Dear People of God
Grace and Peace to you all
First of all, a reminder that next Sunday, 29 October, is the fifth Sunday in October and there will be one service only in the parish that day, at 9:30am in St Paul’s, followed by morning tea in the hall. I know that if I ask everyone to “bring a plate” we will wind up with a super-abundance of morning tea with large amounts of high sugar content foods but I leave the matter of who brings what and how much of it to your own judgements!
We are all stunned by egregious instances of human inhumanity: the latest events are in the Land of the Holy One. The El Ahri Arab Hospital is the only hospital in Northern Gaza and was, if you haven’t already seen, impacted by major damage and loss of life. The hospital is Anglican foundation, managed by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. Anglican Aid Abroad helps to fund the facility. You may wish to make a specific donation to assist the work which will now involved significant reconstruction. Donations may be directed to Anglican Overseas Aid at PO Box 389 Abbotsford Vic 3067, or by bank transfer to BSB 703-122 A/c 05000470 A/c name Anglican Overseas Aid. You can specify the direction of the donation on their website. Donations over $2 are tax deductible.
A short letter this week.
See you in church.
Fr George
PROPERS OF THE DAY
(The word “proper” refers to those readings and prayers which are appropriate (ie proper) for the day, a opposed the to “ordinaries” of the day, those prayers which form part of the regular services.)
Sentence
Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. (Mt 22:21)
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: grant that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in proclaiming the cross to be the way that leads to life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Readings
Exodus 33:12-23 Moses’ intercession
Psalm 99 The glory of God’s reign
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 The people’s faith and example
Matthew 22:15-33 On taxes and resurrection
Sermon (Fr George)
In the Name of God. Amen
There’s a constant risk in our faith of losing the balance between a solely personal faith and having faith-in-community. If we focus too much on one we lose perspective on the other. For example, if you attend a service where the whole theme is individual salvation, all the hymns are of the “I am saved” variety, can you turn around and say “WE are the Body or Christ” or “WE believe in One God”.
However, the development of the Hebrew faith is one from a general perception of a number of gods of whom their deity is one of a number, emerging as the Chief of the Council of Gods, becoming One who is known by name, Yahweh, and who then forms a relationship with the “Chosen People”. I often wonder who decided who was “chosen”, because Yahweh becomes identified as deity who has extreme favour for one particular group, fighting their battles an eliminating all their enemies (except for those times when he “allows” their enemies to triumph which the prophets interpret as happening because of Israel’s collective sin). This unique relationship gets challenged from time to time and leaches a culmination in the Incarnate Word, Jesus the Christ, who offends them in part by claiming that he has “other sheep who are not of this fold” and goes out of his way to help, heal and associate with those who are outside the accepted limits of “who matters”. It was even a challenge for the faith community in Jerusalem, after the Resurrection to even accept that God might actually be calling into a relationship with Godself in and through Jesus: Peter and Paul almost came to blows over it when Paul was baptising Gentile converts.
So we see Moses, in the Old Testament reading asking for a special revelation to assure him of his leadership role. The people don’t trust Moses, who seems to have a habit of disappearing up a mountain for forty days and having private conversations with Yahweh. I said last week that they were a pack of inveterate grumblers. Yet God never loses patience and, in their understanding, time and time again promises that he is with them. “Just trust me” is the repeated message.
We still want to put God in a box and issue instructions to our pet deity. Yet God cannot be controlled: God is original “force of nature”: that might be better expressed as “nature is the original force of God”. How much of your trouble comes about when we try to manipulate things our way: they seem to go right for a while but then we run into strife eventually. We wanted to control Nature and shape it to our ends, and what happens? We live with the consequences and now have to scramble to try to repair the damage. We can see this happening time and again through human history: colonisation without consent, persecution based on race, religion or politics….. The inevitable result is the debasing of the Divine Image in which all humanity, indeed all Creation, is created. It exists in and for God’s glory and to debase it is a rejection of God himself.
The Pharisees trying to trap Jesus fall into their own trap, as we have just heard in the Gospel reading. In the last analysis, all things belong to God, no matter how much we have abused them. God has the last word, yet continually reveals himself to us as our understanding of what it means to be human is deepened by our using our God-given intelligence and inquisitiveness to enquire into the nature of things, opening the possibility of deepening our relationship with the One who created us and continually calls us into deeper union with Himself.
There’s a prayer I use with increasing frequency: “Lord, tell me what you want me to hear; show me what you want me to see; teach me what you want me to learn; lead me where you want me to go; take me and make me one of your own. Holy God, hear my prayer. Amen”
Let God BE God, and if we do that, we might just find ourselves so that WE can truly become WE.
The Lord be with you.
Intercessions
Heavenly Father, we pray for the many people whose lives have been torn apart by conflict in Israel and Gaza.
We pray especially for those who have died, those who are grieving, the injured and those now without food, shelter or medical supplies. Strengthen and support the work of all relief organisations.
We pray for the safe release of Israeli hostages and for strength for their families
We pray also for those who have the power to bring peace. May they be touched by a spirit of compassion and kindness.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer
We give thanks for the foundation of the United Nations Organisation, whose inauguration we celebrate this week, and pray for its continuing work of reconciliation, just development, and education
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer
We pray for the Church throughout the world, for its unity and peace; remember the Anglican Church throughout the world, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the East, especially the Diocese of Jerusalem; Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, the United Church of Pakistan; the National Council of Churches in Australia, and the Diocese of Wangaratta. In this diocese for our Bishops, the Manning Valley Anglican College, and the Parishes of Nelson Bay and Stockton. In our parish we pray for our clergy, George and Gail and for or Parish Councillors, and for our fellow-Christians in Thornton Grace Church
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer
For the sick and needy: for those who whom prayer has been sought, for their healing and strength, for Geoff and Mary Leonard, Jenny, Indi, Barbara D, Val Frazer, Lynn, Betty, Les, Ann, Daphne, Bruce, Debbie M, Samuel, John J, Nicole M, Jenny H, Didi, Peter McC, Susan, Elizabeth, Dawn A, Heidi, Wendy F, Peter, Vicki I, Jenny M, Dal D, Ben, Keith, Sammy Jo and Noah, Stuart, Sue T, Derek, Zoe, Paul and Katrina H, Levi, Arlo, Grace, Roslyn, Lisa, Ryan, Robbie, Luke S
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer
We give you thanks for the fellowship we share with all your saints and especially Mary the Blessed Mother, Paul our Patron, and James of Jerusalem,; and we commend into your loving care those anniversaries fall at this time; Amy Smith, Colin Gregory, Louise Woods, and Neville Phillips and all those whom we have loved and see no more.
Holy God, you have promised to hear us: grant that what we have asked in faith we may, by your grace, receive, through Jesus Christ our Lord
SAINTS and COMMEMORATIONS of the Week
23 James of Jerusalem, brother of the Lord, martyr (62) leader of the Christian community after the martyrdom of James the brother of John and the flight of Peter from Jerusalem, he was stoned to death on the orders of the High Priest. Thought to be the writer of the Epistle of James,
24 Inauguration of the United Nations (1945) the first President of the Assembly was Dr HV Evatt (“The Doc”) who became a long-time Leader of the Opposition in our national Parliament
25 Crispin and Crispinian martyrs at Rome (287) (England) thought to be brothers, martyred under Diocletian. If you remember your Shakespeare, in Henry V he has the king encouraging his troops before the Battle of Agincourt on the eve their feast day.
26 Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, scholar (899) (England) resisted the Viking invasions and managed to unite the smaller western kingdoms in to Wessex. Lousy cook (remembered for burning the cakes!) and known as a scholar.
28 Ss Simon and Jude Apostles and Martyrs (transferred to next Sunday)
The Diocesan auditing procedure for safe ministry practice now requires us to reproduce this statement on our regular bulletins and mailouts.
SAFE MINISTRY IN THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF NEWCASTLE
As a parish we have taken steps to keep our environment safe. Clergy and volunteers are subject to strict requirements such as Working With Children Checks and Safe Ministry training. We are committed to being a safe place where survivors of abuse experience care and support.
A link to our Parish Safe Ministry Policy is being placed on our Parish Website.
FAITHFUNESS IN SERVICE IN THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF NEWCASTLE
This is code for personal behaviour and practice of pastoral ministry b clergy and church workers. A copy of this code can be found at https://newcastleanglican.org.au/wp-content/uploads2020/08/faithfuness-in-service-anglican-diocese-of-newcastle-july-2020.pdf
The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle takes allegations of misconduct and abuse seriously. If you would like to speak to someone, please phone 1800 774 945 or contact the through: https://www.newcastleanglican.org.au/governance/safe-ministryprofeessional-standards/
Newcastle Anglicans expresses a profound regret that children were harmed while participating in activities associated with the Diocese. It offers its apology to every survivor. More information can be found at: https:///www.newcastleanglican.org.au/governance/safe-ministry/redress/
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