Baptism of Jesus

Bible Readings

First reading: Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm: Psalm 29
Second reading: Acts 19:1-7
Gospel: Mark 1:4-11

Some thoughts on today’s Gospel reading

The baptism of Jesus immerses him in the life of the people. He joined the queue of people for John's baptism, wanting to share the joys and sorrows of his people.

In the depths of the water he entered into the depths of his own humanity and the depths of his people. We could say that Jesus has entered into that part of all of us which laughs and sings, dances and cries, feels for the sick and the suffering, desires the best for self and others; nothing human is foreign to him as he was baptised into the life of his people and the God of his ancestors. https://www.sacredspace.ie/node/186273

Welcome to our visitors today, from the Inner North churches and other visitors. Best wishes to all for a Happy New Year!

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." 
Isaiah 43:18-19

Prayer for Strength and Power in the Year Ahead

Lord, we ask for your wisdom, for your strength and power to be constantly present within us. We pray you would make us strong and courageous for the road ahead. Give us ability beyond what we feel able, let your gifts flow freely through us, so that you would be honoured by our lives, and others would be drawn to you. In Jesus Name, Amen.             www.christianity.com/

We give thanks

Dear God, Thank you that you make all things new. Thank you for all that you've allowed into our lives this past year, the good along with the hard things, which have reminded us how much we need you and rely on your presence filling us every single day.                           www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/

We welcome the O’Connor community and faith groups who will be using our facilities in 2021. Several came back last year following the COVID shutdown, some are returning in this New Year, and others have not yet decided to return.  Please pray for God’s blessing upon the members of these groups below and upon their activities.

Canberra/Monaro Emmaus Community
Stretch Therapy classes
Strength and Flexibility classes
Strange Weather Gospel Choir
Mensa
National Parks
Interplay Australia
ACT Yoga and Meditation
Sullivan’s Trail Project – Create and Sow
Primrose Services – Young Onset Dementia Care
Presbytery Social Justice Meeting
Uniting Children and Families
Tongan United Church
Inner North Parents
Habesha Prayer Group
Reformed Church International Australia

O’Connor Uniting Church
written for O’Connor’s 50 years’ anniversary by Carolyn McAllister, 2004

It’s 50 years since our church began
And only a few can recall
A few houses and paddocks, not an A-frame in sight,
Just a brand new red brick hall. 

From the Methodist church in nearby Reid,
To O’Connor, the new edge of town,
Came those with a vision to plant a church,
To reach out to those all around.

It’s recorded that we were a friendly crowd,
Unswayed by status or class.
We cared about people, and the need to tell all,
Of the Kingdom that’s coming to pass. 

The A-frame was built and we’re told of Knut,
Who laid every parquetry square.
A devout man of God, as he fitted each piece,
He covered our church in prayer. 

Then into the seventies, and the Spirit of God
Touched this church in ways for us new.
It was a time of upheaval, of hurt and of pain
Of discovering what we’re called to do.

God gave us a vision, a servant church be,
This is my call to you now.
There came invitations – churches wanting to know
Where we’d come in renewal and how. 

So we served other churches and lay people led,
In their areas of speciality and call.
Then with Union came both blessing and the challenge to keep faith,
With what the Lord was doing through us all.

The 80’s arrived, our numbers had grown,
The leadership went on retreat.
“Build people, not buildings”, was the word from the Lord,
So for worship in school halls we’d meet. 

“Let your walls be salvation and your gates be of praise”,
As the Spirit here among you brings new birth.
God’s anointing brought us healing and the ministry flowed
From Christ’s priesthood of believers here on earth. 

“Be a church of living stones” required ministry within –
Were relationships effective, in accord?
We learnt of covenant and cover, a member’s responsibility,
A time of learning, growing, teaching, in the Lord.

Not forgetting that our promise was to be a servant church,
We shared good news through many different means:
Teaching from the Word of God, from our own experience,
The Sower Course, the Bus, a Magazine. 

That magazine encouraged folk in places hard and dry,
To follow on where we had trod and not give up and die.
The message was, don’t leave the church that God has called you to;
Unless God calls you out of there, bloom where God has planted you. 

By sticking to this call ourselves, the cost we really knew,
No bed of roses is the church is all too often true;
But with eyes to see God’s blessings as we break up soil and sow,
Christ fosters faith and waters hope where weeds and wheat both grow.

When God called out our leaders to resign and move away,
We found the numbers leaving meant there’d be very few who’d stay.
Yet all we’d shared and learnt as one informs and guides us still
To link us all together as one church within God’s will. 

So 50 years have come and gone and the buildings they still stand;
And there’s a church still being built that’s not of bricks and sand.
As we look into our history with the one who can atone,
We find a legacy of love poured out, which is our cornerstone.