GOD IS LOVE ST HILDA CHURCH B&M MISSION VENTURE ST MARK CHURCH
3 Wakelin Road, Beachlands 104 Maraetai Drive, Maraetai
Our Vision: To encourage meaningful, life enhancing prayer and worship of our living, loving God and to reach out to the wider community in words and practical action.
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time 20th September 2020
Gather
Good morning, everyone. I am so happy to welcome you to your home and your house church. Whenever you meet in your house church do share stories of Jesus. Go well on your service today. And remember, always welcome everyone with love in your house church!
Light a candle and place it on your worship table.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Why are we here? God’s Spirit calls us to worship.
Why? To offer our praise in response to God’s presence in our lives.
And is God with us? Yes! The Bible is filled with stories of God’s love.
Is that the only place? We see God in the miracle of life, in hope amidst despair, love amidst hate, peace amidst violence.
Wow! God’s love is all around us. Where ever we are, God is with us.
Then let us worship God.
OPENING PRAYER
Gracious and loving God, it is not easy to find the quiet centre where we can get in touch with your eternal spirit. Many things distract us, yet we gather this morning trusting the gentleness of your presence will soothe our tired bodies, renew our wilting spirits, and recharge our desire to live a life that is holy and true. May this time of worship be a time when we appreciate more fully the beauty and the joy of abiding in your Spirit. May we in response walk gently upon the earth, in peace and in compassion while giving thanks. Amen.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
We live in a time when there are many things that prevent us from seeing your presence in our lives and in our world. We prefer the safe, the comfortable, and easy life. We like to avoid the painstaking process of learning and growing and evolving to become what you call us to be. We offer our prayer of confession reflecting on what Mahatma Gandhi named the Seven Deadly Sins. We reflect on how these things can diminish our fullness. O God, we confess times when we seek:
(Pause for reflection after each statement)
Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Science without humanity
Knowledge without character
Politics without principle
Commerce without morality
Worship without sacrifice
We suffer in many ways when we disobey your laws. Guide us, we pray, that we may have the wisdom and courage to abide in your ways however difficult a sacrifice it may be. Amen.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
God in Jesus suffered when we insisted upon our own ways. Yet, God’s love is greater than our deepest flaws, wider than our limited understanding, more forgiving than our forgiveness of ourselves. God’s love knows no bounds. Thanks be to God. Amen.
SENTENCE
By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
Ephesians 2:8,9
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of grace,
you are kind to all people, good beyond our understanding.
Help us to be grateful for what we have been given
and merciful and generous with our sisters and brothers.
Teach us the ways of your kingdom where the last will be first
and the first will be last.
Through Jesus Christ our Liberator, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
READINGS
First Reading Jonah 3: 10 – 4:11
Psalms 145: 1 - 8
Second Reading Philippians 1: 21 - 30
Gospel Reading: St Matthews 20: 1 – 16
REFLECTION
God listens and responds, providing generously for our needs through nature, other people, and communities. This week’s focus is Paul’s letter to the fledgling Christian community in Philippi. It speaks a powerful word of encouragement to all who journey in a wilderness hostile to the gospel: be grateful for all God has done in Christ; live in steadfast faith and unity.
Focus Scripture: Philippians 1:21–30
In Paul’s day, the Macedonian city of Philippi was a distant outpost where Romans could feel perfectly at home. To be a committed follower of Jesus in Philippi was to risk charges of subversion or treason. News of Paul’s imprisonment must have shaken the confidence of this tiny community in the midst of imperial Rome. In the opening section of Paul’s letter, which precedes our passage this week, Paul exudes confidence that what God has started, God will finish. Paul is sure that God’s mercy and compassion lived out in the lives of the Philippians will produce a rich harvest of justice, to the glory and praise of God. Far from halting his ministry, Paul says that imprisonment has furthered the gospel. Paul now has the opportunity to proclaim the good news of Christ to the Roman guard. As with Paul, so with the community. If Paul’s struggle has borne fruit, so will theirs. What is required is that they “live in a manner worthy of the gospel.” The Greek word translated “live in a manner,” can also be rendered “live as citizens.” This parallels Philippians 3:20: “our citizenship is in heaven and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, Paul’s hearers are to live not as citizens of the Roman Empire where Caesar is named as lord, but as disciples in God’s realm where Jesus is named as Lord. It is almost impossible for an individual acting alone to carry out this commitment in the face of opposition. For this reason Paul did not focus on seeking individual converts. Paul helped give birth to communities of disciples. God is generous with the community of God’s people. Paul writes that the struggle to claim and sustain one’s identity in Christ is worthy of great effort. Disciples today still find wisdom in Paul’s message as we are called to strive side by side. In this way we offer the world consistent witness of what it means to be a Christian community. God is generous with Jonah as he flees from God’s call into a watery wilderness. The account in Jonah 3:10—4:11 pictures how God’s compassion is not limited to the Hebrew people, as Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the nation that conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 723 bce. In this parable, God’s generous mercy extends to the people and animals of Nineveh, as well as to Jonah.
The words of Psalm 145:1–8 exalt God, who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” This is a fitting accompaniment to Paul’s exuberance in Philippians and an “antidote” to Jonah’s grumbling.
Jesus’ story in Matthew 20:1–16 about the wilderness of unemployment and the landowner who acts in surprising ways reminds us that God’s generosity does not follow human reasoning. God’s generosity is unlimited, and in it God’s justice is seen.
In prison awaiting judgment, under pressure to conform, in the wilderness seeking mercy, in the workplace hoping for justice – in all these difficult places, this week’s passages call us to trust in God, who listens and responds. When have you sensed God’s presence in your own times of tension or wilderness struggles? In what ways are you and your church agents of God’s abundant generosity for others?
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Like gentle rain from above, so are your gifts of life to us, great God.
In your mercy, you move our hearts from anxiety to worship.
Like the sun that rises in the morning, so is the steadiness of your love that provides for us.
In your mercy, you move us from trust in things we’ve made to trust in your mystery and promises.
Like a surprise gift, a bonus we could never earn, you offer us new possibilities and a chance to breathe again.
In your mercy, you move us from fear to courage in your ways.
Restore in us the daring confidence that if we take a break and worship you, if we stop our hands and our heads, that you will provide for us out of the storehouse of your goodness.
Give us the imagination to feed those who are hungry and help the thirsty find fresh water.
Give us the imagination to be companions to the sick, the lonely, and those in prison.
Give us the awareness that you are present even in our most lonely, fearful place. Amen Seamenptember 7 • 2008
THE LORD’S PRAYER
As Christ teaches us we pray
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 for ever. Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER
We have been fed by the stories of faith. We turn our faces into the uncertain places so we may know God.
We have been sustained in the rituals of community. We turn our lives back to the God of plenty.
May the God of bread and justice accompany us. May the Spirit surround us with hope as we walk the way of the Christ.
Acknowledgement: Seasons of the Spirit
NOTICES
Level 2.5 - and beyond.
We are waiting for the Government to announce the new level before deciding to open the Churches for services. We will keep you informed.
Contact for Revd Shiu Goundar
Please do not hesitate to contact me on phone 2684685 or mobile 0211888575 @ 28 Nanleen Rise, The Gardens, Manurewa or E-mail Address: sgoundar@hotmail.com should you need any assistance.
Church Warden: Adam’s phone contact -5367038.
Treasurer/Property Manager: Heather Brooke – 5366975.
· Support from the Diocese
Information for Ministry Units and FAQ’ document has been updated and can be found on the Diocesan Website http://www.auckanglican.org.nz/resources-and-links/diocesan-health-and-safety.
If any questions arise from this… please call me.
· WE HAVE A WEBSITE: https://www.beachlandsmaraetaianglicans.co.nz
You can follow our page for upcoming events and Church news.
Please like our FACEBOOK PAGE: Beachlands Maraetai Anglicans
DONATIONS AND OFFERINGS TO THE CHURCH
For those of you who wish to use online banking during the Lockdown – the Parish Recorder will still issue tax rebate forms for your giving over this time. The parish bank is ASB, the account is Beachlands Maraetai Mission Venture, and the number is: 12-3233-0646842-00. You can also send your offerings OR donations to Heather Brooke, 33 Bell Road, Beachlands.
Prayer of dedication
We worship in your economy of enough, O God, so that we might live our daily lives in that economy as well. Transform our gifts into what is needed to give bread. Transform our gifts
into acts of justice and freedom. Transform us in our giving that we may know you in deeper ways
and know our fellow humans more like the way you know us. Amen.
September 21 – St. Matthew Day
Early tradition associates the gospel of Matthew with the apostle of the same name who appears in the list of Jesus’ twelve disciples. Called Levi in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, Matthew was a toll or tax collector. His profession was regarded by many Jews as that of a traitor and a cheat, because the money raised by tax collectors went to maintain the occupying Roman army. Because such people were paid a commission or percentage of the money they took in, it was generally assumed (although not necessarily true) that they were cheats. They were treated as outcasts. Yet Jesus called people like Matthew, and in doing so modelled the way his followers were to look for and see the potential in all people.