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Grappling with a hard text

Although we probably all prefer to read biblical texts that speak of God’s promises of blessing and abundant life, there is value in grappling with hard texts that we would rather ignore. This week we are faced with such a text in Genesis 22:1-14, which is given various titles such as ‘Abraham tested’ or ‘God commands Abraham to offer Isaac’.

Whichever way you approach this text, there are so many unanswerable questions:

  • What on earth were Abraham and Isaac thinking as they climbed up the mountain?
  • How do we reconcile the call to obedience and the exercise of freedom?
  • How do we follow the God who seemingly commands death yet who also offers life?

As Christians, our tendency is to read this troubling narrative from the perspective of Isaac, the one who willingly offers up his life, as a model and foretaste of Jesus offering up his life as the Lamb of God (John 1:29). This may be a helpful approach, but doesn’t address the terrible cost and decision faced by Abraham – and by God the Father.

In these days of coronavirus and the Black Lives Matter protests, how do we rightly value each life? If the mysterious and inscrutable God of Genesis 22 is hard to fathom, then perhaps we can place this text alongside the story of the Good Shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep in order to search for and rescue the one at risk sheep (Luke 15:4-6).

This Sunday we will again be meeting for worship by Zoom. Carolyne Chandler will be leading this time, using the Zoom account of Uniting Faith and Families. So if this label appears when you log on to Zoom you are in the right place for worship this week! The meeting will be called Carolyne – Croydon Worship. We will be basing our worship on the attached worship@home resource for this week, so it would be handy to have a copy present. We can send you a link to the meeting or a phone number and meeting details if you sign up by emailing the Croydon UC church office on office@croydon.unitingchurch.org.au.

Click here for worship@home resources

Church@home, From the Minister, ,

Reflecting on 43 years of the Uniting Church

This week we are given the opportunity to reflect on the journey of the Uniting Church since its inauguration in 1977. For some of us this is a time to celebrate the many achievements of the Uniting Church over the last 40+ years. For others it is a chance to reflect on the difficulties and struggles of the church during this period. For those born since 1977 or new to the church since Union, their experience is quite different from those involved in the lead-up and high expectations associated with forming a ‘new’ church from three existing denominations.

As you reflect on your own experience of the Uniting Church, what are you most thankful for?

And what do you see as the main challenges facing the Church?

Where might our priorities need to change?

This Sunday we will not be meeting by Zoom for worship. Instead we encourage people to watch and participate in the collaborative service prepared by Heathmont, Ringwood, Ringwood North and our two Croydon congregations. You will see and hear a few familiar faces from Croydon. To log in to the service go to the following website https://nruc.online.church/ before 10 am.

If you are unable to join us to participate online, click here for worship@home resources

After the streamed service we will be having a virtual morning tea of Croydon and Croydon North people by Zoom using the same log in details as previously. We can send you a link to the meeting if you sign up by emailing the Croydon UC church office on office@croydon.unitingchurch.org.au.

From the Minister

Opening our hearts on Refugee Sunday

Due to violence, famine and persecution, there are currently an estimated 70 million displaced people in the world. Some of these have made their way to Australia, where our response during the past 20 years has mostly been to incarcerate them in prisonlike conditions or leave them in limbo living in the community, but without any government assistance or work rights. It was not always this way. Following World War 2, we welcomed many refugees to our country with open arms … and welcomed many Vietnamese refugees in the late 1970s.

It’s interesting to reflect on which biblical characters were refugees or asylum seekers. The list is long and includes Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and his entire extended family, David, Jeremiah, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah … and of course Mary, Joseph and Jesus. The contemporary causes that make people flee their homes to seek safety and shelter in other places have long been part of history and have been the lived experience of many of God’s people. Unsurprisingly, then, there are multiple calls in Scripture to care for and welcome refugees (e.g. Exod 23:9, Lev 19:34, Deut 10:17-18).

How might we live out God’s call to welcome refugees and asylum seekers in our midst? First, we must recognise that these are people, and not merely statistics, who – like us – have parents, partners and children. They did not choose to become refugees, but were usually forced to flee their homes suddenly due to threats against their lives. They are not ‘queue jumpers’ as usually there was no time or place to write their names on a list. Instead they are vulnerable people who need our welcome and support.

Image may contain: 3 people, people standing

Our welcome may include supporting organisations like the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) who help provide food, medical needs, counselling and legal support. Our welcome may be to visit the Detention Centre in Broadmeadows and provide a little human kindness (although visits are currently suspended due to Covid19). Our welcome may include speaking to local politicians about changing our government’s harsh and cruel policies. And we can always pray for change and for compassion.

How might you offer welcome to these people?

We will be holding a Zoom worship meeting this Sunday morning from 9.45 am. I will host the meeting from my home but it will be an opportunity to hold a larger (virtual) gathering and to see each others’ faces. We will be basing our worship on the attached worship@home resource for this week, so it would be handy to have a copy present. We can send you a link to the meeting or a phone number and meeting details if you sign up by emailing the Croydon UC church office on office@croydon.unitingchurch.org.au.

Click here for worship@home resources

Church@home, From the Minister

Thinking about the Trinity

The Trinity is one of those mysteries that is hard to get one’s mind around. We proclaim that there is only one God – and then we name God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit – which implies a threeness – as depicted in the famous Rublev icon of the Trinity opposite. This form of addressing God – which has biblical precedent from passages such as Matthew 28:19 – raises other issues for us as it sounds quite patriarchal to our contemporary culture. And yet here we are on Trinity Sunday, invited to reflect on who God is for us and what it means to be God’s people in the world.

Something that may surprise you is that trinitarian thinking came very early in the life of the church. The apostle Paul was using a trinitarian blessing within 20 years of Jesus’ death – what we know as the Grace from 2 Cor 13:13 – ‘May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all’. From a very early date baptism was carried out in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit.

What sort of response might we make to these truths about God?

We will be holding a Zoom worship meeting this Sunday morning from 9.45 am. I will host the meeting from my home but it will be an opportunity to hold a larger (virtual) gathering and to see each others’ faces. We will be basing our worship on the attached worship@home resource for this week, so it would be handy to have a copy present. We can send you a link to the meeting or a phone number and meeting details if you sign up by emailing the Croydon UC church office on office@croydon.unitingchurch.org.au.

Click here for worship@home resources

Church@home, From the Minister