We are all part of this wonderful Cosmos, always have been and always will be. This unknowable life-force-energy mystery, which I am comfortable calling ‘God’, has been, is, and always will be the active creative force in this changing, expanding and evolving wonderful Cosmos. And in ME!!!
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These Sundays are Seasons of Creation Sundays, so, each different aspect of creation is the focus of each Church Service. This Humanity Sunday gives the church a golden opportunity to celebrate the mysterious wonder and the beauty of humanity.
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All my life, I have been taught by the church that I have been created ‘in the image of God’. This is one of the fundamental teachings about human beings that has been given to me by the church.
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The following church service was conducted by George Stuart at Toronto New South Wales in Australia March 2021.
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In the pursuit of ‘Truth-Telling’, I believe the church has some difficult ‘Truth-Telling’ to do about our past particularly regarding our sacred book, the Bible. Why the Bible? Because it comes to us from our somewhat distant church past. This ‘Truth-Telling’ is not absent but I believe it has to be far more obvious to the general public and also needs to be given more voice within the church to help our members confront the issues this ancient book raises. By this, I believe the church may gain again some credibility in our world today.
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I need to address this important subject because prayer is such a significant part of public church services and also it can be a vital part of one’s personal religious life. Some people engage in praying very frequently and regularly. Some people call it a time of meditation, a quiet time, time given to God, or something else. For many people, they feel it is an important way in which they can grow in their personal relationship with God. However many in the church have serious questions about prayer; how it works and if it does.
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New lyrics to the tune Jerusalem.
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We wish you love, like soft and kindly blessings
We savor from a fire’s gentle glow;
Reminding us that life is good and friendly,
That warmth and tenderness can always flow.
Prayers are a significant part of public church services. They can also form an important part of one’s personal life. Some people engage in praying frequently and regularly. For some it is a formal, repetitive experience, performing the same ritual at the same time each day; for others it can be a long or short intimate time of spontaneous, deep reflection/sharing. For some it can involve significant searching for a way through the maze of life, while for others it may be the outpouring of grief, sorrow or thanksgiving. For many it is a time of self-reflection or contemplation of one’s particular situation.
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Can we get inside this story,
Try to think as lepers thought?
Totally despised, rejected;
Life for them was worse than naught.
The ‘Sacred’ has so many names
By which we do adore
The mys’try of the universe,
The ever puzz’ling ‘More’.
Look at Jesus; hear the story;
Probe the purpose of his life;
See the struggle and the glory,
All the conflict, all the strife.
Searching for the Christmas spirit –
Is it heard when angels sing?
Is it found in deeds of merit?
Is it heard when church bells ring?
Come and treasure Jesus’ memory;
All the beauty it can bring.
How do we celebrate the birth of a baby who changed the world? Is it not by trying to follow his teachings and example by loving, by being generous in our giving, by being aware of those who are lonely and trying to befriend them, by being inclusive of those who are different and by bringing hope to our troubled world? Celebration and challenge; that’s what Christmas is for me.
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Miracles of human birthing –
We but stand in silent awe.
God in each and every earthling
Gives to life its sacred core.
Come and ponder all the mystery of new life that we adore
God is the love that feeds my soul;
God is the love that makes me whole;
God is the love that flows from me;
God is the love that sets me free.
To live as fully as we can
In every human way
Is to fulfil our sacred right
Each moment of each day.
When I pray I feel more deeply;
Reaching out with thanks and praise;
When I pray I think more deeply;
Pondering life’s puzzling maze;
I look about, and when I do, I see the wond’rous sight
Of the cycles of the cosmos, changing darkness into light;
When I ponder on this miracle, I’m swamped with great delight;
God’s resurrection way!
Love is the source of comfort and delight;
Love shines in darkness, bringing us the light;
When we despair and purpose seems at an end
We long for love on which we can depend.
The life of Jesus shows a way
Of living life in love each day.
He lived with kindness, but was strong
In striking out against all wrong.
From a very different culture,
Flowing from some ancient place,
Stories in our sacred scripture
Authored by a diff’rent race.
The outside shed where Jesus lay
Was home to goat and ox;
It was a dirty place to be;
Fit for the shepherds’ flocks;
In the mild mid-summer pleasant winds can blow;
Balmy zephyrs soothe us; wafting to and fro;
I invite you into the way I celebrate Christmas. It may be different to the way you celebrate and think about Christmas, but I ask you to join me as I bring you into what I think can be a joyful way of celebration in the 21st Century. One of the biblical scholars has helped me crystallise what I find difficult about the traditional presentations of Christmas. Greg Jenks, in his book ‘Jesus then and Jesus now’ has asked the question, “Has the Jesus tradition become a giant fairy-tale for children, and little more than an annual exercise of ‘let’s pretend’ for grown-ups?” (Page 123) That is the question which plagues me every Christmas.
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I support very much the call to ‘create new memories’ for Christmas and I believe the place to begin is with children. However, one of the best known children’s Christmas carols is ‘Away in the Manger’, and this much loved carol has many wrong messages imbedded in the words. The second verse of the traditional words speak of Jesus ‘looking down from the sky’ and the last verse has Jesus up in heaven and the singer requesting him to ‘fit us for heaven to live with you there’. I believe my third verse takes the dualism and the ‘away’ Jesus out and replaces it with the Biblical teaching of very last verse of Matthew – ‘And I will be with you always, to the end of the age’. This surely is the Gospel.
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When Christmas comes it brings great joy;
This story of a baby boy;
The birth of life – divine event
That tells us all of God’s intent
To be at one with human life,
In all its beauty, all its strife.
Introduction In my faith journey, I have struggled with the concept of the Trinity. Like many other followers of Jesus I suspect, I have lived for many years with questions, even misgivings, about this doctrine. The orthodox …
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When beauty casts its glow,
When children play in snow
I softly shout for joy!
1. When we battle anxious moments,
Eager to be free from fear,
When our past controls our present
And the future’s far from clear,
The invitation is announced
To greatest and to least;
For all are welcome; “Come with us;
Share this symbolic feast.”
A sacred community, if it is to be an authentic representation of the life and teachings of Jesus for today, needs to express its concerned opposition in both words, worship and actions, to injustice, violence and corruption – just as Jesus did. There is truth in the statement that “Jesus confronts more than he comforts.” When sacred communities look to the needs of its members in preference to the needs of non- members something is not quite right. The church is one of those organisations which exists for people who do not belong to it. As Jesus was a man for others, so the church is to be there for others.
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Oh, when we think in depth on the reality
Of life emerging everywhere on earth,
We share the restlessness and rich vitality
With creatures in our home of noble birth.
‘Advancing’ in the spirit by which we can be fed;
Our search for truth is central in all that’s done and said;
In openness we search but it’s not for certainty,
For God is not restricted to our theology.
If our beliefs prevent our search
For new and different creeds;
Let us beware of narrow views
Where dogma often breeds;
With new, exciting facts we learn
Much love can come about;
Yes! Those who grow in their beliefs
Can sing in praise of doubt.
That Friday, oh so long ago,
Why do we call it ‘Good’?
It tells a wretched tale of woe,
Of thorns and cross of wood.
