Worship Reflections from March 2024
31 March 2024 Easter Sunday
Manningham Uniting Church 31st March 2023 Easter Sunday Text: Mark 16:1-8 Rev Swee Ann Koh Introduction Good morning. “Where you there when they laid him in the tomb?” That’s where we left our story on Good Friday. “Where you there when they laid him in the tomb? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Where you there when they laid him in the tomb?” On Easter morning, when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, I have to confess that it is hard to come up…
24 March 2024
What Makes You Safe? (Mark 11:1-11) Introduction Theme: Uses Goya’s famous painting of the shooting of Spanish prisoners who resisted Napoleon. (‘The Third of May’) Quote: saying adopted from Andrew Lang Scottish poet “Beware of using safety as a drunk uses lamp posts… for support rather than illumination”. (Original quote: “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts…for support rather than illumination.” Safety Illustration: Alarm Fair to say that in our time in Port Melbourne living onsite we would regularly havevarious…
17 March 2024
Manningham Uniting Church Sunday, 17th March 2024 Fifth Sunday of Lent Fellowship@10 Texts: Jeremiah 31:31-34 & John 12:20-33 Theme: As if… Introduction Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent. When was the last time you made a promise? “I promise I’ll have that work done by tomorrow.” “I promise I’ll clean my room.” “I promise I’ll love you forever.” When was the last time you broke a promise? One of my pet annoyances is when a character on TV or in a movie says, “I promise…
10 March 2024
Smudgement (John 3:1 4-21) 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, l5that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. l6 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. l7 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that…
3 March 2023
Theme: What Makes You Angry?Texts: Exodus 20:1–17; John 2:13-22 Introduction Good morning. This Sunday is the third Sunday in Lent. Just as the season of Lent helps Christians prepare for Easter, Jews travelled to Jerusalem early to purify themselves for Passover (John 11:55). Christians likewise practice meditation, prayer, and participate in worship throughout Lent. Connecting with the Jews in this way helps us avoid anti-Jewish readings and enables us to reflect on the audacity of Jesus’ actions and claims. John…