Genesis 28: 10-22

It was winter. In the small village on the western side of the Blue Mountains, it seemed to get dark very early. The sun quickly disappeared behind a steep ridge that shaded the highway. It was cold and bleak and if it wasn’t raining and windy it was snowing. There was always the smell of burning coal fires in the air. I was a young school teacher in the little school there, (this was a long time ago) with just two teachers on the staff, and I was not happy.

That’s not quite true. In some ways I was very happy. But at that time, I was a long way from home. I was separated from my family, who I loved a lot. I was separated from my church family and my friends in Sydney. In that small village I felt lonely and homesick and out of step with the things that interested the local community. And cold!

I knew that I was not going to be there forever. I didn’t know where I would be going next and had no idea that in God’s plan my next home would be in Papua New Guinea. That cold lonely winter, I decided to use my spare time to study for the lay preacher’s exam, and that meant having my first attempts at preaching in small country churches. One of my first sermons was based on Genesis 28 and the story of Jacob and his dream.

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Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

I came across an inspiring story about a man named David, who spent a few years working to build a community of kindness and compassion. His experiences in volunteer ministry brought him into contact with many different people. It is a beautiful story, and I have framed it in the light of today’s Gospel from Matthew, while keeping the original account entirely intact.

David wanted to share with the community everything he had learned throughout his life as a follower of Jesus. He believed that if he truly wanted to make a positive impact on the lives of others in his newly found community, he first had to sow the good seeds of love and kindness.

He began his mission by visiting local schools. He spoke to students about the vital importance of kindness, compassion and forgiveness. He said, “When you cultivate a heart of kindness and compassion and become good at it, the world will always have a special place for you”. Many students listened attentively, and some of them were so touched by his message and asked him to come again to talk more someday. They were much like the good soil in the parable of the Sower in today’s gospel reading.

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Romans 7:15-25

Bonhoeffer lived in a time when the law of the secular world demanded absolute allegiance to a regime. That regime was opposing to the justice of God’s kingdom.

When visiting America, his colleagues and friends in America strongly recommend that he should stay safely in America. But he chose to return to his home. He wrote, “If I don’t choose to go through these hard times with my people now, I won’t have the right to be their pastor when the war is over.” He was executed in prison, just a month before the war came to an end in May 1945.

According to Michael Sandel, a renowned political philosopher and Harvard professor, justice is simply ‘doing the right thing’. But the question is, “what is the right thing to do?” How do we know what the right thing to do is at home, work, in church, or even on streets? Most importantly, what is the right thing to do in our daily life as children of God?”

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Exodus 17:1-7

At the start of the Exodus, God empowered Moses to perform many miraculous signs before Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, to demonstrate that Israelites’ exodus project would be a divine will to secure freedom for His people.

For an example, Moses struck the river with his staff, turning the water into blood and leaving the Egyptians without anything to drink. And, perhaps most famously, God used Moses to part the waters of the Red Sea, creating a dry path for the Israelites to walk through to safety. And the waters of the Red Sea had closed behind them, leaving the Egyptian chariots’ drowning in the Red sea waters. hey were finally free for the first time in 400 years. They sang a song of triumph for hours and their hearts were full of praise for days.

Yet, only a few days later, the joy of that miracle began to fade. That song of praise turned into a chorus of complaints. The reality of the hot, harsh desert took its place.

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John 17:16-23; Revelation 21:3-5

Last Sunday, our worship looked a little different. We gathered “cafe-style,” sharing tables, morning tea, and conversation. As we sat together, we engaged in a creative exercise—thinking deeply about the logo and the meaning behind the name of our church. It was a fitting way to mark the 49th anniversary of the Uniting Church in Australia.

In our reflection, we were reminded of why we hold so firmly to our name. We are the Uniting Church, not the “United” Church. In history, the term “United” often refers to an event in the past—a contract signed, a merger finalized, a box checked. But we intentionally use the present participle, “Uniting.” We believe that the act of becoming one is not a historical milestone we reached in 1977; it is a living, breathing movement of the Holy Spirit that is happening right now, and will continue to happen for generations to come.

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