https://vimeo.com/441031209
Home Brewed Worship – Order of Service May 1, 2020
An apology to Kanthi, I had intended to put subtitles into the video of this week’s readings but a technical issue (I had a few this week) stopped me from being able to to so. Instead I encourage people to listen to the reading and enjoy hearing Kanthi bring you the Gospel today.
Call To Worship:
A song that invites us to reflect on the words of Psalm 31
Reflect:
When In Need – A reflection after Psalm 31 by Rev Dr Sarah Agnew
Prayer:
Song:
Readings:
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
John 14:1-14 (Kanthi reads this week’s reading in Sinhalese)
Acts 7:55-60
1 Peter 2:2-10
Song:
Nada te turbe – A Taizé Tune (Lyrics & Translation)
Reflection on the scripture:
Darren reflects on this week’s reading from the Gospel of John
Song:
I Will Sing Of Your Love Love Love
Prayers For Others:
Caroline leads us in this week’s prayers for others
Song:
A Blessing:
Reflection – April 26, 2020
2019 Annual Report – Gungahlin Uniting Church
In May 2019 we gathered around Jack and Tess and celebrated their wedding, it was a major highlight for me in a year which has gone way too quickly. The celebration of Jack & Tess gathered their families, people from the Benedictus community, Tuggeranong UC, Holy Covenant Anglican and a huge collection of friends from all over the place. Together we sung, laughed, cried and we danced as we revelled in the joy of a new marriage, it was one of the most beautiful ecumenical celebrations I’ve participated in.
This year has also brought the deaths of Jae Ho and, more recently Danila, and we’ve mourned their loss as community, many of us are still working through the reality that they’re no longer with us.
Personally, 2019 has been the year where GUC has moved from being my employer, to being my community of faith, my home. The first few months of 2018 we were really just settling in and getting to know people, it was a whirlwind, the last 12 months however has been a time where I’ve fallen in love with the people of this community and starting to dream about the kind of church we can build together.
There are many churches in Canberra for people to belong to, but, in my opinion there are not enough communities like ours out there. We need to continue to celebrate what we are building here, and proclaim loudly that GUC is an open, inclusive, playful, intergenerational and welcoming community, where all are welcome and all are invited to find ways to live out their faith and calling, no matter their age, gender, language, culture, gender identity or faith tradition. We also need to continue to look at ourselves in the mirror to find new ways to improve our hospitality, challenge our presumptions, play and celebrate more. How will you help us do that this year?
On Difficult Questions
My family recently holidayed in Western Australia, we walked on beaches of white quartz sand & bright blue water, amongst giant Tingle trees, saw Southern Right Whales up close, huddled around a fire place at night, drove over 3000 kms & climbed up hills & scrambled over granite to see parts of the world we’ve never seen before, it was beautiful & the time away together was awesome.
One day we decided to explore the Albany Whaling Station, when it closed it was the last operating whale station in Australia. Together we walked around the site, hearing stories of the people & communities who used to hunt, kill & process whales as well as the history of the whale industry.
I found the images & stories were quite confronting, so, as I walked with our 4 year old around the station, I’d regularly try to grab his attention & distract him from the most confronting parts of the stories we were hearing.
At one time, my son & I had walked away from the tour and accidentally found ourselves looking at a photo of a whale being “processed.”
I almost broke into tears when my son asked
“Daddy, why would people kill whales?”
And so we stood there together, on the ground where over 15000 whales were killed, entering into a difficult conversation about our world, about money, & how we have not cared for & loved the world around us.
It’s a question I think we’ll be exploring together for most of our life.
It’s a question that asks about how we care for God’s creation & which asks more of us & our faith than one simple answer could ever provide.
As we continued to think through the deep question he’d asked we would look out to the ocean & see some Southern Right Whales swimming in the distance.
I’m glad that I was there with him, and as I was asking the same question I was able to suggest that maybe we could help each other work through that question together. Hard questions often require a community, or a trusted relationship to process.
Who do you go to when you have difficult questions?
Are you a person that others find safe to ask difficult questions?
How do you work through questions that don’t have immediate & easy answers?
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