Preparing for Worship

 

Welcome to our online worship service today with the People of Boronia Park Uniting Church! Now we are going through the Lenten season 2021 today. During this time, we continue exploring how much God loves us in giving His son to us and forgiving our all weaknesses and brokenness. In this worship, we might have time to think about Jesus’ quests—Deny self, take up your cross and follow Him. At all times, the Spirit helps us find God’s call this moment.

 

Acknowledgement for the First Peoples

 

We acknowledge this land that God has created and blessed. We would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the Wallumettagal people of the Eora Nation, the first inhabitants of this place. We honour their custodianship of the land on which we gather today and its surrounding waters, and offer our respect to their Elders, past, present, and emerging.

 

 

Call to Worship

 

Save me, O God,

    for the waters have come up to my neck.

I have come into deep waters,

    and the flood sweeps over me.

 

O God, you know my folly;

    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,

    O Lord God of hosts;

do not let those who seek you be dishonoured because of me,

    O God of Israel.

 

It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;

    the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

 

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

    At an acceptable time, O God,

    in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;

    according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

 

Let us come before the Parent God,

who is always there for us with mercy

and gives us hope to endure our faith forever.

 

Come, let us worship God.

 

 

Song of Praise     God so loved

 

For God so loved the world

That He gave His only Son

That whosoever believes will not perish

They shall have eternal life

 

I shall hold to the cross

I shall hold to God alone

For His love has salvaged me

For His love has set me free

For God so loved the world…

 

I shall wait upon the Lord

I shall wait upon His Word

And by His grace I am released

By His grace I am redeemed

For God so loved the world…

 

Bridge

By His precious blood I have been set free

For the glory of Jesus' Name I surrender all now to Christ alone

In Jesus I am saved

 

For God so loved the world

That He gave His only Son

That whosoever believes will not perish

They shall have eternal life

 

Yes, they shall have eternal life

 

Marty Sampson, Matt Crocker © 2017 Hillsong Music Publishing Australia 

CCLI Licence # 260394

 

 

Prayer of the Day      

 

Loving God,

we come to you in worship and thanksgiving.

You are greater than we can understand;

open our eyes that we may see the wonderful truths

you have shown to us in Jesus.

You are more loving than our hearts can respond to;

help us to give ourselves to you in worship

so that we learn what you want us to be.

 

You are wiser than we can know;

still our minds as we worship you

so that we can understand the things you are saying to us.

 

Silence for reflection & self-examination

 

Loving God, in Jesus

you chose to come to the world in humility.

You chose the path the world saw as foolish.

You used what the world considered weak.

We worship and adore you. Amen.

 

inspired by 1 Corinthians 1: 18-25

The Worship Sourcebook 1.4.42 from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship website

 

 

Bible Reading     John 2:13-22

Jesus Clears the Temple Courts

¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸ The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

 

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

 

 

Pastoral Prayer

 

Our dear friend, Susan Bozinosky had her beloved husband and lifetime friend, Kiril Bozinosky who passed away on 23 February 2020. During the time of lockdown, we had no chance to attend his funeral in person. However many of us have held her tight in prayer and thought as she went through the challenging time. Today I may call up on all of us to pray together for Kiril who are now with his heavenly Father.

  

In Memory

 

Those we Love remain with us,

for Love itself lives on.

 

Cherished memories never fade,

because a loved one is gone.

 

Those we Love can never be,

more than a thought apart.

 

For as long as there is a memory,

they’ll live on in our heart.

 

Let us pray:

 

O Lord, the God of mercies,

grant unto the souls of Thy servants

the anniversary day of whose burial or cremation we are keeping,

a place of solace, of peaceful rest, of glorious light.

Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

Sermon         Seung Jae Yeon

 

Let us pray:

 

O gracious and holy God,

give us diligence to seek you,

wisdom to perceive you,

and patience to wait for you.

 

Grant us, O God,

a mind to meditate on you,

eyes to behold you,

ears to listen for your word,

a heart to love you,

and a life to proclaim you;

through the power of the Spirit

of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

 

I, with Grace will celebrate our 20 years of married life in God this coming Wednesday. Also the month of March this year, it is our 20th year to live in Australia as Korean migrant. We vowed in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit to commit each other as husband and wife. She turned and I turned from our individual life and together toward one and sacred life in marriage. However nearly 20 years in marriage we are still turning from our own personality toward togetherness in lawful and faithful married life. We have had many times to argue, scratch each other’s hearts and emotions, and keep silence when a better word might take us to a peaceful direction. 20 years in battle or settlement for life. In there, I have gained three things. I want to list three things I gained in my married life with my dearest wife Grace Yeon Sil Song.

 

Say honestly.

Say differently.

Say faithfully.

 

I learnt that I need to say honestly all the time. No telling lies though it would make a situation better instantly. Telling truth and facts without any personal interpretation on it. Sometimes saying without honesty causes more trouble. I learnt then that I need to say differently in terms of choosing better words to deliver what I might feel and better tones to touch each other’s hearts. I learnt that I need to say faithfully because simply I am a Christian. Words from my mouth and acts done by my physicality tell who I am. I am a Christian, who follows and lives the life given by Jesus Christ my Lord, my God. As I am getting older, I believe I am getting wiser so I can practise three ways to say in my daily life and if there might be an issue or problem no matter who causes it. Say honestly, differently and faithfully. I don’t know whether Grace has noticed my way to say recently. I do know the three ways to say has significant importance in my daily life. This leads me. This forms me today. And this tells who I am in Jesus Christ.

 

In today’s bible reading, Jesus clears the temple court. In other words, Jesus replaces the temple from marketplace to house of prayer, from place of exchange to place of worship, from the centre of all material power to the soul and heart of all the humble and marginalised. In Jesus’ cleansing of the temple and related actions like driving out all animals and the money changers, and turning over their tables, there were people who witnessed it might have a mixed emotion of delight or pathos. Imagine that animals cried and ran away out of control, the money changers knelt collecting coins or screaming at Jesus, and all sorts of people who are from all different places, cultures, and classes of society witnessed wondering what is going on here? They might have joy, agony, or curiosity. Who is this Man? What authority he has to do so in the temple court? If this is an episode of drama, many people might have multiple layers of emotions, feelings and action and reaction. What are you feeling when you hear the story of Jesus’s replacing of the temple upside down or inside out? What role would you play in this drama? How would you express your emotion toward audience? Would you say honestly, differently or faithfully in regard to what was happening in the temple court?

 

According to the words and the acts of Jesus, he visits and liberates the marginal people like Samaritans, the man who was born blind, Lazarus and so on. In the communities where its members read and heard John’s gospel, there were ethnic relations with Palestinian Jews, Diaspora, non-Jewish groups and its sub-groups who could experience being marginalised by mainstream religious order and the Roman authorities. They both have waited for help from others or Messiah so called Saviour to rescue them leading them toward a better place to be. Then they were liberated from the darkness by Jesus, himself and the message from the gospel. In him and through him, they might have the presence of God anew. In today’s passage, the image of Jesus as liberator and humble king is found rather as rule breaker or partisan attacking authorities. What he does is not violent but just. And the image here is overlapped with king of humility and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In cleansing and replacing of the temple court, Jesus does not make the crowd or the hearers of the gospel run for their weapons against all power and authorities, but rather makes them think how they would better bring their heart in the house of God or how they would better say who God is for them in life which was oppressed by the empire and the authorities. In clearing of the temple court, Jesus might have called upon us to turn back to God and say about Jesus honestly, differently and faithfully. A call to turn away from where we struggle and back to where we should be—the love of God and the almighty God who form and transform many lives. This call is not the short-term option of easing our problems but the eternal perspective of peace and hope within each and all of us. This passage and its message are not at all about ending with catharsis. This passage is all about who Jesus Christ is for us and for many. He brings a new era in the middle of the temple court, talking about a new way of living, a new lifestyle in God honestly. This model has its vivid description in verse 16. It describes, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” (NIV) Beyond the cleansing of all unjust and earthly things, Jesus moves forward to call people to turn back to God. Straight forwardly saying, “This is my Father’s house.” This is my Father’s house where he belongs and his people do too. He proclaims that the temple is for God and for the people of God to meet with each other in prayers and offerings, reminding them that they should turn from the past regrets and wrongdoings and toward the God of present. This is my Father’s house. This simple statement tells them about where they should be and what they should do in the presence of God.

 

Then the Jews asks about what authorities Jesus has. “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” (verse 18) The challenge might come from a variety of people that Jesus met. The Jewish leaders, the marginal people in the society, non-Jewish people such as Samaritans, Greeks, and Romans, male and female, the rich and the poor, the healthy and the sick, officials and ordinary people and the centre and the margins. All sorts of people might challenge Jesus who cleanses and replaces the temple. In their challenging question about sign or authority, earthly and imperial power manipulates Jesus’ heavenly sovereignty as the Son of God. They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,” because they sees the temple as a building of material. Raising it in three days means for him that the temple is the body of Jesus Christ—godly, heavenly and a holy and sacred place where God dwells in. Imagine clashing between sand and air or between power and gentleness. Jesus says differently that the temple is not a building but himself, the Son of God who is sent by God the Father to visit, liberate and give life everlasting.

 

The last verse seems to be added after Jesus rose again from the grave and turned up before the disciples. John and his communities recalled what he had said in the temple court after he was raised from the dead. John says, “They believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.” After Jesus’ resurrection, the believers and disciples confessed that the temple is the Father’s house where all can meet with each other to pray and give offering. After the resurrection, they were able to say faithfully that the temple is the body of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This gives us hope, the hope that we continue living faithfully till the end of this life’s journey. In that journey, we say honestly, differently and faithfully about what we believe to the world.   

 

Say honestly

Say differently

Say faithfully

 

This Lenten season, I would encourage all of us to say honestly, differently, faithfully when you speak. Your words of faithfulness may touch other’s lives and make them turn back to God who always waits for his people.

 

Would you believe that words of your mouth can change someone’s life? Say honestly, differently and faithfully.

 

Thanks be to God.

 

 

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

 

As we gather here today in the sight of God to join in the service of communion, we come before the table set by the people of Boronia Park Uniting Church. The God of all creation is not bound to the bounds of time or place, anytime and anywhere. God transcends our physical beings and human-made history and parts all the hindrances and limitations between us, so that we may be together in this mystical and liminal space called communion. Through God and the mystery of holy communion, we become one creation, one body, one church. Join with us and each other now in acknowledging our togetherness in the presence of God.

 

The Peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be always with us.

Amen.

 

 

Invitation to the Table

 

We remember the time when Jesus faced

difficult decisions and destructive forces:

Facing his winter, which means his time

being placed in deeper agony and sorrow

– the days and nights of his searching,

– in facing failure – in facing death

 

When we experience the winter of our lives too,

we may find the courage to let go

and trust in your guiding, warming light.

 

And we remember

Jesus has shown us that life is stronger than death,

his love is stronger than our fear.

 

And as we share the bread and wine together

we remember the words and the actions of that ancient meal…

Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it,

and gave it to his friends.

 

He poured a cup of wine, offered thanks for it,

and shared it also with his friends.

 

Ancient symbols.

Common acts.

 

Thanks be to God.

 

 

Thanksgiving

 

God is with us.

It is good to be joyful as we give thanks to You, Holy God.

You created us in your image and gave us life with your breath.

Your love does not fade, even as we run away from that love.

You liberated us from our bondages in daily life,

and continue to ease our burden through all our lives.

 

Intercessions

 

Your Spirit makes us one with Christ and one with each other

It binds, blends, and multiplies us,

as we live the good news of Jesus Christ to the world,

as one beloved community of faith

singing your praises on earth and in heaven

until Christ comes again,

and we feast at the divine table in perfect harmony.

 

All honour and glory are yours God,

now and forever. 

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.

 

 

Communion Song      Come to the feast

 

We place upon Your table a gleaming cloth of white

The weaving of our stories, the fabric of our lives,

The dreams of those before us, the ancient hopeful cries,

The promise of our future, our needing and our nurture

Lie here before our lives.

 

We come to Your feast, we come to Your feast,

the young and the old, the frightened, the bold,

the greatest and the least.

We come to Your Feast, we come to Your Feast,

with the fruit of our lands and the work of our hands

we come to Your feast.

 

We place upon Your table a humble loaf of bread,

The gift of field and hillside, the grain by which we're fed,

We come to taste the presence, of him on whom we feed,

To strengthen and connect us, to challenge and correct us,

To love in word and deed.

We come to Your feast, we come to Your feast …

 

We place upon Your Table a simple cup of wine,

The fruit of human labour, the gift of sun and vine.

We come to taste the presence of him we claim as Lord

His dying and his living, his leading and his giving,

his love in cup out pour.

We come to Your feast, we come to Your feast …

 

We gather round your table we pause within our quest,

we stand beside our neighbours, we name the stranger “guest.”

The feast is spread before us, you bid us come and dine:

In blessing we’ll uncover, in sharing we’ll discover

your substance and your sign.

We come to Your feast, we come to Your feast …

 

Michael Joncas

CCLI# 260394

 

 

Partaking of the Elements

 

This bread is made from many grains from many fields,

yet was formed into a single loaf.

 

Because there is one God

we, though many, and in many places, are one body.

Join us as we partake in the body of Christ, in remembrance of him.

 

The Body of Christ given for you.

And we give thanks to those

who have brought this bread on this table.

 

This fruit of the vine is made by many hands, from many places,

yet pours freely.

Join us as we share in this blessing of the cup of the new covenant.

 

The cup of blessing poured out for you and for all.

And we may bless those who have prepared

and set this chalice up on this table fellowship.

 

 

Prayer after Communion

 

Eternal God,

thank you for this mystery of faith,

and both human and divine mercy,

where you have given yourself to us.

May we go into the world during this Lent

strengthened by your Spirit,

in a spirit of generosity,

in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

 

Copyright 2020 by Wil Ranney under the CC3.0 license

The invitation prayer from the Third Space website

 

 

Offering

 

The offering will be used for the congregation’s continuing mission and ministry in these challenging 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 offering.

 

 

Benediction

 

Creator God—

as we return now to our homes, workplaces, and communities,

may Your Spirit open our eyes anew

to the vastness and splendor of Your beauty all around us.

 

May we hear, and smell, and see, and touch

Your glory evident in all of Your creation.

 

Above all, let us see Your beauty

even in the brokenness of our brothers and sisters—

all of them, created in Your image,

and waiting to experience that redemption that comes

only through Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

We go now to love and serve our Lord—Amen.

 

Carlos Fernandez, Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Village Church

 

 

Sung Blessing      Jesus You are Lord

 

Rising from the grave

Died to set us free

Full of grace and love

Shining above all

Jesus You are Lord

 

Tune: Beauty and the Beast

Words: Peter Rowe