Preparing for Worship

 

Welcome to our worship service today! As announced, the online worship resources and this hard copy will be provided continuously, so you may worship with the people of God at Boronia Park UC together.

 

This year, which has been very long or short, now comes into the new season called Advent. Next four Sunday worship services, we will explore what it means for us to wait the coming of Christ Child, the prince of peace and the Son for us to save. Also, the theme for this season 2020 is “Which story of Jesus Christ should we bring to life?” Whatever story about Jesus who comes into your life and His birth comes in your mind first place, we anticipate that it would be your life-giving gift to your family, friends, colleagues or neighbours. As God gives His only son for us and His Creation, we may bring life to others this Advent and Christmas. Which story is being told in your mind now?

 

Sunday Worship Part 1 

Sunday Worship Part 2

Sunday Worship Part 3

 

Acknowledgement for the First Peoples

 

We would like to begin by acknowledging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. We extend that respect to them with our faithful prayer in this worship.

 

 

Lighting of the Advent Candle for Hope

 

In the Top End of Australia, the build-up means we, Yolngu people are near the end of the Dry Season. We wait for refreshing rains to come. When the first rain hits the ground, we call this ‘Ŋurru-djulyuna’ (Gupapuyŋu). It is sacred time for Yolngu people, to remember loved ones who are no longer with us. Just like the rain that comes to cleanse and renew the land, our tears help wash away our worries and fears. We ask God to help us face life again and give us hope.

 

When your face shines upon us,

a candle of hope is lit in our hearts.

 

God of Hope renew our hope.

Amen.

 

 

Call to Worship – Psalm 80 and Isaiah 64

 

Restore us, O God;

    let your face shine, that we may be saved!

 

Now, O Lord, you are our Father;

    we are the clay, and you are our potter;

    we are all the work of your hand.

 

Restore us, O God of hosts;

    let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,

    and remember not iniquity forever.

    Behold, please look, we are all your people.

 

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!

    Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

Let us worship God.

 

 

Hymn: Come All Ye faithful (TiS 304)

 

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,

come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;

come and behold him born the king of angels:

 

O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,

O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

 

True God of true God, Light of light eternal,

lo, he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;

Son of the Father, begotten, not created:

O come, let us adore him, …

 

Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,

fain we embrace thee with love and awe;

who would not love thee, loving us so dearly?

O come, let us adore him, …

 

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,

sing all ye citizens of heaven above,

‘Glory to God, glory in the highest’:

O come, let us adore him, …

 

John Francis Wade

CCLI Licence # 260394

 

Prayer of the Day

 

Let us pray:

 

Grace to you and peace

from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you

because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,

that in every way you were enriched in him

in all speech and all knowledge—

even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—

so that you are not lacking in any gift,

as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who will sustain you to the end,

guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, by whom you were called

into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:3-9 (ESV)

 

      

       We may give our all honour,

              praise and gratefulness to you, Lord,

              as we come to Your presence in this place called church.

 

       We believe that the Church is not a building but its people faithful

              so that we are giving thanks to you

              with many friends in Your Son Jesus Christ

              for this joyful opportunity to gather face to face.

 

       You alone are holy and almighty

       and there are no other names that we belong

       and surrender our soul and heart.

 

       You are worthy and you are faithful, so we thank You.

 

       Gracious living God,

              this moment, wherever we are,

              we are your people coming in to your holy place,

              where you are always dwelling,

              where you are always inviting,

              where you are always giving and forgiving.

 

       We may bring all things we have had today,

              no matter what it looks like;

              all shames, weakness, failures and brokenness

              in Your image, so we sorry.

 

       Lord, please hear our prayer.

 

       Calling and gathering God,

       as we join You this moment,

       as we bow down our all beings before you,

       please be with us.

      

       And receive all our hearts, all our minds and all our lives.

      

       We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

 

Peace

 

       The peace be with you.

       And also with you.

 

You may exchange the sign of peace by eye contact and bowing your head to others. And you may send text message if you are at home or work now.

 

 

Bible Reading: Mark 13:24-37

Korean and Chinese version here to click

 

The Gospel of Mark is the main text for this liturgical year ‘B’, 2020-2021 that we will read and reflect on together. Let us listen for the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The Coming of the Son of Man

 

²⁴ “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶ And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

 

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

 

²⁸ “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰ Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

 

No One Knows That Day or Hour

 

³² “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. ³⁵ Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—³⁶ lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. ³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

 

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God.

 

 

Song: Lord I Lift Your Name on High

 

Lord I lift Your name on high

Lord I love to sing Your praises

I'm so glad You're in my life

I'm so glad You came to save us

 

You came from heaven to earth

To show the way

From the earth to the cross

My debt to pay

From the cross to the grave

From the grave to the sky

Lord I lift Your name on high

 

Rick Founds

CCLI Licence # 260394

 

 

Sermon – Seung Jae Yeon

 

Let us pray:

 

The grass withers and the flowers fall,

    but the word of our God endures forever. (Isaiah 40:8, NIV)

Amen.

 

Alleluia! It has taken eight months to get me here before you preaching the Word of God face to face. There have been highlights and lowlights during the most challenging times in our entire history. But there is always God among us till we meet again this day at Boronia Park Uniting Church. On my record, our final song on Sunday 22 March was ‘God be with you till we meet again.’ We sang this chorus at the end of the worship before saying good to each other. No one knew that day or hour to come back here again.

 

Till we meet, till we meet,

till we meet at Jesus’ feet;

till we meet, till we meet,

God be with you

till we meet again.

Jeremiah E. Rankin

 

I believed that when we sang the chorus, all were wishing each and every one of us all the best while we would stay home, keep maintaining social and physical distancing and have worries about uncertain circumstances of the pandemic. All of us just prayed, wishing God be with us till we meet again. Though we have been through very tough times in life, we believe that God of Ebenezer be with us till today. And we may say, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12) The last lines of our final song we sang 8 months ago have lived within us. This is not the end. God be with us forever, because God we believe in is everlasting and eternal.  

 

From verses 32 to 37, the phrase “stay awake”, as used throughout the passage, is somewhat synonymous with “holding on”. Jesus wants his friends to hold on to the relationship despite the end times rapidly approach, which is Jesus’ death and resurrection in Jerusalem. After the passage today, the narrative of Jesus’ suffering moves quickly from the celebration of the Passover, the betrayal, Gethsemane, and the arrest of Jesus to his trials before Sanhedrin and Pilate. Then the end times end at the crucifixion of Jesus, the discovery of the empty tomb, and the announcement of Jesus’ resurrection. We, as today’s readers, know about this. However, Jesus still wants us to stay awake or hold on to the relationship with him and with each other in our faith journey. Because we don’t know the end times, the day and hour to come. So we need to stay awake this moment.

 

The setting of the passage is basically Jerusalem they are staying over the Passover. Currently the entire city is filled with many visitors like them celebrating its festive season as well as representing who they really are. Jesus, with his disciples, is about to be betrayed by Judas, charged by religious authorities and persecuted and crucified by the Roman ruler. However, as Jesus is making his way towards the end, his heart is burning with passion to tell about the coming judgement, and he feels a way he never felt before. That is to say he is prepared, ready to suffer and trust. Here, Jesus discourses about the end times and his teaching focus the attention of his disciples on preparedness, on readiness to suffer, and on trust. Jesus wants them to be on guard, stay awake in the absence of their Master, and hold on to the relationship despite the fact that the end times will be tough, challenging, changing and unknown of that day or hour to come.

 

All in all, the passage is based on Jesus asking them as the end times are coming, and for us today to “stay awake”, which reads more or less like an appeal for all of us to remain faithfully vested in the relationship with him. Thus, we should think deeply about how we are supposed to stay awake in this season of Advent. What does it mean to stay awake or hold on though we have faith today in Jesus Christ, Saviour and Friend in our lives?

I may have this question for you. Think and ponder over what this question is asking to you. If needed, you can have time to write down and reflect. The question is:

 

What event(s) in your life do you look back on as special evidence of God’s love and care for you?

 

What event(s) have you looked back on? You have too many to choose one or two events in your life? I understand. I have many but obviously I have chosen this: In God calling and caring, I become the minister for Boronia Park Uniting Church in 2014 and the congregation has blessed my family and me as part of faithful Christ community since then. It is so true. As a migrant Korean, this event is special evidence of God’s love and care for five of us, recognising that we are always with God in all circumstances. I remember that God be with us always. I remember that God’s people like Boronia Park UC are always faithful to God and to each other in this journey.

 

What I stress here is that to ‘stay awake’ means to remember what God has done for you, for me and for many. We cannot remember God’s love and care always but do it all the way to the end time. During the time where we worshipped online, whenever I committed to sit and pray, I did remember the event of becoming part of Boronia Park UC as Minister and how God faithfully leads us together in our faith journey. Though the pandemic and its related issues are painful, in remembrance of what God and God’s people have done in my ministry the painful memories have become a valuable part of the positive remembering who we are. Again, to ‘stay awake’ means to remember who God is for us, what God has done for us and for many, and how God works through all tough times. And we in life try our best to stay awake all the way to the end time. I believe that in this first week of Advent, this is an affirmation of hope and an assertion of our commitment in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

In conclusion, I would like to share Charles Bukowski’s poem, Going All the Way, which might encourage us to stay awake until the end time and hold on to the relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

Going all the way

 

If you’re going to try, go all the way.

 

Otherwise, don’t even start.

 

If you're going to try, go all the way.

 

This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs

and maybe even your mind.

 

It could mean not eating for three or four days.

 

It could mean freezing on a park bench.

 

It could mean jail.

 

It could mean derision, mockery, isolation.

 

Isolation is the gift.

 

All the others are a test of your endurance,

of how much you really want to do it.

 

And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds.

 

And it will be better than anything else you can imagine.

 

If you’re going to try, go all the way.

 

There is no other feeling like that.

 

You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire.

 

Do it. Do it. Do it. All the way.

 

You will ride life straight to perfect laughter.

It’s the only good fight there is.

 

This poem may give us so much courage, energy and guidance as we choose to stay awake this moment.

 

Thanks be to God.

 

 

Prayers of the People – Rosemary Brook

 

Let us pray:

 

Gracious and most loving Heavenly Father,

 

We are just so very glad and grateful to come together to worship you here as our beautiful church family – especially as we begin our Advent journey.

 

We are so fortunate to have in our country strong public health systems; incredibly dedicated front-line staff and people caring for each other, as well as all those forward- thinking researchers working on vaccines and anti-virus medications both here and around the world.

 

Advent reminds us, as the Very Reverend Martin Percy, Dean of Christ Church Oxford has said, that You, the God of love and goodness, You have made your home among us; lived with us; shared our lives, and lived through joy and agony, pain and death, humiliation and celebration. You are Emmanuel; God with us; God among us; God living with us. God wanting to be with us. And this includes being with us all during this global pandemic and with all who have suffered - and are suffering- because of it.

 

As a famous prayer about Advent put it… so surprisingly:

 

Blessed are you O Christmas Christ, that your cradle was so low that shepherds, the poorest and simplest of earthly folk, could yet kneel beside it and look level-eyed into the face of God.

 

How amazing is this! We thank you that there is room for all of us around your cradle and that you love us more than we could ever imagine– right here, right now, and for always.

 

Advent reminds us of this eternal truth. Your eternal truth.

 

Help us to look at the world and our neighbours through your loving eyes and with your wisdom. Help us remember all who are suffering whether it be through grief, isolation, loneliness, health issues, financial pressures, unfulfilled obligations, war and famine, poor government, injustice, or lack of loving kindness.

 

We pray for governments to act with diligence and compassion as they struggle to contain the spread of Covid-19.

 

We also pray this week especially for Myanmar and Thailand and Ethiopia which are under incredible political stress.

 

We give thanks for:

• those who have struggled for democratic reforms
• the faithful witness of churches which have advocated with others for greater justice; and
• efforts to protect the environment and resources.

We pray for:

• ethnic and religious groups who are experiencing severe discrimination
• far greater understanding and tolerance of diversity
• political stability and progress toward democratic rule
• economic justice for all people, and critical environmental protection.

Near to us we pray for the continuing grace and ministry of Glades Hill Presbyterian Church and Kalos Korean Church and all our nearby sister churches, their ministers and congregations.

 

We pray for our own dear Minister Seung Jae and his family and our church leaders and caring church family. Keep your loving arms around our dear friends who are deeply unwell or needing ongoing medical attention. Bless our beautiful young people and little ones in our families as they grow in wisdom, kindness and love for you. 

 

Advent is such a special time but it is easy to be distracted. Help us to be attentive to what truly matters. Help us bring your loving kindness to our families and our neighbours, and those afar. May deep joy and delight in You colour our Advent this year.

 

In Jesus’ name we pray.

 

Amen.

 

 

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 glory are yours now and forever. 

 

Amen.

 

 

Song: I, the Lord of Sea and Sky (TiS 658)

 

I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry.

All who dwell in dark and sin my hand will save.

I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright.

Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?

 

Here I am, Lord; is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night;

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

 

I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people’s pain;

I have wept for love of them. They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone, give them hearts for love alone.

I will speak my word to them. Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord; is it I, Lord?

 

I, the Lord of wind and flame. I will tend the poor and lame,

I will set a feast for them. My hand will save.

Finest bread I will provide till their hearts are satisfied.

I will give my life to them. Whom shall I send?

 

Here I am, Lord; is it I, Lord?

Here I am, Lord; is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night;

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

 

Words and music by permission Oregon Catholic Press

CCLI Licence # 260394

 

 

Offering

 

The offering will be used for the congregation’s continuing mission and ministry including young people and youth ministry in these changing times. Please make your offering through a Bank Deposit or a personal cheque whichever is convenient to you.

 

Account Name: Boronia Park Uniting Church

BSB: 634-634

Account: 100023784

Reference: Offering  

 

Please contact Robyn Harvey, Treasurer on 0418 783 290 or robyn.49@bigpond.net.au for more information about how to make Direct Debit.

 

 

Announcement

 

1. Next Sunday 6 December – Holy Communion service at 9:30am available both face to face and online resources. You may request the Minister to come to your home for communion beyond the congregation.

 

2. Sunday 13 December – ADVENTure Worship for Sunday School students and families. See Lenny and Margaret Maxwell.

 

2. Last Tuesday 10am at Church, we had the November monthly morning tea.

 

4. Donation needed – The following items are urgently needed by House of Welcome Foodbank:

Vegetable Oil-750ml bottles

Plain flour-1kg packets

Basmati rice-1 kg packets

Tuna cans-either in oil or spring water

Noodles-chicken or vegetable

Tinned diced tomatoes

Raw sugar-1kg packets

Laundry-Detergent powder.

Tea-black

Toilet paper

Deodorant

Razors

Chuck wipes

Disinfectant handwash

Dishwashing liquid

Shampoo

      

This urgent request was given to us by Lucy Hobgood-Brown, founder of one of our local organisation HandUp Congo who has been involved in helping the need in our local area. Your donation will be received on Thursday between 10-12pm and on Sunday that you may come. Please join in showing your generosity by giving donation.

 

 

Benediction

 

The blessing of God Almighty,

the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

be upon you and remain with you always.

Amen.

 

 

Sung Blessing:

May the Feet of God Walk with You

 

 

May the feet of God walk with you,

and his hand hold you tight.

May the eye of God rest on you,

and his ear hear your cry.

May the smile of God be for you,

and his breath give you life.

May the Child of God grow in you,

and his love bring you home.

 

Words © A. W. Podlich

Music © R. Mann

CCLI No. 260394