‘An invitation to participate’

HOMILY: It seems a little easy to feel a little hopeless at the moment as we face yet another Covid wave; as floods affect homes, lives and water systems; as people continue to be persecuted in Iran for protesting the inhumane treatment of girls and women; as we hear of the ongoing issues in Ukraine …

‘Poetics of the kindom’

HOMILY: There are some things we can know regarding Jesus. At least three things …

‘What can we do?’

HOMILY: For Luke, the new world will mean a new temple of some kind. Disoriented believers throw up their hands and cry, “What can we do?!” The gospel offers assurance – reach out your hands, join hands and ask, “What can we do?”

Watercolour techniques – workshops

SATURDAY ART WORKSHOP: Our workshops on November 12 and 26 will be led by Carolyne Miller. The workshops will invite exploration of watercolour techniques.

‘Covenant – promise, action, interaction’ 

GOSPEL CONVERSATION: November 2022.

‘Life and how to live it’

HOMILY: On the altar-table (and on screen) we have an Icon of the Transfiguration. The icon shows Moses and Elijah “alive” with Jesus, just as Moses, in the Exodus passage about the burning bush, encounters the God of Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, Leah and Rachel and Jacob …

‘A force greater than self-importance’

HOMILY: “You love everything that exists / And you don’t hate anything you have created … / You save all things because they are yours …”

Words from the book of Wisdom, a book, as protestants, we don’t often open and read – a book we call apocryphal, or hidden away, amid texts of uncertain authenticity in the eyes of 16th-century reformers.

‘Hymns to grace’

HOMILY: The tax collector’s prayer invites our humble prayers and heartfelt hymns to grace.

Benedictions – Liturgy Resource

PRAYERS: The following benedictions were written for SSUC – Liturgy Resource group, 2022.

‘We meet our match’

HOMILY: Our reading from Genesis is something of a classic. It is part of the Jacob/Israel saga – the story of a trickster (“Heel Grabber”) who steals a blessing, who leaves home, wrestles with his conscience, his God and himself; a deceiver who is deceived, who loves, who returns home, is forgiven, undergoes conversion, walks thereafter with a limp.