Darren Wright – Page 25

Home Brewed Worship – August 02, 2020 – Order of Service

July 31, 2020 by Darren Wright

Hear Me & Show Me Your Love by Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan Colligan

Call to Worship

Spill The Beans Issue 12

Jesus wanted to be alone,
to mourn the loss of his cousin, but the people followed him.
When Jesus saw the crowd
he was filled with compassion.
His own needs were put to the side.
Jesus spent the day healing the sick
and by evening the people were hungry. So, Jesus blessed what they had,
five loaves and two fish,
and everyone shared together
with twelve whole baskets left over.
We gather today as people who are in need of healing and who are hungry for God’s word.
Let us worship our God
who is extravagantly generous to all people.

Prayer of Adoration

Spill The Beans Issue 12

Loving God, you care for all people.
You are deeply aware of the hurts we carry and the fragility of our existence.
Better than we know ourselves,
you recognise that as human beings
we are vulnerable
to the circumstances of life.
That is why you never turn your back on us.
You are always available and we can always find you. So today we seek you, God, ready to share with you
the blessing we have enjoyed, recognising your creativity and generosity and bringing to you our concerns
over those things
that bother or threaten us.
To worship we gather,
in faith we come together,
and in anticipation we wait to be fed. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen..

Readings

Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 17:1-7, 15
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21

Reflection

Spill The Beans Issue 35

When Jesus heard this…
the news that his cousin had been killed: he wanted time to be alone,
he wanted space to mourn,
but everyone wanted a piece of him.
Often we do not know the back story. We only know our needs,
and our wants.
May we have compassion:
for all the back stories,
that we might never hear,
and may we tread cautiously
in our encounters with others, allowing for the possibility
that we tread on broken dreams, and shattered hope.
May we be gentle,
may we be kind,
making space for one another.

Story

The Growing In God’s Love Storybible has a great poem retelling the story of the feeding of the crowd (it’s based on the John version, bit still beautifully done). You can access the poem/retelling here.

Holy Moly

Check out this week’s Home Brewed Worship email for the password to view the Holy Moly video for this week’s Gospel reading.

Question for conversation or contemplation:

Imagine sharing a meal with many friends. Can you draw, paint, sculpt the meal? Who would you like to be eating with at this moment?
Can you write your own retelling of this story in poem, story or song?

Reflection – 2 August, 2020

https://vimeo.com/443047339

Prayers for Others

(Margaret Reeson)

Lord Jesus, who saw the crowds and had compassion on them,
we bring our prayers for our anxious world.
We pray for those who are looking for sense and meaning in these times of trouble,
and are trying to work out whose advice and example they can follow.
Jesus, may they find that One in you,
as did the crowds who followed you into the lonely place.
We pray for those who are ill, and afraid of becoming ill.
Lord, comfort them and be close to each one in their anxiety and pain.
Jesus Christ, who had compassion on the many sick people who followed you,
help the health professionals with strength and courage for each day,
as they are your human hands and feet.
Please help the scientists, the researchers, the contact tracers
and those spending hours providing testing.
When they are exhausted, and in despair,
we pray that they may have practical support that gives hope.
We pray for those who are struggling to survive as they lose their jobs
and their businesses in ways they could not have imagined.
We pray for decision-makers with responsibility for the economy
and the livelihoods of our communities.
Jesus Christ, who saw the needs of the hungry crowds and met those needs,
please give wisdom, helpful initiatives and practical solutions
for the health of our society.
We pray for those who feel that their important issues and needs are being ignored
while we all focus on a pandemic and the economy.
Jesus Christ, you saw the women and children as well as the men.
You knew the other things that mattered, not only illness and hunger.
Please give us all eyes to see and act, as we are able,
beyond the narrow focus that sometimes limits us.
We pray for each other as a congregation.
Help us all as we work out the ways in which we may begin to gather again
when it is safe to do so.
Bless us, together and apart, in our homes and in our daily work,
alone or with our families.
We are still the people who come seeking you, longing for answers
and needing your care.
Be with us all, we pray. Amen

Blessing

Reflection – July 26, 2020

July 26, 2020 by Darren Wright

https://vimeo.com/441031209

Home Brewed Worship – July 26, 2020 – The Kingdom of God

July 25, 2020 by Darren Wright

Readings:

Genesis 29:15-28
Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

This week’s Gospel reading includes 6, yes 6 parables, that’s a lot of parables! Each parable invites us to imagine the Kingdom of God, not through images of might, power or violence but through images of seed, yeast, pearl, hidden treasure and fishing nets.

It’s not a great selection of scripture if you don’t like stories.

In a way our lives are parables, each of us living out ordinary stories that imagine the Kingdom of God, our worship is also a parable of a lived out story of the Kingdom of God and, as we celebrate communion together we act out yet another parable where we’re invited to imagine the Kingdom of God as a meal of bread and wine with friends, strangers, enemies, neighbours and kin.

This week I invite you to start a Kingdom of God diary, use words or images to record the moments when you become aware of the Kingdom of God in your life. Perhaps you could use your camera to catalogue where you saw the kingdom break through this week.

Start each day with a prayer that you will be attentive to the moments where you are invited to witness the Kingdom of God this week, in yourself, in your home, in your neighbourhood. Keep your eyes open, look in the ordinary everyday things, for that’s where Jesus asks us to look this week.

End each day by giving thanks to God for every moment you witnessed the Kingdom of God this day.

*If you think it’s too difficult to look for moments of the Kingdom of God then perhaps you might look for moments where you see God at work each day.

Singing the Scripture

This week’s playlist invites us to enter the scripture through songs that reflect on Psalm 105 and the Kingdom of God.

Prayer

This week we invite you to use these prayers in your daily life. Perhaps you’d like to carry one of these prayers with you throughout the week, finding a quiet space every day to pray the prayer.

Perhaps you’d like to use the All Age Prayer as you start each day, or carry the confession to pray at the end of every day.

All Age Prayer

Source: Spill The Beans

Lord the cycle of nature works well.
Thank you!
From the plants and trees come seeds.
They fall into the ground
or are carried by insects and birds
and are dropped into waiting earth.
The soil contains food; the skies give water.
Seeds grow, and grow and grow. New life is born.
Food for animals and people,
colour for creation.
A cycle of life in nature that works well.
Thank you!
From the smallest seed comes a large tree.
Earth is full of the possibility of hope.
Our Life too is like that, God.
Thank you.
Amen.

Prayer of Confession

Source: Spill The Beans

Again, again, again Lord.
You just don’t stop!
You are always trying to reveal yourself,
teaching us of your Kingdom,
calling us to participate.
Parables, conversations, shared journeys, fellowship round a table.
You spoke to people and opened up
the Kingdom of God.
Its values shining through like sunlight;
its vastness as deep as the oceans;
its power to give life
and grow whatever it touches
equal to only the work of the Spirit.
How precious is the Kingdom? Nothing can compare
in the value it brings to human life;
a gift of your Love for all people.
Again, again, again Lord.
You just don’t stop!
You are always trying to reveal yourself,
teaching us of your Kingdom,
calling us to participate.
But do we really see?
Do we stop to listen, to watch, to absorb what you reveal?
We are sometimes slow to adopt
the values of the Kingdom.
We think bigger is better,
thinking that nothing of value comes in or from what the world deems
of small consequence.
We go for the quick fix, the instant hit,
not recognising that like the work
of making bread,
effort is needed to bring the constituent parts of life together
in a way that satisfies the hunger
not just of some, but of all.
We succumb to the temptation
of acquiring more and more possessions;
especially those we deem trendy
and that others too would desire.
We miss what is truly precious
in the hunt for what we think is precious.
Lord forgive us.
In your mercy and love for us
do not stop working away at us. Persevere in making us understand.
Again, again and again
open our eyes to the true values of the Kingdom;
how precious it is.
Continue to reveal yourself, teach us, and call us to participate
in your work in the world.
This is our prayer;
in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Prayers for others

(Ron Reeson)

O God,
Sometimes our prayers feel as small as a mustard seed.
But we bring them to you in faith
that they will be added to thousands, even thousands and thousands
of other mustard seed prayers from the church worldwide.
We pray, as we have done so often in recent days,
for those suffering and those in fear,
for overworked paramedics, doctors, nurses and medical aids,
for those struggling to survive
who do not have work, or not enough work,
and for the quick arrival of an effective vaccine.
We pray for those in countries
where the pandemic is not being managed wisely
where many are dying
and for all those who are not believing in, or following, medical guidance.
Protect us all, dear God.
We pray for relations between the superpowers
and for smaller countries directly or indirectly impacted by them.
We pray also for the Queen, the Governor General and all our political leaders.
May they serve humbly,
using their power and authority with fairness and regard for all,
remembering that we are all equal and belong to each other.
We pray for our country,
for those struggling in the middle of a messy court case
for those who have been abused physically or financially,
for children at school,
neighbours in our street or apartment building
and for those who struggle in the cold.
We pray finally for our own congregation, its health and well-being,
and for those managing a safe return to gathered worship and community.
Give them good wisdom, insight and a sense of care for all.
In the name of Jesus the Lord.
Amen

Prayer of Adoration

Source: Spill The Beans

Living, breathing, creating God,
your work in the world never stops:
growing,
kneading,
revealing,
sourcing,
sorting.
In every aspect of life Your Spirit works
as the energy that generates the potential
and activity of your Kingdom.
We become before you,
ready to praise you
and ready to open our eyes,
our hearts and minds
to the values of the Kingdom.
Lift the veil this day
that you might reveal to us
the kaleidoscope of divine colour
that reveals the full variety
and brilliance of the activity
and work of the Kingdom.
The Kingdom is real,
it is here and it is waiting to welcome all
for it is inclusive in its depth,
it is for the whole of humanity.
Amen.

Reflection

https://vimeo.com/441031209

Story

https://vimeo.com/440941025

The Marvellous Mustard Seed, a parable by Amy Jill-Levine

Are you ready to hear the story? Imagine the Parable of the Great Pearl.

Listening to Stories

Find a favourite story and read it, if it’s a picture book spend some time looking at the artwork. What do you like about the story the most? What grabbed your attention? Did the story make you feel happy, sad, scared?

If you’re reading this story with others note how different parts of the story grab your imagination and how each of you might be attracted to different parts of the story.

Read the gospel reading and talk about what parable, what image attracts each of you and why.

Go Deeper

Parable of the Weeds

July 19, 2020 by Darren Wright

https://vimeo.com/438905600

Home Brewed Worship – July 19, 2020

July 16, 2020 by Darren Wright

Reflection

Source: Spill The Beans Issue 12

Who are we to judge
who’s in and who’s out,
who fits and who doesn’t?
How can we tell
what belongs and what doesn’t?
The God of the harvest
encourages us simply
to do what we can,
to grow together,
to influence the other,
knowing that in the end
no matter how it looks on the outside,
how much it may seem like
we all fit together,
those who deny life to others
will not survive
but will be removed,
allowing space to grow
the kingdom of God.

Welcome to this week’s Home Brewed Worship resources, this week’s reflections are based on the Gospel reading from this week’s lectionary. We hope that you can use these resources to help you contemplate the parable for us this week.

*Please stop reading the Matthew reading at verse 30, don’t keep reading, just stop at the end of the parable… trust me, it’ll be easier to enter into the parable if you stop there. Go and read Matthew’s explanation after you’ve spent some time on it.

Invitation – Parable of the Two Sowers

https://vimeo.com/438905600

Readings:

Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30

Get up on your feet, how about you dance to this week’s Psalm?

Singing The Scripture

This week’s playlist includes a number of great songs based on Psalm 139, there are a few that make it into the list that aren’t linked to the Psalm, but as you’ll see the Psalm takes up a fair chunk of the playlist.

One of my favourite hymns makes it into this week’s playlist a few times, Bernadette Farrell’s O God You Search Me is one of my all time favourite reflections on this week’s Psalm.

May these tunes carry you through this week, if you find other songs that you’d like to add to the playlist let me know.

Access this week’s Singing The Scripture Playlist here

Prayer & Reflection

Here are a few prayers for this week, perhaps you or your household can use one of these prayers each day throughout the week. The Prayer of Adoration and Confession would be a great prayer to end every day, while either of the the All Age Prayers would be a great way to begin every day.

Call to Worship

Source: Spill The Beans Issue 35

Church buildings,
sacred spaces,
homes
gather us together.
Together (in isolation)
we gather as one,
though physically apart.
God be with us in our houses and homes,
just as God is with us
in our churches and cathedrals.
Come. Let us worship
as God’s scattered community.
As the farmer scatters the seed
may the fruits of the Spirit
be plentiful among us,
wherever we may be.

Prayer of Adoration and Confession

Source: Spill The Beans Issue 35

Creator God,
you are the source of all that is:
the life in every living thing:
birds and beasts; fish and fowl;
crops and the locusts that devour them;
trees and the diseases that threaten them;
wildflowers, which are beautiful in one place,
and troublesome weeds in another.
You made them all, and you made us:
not wholly good or wholly bad,
but full of creative potential,
which, like yours,
can be used for good or for harm;
squandered or never allowed to flourish.
We come to you today,
not so much to make our confession,
as to open ourselves up to your inspection:
ready to be surprised
by the good that may reveal;
hoping not to be too discouraged
by what is harmful and what needs to be changed.
But first, we need to open our eyes and look,
with you, at the ripening harvest of our lives.
What shoots of new growth can we see?
What is there in us that is stronger
and healthier than it was before?
Let us give thanks:
with God and to God,
for every growth in grace;
every lesson learned;
every kindness shown;
every struggle overcome.
let us ask for help
to nurture and encourage
every seed of life that God has planted.
And now, as we continue looking inwards,
what else can we see?
Are there weeds of tiredness or frustration;
thorns of envy or of fear that threaten
to choke the life of the kingdom,
growing in us?
Let us acknowledge, before God,
the dangers that we face
and the temptations that draw us.
Let us promise not to feed these weeds with
our time or water them with our attention,
but to trust God, the farmer,
to deal with them,
when the time is right.
Lord of all life,
may the seeds of your kingdom, grow in us,
and be allowed to flourish,
and may we share with all your faithful people
in the joy of the harvest feast.
Amen.

All-Age Prayer

Source: Spill The Beans Issue 35

God, we come today:
carrying a heavy bag of labels
that other people have put on us,
and that we have taken upon ourselves.
One by one, we lay them down,
or throw them as far into the distance
as they will go.
‘She’s the clever one’.
‘He’s the shy one’.
‘What a good boy!’
‘You’re just trouble!’
Too thin; too fat; too lazy;
too stupid; too clever for your own good.
Living God, we stand before you,
freed from all that clutter,
allowing you to see us as we are,
and to draw out of us
all that we may yet become.
We need only one label:
we are your own beloved children.
Thanks be to God!
Amen.

All-Age Prayer

God, we love you.
God, we praise you.
God, we offer this time to you.
Thank you God,
for the world we live in.
Thank you God,
for the people we love and the people we find hard to love.
Thank you God,
for the sun and the rain,
for all the green growing plants, whether they are weeds or not.
Thank you God,
that you love us
just as we are:
when we are good and when we are bad; when we are kind and when we are not.
May we seek
to be more like Jesus, to love everyone,
to be kind and gentle.
May we help others, to help everyone
to be the best
that they can be.
To be all that you made us to be.
Amen.

Prayer for Others and Ourselves

O God, your patience
is eternal,
for millennia creation
has struggled
through times of war
and golden eras of peace.
In that time you have witnessed
many different people and empires
who have grown up
and ruled for a while
before being broken down
by the next one.
As we look out at our world today
through the screens of our TV’s,
iPads and smartphones,
we are saddened
that the weeds are
still present,
trying to choke
the new good life
for which many dream.
We cannot always change
the way people choose to live,
but we can speak up
and stand beside those
who seek to bring changes
for a better world.
For the churches, organisations
and individuals who work
to bring these changes,
we pray that you would
give them courage and energy
to continue their work
and may they encourage
others to join them.
For the women, men and children
who are waiting
for the changes to come,
we pray that you would
give them patience and grace
as they wait in hope
for the day when change
will turn their lives around.
For the people who feel
suffocated by the weeds
and unable to carry on,
we pray that you would
give them support
to endure all that they
are suffering
and that they would
find a way to be
supported and upheld
in their struggle.
Creator God,
maker of all that is seen
and all that is hidden,
we bring your world—
all of it, weeds and good plants—
before you and ask for
your grace and mercy
to sustain us today
and in the days ahead.
Amen.

Storytime with Weeds and Seeds

There are so many beautiful stories about seeds, plants and weeds, here are seven of my favourite stories.

We invite you to take the time to hear/read one of these stories a day this week and read them alongside the parable from Matthew 13:24-30. Do any of these stories help you ask questions of the parable? Do they challenge your reading of the parable? Do they invite you to hear the parable with different ears?

Weeds Find A Way

By Cindy Jenson-Elliott
Illustrated by Carolyn Fisher

https://youtu.be/nKuGfnHFCKY

The Gift

Author & Illustrator: Michael Speechley

You can hear this story read by Michelle Nye over at StoryBoxLibrary. If you have a membership with ACT Libraries (or most other Australian Libraries) you will be able to access it for free using your Library Pass.

This is one of my favourite new picture books, imagine finding beauty in the weeds that you wander past this week.

Tiny Seed

Author & Illustrator: Eric Carle

A Day’s Work

Author & Illustrator: Eve Bunting

Bad Seed

Author Jory John,

Illustrated by Pete Oswald

Seeds Move!

Author & Illustrator: Robin Page

Isabella’s Garden

Author: Glenda Millard

Illustrator:Rebecca Cool.

You can hear this story read by Maddie Thiele over at StoryBoxLibrary. If you have a membership with ACT Libraries (or most other Australian Libraries) you will be able to access it for free using your Library Pass.

https://youtu.be/6Wktk_sC-Ms

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina is a great way to enter into parables. You can see a more detailed description of Lectio here, but very simply it’s an invitation to read the scripture many times, each time asking a different question of the text.

Read through with no questions, let the words fall fresh on you.
Read through, this time listening for a word to shine out and grab hold of you. Spend some time reflecting on the word, perhaps you’d like to paint the word, draw it, or just sit with the word in silence.
Read through, this time ponder how the text connects with your life today. Spend some time after reading to think about this question, let the text work on you.
Read through, this time asking if there’s an invitation in the text for you. Is it asking something of you, what is it, why do you think it’s asking this of you? What will you do today, this week to live out the invitation?

Action:

a) Take notice

This week wander around your neighbourhood and take notice of the gardens as you do. Do you think the gardener has put a lot of work into where seeds (or seedlings) were planted, or do you think there’s been little planning? How do you see the struggle between weeds and other plants, can you tell the difference between weeds and good plants?

b) Decorate A Plant Pot

You will need: small plant pots (terracotta pots give more options for decorating but are more expensive than plastic pots, if you have terracotta pots you can use acrylic paints to decorate)

Decorate the pots together.

We are to be like the good seeds growing and showing God’s love. Talk about ways we can do this.

Call to Worship

Prayer of Adoration

Readings

Reflection

Story

Holy Moly

Question for conversation or contemplation:

Reflection – 2 August, 2020

Prayers for Others

Blessing

Readings:

Singing the Scripture

Prayer

All Age Prayer

Prayer of Confession

Prayers for others

Prayer of Adoration

Reflection

Story

Listening to Stories

Go Deeper

Reflection

Invitation – Parable of the Two Sowers

Readings:

Singing The Scripture

Prayer & Reflection

Call to Worship

Prayer of Adoration and Confession

All-Age Prayer

All-Age Prayer

Prayer for Others and Ourselves

Storytime with Weeds and Seeds

Weeds Find A Way

The Gift

Tiny Seed

A Day’s Work

Bad Seed

Seeds Move!

Isabella’s Garden

Lectio Divina

Action:

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