Third 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):
How shall I repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for me?
The Special Prayer For Today (let us pray aloud):
Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, 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 3rd after Pentecost, 14th 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>
Several years ago, a newspaper carried the story of a young man walking home through a busy city street. Ahead of him he noticed an elderly woman standing at a pedestrian crossing. Cars rushed past. People hurried by. Everyone seemed too busy to notice her.
The young man stopped and asked if she needed help. She smiled and admitted that she was afraid to cross because her eyesight was poor and the traffic seemed overwhelming. The young man offered his hand and carefully helped her across the road.
When they reached the other side, the woman thanked him and said,“Hundreds of people saw me standing there. You were the only one who stopped.”
Hundreds saw. One responded. <PAUSE>
That simple story reminds us of a truth at the heart of today’s Gospel. Many people see needs. Far fewer are moved to respond.
In Matthew 9:35-10:8, Jesus not only sees the crowds; He is deeply moved by them, and then He calls His followers, both then and now, to share His compassion and continue His work. <PAUSE>
Matthew tells us that Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness.
Notice that Jesus did not stay in one place - He went where the people were.
He travelled dusty roads, entered villages, visited towns, and met people face to face.
Christian faith has never been about remaining comfortably inside our buildings. Jesus was always moving toward people. He met them where they lived, worked, struggled, and suffered.
And when He looked at the crowds, He saw something that others missed.
Many people saw a crowd. Jesus saw individuals.
Many people saw problems. Jesus saw people.
Many people saw inconvenience. Jesus saw precious children of God.
In Matthew’s gospel here, the word translated as “compassion” is one of the strongest emotional words in the New Testament. It describes a deep, gut-level response. Jesus did not merely feel sorry for people. Their suffering touched Him deeply.
That same compassionate heart of Christ still beats today. When Jesus looks upon our world, He sees the lonely, the grieving, the anxious, the forgotten, the hungry, the displaced, and those searching for meaning and hope.
He invites us to see them too. <PAUSE>
Jesus then says something that has always made me pause, “The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few.”
You see, for many years I, like so many others, focussed on the shortage of workers, but … BUT … notice how Jesus focuses first on the abundance of the harvest.
In other words, there are countless opportunities for God’s love to be shared.
There are:
People longing for hope.
People seeking purpose.
People wondering if anyone cares.
People asking spiritual questions.
People carrying hidden burdens.
These words of Jesus make me pause because “The harvest is plentiful” and so the challenge to me is:
God has not run out of people to reach. The challenge is whether I am willing to go into the fields.
For all these “people-in-waiting”, Jesus calls me and every Christian to participate in God’s mission.
Every one of us has opportunities to reflect Christ :
A kind word.
A listening ear.
A visit to someone who is lonely.
An offer of prayer.
An act of generosity.
An invitation our faith community.
A simple conversation about faith.
These may seem small, but in God’s hands they become part of the harvest. <PAUSE>
I am sure you have noticed that the twelve disciples. Called by Jesus are not religious celebrities, not scholars, not powerful politicians, not wealthy business leaders.
They are ordinary people. Fishermen. Tax collectors. People with their own strengths and weaknesses. People who sometimes doubted and often misunderstood.
Yet Jesus chooses them … and He empowers them … and that should encourage every one of us. God’s kingdom has ALWAYS advanced through ordinary people who make themselves available to Him.
The question is not whether we are impressive enough. The question is whether we are willing.
The disciples were not sent because they were perfect. They were sent because they were called … The same is true today.
God works through ordinary believers who trust Him and step forward in faith. <PAUSE>
Perhaps the words that most people remember in today’s Gospel are these:
“Freely you have received; freely give.”
Everything we have comes from God.
Life itself is a gift.
Forgiveness is a gift.
Grace is a gift.
Salvation is a gift.
Hope is a gift.
The love of Christ is a gift.
None of us earned these blessings. We received them freely, and because we have received freely, we are called to give freely and show these gifts to others.
The mission of Jesus to all the ‘people-in-waiting’ has not ended. It continues through His people. Through you and me. <PAUSE>
To close, let me return to the story of the elderly woman waiting at the crossing.
Hundreds saw her. Only one stopped.
In every generation, there is a plentiful harvest of ‘people-in-waiting’.
Waiting for kindness.
Waiting for hope.
Waiting for someone to notice.
Waiting for someone to share the love of Christ. <PAUSE>
May we be the disciples who stop.
May we be the disciples who see.
May we be the disciples who respond. <PAUSE>
And may we hear anew the call of Jesus, who sends us into His harvest field with hearts full of compassion and hands ready to serve.
For freely we have received. Freely let us give.
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:
Holy God, St. Matthew reminds us of the privilege of serving Christ. We know that to share the work of Christ we have to share the sacrifice of Christ. Help us when Christianity is hard, and teach us to say to ourselves that when our road is rocky, we are following in the footsteps of Jesus.
Longer silence for personal reflection.
Everlasting God, look down with love upon our faith communities wherever they may be, be they large or small, as we struggle, day by day, to be a body worthy of Jesus’ name.
We pray especially for the Christian communities who face daily persecution and hardship. Strengthen, comfort and encourage all those who suffer harassment, violence, imprisonment and even death for being followers of Jesus.
(Short Silence) Lord in your Mercy: Hear our prayer
Creator God, we live in a world becoming more secular and less religious every day, help us as Christians to stand up for Jesus against world opinion in the sure knowledge that he stands up for us before you, our Father in heaven.
(Short Silence) Lord in your Mercy: Hear our prayer
Father God, at times Your Son offers us hard choices; to choose sometimes between the closest ties of earth and loyalty to him. Free us from making decisions that are for our comfort or for the approval of others. Help us to understand that good choices don’t always lead to the easiest outcomes.
(Short Silence) Lord in your Mercy: Hear our prayer
Gracious God, we pray for the sick and the suffering. For those undergoing treatments and surgery, for those convalescing and those who are recovered, that through our intercessions they may all experience a full recovery. As we also pray for those who will not recover, we remember the words of Jesus that "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
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
Merciful God, through the death of Your Son Jesus Christ you have freed us from the grip of the tomb. We pray for those who have departed this life and ask you, through your loving kindness, to have mercy on their souls and uphold and sustain those bereaved by their passing.
We especially raise before you at this time our recently departed brothers Richard (Australia), Lee Boon (Singapore), and Beatrice (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
Faithful God in the week that lies before us, may we reflect your love in our families, our faith community and our wider community and in doing so, show everyone we meet that we are followers of Christ with a true desire to draw them into our Christian faith.
(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.
