A justice seeking church enables all to flourish

​Loving God, you have given us this beautiful world, a world rich in diversity and beauty.
And yet a world scarred and marred by warfare and waste, exploitation and desecration.
And our choices and lifestyles contribute to that.

Call to worship
Welcome to worship.
We come to worship.
We come - as we are - with all our concerns, our regrets, our joys
We come - as we are to worship God who is here, who hears us, who loves us.
Let us praise God in the words of our first song:​

STF 64:  Praise is rising

Psalms are poems and songs that capture the range of our human experience.
Those times when we feel downcast, despairing or desolate.
Those times when we feel angry,
Those times when we are happy,
Those times of celebration.
This psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving.
It resonates with assurance and praise:
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
His steadfast love endures for ever.
And the psalmist recalls different situations to be thankful for.​

StF 727:    God in his love for us lent us this planet

Prayer of Confession
Loving God, you have given us this beautiful world, a world rich in diversity and beauty.
And yet a world scarred and marred by warfare and waste, exploitation and desecration.
And our choices and lifestyles contribute to that.
We are aware that we often hurt you and others by our attitudes, words and actions.
We are sometimes selfish, ignoring the needs of others.
We sometimes get so caught up in our own worries that we forget you.
We are sorry that our lives often do not reflect your love and peace.
Forgive us.
Loving God, you welcome us. Your love is generous, your grace is amazing.
Thank you that you forgive us - and call us to walk with you. Amen.
​
Hymn 707: Make me a channel of your peace

​Reading:     Micah 6. 6-8 
                   Matthew 23 v. 1-5

Micah 6:6-8 New International Version
6 With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Matthew 23:23 New International Version
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Touch the earth lightly. (STF 729).

Psalms 107–150Psalm 107
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story--
    those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 those he gathered from the lands,
    from east and west, from north and south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastelands,
    finding no way to a city where they could settle.
5 They were hungry and thirsty,
    and their lives ebbed away.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them by a straight way
    to a city where they could settle.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
    and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
9 for he satisfies the thirsty
    and fills the hungry with good things.
10 Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness,
    prisoners suffering in iron chains,
11 because they rebelled against God’s commands
    and despised the plans of the Most High.
12 So he subjected them to bitter labor;
    they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he saved them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness,
    and broke away their chains.
15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
    and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

Reflection     
Psalm 107 is a psalm of praise to God for what he has done.
The psalm describes 4 situations.
- a group of wanderers in the wilderness who get lost, but eventually get to where they are
going.
- prisoners, dwelling in darkness, who are released,
- the sick. In those times this passage could have been interpreted as those who were
foolish, who had got into difficulty as a result of wrongdoing or misadventure.
- those on the sea. At that time the sea represented chaos. Both the Mediterranean Sea
and the Sea of Galilee were regarded as unpredictable and dangerous. Life-threatening
storms could whip up.
So in each of these situations there is distress - and delivery.
And in each there is recognition of our dependence on God.
The four sections could have related to something that had actually happened - or they
could capture a range of experience that a community may have.
I wonder if there have been times in our own lives when we have felt as though we were
‘in the wilderness’, or penned in some dark place, or felt sick to the core, or felt ‘all at sea’ -
tossed about in stormy times.
And in our distress we call to God. The answer may not come to our own timetable, but
God’s will is for us to be free and to flourish.
And so it is with the world.
The last decade has seen significant change and challenge - with the alarming impact of
the climate crisis, the scourge of conflict in so many places, and policies that impact most
on the already disadvantaged. There are those who seek safety and sanctuary - yet find
that they are unwelcome and rejected.
I wonder, how would it be if it was you and me walking in those perilous places.
How do we, as people of faith in a God who desires that all flourish, respond?
The prophet Micah reminds us: This is what the Lord requires of us: To love mercy, act
justly and walk humbly with our God.
The Methodist Church recommends to us the findings and recommendations of the
“Walking with Micah Project”. Read more about it ...... (link below)
It asks:
How do we respond to live out a call to justice as individuals and as a church?
Where can dreams of justice be seen?

How do we help others - and our environment - to thrive and not just survive?
To flourish?
The verses from Matthew are sobering. Are we going to be people who just talk about
justice? Are we going to practice what we preach?
In Psalm 107 v 35-37 there is a picture of flourishing. Deserts transformed by springs of
water, the hungry nourished, and the destitute finding a place to settle and thrive.
May we be justice seeking people of faith who enable all to flourish.​

Show me how to stand for justice (STF 713)

Hymn 693:     Beauty for brokeness

​The Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
 Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen

Hymn 696  : For the healing of the nations

A prayer of blessing
May the love of God enfold us,
the peace of God sustain us,,
and the joy of God encourage us today and throughout this week.
Amen.