Welcome: –  

It is the Australia Day Weekend. Together with last Sunday, this Sunday bookends our country’s celebration of Australia Day. In the spirit of reconciliation, we explore how God, since the beginning of time reveals himself to the world and shares His riches. In learning to trust His Divine Guidance, God reveals himself and share even more the riches of His Grace. 

Gathering Words:

As individuals, we have heard God’s call to be here today,
to listen for God speaking to us through Scripture,
through teaching, music, and all we experience together,
and through each other.
As a community, we have gathered to help one another
in discerning the word of God.

Gathering Prayer

God, thank you that we do not have to seek you on our own.
As the people who gathered in crowds and synagogues
recognised together the authority of Jesus,
so may we work together as a community
to recognise you in our worship and our everyday.

Enable us to see your way. Enable us to hear your voice.

Enable us to discern your leading and respond to your call.

 Amen.

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the song ‘Father in heaven, grant to your children’  

This You tube clip is a picture of life rising up in response to Our Creator. Take time to watch this thoughtful presentation

1 Father in heaven, grant to your children

mercy and blessing, songs never-ceasing;

love to unite us, grace to redeem us,

Father in heaven, Father, our God.

2 Jesus, Redeemer, may we remember

your gracious passion, your resurrection:

Worship we bring you, praise we shall sing you,

Jesus, Redeemer, Jesus, our Lord.

3 Spirit descending, whose is the blessing:

strength for the weary, help for the needy;

sealing Christ’s Lordship, blessing our worship,

Spirit descending, Spirit adored.

Message Part 1

This Land, this land we call Australia, first named by Matthew Flinders in early 1804, in which we live, has always been here.  As people from the lands north of here made their way down South when the land masses were connected, this place that we call home has slowly given up its secrets. From the early 1500s –Terra Australia Incognito – The Unknown Southern Continent. Europeans reasoned that there had to be a great land mass to balance the world’s Northern lands.  This land would hold great riches – a great motivating reason to explore beyond.

 Early 1600s – Janzoon, Brouer, Hartog, Houtman.  These discoveries some disastrous, some accidental, revealed no instant riches. They could not see the riches, cultural and financial, which lay hidden in the land’s unrefined vastness. And so remained hidden the late 1700s when England wanting to establish a presence in the Pacific Ocean when Cook following instructions sailed northward along the east coast. The riches remained hidden for another 18 years when England later found an opportunity to solve its growing number of criminals and establish a military presence in the Pacific. Out of necessity the land slowly revealed its treasures. A misunderstood culture of the original inhabitants remains until this day. Australians once were blind but now they began to see.

Particular to this story Pedro Fernandez de Quiros on the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu on 14th May 1606. Thinking that he had landed on the Great South Land claimed it…..

….“in the name of Jesus…
which from now on shall be called
the Southern land of the Holy Ghost (Terra Australis del Spiritu Santo)
…and this always and forever
…and to the end that to all natives, in all the said lands,
the holy and sacred evangel may be preached zealously and openly.”

Also particular to the story is that of the reverend Richard Johnson the first chaplain to the colony.

And so, just over a week later, on Sunday February 3rd, the assembled crowd stands under a great tree, just a few dozen yards from the shore, as the chaplain opens the Word of God.

What will he preach on?  What message will he give to this new nation after such a difficult journey? He turns to Psalm 116 verse 12

      What shall I render unto to the Lord for all that He has done for me?

During his time as chaplain to the first fleet settlers, together with his wife, worked tirelessly to care for and educate the new settlers convict and free alike. He built churches and schools. He continued to preach the gospel message against much opposition. His foundational work is remembered as a monument in the very heart of busy Sydney today. It stands there today but few stop to look and wonder.

Without realising it Richard Johnson was part of God’s plan to reveal the spirit of this land. The Spirit of Reconciliation that would bring all people together with each other and also with God himself.

Our historical dates seem to bookend beginning of God’s story in this land but we still must remember God the creator has been at work for much longer than we can comprehend.

God the Creator continues to reveal eternal secrets, and we choose to trust then see the saving work of Jesus who is the Christ. Out of the stillness we respond to His call on our lives.

Enjoy this video clip of Steve Grace singing Geoff Bullock’s The Great Southland.  We hear the song against the background of images to which we all can relate.

The Great South Land – Steve Grace

 As God slowly unveils the riches of this vast great southland may we learn to share the excitement, joys and blessings along with the difficult and tragic times. May we be God’s people walk alongside people of many backgrounds: with the ancient culture, those born and raised here and those who have come from faraway countries of this world. May we who see and know God’s Spirit continue to be excited and learn from the Master.

Let us come before the Lord in a time of confession

Prayer of Confession

God of truth, we bring to you those times when we have used
cheap words to avoid costly action.
Forgive us and grant us your spirit of strength.
We bring to you those times when we have hidden behind the
letter of the law to avoid the challenge of the spirit of the law.
Forgive us and grant us your spirit of discernment.
We bring to you those times when we have disrespected the
authority of those you have called to show us a new way.
Forgive us and grant us your spirit of wisdom.

Help us to when we have not trusted in your presence and seen the amazing way you work in our lives and the lives of others.

Forgive us and grant us freedom from our blindness

and grant us your spirit of wholeness.

We ask this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness

Gracious God, you bless us with the gifts of forgiveness and compassion
and encourage us to turn away from our mistakes towards your love,
and we pray with that confidence that not our will be done but yours,
not our words be spoken but yours, not our authority be revealed but yours,
in all we think and do and say.

Grant us the joy of really being able to say.

Our sins are forgiven.
Amen.

Scripture Readings

Pay attention closely to the readings. Allow yourself to be drawn into the drama of the events. Find yourself right in the middle of the action.

Listen to the words Jesus speaks explaining that He is the one in whom to put your trust. Remember that John states that he recorded in his Gospel and letters was in order that you may believe.

And we pray together

Holy and merciful God, through your Holy Spirit instruct us,

That we might rightly understand the Word of Truth,

Begin to see so that we, as your people are enabled to reflect your Living Word. Amen,

John 9:1 – 41 (The Message Bible)

True Blindness

Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”

He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.

 Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, “Why, isn’t this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?”

Others said, “It’s him all right!”

But others objected, “It’s not the same man at all. It just looks like him.”

He said, “It’s me, the very one.”

They said, “How did your eyes get opened?”

 “A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.”

 “So where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, “He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”

Some of the Pharisees said, “Obviously, this man can’t be from God. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.”

Others countered, “How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?” There was a split in their ranks.

They came back at the blind man, “You’re the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

The Jews didn’t believe it, didn’t believe the man was blind to begin with. So they called the parents of the man now bright-eyed with sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he now sees?”

His parents said, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he came to see—haven’t a clue about who opened his eyes. Why don’t you ask him? He’s a grown man and can speak for himself.” (His parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That’s why his parents said, “Ask him. He’s a grown man.”)

They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind—and told him, “Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor.”

He replied, “I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.”

They said, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

 “I’ve told you over and over and you haven’t listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?”

With that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple of that man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.”

The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!” Then they threw him out in the street.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

 The man said, “Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.”

Jesus said, “You’re looking right at him. Don’t you recognize my voice?”

 “Master, I believe,” the man said, and worshiped him.

 Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretence of seeing will be exposed as blind.”

Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?”

Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”

John 10:1-10 The Message Bible

Jesus Calls His Sheep By Name

 “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler!

The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”

Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again.

“I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep rustlers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them.

I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy.

I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

Thank you for your words of life.

Help us to come close to you and follow your Spirit’s leading.

‘I Am The Good Drover’ – words Norman Habel – unfortunately we are unable to provide a music video for this song.  

An Aussie Outback version of John 10:

When the blind man was healed the outback was burning with gossip

Who was this man?

A demon released from a cave?

A mad country drover hit by the heat of the sun?

Then Jesus began his new droving song

As he poured out a drink for his dog in the top of his old bushman’s hat.

Keep droving’, keep drovin’.

I am the good drover.

Through sandhills and salt pans,

I drove on forever.

When heaven is empty

And stars are quite silent,

I drove through the shadow of death.

I’ll drove all your crying.

I am the good drover.

I’ll drove all your doubting.

I drove on forever.

In fear of the darkness,

The snake biting darkness,

I drove through the gorge of despair.

I’ll drove when you break out.

I am the good drover.

I’ll drove your rebelling,

I drove on forever,

My stockwhip keeps singing,

It’s son to the straggler,

I’ll drove to the sheltering tree.

I camp by the good grass.

I am the good drover.

I travel on quickly,

When backroads are barren.

I search through the distance,

The dry desert distance,

I drove where the water is life.

I lay down my life, friend.

I am the good drover.

I take up my life,

To give over and over.

And if you but follow me,

As the good drover

I’ll suffer through drought lands with you.

At night round the campfire,

I am the good drover.

I’ll tell you my dying

And laugh till it’s over

And if you but listen,

Above the dark silence

My laughter will rise in your soul.

I come from the dreaming.

I am the good drover.

I’ll send you my spirit,

To lead you forever.

The wind will surprise you.

Like sheep dogs will guide you.

And drove through the dreaming with me.

Message Part 2

Fast forward to this day I read and learnt about Riverbank Frank Doolan.

Riverbank Frank an educated young man was once an activist. Later in life, his father revealed how he and other black fellas were treated.  When Riverbank and how felt having been treated like that, his father said “Well I forgive ‘em…I’m a Christian. I forgive ‘em. He had learned the power of forgiveness through the gospel message.

Riverbank found his way from the heart of unrest in inner Sydney Redfern to Dubbo. He lives simply on the banks of the Macquarie River in a caravan.

He is a local Wiradjuri elder, poet, champion for equality and a well-known Dubbo legend. and has the amazing ability to connect with people from the edges. He knows the local Tongans, Lebanese, Samoans, Vietnamese and Kooris. He is involved with many programs that bring hope to young people and has a significant role working with the police youth programs.

Riverbank speaks of the time when his life turned around. He forgave all those who had hurt him.  He forgave the cops. He forgave the authorities. He forgave himself. He bundled all the hurts, chucked them in the river and it flowed away downstream until all that bitterness had dissipated out in the ocean.

Riverbank calls evangelists to account saying, “Brothers, don’t talk Jesus, be Jesus. You can talk religiosity, or you can be in the marketplace and with the people.  Riverbank’s place is with the broken people. He doesn’t shout his faith from the roof tops, and adds, I’m not ashamed of what I believe.

This is only one story of thousands where ordinary people are doing extraordinary work to bring God’s saving grace to all. We can look to the many examples that inspire us but there is much more.

This is maybe the other end of the bookshelf. The attempt to confine God to our limited understanding in this present day will be fruitless.  

Today, God is revealing his ways across our vast continent in unexpected ways in unexpected places. We shouldn’t find that difficult to understand for as in today’s reading, we find Jesus in the marketplace with the people who live on the edges. He heals the man from his blindness and all are amazed. Except the self-appointed gatekeepers who could not “see”. They could not accept that this was God shouting from the roof-tops. They could not hear.

Jesus had on several times said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” He is calling for people to pay careful heed. It’s another way of saying, “Listen up! Pay close attention!”

Jesus is speaking directly to each and every one of us to listen, see, and know him.

The children’s song I am the way, the truth and the life says without the way there is no going, Without the truth there is no knowing. And without the life there is no growing. We choose to trust Jesus through the Holy Spirit to show us the way, to learn about and know His Truth and live the lives we are called engage  in.

Once we make that commitment to trust God we begin to see and explore what God has called us to be.

Jesus speaks about himself as the Good Shepherd. In turn, blessed by the life changing power of the Holy Spirit, may we boldly go beyond and become the people God wants us to be.

With God’s help we can say

I am the good husband… I am the good wife… I am the good father…

I am the good mother…  I am the good carer…. I am the good… neighbour…

I am the good friend…

It is up to each one of us to become the story in our own situations. God has started our story long before we imagine. Psalm 139 says

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.

And if the Living Lord knows us that well, we too can say “I once was blind but now I see” and God has shown me how to be the special person he has called me to be.

It is the Living Lord who active in our lives leading us not just to good places to gratify our egos and making us feel comfortable but to enable us, filling us with His Spirit growing and encouraging us to be His people actively participating in His plans. 

Offertory       

In the Spirit of thanksgiving our freewill offering will now be received.

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the offertory dedication song –‘Father I Thank You’   SIS 269

Prayer for Others- Responsive Prayer

God of our impressionable and war-torn world,
we pray for the leaders of the nations,
that they would be wise, just and compassionate
as they exercise their authority.
praying that they discern the way forward
amid the difficult social and economic challenges
May your truth be known,
and your love be shared in Jesus’ name.

We pray for your church – around the world and in our own community,
we pray for creative ways to serve and to share,
for courage and integrity as we listen and pray,
for urgency and daring as we respond to the needs around us.
May your truth be known,
and your love be shared in Jesus’ name.

We pray, in a moment of silence,
for all those on our hearts
and for all those who have no one to name them in prayer.
May your truth be known,
and your love be shared in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

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,

Amen

You are invited to listen to or join in singing ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’

Benediction

We say together confidently.

We go out from this worship time together,

Knowing that we are loved by God

Knowing that we are strengthened by God

Knowing that in trusting God, he will lead us along the right paths.

Knowing that as we enjoy the journey with Him, he will reveal His purposes.

And… May the blessing of God, the Father, Jesus the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us and remain with each and everyone of us day by day.

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the Bendiction Song –TIS 779  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.

Playout Song

Watoto Children’s Choir “We Will Go”