Last Sunday we looked at one of those wonderful, yet challenging, body passages in the New Testament, Romans 12:1-8, which speak of how every one of us have different gifts, which spring from the grace of God which creates and love diversity, but which we are given so we can operate as one body.
Our Old Testament passage, Exodus 1:8-22, served as a dramatic contract, what happens when we forget our oneness, when we seek to denigrate others, to exploit, rather than value their contribution. Yet even in this dire situation, there were agents of hope and human courage, Shiphrah and Puah, ‘beautiful’ and ‘splendid’ women who did the life-giving work of God, who maintained wholeness within the sphere of their work.
I loved the slightly dated, but plain-speaking, commentary by William Barclay on our Romans passage that we must all, “Take [our bodies]; take all the ordinary tasks that you have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the factory, the shipyard, the mine and offer all that as an act of worship to God.”
I hope that this week as you go about all the ordinary tasks that you have to do each day that you have a sense that each of these things is your worship, regardless of how ordinary they might seem, to God. And that it is continuing to worship God in all these different ways, again regardless of how ordinary they might seem, as a body of believers, that will bring life and wholeness and human flourishing to others.
This week holds a wonderful expression of using our gifts and abilities to bring about wholeness with the annual David Hunter Memorial Lecture tonight, Thursday 27th August at 6:15pm, where keynote speaker Tony McAvoy SC will speak on First Nations Treaties from the perspective of legal justice. With Covid restrictions only a very limited number can be in the venue at the Australia Centre for Christianity and Culture, but the number of those able to attend online is unlimited! Currently around 350 are registered, but as the event is partnered with ANTaR National I am told that there may be more than 800 people listening in. If you would like to join them, go to:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/david-hunter-memorial-lecture-tickets-115469814323
| David Hunter Memorial Lecture Tickets, Thu 27/08/2020 at 6:15 pm | Eventbrite
Australia is the only Commonwealth country that does not have a treaty with its First Nations Peoples. Colonisation, assimilation, and ongoing attacks on self-determination, culture, languages, and lands creates urgency in calls for treaty from first nations Australians. This year’s lecture will … |
This Sunday, again thanks to the wonders of technology, we will have Tim Costello as our guest preacher, looking at the recent Micah campaign The corona virus has been a global pandemic, an experience that has united countries around the world in suffering and in rising to the challenges of how to protect human life. This campaign seeks to urge all of us , and our government, to remember that medical breakthroughs, that assistance, in dealing with the pandemic, should also be a shared experience. Just as this is a global pandemic, as we are united in our human experience, it is not over until it is over for everyone. What has been a challenge for humanity, also has the potential to bring us together.
I want to leave you with this poem (it almost made it into last Sunday’s liturgy) written and spoken by a 16-year-old girl at the 1997 World Summit of Children:
He prayed – it wasn’t my religion
He ate – it wasn’t my food.
He spoke – it wasn’t my language.
He dressed – it wasn’t what I wore.
He took my hand – it wasn’t the colour of mine.
But when he laughed – it was how I laughed.
And when he cried – it was how I cried.
Grace and peace to all of you in all you do this week.
Belinda