Second Sunday after Pentecost
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 the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are sure.
The Special Prayer For Today (let us pray aloud):
O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; 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 2nd after Pentecost, 7th June 2026
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>
As people who know me will tell you, I am happy to talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime about anything!
Many years ago I realised that I need to define my own, personal ministry by how many people I am willing to stop for. <PAUSE>
You see, sometimes the most important moments in life begin with a simple act of noticing someone whom others ignore.
That is exactly what we see in today’s Gospel, Matthew 9:9–13, 18–26.
Matthew was not the sort of person people expected Jesus to call.
As a tax collector for the Roman occupiers, Matthew would have been widely hated and regarded as a traitor and an almost untouchable sinner.
Yet Jesus walks past Matthew’s tax booth, looks directly at him, and says just two words:
“Follow me.”
No lecture. No interrogation. No demand that Matthew first change his life. Simply, “Follow me”, and Matthew gets up and follows.
The remarkable thing is not just that Matthew follows Jesus. The remarkable thing is that Jesus calls him in the first place. The religious leaders of the day had already decided who belonged and who didn’t belong. They had clear categories for the respectable and the unacceptable.
Jesus saw something different.
Where others saw a sinner, Jesus saw a disciple.
Where others saw a failure, Jesus saw potential.
Where others saw someone beyond redemption, Jesus saw someone worth saving.
This tells us something deeply profound about God. God does not call us because we are perfect. God calls us because He loves us and sees what we can become.
If God waited until we were completely without faults before calling us, none of us would ever hear His voice !! Remember …
Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future. <PAUSE>
Now, moving along, The Pharisees were scandalised. They ask, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
To eat with someone in the ancient world was a sign of acceptance and friendship. Jesus wasn’t merely preaching to sinners from a safe distance. He was sharing life with them.
Jesus responds with one of my favourite gospel metaphors:
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick …”
A doctor goes where the illness is. A lifeboat goes where the drowning people are. A shepherd goes where the lost sheep are … and … Jesus goes where broken people are.
Sometimes Christians can sometimes, unintentionally, forget this.
Faith communities can become places where people feel they must have “everything together” before they arrive, but, our faith communities are NOT museums for saints. Our faith communities are hospitals for all of us who make mistakes. Who sin.
We do not become part of our faith community because we are perfect. We come because we need God’s mercy.
Jesus says: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” <PAUSE>
The second part of today’s Gospel shows us this mercy in action.
A synagogue leader approaches Jesus. His daughter has died. His world has collapsed. Yet he comes to Jesus in faith.
At the same time, a woman who has suffered from haemorrhages for twelve years quietly reaches out to touch Jesus’ cloak. For twelve years she has lived with illness, isolation, and disappointment. Perhaps she had almost given up hope. Yet she believes that even touching Jesus’ garment might change everything.
Notice how different these two people are. One is a respected leader. The other is an anonymous woman.
One approaches publicly. The other approaches secretly.
One has social status. The other has none.
Yet Jesus responds to both with equal love.
Jesus is never impressed by status, wealth, or reputation. He sees hearts.
The synagogue leader matters. The suffering woman matters.
The powerful matter. The forgotten matter.
Everyone matters. That is the kingdom of God.
The woman touches Jesus’ cloak, and He turns and says, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.”
“Daughter.” What a beautiful word. In that moment Jesus gives her more than physical healing. He restores her dignity. He restores her identity. He restores her place in the community.
Jesus spoke words of physical, mental and spiritual healing to that woman and He speaks those words of healing to this very day.
“Take heart.”
Pause for just a moment to reflect upon the people you know - - - what words may they need to hear today? <PASUE>
Finally, Jesus arrives at the house of the synagogue leader and takes the girl by the hand.
Life returns.
Hope returns.
Joy returns.
Where everyone else sees death, Jesus brings life. Jesus is Lord even over death.
The resurrection of this young girl points forward to His own resurrection and to the promise that death will never have the final word.
Because Christ lives, hope lives.
Because Christ lives, love is stronger than death.
Because Christ lives, every ending can become a new beginning. <PAUSE>
So what shall we take with us from this Gospel today? I have four lessons from Jesus that speak to me today:
1. Hear Christ’s call personally. Like Matthew, each of us is invited to follow Jesus, not because we are worthy, but because we are loved.
2. Show mercy. Jesus calls us to see people as He sees them - not by their failures,
labels, or reputations, but as beloved children of God.
3. Trust Him with your needs. Whether your burden is grief, illness, fear, doubt, or
disappointment, bring it to Christ. The woman reached out in faith. The synagogue leader came in faith. Jesus met both of them.
4. Never lose hope. The God who called Matthew, healed the woman, and raised the
young girl is still at work today.
No life is beyond His reach.
No wound is beyond His healing.
No person is beyond His love.
I runga e te Ingoa o te Atua, te Matua, te Tama me te Wairua Tapu. <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 sacrifice and goodness.
Let us pray aloud, and together:
Almighty God, we ask you guide your faithful people especially when differences amongst us seem to threaten our very existence. We face each other, but often do not see the face. We too easily make "an other" of one another. Help us now to look again, to see Jesus in the face and to recognise hopes, aspirations and desires.
Longer silence for personal reflection.
Creator God, we are part of the tensions and injustices of the world: heal the resentment between people, and intervene in the world’s conflicts. Help us to walk humbly with you at our side and when we come to the crossroads and have to choose which way to go lead us down the path of justice and righteousness whilst steering us away from the road that leads to selfishness and sin.
(Short Silence) Lord in your Mercy: Hear our prayer
Father God, help us to be gentle, with others and with ourselves. Give us, we pray, the calm that makes for consideration and the respect for others that makes us courteous. Take from us hard words and the cynical look. Let us be to others as we would wish them to be to us and, when we fail, forgive us and when they fail, heal us.
(Short Silence) Lord in your Mercy: Hear our prayer
Caring God, we pray for all those who are afflicted by physical, emotional or mental illness. Help them to keep their eyes fixed on you, and give them the courage to face the trials and temptations that may come.
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
Holy God, your love reaches beyond the grave. At the end of our days on earth be with us and with those we love and with those whom we love and have gone before us.
We especially raise before you at this time our recently departed brother s and sisters Simon (New Zealand), Ernesto (Peru), and Eliza (USA).
We pray for all the faithful departed, may they now rest in eternal peace as they most surely have risen in glory.
(Short Silence) Lord in your Mercy: Hear our prayer
Gracious God, we thank you for hearing our prayers and as we move into the coming week help us to remember our Saviour's words as he sent his disciples out into the world :
”As you go, proclaim the good news, the Kingdom of Heaven has come near”.
(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.
