WE GATHER IN GOD’S PRESENCE:
Lighting the Candle:
Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness
but will have the light of life.’
Let us be mindful of each other as we engage in worship,
those who worship at home
and those who worship in the chapel:
Greeting:
The Lord be with you AND ALSO WITH YOU
We Focus on God Psalm 105
Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
MAKE KNOWN AMONG THE NATIONS WHAT HE HAS DONE.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
TELL OF ALL HIS WONDERFUL ACTS.
3 Glory in his holy name;
LET THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO SEEK THE LORD REJOICE.
4 Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
5 REMEMBER THE WONDERS HE HAS DONE,
HIS MIRACLES, AND THE JUDGMENTS HE PRONOUNCED,
We Sing: TIS 459 IN CHRIST, THERE IS NO EAST OR WEST 4vv
Prayer
Gracious God of the nations,
Holy One of Jews and Gentiles,
Greeks and Barbarians,
we approach you with a profound sense of awe
as we again reflect on what you are doing with us!
We entwine our awe with praise
because we have heard your call,
a grace-filled summons to mercy,
and compassion and faithful obedience;
We offer you our focus and this time
knowing thus our hearts are open
to receive your blessing
and ongoing call to work with you for the good…
the ultimate expression of which is your kingdom,
therefore we pray as our Lord taught us to pray:
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
WE LISTEN FOR A WORD FROM GOD
Scripture
ROMANS 11:13-36
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
In this is the Word of the Lord WE HEAR AND REJOICE, O LORD
MATTHEW 20:1-16
For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denariusfor the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
This is the Gospel of our Lord PRAISE TO YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST
Prayer of Confession
Holy and merciful God,
we approach you conscious of those times
when we begrudge others
that which we think they do not deserve…
Lord have mercy LORD HAVE MERCY
Gracious and tasking Lord,
we approach you only too aware
of when we think we have been short changed…
Christ have mercy CHRIST HAVE MERCY
Purifying and empowering Spirit,
we approach you remembering with embarrassment
how we have avoided your offer of labour…
Lord have mercy LORD HAVE MERCY
Compassionate God
grant us in your mercy that kingdom mind set
which opens us to the obedience of faith
with energy and joy… AMEN
Declaration of Reconciliation
Jesus declared God’s generosity to us in parable form
so we need not fear rejection,
because whilst we were sinners,
God loved us with a mercy which encompasses all!
In Christ our sins are forgiven us,
so we say with joy in our hearts THANKS BE TO GOD
Passing the Peace.. as we raise our hands in blessing to those unseen…
The peace of the Risen Lord be with you all AND ALSO WITH YOU.
We Sing: TIS 462 NOW WE COME, OUR HEAVENLY FATHER 4vv
Tune Regents Square:
Clifford George Taylor 1915–94 Words © Mrs. A Taylor
- Now we come, our heavenly Father,
one in glad community,
needing still your guiding mercies,
stronger faith, more fervent plea;
all your blessing
now confessing,
we would praise you trustingly. - Through the years your Spirit guided
those who blazed the path we tread,
in the glow of faith they laboured,
by the Bread of Life were fed;
while their yearning
hearts were learning
more of Christ, their living head. - Proudly high they held his gospel,
far surpassing human creeds,
striving for his church united
in the things for which he pleads:
torn no longer,
but made stronger,
one church meeting all our needs. - Lift we, then, their torch with gladness,
pledging all to this high aim:
your lost world reclaimed from darkness,
yielded to your sovereign claim;
visions firing,
hearts inspiring,
march we onward in your name!
Contemporary Word
Last Sunday, 13th September, Beau Ryan Tier Grigg
was baptised in our chapel during a special service for the occasion.
This arrangement was necessary
because of the virus associated social distancing requirements.
The usual expectation within the Uniting Church is that Baptism
take place within a congregational service of the Word.
Beau was born on the 19th May 2020, so just an infant,
and to the best of our knowledge,
rather unaware of the significance of the sacrament!
Beau remained blissfully unaware
of all that was said and enacted on his behalf!
As we expressed in a prayer during the service:
Almighty God,
We praise you for all that you have done for us.
We thank you for declaring your love for Beau today
before he can even understand what it all means.
As you have loved him from the beginning,
continue to protect and guide Beau…
It behoves us to also reflect on the flow within the Baptism litany.
Following prayers of Adoration and confession,
there is a reading of appropriate scripture concerning Baptism,
and the church’s understanding of Baptism based on these.
Then the parents affirm their trust in the Gospel,
and the whole congregation affirms the Apostles’ Creed
as a summary of the faith.
The baptism takes place…
the infant is blessed…
Then, only then, do parents, godparents
and members of the Bald Hills U.C.A. congregation
make vows to commit themselves to guide Beau
towards discipleship of Christ!
These commitments are, as the litany states,
responses to God’s graciousness to Beau!
The whole litany of the Sacrament
flows out of God’s move towards us,
not our move to God!
This sequence echoes the biblical witness
to God’s dealings with us…
For those whom he foreknew
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.
30 And those whom he predestined he also called;
and those whom he called he also recalibrated[1];
and those whom he recalibrated he also glorified (8:28,29).
Paul’s anguished lament concerning ‘Israel’,
the nation of Jews he named as ‘my own people’,
(chapters 9-11 of Romans)
eventually finds resolution
in the reality that each and everyone
is foreknown and predestined by God
to be conformed to the image of Christ,
to be included in that all embracing and global family!
This premise Paul has expounded in the earlier chapters of Romans.
This conviction he buttresses with the following quote from God:
‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’
and then explains
16 So it depends not on human will or exertion,
but on God who shows mercy! (9:15,16)
On whom does God bestow mercy?
But God proves his love for us
in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us (5:8)
Paul here points out that we all receive God’s mercy,
because we all, without exception… oops, except Jesus,
have sinned, and therefore by definition, are sinners!
On us all God pours compassion and mercy,
possible because of the faithfulness of Jesus
to God’s desire for reconciliation between God and humanity…
Recall Romans 5:18:
Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all,
so one man’s act of righteousness
leads to recalibration and life for all.
Paul makes the universal claim that God,
because of who God is,
offers the abundant and eternal life to both Jew and Gentile
on the same basis… the faithfulness of Christ
who through that obedient faithfulness
has negated the consequence of the initial
and all subsequent, disobedience (3:27-30).
This understanding forms the broad canvass
on which Paul attempts to paint a response
to the painful reality
that God’s called people, whom Paul names as Jews, Israel,
generally have failed to commit themselves
to the invitation offered by God through Jesus Christ!
As one reads chapters 9, 10 and 11 of Romans,
one gets swamped with scriptural quotations, allusions and examples.
One understanding takes this Psalm of Lament
as the narrative version of Paul’s vision of redemption
that he articulated in Romans 3:21-26.
It goes like this: Israel was chosen by God through grace,
not because she did anything to earn it.
God chooses whomever God wishes to carry out God’s purposes…
Israel’s purpose was that she be alight to the nations (Isaiah 49:6)
This meant Israel would play a critical part in God’s plan for reconciliation. Israel failed to recognize the Christ event
as the time which commenced the ingathering of the nations.
That time of recognition will come…
for God’s gifts and promises are irrevocable (11:29)
Paul’s understanding of himself as the Apostle to the Gentiles
is his interpretation of God’s commissioning to be a light to the nations, that God’s promise might be fulfilled…[2]
Some commentators think Paul is conducting a dialogue
with an imaginary Teacher
who might accuse him of deserting his heritage![3]
[See for example, the possible dialogue script
using the Greek text, which has no punctuation marks,
produced by D.A. Campbell, in his The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (2013) in the attachment.]
Others argue that the text gives us
Paul’s internal conversation with God, if you will,
as he probes his memory for God’s dealings with Israel since Abraham, and appropriate scripture
to provide him with some insight into
the reason for his own people rejecting his preaching concerning Jesus.[4]
In such thinking, Paul radically re-interprets certain texts,
for example Hosea 2:23…
In its original setting, Hosea’s prophecy promises the restoration
of a sinful and wayward Israel
(i.e., the northern kingdom, whose capital was Samaria)
to covenant relationship with God.
Though God provisionally disowns Israel
through a dramatic reversal of the covenant promise
(“for you are not my people and I am not your God”
[Hos. 1:9b, cf. Exod. 6:7]),
he ultimately will supersede Israel’s covenant violation
through his own steadfast love,
symbolized by Hosea’s faithfulness to the harlot Gomer:
“And I will betroth you to me for ever;
I will betroth you to me in righteousness [dikaiosynē]
and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy.
I will betroth you to me in faithfulness [pistei];
and you shall know the Lord” (Hos. 2:21–22 LXX)
Paul rereads the text as a prophecy of God’s intention
to embrace the Gentiles as his own people.
Paul seems not to be arguing by analogy
that just as God extended mercy to Israel
even when Israel was unworthy
so also he will extend grace to the Gentiles.
Instead, Paul is arguing that God was speaking
through the prophet Hosea to declare his intention
to call Gentiles to be his own people.
It is as though the light of the gospel shining through the text
has illuminated a latent sense…[5]
‘Those who were not my people I will call “my people”,
and her who was not beloved I will call “beloved”. ’
26 ‘And in the very place where it was said to them,
“You are not my people”,
there they shall be called children of the living God.’ (9:25,6)
Paul here continues his emotional and intellectual struggle
with God’s purpose for the redemption of both Jews and Gentiles.
His final resolution is to fall back
onto the idea that God treats all equally, Jew and Gentile;
so he explains that here we have a reversal from the time
when Jews were regarded as having the vision,
and the Gentiles being the blind ones,
to his present, with now the Gentiles being the visionaries,
and the Jews as the vision impaired ones…
Remember though, Israel, the Jews, Paul states,
still have the gifts and promises…
and they will be granted sight again!
Paul would put it this way (11:28-32)
as regards election they are beloved,
for the sake of their ancestors;
29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30 Just as you were once disobedient to God
but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,
31 so they have now been disobedient in order that,
by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.
32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience
so that he may be merciful to all.
This approach is well illustrated by Jesus parable
of the Labourers in the vineyard,
which Jesus sums up with: (Matt 20:15,16)
Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Through his anguish, as expressed in the beginning (9:1-5)
Paul brings his Lament to God,
and through that process,
reaches the recognition of the God who is merciful to all,
proving God’s righteousness and faithfulness
in God’s dealing with humanity- Gentiles and Jew…
It is important to recognize the incredible imbalance within scripture
between God’s withholding of mercy,
and God’s gifting of mercy…
and the reality that the withholding is always superseded by the gifting!
As the eminent theologian Karl Barth explains it:
(withholding and gifting) are necessarily governed by an irreversible sequence and order…
“For his anger endureth but a moment;
his favour a lifetime” (Ps. 30:5).
“For a small moment have I forsaken thee;
but with great mercies will I gather thee.
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee” (Is. 54:7f.).
“For as the heaven is high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.…
As for man, his days are as grass;
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;
and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting …
and his righteousness unto children’s children” (Ps. 103:11f.).[6]
Paul’s earlier quick reference to God as potter (9:20ff)
picks up his recollection of Jeremiah obeying the Lord’s command
to watch a potter at work: (Jer. 18:3–6)
So I went down to the potter’s house,
and there he was working at his wheel.
And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel,
as it seemed good to the potter to do.
Then the word of the Lord came to me:
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done?
says the Lord.
Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand,
so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”
The commentator Hays points out the Greek Septuagint translation of Paul’s sacred scriptures, has the word ‘fell’
for what is translated as ‘spoiled’ in English.
He argues this connects with Paul’s intentional use of ‘fall’ in Romans 11: 11 So I ask, have they (Israel) stumbled so as to fall? and
22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God:
severity towards those who have fallen (Israel)
but God’s kindness towards you…
Hays then states: God’s word to Jeremiah also resonates deeply
with Paul’s wider argument about God’s dealings with Israel.
The parable suggests that the potter’s power
is not destructive but creative:
the vessel may fall, but the potter reshapes it.
The parable, spoken in prophetic judgment upon Israel,
is simultaneously a summons to repentance
and a reassurance of the benevolent sovereignty of God,
persistently enacted in his love for his people Israel
even in and through the pronouncement of judgment.[7]
Thus, the allusion to Jeremiah 18 in Rom. 9:20–21,
like other allusions and echoes earlier in the Romans text,
anticipates the resolution of Paul’s argument in Romans 11,
(though obviously using a different analogy).
23 And even those of Israel, if they do not persist in unbelief,
will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
24 For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree,
and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree,
how much more will these natural branches be grafted back
into their own olive tree.
Commentators urge us to remain focussed on the issue
Paul is discussing in these chapters, namely the fate of Israel,
in the light of God’s purpose for them
within God’s plan for the redemption and transformation
of humanity and creation.
All this serves not merely as information,
but also as comfort and challenge!
For the vision for the redemption of creation and humanity
God chooses to achieve through Jesus Christ
has been passed on to us!
How serious do we take the challenge within Paul’s lament, (10:14,15)
But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in one
of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?
15 And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?
As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
Our calling challenges us to constantly think of fresh ways
to explain to one and all
the wonderful thing that God is doing
within creation and amongst us
through the resurrected Jesus,
whose faithful obedience unto death
has begun the great reversal
of the consequence of our disobedience.
This wonderful thing has included us within God’s embrace,
nevertheless, we do well to heed Paul’s words:
22 Note then…God’s kindness towards you…
provided you continue in his kindness;
otherwise you also will be cut off.
Paul will develop what it means to continue in the kindness of God
the moment he has finished his Psalm of Lament…
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,
by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,
so that you may discern what is the will of God—
what is good and acceptable and perfect… (12:1&2).
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
We Sing: TIS 111 PRAISE TO THE LORD, THE ALMIGHTY 5vv
We Bring Our offering to God
setting aside our gifts to support the local and wider work of the church
and bless our gifts in an act of praise…
We Share Our Community Life
Prayers of the People[8]
Almighty God, gracious Father,
in the presence of your bounty keep us humble,
in the presence of all people’s needs
make us compassionate and caring.
Give us faith in our praying and love in our serving,
knowing that by your power
all may find a new balance in living
and a new victory in adversity.
Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER
We pray for all unhappy lives,
those who are bitter and resentful,
feeling life has given them a raw deal,
those who are sensitive to criticism and quick to take offense, those who desire their own way,
whatever the inconvenience or cost to others.
May your judgment and mercy be for their healing.
Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER
We pray for those who are lonely,
who are shy and self-conscious,
who find it hard to make friends;
those who are nervous and timid,
who ever feel themselves strangers in a world
they can scarcely understand.
May your presence inspire confidence
and ensure companionship.
Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER
We pray for those who live with bitter regrets,
for loving relationships brought to ruin,
for opportunities freely given and woefully abused,
for the bitterness of defeat
or betrayal at another’s hand,
or for failure in personal integrity.
May your grace give new hope
to find victory in the very scene of failure.
Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER
We pray for all in illness and pain,
weary of the day and fearful of the night.
Grant insight and knowledge
to their doctors and carers,
and to them at all times courage
and the gift of your indwelling peace.
We pause to name those known to us…
Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER
Bless the company of Christ’s folk, the church in every land. Make her eager in worship,
fearless in proclamation of the gospel,
and passionate for caring.
Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER
Bless us, each one, in the communion of the saints,
and keep us ever mindful
of the great cloud of witnesses that,
following in their steps,
as they did in the steps of the Master,
we may with them at the last receive
the fulfillment promised to your people.
Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN
WE GO OUT TO SERVE GOD
We Sing: TIS 469 THIS IS THE TRUTH WE HOLD 4vv
Sending Out (Romans 9:25,6)
We go as a people:
who once were not a people,
but now God calls us “my people”,
Let’s go, exclaiming “WE ARE GOD’S!”
We go as a people:
who once were not beloved,
but now God calls us, “beloved”. ’
Let’s go, exclaiming, “GOD LOVES US!”
We go as a people:
who once werefar from home,
but now are in that place
where we are called children of the living God.’
Let’s go, exclaiming “COME, JOIN THE FAMILY!”
Blessing
God who makes and sustains all that is,
bless you with what you need;
God who rescues and sets free all who are,
bless you with those you need,
God who makes everything and everyone new,
bless you with all that needs to be changed.
These blessings be yours now and evermore
YES, NOW AND EVERMORE.
Sing: AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
[1] Recall this fresh meaning of ‘to justify, to make righteous’ provided by Margaret Buchanan calling out during a previous service…
[2] Eisenbaum, Pamela. (2009) Paul was not a Christian: The Original message of a Misunderstood Apostle (pp254/5) New York: Harper One
[3] Campbell, D. A. (2013). The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (pp. 804–809). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
[4] “Indeed, we can read all of Romans 9– 11 as a record of Paul’s thought process as he works his way through the painful question of God’s justice to Israel in dialogue with God— and also with the churches in Rome whom he allows to overhear the transcript of his prayer journal.”
Grieb, A. Katherine. (2015) The Story of Romans (p. 92). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
[5] Hays, R. B. (1989). Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (pp. 65–67). New Haven; London: Yale University Press.
[6] Barth, K., Bromiley, G. W., & Torrance, T. F. (2004). Church dogmatics: The doctrine of God, Part 2 (Vol. 2, p. 224). London; New York: T&T Clark.
[7] [7] Hays, R. B. (1989). Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (pp. 65–67). New Haven; London: Yale University Press.
[8] Reprinted by permission from The Worship Sourcebook, pp192-4, ©2004 Saith Alive Christian Resources.
Service for Sunday 7th March 2021 – Geoffrey Webber 
Service for Sunday 3rd September which included Communion, and was conducted by Mr Geoffrey Webber. 
Service for Sunday 19th June 2022, which was conducted by Mr Ian Kerr. 
Prayers for Christmas Day, 25th December 2021, conducted by Mr Geoffrey Webber 
