Eighteenth 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):
For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
The Special Prayer For Today (let us pray aloud):
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and 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 18, 3rd August 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>
Last week’s gospel - started out as a lesson in prayer and went on to remind us that God, our loving Father, wants to provide for us - his children - if we will only ask. However asking God to give us his Spirit is a lot different from asking God to give us wealth and “stuff”.
Here in the 12th chapter of Luke’s gospel, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and he is teaching along the way. Today the topic is greed, and Jesus is going to challenge some commonly accepted ideas about wealth and what we should do with it.
We’ve skipped a few verses at the beginning of this chapter, so you need to know that Jesus is in the middle of teaching about the need for faithfulness under persecution. Someone – who has apparently not been listening at all – decides to interrupt him. Completely off topic, this person demands that Jesus help him get his fair share of an inheritance!
Jesus saw straight into this young man’s heart, and knew immediately that the real problem here was his greed. <PAUSE>
I’m sure the young man was surprised when Jesus refused to help him. If this teacher could make blind people see and crippled people walk, didn’t he have the authority to do a simple thing like force an older brother to do what the law said he should do with their father’s property?
The misuse of wealth was actually a major topic of discussion in first century Palestine, and almost every chapter of Luke’s Gospel has some reference to money and material resources.
Greed is nothing more than a desire to have more than we actually have and need, and Jesus used this “teachable moment” to explain why greed has no place in the Kingdom of God.
Instead of an interruption, Jesus treated the man’s demand as an opportunity to teach that the ways of God are nothing like our human ways.
ACTUALLY - Greed just makes us poorer, because it puts all our energy and attention into what we don’t have. Jesus shows us that God is all about abundance and generosity.
So Jesus tells a story - without any more labour than he usually put into his farm, the land had produced a bumper crop, the farmer could tell that the harvest was going to be great. In first century Palestine, this would have been evidence of God’s blessing on “a good guy”. Good fortune meant you’d done something to please God, and God was smiling on you.
Then Jesus shows us that this rich farmer is not a good guy at all. In fact, he’s foolish. Jesus drives this point home by having the rich farmer talk to himself. Tearing down his barns, building bigger ones and then relaxing … eating, drinking, and being merry.
The point … why is he storing his wealth away? Common sense says, farmers grow crops for other people to buy and eat. There is absolutely no point in growing that much food just to keep it in bigger barns – it will rot before he can use it all!
This leads Jesus to deliver the powerful punch line: “You fool!” God says, “This very night your life is required of you. So now, who’s going to get all that wealth you accumulated?”
Instead of being an indicator of God’s favour, the rich fool’s wealth brings death to his door. <PAUSE>
Here is the real poverty that comes from greed. Greed is like a tapeworm in our souls, constantly consuming and never being satisfied. In the end, when our lives are on the line, whatever we’ve managed to accumulate for ourselves does us absolutely no good at all!
No wonder Jesus calls this rich farmer a fool! By focusing on his own accumulation of wealth and goods, his desire to relax, eat, drink, be merry … he has isolated himself from others, just the opposite of what the Kingdom of God is about.
The Kingdom of God is about community, living and working together for the glory of God, staying connected with God and with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Kingdom of God is all about being rich toward God. <PAUSE>
Being rich toward God means placing value on the same things God values.
It means loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbour as yourself. It means loving mercy, acting justly, and walking humbly.
It means enjoying a rich spiritual life of prayer, and reading God’s Word. It means sharing not hoarding - using wealth not having a big bank balance. Using God’s gifts not hoarding them.
It means having the faith to trust God to provide for all our needs.
It means letting go of making sure we have enough before we give anything to anyone else.
It means accepting God’s abundant love, receiving the Holy Spirit poured into our lives.
It means embracing the risk of giving away as much as we can, in order to make Jesus known to people who need him.
Being rich towards God means giving up the poverty of greed so we can experience the joy of generosity. <PAUSE>
Today, as we offer up our worship and praise and thanks to the God who saves us:
May we strive to strive less.
May we hope to hope more.
May we love without reservation.
My we give of ourselves without holding back anything.
May we give up the poverty of greed in exchange for the gift of abundant giving, even as Christ gave himself for us.
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, we join together in praying to You for the needs our faith communities, the world, our families, friends and neighbours and ourselves, trusting in Your love which reaches out from before the foundation of the world.
<longer silence for personal reflection>
Holy God, whenever we start to get offended by Your generosity or open-mindedness, give us the grace to repent and join Your rejoicing.
Guard us against the pursuit of earthly treasures, self-righteousness and all rules and limits which You would not own, but keep always before us the rule of love and sharing.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Creator God, we pray for your world. Forgive us when we are ungrateful when spiritual blindness prevents us from appreciating the wonder of your creation and the endless cycle of nature. Forgive us for taking without giving; reaping without sowing.
We humbly ask that you send Your Holy Spirit to touch the hearts of all those in positions of authority and may they strive to bring justice, equality, tolerance and respect to all.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Father God, we thank you for the love we share with our families and our friends. We recognise that they may have faults and they love us in spite of ours.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Loving God and Lord of life, we pray for the gift of courage to face up to and cope with illness. We pray for it for ourselves, and for those who we now name before you.
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, in Syria and any others we now name aloud, or in the silence of our hearts, and those who are known only by You.
We thank you for those who through their courage have come through illness and for those facing the reality that there is little light at the end of their earthly tunnel.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Gracious God, give us ears to hear and minds to understand the message of immortality for the children of Your kingdom so that we may look forward with patience and confidence to that time when we will join You in the peace of eternity.
We especially raise before you at this time our recently departed brother Antonio (Italy).
May he, 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, peace, and generosity of Your Son.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Faithful God, we thank You for the opportunity of being together in prayer. As we look forward to the days ahead, we pray for an awareness of Your love and support in all we do.
(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.
