Healesville Uniting Church Online service for Pentecost 2 by Rev Deborah Kottek

Healesville Uniting Church online service for Trinity Sunday by Alan Honeycoombe

Truth telling or doing what we know is right or just, can involve standing up to powers and people – that we may fear, are obligated to, or maybe it involves someone we care about or are accountable to, as it was for Samuel.  Following God’s call is often not easy.

God’s call to Samuel was persistent.  At even such a tender age, God knew Samuel, God had plans for Samuel well before he was even born.  God called him by his name and Samuel heard God’s voice.  We are all called by God into the service of God, through baptism.  We belong to God and each of us is intimately known.

Many people preferred to stay in the dark in Jesus day; they didn’t want to believe in something that challenged their expectations.  They accepted Moses Law – it made rational sense, it provided order and it separated power – those who enforced the rules and those who were to follow them.  In fact rules could be a tool of tyranny.  Darkness was justified.

Jesus came as the light of the world to bring truth and justice, to illuminate the dark places, to bring new life where there was death and decay – the suffering of humanity.  This would require change, possibly the need to review, share, adjust, a shifting of power, changing what is unjust to just.  Illuminating can show up things we might not want to see and areas for change where there can be a lot of resistance.  Transformation offers new life but it requires truth and effort.  We are never alone when we live into our truth.

John tells us that the Word became flesh and lived among us – the Word of God, the voice and breath of God that brought all things into being before anything was created.  Jesus, the living light that existed in the beginning was one of us.