for my kingdom is of these;

life and love I have to give,

mercy for your sin.

Refrain

Verse 2

In the water, in the word

in his promise, be assured:

those who are baptized and believe

shall be born again.

Refrain

Verse 3

Let us daily die to sin,

let us daily rise with him,

walk in the love of Christ our Lord,

live in the peace of God.

Refrain

Words and music © Robin Mann

CCLI #260394

Responsive Reading: Psalm 105 (The Passion Translation)

Go ahead and give God thanks

for all the glorious things he has done!

Go ahead and worship him!

Tell everyone about his wonders!

Let’s sing his praises!

Sing, and put all of his miracles to music!

Shine and make your joyful boast in him,

you lovers of God.

Let’s be happy and keep rejoicing no matter what.

Seek more of his strength! Seek more of him!

Let’s always be seeking the light of his face.

Don’t you ever forget his miracles and marvels.

Hold to your heart every judgment he has decreed.

For you are his servants, the true seed of Abraham,

and you are the chosen ones, Jacob’s sons.

For he is the Lord our God,

and his wise authority can be seen in all he does.

Scripture Readings Daniel Junah Yeon

Today’s first scripture reading is from Romans 8.

^26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

^29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun. (Romans 8:26-30, The Message)

The Gospel reading this week comes from Matthew 8 that are Jesus’ parables of the kingdom of God.

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

³¹He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. ³²Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

³³He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

The Parable of the Net

⁴⁷“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

⁵²He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” (Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52, New International Version)

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Kids Talk Robyn Harvey

Jesus' parable of Mustard Seeds and Yeast that tells us about the kingdom of God and what it means to be part of it.

This is the video lesson about the parable of mustard seeds that Robyn said in her talk.

Song: Another in the Fire (Hillsong Music)

Verse 1

There's a grace when the heart is under fire

Another way when the walls are closing in

And when I look at the space between

Where I used to be and this reckoning

I know I will never be alone

Chorus 1

There was another in the fire

Standing next to me

There was another in the waters

Holding back the seas

And should I ever need reminding

Of how I've been set free

There is a cross that bears the burden

Where another died for me

There is another in the fire

Verse 2

All my debt left for dead beneath the waters

I'm no longer a slave to my sin anymore

And should I fall in the space between

What remains of me and this reckoning

Either way I won't bow to the things of this world

And I know I will never be alone

Chorus 2

There is another in the fire

Standing next to me

There is another in the waters

Holding back the seas

And should I ever need reminding

What power set me free

There is a grave that holds no body

And now that power lives in me

There is another in the fire oh

Bridge

And I can see the light in the darkness

As the darkness bows to Him

I can hear the roar in the heavens

As the space between wears thin

I can feel the ground shake beneath us

As the prison walls cave in

Nothing stands between us

Verse 3

There is no other name

But the Name that is Jesus

He who was and still is

And will be through it all

So come what may in the space between

All the things unseen and this reckoning

I know I will never be alone

Chorus 3

There'll be another in the fire

Standing next to me

There'll be another in the waters

Holding back the seas

And should I ever need reminding

How good You’ve been to me

I'll count the joy come ev'ry battle

'Cause I know that's where You'll be

Chris Davenport | Joel Houston

CCLI Licence # 260394

Reflection on the Scripture Seung Jae Yeon

The words of prayer were written as I was study about the parables of the Kingdom of God, reflecting on our Christian identity as Church and a gathered people no matter who we are.

Please join me in the prayer.

Lord God,

we choose to obey your kingdom,

and your reign upon us and all universe,

seen and unseen, touchable and imaginable,

sensible and mysterious, and in and among us.

We want to see this moment the kingdom of God

through the eyes of Jesus Christ,

and with those who believed and followed your Son.

So, we pray.