Unconscious influences 2

Readings: Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16.

We hear the psalmist desperately seeking the Lord, “In thee, O Lord do I seek refuge, let me never be put to shame… Incline thy ear to me, rescue me speedily, be thou a rock of refuge to me, a strong fortress to save me!” (Psalm 31:1-2). But how do we know when God is there. Or if God has heard our prayer?

The obvious answer is through the same means as we know anything, through our five senses. Arguably while God remains unseen, the Holy One is tangible in the exactly the same way as anything else in our life. I know this is a provocative statement, but let me continue.

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Liz Morris – 18 September 2022

Good morning. As always, it is a privilege to delve into God’s word with you, and I wish to thank Brooke for her preparation and leadership of our service today. Welcome to all present and to those online to what is a challenging, but important topic.

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Verse: St Paul in Acts, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God just as all of you are today.” (22:3).

Why do I believe in God [or not]? How do I express this? You might think such questions are straightforward, but I think not. When it comes to who we are spiritually we tend to assume a lot. We dwell in our personal history and rarely stop to think about where we have come from.

Paul was clear in his identity: He was a Jew in the multi-racial Roman Empire, so he believed in one God not the many of Greek and Roman paganism. He was a Roman citizen which gave him many privileges. It is implied because he was born in a Roman province (If Jesus was a citizen he could not flogged without an appeal to Caesar. He would not have been crucified.) Paul was educated at the feet of Gamaliel a pharisee and leader in the Sanhedrin. Paul as a Roman citizen was free to travel through the empire and as an educated pharisee he could teach and preach in synagogues where-ever he went. We see this in the Book of Acts. Paul knew the OT scriptures and how to interpret them as a pharisee. It was a good start, but he had to re-think it all after becoming a follower of Christ.

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Message – Sunday 4th September – JJ Hamilton

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I picked today’s readings, slightly different from the lectionary, because I decided that I wanted to talk about creation on the first Sunday of spring, and I wanted to talk about joy and community on the week before our congregational meeting.

I had Narelle and Sumira read the whole of genesis one, despite the fact that I am sure you know genesis one, because it is a narrative, because there’s poetry in the repetition, and I wanted us to sink into that.

But really, all I have today today hinges on 1:27. We read the CEV for english translations in this community, but the version I grew up with was NIV: ‘So God created mankind in his own image’.

The first thing we are going to pull from that is, of course, that God is a creator.

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Apparently, there are 413 commandments in the Bible. Why so many? [you might ask] Well, there has to be at least one we can keep!

But there are some commonly assumed commandments that are not there. “Thou shalt not be angry” is not one of the 10 commandments (just do not take God’s name in vain). Nor is “Thou shalt not have conflict” (but try not to kill your neighbour).

Conflict is perfectly natural. As human beings we don’t always agree and, of course, some things matter and cannot be ignored. 

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