Twenty First 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 you are my hope, O Lord God, my confidence since I was young.
The Special Prayer For Today (let us pray aloud):
Grant, O merciful God, that your people, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; 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 21, 24th August 2025
Welcome brothers and sisters and peace be with you. MAY the words on my lips and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. <Amen>
After the strong words that we heard from Jesus last week, calling us to spread the gospel and set the world ablaze, this week we find Jesus returning to telling parables.
Jesus has just told the story of the barren fig tree (Luke 13:6-9). In that parable, a landowner gives the gardener one more year to work the soil around the tree so that it can bear fruit. If that doesn’t do any good, the tree will be cut down.
In the verses that follow today’s reading, Jesus will give an analogy for the kingdom of God: the mustard seed growing into a great bush where many birds will roost.
Now, today, sandwiched in between these stories about things that grow and things that don’t, is a real-life encounter with Jesus. It wasn’t expected, it wasn’t planned, yet this marvelous encounter introduces us to people who could easily have been represented by the parables surrounding this story.
I leave it to you to determine which person(s), from this story, seem more like a mustard seed growing into a tall plant, and which resembles a fig tree that won’t grow any fruit. <PAUSE>
As I read this gospel, the first thing that makes me pause in wonder is just how much Jesus cares for this woman who had been afflicted for 18 years. Jesus sees her in the crowd and He calls out to her; calls for her to come over to be with Him. Jesus so desperately wants this woman to experience the freedom and the healing that answering His call brings.
Jesus cares so much for the hurting, the bent, the broken, the dis-spirited and He SEES each and every one of them in the crowd of humanity. This should remind us that Jesus sees US, cares for US. He sees OUR brokenness and calls out to US. <PAUSE>
The second thing that makes me pause to wonder is that Jesus could have asked her if she even wanted to be healed. He could have asked if she had faith to be healed. But He didn’t do any of those things. He called her over – and keep in mind this would have been difficult for her on at least two counts. Women were not allowed to enter the part of the synagogue where the men listened to teaching. So she would not only have had to make the effort to stagger her way over unfamiliar ground without being able to look up to see where she was going, she also would have been walking into an area previously forbidden to her. Jesus and she would be breaking some well-established rules.
Yet, Jesus calls her over to where He is, and says, “You are set free from your ailment.” Not ‘forgiven of your sins’ or ‘healed of your infirmity,’ but “set free”. JESUS SETS US FREE!
A third thing I'm amazed by in this passage is how stuck “religious” people can get in HUMAN ideas, processes, rules, regulations, and how WE think things are supposed to be, how things are supposed to work the way WE think they should. Then … Jesus comes in and He does something radically different. In that moment, Jesus re-focuses our hearts and minds on to what should be first and foremost for us as we try to spread the fire of The Word in this world. The Kingdom of God, first and foremost, is NOT about getting caught up with canons and statutes, rules and regulations, who can sit where, eat what, work when. First and foremost it’s NOT about money, buildings, vestments, gardens and pathways etc etc. Please don’t misunderstand me - I’m NOT saying these things don’t have a proper place and an importance in the life of God’s people … BUT THEY SHOULD NOT BE OUR FIRST AND FOREMOST THOUGHTS & ACTIONS - THEY NEED TO BE KEPT IN THEIR PROPER PLACE AND PERSPECTIVE.
Jesus’ statements to those indignant leaders of the synagogue reminds them, AND US, that first and foremost, the Kingdom of God is about THE PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE. People being set free, being made straight, being made true to God. Jesus releases us into new life. Jesus overcomes the things that cripple and bind us and He releases us (all humanity) into God’s grace.
Whether or not we can look up and see beyond the ground at our feet isn’t important because … Jesus sees us, calls to us, and proclaims freedom from whatever is binding our spirits and bending us into brokenness.
Rules and regulations don’t come first - the love for others, through the grace of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit MUST be what we show, do and talk about …. FIRST AND FOREMOST.
Fourthly, finally, from this beautiful gospel text … We don’t know this woman’s name, but Jesus makes sure we know her identity. He gives her a name. It is a name that is used only once in the entire Bible. Jesus calls this woman, “a daughter of Abraham” and oh how powerful that would have been to those who heard. Jesus names her as a child of God, a valid member of the community of faith, not a cripple, not unclean, but daughter of Abraham. Daughter of faith.
NOW - here she stands, upright - living proof that SHE STANDS STRAIGHT.
NOW - here she stands, loudly praising God- living proof that she SHE IS TRUE.
NOW - here she stands, freed from looking at the ground, freed from pain, freed from whatever caused her suffering in the first place. Living proof that SHE STANDS STRAIGHT, STANDS TRUE, STANDS FREE. <Pause>
How is Jesus calling US to stand up straight, to be true, to be freed from anything that binds our spirits? What will be OUR response to such immeasurable grace?
Jesus is calling us, reaching out to touch us, ready to heal us of our brokenness, to restore us to wholeness, to claim us as His own.
Please allow me to end this humble message, as I did last week, by paraphrasing Paul’s second letter to the young church in Corinth … “now is the acceptable time” …
NOW is THE TIME TO STAND UP STRAIGHT FOR JESUS, TO BE TRUE TO JESUS, AND TO BE FREED BY JESUS.
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, forgive us for overlooking Your power and trying to live in our own strength. Help us to understand that we can’t do things on our own and to always thank You for providing everything that we need.
<longer silence for personal reflection>
Holy God, we ask for your blessing upon all who come before you in prayer and we pray for Your presence to be seen vividly in what we and our brothers and sisters in Christ do each day. We pray that Your joy and Your love will flow freely in us and through us as we take up our cross and follow wherever You lead.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Creator God, thank You for investing so heavily in us and in the world in which we live. Help us to see that there is no one who can love us like you do. Help us to focus our priorities and our thoughts on heavenly things as well as placing our treasures in heaven. May this way of thinking be seen in the leaders of the world where so often we see greed and corruption overshadowing the needs of the poor and needy.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Father God, thank You for our families and friends. We especially pray for all whom we meet in the days ahead be they known to us our strangers.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Gracious God, we pray for those who are sick. As time drags on and answers seem far away, teach them and us, to find help in You and Your presence and enable them to endure and to trust in 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 have come through illness and are on the road to recovery and also 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
Faithful God, when someone we know dies, help us to praise Your gracious will, for in Christ Jesus You have saved us from death and opened for us the hidden ways of Your love.
We especially raise before you at this time our recently departed brother Jose (Mexico).
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
Loving God, receive these prayers and transform us through them, that 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 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.
