pilgrimwr.unitingchurch.org.au

Readings
Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm139:1-12, 23-24
Romans 8: 12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

MUSIC

You Have Searched Me, Lord, And Known Me
NETTLETON 8.7.8.7 D (“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”)
You have searched me, Lord, and known me! All my life is in your care.
When I lie awake in evening, you are always with me there.
When I rise to greet the morning in an attitude of praise,
what I learn from you is humbling: You already know my ways.

Lord, you know the song I’m singing and my words before I pray.
You’re behind me and before me as I travel through each day.
You once knit me all together; You created me by grace.
In your eyes, you see and love me as you treasure all my days.

Lord, I try to learn your wisdom, but I cannot understand.
Yet your love is all around me; I am part of all you’ve planned.
Let me sing your praise each morning, let me serve you all day through,
and in evening, make me peaceful, knowing this: I’m loved by you!
Biblical Reference: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Tune: John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, 1813
Text: Copyright © 2014 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Email: carolynshymns@gmail.com New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com

Readings
Genesis 25:19-34
Rebekah gives birth to twins, who wrestle with each other from the womb. Then, Esau, the older twin, sell his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew.
Psalm 119:105-112
The psalmist celebrates God’s word, committing to obeying God’s commands even when life is difficult and enemies threaten.
Romans 8: 1-11
In Jesus we have access to God’s life-giving Spirit who frees us from the power of sin that brings death.
Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23
Jesus sits in a boat and teaches the crowds through parables – in this instance, the parable of the seed that falls on different kinds of ground and produces different results.
(Bible reading summaries by John van de Laar, Sacredise)

Resources:
Textweek
Church of Scotland
Rex AE Hunt

Video of the parable of the sower from The Work of the People (subscription needed to download) https://www.theworkofthepeople.com/the-sower

Why black lives matter by Rick Rouse

Now I lay me … for Breonna Taylor
Now I lay me down to sleep,whispering —
Breonna Taylor did this.
And I pray, like so many childrenbefore me
my soul to keep, my soul to keep,and my dreams, my hopes for tomorrow,
the beauties of another morning.
But none of us really expect to die before we wake,
none of us really expectto be killed by another human being
in our beds,
none of us really expect
to be killed by another human being
who is not held to account in that death.
I believe that God has taken and holds so tenderly her very soul,
and calls out the soul-lessness
of our times,
walks with the protestors,
kneels by the fallen,
waits with the arrested,
says her name again and again.
And now we lay ourselves down
in a great insomnia of sorrow.
(thank you for this prayer, Maren Tirabassi! Gifts in Open Hands)

Grateful for John Lewis
Here was a man who knew
what inaugurations he should not attend,
whose skull was cracked in Selma,
and who baptized the chickens
when he was a child.

Here was a man who was called
“the conscience of the Congress”
and staged a gun control sit-in
on Capitol steps
after the Orlando Pulse shooting,
at an age when most folks
cannot stand up
from sitting on concrete.

Here was the man with blunt speech
at the March on Washington,
memorable, long ago,
but also ongoing, ongoing, ongoing
unfailing care
for his Congressional District,
and new messages now,
even when, struggling with cancer,
which can turn folk inward,
he spoke new words
with his old courage.

We grieve him, remember him,
honor him – not just
for the Selma in his past,
but for the Black Lives Matter
he puts in us today.
(Source: Maren C.Tirabassi, Gifts in Open Hands)

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” Rep John Lewis

Readings
Genesis 22: 1-14
Abraham takes his son Isaac out to sacrifice him to the Lord, but God stops him and provides a ram for the offering instead.
Psalm 13
A psalm of lament in which the psalmist cries out to God, but also affirms his trust in God’s goodness and love.
Romans 6:12-23
Paul encourages the Roman Christians to turn from sinful living and to obey God in order to find life and righteousness, and he reminds them that, while sin leads to death, God’s gift in Christ is life.
Matthew 10:40-42
Jesus teaches that those who receive prophets and righteous people will be rewarded, as will those who care for the followers of Christ.
(Bible summaries by John van de Laar, Sacredise)

Resources
Textweek
Singing from the Lectionary
Weekly Worship (Church of Scotland)

Hospitality
Hospitality is described in the New Testament as a spiritual gift. This may lead us to believe that it is only required of those to whom this particular gift has been given, but this would be a mistake. In the Old Testament hospitality was expected of all of God’s people, and, as with other spiritual gifts, the task of those who have received the gift of hospitality is to teach the whole church how to be hospitable. This means that the call to hospitality – to welcoming and receiving others in Jesus’ name – comes to all who seek to follow Jesus.
The Gospel is built on the fact that God has offered hospitality to us. God has welcomed us into God’s family and made us part of God’s new community of love and justice. We have done nothing to deserve this. It is simply a gift of grace. But, in response we should find ourselves unable to resist offering hospitality to others. As we have been welcomed and accepted so we desire others to know God’s grace and love, and so we seek to welcome and accept others in Jesus’ name, without requiring anything of them, or expecting anything in return. If we seek to understand what it means to be holy, we will discover that hospitality is a significant feature.
This week we seek to respond to God’s call to hospitality.
(Source: John van de Laar, Sacredise)

(Also, closest Sunday to UCA Anniversary)

Readings
Genesis 21: 8-21
Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away, but God promises to make Ishmael’s descendants into a great nation. When Hagar and Ishmael find themselves without food and water in the wilderness, God comes to their rescue.
Psalm 86: 1-10, 16-17
A plea for God’s mercy and rescue for the Psalmist who is in trouble, and a song of praise and affirmation of God’s greatness.
Romans 6: 1b-11
Followers of Christ have died to sin and been raised to a new life in Jesus. Therefore we are no longer slaves to sin, and death no longer has power over us, but we are alive for God in Christ.
Matthew 10:24-39
Disciples are not greater than their teacher, and so if the teacher is insulted, the disciples will be even more. But, followers of Jesus must not fear those who can destroy only the body. Rather we must be willing to acknowledge Jesus, proclaim his message publicly and not seek to save our lives. When we seek to save our lives we lose them. Jesus did not come to bring peace, but conflict, and we are to love Christ more than our own lives.
(Bible summaries by John van de Laar, Sacredise)

Delores Williams offers a black womanist reading of Hagar, that she, like “many black women, goes into the wide world to make a living for herself and for her child, with only God by her side.” This reading provides dignity to Hagar, and to all those who experience injustice. Like Hagar, they can enact agency. They are not dependent on the existing familial systems of injustice. As they seek to make their way, they can expect to find God with them, attentive to all who cry for justice.
(Rev Dr Steve Taylor, guest contributor to Church of Scotland resources, quoting Delores S. Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk, Orbis, 1993, 33)

Bob Cornwall writes, “As I’ve pondered the story of Hagar and Ishmael, I’m reminded that God hears the cries of people in need, including people who live outside our own circles. This reading is fitting at a time when we’re wrestling with the legacy of slavery in this country as well as whether black lives truly matter. It’s fitting because it reminds us that Hagar was a slave and an African. That’s why it figures prominently in the African American churches. It tells the story of God’s liberation of an African slave and her son.” (Bob Cornwall, Ponderings on a faith journey)

Everyone wants to be Hagar,
brave, resilient, probably beautiful,
a good mother,
a good pray-er who remembers
the time God gave her a sweet spring.
Everyone wants to be Hagar
because that’s the heart of the story,
but, when the parts get passed around,
this is who gets to be Hagar —
the ones who are enslaved,
cast out, vulnerable, lost,
sexually abused, thirsty or endangered.
The Hagar-people get the well.
It is historically accurate
that in many cases
the progeny of
the ensarahs and enslavers,
the casters-out,
those who endanger,
turn away from vulnerability,
blame victims, get excited
about protecting their own rights,
and ignore those thirsty
for a sip of hope,
often get the land.
The well is life,
but the land often ends up
just a mouth-full of dust.
(Source: Maren Tirabassi, Gifts in Open Hands)

Continue reading →