As we continue reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer we are invited to consider: what is enough?

Sermon Sunday 7th March, 2010 (pdf)
St. David’s Uniting Church, Oakleigh
Rev. Arnie Wierenga

We continue reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer. When we pray for the Father’s ‘kingdom to come’ and ‘will be done’ questions arise. How can we know the will of the Father? How can we know what the kingdom looks like?

As Jesus teaches us to pray, we are reminded that a strong prayer life allows us to hear the voice and call of God most clearly.

Sermon Sunday February 28th, 2010 (pdf)
St. David’s Uniting Church, Oakleigh
Rev. Arnie Wierenga

Dealing with the powers that be is a tricky thing. We explore the teachings of Jesus and we reflect on our discomfort at being revolutionaries. It is difficult to side-step the reality that Jesus cops the worst of all punishments from Rome because he directly confronts the power of Caesar.

Sermon Sunday February 21st, 2010 (pdf)
St. David’s Uniting Church, Oakleigh
Rev. Arnie Wierenga

We continue reflecting on the Lord’s prayer:

Your kingdom come
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus and the disciples are in the town of Caesarea Philipi. Jesus asks them about who people think he might be. He then asks the disciples for their own insight. As Peter is congratulated for his divinely inspired response to Jesus, it is amidst the backdrop of a different kingdom. We reflect on Jesus’ kingdom in contrast to Rome, and the sobering reminder that Jesus begins a journey towards crucifixion.

Sermon, Sunday February 14th, 2010 (pdf)

We continue reflecting on the prayer that Jesus taught us. Often we struggle to keep reverence or hallowing and intimacy together, but Jesus teaches us to be bold in our approach to the Father.

Sermon Sunday February 7th, 2010 (pdf)

Wednesday 3rd February saw the ‘return’ of the Wednesday Community Luncheon for the last time. After nearly two decades of amazing service to the local community, the past Wednesday saw a meal of thanksgiving where volunteers and participants were able to thank God for all the blessings of the last 19 years.

The community luncheon began on the 15th May in either 1996 or 1993, or possibly even sooner. It was first a casual place to stop for a sandwich to share, but began to grow into the luncheon we recognise today through the efforts and skills of its volunteer workers.

As the luncheon closed its doors for the final time, the total life experience of volunteers was around 1000 years. These and many others over the years served approximately 44,250 meals, and about 110,625 courses. A rough guess puts the volunteer hours at about 34,000. In all this service has been an immense achievement.

We recognise that for all things there is a ‘season under heaven’. While we give thanks for all the luncheon has been, it is not without a sense of loss that this ministry draws to a close. In particular it has provided an important gathering place of community for an average of 80 people weekly. Some of those who attend have stated it was the most important event in their week.

It may yet be possible that new avenues to sharing a meal will open up. At the same time it is a blessing that the volunteer workforce get a well deserved break. In the near future Fusion will be recommencing their community luncheon in their new home at the Oakleigh Baptist Church on Warrigal Road.

Again, thanks be to God for a wonderful and faithful ministry that has been such a vibrant and important blessing to local and wider community.

We begin a series of reflections on the ‘Lord’s Prayer’. We wonder how the words Jesus has given us relates to Paul’s idea that words are inadequate. We discover a source of ‘sighs too deep for words’ and come to a new understanding of prayer.

Sermon Sunday January 31st, 2010 (pdf)
St. David’s Uniting Church, Oakleigh
Rev. Arnie Wierenga

The ministry of Jesus is beginning to take shape as we hear of his speaking in the Synagogue of his home town. As he reads from the scroll of Isaiah, we can an insight into the nature of his ministry. As Jesus brings good news, it is good news because it is more than a blessing of God’s love, but fundamentally it is about addressing social needs.

Sermon Sunday January 24th, 2010 (pdf)
St. David’s Uniting Church, Oakleigh
Rev. Arnie Wierenga

At the wedding of Cana in Galilee, Jesus turns vast amounts of water into wine and saves the wedding host from great embarrassment. While we rightly focus on Jesus and the disciples who ‘believe in him’, there is a key person of faith in this story who often goes unnoticed.

Mary begins this sequence of events with such conviction and faith in her son that she compels the stewards to ‘listen to him’. Her conviction rubs off on them, and soon the whole village of Cana has been transformed through the abundance of God.

Sermon Sunday January 17th, 2010 (pdf)
St. David’s Uniting Church, Oakleigh
Rev. Arnie Wierenga

When John the baptiser claims he is unworthy to even untie the sandals on Jesus’ feet, we begin to sense that Jesus is unreachable.

The gospel speaks loudly to a counter-reality. It is God who takes initiative and reaches out to both Jesus and then to all of humanity through Jesus. Barriers, pedestals, and notions of worthiness all seem to melt into nothing in the light of God’s grace.

Sermon for Sunday Jan 10th, 2010 (pdf)
St. David’s Uniting Church, Oakleigh
Rev. Arnie Wierenga