The Creation Groans!

 Genesis 1:26-28 & Romans 8:19-23

Wednesday this week was World Earth Day. Today we are reflecting as a congregation on the groaning of creation. In Paul’s letter to the Romans there is a clear connection made between the state of the creation and the anticipated renewal of all things in and through Jesus Christ.

The environmental issues of our day are complex. They are different to Paul’s time. But, from the beginning of the scriptures, God gave human beings a special role in the care of the creation. And, Jesus is recognised as the first born of the new creation. So, the rising of Jesus on Easter Day is not simply about human beings but the renewal of all things.

 These ideas challenge the individualistic approach that we have developed in our relationship with God. In ancient times the story of the prophets, from within Israel, and people like Ruth and Job, who were not Israelites, declared difficult truths. They called whole people of God back to God’s purposes again, and again, and again.

 There is hope for us inasmuch as despite the disconnection that people have with God, the book of Lamentations reminds us, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

The daily need for God’s constant mercies and steadfast love is understood by most of us. We generally do admit that none of us is perfect. But we also participate in networks of sinfulness that cause harm to others and the creation without even thinking about it.

If we ask ourselves, ‘How is that whole dominion thing working out?’ The answer is not so good.

Earlier in Paul’s letter, in Chapter 3, Paul challenges the people in Rome to wake up from sleep. This morning I am going to share a reflection about us waking up to the responsibility that we have, to live caring for the creation. This reflection contains a litany of information. I have provided links and details for you of the many references I will include. 

As I share this message we will all be challenged by the prophetic voices from our faith and culture and the call to respond to God’s vision of the renewal of all things.

The clock alarm rings “wake up” it screams.

 It is 1967 the Vietnam War continues as protests opposing the war grow. The Summer of Love and the hippie movement is in full swing. There is a fundamental question about whether there is there a better way to live. There is a six-day war in the Middle East. Meanwhile in Australian are voting to approve changes to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the census.

In March, in the Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Lynne White Jnr publishes an article called The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis Whyte tells us that “in its Western form Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen.” P 1205 The notion of dominance in Genesis is cited as part of the problem and Whyte says, “we shall continue to have a worsening ecological crisis until we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence save to serve man.” P.1207

Our hope is that Jesus is renewing all things.

We can only pray that God’s mercies are new every morning.

The alarm clock rings “wake up” it screams.

It is 1977. Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind are released. A memo is sent to Jimmy Carter, the American President, from his Chief Science Advisor, Frank Press. It speaks about something that is not a new issue but an important one. The issue is the amount of CO2 (Carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere. In 1977, Frank Press postulates:

“The urgency of the problem derives from our inability to shift rapidly to non-fossil fuel sources once the climatic effects become evident not long after the year 2000; the situation could grow out of control before alternate energy sources and other remedial actions become effective.”

Meanwhile in Australia the Uniting Church in Australia launches with a Statement to the Nation in which we declare, “We are concerned with the basic human rights of future generations and will urge the wise use of energy, the protection of the environment and the replenishment of the earth's resources for their use and enjoyment.”

Our hope is that Jesus is renewing all things.

I can only pray that God’s mercies are new every morning.

The alarm clock rings “wake up” it screams.

It is 1992 and there is hope in the world. Apartheid is ending in South Africa. A few years earlier in 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, whilst in 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev. The political philosopher Francis Fukuyama writes his seminal work The End of History and the Last Man. It claims, “the endpoint of mankind's (sic) ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."^[1]

In Brazil, The UN Conference on Environment and Development meets. It approves the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It opens with the words “Acknowledging that change in the Earth’s climate and its adverse effects are a common concern of humankind.” In the same year the environmentalists Peter Knutsdom and David Suzuki publish their book Wisdom of the Elders seeking to draw on ancient cultures for a different understanding of our relationship with the creation.

Our hope is that Jesus is renewing all things.

We can only pray that God’s mercies are new every morning.

The alarm clock rings “wake up” it screams.

It is 1997 and scientists have been able to clone Dolly the Sheep, Hong Kong is ceded to the Chinese government, and Princess Diana dies in a tragic accident. Captain Charles Moore discovers the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This is a massive,1.6-million-square-kilometer convergence zone of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean, located between California and Hawaii. 

In December the UN Convention on Climate Change is operationalised in the Kyoto Protocol. It commits industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gases emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets.

Our hope is that Jesus is renewing all things.

We can only pray that God’s mercies are new every morning.

The alarm clock rings “wake up” it screams.

It is the year 2000. The Y2K crisis was averted or was never really a problem. Australia has not signed up to the Kyoto protocols. Syndey Hosts the Olympics and the GST is introduced in Australia.

Meanwhile the atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen and his colleague and biologist Eugene F. Stoermer, publish a two-page article in the Global Change Newsletter. The title of the article is “The Anthropocene”. Crutzen and Stoermer argue that we are no longer living in the geological era called the Holocene but are in an era in which humanity is shaping the geological future of the planet, the Anthropocene.

Our hope is that Jesus is renewing all things.

We can only pray that God’s mercies are new every morning.

The alarm clock rings “wake up” it screams.

It is 2007 and despite the Howard’s government’s refusal to sign the Kyoto Agreement the Queensland Government published Climate Smart 2005. In 2005 it declared, “The available scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that climate change is happening and is a serious global threat that demands an urgent response. The possible impacts are significant for Queensland’s environment, economy and communities.” Maybe they had read Tim Flannery’s book The Weather Makers published in the same year.

 

In 2006 the former US Vice President Al Gore releases his movie An Inconvenient Truth. In Australia, The Uniting Church releases a statement entitled Forthe Sake of the Planet. It declares, “The Uniting Church’s commitment to the environment arises out of the Christian belief that God, as the Creator of the universe, calls us into a special relationship with the creation – a relationship of mutuality and interdependence which seeks the reconciliation of all creation with God.”

During his 2007 campaign to become Prime Minister Kevin Rudd famously makes this statement. That “Climate Change ... “is the one of the greatest scientific, economic, and moral challenges of our time.

And it is scientists who have been the town criers of the modern age - warning us, for decades, of the impending danger of global warming.”

Rudd becomes our Prime Minister and commissions the economist Ross Garnaut to prepare his Report. It comes out the following year and accurately predicts the devasting fires of 2019 and 2020. In January of 2020, The Australian Academy of Science issue a statement confirming that the devastating fires were a result of climate change.

In 2008, the same year that the Garnaut report was released the Wivenhoe Dam levels bottomed out at 15% after sustained drought.

Across the other side of the world the Polish-British philosopher Zygmunt Bauman asked in the title of his book Does Ethics have a Chance in a World of Consumers?

Our hope is that Jesus is renewing all things.

We can only pray that God’s mercies are new every morning.

The alarm clock rings “wake up” it screams.

It is 2013 and the warning signs continue to grow and the prophecies and predictions abound. A visiting minister from the church in Kiribati asks of the Moreton Rivers Presbytery whether we think Australia will accept the entire population of Kiribati when it becomes uninhabitable due to the sea level rises. We don’t know built we do know Australia has had strong border policies.

The Australian ethicist Clive Hamiton had published his book Requiem for a Species in 2010. Hamilton laments the failure of humanity to respond to the climate crisis. Another Australian Clive, Clive Ayers, a retired Uniting Church Minister is in the middle of his PhD, which will be published a book called Earth, Faith, and Mission in 2013. He argues caring for the earth is not an optional extra but is fundamental to Christian mission.

Meanwhile for those who are watching closely the first daily record is logged with a reading of over 400 parts per million of Co2 in the atmosphere. It occurs on May 9^th 2013 in Hawaii on Mauna Loa.   

With so many prophetic voices calling out attention to the plight of the planet it is little wonder we feel tired.

Our hope is that Jesus is renewing all things.

We can only pray that God’s mercies are new every morning.

The alarm clock rings “wake up” it screams.

It is 2015. Pope Francis writes his encyclical Laudito Si’ which means “Praise be to you”. The Pope wrote “In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.”

He goes to say, “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will … This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22).”

Pope Francis is right the creation groans. The Paris Climate Agreement is signed, and more commitments are made to respond to the crisis.

Our hope is that Jesus is renewing all things.

We can only pray that God’s mercies are new every morning.

The alarm clock rings “wake up” it screams.

It is 2026. Earth Day has just passed us by and world overshoot Day looms on July 24^th. World Overshoot Day is the day we will have used the worlds resources allocated for this year. After July 24^th we will be borrowing from future years. Australia passed our overshoot Day on March 16. There is war in the Middle East, in Sudan and in Ukraine.

In the last IPCC report we were told that the earth is already 1.1 degrees above the 1850-1900 levels whilst CO2 levels now sit daily over 400 parts per million. I’m no scientist but they say when we hit 450 parts per million things will get much worse.

Our hope is that Jesus is renewing all things.

We can only pray that God’s mercies are new every morning.

The alarm clock rings “wake up” it screams.

We are not alone in this world. Jesus has risen. He is with us, the firstborn of the new creation.

The Australia Christian songwriter Geoff Bullock reminds us that we are not alone.

“We do not worship Jesus as a historical figure who inspires us to live better lives. Jesus is eternally alive. He is not remembered for Who He was, He is recognised for who he is … Jesus is more present with me, within me, and me within Him than the disciples ever encountered.”

As people of faith seeking to be lifelong followers of Christ we find our belonging in this world alongside all other creatures. We acknowledge that we are the first born of a new creation. A new creation that we are to continue to care for as we lean into our hope in God’s love.

For as Ashtyn Adams remind us. “Hope is a freedom from crippling fear, from the lie that nothing can be done; it will be the God-given tool to liberate us from the paralysis the climate crisis can often make us feel. Hope, in its truest form, unveils the problem and lets us confront it with confidence. It is always first engaged in a sort of radical naming and truth telling of the way things are, but does not leave us there to be swallowed by it.”

Let us take hope in these words. Let uss remember.
 

Jesus is renewing all things.

God’s mercies are new every morning.

 

 

Easter Day: Foolishness and Hope

Matthew 28:1-10

There is an old tradition that comes to us from medieval times captured by a little
object in my bag. 

This hat acknowledges a tradition in which the Fool, sometimes called a Jester or a Wit, often had freedom to speak truth to power. It captures the foolishness of the Christian message of hope in the face of a troubled world.

In Christianity there is a tradition of people who are recognized as holy fools. These people were considered bizarre and strange, obscene even in their witness, as they sought to follow Jesus. Today it would seem foolish to speak hope in the face of such hopelessness in the world.

When the women went to anoint Jesus’s body the word of both the angels and of Jesus to these terrified and confused women may have been as perplexing to them. 

“Do not be afraid”.

Do not be afraid in a world ruled by Romans.

Do not be afraid when they had the power to put anyone to death.

Do not be afraid in the face of earthquakes and miracles.

The women would have gone to the tomb to anoint Jesus body. They would have been overcome by despair and grief and hopelessness.

Do not be afraid. These were words of reassurance meant to give hope in the face of all that life can throw at us. They seem like foolishness.

I wonder what it is that causes you to be here this morning.

What hope you are looking for? As a congregtaion we have a vision of coming to worship with a sense of joy and expectation.

And what hopelessness are you feeling about life in the world today?

There is war in the Middle East and in Ukraine.

Lives are being lost.

The precious finite resources of our planet

Are being consumed by those

Who lust for and compete for power.

 

Oil prices are being driven up.

The economic balance of every nation

Seems to be on a precipice.

We are in a cost of living crisis.

House are unaffordable and in short supply.

 

The climate is changing.

Weather events are becoming more severe.

The oceans are rising.

People are being displaced.

 

Ecosystems are being destroyed. 

Species are dying out.

The oceans are polluted.

Clean water is scarcer than we may think.

And food security is a major issue.

 

Misogyny is on the rise.

Domestic violence lurks in the shadows.

Racism and xenophobia is one of our most pressing issues.

 

Generative AI is rapidly changing the world.

We no longer can be sure of what is true.

Our biases are being fed and amplified.

AI is draining our resources.

And the future of employment is insecure.

 

It is not surprising that young people fear for their future.

Nothing has meaning, nothing matters.

Nihilism is rife.

In the face of this doom and gloom comes the Easter message. 

Do not be afraid? He is not here, he has risen.

How can we make sense of hope this Easter?

How can we even speak of hope with so many problems in the world?

The open mouth of the tomb might as much resemble a cry of horror as much as it shouts with joy at the risen Lord.

Having faith in God and this story may sound foolish when even the gospels cannot agree upon how the events unfolded that morning.

So as foolish as it might sound, I want you to hear these words spoken for you, “Do not be afraid?” And I want to explore ways in which we might develop a deeper sense of hopefulness.

Let us dig into this idea of hope. Krista Tippet in her OnBeing Podcast series on hope says, “The word “hope” is a little bit ruined from overuse and from flimsy, superficial use.”

As I thought about this I was reminded of the difference between SMART Goals and BHAGs. SMART goals are specific measurable achievable realistic & timely whilst BHAGs are Big Hairy Audacious Goals. I think an Easter hope is more like a BHAG.

When Paul speaks about hope I think he  Paul spoke about.

For in hope we were saved.

Now hope that is seen is not hope.

For who hopes for what is seen?

But if we hope for what we do not see,

We wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:24)

This is a big hope not a domesticated hope. And waiting with patience in hope should not be thought of as a passive thing. I think it can involve what Christa Tippet calls developing a muscular hope. A hope that looks into the face of everything happening in our lives and in our world and continues to find hope. Hope in the possibility that there is something more, that we can hope in things unseen.

When the angels said to the women “Do not be afraid” the women were invited to begin a journey of learning to hope again. There was a gap between their expectation of finding Jesus body and what they encountered. Learning hope means being open to the unexpected possibilities of the miraculous. Learning to hope means listening deeply, reflecting and sharing with one another. It is about developing hope is a discipline of both the heart and mind which perseveres through the suffering, building character, and developing hope.

When Jesus appears to the women they discern his presence. Discerning hope is found in people who seek to seek to find God’s presence and peace in the world. One of my mentors Archbishop Michael Putney used to speak about when peace breaks out. Ross Gay, the poet, encourages people to look for delight in the world. Emily Dickinson is quoted as saying that “hope inspires the good to reveal itself”. As people of faith looking for the moments where we see peace break out, or we discern that there are things to delight in, helps us to strengthen our hope muscle and see the good in the world. Seeing the world with the eyes of our heart and so see signs that the kingdom of heaven has come close.

It is somewhat surprising, innovating even, that in all the gospels it was women who were the first witnesses of the resurrection. This was a daring choice that gave women a central place in the Christian story from the beginning. Sadly, something that has not always been apparent in the church. Seeing things from a different perspective is built into the Christian story. Innovating hope is about using our prophetic imagination refusing to accept the world as it is and instead seeing it as God intended it to be.

The theologian Tom Wright reflects on Christian hope in this way. He says,  “To hope for a better future in this world - for the poor, the sick, the lonely and depressed, for the slaves, the refugees, the hungry and homeless, for the abused, the paranoid, the downtrodden and despairing, and, in fact, for the whole wide, wonderful, and wounder world - is not something else, something extra, something tacked on to the gospel as an afterthought … It is central, essential, vital, and life-giving part of it.” (Surprised by Hope by Tom Wright)

Imagining a better world does not mean turning away from the predicament of this world. Hope is also about serving. The women turned their lamenting into loving action as an act of courageous hope. As we look at the suffering in the world we are called to have a courageous hope, to choose bravely, to roll our sleeves up and to engage in goodness and kindness which makes the world a better place. The prophet Isaiah called the people to "Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." (Isaiah 1:17) Hope is about actively becoming light to the world.

This brings me to the last of the reflections on building our hope muscle. The women are told to go and share their news with the disciples. They were sent back into the community of belonging. To be involved in a community of belonging hope means risking the intimacy of relationships with others who are not like us.  In a world that is crying out in hope for a sense of community and belonging the church continues to exist as a place of belonging, even in brokenness, for churches are far from perfect places. We are drawn together into one body through baptism and as we share bread and wine.

Growing as lifelong disciples of Christ means growing in our hope even though we may feel as if it is still Friday afternoon or Holy Saturday. Here these words of hope. Do not be afraid. He is not here. He has risen. Take a few moments to think about how you can develop a muscular hope based in Jesus’s resurrection to find hope in things unseen amid the troubles within your life and in the world.

• Learning hope means being open to unexpected miracles.
• Discerning hope is about finding God’s presence and peace through others.
• Innovating hope involves using our creativity and imagination.
• Turning lamenting into loving action shows courageous hope
• A community of belonging hope requires taking risks in relationships with people who are different from us.

International Women's Day: He Sits by a Well

Reading John 4:5-42

Today is International Women’s Day and it is serendipitous that today was a day that Cynthia offered to assist lead worship. It is also serendipitous that today we have the story of the meeting of Jesus with a Samaritan woman at the well. Today is also a day that I chose to connect with the concept of our congregation value of innovating. I hope and pray that some of the things that we have included today in the service and sermon might be taking us all to new insights.

I also want to express my deep gratitude that I am part of a Church movement that has recognised the role of women in ordained ministry. I was blessed to be ordained alongside a woman and good friend Rev Dr Wendi Sergeant, over 27 years ago.

The theme of International Women’s Day is “Give to Gain” and is accompanied by the Give to Gain pose. You will notice the contrast in this pose with what I see as a symbol of praying with closed and clasped hands. The Give to gain pose has cupped hands out front, in this we universally we signify the act of giving and receiving. Throughout history, the open palm has been associated with truth, honesty, and openness.

It is my practice to pray at the beginning of preaching. Today I want to invite you to strike this Give to Gain pose as we pray for the ability to discern what God might be saying to us today.

Let us pray

Loving God we come into your presence prayerfully giving our attention to your voice and receiving wisdom that leads to transformation. We come with a commitment to be seeking truth, honesty, and openness about who you are and who we are called to be. In Christ we pray. Amen.

In the spirit of gaining from the voice of women I want to begin by referencing the speech by the President of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar made at the United Nations on the 23^rd of September 2025. In the opening of her speech Musar points to the hopefulness following the end of World War 2 in 1945. The hope that a new era of peace and cooperation would emerge “embodied by the creation of the United Nations.” There was a parallel movement during the same era that established the World Council of Churches as well.

In 2025 her assessment was that the vision of peace, security and co-operation “has not materialised. In fact, the situation has worsened.” She outlines issues within the security council, the lagging of the sustainable development goals, issues around the seeming irrelevance of international laws, a retreat from both the convention on genocide and the commitment countries had made to address climate change. In her speech she asks, “how are we to explain these trends … to our children?”

I wonder what the President of Slovenia might say about the events of the last week. We lament and mourn that yet another round of human conflict and war is underway and lives are being lost.

Her speech is a compelling call to action. It also contains a direct challenge to us about empowering women and girls. She says, “True equity requires systemic change, and so women’s empowerment must remain at the heart of our global agenda. International organisations must weave a gender perspective into every strand of policymaking. And that should be a result of effective participation of women and girls themselves.”

This speech by Nataša Pirc Musar may seem a distant thing from a dusty well in Samaria over 2000 years ago but as people of faith the question which always lies before us is how the stories of the scriptures transcend the moment of their telling and coincide with our reality. Let me say that again, “as people of faith the question which always lies before us is how the stories of the scriptures transcend the moment of their telling and coincide with our reality”.

Let me share a vision of the interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. It is written in the form of a poem and was inspired by the commentary on this passage written by another woman, Reverend Professor Dorothy Lee.

He sits by a well
By Peter Lockhart

In the heat of the day
He sits
By a well
He thirsts
We all thirst
Maslow understood
Water is life and
Without water
There is
No life

A woman arrives
And he steps
And steps again
And steps once more
And steps yet again
Crossing boundaries
Of culture
Of race
Of religion
Of gender, and
He says,

“Give me a drink”

He proclaims
“I thirst”
His humanity
His mortality laid bare
“I thirst”
Words that echo
In our minds
Of another day
Of nails and hard wood
And sour wine
On a sponge
“I thirst”

 
He is truly one of us
One of all of us
He is human

Yet …

He is more
Word made flesh
Living Water
 

And she
She is
She is all of us
 

We do not know
If he was
Able to
Slake his thirst
But there is
Reciprocity
In the request
An offering made
From a
Human to
The divine, and
 

An offer made
From the divine
To the human
Living water
Her soul
Our souls,
Longing, longing
For God
As a deer
Longs for

The flowing stream
Of being known
Of being accepted
Of being understood
Of being acknowledged
Of belonging

 

Living water
Poured out
Into the dry lands
Of her existence
For he knew the
Trials and tribulations
That may have led to
Five husbands
And yet another man
But with
No judgement
Just invitation
To worship
In Spirit
And in Truth?

The Truth
Who is he
Who comes
As the Way
And the Life
To meet us
To meet us
In our needs
With living water

 
As water flows
From beside a well
In Samaria, and from
A wound in his side
We find hope
For this is
Living water
In which
We are known
You and I
And you  
And you
And you and I
 
This is Spirit
And this Truth
 
In the heat of the day
He sits
By a well
And says  
“All are welcome”
All are welcome
To sit with him here
Who is both human
And yet …
Fully divine
As he steps
And steps again
And steps once more
And steps yet again
To welcome us
Into his life
 
(Pause)

 As we sit with the words of this poem about Jesus and the woman, I was led to sharing another poem with you. It is a poem called “Breathe” by Becky Hemsley. When I first read it, I was reminded of an often quoted section of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” I have asked Vicki to read the poem. And as you listen I wonder if the woman in this poem is having a divine experience of acceptance similar to the one of the woman by the well.

 

Breathe

By Becky Hemsley

she sat at the back
and they said she was shy
she led from the front
and they hated her pride
 
they asked her advice
and then questioned her guidance
they branded her loud
then were shocked by her silence
 
when she shared no ambition
they said it was sad
so she told them her dreams
and they said she was mad
 
they told her they'd listen
then covered their ears
and gave her a hug
whilst they laughed at her fears
 
and she listened to all of it
thinking she should
be the girl they told her to be
best as she could
 
but one day she asked
what was best for herself
instead of trying
to please everyone else
 
so she walked to the forest
and stood with the trees
she heard the wind whisper
and dance with the leaves
 
and she spoke to the willow
the elm and the pine
and she told them what
she'd been told time after time
 
she told them she never
felt nearly enough
she was either too little
or far, far too much
 
too loud or too quiet
too fierce or too weak
too wise or too foolish
too bold or too meek
 
then she found a small clearing
surrounded by firs
and she stopped and she heard
what the trees said to her
 
and she sat there for hours
not wanting to leave
for the forest said nothing...
it just let her breathe 

Talking to the Wild: The bedtime stories we never knew we needed.

 As we continue to discern what God might be saying to us today let us stay seated to sing the old song “I heard the voice of Jesus say”.

Song I heard the voice of Jesus say

The interaction between Jesus and the woman is interrupted. The interlopers are the disciples returning with food. Food and water, essential for human life, form the base of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Jesus is the bread of life as much as he is living water.

The disciples’ return signals the woman should go, and she returns to the village to share about her encounter with Jesus, the living water. It is the unspoken words of the disciples that are telling in this moment.

They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you speaking with her?”

To help us glimpse into the psyche of the disciples I have written a reflection which might have been a part of the longer internal discourse of one of the disciples. Imagine in your minds eye one of the disciples as he approaches Jesus speaking with the woman and hear his internal dialogue.

The disciple

By Peter Lockhart

Oh no, he's at it again.

Why are you speaking with her? What is it that you want? You are going to get us all in trouble. Oh, my goodness she is a Samaritan as well.

A Samaritan as well. at a well. It is just inviting more trouble. You will make us all unclean, gathering up all these outcasts that you do.

We should not be seen with her, let alone be seen talking to her. Why are you speaking with her? What business of yours is it to engage with her? We left you alone for just a little while. Couldn’t you just keep to yourself.

We should have made you stay with us. Kept you out of trouble. Kept us out of trouble. Kept you to ourselves. Don't the traditions and the rules apply to us all.

One of these days you're going to get me killed. One of these days you're going to get yourself killed.

We are following you. I want to trust you. I want to believe in you. You are our teacher, our Rabbi, but you are ours alone and we are yours.

Why are you speaking with her? What is it that you want? You are going to get us all in trouble.

Oh, thank goodness … she is leaving.

(pause)

Within the response of the disciple, we see the rigidity of the religious thinker. A thinker who says who is in and who is out at who fails to see the common humanity that we all share in. We all thirst. We all need water for life, and we need living water to really live.

Here beside this well, essential questions of our existence are being explored and reverberate through time and space to help us make connection with God and with the meaning of our lives and with the words of the Slovenia President

In the words of Nataša Pirc Musar we hear a plea for peace and cooperation which requires a deeper recognition of our common humanity. We all thirst for life. But for shared life in the world, we all need to be able step across the boundaries and barriers of race, and religion, and culture, and gender to share this beautiful world in which we live.

When Jesus asks the woman at the well for water he is being a subversive. He understands that “True equity requires systemic change” and change involves the bravery to break down the barriers. He lives this. He embodies it. He is redesigning relationships and asserting the universality of God’s love. A loving God not bound by gender or any other category or box that we might want to put people in.

Share with me this pose again. Give to gain. How has God been seeking truth, and honesty, and openness in you as you have listened? How has the innovative and creative God been at work in you as you have listened?  What have you been discerning and learning today?

After a few moments of silence, I have asked Julie to read the opening of Rahcel Mann’s book which invites us to think of God differently as we continue to break down barriers and create a space for welcome and inclusion.

Reflection on God 
by Rachel Mann

God dances with us.
They leap and twirl and spin.
They hold our hands gently
as they follow our first tentative steps,
then grip our waist firmly
as they lead us
in a daring twist and bend.
God, you see,
is neither leader nor follower,
but both leader and follower,
neither male nor female,
but both male and female.
God is gender-full and gender-less –
an ambiguous flesh-less being
who leaps into fleshy delight
to join in our dance.
God is under our skin,
in our skin,
gently breathing on our skin.
Our God cannot be separated from us
or contained within us
even as we feel God's embrace,
we cannot define or confine them.
God will not be caged.
Amen

(Transformations: Grounding Theology is trans and non-binary lives)

Belonging

Matthew 4:1-11

Message Part 1: Belonging in the world affirmed in God’s Love

There are three parts to this message. Within some of the older liturgies of the church we are the phrase in him, with him, and through him or variations of these three ideas. The three segments of the sermon are:

1. Belonging in him
2. Belonging with him
3. Belonging through him 

So let us begin with the idea of belonging in him.

Each one of us seeks a sense of belonging in the world. This yearning for belonging and finding our place is expressed throughout our lives. But just as Jesus encountered his temptation the word “if” plagues us. If I was a better person. If only people accepted me as I am. If only I had done more with my life. 

In our internal dialogue the word “if” can lead us to doubt our place of belonging in the world, to doubt the identity that we have forged from childhood, through our teenage years and into adulthood. In this way, at the heart of the story of the temptation of Jesus is a question of belonging and identity in the world.

The story of Jesus resisting turning the stones to bread and focusing on what God is saying offers us hope when we combine Jesus’s resistance with God’s mercy that Paul wrote about. He says that “one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all” and “so through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous”.

Because through the power of the Holy Spirit our lives are joined to Jesus life it is in him that we resist that temptation and it is in him that our belonging and place in the world are affirmed. This is means as good news “for all” people.

When we receive this message of the good news of the affirmation of our identity and our belonging in the world as we share in Jesus’s life this message should open us up to this truth for other people.

Sadly, rather than do this often we as people seek to define our belonging by excluding us.

Baptism is a sign of our belonging to God and to each other. In baptism we remember that we are drawn into Christ’s life, in him and with him and through him we belong.

Paul knew this, Paul was convinced of this, as he wrote to the Christians in Corinth. Before we move to part 2 of the sermon we are going to sing about the idea that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ. I will sing it through and then I invite you to sing it with me.

• When you reflect on your own life, what “if” statements tend to shape your sense of belonging or identity?
• In what ways have you experienced God’s affirmation of your place in the world?
• How does the idea that your belonging is “in him” (in Christ) change the way you see yourself and others?
• How might you open yourself to the truth that others are also affirmed in their belonging through Christ?

Message Part 2: Belonging Through Testing and Retreat

In the first part of the sermon, we reflect on our belonging in him in part two we are thinking our belonging with him.

In the story of the temptation Jesus is driven out into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Last week I was speaking about thin spaces, places that we feel closer to God or sense God’s presence.

We did not have an Ash Wednesday service but for those who did participate they would have heard these words “from dust we come and to dust we return”. Lent invites us to go into the place of temptation with Jesus. It is a place not that we put God to the test, but we reflect on our place with God.

In the desert places in the thin space of our existence, we contemplate our shared mortality, God’s grace and our lives hidden in Christ’s life. We contemplate the gift of belonging that we have received and that we share with others.

Sometimes personal spiritual disciplines are portrayed negatively. Spiritual naval gazing. But there is validity in the solitary moments of faith which lead us deeper into the truth of our lives in Christ and with him. It is here that we discover our belonging in the world is not just about us as individuals but is about the way in which Christ is in all and has redeemed all.

These times of confrontation should not lead us into ourselves but lead us to a deeper recognition of the idea that we share our mortality with all other people. We are all flawed, we all have good within us, and we are all loved and drawn into Christ’s life. As we spend time with him in the desert we lean into our trust of God’s love and our unity with other people.

• Can you recall a “desert” or “thin space” experience in your life where you felt closer to God or wrestled with your sense of belonging?
• How do times of solitude or spiritual discipline help you discover your place “with him”?
• In what ways does recognizing your shared mortality with others deepen your compassion or sense of unity?
• How might you lean into God’s love and unity with others during times of personal testing?

Message Part 3: Belonging as a Communal Discovery

At the beginning of the service, we did an Acknowledgement of Country explaining that for people of First Nations heritage this was an important act in helping us as a nation move towards reconciliation and greater sense of shared belonging.

In this message I have then presented the idea because all our lives our in him in Christ, every person is given the gift of belonging in the world. Every person is in the image of God, in him and with him we experience the trials and testings of life on our journey to discover our sense of belonging.

In this section I want us to explore what it means to find our belonging through him. This belonging is in part discovered in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

The challenge that is given to us is to work as people to make space for each other and affirm the belonging that every person has in this world.

As I said before humans like to create boundaries between communities. We like to say who is in and who is it. There is a delicate and at time difficult balance in seeking to make communities that have what I would say are porous walls.

In our call to worship, we affirmed the idea that people could belong regardless of things like culture, age, gender, wealth, and ethnicity. Saying this and living it are two different things. It is true to say that in organising our life together as a community we always create boundaries whether intentionally or unintentionally.

For example, as I reflect on our nation for those of us not of First Nations heritage the furthest that we would go back is 8 or 9 generations. In looking at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the data tells us that nearly 1 in 3 Australian citizens were born overseas. We are diverse nation we are people from a great variety of backgrounds and as an aging population we rely on immigration for both skilled and unskilled workers.

It is interesting that Jesus’s last temptation involves the devil offering Jesus’s power over the nations, giving him authority. Jesus’s response is to move away from placing himself at the centre of power and authority and focussing on God, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

In the first week of the “For the Life of the World” study the group was challenged with the notion that whilst we are in the world we are not of the world. We live in exile whilst at the same time belonging in the world because we belong to God. The study suggested to us, “Our salvation is a call to live as exiles as we bless the world.”

We belong in him, with him, and through him and we meet him in every other person that we encounter.

As I conclude it is helpful to recall what Jesus says in Matthew 25:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

We belong in him, with him, and through him and so do all other people who live on the earth. This has implications for how we seek to accept welcome and include others into our church community, into our nation, and into the community of humanity to which we all belong.

• What boundaries (visible or invisible) exist in your community, and how might you help make them more “porous”?
• How does the idea that “we belong in him, with him, and through him” challenge or inspire your interactions with others?
• In what ways can you affirm the belonging of those who are different from you—culturally, socially, or otherwise?
• How does Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 25 shape your understanding of serving and welcoming others as an expression of belonging?

Mourning Sunday: The People who Walk in Darkness

Please note this reflection contains refernece to First Nations people who are now deceased.

Isaiah 9:1-4

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

How does it change us when the kingdom of heaven comes close? What does it mean to repent? And how do we demonstrate repentance through our decisions and our actions?

In the first week of January, I met with Austin and Malcolm to discuss the directions that we might take in sharing a message together on Mourning Sunday.

We were collectively drawn to the passage from Isaiah. It is often also used in Advent. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” As Christian people we hear the words of Isaiah’s prophecy as one’s which point to the coming of the light of life, the eternal Word, Jesus coming into the world.

But as we discussed the passage we also struggled with the idea that the people had walked in darkness. This is what stood out and was poignant in Austin’s ears. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people this has been and continues to be their experience. They have walked in darkness and continue to do so.

The journey of reconciliation in our country is a journey that we believe should lead us to celebrate the prophet’s words “there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish”.

But how do we get there? In the early 1990s when I was teaching in Eidsvold, we visited Cherbourg and an Elder shared a piece of wisdom that has stuck with me since. “We have two ears and one mouth. We should listen twice and speak once.” As people who share the burden of a common history, the packs we carry as Australians, repenting means listening and listening deeply for the stories around us.

In his book Disarming Scripture Derek Flood he reminds us that “history is normally told from the perspective of the victors, demonizing and dehumanizing the vanquished. In that narrative, those who suffer are evil and deserving of their suffering.” Disarming Scripture 45 I find these as confronting and difficult words given my knowledge of Australian history and the angst that I hear at this time of year as we approach Australia Day.

Flood goes on to describe how Jesus interpreted scripture favouring people over the text. He goes on to say, “If we wish to read our Bibles like Jesus, then we will need to learn to hear the minority voices, and adopt his way of reading from the margins.” Disarming Scripture 53

In recent years I have been engaging with listening to the voice of Aboriginal people as we have approached Australia Day. This year I have been reading the biography of Dr Lowitja O’Donoughue. She has been one of the most prominent Aboriginal voices in our history and was intimately involved in the processes that led to the apology on the 13^th of February in 2008.

There are many stories which I could share from her biography, but I will share just two stories for the moment. The first story is not of Dr O’Donoughue but of the re-enactment of the raising of the British flag on January 26 in 1938. The book relays how local Aboriginal people in Sydney refused to take part.

The people arranging the re-enactment went to Menindee 1000 km to the west of Syndney and forced a group of Aboriginal men to come to Syndey on a mission truck. They were locked in police barracks during their stay in Syndey and when they found out what they were being forced to do and refused were threatened that their rations and those of their families would be cut off. The men performed as required in fear for themselves and their families.

 As this was all unfolding The Aborigines Progressive Association published a pamphlet highlighting 150 years of callous treatment and appealing to raise Aboriginal people to full citizenship. For 88 years now Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been challenging the use of January 26 as day of National celebration, which incidentally was only formally approved in 1994. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, January 26 marks the beginning of invasion, violence and dispossession.

“We have two ears and one mouth.” What does it mean to repent? What does it mean for Aboriginal people to say that there will be no gloom?

For those who do not know Dr O’Donoughue’s story she was stolen from her mother when she was 2 years old.  In the biography there is a recount of the reunion with her mother which takes places 33 years after she was taken. As she recounts Lowtija says, “My mother was a broken woman living in appalling conditions and it was obvious the hurt which she suffered from the removal of five of her children.” P.146

In these moments Dr O’Donoghue recognised the importance of family and kinship for her people and the deep impact that the policies of removing children had in her mother and on some many First Nations families.

Let us hear a personal story from a member of our Night Church congregation, Austin about his experience as an Aboriginal man.

“Forgiving and Forgetting”

Many of you will notice that Austin was out of focus in the video. After seeing that this had occurred in the filming process Austin and I chose to leave the video this way. The blurred image is a reminder of how parts of Australia's story, and the people and histories that story contains, can remain blurred or kept at a distance.

It invites us to think about what we haven't been seeing clearly, and to take seriously the different packs we carry as Australians. Packs that are shaped by our history, packs that are carried unequally, and packs we're called to notice and help carry, rather than ignore them.

Austin invites us tor reconciliation with honesty and forgiveness without forgetting. What does repentance and reconciliation look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like?

This morning, we have heard Malcolm playing the Yidaki or digeridoo. Mal is going to share some his experience of reconciliation.  

Malcolm

“While I have a very small trace of First Nation heritage from an ancestor going back about 7 generations I stand here today more as an ally. Someone who supports reconciliation and has been invited into relationship.

The person who made this instrument, the Yidaki, a “custodian” of the Yidaki, was a senior elder and Christian leader of the Yolnu people of North East Arnhem Land.

He knew the long and sometimes painful history between First Nation peoples and other nations who came to live here. But he also believed that reconciliation wasn’t just an idea. It was something that had to be lived, practiced, and heard.

He encouraged me to learn to play and if I ever played in public, to do so in a spirit of reconciliation and thankfulness for the gift of this instrument and the culture First Nation people have given the world.

It’s become clear to me that this isn’t about me borrowing something interesting from another culture. It is about connection. About breath. About spirit. About a small but real joining between peoples who share this land, even while carrying very different histories.

The sound of the yidaki can speak in many ways, and people hear it differently.

For some, it carries a sense of awe. It reminds us that Aboriginal culture is ancient, deep, and enduring. For others, it carries lament. A low, honest sound that seems to hold grief and injustice.

But the meaning that has stayed with me most strongly is this: the yidaki is a calling sound. It gathers people. It invites attention. It asks us to stop talking for a moment and simply listen.

For me personally, the yidaki has changed the way I think about breath and spirit. Sound only happens when breath moves through the instrument. Without breath, there is nothing.

Across cultures and languages, breath has always carried meaning. Breath as life. Breath as connection. Breath as something shared. I’ve come to love the idea that when the yidaki sounds, breath is moving through something that once lived, something shaped by human hands, something offered freely. It feels like a reminder that we are more connected than we often remember.

Reconciliation, as I’ve come to understand it, isn’t about pretending everything is fine. It’s not about smoothing over difference. It’s about learning to value one another. About holding both what we share and what makes us different. About listening carefully, especially when it’s uncomfortable or unfamiliar.

Playing the yidaki has taught me that in a very unexpected way. It has slowed me down. It has made me more attentive. It has reminded me that sometimes the most faithful response is not to speak, but to listen.

Today is called Mourning Sunday. And mourning matters. We don’t honour the past by rushing past it. This land carries deep beauty, but it also carries deep pain. Both are real.

But mourning, in the Christian tradition, is never empty. It makes space for hope. Not a shallow hope, but a patient one. A hope that grows through honesty, humility, and relationships.

When the yidaki is played today, my hope is not that it opens a space for quiet attention. A space for respect. A space where we can listen more deeply to First Nations voices and allow those voices to shape how we walk together into the future.

I’m grateful for the trust that was placed in me by the custodian of the Yidaki, and for the permission I’ve been given to share this sound in public. I offer it today with respect, with gratitude, and with a genuine desire for reconciliation that is lived and not just spoken.”

Peter

I want to thank both Austin and Malcolm for their input into today’s message. In reading Dr O’Donoghue’s biography, the book shared again the words of the apology read by Kevin Rudd. It begins with words of recognition for the wrongs done, an act of confession and then looks to a “a future that embraces all Australians … A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.”

Whenever I hear a Welcome to Country shared, I am humbled by what a generous and inclusive act this is given our history as a nation. Despite all that has occurred - the dispossession, the massacres, the taking of children from their families, the policies that discriminated against Aboriginal and Islander Peoples - we are extended a word of welcome. Here are an act and example of grace which might teach us something about reconciliation. The words come to us as Jesus words came from the cross, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.

We have two ears and one mouth. Listen twice, speak once. And live your life from this invitation, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” So that the people who walk in darkness will see the great light of love.