Welcome: –

To make a campfire  glow warmly keep the embers together .  

The quickest way to put a campfire out is to scatter the embers.

It is good to meet together, It is good to encourage one another all the more. Hebrews 10:25 

Sharing the Peace:  –

We greet each other today in that Spirit of Encouragement.

May the Peace of the Lord be always with you.

And also with you

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the song: TIS 52 Let us sing to God of Salvation – Psalm 95

1 Let us sing to the God of salvation,
let us sing to the Lord our rock;
let us come to his house with thanksgiving,
let us come before the Lord and sing!

Praise our maker, praise our saviour,
praise the Lord our everlasting king:
every throne must bow before him
God is Lord of everything!

2 In his hand are the earth’s deepest places,
and the strength of the hills is his;
all the sea is the Lord’s, for he made it
by his hand the solid rock was formed.

Praise our maker, praise our saviour,
praise the Lord our everlasting king:
every throne must bow before him
God is Lord of everything!

3 Let us worship the Lord our maker,
let us kneel to the Lord our God;
for we all are the sheep of his pasture
he will guide us by his powerful hand.

Praise our maker, praise our saviour,
praise the Lord our everlasting king:
every throne must bow before him
God is Lord of everything!

4 Let today be the time when you hear him!
May our hearts not be hard or cold,
lest we stray from the Lord in rebellion
as his people did in time of old.

Praise our maker, praise our saviour,
praise the Lord our everlasting king:
every throne must bow before him
God is Lord of everything!

After Psalm 95, Richard Bewes

CCL# 2607719

Gathering          

As we gather together to worship, we celebrate and acknowledge God’s great love that He has for us and the abundance of His most generous and gracious provision.

Creator God, who has furnished us with all that we have,
we give you praise and thanks.

Remind us of our gifts when we lose sight of them.
Show us where and how to share them.

Give us the courage to offer them freely, as you give to us.
What others may seek to destroy, help us to protect and care,
and give us the conviction to stand fast when we are called to do so.

Let us enter into the light of God’s glorious presence,
bringing our all, big and small, in faithful worship.

We stand in your light where nothing is hidden.
You, Our God, are Great

You, Our God, are Good

And we put our trust in You and give You our Praise and Thanks

 Amen

Reflection:    

Allow the beautiful choral arrangement of this hymn bless you. It was originally written by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835- 1917) after sitting on a hilltop outside his native city of Bath, England, admiring the country view and the winding Avon River. Inspired by the view to think about God’s gifts in creation and in the church.

Above all, Pierpoint thought of the sacrifice of Christ, in the greatest of sacrifices, that of his life in return for ours. He thus originally wrote the text of “For the Beauty of the Earth” as a hymn for the Lord’s Supper. The original chorus read, “Christ, our God, to thee we raise this, our sacrifice of praise.” The hymn was meant not only as a song of thanksgiving, but as the only thing we could give Christ in return for his mercy and love: a hymn of praise laid upon the altar as a sacrifice.

May our lives too be a sacrifice of praise.

 TIS 137 For the beauty of the earth (John Rutter  arrangement watch clip)

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies
Over and around us lies

‘Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night
Hill and vale and tree and flow’r
Sun and Moon and stars of light
Sun and Moon and stars of light

‘Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise

For the joy of human love (For the joy of love)
Brother, sister, parent, child (Brother, sister, parent, child)
Friends on earth (Friends on earth) and friends above (And friends above)
For all gentle thoughts and mild (For all gentle thoughts and mild)
For all gentle thoughts and mild

‘Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our joyful hymn (Our joyful hymn) of praise (Of praise)

For each perfect gift of Thine
To our race so freely given
Graces human (Given) and divine (Human and divine)
Flow’rs of earth and buds of heav’n
Flow’rs of earth and buds of heav’n

‘Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our joyful hymn (Our joyful hymn) of praise
(This our joyful hymn) Our hymn of praise

Prayer of Confession:

As the seasons change around us and the jacaranda blooms and the poincianas

herald that Christmas is coming, bringing with it the abundance of God’s blessing and joy,

we are also reminded that we still need to come to God in repentance and so we pray together….

Lord, we confess that there is much about us which brings you sorrow and grief.

For the times when we try to go our own way and end up running from you,

we ask your forgiveness.

For the times we took advantage of your grace,

we ask your forgiveness.

For the times we ignored your calling in our lives,

we ask your forgiveness.

For the times we were too proud to see you at work around us,

we ask your forgiveness.

For the times when we shy away from the work that you want to do in our lives,

we ask your forgiveness.

For the times when we seek fulfillment in Human potential rather than in your peace,

we ask your forgiveness.

Merciful God, guide us, help us to see you more clearly than ever before.

Let us be lights that reflect Your love and truth to our friends and neighbours so that they may know that the power of sin has been broken.  Let this be our approach to the beginning of each new day, seeking Your glory more than our own.  In Jesus’ Name we pray.  Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness 

(from Hebrews 2: 11 & 17) 

The writer of the Book of Hebrews clearly reminds us that it is through Jesus Christ that our sins are forgiven and that we are made pure in God’s sight.  Having confessed our sins before God and confessed our faith in the saving grace of God, let us move forward with confidence that, indeed, God has heard our prayers and has forgiven us.

Because of Jesus, we are loved and forgiven.

Thanks be to God.

May the words of this hymn be our prayer as we hear the passages of scripture today. May God open our minds to his teaching.

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the song  TIS 430 Your words to me are life and health

Scripture Readings

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

(J.B. Phillips New Testament translation)

We must keep awake for his sudden coming.

But as far as times and seasons go, my brothers, you don’t need written instructions. You are well aware that the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a burglary to a householder. When men are saying “Peace and security” catastrophe will sweep down upon them as suddenly and inescapably as birth-pangs to a pregnant woman.

 But because you, my brothers, are not living in darkness the day cannot take you completely by surprise. After all, burglary only takes place at night! You are all sons of light, sons of the day, and none of us belongs to darkness or the night. Let us then never fall into the sleep that stupefies the rest of the world: let us keep awake, with our wits about us. Night is the time for sleep and the time when men get drunk, but we men of the daylight should be alert, with faith and love as our breastplate and the hope of our salvation as our helmet.

For God did not choose us to condemn us, but that we might secure his salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. He died for us, so that whether we are “awake” or “asleep” we share his life.

So go on cheering and strengthening each other with thoughts like these, as I have no doubt you have been doing.

This is the Word of God.

Praise to you Almighty God.

Matthew 25:14-30

J.B. Phillips New Testament translation.

 “It is just like a man going abroad who called his household servants together before he went and handed his property to them to manage. He gave one five million dollars , another two million and another one million—according to their respective abilities. Then he went away.

 “The man who had received five million dollars went out at once and by doing business with this sum he made another five million. Similarly the man with two million dollars made another two million. But the man who had received one million dollars went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“Some years later the master of these servants arrived and went into the accounts with them. The one who had the five million dollars came in and brought him an additional five million dollars with the words, ‘You gave me five million dollars, sir; look, I’ve increased it by another five million dollars.’ ‘Well done!’ said his master, ‘you’re a sound, reliable servant. You’ve been trustworthy over a few things, now I’m going to put you in charge of much more. Come in and share your master’s rejoicing.’ Then the servant who had received two million dollars came in and said, ‘You gave me two million dollars, sir; look, here’s two million dollars more that I’ve managed to make by it.’ ‘Well done!’ said his master, ‘you’re a sound, reliable servant. You’ve been trustworthy over a few things, now I’m going to put you in charge of many. Come in and share your master’s pleasure.’

 “Then the man who had received the one million dollars came in and said, ‘Sir, I always knew you were a hard man, reaping where you never sowed and collecting where you never laid out—so I was scared and I went off and hid your million dollars in the ground. Here is your money, intact.’

“‘You’re a wicked, lazy servant!’ his master told him. ‘You say you knew that I reap where I never sowed and collect where I never laid out? Then you ought to have put my money in a term deposit in the bank, and when I came out I should at any rate have received what belongs to me with interest. Take his million dollars away from him and give it to the man who now has the ten million dollars!’ (For the man who has something will have more given to him and will have plenty. But as for the man who has nothing, even his ‘nothing’ will be taken away.) ‘And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where he can weep and wail over his stupidity.’

This is the Gospel of our Lord.

Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

Message

Our Gospel reading seems to draw lessons about the economy.

Today our news feeds always concentrate on the economy.

“There must be economic growth.”

“Growth must grow within the checks and balances provided by good economic management.”

 The economy cannot grow too quickly for that’s where inflation lurks waiting to pounce. “Real income must keep up with growth” –“ we don’t want deflation” – “we don’t want a recession” – “stagflation is always a risk” –   “house and fuel price rises have thrown the economy into chaos” – “our savings cannot go backwards”– and so on – and so on  ……. Ad finitum 

For most of us we are careful of our money, pay our bills, and sometimes worry about whether we can afford our basic living expenses. That’s where the rubber hits the road.

The economy is all about the movement of money.

This parable leads us in a commercial outlook. Large amounts of money are mentioned and returns on investment are amazingly high. As the business owner departs, he leaves his business to his managers according to their ability.

The first two manage the funds astutely and reward the owner’s trust. There is outstanding growth and so are given greater responsibilities. Understandably there has been much movement of money to achieve those results.

But the third fund manager excuses his lack of business nous for he placed the funds in some non-interest-bearing stagnating account (perhaps under the mattress) where he was lucky that the value the funds didn’t go backwards.

He receives a right royal blast from the owner. The funds are taken away and given to the others.

These managers enter into the commercial economy world with money that is not their own, no longer working for themselves but for the owner. They are entrusted to carry out their responsibilities.

Jesus is speaking to his disciples preparing them that in the time between His Ascension and his return, all those who are on the receiving end of God’s Gift of Grace must not just squander those gifts for themselves, but build, return and share the benefits.

Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom Economy, and if the word economy implies movement then we may understand that the Grace of the Creator God,  flows out from God.

Those who receive and know the Grace of God respond by giving thanks to God for the joy that they experience and can’t stop themselves from sharing that Grace with others.   A joy which cannot be contained which flows back to the Gracious Giver and to those around as the joy is shared.

The Kingdom Economy is shown throughout Scripture. Here are a few examples.

Abraham is blessed so the others will be blessed.

Sarah laughs as she overhears incredulous news.

David gives rise to praise through his psalms and songs of joy.

Mary breaks into song of praise after the news from her heavenly visitor

Elizabeth’s unborn child leaps inside the womb as Mary visits her cousin.

Mary in the garden races back to tells her friends that she has just seen and spoken with her risen Lord.

The lame man leaps and dances on reborn legs bearing witness to his healing.

So on receipt of the Grace of God, we break out in praise and then comes the overflowing of that joy towards those we encounter on the way.

There is movement not just “at the station” (“for the word had passed around”).

The movement is like a dance from one step to another, choreographed and directed by the Holy Spirit, God’s guiding light and inspiration.

Now, in case we are tempted to judge ourselves against the characters in the parable and start to worry and become anxious, wondering whether we are ‘good enough’, the reading comes as encouragement. 

 Paul, in the Thessalonians reading encourages us to be people of the daylight, alert with the protection of faith and love. We are to live in the hope of salvation focusing our minds on God’s Grace towards us.

We are not condemned but are secure in the Salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord who died for us and so share His life.

So we go on cheering and strengthening each other with thoughts like these and invite others to hear the Good News and join in the dance

For the movement of the Holy Spirit is a dance that tells a story of and we can’t help but join.

Next week we commence the season of advent or the Coming of God, preparing us to celebrate what we call Christmas.

Let us really celebrate as we join together singing our praises.

“Joy to the World the Lord is Come”

Our last song is Teach me to Dance.  

Let us pray together

We praise you, majestic God of light.
We thank you for your light in our lives;
for the love which dwells richly in your created people,
shining in the faces of those we know and love;
for the light shining in the words and actions of all who know you,
and use their time and talents to serve well;
for the joy that pours in, lights up and empowers us
when we let go and trust you with all we have.
We praise and thank you, loving majestic God of light.
Amen.

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the song  TIS 154      Great Is Thy Faithfulness 

Offertory

Dedication

Your generosity, grace, and mercy are astounding, and we pray that the gifts we offer in worship and throughout the week might be used in Your name.

Help us to be generous with our money, but also with our talents and time. Strengthen us to recognize Your blessings, to be grateful, and to respond accordingly.

 Amen.

Prayers Of Intercession

We pray to God, who is always ready –
for those overtaken with demands.
Give rest, O Lord.
For those overburdened with anxieties.
Give rest, O Lord.
For those overcome with debt.
Give relief, O Lord.
For those oppressed by powers that despise them.
Give salvation, O Lord.
For those in situations they cannot see a way out of.
Give freedom, O Lord.
For those in need of hope.
Give hope, O Lord.

We pray for the peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand.

We are thankful for the beauty of the land and waters of Aotearoa New Zealand, and the special relationship that people enjoy with the natural environment, for the identities and cultural practices that indigenous peoples long have maintained, and for their increasing political voice, for how the people have welcomed new immigrants, for how churches have witnessed and worked together ecumenically, especially amid challenges of apathy in highly secularized societies.

We pray for churches to have the imagination, skills and energy to build bridges of understanding in increasingly multireligious and multicultural contexts, for those who work tirelessly on issues of justice for the poor, the marginalized and the dispossessed, especially indigenous peoples, for those seeking refuge and a new life in these countries, and those supporting and providing for them, and for careful preservation of the fragile land, sea, and resources.

Prayers

Prayer for the Side-lined, Lost and Over-looked People.

Holy One, may your Realm of Love come for
the insignificant, unremarkable, over-looked people of the world;
for the un-noticed and simply ordinary people;
back-water sort of people who will never make much impact.
For them
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

Holy One, may your Realm of Love come for
those who are lost; who have disappeared or are missing;
for the up-rooted, exiled and enslaved ;
lost-rights sort of people who will seldom be seen or heard.
For them
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

Holy One, may your Realm of Love come for
the fearful, the terrorised and the abused people of the world;
those who are unjustly imprisoned or entrapped;
voiceless people who will hardly dare to seek help.
For them
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

Holy One, may your Realm of Love come for
the subjugated, silenced and subdued people of the world;
for the lonely, the lacking, the faded, the frightened;
shadowy people unable to bring attention to their suffering.
For them
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

Holy One, may Your Realm of Love come for
all persons with disabilities;
for the redundant and poorly educated; the timid and un-appreciated;
struggling people who have to strive for support and respect.
For them,
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

In the dynamic of your Love, may your Realm become a reality for them all. Amen.

(© 2011 Glenn Jetta Barclay, Aotearoa/New Zealand)

We pray for the success of the work of the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations (ILEP), as they seek to foster collaboration among organisations with a shared desire to see a World free from leprosy.  We pray for open doors for the ILEP Technical Commission and the ILEP Advisory Panel to share their insights and technical know-how with national and international organisations operating in leprosy-endemic countries.

We pray for harmony and cooperation among the members of The Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL), as they commit themselves to ending leprosy, and as they strive to achieve their shared triple-zero vision of no disease, no disability, and no discrimination or stigma.

(The%20Leprosy%20Mission%20Prayer%20Diary%202023.pdf)

Prayers Of The Congregation

We pray for those who undertake Religious Instruction classes at Bald Hills State School this year.  Guide them in the words to say and the approach to take with the children in their classes.  May the Holy Spirit challenge the children in the RI classes to come to a closer relationship with you.

We pray for Kylie Conomos, the Scripture Union Chaplain at Bald Hills State School.  Please guide and equip her as she seeks to address the concerns and needs of children, parents and teachers at the school.

We pray for those who are unable to attend worship,   Please guide and comfort them in their particular circumstances.  May they be aware of your care for them as they meet what each new day brings.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done, on Earth as it is 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

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the song  Teach me to dance to the beat of your heart (SOURCE  469)

Sending out and Benediction

Go now from this place.
Be alert to needs – your own, and those around you.
Be agents of the change you pray for.
Always be ready to meet Jesus.

May the strength of God sustain us;

May the power of God preserve us;

May the hands of God protect us.

May the way of God direct us;

May the love of God go with us this day and forever.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face to shine upon you,

And be gracious unto you.

And give you Peace.

Amen

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the song TIS 778  Shalom to you now 

Shalom to you now, shalom my friends May God’s full mercies bless you my friends

Christ be your shalom. Christ be your shalom