The Great Southland will play at the commencement of the service:

WELCOME: –

CALL TO WORSHIP: –

 -A bloke called Jesus – (from John’s Gospel – Norman Habel)

Who is this bloke they call Jesus

With his red prickle beard and his dog?

A prophet God sent to the outback

Or a flamin’ country mug?

You can ask the people of Cana

And they’ll shout his name with a cheer.

At their wedding his fame started spreading

After changing their water to beer.

You can ask the sinners who heard him,

His eyes made them squirm in their shoes.

Some returned to their Father rejoicing

And others just took to the booze

You can ask that larrikin Laz’rus

With his wild colonial ways

For he knows what it’s like to be living

After being a corpse for three days.

You can ask the wind of the desert

That has blown since the world first began

From the time the blacks call the Dreaming

And now blows through the word of this man.

You can ask his twelve brave companions,

His good mates who saw how he died.

How they pierced his flesh with a spear point

Until water poured red from his side.

You can ask that lady called Mary

Who conversed with and angel or two,

Had a chat with a bright risen Jesus

And claims her wild story is true.

Should you ask my considered opinion

Since I am his best mate, John.

From the things that I’ve seen in his lifetime

I would say he is God’s only Son

Let us read together Psalm 27 which teaches us to put our trust in God for all our needs.

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    I will fear no one.
The Lord protects me from all danger;
    I will never be afraid.

 When evil people attack me and try to kill me,
    they stumble and fall.
Even if a whole army surrounds me,
    I will not be afraid;
even if enemies attack me,

    I will still trust God.

I have asked the Lord for one thing;
    one thing only do I want:
to live in the Lord’s house all my life,
    to marvel there at his goodness,
    and to ask for his guidance.

In times of trouble he will shelter me;
    he will keep me safe in his Temple
    and make me secure on a high rock.

So I will triumph over my enemies around me.
    With shouts of joy I will offer sacrifices in his Temple;
    I will sing, I will praise the Lord.

 Hear me, Lord, when I call to you!
    Be merciful and answer me!
When you said, “Come worship me,”
I answered, “I will come, Lord.”

    Don’t hide yourself from me!

Don’t be angry with me;
    don’t turn your servant away.
You have been my help;
    don’t leave me, don’t abandon me,
    O God, my saviour.

My father and mother may abandon me,
    but the Lord will take care of me.

 Teach me, Lord, what you want me to do,
    and lead me along a safe path,
    because I have many enemies.
Don’t abandon me to my enemies,
    who attack me with lies and threats.

 I know that I will live to see
    the Lord’s goodness in this present life.

Trust in the Lord.
    Have faith, do not despair.
Trust in the Lord.

SONG 1 – SIS 322 – Let there be love shared among us.

INTRODUCTION

A couple of weeks ago Liz and I were fortunate enough to holiday in Australia’s heartland. Uluru and Kata Tjuta were the main attractions. We stayed in a rather cushy unit and eating evening meals at a classy restaurant protected from the elements by the luxury of air-conditioning.

As we stepped out into the heat of the day we experienced a new but ancient world. There was so much to take in about the natural environment, where the Anangu (arn-ung-oo) people have lived many years with their understanding of the land.

The River gums: Bloodwood, Mulgas and Acacias with their long slender leaves grow in these semi-arid places. We wondered at how they survive in the harsh desert climate and marvelled about the way they send roots down to underground riverbeds and draw the moisture and nutrients they need, not only to survive but to thrive.

One tree stood out. The Desert Oak, the Allocasuarina decaisneana

It is a majestic, tall tree reaching 12m when mature, hundreds of years old. The bark is thick, dark brown and deeply fissured making it quite distinctive. The foliage is long and needle like. The fruit is a woody cone which is quite decorative.

Desert oaks have juvenile and adult forms. The juveniles are thin and straight, looking a bit like a feather duster.  They often occur in dense stands or forests, usually on the lower slopes and swales between red sand dunes. The juvenile foliage is prickly to deter grazing animals from eating it. The juvenile trees send down a strong tap root, when this reaches the water table (and a more reliable water supply), many metres below. It is only then that they start to change into their adult form by sending out side branches, transforming into a tree with weeping, smooth foliage and the ability to survive the toughest of drought conditions.

It is here that we can begin to see how close our Christian lives align with this illustration.

More about that later.

SONG 2 – TIS 135 All things bright and beautiful

Words of Australian version:

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

The Lord God made them al

1. The wildflowers in their beauty

The mountain ranges tall

The billabongs and rivers

And friendly birds that call

2. The cold wind in the winter

The bright life-giving sun

The ripe fruits in the garden

He made them everyone

3. The coloured walls of gorges

The gum trees green and tall

The rocks, and pools and palm trees

The sparkling waterfall

4. The many coloured corals

The creatures of the sea

Of bushland field or desert

On farms, or roaming free

5. He gave us eyes to see them

And lips that we might tell

How great is God almighty

Who has made all things well.

We say these words together

(From SOURCE 183 – How can I be free from sin? – Lead me to the cross of Jesus)

How can I be free from sin?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus
From the guilt, the power, the pain?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus

There’s no other way
No price that I could pay
Simply to the cross I cling
This is all I need
This is all I plead
That his blood was shed for me

How can I know peace within?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus
Sing a song of joy again!
Lead me to the cross of Jesus

Flowing from above
All-forgiving love
From the Father’s heart to me!
What a gift of grace
His own righteousness
Clothing me in purity!

How can I live day by day?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus
Following his narrow way?
Lead me to the cross of Jesus

A PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Let us confess our sin seeking God’ forgiveness and mercy.

Lord Jesus Christ,
we come to you in sorrow for our selfishness,
in regret for our greed,
in despair over our blindness and deafness
to the needs of those around us.
With penitent hearts we seek your forgiveness,
and your blessing to make us more generous,
more giving, more able to see, and more willing to listen.
Amen. 

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS

Our God of generosity forgives those who truly repent.
Our God lifts the burdens from our hearts
and the blindness from our eyes
and sets us free to be the people we are called to be.

Christ’s word of grace to us says “Your sins are forgiven”
Thanks be to God.

PASSING THE PEACE

Whether we gather in person in our Church building or whether we gather in spirit in our homes, we remain one body, one people of God, one in fellowship and one in worship.  With that in mind, let us uplift our hands and greet those both here and those who cannot be here: The peace of the Lord be always with you.

And also with you.

SONG 3 – ATW 494 For you deep stillness

These words were written in 1996 as people from all over Australia gathered at Uluru to pray for our country and later set to music.

FOR YOU, DEEP STILLNESS – Altogether Whatever 494 (Yellow)

Words Julie Perrin – Music Robin Mann

For you, deep stillness of the silent inland;

For you, deep blue of the desert skies;

For you, flame red of the rocks and stones;

For you, sweet water from hidden springs.

From the edges seek the heartlands,

And when your burnt by the journey

May the cool winds of the hovering Spirit

Soothe and replenish you

In the name of Christ

In the name of Christ.

(repeat)

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Holy and merciful god,

Through your holy spirit instruct us

That we might rightly understand the word of truth

And find ourselves as people who reflect the living word,

Jesus Christ our Lord.     Amen

BIBLE READINGS:

1 Kings 17:8 –16

 Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you.” So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the town gate, he saw a widow gathering firewood. “Please bring me a drink of water,” he said to her. And as she was going to get it, he called out, “And please bring me some bread, too.”

 She answered, “By the living Lord your God I swear that I don’t have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a bit of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death.”

 “Don’t worry,” Elijah said to her. “Go on and prepare your meal. But first make a small loaf from what you have and bring it to me, and then prepare the rest for you and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the Lord, send rain.’”

 The widow went and did as Elijah had told her, and all of them had enough food for many days. As the Lord had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.

Mark 12 : 38 – 44

 As he taught them, he said, “Watch out for the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplace, who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts. They take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers. Their punishment will be all the worse!”

As Jesus sat near the Temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money; then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny. He called his disciples together and said to them, “I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others. For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had—she gave all she had to live on.”

MESSAGE

In Mark’s Gospel, this scene takes place just after Jesus has made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and in the last few chapters before his death. The crowds love him, but the religious teachers are threatened and now begin, in earnest, to try to find ways to trip him up so that they can legitimately silence him. But Jesus continues to speak out. Jesus is critical of the greed he sees in Jerusalem and its Temple; he contrasts the showy donations made by the rich elite with the tiny, but proportionally much greater, amount given by a poor widow.

If we include the story from 1 Kings, we are asked to consider two widows who give everything they have. The one who so generously cares for Elijah is left only with God’s promise, delivered through Elijah’s prophetic words. The generous actions of the other is used by Jesus to teach about the sacrificial giving.

Firstly look at the verses from Kings

It is the story of Elijah, the widow of Zarephath and her son, comes very early in the stories of the prophet in 1 Kings.

The dreadful famine is portrayed as God’s judgement on King Ahab who, with his wife Jezebel, lives his life against God. When we join the story, Elijah has fled from Ahab and is a migrant in a foreign land. He has nothing and calls for help from a widow and her son who are also on the verge of starvation. As a widow, the woman is powerless and of no status. Yet, despite everything – including the risk to her own family – she generously feeds Elijah. It is a real step of faith into the unknown. In return God gives her the food she needs to survive.

And then from Mark’s gospel

This passage – beginning ‘Beware of the scribes’ (v.38) – follows directly after the scribe who is commended because he was ‘not far from the kingdom of God’ (v.34). The story is set in the Temple precincts. Here there are scribes and other important people, but there are also the destitute. Imagine the scene: Jesus takes his position and watches people as they make their donations to the Temple. These donations would have been over and above the tithe and the Temple tax. But not only does Jesus watch, he also comments, He compares the gift by a widow who gives pennies (v.42) with that of the rich who give ‘large sums’ (v.41). Prefacing his words with ‘Truly’ (v.43) he tells us that this is important, and we must take note. In these few verses, Jesus inverts the criteria by which we assess importance. What God sees is not the total given, but that the personal cost of the gift to the individual is the real measure of generosity. It is the heart of the giver, rather than the gift, that is important. The widow gives her all, probably literally; whereas the rich give from what they have left over. It is generosity of a different order. As Jesus travels to Jerusalem and the Cross, he emphasises the total commitment that we owe to God – and how that contrasts with what appears to be costly discipleship, but which in reality has no real cost at all. 

Both women have next to nothing. The widow at Zarapeth has little food remaining. The flour and the olive oil have nearly run out.

The widow in the temple out of her poverty is willing to offer her pennies, giving up an opportunity to buy essentials. She may be ashamed that she can offer so little but deep down she trusts in God’s provision.

What can we learn.

We may ask “From where do the widows draw their resources?

Not from a sense of duty but from unshakable faith in God’s provision for them.

Faith and trust in God is a gift from God. It is the evidence of the Holy Spirit working in their lives.

Generosity like this can’t happen unless it comes from the depths of the heart. That is the place where the Holy Spirit does his life-changing work.

Consider the Desert Oak – very little happens on the surface until the tap root finds the life-giving water below. All its energy is poured into that search for water. Only then can the desert Oak start to really grow to maturity, safe from the vagaries of unpredictable seasons.

Isn’t that the same with us? We need to draw our life-giving water. We need to search to find and know Jesus and the resources he offers to us through the Holy Spirit. 

We listen to God speaking through his written word, for all scripture is profitable.

We listen to the small voice of God as He prompts and guides us along the way and draws us closer to Him.

We pray. We ask and we listen. We pray some more listen and follow. We pray some more and draw our strength from the true source of all things, that life-giving water drawn from deepest places.

As our roots draw that life-giving water, we stand strong and tall to celebrate the good times and know peace within in the times of loss and difficulty.

We find in Jeremiah 17:7-8 these words

 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

How much more is the one, who like the Desert Oak sends its roots deep down to find living water in desert places.

SONG 4 – For you deep stillness – video to watch

OFFERTORY

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING 

Gracious God, for all you have poured out upon us:
we give you thanks.
For your Word that has inspired and fed your people; for those
who had vision to record it, skill to translate it and presence to share it:
we give you thanks.
For your love that has surrounded and enfolded us, that has
given us joy, confirmed our faith, nurtured our love and given us
enduring hope in the gift of the promise of eternal life:
we give you thanks.
To you be all praise and glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

God of creation and sustainer of all of life within it, who offers us hope through the resurrected an ascended Jesus, and the gifted Spirit as surety for life beyond what we know, hear us, we ask:

we pray for our Ministry Agents and Chaplains who are ministering within our communities during these uncertain times

we pray for UnitingCare and Blue Care as they minister to those who are reaching out for assistance

for those with disabilities and the elderly within their care. 

Grant them the necessary gifts and graces and the wisdom to use them.

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

we pray for our Politicians, Health Workers and those on the front line who are daily stepping up

to care for the community
we pray for those in positions where difficult decisions have to be made –
Grant them an overflow of your compassion with strength and peace.

Lord hear us, LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

we pray for those in our communities who are struggling – may we find genuine ways to encourage and uplift them

we pray for those in our communities who have lost/reduced their employment.

Grant them hope for a renewal of a productive life, and all of us the will to share each other’s burdens.

Lord hear us, LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We pray for those folk dear to us who suffer in different ways, with ill health and debilitating afflictions of body and mind… name these aloud or within our minds…

Grant them your peace

Lord hear us,

LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

in the name of the resurrected an ascended Christ

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,

Now and forever.  Amen

SONG 5  TIS 687 God gives us a future

Words and music Elizabeth J Smith

BENEDICTION

Let us draw our resources from the deep living water

Let us embrace each and everyday as your people

Trusting in your provision

And in your strength may we reach out to those around us.

AS we go out to love and serve the Lord.

BENEDICTION SONG  – SIS 72 Now unto him

GOING OUT SONG The great Southland

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Geoffrey William Bullock

The Great Southland lyrics © Word Music, Llc