Worship Reflections from 2024
15 December 2024
ADVENT 3 – JOY WILL FIND A WAY Eternal God,in the long ago days when the earth was flat,and heaven was above the clouds,and disease was caused by demons, We now, after the enlightenment are in bondage to different limitations. We doubt what we cannot prove; we ignore what we cannot seeand finding little room for faith,Yet we believe your Son was born to lighten ALL our darknesses. The good folk of the Iona Community and the Wild Goose Resource Group who wrote…
8 December 2024
Advent 2 Love Can you hear the angels? Messages we need to hear today. Love. Introduction Illustration: Asking for Flowers How do you keep nurturing love? Sally and I have had this phrase Asking for Flowers! A spouse, traditionally the woman, asking for flowers as token of love. A parent asking the children to visit them more regularly especially on Xmas day! A friend asking for more time and contact. A neighbour asking for overhanging trees to be pruned. Commonwealth Bank…
2 December 2024
Reflection Rev Dr Con Apokis Introduction Illustration: The re-election of Trump Sorry to begin with a moan. I am so disappointed with you all – to return after our break in Japan back to MUC to find you let Trump get re-elected! What happened! How did you manage that?!? I know you think it is unfair to land that at your feet – who else is there to blame? The problem of hope is that it constantly needs to be…
17 November 2024
This end is the beginning In Jesus’ day, the temple was the main place for Jews to congregate and worship on important religious holidays. The synagogue, on the other hand, was the place where people would regularly gather for the reading of the Law. Jesus appears to have been a frequent attendee of the local synagogue and there are a number of accounts of Jesus teaching in the synagogue. Just like today when the big cities have their magnificent cathedrals in…
10 November 2024
‘It is always and all about Jesus!’ Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17 1 Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you. 2 Now here is our kinsman Boaz, with whose young women you have been working. See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Now wash and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor, but…
3 November 2024
Importance and centrality of relationship; that we are made for relationship with each other and with God. Let’s reflect together on the readings that we’ve heard this morning. Let’s pray. “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, God, our rock and our redeemer, Amen.” Today Jesus has a word to us on love, a famous word, what he calls the greatest commandment. I recently heard from someone whose spiritual practice,…
27 October 2024
REFLECTION Don’t let your sight get in the way of your vision! This is Mark’s story about a blind man called Bartimeus. I guess this resonates with me because, as an artist, my sight has always been incredibly important to me. A couple of years ago I was introduced to a book about another blind man. The book is “Thunder Dog” by Michael Hingson. This is a man, blind since birth, whose parents determined that they would give him the…
20 October 2024
Baptism Illustration: What is the most important or defining moment of your life? I love cricket. In my last years I had gravitated to being the keeper. This one week I arrived five minutes late and got told I was now the captain. Now this was not good news because we had not won a game as a team in eighteen months. Last season we once scored 11 runs all out and on another occasion a team scored 518 with one…
13 October 2024
All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy (Spike Milligan) Mark 10:17-31 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 18Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall…
6 October 2024
Marriage: God’s Solution to Loneliness, Lust and Laundry (Mark 10:2-16) 2 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ 3He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ 4They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ 5But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” 7“For this reason a…
1 and 8 September
A new creation story Rev John Power Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. – Maria, The sound of music. Creation stories appear in most religious traditions on Earth. They play a very importantrole in any meaning system as they usually set the groundwork for the rest of thenarrative. They also form a premise upon which later theological propositions aredeveloped, set up a tension that is to be resolved and suggest an orientation of humanity to the…
18 August 2024
MUC Hymns: Phosphorescence for the Soul (Ephesians 5:15-20) 15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20giving thanks to…
11 August 2024
If Jesus is the Bread of Life – What Happens If You Don’t Like Bread? (John 6:35, 41-51) 35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ 42They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we…
4 August 2024
How Does Jesus Feed You? (Mark 6:35-44) 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the…