Second Sunday in Lent 12 March 2017

Second Sunday in Lent
12 March 2017

Wel­come to our wor­ship this morning!
At St Luke’s we seek to share God’s uncon­di­tion­al love and accept­ance of all people, regard­less of age, gender, race, mar­it­al or fam­ily status, sexu­al ori­ent­a­tion, dis­ab­il­ity or wealth.

Preach­er & Cel­eb­rant: Fr Philip Bradford
Wel­comers Today: Dav­id Dun­lop & Ann Petersen
Next week: Peter Gil­bert & Alfredo Narnola

Read­ers Today: Jen­nifer Bestel & Dav­id Dunlop
Read­ers next week: Neville Hack & Anne Hywood
Inter­cessor: Richard Hagen
Next week: Peter Gilbert

Hos­pit­al­ity: John M, Ruth C, Evelyn Maack
Next Week: K Drum­mond, A Bell, J Olston
Clean­ers Sat­urday 18^th John Tonetti & Neville Daniels

Please turn off your mobile phone.

Glu­ten free hosts are avail­able. Please see our Sac­ristan Andy Ser­afin or Fr Philip before the ser­vice if required. A Hear­ing loop is fit­ted in the Church – please turn your hear­ing aid to T‑setting.

In the gos­pel of John we are reminded of the power of being born again, to be born of water and Spir­it (v. 5). Nicodemus sought Jesus in order to under­stand the things of God. Atten­tion was giv­en to him and his ques­tions were answered. God is call­ing us to sub­due the flesh and our human­ity to the will of God. The flesh com­petes while the Spir­it com­ple­ments! Jesus has time for you at all times and in all places. In verse 16, we are told of the uncon­di­tion­al love of which God is invit­ing you and me to par­take. Pray that we may spend enough time with Jesus as we seek answers to the many ques­tions that we have on a daily basis. That we may grasp how high and deep and how wide and long the love of Christ is (Eph­esians 3.18)

• Give thanks for the work and wit­ness of the Arch­bish­op of Can­ter­bury, the Most Rev and The Hon Justin Welby.

Text: The Rt Rev Paul Korir
Bish­op of Kapsa­bet, Anglic­an Church of Kenya
© Anglic­an Board of Mis­sion, 2016

Introit Hymn: TIS 125 God of Abra­ham praise

The Sen­tence

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that every­one who believes in him may not per­ish but may have etern­al life. 

John 3.16

The Col­lect

God of mercy,

you are full of ten­der­ness and compassion,

slow to anger, rich in mercy,

and always ready to forgive:

grant us grace to renounce all evil and to cling to Christ, 

that in every way we may prove to be your lov­ing children; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Read­ing Gen­es­is 12.1–4a

A read­ing from the book of Genesis

Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your coun­try and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a bless­ing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the fam­il­ies of the earth shall be blessed.’  So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was sev­enty-five years old when he depar­ted from Haran.

For the word of the Lord Thanks be to God

Psalm 121

1 I lift up my | eyes  to the | hills:

but | where  shall I | find | help?

2 My help | comes  from the | Lord:

who has | made | heav­en  and | earth.

3 He will not suf­fer your | foot to | stumble:

and he who watches | over  you | will not | sleep.

4 Be sure he who has | charge of | Israel:

will | neither | slum­ber  nor | sleep.

5 The Lord him-| self  is your | keeper:

the Lord is your defence u-| pon your| right | hand;

6 The sun shall not | strike you  by | day:

nor | shall the | moon by | night.

7 The Lord will defend you from | all | evil:

it is | he  who will | guard your | life.

8 The Lord will defend your going out and your | com­ing | in:

from this time | for­ward  for | ever-| more.

Second read­ing Romans 4.1–5, 13–17

A read­ing from Paul’s let­ter to the Romans

What then are we to say was gained by Abra­ham, our ancest­or accord­ing to the flesh? For if Abra­ham was jus­ti­fied by works, he has some­thing to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scrip­ture say? ‘Abra­ham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as right­eous­ness.’ Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as some­thing due. But to one who without works trusts him who jus­ti­fies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as right­eous­ness. For the prom­ise that he would inher­it the world did not come to Abra­ham or to his des­cend­ants through the law but through the right­eous­ness of faith. If it is the adher­ents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the prom­ise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there viol­a­tion. For this reas­on it depends on faith, in order that the prom­ise may rest on grace and be guar­an­teed to all his des­cend­ants, not only to the adher­ents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abra­ham (for he is the fath­er of all of us, as it is writ­ten, ‘I have made you the fath­er of many nations’)—in the pres­ence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into exist­ence the things that do not exist.

For the word of the Lord Thanks be to God

Gos­pel Procession

Gos­pel Acclamation 

Gos­pel Read­er: Glory and Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

Response: From the shin­ing cloud The Father’s voice is heard:
this is my beloved Son, hear him.

Gos­pel Read­er: Glory and Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

The Gos­pel John 3.1–17

The Gos­pel of our Lord Jesus Christ accord­ing to John

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Now there was a Phar­isee named Nicodemus, a lead­er of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teach­er who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the pres­ence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the king­dom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can any­one be born after hav­ing grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the king­dom of God without being born of water and Spir­it. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spir­it is spir­it. Do not be aston­ished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with every­one who is born of the Spir­it.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teach­er of Israel, and yet you do not under­stand these things? ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testi­fy to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testi­mony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heav­enly things? No one has ascen­ded into heav­en except the one who des­cen­ded from heav­en, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lif­ted up the ser­pent in the wil­der­ness, so must the Son of Man be lif­ted up, that who­ever believes in him may have etern­al life. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that every­one who believes in him may not per­ish but may have etern­al life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to con­demn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

For the Gos­pel of the Lord Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

The Ser­mon

Hymn after Ser­mon: TIS 600 O My Saviour lifted

Pray­ers of the People

Pray­er for our Parish

Gra­cious God,
we pray for our Par­ish of St Luke,
for our Rect­or and all who wor­ship here.
We pray that this Par­ish will always have
a faith­ful pas­tor who will faith­fully speak your Word
and min­is­ter your Sacraments;
an encour­ager who will equip your people for ministry
and enable us to ful­fil our calling.
Give your Holy Spir­it to those who will choose a new Rector,
that they will have wis­dom, dis­cern­ment and patience.
Give to us all warm and gen­er­ous hearts,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Offer­tory Hymn: TIS 331 Sing my tongue, the glor­i­ous battle

Hymn dur­ing Communion

Final Hymn: TIS 217 (i) Love divine, all loves excelling

Notices:

Our dear friend, Fr Ron Mor­ris, has now moved to Eliza­beth Lodge, Room 708. 46 Bayswa­ter Road Rush­cut­ters Bay 2022 He would love to hear from any of you by phone when you have a minute. His num­ber is 0409 451 362.

Book­stall News – New stock: Jenny Stewart’s Inner Weath­er, Richard Rohr’s The Divine Dance; and for chil­dren: The Vel­veteen Rab­bit; Who Made Me; and Anne Frank and the Remem­ber­ing Tree.

Today is our AGM — after morn­ing tea. Please stay and if you wish to be nom­in­ated for a pos­i­tion, ask someone to second your nom­in­a­tion pri­or to the meet­ing, if possible.

Tues­day 14 March 2017 — Len­ten Stud­ies com­mence – ‘Cameo Appear­ances’. This year’s Len­ten stud­ies will exam­ine vari­ous char­ac­ters sur­round­ing and lead­ing up to Jesus’ cru­ci­fix­ion. The study will be over four weeks and hos­ted by St Luke’s, St Joseph’s Cath­ol­ic Church New­town, and the Met­ro­pol­it­an Com­munity Church Peter­sham com­men­cing at 7:00 p.m.

14 March at St Luke’s – Pilot and Claudia.

21 March at St Joseph’s – Judas and Peter.

28 March at MCC – The crowd and the women.

4 April, at St Joseph’s – The crim­in­als and Centurion.

MOWatch Aus­tralia Ltd – AGM 

Sat­urday 18 March 2017 at 2.00 p.m.

We are pleased to be host­ing the MOW (Move­ment for the Ordin­a­tion of Women) next Sat­urday in our par­ish hall at 2.00 p.m. and we are serving after­noon tea for 50–60 people.

If you have not pre­vi­ously been a mem­ber of MOWatch but would like to hear more about it, this is your oppor­tun­ity. There are now very few Anglic­an Dio­ceses in Aus­tralia that don’t have women priests, of which Sydney is one. The Sydney Dio­cese main­tains the pos­i­tion that priestly min­istry goes with head­ship; North West Aus­tralia fol­lows the Sydney pos­i­tion and theo­logy, as does Armidale. The cur­rent Bish­op of The Mur­ray holds the pos­i­tion that he will only ordain women to the priest­hood when the “whole church” – includ­ing the Roman Cath­ol­ic and Ortho­dox Churches, do so.

There are now two women Dio­ces­an Bish­ops: +Sarah Macneil in Grafton and +Kay Goldsworthy in Sale and three women Assist­ant Bish­ops; one each in Bris­bane, Mel­bourne and Perth. Women Bish­ops were incon­ceiv­able 25 years ago. Sydney (and the oth­er male dom­in­ated dio­ceses) must con­cede even­tu­ally to the belief that the Spir­it of God dwells equally in all of us and speaks to all of us. Those in Sydney who feel called to serve God as priests should not have to move to anoth­er Dio­cese, as is presently the case. Women Bish­ops and Priests should also be able to freely cel­eb­rate the Euchar­ist and preach in our Dio­cese without feel­ing they are con­sidered by our hier­archy as inferi­or or unworthy.

So, if you are able to come and help serve the after­noon tea on Sat­urday after­noon by bring­ing a plate of sand­wiches, slice, bis­cuits or cakes, please let Ruth and Jen­nie know. Our fine repu­ta­tion for excel­lent hos­pit­al­ity is at stake! It would also be good to have some male rep­res­ent­a­tion from our par­ish in sup­port of MOW.

[Please note that you will only be able to vote if you are a mem­ber. For any fur­ther inform­a­tion please refer to the MOWatch Aus­tralia Ltd web­site – http://www.mowatch.org.au]

Wed­nes­day 22 March 2017 – Women’s Read­ing Group 7.30 p.m. at Pau­line Newell’s home. In April-May we will be com­men­cing a new book and if you would like to join the group please see Jo or Ruth.

Wed­nes­day 29 March 2017 — ABM Morn­ing Tea & Inform­a­tion For­um. Funds will go towards St Luke’s Mis­sion Pro­jects & ABM Aux­il­i­ary Pro­ject 2017. 10 am Euchar­ist; 11 am Morn­ing Tea and Speaker/Video. For inform­a­tion see Moya.

Fri­day 31 March 2017 — St Paul’s Bur­wood. Bus Trip — ‘Head to the Hills’, $45 includ­ing paper bag lunch/tea & cof­fee. Con­tact Pam Brock or the Church Office, 205 Bur­wood Road Bur­wood 2134 by Sunday 26th March to avoid dis­ap­point­ment. See fly­ers on inform­a­tion table. 

Park­ing — Please make sure to park only in the marked spaces provided.

Op Shop Dona­tions – We have been inund­ated with dona­tions recently and our store room is over­flow­ing, please hold off on bring­ing any dona­tions either to the Emmaus Room or to the Op Shop until fur­ther notice.

New Year Remind­er. Want to know through­out the year what is on in and around Sydney? Keep an eye on the Anglic­ans Togeth­er Events page for a reg­u­larly updated list of excit­ing and fas­cin­at­ing events, being all things music­al, con­tem­plat­ive, intel­lec­tu­ally chal­len­ging etc. www.anglicanstogether.org/files/page_events.html

Giv­ing to St Luke’s

Envel­opes in which to place your weekly offer­ing are avail­able at the Wel­come Table at the entrance to the church and also at the Inform­a­tion Table near the Book­stall. If you would like to use this meth­od of giv­ing, please take a box. Altern­at­ively, St Luke’s Dir­ect Trans­fer may work for you. Please put your name or the word “Offer­ing” as a reference.

St Luke’s Enmore Bank Account Details

Account Name: St Luke’s Anglic­an Church Work­ing Account
BSB: 062–165
Account Num­ber: 10023547 

Bible Read­ings for the Week 13^th to 19^th March 2017

MONDAY	Daniel 9.4–10	Psalm 79.8–13	Luke6.36–38
TUESDAY	Isai­ah 1.10–22	Psalm 50.16–22	Mat­thew 23.1–12
WEDNESDAY	Jeremiah18.18–20	Psalm 31.1–5	Matthew20.17–28
THURSDAY	Jeremi­ah 17.5–10	Psalm 1	Luke 16.19–31
FRIDAY	Gen­es­is 37.3–4,12–28	Psalm 105.16–22	Mat­thew 21.33–46
SATURDAY	Micah 7.14–15,18–20	Psalm 103.1–5	Luke15.1–3,11–32

Next Sunday Read­ings – Third Sunday in Lent
Third read­ing: Exodus 17.1–7
Psalm 95
Second read­ing: Romans 5.1–11
Gos­pel: John 4.5–42

INTERCESSIONS Pray­ers for each day of the week Today: Ron, Anthea, Ron­an, Veron­ica & Rohan Nath; Pau­line Newell; Johnny Nitchar­oen & Eed Darunee. Monday: Math­i­as Oduro; Stu­art Ogg; Kath­er­ine Old­field; Julie & Phil­ippa Olston; Ann & Rachel Petersen & Wolf. Tues­day: Jenny Prais­ang; Tony Pur­cell; Ramendra, Jo, Thomas & Lucy Raj; Win­nie Rakphong. Wed­nes­day: Milk Rak­sajit; Andrew, Rachel, Belinda, Bianca & Bryson Reddy; Eddie, Susan, Edwin & Stephanie Reddy; Edward & Joyce Reddy. Thursday: Mat­ilda Rink­er; John Roe; Jick Roun­sang; Gra­hame Sadler; Leil­ani Saseve; Ken Searle; Andy Ser­afin & Colin Spokes. Fri­day: Peter Sey­mour; Ray & Laurel Som­mer; Raboom & Nol Takham; Mat­thew, James & Mark Tangruthaitham. Sat­urday: Rung Thana­chait­awee­sub; Num­wan Thawan­wanich­kul; Nok Thawom; Steph­en Thomas.  Our Pray­ers for those in urgent need: Leanne; Asia Bibi, Robert and Lyn­dall, Fr Ron Mor­ris, Max Boy­ley, Jean Weller; Tom Algeo, Sarah, Linda Jensath­it, Bar­bara Granger, Susan Wells and Julia Baird.

Our Pray­er for those in need.  Shir­ley Allen; Bar­bara & Jade Allen; Grace & Han­nah Ashton; Fatima Begum; Angela Bell; Ross Black; Maur­een & Henry Byers; Hugo Cun­ning­ham; Joseph Jee­bell; Ann Jeffs; Melissa, John & Baby Ger­ard; Jude & Isla; Marissa; John Naidu; Pau­line Newell; Lamar Pow­ell; Peter Pur­cell; Edward Reddy; Alex Regos; Joy Ree; Steph­en Thomas; Soph­ie Toupein; Janet Walms­ley; Yavani Mu Daly, Vic­tor­ia, Leigh Gar­retty, Nii Samuela; Alie­sha; Juli­an; Eve Moggs; John Mic­allef; Lil­lian & moth­er; Jack & fam­ily; Car­oline Wilson; Amrit McIntyre, Dawn Hol­land, Helen Gro­nowski (Priest), Mar­garet Watkins, Julia & Mal­colm, Ros­alind, Lucy, Jack, Harry and Tom, Bruce Sims & Peter; Mar­garet Flakeler. The Depar­ted Dav­id Glassock Anniversar­ies of the Departed Ivy Noble; Robert Wil­li­ams; Fr. John Buder­us; Ana­s­tas­si­os Dor­as; Dor­is Thurl­ing; Bill Newell; Peter Wil­li­ams; Ken­neth Newell. Saints Com­mem­or­a­tion: 17th: Patrick, bish­op, mis­sion­ary of Ire­land (d.461) 18th: Cyril of Jer­u­s­alem, Bish­op and teach­er (d.386)

Par­ish Inform­a­tion www.stlukesenmore.org.au

ABN.78 161 584 893.

SUNDAY WORSHIP:

Sung Euchar­ist and Chil­dren’s Min­istry at 9.30 am fol­lowed by hos­pit­al­ity in the hall. Thai Com­munity meets in the Chapel after morn­ing tea — Enquir­ies to Aman­da Mason 0407 101 382.

WEEKDAY SERVICES:

Wed­nes­day 9.30 a.m. — Morn­ing Pray­er; 10.00 a.m. Euchar­ist (fol­lowed by morn­ing tea)
Fri­day 8.30 a.m. – Morn­ing Prayer

CONFESSIONS (Sac­ra­ment of Recon­cili­ation) HOME COMMUNIONS, BAPTISMS, & MARRIAGES by arrangement.

Rect­or — Fr Philip Brad­ford — 0431 655 220 (Mob)
Office Ph 9557 4219 PO Box 64. Enmore NSW 2042
Par­ish email: rector@stlukesenmore.org.au
Fr Philip: bradford.pr@gmail.com

Hon­or­ary Lay Min­is­ter – Peter Sey­mour

Pas­tor­al Care
Lay-Min­is­ters — Part Time – Lea MacNeil & Aman­da Mason.

 

OFFICE HOURS: Tues­day 9.00 to 11.00 am; Wed­nes­day 9.00 am to 12 noon; Fri­day 8.30 to 10.30 a.m. www.stlukesenmore.org.au Hon Clergy Asso­ci­ate: Fr Ron Mor­ris (Mob 0409 451362) Organ­ist: Kathy Drummond Occa­sion­al Organ­ist: C. Brooks ST LUKE’S OP SHOP, 133 Enmore Rd, Tel: 9550 5713 Hours: Tues, Wed & Fri­day 9.30   4; Thursday 9.30–3; Sat 9.30 – 2.30, Sunday, Monday – Closed. Hall Admin­is­trat­or: Stu­art Veitch Mb 0400–312-354

War­dens: Jen­nie Win­ton Mb 0401 727 718. Eddy Reddy Mb 0410 634 948 Ruth Cham­pi­on Mb 0400 166 041 Par­ish Council: Andy Ser­afin; Jen­nifer B; James Barnes (Treas­urer); Susan Hill; Peter Sey­mour; Fabi­an LoS­chiavo; Amrit MacIntyre & Tony Purcell. Par­ish Nominators: Moya Holle; Mandy Tib­bey; Susan Hill; Ruth Cham­pi­on & Stu­art Veitch.  Pas­tor­al Care Sup­port Group Ruth Cham­pi­on; Stu­art Ogg; John Tonetti, Moya Holle; Peter Seymour