Thirty 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):
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
The Special Prayer For Today (let us pray aloud):
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; 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:
A reading from the holy gospel according to Saint Mark.
Listen to David speak to this gospel.
or, if you prefer, you can read the sermon, below:
Sermon for Ordinary 31, Sunday, 3rd Nov 2024
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>
You know, there are lots of ways to get a debate (sometimes heated) going! For example: Trump for President, yes or no? My personal choice is more important than my social responsibility? Our government spends our taxes wisely? NZ must stop using fossil fuels and exploring for oil and gas? Should there be an independent Palestinian state? <PAUSE>
In Jesus’ day, there was just as intense a debate going on, and the question being debated was ‘Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Out of the 613 commands in Old Testament Law … which was the most important to obey? The one to concentrate on?
Jesus has been involved in disputes and debates with the scribes, Pharisees, Herodians, Saducees - different political and religious groups all trying to trick and trap him.
The scribe we meet in today’s gospel seems to be different.. He’s not out to trap Jesus but, rather, appears to ask a genuine question, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Immediately, Jesus quotes the verses from Deuteronomy 6. This is “The Shema” - probably the most important prayer in Judaism; the prayer that every Jew, says every day as his\her “daily declaration of faith”:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
And you shall love the Lord your God
And continues - “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
The stress for us here today - - - because of who our God is, what our God has done, what our God continues to do … is the command that flows out to - love the LORD your God … and this means to take delight in God, to cherish God, to seek to know God better and to draw ever closer to God.
Let me put this another way … THIS IS TOTAL LOVE. <PAUSE>
Scripture gives us this “Total Love” in “the four ‘alls” - all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.
In other words - with every part of us, in every situation, whatever we do, think, say, feel - we should do our very best to try to make everything an expression of our love for God. <PAUSE> Okay, hands up if you think that is a HUGE ask <PAUSE>
Yes, this is such a high standard, isn’t it? So much more than we think possible to give.
Just think for a moment. What WOULD it look like if we were to love the Lord with all our heart (in our affections and motives); with all our soul (in our very existence); with all our mind (in what we think and how we think it); with all our strength (in everything that we do, everywhere that we go? Wow !! What WOULD that like\feel like? <PAUSE>
Then, just when you think Jesus has finished, when He has given the most important commandment, you find that He’s still going. Verse 31: ‘The second is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
It’s not that we only have love God and close our eyes to the world. No, love for God must be coupled with love for neighbour. They must go together and your neighbour is everyone around you, everyone in the world. Okay, hands up again if you think that is a another HUGE ask <PAUSE>
“Neighbour” IS NOT someone “the same as you”. Jesus SHOWS US THE BREADTH OF GOD’S LOVE, GIVES US THE NEW COVENANT and offers God’s love and asks us to offer our love … to everyone … EVEN to those whom we deem “unloveable”!
In doing this, Jesus points us to the actual measure of this by causing us to consider - are we as concerned for those around us as we are for ourselves? Are we aware of the needs of the people who live beside us as we are for our own needs? <PAUSE>
So, in these mountainous challenges, Jesus is saying, God demands love for God AND for neighbour.
Look at the final words of this scribe, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that He is one, and there is no other besides Him. And to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
If I may be so bold - HERE IS A SCRIBE THAT ACTUALLY GETS IT :) Here is a scribe that understands “Total Love”. Thanks be to God.
So, this is what God requires of me - total love - and yet, every time I pray on this I am reminded of my failings and the need for God’s forgiveness and grace.
You see, as I try to live by these great commandment, giving that total love that God asks for and - indeed, deserves, I know that I can’t do it! That I haven’t done it! That I fall short!
The great commandment truly exposes MY human frailty - what about you ? <PAUSE>
What I need to help me as I fall short of obeying the great commandments is a great Saviour. One who perfectly obeyed these laws, whose life perfectly demonstrated love for God and love for neighbour. I need Jesus and in trying to follow Him in this, our Father gives us the Holy Spirit to help.
I’m by no means perfect, but THROUGH CHRIST AND IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT I pray that I will find that I am coming to love God and love my neighbour more than I did before. <PAUSE>
So … why is this so important … well … WE LOVE BECAUSE CHRIST FIRST LOVED US.
I runga e te Ingoa o te Atua, te Matua, te Tama me te Wairua Tapu. <AMINE>
In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit <AMEN>
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, open our eyes, that we might see you. Open our ears, that we may hear you. Open our mouths, that we might speak your praise and may we be like Jesus, strong enough to love unconditionally.
(LONGER pause for silent, personal reflection)
In response to the call today “Lord, in Your mercy” Our response is, “hear our prayer!”
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Holy God, we pray for your people throughout the world, for sceptics and believers, for those who seek to minister in Your name. For all those who seek God at home, at work, in the streets, for all who search for life. We pray for the stillness to listen to the voice of the Spirit, to recognise what You have already done for us and to give You our endless thanks.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Creator God you gave to us the care of our planet and yet all that we so often seem to do is spoil it. We pollute the atmosphere in our striving for worldly goods, we endanger the lives of your animal kingdom in our constant desire for farmland and cash crops and we bring death and destruction in senseless wars and acts of terrorism. We pray for a time when the unconditional love shown to us by Christ will rule and we all learn once again to be good neighbours and stewards of Your creation.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Father God, we pray for ourselves. Give to us a heart that is willing to love and to see love-able qualities in those we find it difficult to love. May the love of Christ rule in our hearts and the word of Christ dwell in us richly.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Loving God, we raise before you the sick and the suffering and ask that even in difficult times, we may honour you and encourage others by our prayers for those who are suffering today.
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 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
Gracious God, You give light to those in darkness, those who walk in the shadow of death; so remember in Your kingdom Your faithful servants, that death may be for them the gate to eternal life and to never-ending fellowship with you.
May all the faithful departed now rest in 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. Make the things that we choose to do worthy of the life, death, and rising again of Your Son.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Faithful God, You have promised to be with us and long ago sent Your Spirit to live amongst us to guide us to a future of love for all, goodness and hope. As we travel into the days ahead seeking Your love, truth and justice, help us to feel Your presence and see Your answers to the prayers we have made to You at this time.
(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.
