Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
What follows is a worship service which, I pray, you can participate in at a time(s) that are convenient to you. This 'service' will take about forty five (45) minutes.
I pray that you will feel called to ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE in this service.
The text that is in regular typeface (that is what you are reading at the moment) is to be read quietly, while the text that is in bold face (like you are reading right now) is meant to be read aloud.
Opening Hymn:
Let us continue by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we commence our praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
A Call To Worship:
We meet in the name of God,
Creator of the universe,
source of true humanity,
mother and father of all. Amen.
An Assurance of Forgiveness:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
The Sentence For Today (let us say aloud):
Arise, O God, and rule the earth, for you shall take all nations for your own.
The Special Prayer For Today (let us pray aloud):
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Our first reading for today:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
Our second reading for today:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
Gradual Hymn:
Let us continue by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we raise out voices in praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
Listen to David speak to this gospel
or, if you prefer, you can read the sermon, below:
Sermon for Ordinary 15, 13th July 2025
Welcome friends and peace be with you. MAY the words of my mouth and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. <Amen>
If I say to you all “Psalm 23” or “The Prodigal Son” you all know exactly what I’m talking about. So it is with the well-known and much-loved parable of Jesus that we hear today - “The Good Samaritan”. So, what can I say that you have not heard before?
Going from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, near Jericho, it’s a descent of 3,600 feet (about 1100 metres). It’s down a narrow, twisty road which was a happy hunting ground of robbers in the first century. In fact, 500 years after Jesus, one of the early writers called this journey ‘The Bloody Way’. Maybe you haven’t heard that before?
Something else you might not know? Here in NZ, the Internal Revenue Department’s tax regulations run to over three million words. In fact, the tax regulations have become so complex that even the experts have a hard time processing them. It is burdensome in its complexity.
The leaders in ancient Israel did the same thing to their religious system. They made excessive laws to govern man’s relationship with God. The growing burden of religious regulations had increased to the point where even experts in the law struggled to understand it at its core.
When one such legal expert asked Jesus what matters most? Jesus affirmed that, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself”. It is from the lawyer’s response about who his neighbour is, comes the parable of the Good Samaritan.
No thoughtful person can read this parable without asking himself, "Which person am I most like - the priest, the Levite, or the good Samaritan?" <PAUSE> The concluding statement: “Go, and do thou likewise” hits us “BANG !!” with a challenge. We are forced to stop and think, make a personal assessment of our attitudes and actions toward needy humanity, and do something about it.
We cannot ignore or be neutral. We must come out and measure up to Jesus' command. The parable confronts us and challenges us. <PAUSE>
This is a call to BE LIKE Christ - not just KNOW ABOUT Christ. This is a call to LIVE compassion not just to feel sorry. This is a call to become INVOLVED and not walk on by. <PAUSE>
So, from this much-loved parable here are five things that Jesus is teaching us all today in the 21st century:
1. THE GOOD SAMARITAN GOT INVOLVED
We may quote scripture and talk on love and God, but unless we are willing to get involved in the lives of others, we are only clanging cymbals or banging gongs. The Samaritan treated and bandaged the wounds. He set the injured man on his donkey. He took him to an inn and cared for him throughout the night. As the scriptures say, “he had compassion” … and HE ACTED ON IT.
2. THE GOOD SAMARITAN IGNORED RACISM
Even though he was considered a “despised Samaritan,” he rose above such shallowness to care for a fellow human being.
3. THE GOOD SAMARITAN HAD MONEY
England’s former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once observed, “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions – he had money too.”
Mrs Thatcher was absolutely spot on: this was a man who managed his money and was known, by the innkeeper at least, to be able to be generous and to pay up.
So, for those of us who are financially blessed what should be our priority for that money? Building up a nice, big balance in the bank, buying a bigger house, a new car or putting that money to work by helping the less fortunate? Sure, we know we all have bills to pay but surely, SURELY we can find resources to “go and do likewise!”
4. THE GOOD SAMARITAN HAD A GOOD NAME
I wonder if the Samaritan had been to that inn before, perhaps paying for some other needy person’s stay. I know this, the innkeeper trusted the Samaritan, probably because he had proven himself to be trustworthy.
If we as disciples of Christ do not have a “good name” in the communities we serve we damage Christ and we can NEVER be effective.
5. THE GOOD SAMARITAN WAS GENEROUS
The Samaritan didn’t know how long the injured man would be laid up, but I am guessing (because Scripture says the attack left him “half dead”), that it could be a prolonged stay. At any rate, the wellbeing of this stranger was more important to our Good Samaritan than whatever the cost might be.
So, in essence, the parable of the Good Samaritan confronts us with three philosophies of life that we should try to apply to our lives.
The outlook of the thieves was: "What's yours is mine, and I'll take it.”
That of the priest and the Levite was "What's mine is mine, and I'll keep it.”
That of the Good Samaritan was "What's mine is God’s, and I'll share it.
Putting it another way … it is "Beat him up” or "Pass him up” or "Pick him up.”
What do you want the philosophy of your life to be?
I runga e te Ingoa o te Atua, te Matua, te Tama me te Wairua Tapu. <AMINE>
Pause and Reflect
Just take a moment now to pause. Bow your head, close your eyes.
Allow these words of Holy Scripture and this interpretation of them today to speak to you.
An Affirmation of Our Faith
Let us affirm our faith by saying aloud, and together, "The Apostles Creed":
... and now let us pray for the Church, the World, and Ourselves, giving thanks for God's goodness.
Let us pray aloud, and together:
Everlasting God, at the start of another week, we offer our lives to You; give us strength to carry out our work and duties faithfully; deepen our trust in You, and help us to build your kingdom, today and always.
Thank You for giving us Your Son who teaches us to care for others and not to “walk on by”.
<longer silence for personal reflection>
Holy God, we pray for our faith community, and for other faith communities both locally and internationally, and ask that there will be a growing desire to get together and show the life of The Risen Christ to all who doubt. We give You thanks for those who come up with fresh ways of making Your name known to the wider community and for those who work so hard to make fellowship and fund-raising events so pleasurable and successful.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Creator God, we pray for our troubled world. Give wisdom to all world leaders to seek some way out of the sufferings of the violence and heart-break in The Holy Land, Ukraine, Iran, Sudan and elsewhere. May leaders strive to seek for a deep and lasting peace which reconciles Muslim, Jew and Christian, peoples who share so much of the background to their faith.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
We pray for peaceful hearts and reconciliation throughout the world and we especially raise before you the turmoil in The Holy Land, Ukraine, Russia, and Iran.
Prince of Peace, bring healing to these troubled places, an end to war and violence and a respect for human dignity.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Father God, we thank you for the communities of which we are part and ask You to guide us to be more aware of the needs of our neighbours and ways in which we might help.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Gracious God, we pray for those who are ill at home or in hospital, for those who are experiencing extreme pain and for those anxiously awaiting a diagnosis, treatment, procedure or an operation.
For all who are troubled in body, mind or spirit.
Give the song of joy to all who are now on the road to recovery and recuperation and the song of thanks to all who helped them on that road.
We especially raise before You now all those who have asked for our prayers from around the world … those we know in New Zealand, in Singapore, in Argentina, in France, in Australia, in the US, in Canada, in Austria, in Ukraine, in China, in Germany, in the Czech Republic, and any others we now name aloud, or in the silence of our hearts, and those who are known only by You.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Mighty God, Your Son Jesus Christ is the light of the World, a light which no darkness can quench. We remember before You those who have died and pray that they are now experiencing that light of Christ which eternally shines and brings hope and comfort to the bereaved.
We especially raise before you at this time our recently departed sister and brothers : Anna (Australia), Carlota (Spain), Margaret (England).
May they, and all the faithful departed, now rest in eternal peace as they most surely have risen in glory.
<Short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
In a moment of silence we pray for ourselves, our families, friends, for all whom we love and for our personal ministries.
Fill our hearts with the love and peace of Your Son.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Almighty God, receive these prayers, and transform us through them, that as we go out into the world we may have eyes to see and hearts to understand not only what You do on our behalf, but what you call us to do to others ON Your behalf.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Forth in the peace of Christ we go; Christ to the world with joy we bring; Christ in our minds, Christ on our lips, Christ in our hearts, the world’s true King.
Merciful father: accept these prayers for the sake of Your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Remembering that we are confident to pray this day, and every day, because Jesus Christ continues to teach us:
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.
Let us conclude our prayers by praying together and aloud:
God of mercy,
you have given us grace to pray with one heart and one voice,
and have promised to hear the prayers
of two or three who agree in your name,
fulfil now, we pray,
the prayers and longings of your people
as may be best for us and for your kingdom.
Grant us in this world to know your truth,
and in the world to come to see your glory. Amen.
The Blessing
May The Risen Lord Christ turn His face towards each and every one of you.
May He cause His light to shine upon you, and
may He grant you His peace, and
The blessing of Almighty God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you and all of those whom you love,
on this day and forever more.
A Closing Hymn:
Let us conclude our worship today by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we unite in another hymn our praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
The Dismissal
Go now, go out into the world
to love and serve The Lord.
Go in peace.
AMEN, we go in the name of Christ.
