LaughingBird

4th Sunday of Pascha - Year A
2026-04-26 00:00 - 23:59 (Australia/Melbourne)
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Acts 2: 42-47

The newly baptised believers threw themselves wholeheartedly into studying the teachings of the apostles, and into sharing their lives with one another, breaking bread together, and gathering for prayer.
Everyone was mind-boggled by what was going on, and especially by the miraculous things the apostles were doing – things that clearly bore the signs of God’s involvement.
All those who had put their trust in Christ lived a common life and shared everything with one another. They sold off their personal assets and possessions, and pooled their resources so that there was plenty to provide for everybody’s needs. Their daily pattern of life revolved around praising God, both at gatherings for worship in the Temple and while breaking bread in their homes at meals which were eaten in a generous and festive spirit. Everyone thought they were alright, and every day their numbers grew as the Lord added more and more people whose lives were being put on track.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 23

You, LORD, are my guide in the wilderness;
there is nothing more I could need.
You set up camp in places of beauty and shelter;
you lead the way on secluded tracks
beside creeks of cool clean water.
I feel my spirit breathing freely again;
your reputation puts me at ease;
I leave the navigating to you, and follow.
Even if we hike through a perilous valley,
where crows keep a menacing watch,
fear will still not get the better of me.
As long as I stick with you
I know I’ll make the distance;
with a knife and a bit of rope
you seem able to tackle any challenge.
You cook up a feast for me,
as those who wanted to feed on me watch, frustrated.
You pamper me like an honoured guest
and constantly top up my glass.
My life feels charmed, each and every day.
Love, mercy and all good things
keep falling into my lap.
I’m with you for life, LORD,
where you go, I’ll go;
where you live, I’ll live.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

1 Peter 2: 19-25

It is greatly to your credit if you can cop it sweet and keep looking to God when you are being treated cruelly and unfairly by others. Of course, there is no great credit in copping it sweet if you deserve the punishment, is there? But if you are being made to suffer for doing the right thing, then God will applaud you for taking it on the chin and holding your line. After all, it comes with the territory in the life to which you have been called. Christ set the example on this when he suffered for your benefit, and we should all be following in his footsteps.
“He never did anything wrong,
and not a word of a lie ever passed his lips.”
When he was abused,
he never retaliated;
when they inflicted pain on him,
he made no threats of revenge.
He trusted God to get him through,
and to judge the right and wrong of it all.
He copped the consequences of our corruption
in his own body on the cross,
so that we could walk free with a clean slate
and dedicate our lives to doing what is right.
When he was wounded,
we were healed.
Before that we were as far off track
as a penguin in the desert,
but now we are back where we belong,
in the care of the one who protects and guides us.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 10: 1-10

Jesus said:
“What I am telling you is the dead-set truth: anyone who gets into the dairy yard by climbing over the back fence instead of walking in through the front gate is obviously up to no good. Call the cops! The farmer who looks after the herd uses the gate. The security guard will always open the gate and let him through, and the cows will recognise his voice as he approaches. His own cows will come to him when he calls their names. He can lead them out just by calling them and walking ahead, and they will follow him, because his voice is familiar to them. They will not follow a stranger. They will back off and not let him near, because they do not recognise the unfamiliar voice.”
Jesus used this image to illustrate his point, but the people listening still could not make head nor tail of it. So Jesus tried another angle:
“I kid you not when I say, I am the gate for the herd. Those who were here before are a pack of crooks, but the herd didn’t trust them for a minute. I am the gate, and all will be well for whoever enters through this gate. They will be able to come and go as required to graze the wide open paddocks. The crook only comes to steal and kill and destroy. I came so that everyone can have life – life that exceeds all their expectations.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you spread a banquet of abundant life before us
and invite us to eat and drink in celebration.
In the first of your wonders and signs you created the earth,
tending it with goodness and love.
You created a people for yourself
and gave them your law
that they might know your voice and follow in your ways.
When we wandered away like lost sheep,
stumbling through death’s dark valley,
you sent us your child, Jesus Christ,
who endured unjust abuse and suffering
and returned only mercy and life.
Calling us to attend to his voice and return to you,
he bore our sins in his body on the cross,
and when you raised him he freed us to follow him,
— our shepherd and the guardian of our souls —
along sure paths to life in abundance.
Therefore with .....
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We thank you that in Christ,
you have spread a banquet of abundant life before us
and invited us to eat and drink with him
— our shepherd and the guardian of our souls.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you found us, lost and astray
and guided us along sure paths to life in abundance.
In the first of your wonders and signs you created the earth,
spreading it out like a banquet before us.
You created a people for yourself
and gave them your law
that they might know your voice and follow in your ways.
When we wandered away like lost sheep,
stumbling through death’s dark valley,
you sent us your child, Jesus Christ,
who endured abuse and suffering unjustly
and returned only mercy and life.
Calling us to attend to his voice and return to you,
he bore our sins in his body on the cross,
and when you raised him he freed us to follow him,
our shepherd and the guardian of our souls.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the cross.
so that free from sin and the fear of sin,
we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds we have been healed.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
be at peace.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now, listening for the voice of Christ,
and follow the example he left us.
Devote yourself to the apostles’ teaching,
to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread
and to the prayers of God’s people.
And may God lead you to places of rest and renewal;
May Christ Jesus give you life in abundance;
And may the Holy Spirit fill your hearts with gladness and generosity.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

The advertiser is my shepherd??A sermon on Psalm 23 by Nathan Nettleton

The Right MasterA sermon on Psalm 23 by Wai Kwong Sun

A personal response to Psalm 23A sermon on Psalm 23 by Alison Sampson

Fullness of LifeA sermon on John 10:1-10 by Nathan Nettleton

The Price of Abundant LifeA sermon on 1 Peter 2:19-25 & John 10:1-10 by Nathan Nettleton

Generosity, Freedom and AbundanceA sermon on John 10:1-10; Acts 2: 42-47 & Psalm 23 by Nathan Nettleton

I am the Door/GateA sermon on John 10:1-10 by Chris Barnden

Of shepherds, thieves and reiversA sermon on John 10:-1-10 and Psalm 23 by Jim Barr

3rd Sunday of Pascha - Year A
2026-04-19 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Acts 2: 14a, 36-41

Peter stood up with the other eleven and addressed the crowd as loudly and clearly as he could, saying, “Let the whole people of Israel know, without a shadow of a doubt, that this Jesus who you killed on a cross, is the one who God has made both Lord and Messiah.”
Peter’s words hit home deep in the guts of his hearers. They turned to him and the other apostles saying, “Brothers and sisters, what can we do about this?”
Peter replied, “Turn around and get your lives back on track with God. Be baptised, each and every one of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah, so that all your failings can be forgiven. Do that and you will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, for your children, and for everyone on down the line – everyone who receives the invitation of the Lord our God.”
Peter continued pressing the case, seeking to convince everyone. He urged them to respond, saying, “Break free from the corrupt culture that surrounds you, before it is too late.”
Those who welcomed what he had to say and took it on board were baptised, and on that one day, about three thousand people were added to the ranks of those following the way of Jesus.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 116: 1-4, 12-19

I love you, LORD!
How could I not love you
when you always respond to my cries?
You are always ready to listen to me,
so I will bring my needs to you as long as I live.
Once death was closing in on me;
the grave’s icy fingers had me in their grasp;
Tormented and desperate, I cried out to you,
“Please, LORD. Help me! Save my life!”
How can I ever repay you, LORD?
What gift could ever express my gratitude?
I will raise my glass in your honour,
I will name you as the one who saved me.
I will make good on all I promised you, LORD,
and I’ll let everyone know its for you.
Whenever one of your faithful people dies
it affects you deeply.
LORD, you have released me from my chains.
I will serve you forever,
just as my forebears have done.
I will bring a gift to say thanks;
I will pray to you, and you alone.
I will be true to the vows I’ve made;
and I won’t keep it hidden.
In full view of all your people,
in the public place of worship,
I’ll do all I promised you, LORD.
All the praise and all the credit are your, LORD!
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

1 Peter 1: 17-23

You are now strangers to the culture around you, and the way you live is important. The fact that you look to God as your Father does not mean that God is going to show you any favouritism. God is not swayed by mere words, but treats everybody fairly on the basis of what they do. So make sure you treat God with due respect and submission in the way you live your lives. You know that when you were slaves to the futile preoccupations of the culture you grew up in, God had to pay dearly to get you free. The price was not paid in money, which is here today and gone tomorrow, but in blood — the life-blood of the Messiah — like the noble sacrifice of a cherished one who can do no wrong. This had been on the cards for the Messiah before time began, because God always planned to get you free, whatever it cost. It is only now though, as time draws to a close, that it is all out in the open for your benefit. You have come to put your trust in God because of this Messiah, who God then raised from the dead and heaped glories upon. It is because of him that all your hopes and plans for the future are pinned on God.
Now that you have purged the muck from your hearts by doing what the truth required of you, you will find that you have the capacity for love that is authentic and mutual. So use it! Love one another with all your hearts. You have been given a fresh start, a new birth into a new life; not conceived from sperm and egg this time, but from something far more dependable and permanent — the living word of God.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Luke 24: 13-35

In the afternoon of the day that the tomb had been found empty, a couple who had been followers of Jesus were heading back home to the small town called Emmaus. As they walked the ten kilometres or so from Jerusalem, they were talking over everything that had happened in the past few days. Along the way, Jesus himself joined them, but to their eyes he was just another stranger on the road. He asked them, “What’s all this you are discussing so intently as you travel?”
They pulled up in their tracks and looked at him with long faces. One of them, a man named Cleopas, said to him, “You must be the only stranger in and around Jerusalem who has not caught up with what’s been going on in the last few days.”
“What has been going on?” Jesus asked.
They replied, “It is all to do with Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet whose words and actions electrified the people in the presence of God. The religious and civil authorities had him arrested and then pushed for the death penalty. They got their way and he was executed. We’d had our hopes pinned on him being the one who would set Israel back in its rightful place. It’s all been over for three days now. A strange twist has rocked us all today, though. Some women from our group apparently went to the tomb first thing this morning and couldn’t find his body. They came back and told the rest of us that they had seen a vision of angels who said that Jesus was alive. We sent a group down to check out their story, and they found things just the way the women had said, but there was no sign of Jesus anywhere.”
When they had finished filling him in, Jesus said to them, “What a thick-headed pair you are! Why are you so slow to get your heads and your hearts around everything that the prophets spelled out?! Hasn’t it always been the case that the Messiah would have to cop all this suffering before getting in on the glory that was in store for him?”
Jesus spent the rest of their journey explaining the scriptures to them. Passage by passage, he showed them what Moses and the prophets had said about him.
When they reached the turn-off to the town they were heading for, Jesus appeared set to push on up the highway, but they put the hard word on him to stop at their place overnight since the sun was going down and the day was almost over. So he accepted their offer of hospitality and went home with them. When he sat down to the evening meal with them, he picked up a loaf of bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them. Suddenly their eyes were opened and they realised who he was; and just as suddenly he disappeared from sight. They looked at one another and said, “No wonder there was such a fire burning in our guts when he was explaining the scriptures to us on the road!”
So, without a moment’s delay, they were on their feet and hurrying back to Jerusalem to tell the news to the eleven and the rest of the crew. When they found them, they were all together and abuzz with news: “The Lord really has risen! He has appeared to Simon Peter!”
The couple from Emmaus filled them all in on what had happened on the road, and how it had dawned on them who he was when the bread had been broken.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for through Christ we have come to trust in you,
setting our faith and hope on you
as the one who frees us from death’s grip.
You laid the foundations of the world
and destined your child, Jesus,
to reveal your eternal presence.
Through Moses and the prophets,
you made your ways known
and called your people to follow you.
You sent Jesus to us, a prophet mighty in word and deed,
to free our corrupt generation from its futile ways.
Though he was condemned to death
and crucified by the religious,
you raised him from the dead
and made him both Lord and Messiah.
Risen indeed, he is with us always;
and now in the breaking of bread
and your living and enduring word,
our eyes are opened
and are hearts set on fire with love.
Therefore with .....
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We give you thanks for your son, Jesus,
who you have made both Lord and Messiah.
Risen indeed, he is with us always;
and in the breaking of bread
and your living and enduring word,
our eyes are opened
and are hearts set on fire with love.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for through Christ we have come to trust in you,
setting our faith and hope on you
as the one who frees us from death’s grip.
You laid the foundations of the world
and destined your child, Jesus,
to reveal your eternal presence.
Through Moses and the prophets,
you made your ways known
and called your people to follow you.
You sent Jesus to us, a prophet mighty in word and deed,
to free our corrupt generation from its futile ways.
Though he was condemned to death
and crucified by the religious,
you raised him from the dead
and made him both Lord and Messiah.
Risen indeed, he is with us always;
and now in the breaking of bread
and your living and enduring word,
our eyes are opened
and are hearts set on fire with love.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

This promise is for you and for all who come after you,
all who are called by the Lord our God:
through repentance and baptism into Christ,
your sins will be forgiven
and the gift of the Holy Spirit will be yours.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
be at peace.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now as witnesses of God’s eternal presence.
The risen Christ has made himself known to you
in the breaking of bread,
so set your faith and hope on God,
fulfilling your vows and living in genuine mutual love.
And may God hear and respond whenever you call;
May Christ Jesus make himself known to you in all things;
And may the Holy Spirit open your eyes and set your hearts on fire with love.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

Can’t see the wood for the treesA sermon on Luke 24: 13-35 by Nathan Nettleton

Open Minds and Narrow ThinkingA sermon on Luke 24:36b-48 by Nathan Nettleton

Easter in OrdinaryA sermon on Luke 24.13-35 by Garry Deverell

The Stranger on the Road of DespairA sermon on Luke 24: 13-35 & 1 Peter 1: 17-23 by Nathan Nettleton

There and Back AgainA sermon on Luke 24:13-35 by Roslyn Wright

Repentance and Embracing the StrangerA sermon on Acts 2:36-41 & Luke 24:13-35 by Nathan Nettleton

Through the Eyes of a Dead ManA sermon on Acts 2:36-41 & Luke 24:13-35 by Nathan Nettleton

2nd Sunday of Pascha - Year A
2026-04-12 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Acts 2: 14a, 22-32

Peter stood up with the other eleven and addressed the crowd as loudly and clearly as he could:
“My fellow Israelites, tune in and I’ll set you straight. You already know about Jesus of Nazareth, and you know how God publicly endorsed him by enabling him to do powerful and amazing things which clearly had God’s fingerprints all over them. This man’s life was put in your hands, just as God had decided it would be – a decision made with eyes open to the consequences. You strung him up and killed him, and the fact that you got some outsiders to do your dirty work doesn’t change that. But that wasn’t the end of the story: God raised him up, breaking him free from the grip of death, and death was powerless to do anything about it. Clearly David was anticipating the experience of Jesus when he wrote:
I can see that you are always with me, Lord;
you stick by me so I’ll never be pushed off track.
No wonder I’m on top of the world
and songs of joy burst from my lips;
there is even hope for my mortal body
because of you.
You will never give me up to the grave,
or leave your dedicated servant to rot.
You set my feet on a life-giving track,
and you will give me the ultimate pleasure
of being in your presence for keeps.
“My fellow Israelites, I’m not giving away any secrets when I say that our ancestor, King David, did himself die, and was buried. Even to this day, any of us can go and visit his grave and know that he’s gone. But he was a prophet who heard from God. He knew that God had promised to raise the ultimate King from his own family line. Seeing what this would mean, David pointed to the resurrection of the Messiah when he said:
He was not given up to the grave;
nor was his body left to rot.
“So the fact is, Jesus is the Messiah and God has raised him up. And we all stand before you as witnesses to this fact.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 16

Protect me, God,
you are my place of refuge.
I’m acknowledging you as the one in charge, LORD;
you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I delight in the company of those
who dedicate themselves to you;
they are the salt of the earth.
Those who worship other things
will have nothing but grief.
I will not buy into their futile devotions;
I will not utter the names they revere.
You are all I want, LORD, and all I need;
you hold my future in your hands.
You mark out the best of everything for me;
you’ve set me up with a bright future.
I heap accolades on you, LORD,
for you always give me wise advice;
even in the dead of night
you fill my heart with your teachings.
I’ll always stick close behind you, LORD;
with you near by,
I’ll never be pushed off track.
You fill me with delight, LORD;
joy erupts from deep in my bones;
my body relaxes, safe in your care.
You’ll never let the grave drag me down;
your faithful servants are never left for dead.
You set my feet on a life-giving track, LORD.
To be in your presence is absolute bliss.
All I could dream of comes from your hand.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

1 Peter 1: 3-9

A standing ovation for God!! Applause! Honours! The richest rewards! All this and more for the God and Conceiver of our Lord Jesus the Messiah! Just look at the astonishing mercy evident in what God has done for us by raising Jesus the Messiah from the dead. Through this resurrection, God has given us all a fresh start, as people newly born into a life full of hope. And this newborn life can only get better, because God has put aside a nest-egg for us in heaven where its value cannot be eroded, degraded or rendered obsolete. It is all there waiting for you, and in the meantime, your faith will get you through, because God’s power is at work in it, protecting you from destruction and seeing you safely across the line into the life for which you are being saved — a life that will only be seen in all its glory when the curtain comes down on time as we’ve known it. All of this gives you every reason to celebrate with great joy, even though in recent times you have been repeatedly put under the heat of hostility and viciousness. You’ll come out the better for it. Solid gold — although here today and gone tomorrow — is only seen in all its beauty after it is refined by fire. Your faith, which is so much more precious than gold, will likewise be proved to be the genuine article when it emerges from the fire, and will thus attract even more credit and glory and honour when Jesus the Messiah takes centre stage. You have never seen him, but that doesn’t stop you loving him. You still don’t see him, and yet you are trusting him. And even now you are filled with a joy which words cannot describe; a joy which radiates the glories of heaven. And why not? Indeed, you are already tasting the life that is the ultimate reward for all who put faith into practice; the life for which you are being saved.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 20: 19-31

It was a Sunday – the first day of the week – when the tomb was found empty. That same evening, the disciples met together. They locked all the doors of the house where they were meeting because they were afraid of being tracked down by the religious authorities. Suddenly, Jesus appeared and stood among them saying, “Good evening to you all!”
He proceeded to show them the deep scars in his hands and side. The disciples, of course, were over the moon at seeing the Lord again. Jesus spoke again, saying, “All the best to you. God sent me into the world, and in the same way, I’m sending you.”
Having said that, he breathed a big breathe onto them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit; all of you. If you forgive anyone who has sinned, then their sins are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness for any sins, they remain unforgiven.”
When this happened, Thomas – known as “the Twin” and one of the twelve – was missing. The other disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, but they couldn’t convince him. “I’m not falling for that one!” Thomas replied. “I’d have to see the nail holes in his hands before I’d believe it. In fact I’d have to feel the holes myself, and touch the spear wound in his side.”
A week later, the disciples again gathered behind locked doors in the same house, and this time Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors, Jesus came and stood among them again and said, “Good evening to you all!”
Then he turned to Thomas and said, “Here are my hands, Thomas. Put your finger here in the wound.” And pulling up his shirt, he said, “And here is my side. You can put your hand in the hole. Let go of your doubts and trust me.”
Thomas, of course, was blown away, and said, “You are my Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Believing is not that hard when you’ve seen me, is it? Imagine how much God will smile on those who put their trust in me without ever having seen me!”
The disciples saw Jesus do many other things that demonstrated to them the reality of who he was, but they have not all been written down in this book. But what has been written here has been written for you, dear readers, so that you will know enough to see that Jesus is the anointed One – the Son of God – and so that by putting your trust in him you can come to have real life: the life that he lived and shares.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you have given us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
In the first of your mighty deeds of power
you created the heavens and earth.
You formed for yourself a people,
and through the law and prophets
you led them on the road to life.
Your child and our brother, Jesus Christ,
came to us speaking words of peace and forgiveness.
He was put to death by the enemies of life,
but you kept your promise
not to abandon your faithful one to death.
You raised him up, and freed him from death’s power.
Greeting us with hands still scarred,
he stands with us in our fears, doubts and trials
and protects us through faith
for salvation into our glorious inheritance -
boundless joy at your side forever.
Therefore with .....
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We give you thanks for your Son, Jesus Christ,
who greets us with hands still scarred
and stands with us in our fears, doubts and trials,
protecting us through faith
for salvation into our glorious inheritance -
boundless joy at your side forever.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you have given us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
In the first of your mighty deeds of power
you created the heavens and earth.
You formed for yourself a people,
and through the law and prophets
you led them on the road to life.
Your child and our brother, Jesus Christ,
came to us speaking words of peace and forgiveness.
He was put to death by the enemies of life,
but you kept your promise
not to abandon your faithful one to death.
You raised him up, and freed him from death’s power.
Greeting us with hands still scarred,
he stands with us in our fears, doubts and trials
and protects us through faith
for salvation into our glorious inheritance -
boundless joy at your side forever.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has commissioned us
to announce the forgiveness of sins.
You who have put your faith in Jesus the Messiah
will receive the outcome of your faith,
mercy for your sins and resurrection life in Christ.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
be at peace.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

As the father sent Christ Jesus,
so now you are sent.
Go then, with your hearts rejoicing,
as those who have touched the marks of truth.
Endure suffering,
forgive sins,
and love the Lord.
And may God’s power be your protection;
May Christ Jesus reach out to you with words of peace;
And may the Holy Spirit fill you with indescribable and glorious joy.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

Christ is Risen, so what’s next?A sermon on John 20:19-31 by Nathan Nettleton

Beyond Doubt?A sermon on John 20:19-31 by Nathan Nettleton

Redeeming ThomasA sermon on John 20:19-31 by Nathan Nettleton

Crossing the ThresholdA sermon on 1 Peter 1: 3-9 & John 20: 19-31 by Nathan Nettleton

Peace Be With YouA sermon on John 20:19-31 & 1 John 1:1 – 2.2 by Nathan Nettleton

Behind Locked DoorsA sermon on John 20:19-31 by Paul Sheppy

Merely-Reserving-Judgement ThomasA sermon on John 20:19-31 & 1 John 1:1 – 2.2 by Nathan Nettleton

Resurrection Sunday Morning - Year A
2026-04-05 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

1st Reading: Acts 10: 34-43

Peter addressed the gathered people saying:
“Now it is all perfectly clear to me — God does not play favourites! Whoever you are and wherever you are from, if you take God seriously and do the right thing, God will welcome you with open arms! Jesus the Messiah preached God’s message about a peace deal to the people of Israel, but clearly it did not stop with them — he is Lord of all! No doubt you have heard the news about Jesus of Nazareth, because since it sparked off in Galilee, it has spread like wildfire all over Judea. The story began after John started calling everyone to turn their lives around through baptism. God singled Jesus out then and there, charging him with the Holy Spirit’s power. From then on, Jesus travelled around working for good and helping people out from under the devil’s thumb and back onto their feet. God was with him in all this. We saw it all ourselves; everything he did in the Judean backblocks and in the city of Jerusalem. They strung him up on a post and killed him, but three days later God raised him to life and let us see him. Not everybody got to see him, but God had picked us out to be the ones who would know first hand what had happened. We got to spend time sharing meals and a few drinks with him after he was brought back from the dead. He gave us the job of getting his message out to the people and going public with the fact that he is the one who God has appointed to make the final assessment of everybody on earth, past and present. You don’t have to take our word alone on this; all the prophets back us up. Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus receives pardon for their sins on his say so.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Alternative 1st Reading: Jeremiah 31: 1-6

“When the time comes,” says the LORD, “it will be as clear as day that I am the God of all Israel, of every family without exception. All their people will be my people.”
This is what the LORD has to say:
“You people fled into the desert to escape a massacre,
and there in the desert, you found my generous love.
You were only looking for a safe place to hide,
but I met you out there and took care of you.
I have always loved you, and I always will,
and so I have been faithful to you, no matter what.
I will put you back on your feet again,
O Israel my beautiful bride.
Once again you shall take out your tambourines
and join the singing and dancing in the streets.
Just like in the good old days
you will grow grapes and make wine
on the hillsides of Samaria.
Those who put in the work
will get to enjoy its fruits.
You can bet on this: there is a day coming
when the watchtowers in the Ephraim hills
will report nothing but safety and freedom.
“Up you get, Israel,” they will say,
“it is time we went up to Mount Zion
to meet with the LORD our God!
©2011 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

Thank you, LORD, thank you!
Thank you for your goodness!
Thank you for your love —
rock solid and timeless!
May all your people recognise
that your love and loyalty last forever.
Our energy and strength come from you, LORD;
our peace and safety were won by you.
The sound of singing rings out
from the homes of all who are honest and true.
They sing of what you have done, LORD,
for you raised your hand and saved the day.
Now we know that our lives are safe;
we will live to tell of what you have done.
You gave us the tough medicine we deserved, LORD,
but you didn’t let death get its claws into us.
The minute they open the city gates
— the gates of justice —
we’ll be the first through, LORD;
eager to tell you how thankful we are.
These gates belong to you, LORD,
those you have put right can come on through.
Thank you for answering our prayers, LORD;
for coming to our rescue and putting us right.
From a rejected stone found in a rubbish pile
you cut and polished a priceless jewel.
This is obviously your work, LORD,
and we can hardly believe our eyes!
Today is your day, LORD, a day to honour you;
we will celebrate with joy and laughter.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

2nd Reading: Colossians 3: 1-4

If you are fair dinkum when you say you have been raised to new life with Christ, then commit yourself to the things that belong to such a life. Look to Christ — God’s right hand man — and take your cues from him. Concentrate on the things that matter to Christ, and don’t let yourselves get hooked into the agendas that preoccupy the world around you. Your old life is behind you — dead and buried — and your new life is intimately bound up with Christ, and lived in God. The full reality of this new life is not visible to the general public yet, but it will be. Because your life is now bound to Christ, when Christ makes his triumphant return to the public stage, you will be there with him, in all your glory, for all to see.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Alternative 2nd Reading: Acts 10: 34-43

Peter addressed the gathered people saying:
“Now it is all perfectly clear to me — God does not play favourites! Whoever you are and wherever you are from, if you take God seriously and do the right thing, God will welcome you with open arms! Jesus the Messiah preached God’s message about a peace deal to the people of Israel, but clearly it did not stop with them — he is Lord of all! No doubt you have heard the news about Jesus of Nazareth, because since it sparked off in Galilee, it has spread like wildfire all over Judea. The story began after John started calling everyone to turn their lives around through baptism. God singled Jesus out then and there, charging him with the Holy Spirit’s power. From then on, Jesus travelled around working for good and helping people out from under the devil’s thumb and back onto their feet. God was with him in all this. We saw it all ourselves; everything he did in the Judean backblocks and in the city of Jerusalem. They strung him up on a post and killed him, but three days later God raised him to life and let us see him. Not everybody got to see him, but God had picked us out to be the ones who would know first hand what had happened. We got to spend time sharing meals and a few drinks with him after he was brought back from the dead. He gave us the job of getting his message out to the people and going public with the fact that he is the one who God has appointed to make the final assessment of everybody on earth, past and present. You don’t have to take our word alone on this; all the prophets back us up. Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus receives pardon for their sins on his say so.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Gospel Reading: John 20: 1-18

Early on Sunday, the first day of the week, even before it began to get light, Mary Magdalene went to visit the tomb where Jesus had been buried. When she got there, she discovered that the stone had been removed and the tomb was open. She fled as fast as she could, and found Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus had been closest to. Mary blurted out, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have taken him.”
So Peter and the other disciple set off on the double. They were both running at full tilt, but the other disciple was faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He didn’t go in, but he bent down to peer inside and saw that the linen burial shroud had been unwrapped and left behind. Moments later, Simon Peter arrived, and barged straight into the tomb. He too, saw the unwrapped shroud lying there, and noticed that the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was not with the rest of the shroud, but had been rolled up and left in a different spot. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, followed Peter in. They had not yet got their minds around the scriptures that said that Jesus must rise from the dead, but what he saw was enough to convince him that this was no grave robbery, but something far more extraordinary.
The two men left, and headed off to their homes, but Mary stayed behind and stood weeping outside the tomb. A little later she bent down to look into the tomb, and through her tears she saw two angels dressed in white. They were sitting where the body of Jesus had previously been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
She replied, “Someone has taken away my Lord, and I have got no idea where they might have put him.”
Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing behind her, but she didn’t realise it was him. Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
Mary assumed that he was the cemetery gardener, so she said to him, “Mister, if you have removed his body from the tomb, please tell me where you have put him, and I will take him off your hands.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She spun around and said, “Rabbouni!”, which is a Hebrew word meaning ‘Dear Teacher’.
Jesus said to her, “Don’t try to hold on to me, because I have not yet fully risen to the Father. But go now, and tell my whole family of disciples that I am rising up to the one who conceived me and conceived you, to my God and your God.”
So Mary Magdalene went straight to the disciples, and was the first to make the announcement, “I have seen the Lord!”
She went on to fill them in on all that he had said to her.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Alternative Gospel Reading: Matthew 28: 1-10

The morning after the Sabbath, just as the first day of the new week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to visit the tomb. Suddenly the earth shuddered and shook beneath them and an angel from the Lord appeared from heaven right in front of them, rolled back the boulder that had sealed the mouth of the tomb, and sat on it. The angel was as radiant as lightening, and wore clothes as white as freshly fallen snow. The angel’s appearance had the security guards quaking in their boots and falling like flies, scared stiff. But to the women, the angel said, “Do not be afraid of me! I know you have come here looking for Jesus, the one they executed, but you won’t find him here. He has been raised to life, just as he said he would be. Come and I will show you the place where his body was laid to rest. Then run and tell the rest of his followers that he has been raised from the dead. Tell them that he is heading back to Galilee and you are all to follow. There you will see him for yourselves. This is what I have been sent to tell you.”
So they left the tomb on the double, awestruck and overjoyed, and ran to tell the rest of his followers the news. On the way, they suddenly ran straight into Jesus himself. “Good morning!” he said.
They threw themselves at him and fell down kissing his feet and worshipping him. Jesus said to them. “There is nothing to be afraid of. Go and tell the rest of my brothers and sisters to go on up to Galilee and I will meet them there.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for your love is forever
and you have raised the crucified Christ from the dead.
You created all things and placed Christ as the cornerstone.
You made your grace known to Israel in the wilderness,
and through your prophets you pledged
your everlasting love and constant faithfulness.
You anointed your child, Jesus,
with the Holy Spirit and power,
and he went about doing good
and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.
He was put to death, hung on a tree,
but you raised him on the third day,
and allowed him to appear, first to Mary Magdalene
and then to your other chosen witnesses.
So now we praise you within the gates of justice
and raise our glad songs of victory
for you have become our saviour
and hidden our lives in Christ in glory.
Therefore with .....
©2011 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We thank you that when your child Jesus was put to death,
you raised him on the third day,
and allowed him to appear, first to Mary Magdalene
and then to your other chosen witnesses.
In him you have become our saviour
and hidden our lives in Christ in glory.
©2011 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for your love is forever
and you have raised the crucified Christ from the dead.
You created all things and placed Christ as the cornerstone.
You made your grace known to Israel in the wilderness,
and through your prophets you pledged
your everlasting love and constant faithfulness.
You anointed your child, Jesus,
with the Holy Spirit and power,
and he went about doing good
and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.
He was put to death, hung on a tree,
but you raised him on the third day,
and allowed him to appear, first to Mary Magdalene
and then to your other chosen witnesses.
So now we praise you within the gates of justice
and raise our glad songs of victory
for you have become our saviour
and hidden our lives in Christ in glory.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2011 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

All the prophets testify that God’s love is forever
and that everyone who puts their trust in Jesus
receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
be at peace.
©2011 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now, glad and rejoicing,
for Christ is risen and has become your saviour.
Set your minds on the things of God
for your lives are hidden in Christ.
Preach and testify that he is the one ordained by God
to judge the living and the dead.
And may God surround you with everlasting love.
May Christ Jesus raise you with him to life in glory.
And may the Holy Spirit anoint you with power to do good.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2011 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

The Easter Homily of St John ChrysostomA sermon by Nathan Nettleton

God Came BackA sermon by Nathan Nettleton

Do Not Be AfraidA sermon by Andrew Woff

The Great Reversal Moves ForwardA sermon on Matthew 28:1-10 by David Devine

Life and love in the face of deathA sermon by Roslyn Wright

The Failure of FailureA sermon on Matthew 28:1-10 by Nathan Nettleton

Showing UpA sermon by Joel Sierra

A Question For Your TearsA sermon on John 20:11-18 by Edward L Taylor

A Backwards GlanceA sermon by Nathan Nettleton

Resurrection Sunday Evening
2026-04-05 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Isaiah 25: 6-9

Every people on earth will be invited to the sacred mountain
for the huge party thrown by the LORD who rules over everything.
It will be the feast to end all feasts,
with the very finest of foods and wines:
choice meats, wines aged to perfection,
gourmet delicacies to make every mouth water!
And right here on this sacred mountain
the LORD will tear off the pall of death
and release the nations from the coffin that held them.
The LORD will swallow up death once and for all.
With that, the Lord GOD will wipe the tears from every eye,
and God’s people will no longer be humiliated and despised;
The LORD says so and that settles it.
When that happens people will say,
Wow! This is our God!
We hoped, we waited, we trusted God to save us.
And our waiting has not been in vain.
The LORD has not let us down.
Celebrate! Sing and dance,
for God has come to our rescue and set us free.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 114

When we were led out of the land of slavery
- the people of Israel, coming out from under the foreign thumb -
the land of Judah became a sacred place,
the land of Israel came under sovereign rule.
The wild sea took one look, and turned tail and ran,
the Jordan river backed off and headed the other way.
The mountains skipped like a rock wallaby;
the hills were as jumpy as a kelpie pup.
What was it that made the wild sea turn tail?
What was it that made the Jordan back off?
What made the mountains quiver and jump?
What made the hills shudder and shake?
It was awe of you, LORD, God of our ancestors.
The whole earth trembles in your presence.
For you are the one who melts rocks into pools of water;
the one who brings springs bubbling up from hard baked ground.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

1 Corinthians 5: 6b-8

You do realise, don’t you, that it only takes a little bit of yeast to leaven a whole batch of bread dough? A little bit of corruption can similarly affect a whole congregation, so get rid of it. Just as we have traditionally cleaned out every trace of yeast from our homes in preparation for the Passover festival when we use only unleavened bread, so you should clean the corruption from your midst. You are to be the new batch of unleavened bread. In Christ, our Paschal lamb has been sacrificed. Now is the time for us to celebrate the festival, and just as we can’t celebrate it with yeast-leavened bread, neither can we celebrate it with the old yeast of inhumanity and evil. We celebrate this festival with the unleavened bread of truth and integrity.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Luke 24: 13-49

In the afternoon of the day that the tomb had been found empty, a couple who had been followers of Jesus were heading back home to the small town called Emmaus. As they walked the ten kilometres or so from Jerusalem, they were talking over everything that had happened in the past few days. Along the way, Jesus himself joined them, but to their eyes he was just another stranger on the road. He asked them, “What’s all this you are discussing so intently as you travel?”
They pulled up in their tracks and looked at him with long faces. One of them, a man named Cleopas, said to him, “You must be the only stranger in and around Jerusalem who has not caught up with what’s been going on in the last few days.”
“What has been going on?” Jesus asked.
They replied, “It is all to do with Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet whose words and actions electrified the people in the presence of God. The religious and civil authorities had him arrested and then pushed for the death penalty. They got their way and he was executed. We’d had our hopes pinned on him being the one who would set Israel back in its rightful place. It’s all been over for three days now. A strange twist has rocked us all today, though. Some women from our group apparently went to the tomb first thing this morning and couldn’t find his body. They came back and told the rest of us that they had seen a vision of angels who said that Jesus was alive. We sent a group down to check out their story, and they found things just the way the women had said, but there was no sign of Jesus anywhere.”
When they had finished filling him in, Jesus said to them, “What a thick-headed pair you are! Why are you so slow to get your heads and your hearts around everything that the prophets spelled out?! Hasn’t it always been the case that the Messiah would have to cop all this suffering before getting in on the glory that was in store for him?”
Jesus spent the rest of their journey explaining the scriptures to them. Passage by passage, he showed them what Moses and the prophets had said about him.
When they reached the turn-off to the town they were heading for, Jesus appeared set to push on up the highway, but they put the hard word on him to stop at their place overnight since the sun was going down and the day was almost over. So he accepted their offer of hospitality and went home with them. When he sat down to the evening meal with them, he picked up a loaf of bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them. Suddenly their eyes were opened and they realised who he was; and just as suddenly he disappeared from sight. They looked at one another and said, “No wonder there was such a fire burning in our guts when he was explaining the scriptures to us on the road!”
So, without a moment’s delay, they were on their feet and hurrying back to Jerusalem to tell the news to the eleven and the rest of the crew. When they found them, they were all together and abuzz with news: “The Lord really has risen! He has appeared to Simon Peter!”
The couple from Emmaus filled them all in on what had happened on the road, and how it had dawned on them who he was when the bread had been broken.
While they were talking about all this, Jesus himself suddenly appeared, standing among them. “Greetings!” he said, “Peace be with you.”
Taken by surprise, they thought he was a ghost, and were scared spitless. Jesus said to them, “What have you got to be afraid of? Why are you letting your doubts get the better of you? Here, take a look at my hands and feet. See for yourselves that it really is me. Reach out and touch me and you will know that I am made of flesh and bone. No ghost can claim that!”
As he spoke, he showed them his hands and feet. It all seemed too good to be true; so wonderful that they couldn’t believe their eyes. Their heads were bursting with joy and disbelief! Jesus asked them, “Have you got anything here I can eat?”
They gave him a piece of grilled fish and he took it and ate it in front of them. Then he said to them, “The things I have said while I was with you amount to this: everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms is to be fulfilled.”
As he spoke they began to see how to read the scriptures with open minds so as to understand what God was saying in them. Jesus said to them:
“What was written will now be clear to you: that the Messiah is to suffer and then rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that the people of every nation must be told of the Messiah’s call to turn their lives around and receive forgiveness for their toxic ways. You can get started here in Jerusalem. You have witnessed these things first hand, so you can tell everyone what you have seen and heard. And don’t miss this: I myself am sending you the gift that my Father promised, so wait here in the city until you have been fitted out with God’s power.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you have raised Jesus Christ to life
and destroyed the shroud of death that covered all people.
You made the earth, and it trembles in your presence;
you rescued your people from slavery,
leading them through the deep waters
from death to life.
You sent your Son, Jesus, to us,
a prophet mighty in word and deed
who taught us to celebrate your salvation
in sincerity and truth.
Though he was condemned to death
and crucified by the religious,
you raised him from the dead
and wiped the tears from our faces.
Risen indeed, he is with us always,
breathing his peace over our fears
and spreading a rich banquet before us
so that in the breaking of bread
and your word proclaimed,
our eyes might be opened
and our hearts set on fire with love.
Therefore with .....
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We give thanks for your Risen Son, Jesus Christ,
who breathes his peace over our fears
and spreads a rich banquet before us
so that in the breaking of bread
and your word proclaimed,
our eyes might be opened
and our hearts set on fire with love.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you have raised Jesus Christ to life
and destroyed the shroud of death that covered all people.
You made the earth, and it trembles in your presence;
you rescued your people from slavery,
leading them through the deep waters
from death to life.
You sent your Son, Jesus, to us,
a prophet mighty in word and deed
who taught us to celebrate your salvation
in sincerity and truth.
Though he was condemned to death
and crucified by the religious,
you raised him from the dead
and wiped the tears from our faces.
Risen indeed, he is with us always,
breathing his peace over our fears
and spreading a rich banquet before us
so that in the breaking of bread
and your word proclaimed,
our eyes might be opened
and our hearts set on fire with love.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

As the scriptures said,
the Messiah suffered and rose from the dead on the third day,
so that repentance and forgiveness of sins
might be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
be at peace.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now as witnesses of God’s victory over evil and death.
The risen Christ has made himself known to you
in the breaking of bread,
so clean out the old yeast of malice and evil
and live as the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
And may God wipe every tear from your faces;
May Christ Jesus make himself known to you in all things;
And may the Holy Spirit open your eyes
and set your hearts on fire with love.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

Can’t see the wood for the treesA sermon on Luke 24: 13-35 by Nathan Nettleton

Open Minds and Narrow ThinkingA sermon on Luke 24:36b-48 by Nathan Nettleton

Easter in OrdinaryA sermon on Luke 24.13-35 by Garry Deverell

The Stranger on the Road of DespairA sermon on Luke 24: 13-35 & 1 Peter 1: 17-23 by Nathan Nettleton

There and Back AgainA sermon on Luke 24:13-35 by Roslyn Wright

The Great Paschal (Easter) Vigil
2026-04-04 00:00 - 2026-04-05 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

1st Reading: Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a

At the outset, when God created the universe,
the earth was lifeless and shapeless;
a deep ocean of chaos, shrouded in darkness;
brooded over by the Spirit of God.
Then God called for light,
and light appeared.
God saw that light was a good thing,
and separated it from the darkness.
God named the light Day,
and the darkness Night.
Evening passed and morning came;
the first day was done.
Then God called for a clear space
to keep out the water on either side.
God made the clear space
and the water was split in two, above and below.
That is what happened,
and God named the space Sky.
Evening passed and morning came;
the second day was done.
Then God called for the waters under the sky
to be pooled into one place
and for dry land to appear elsewhere.
That is what happened,
and God named the dry land Earth
and the pooled waters Sea.
God saw that this was a good thing.
Then God called for the earth to produce vegetation:
plants and trees, rich with fertile fruits and seed,
and that is what happened.
The earth burst forth with vegetation of every kind;
grasses and vines, shrubs and trees,
fertile with seeds and fruits of every kind.
God saw that this was a good thing.
Evening passed and morning came;
the third day was done.
Then God called for lights in the space called sky;
lights to shine from above and light up the earth,
to separate day from night,
and to mark out the months, seasons and years.
That is what happened;
God made stars to fill the sky
and two big lights:
a bright one to dominate the day,
and a soft one to take over at night.
God set them all in the sky
to light up the earth and determine day and night;
to separate out the light from the darkness.
God saw that this was a good thing.
Evening passed and morning came;
the fourth day was done.
Then God called for the waters to fill with living creatures,
and for the skies to fill with birds flying over the earth.
God created all the creatures that live and move in the water,
the enormous monsters of the sea and the teeming fish,
and every kind of bird that wings its way through the air.
God saw that this was a good thing
and set them up for life,
encouraging the fish to multiply and fill the seas
and the birds to multiply all over the earth.
Evening passed and morning came;
the fifth day was done.
Then God called for the earth to bring forth all sorts of living creatures:
insects, reptiles, mammals;
animals of every kind, tame and wild.
That is what happened;
God made wild animals of every kind to fill the earth,
every kind of herd and flock,
and every creature that runs or jumps or crawls on land.
God saw that this was a good thing.
Then God said:
“We will make people in our own image,
modelling them on ourselves.
We will entrust to them the fish of the sea,
the birds of the air, the flocks and herds,
and all the wild animals and creepy-crawlies.”
So God created people as a reflection of God,
created them to be like God,
created them male and female.
God set them up for life,
and encouraged them to multiply and fill the earth.
God told them to exercise control over the earth
and to manage the fish of the sea,
the birds of the air and every living thing on earth.
God said to the people:
“Look, I have given you the grain crops
that grow and reproduce themselves all over the earth,
and all the trees that grow from seed and bear fruit;
they are all yours for food.
I have also provided vegetation galore
as food for the animals, birds and creepy-crawlies,
for everything that lives and breathes.
So it all happened, just as God said.
Everything God had made was there to be seen
and God was delighted with it all.
Evening passed and morning came;
the sixth day was done.
With that, the universe was complete,
along with everything that fills it.
With the work finished,
God took the seventh day off.
After all the work God had done,
the seventh day was a well earned rest.
So God made the seventh day special,
a sacred day,
because that day was God’s day off
after all the work of creating everything.
So that’s the family lineage of the universe;
the story of how everything came to be.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 136: 1-9, 23-26

Thank you, LORD, thank you. You are truly good.
Your rock solid love is forever.
Thank you, God of all gods, thank you.
Your rock solid love is forever.
Thank you, Lord of all lords, thank you.
Your rock solid love is forever.
You and you alone have done miraculous things.
Your rock solid love is forever.
You dreamed up the skies and put them in place.
Your rock solid love is forever.
You raised the earth on its foundations above the seas.
Your rock solid love is forever.
You set the lights shining in the sky.
Your rock solid love is forever.
You put the sun in charge of the day.
Your rock solid love is forever.
You gave the moon and stars watch over the night.
Your rock solid love is forever.
You didn’t forget us when we were down and out.
Your rock solid love is forever.
You rescued us from those who had it in for us.
Your rock solid love is forever.
You provide food for everything that lives,
Your rock solid love is forever.
Thank you, God of everything, thank you.
Your rock solid love is forever.
©2013 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

2nd Reading: Genesis 7: 1-5, 11-18 ; 8: 6-18 ; 9: 8-13

The LORD said to Noah:
“I want you and your family to board the giant lifeboat you have built, because you are the only person alive who does the right thing in my eyes. It is time to move the animals on board too. Take seven breeding pairs of every kind of animal that can be offered in worship, one breeding pair of every kind that cannot, and seven pairs of every kind of flying bird. In this way we will ensure the survival of all their species on the earth. You’ve only got seven days before the rain starts, so get cracking. I will make it bucket down, day and night, for forty days, to wipe every living thing from the face of the earth, everything I have created.”
So Noah got stuck into it and followed the LORD’s instructions to the letter. Noah was six hundred years old at the time, and sure enough, on the seventeenth day of the second month that year, great torrents of water came flooding up from beneath the ground and the clouds burst from above. Rain bucketed down, day and night, for forty days. The very day it began, Noah finished loading the lifeboat and moved in with his wife, his three sons — Shem, Ham and Japheth — and their three wives. On board they had loaded every kind of animal, wild and domestic, every kind of creepy-crawly, and every kind of bird and flying animal. There were breeding pairs of every species that lives and breathes on the earth, and they all went on board the lifeboat with Noah. Noah had rounded them all up and herded them into the boat, just as God had instructed him, and when they were all aboard, the LORD closed the door to keep them in.
The flood waters surged over the earth for forty days, and as the waters rose the lifeboat floated up well clear of the ground below. The waters continued to swell, becoming deeper and deeper over the earth, but the lifeboat floated safely on the surface.
When the rain stopped after forty days, Noah opened a window in the lifeboat he had built, and released a crow. It never came back, but kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up. So Noah released a pigeon, in order to find out whether the waters had subsided enough to find dry land. But the pigeon returned to the boat, because the water was still too deep and it couldn’t find anywhere else to land. Noah put out his hand for the bird to land on and brought it back inside. He waited another seven days and then released the pigeon from the boat again. That evening the pigeon came back carrying a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak, so Noah knew that the waters had subsided enough for the land to begin drying out. Seven days later he released the pigeon again, and this time it never came back.
They had been in the lifeboat for nearly a year before the flood was gone completely. It was New Year’s Day when Noah opened up the roof of the boat and took a look around. He could see that the ground was still soggy, but drying fast. Eventually, on the twenty seventh day of the second month that year, the earth was dry enough, and God said to Noah:
“It is time for you and your whole family to leave the lifeboat. Unload all the living creatures that are with you; all the birds and animals and creepy-crawlies of every kind. Release them so that they can breed like rabbits and restock the earth.”
So Noah disembarked with his wife and their sons and their son’s wives. Then God said to Noah and his family:
“I, myself, am forging an alliance with you, and with all your descendants to come, and with every living creature; all the birds, domestic animals, and wild animals of the earth who came out of the lifeboat with you. In the terms of this alliance which I am forging with you, I am giving you my word that never again will all life be wiped out by a flood. There will never be another flood that will totally destroy the earth. I am making this alliance between me and you and all the living creatures that are with you, and I am signing it in the clouds. The rainbow that I have put in the clouds for you all to see is my signature on the alliance between me and the earth.”
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 46

Our refuge, our shelter, our fortress, our security;
you are all these things to us, God.
You are always there for us when we need you.
Because of you, we will not panic
even if our world comes crashing down around our ears;
even if the earth splits open beneath us;
even if chaos pours in like a raging flood;
even if life as we know it goes up in smoke.
You are the LORD of cosmic power — the God of our ancestors —
our safety, our refuge.
A river flowing with life-giving water runs through your holy city
bringing joy and peace to your sacred home.
You are the most high God, and the city where you live
will rest secure and greet the new day with confidence.
The world may be in chaos, nations tearing apart at the seams,
but when you speak, the earth sinks to its knees.
You are the LORD of cosmic power — the God of our ancestors —
our safety, our refuge.
What you have done is a sight for sore eyes, LORD;
you have left a trail of destruction across the earth:
weapons of war crushed and burned;
implements of fear smashed to pieces;
conflicts and wars closed down for good.
You call us to a peaceful calm
and invite us to know you as God.
You stand supreme above the nations,
unmatched in all the earth.
You are the LORD of cosmic power — the God of our ancestors —
our safety, our refuge.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

3rd Reading: Genesis 22: 1-18

This is the story of how God put Abraham to the test to find out whether he really had what it takes.
God called to him, saying, “Abraham!”
“At your service,” Abraham replied.
God said, “Go and get Isaac, your son, your only son whom you love. Take him to the mountain that I will point out to you in the land of Moriah. There you are to sacrifice him to me on an altar as a burnt offering.”
So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire on the altar. He saddled his donkey and set out for the place that God had told him to go with Isaac and two of his hired hands. After three day’s journey, Abraham could finally see their destination in the distance. He said to the two hired hands, “Wait here with the donkey while the boy and I go on up there to worship. We will then return and meet you back here.”
Abraham got Isaac to carry the wood for the burnt offering, and he himself carried the knife and the coals for starting the fire. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac spoke to Abraham saying, “Father!”
“At your service, son,” Abraham replied.
“Haven’t we forgotten something?” Isaac asked. “We’ve got everything we need to get the fire going, but we haven’t brought a lamb to sacrifice as a burnt offering.”
Abraham said, “God will personally provide the lamb for the sacrifice, my son.”
So the two of them walked on together. When they arrived at the spot that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar and stacked the wood on it ready for the fire. Then he tied up his son Isaac, and laid him on top of the wood on the altar. He took the knife in hand and was about to kill his son, when the messenger of the LORD called to him from heaven, saying, “Abraham, Abraham!”
“At your service,” he replied.
The messenger said, “Put down your knife and don’t hurt the boy in any way, for now I know what I needed to know. Since you have not even drawn the line at giving up your only son for me, I know that you trust God, no matter what.”
As he looked up, Abraham saw a ram with its horns entangled in the scrub. So he went and got it, and offered up the ram on the altar as a burnt offering in place of his son.
From then on, Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide,” and a saying was coined that you still hear today: “On the LORD’s mountain all will be provided.”
The messenger of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven again, saying, “This is what the LORD says to you:
I swear to you, and give you my personal guarantee, that because you have done what I told you to do, and not even drawn the line at giving up your only son for me, I will do the right thing by you and set you up for life. I will see to it that your descendants become as countless as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. They will defeat their enemies and take over their cities and towns. Through your offspring, a better life will be available to everyone on earth, because you obeyed when I spoke to you.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Psalm 16

Protect me, God,
you are my place of refuge.
I’m acknowledging you as the one in charge, LORD;
you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I delight in the company of those
who dedicate themselves to you;
they are the salt of the earth.
Those who worship other things
will have nothing but grief.
I will not buy into their futile devotions;
I will not utter the names they revere.
You are all I want, LORD, and all I need;
you hold my future in your hands.
You mark out the best of everything for me;
you’ve set me up with a bright future.
I heap accolades on you, LORD,
for you always give me wise advice;
even in the dead of night
you fill my heart with your teachings.
I’ll always stick close behind you, LORD;
with you near by,
I’ll never be pushed off track.
You fill me with delight, LORD;
joy erupts from deep in my bones;
my body relaxes, safe in your care.
You’ll never let the grave drag me down;
your faithful servants are never left for dead.
You set my feet on a life-giving track, LORD.
To be in your presence is absolute bliss.
All I could dream of comes from your hand.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

4th Reading: Exodus 14: 10-31 ; 15: 20-21

When the Israelites stopped near the Red Sea, they looked back over their shoulders and saw the King of Egypt and his whole army in hot pursuit. They began to cry out in panic:
“God help us! What are you doing to us, Moses? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Weren’t there enough graves there, so you had to take us off to be slaughtered in the outback? Didn’t we tell you it would come to this, when we were still safe in Egypt? We said ‘Don’t rock the boat, Moses. Leave us be. We are better off working as slaves in Egypt than ending up dead in the outback.’ Didn’t we tell you?”
But Moses replied in a speech, saying:
“Don’t panic! Hold your nerve, and you will see the LORD take action to rescue you, right here and now. Take a last look at your oppressors while you can, because you will never see them alive again. The LORD will fight this battle for you. That should shut you up!”
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
“Why all this whingeing to me? Tell the Israelites to get travelling. Hold up your walking stick and stretch out your hand towards the sea. Slice it open, so that the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on a dry track. The Egyptian army are so pig-headed that they will go in after the people, and when they do, I will cover myself in glory by defeating the King of Egypt and all his armoured vehicles and soldiers. Then all Egypt will understand that I AM the LORD.”
The angel of God who had been in front of the Israelites now moved around and took up a new position, covering them from the rear. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front of them and settled in a position behind them, making it impossible for the Egyptians and the Israelites to see each other. The cloud shrouded the Egyptian camp in darkness and lit up the night over the Israelite camp, and the night passed without any contact between the two camps.
Then Moses stretched out his hand towards the sea, and, with a violent wind that blew all night, the LORD forced back the sea, carving out a track of dry ground right through the middle of the water. The Israelites trooped into the sea on the dry track with the angry waters towering over them on either side. The Egyptian soldiers gave chase, charging into the middle of the sea aboard their horses and armoured vehicles. Just before dawn, the LORD looked down on the Egyptian army from the pillar of fire and cloud, and began to wreak havoc among them, bogging their vehicles and leaving them stuck in the middle. In panic, the soldiers began shouting, “Run for your lives! Get away from these Israelites because the LORD is on their side fighting against us!”
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand towards the sea again so that the water will surge back over the Egyptian army and all their soldiers and armoured vehicles.”
So Moses stretched out his hand towards the sea, and as the dawn broke, the sea came crashing back down on top of the fleeing army. The LORD trapped the soldiers in the middle of the sea, and when the waters had closed over and returned to normal, there wasn’t a soldier or a vehicle left. The Israelites had walked through the sea on a dry track with the angry waters towering over them on either side, but the entire army of the King of Egypt had been swallowed up by the sea while pursuing them.
So that day the LORD rescued the people of Israel from their oppressors, and the people saw all the dead soldiers washed up on the shore. When they saw the power of the LORD’s action against their oppressors, the people were in awe of the LORD and put their trust in the LORD and in Moses who was working for the LORD.
Then the prophet Miriam, who was Aaron’s sister, led the women in a dance of celebration, playing tambourines and singing:
“Our song is for you, LORD,
for you have won a glorious victory!
You have tossed the soldiers and warhorses into the sea!”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Exodus 15: 1b-13, 17-18

The prophet Miriam, who was Aaron’s sister, led the women in a dance of celebration, playing tambourines and singing:
Our song is for you, LORD,
for you have won a glorious victory!
You have tossed the soldiers and warhorses into the sea!
We would be nothing without you, LORD,
but with you, we are strong.
You are our God, and we sing your praises;
the God of our ancestors,
and we applaud you long and loud.
You are the greatest hero, LORD;
LORD by name, LORD by reputation.
You swept the tyrant’s armoured vehicles and soldiers into the sea;
all his top brass disappeared beneath the waves.
The surging waters closed over them,
and they sank like a stone into the murky depths.
With your bare hands, LORD,
you put on an awesome display of power;
you rolled up your sleeves and decimated the enemy.
With the full force of your majestic power,
you defeated your opponents;
they ignited your anger
and were gone like dry grass in a bushfire.
The fearsome blast of your fury cut a swathe through the waters;
the surging depths were heaped up on each side;
the wild ocean set like jelly, all the way down.
The tyrants said, “We’ll give chase, we can catch them.
All that they have will be ours, all we could ever want.
We will turn our weapons on them and wipe them out.”
You sent your wind howling after them and closed the sea over them;
they sank like a stone and were never seen again.
You are in a league of your own, LORD;
Nothing else is worthy of our devotion.
Nothing can compete with you for awesome grandeur;
Nothing else can match your record
for getting the job done against the odds.
When you got involved, LORD,
the planet opened its mouth and swallowed up our oppressors.
With love and loyalty, you led the people you had reclaimed;
with protective strength, you guided them to your sacred home.
You brought them home to your holy mountain, LORD,
and let them put down roots in the place you call your own,
the sacred place that you built with your own hands.
May you rule forever and ever, LORD!
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

5th Reading: Isaiah 55: 1-11

This is what the LORD says:
Hey you! Are you thirsty?
Come, then. Drink from these fresh waters!
Are you too penniless even to eat?
Never mind! Come! Help yourselves; eat your fill!
Come and stock up with food, wine and milk.
What will it cost you? Not a red cent!
Why sink all your money into things that leave you hungry?
Why bust a gut working for things that can never satisfy?
Listen carefully to what I have to say
and you will feast at a rich banquet of fine foods.
Stick with me and tune in to what I’m saying,
for without my words, life is bland and tasteless.
I will surround your lives with love and loyalty,
making a permanent alliance, just as I did with David.
I gave him influence and authority over the nations,
and he was my witness among them.
You will be the same – a light to which others flock;
even those who don’t know you will come running;
they’ll be drawn to my glory, seen in you,
the glory of the LORD, the one and only God of Israel.
The LORD says,
Track me down before it is too late,
make contact while I’m in your neck of the woods.
Clean up your act and get your head straight;
give up your corrupt practices and plans.
Get yourself back on my wavelength
and I’ll pour out mercy and generous forgiveness.
I don’t think the way you think, says the LORD,
and I don’t do things the way you do.
Your ways and mine are like cheese and chalk,
your thoughts and mine are lightyears apart.
Everything I say has a powerful purpose;
no empty words ever pass my lips.
My words are like drops of rain in the cycle of nature:
wherever they fall they give life;
they replenish, renew and nourish life,
and then the earth gives them back and they start again.
My words always achieve their purpose;
they flourish where I plant them,
they nourish all who feed on them.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Isaiah 12: 2-6

You alone, LORD, are able to set us free,
so we put our trust in you, and have nothing to fear.
All our strength and power come from you, LORD GOD,
you have become our hero, our saviour!
You will put your saving love on tap,
deep draughts to be enjoyed by everyone.
On that day we will all say to one another,
“Thank the LORD! Let God’s name be on everyone’s lips!”
We will tell the world what you have done,
we will shout your name and declare you to be number one.
We will sing your praises because of all you have accomplished,
and give you the glory all over the earth.
With all the citizens of Zion, we lift our voices to you
with shouts and laughter and songs of celebration,
for you are the ultimate, the greatest, the Holy One,
and you live among us, your people!
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

6th Reading (alternative 1): Baruch 3: 9-15, 32 - 4:4

Listen up, Israel, and hear the rules of life.
Tune in and learn good common sense.
What’s going on, O people of Israel?
How come you are still trapped in the land of your enemies?
How come you are growing old so far from home?
People avoid you like something dead.
You are written off like those in the grave.
How come?
It is because you turned your back on the fountain of wisdom.
If you had stuck to the track God had marked out
you would have lived in peace your whole life long.
Wake up to yourselves and learn.
Learn where to find wisdom,
where to gain strength,
where to get a clear picture of what is going on.
Do that and you will find that you have also discovered
the secret to a long and full life,
to a future that looks bright,
and to peace that will last.
But who has succeeded in finding Wisdom’s house?
Who has entered her warehouse and placed their order?
Who? The one who knows everything knows her well,
and with a sharp mind, easily tracked her down.
The one who set up the earth in the first place,
and filled it with everything on four legs;
the one who throws light into the sky,
and who can send it cowering away with a word;
the one at whose call the stars stepped forth,
eagerly signing up for the night watch
and lighting up with joy for the one who made them.
This is our God;
and no other god is in the same league.
God has marked out the track to Wisdom’s home
and shared her secrets with his servant Jacob,
and with Israel, his beloved child.
From that time on, Wisdom appeared on earth
and made her home among the people.
She is the book of instruction given by God;
the law laid down that lasts forever.
All those who hold fast to her will live,
but those who give up on her will die.
Turn around, people of Jacob, and reach out for her.
Turn towards her light and head straight there.
What a glorious gift you have been given!
Don’t squander it and leave it to others to cash in on it.
We’ve got it made, O people of Israel,
because we are in the know about what pleases God.
©2013 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

6th Reading (alternative 2): Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21 ; 9: 4b-6

Wisdom calls; her voice full of promise.
Can’t you hear her, offering herself to all who pass by?
On the station steps at rush hour, there she is.
On a busy corner where everyone passes;
leaning on the gate as the crowd comes through;
wherever people are, her voice rings out.
This is what she has to say:
“Come one and all, and hear me out;
If you’re in the land of the living, what I have to offer is for you.
To the thick-headed, I offer lessons in good sense;
to you who know nothing, I offer a solid education.
Listen up! What I have to say is worth hearing.
Every word that passes my lips can be trusted.
From my mouth you’ll hear only the truth;
corrupt and deceitful talk makes me sick.
Whenever I speak, it is straight down the line;
I don’t twist the truth or put a shifty spin on it.
Invest in me and you’ll reap the rewards;
rich benefits, more than money could ever buy.
I stick to the track of those who do the right thing;
I steer a straight line on the road of justice.
I heap riches on those who love me;
their lives are chock full of good things.
To the ignorant and confused, Wisdom makes her invitation,
“Come over to my place and we’ll chew the fat.
Share my bread and wine and things will fall into place.
The time has come to turn the corner,
to grow up, to embrace life.
Think before you act
and walk with understanding.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 19

Your glory is written in the sky, God;
your artistry is carved on the face of the earth.
From one day to another, the message passes on,
and each night puts the next one in the know.
Not a word is spoken,
not a sound do they make;
yet their silence reverberates around the earth
and their unspoken message echoes from pole to pole.
You made the sun at home flying across the sky.
It takes to its task with the eagerness of a bridegroom;
as exultant as an athlete breasting the tape.
As your messenger, God, it does its rounds,
from one end of the sky to the other,
warming everything in its path.
Your revealed will is right on the mark, LORD;
it gives our souls their second wind.
What you says goes,
and any fool can wise up by taking note.
Your instructions are spot on, LORD;
anyone who follows them will be glad they did.
What you direct us to do is easy to see,
and once seen, everything become clear.
Respect for you keeps us true, LORD,
nothing can corrupt it, now or ever.
What you decide is always accurate;
a fair ruling, beyond dispute.
Your Word is worth far more
than even diamond encrusted gold!
It is sweeter by far
than any mouth watering delicacy,
even chocolate dipped strawberries with cream!
But that’s not all!
Your Word, O LORD, keeps me out of danger,
and following it pays off richly.
Can anyone put their finger on all their own faults?
LORD, eradicate the bugs I haven’t even identified yet.
Remind me not to entertain sour contemptuous thoughts,
and don’t let them start pulling my strings.
Without them, I can stay on course,
and keep my record clean.
That’s what I want, O LORD.
I want all the things I say,
and all the things I mull over in my heart,
to be things I’d be proud to offer to you,
for you are the bedrock of my life;
the one who puts me back where I belong.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

7th Reading: Ezekiel 36: 24-28

I, the LORD, will bring you home from exile.
I will gather you from your foreign hideouts,
and settle you safely in your own homeland.
I will wash you down with clean water;
scrub the defilement from your lives,
and clean off the filthy residue of your flirtation with idols.
I will renovate your lives from the inside out,
and give you a new heart and new spirit.
I will remove your cold stone hearts,
and replace them with hearts of healthy flesh.
I will put my spirit inside you,
to give you a passion for following my ways
and a commitment to doing what I say.
Then you will live in the homeland I gave to your ancestors.
You will be my people,
and I will be your God.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 42 & 43

Like a wallaby searching for a waterhole,
I crave you, God, with every fibre of my being.
Everything inside me thirsts for you, God,
for you, the Living God.
When will the drought break
so I can be with you, face to face.
I’ve had nothing but tears to sustain me;
day and night it’s been the same;
I can’t shut out the jeers and taunts,
“Where is this God of yours?”
Cherished memories flood my mind,
rubbing salt in the wound;
memories of past celebrations
when I led the worship in your house.
I can still hear the laughter and joyous singing;
the crowds celebrating your goodness.
Why do I feel so defeated?
Why am I so anxious and agitated?
I tell myself not to give up hope,
for you are my God and my help
and I’ll be glad of that again.
I feel so defeated inside;
I try to remind myself of your goodness
as I walk along the beach to the river mouth
and look towards the mountains.
But all I hear is the roar of waves
and churning waters;
I feel like chaos is breaking over me
and sucking me down, deeper and deeper.
Every day I read of your rock-solid love, LORD;
and every night I sing your songs
and pray to you as the God of my life.
But still I find myself asking the question:
“Why has your rock-solid love let me down?
Why are so many out to get me,
making my life such a misery?”
My wounds are deep and painful
but the torture goes on;
over and over I hear the taunts,
“Where is this God of yours?”
Why do I feel so defeated?
Why am I so anxious and agitated?
I tell myself not to give up hope,
for you are my God and my help
and I’ll be glad of that again.
Clear my name, God;
side with me against these godless tormentors.
Rescue me from their lies and abuse.
I trusted you to look after me, God;
why have you pushed me aside?
Why are so many out to get me,
making my life such a misery?
Let your truth blaze like a beacon
so I can see the way to go;
let it light up the path and lead me
to your home on the sacred mountain.
Then I will offer myself to you in worship, God;
offer myself with uninhibited joy.
I will praise you with music and song,
O God, my God!
Why do I feel so defeated?
Why am I so anxious and agitated?
I tell myself not to give up hope,
for you are my God and my help
and I’ll be glad of that again.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

8th Reading: Ezekiel 37: 1-14

The LORD took hold of me and the LORD’s Spirit carried me away and dropped me off in the middle of Death Valley. I took a look around but there was nothing to be seen but bones – old human bones, baked dry in the sun – thousands and thousands of them. The LORD questioned me saying, “Ezekiel, mortal man, can these bones come back to life?”
I replied, “Lord GOD, only you can answer such a question.”
Then the LORD told me to preach boldly to the bones, saying:
“All you dry bones, listen to what the LORD is saying to you. Though you are long dead, I, the Lord, will put breath into you again, and you will live. Muscles, ligaments, organs, veins; all these I will give you, wrapped in healthy new skin. You will have whole new bodies and I will breathe life into you. Then you will know for sure that I am the LORD.”
So I did what the LORD told me and I preached to the bones. Even while I was in full flight, the noise of rattling bones began to echo through the valley. They were coming together, linking up, one bone to another. As I watched, muscles appeared and grew. Bodies filled out with new flesh, and fresh skin was wrapped around them. But they were still lifeless.
Then the LORD told me to call to the winds, saying:
“North Wind, South Wind, East Wind, West Wind, listen to what the LORD is telling you to do. Come from everywhere and blow the breath of life into these corpses, so that they can live again.”
Again I spoke as the LORD had said, and even as I did, gusts of wind swirled among the bodies, resuscitating them before my very eyes. Rising to their feet like a finals’ crowd, they could have easily filled the biggest stadium.
Then the LORD explained to me what it all meant:
“Ezekiel, mortal man, my people are just like old dry bones. They are always whingeing that life has become one long drought and they’ve been left for dead with no reason to hope that the future might be any better. So preach boldly, Ezekiel, and tell them this:
“All you people, listen to what the LORD is promising: I am going to dig up your graves, and open your coffins. I will bring you back as my people to the promised land. When I do this for you, my people, when I restore life to your bodies, then you will know for sure that I am the LORD. My Spirit will be within you like the breath in your lungs, and so you shall live. I will once again plant your feet on your own patch of dirt. Then there will no longer be any doubt that I, the LORD, have spoken and that what I say goes.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 143

Listen to my prayer, LORD.
I know you can be relied on to hear my cry for mercy
and to do the right thing when you answer.
I am at your service, LORD,
but please don’t put me on trial.
You can see that I’ve screwed up like everyone else.
Enemies have been constantly on my tail,
stomping me into the dirt
and leaving me for dead in some dark hellhole.
That’s why I’m so gutted.
My heart can’t take any more; it’s chucking in the towel.
I think back on the good old days
and remember all the great things you did, LORD;
I go over and over your achievements in my mind.
I’m reaching out to you for help now.
Inside I am like a salt pan in the desert sun,
desperately thirsting for you.
Answer me before it’s too late, LORD;
I can’t go on much longer.
Don’t turn your back on me now
or I’ll be headed straight for the grave.
May the morning bring news of your rock-solid love
because I’ve put all my trust in you.
Show me the track you want me to follow
for I’m offering my life to you.
Rescue me from my enemies, LORD.
I’ve fled to you seeking asylum.
You are my God;
teach me what you want me to do.
Send your Spirit to guide me
safely along the right track.
Let me live, LORD; your reputation hangs on it.
Do the right thing, as you always do,
and get me out of this danger.
Be true to your rock-solid love and cut off my enemies.
Destroy those who are trying to destroy me
for I live to serve you.
©2013 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

9th Reading: Zephaniah 3: 14-20

Lift your voices, all you children of Israel.
Sing and shout for joy!
Let your hair down, Jerusalem.
Celebrate with all your heart!
The LORD has let you out of jail
and forced your enemies to turn tail and run.
The one who rules over Israel – the LORD –
is right alongside you, so you have nothing to fear.
No disaster can touch you now.
The great day is coming, Jerusalem,
when you will hear this message:
“Relax! Don’t be afraid, people of Zion.
Your hands can stop trembling now!
The LORD, your God, is right alongside you;
a champion who always comes out on top.
God will be bursting with joy over you,
celebrating as though it was always your birthday!
God will nourish you with love
until the spring is back in your step.”
The LORD, your God, says to you:
“I will bring your misfortune to an end;
and set you free from its humiliation.
Those who have kicked you around
will have me to deal with!
I will rescue and reunite
the crippled and the refugees.
No longer will they be treated with contempt.
I’ll see that they are honoured all over the world.
When that time comes,
I will gather you together and bring you all home.
With your own eyes
you’ll see me restore all that is rightly yours.
Then you will be honoured everywhere.
Everyone on earth will sing your praises.
I, the LORD, have spoken.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 98

We sing like we’ve never sung before, LORD,
because you have done fantastic things.
With your sleeves rolled up you got stuck in
and came out on top.
Your victory has made the headlines, LORD,
now the whole world can see that you were right all along.
You have never defaulted on your rock-solid love,
or your loyalty to your chosen people.
From one end of the earth to the other,
everyone has seen your victory.
With all the world, LORD, we raise a noisy celebration,
singing our lungs out and shouting your praise.
The bands strike up in your honour, LORD,
filling the air with festive music.
With a brass fanfare and a dancing beat
we loudly celebrate your reign over us.
The whole creation joins in the celebration:
the ocean and its creatures roar their approval;
the land and its animals, cheer and stomp;
rivers and lakes give a standing ovation,
mountains and hills erupt in applause.
We put on the whole show in your presence, LORD,
celebrating your arrival as you finally bring justice.
With you in charge we know things will be put right;
now every one on earth will get a fair go.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

10th Reading: Romans 6: 3-11

Surely you know that all of us who have been baptised into union with Christ were, in that baptism, dying with Christ. You will understand then, that having died in baptism, we have been buried with him; and so now, in the same way that Christ was raised from the dead by the awesome power of God, we too can re-enter life in a whole new way.
You see, if we have been united with him in sharing the same kind of death, you can rest assured we will be united with him further in sharing the same kind of resurrection. We are no longer the people we used to be. Our former selves were put to death with him on the cross in order to eradicate the sin that had taken over our lives, and to thus allow us to live free of it. Everyone knows that death is the only escape from a sin-infested life — once you are dead, you are free of it. For us, though, that’s no dead-end solution. If we have died with Christ, we are convinced that we will live with him too. This much we know for sure: Christ has been raised from the dead and will never have to die again. Death has lost any further power over him. When he died, he took sin out with him, once and for all. The life he now lives, then, is lived in union with God. So you should now think of yourselves in the same way — your former lives, ended; your new lives, begun. Your old relationship with sin, dead; your new relationship with God, alive and flourishing in Christ Jesus.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 114

When we were led out of the land of slavery
- the people of Israel, coming out from under the foreign thumb -
the land of Judah became a sacred place,
the land of Israel came under sovereign rule.
The wild sea took one look, and turned tail and ran,
the Jordan river backed off and headed the other way.
The mountains skipped like a rock wallaby;
the hills were as jumpy as a kelpie pup.
What was it that made the wild sea turn tail?
What was it that made the Jordan back off?
What made the mountains quiver and jump?
What made the hills shudder and shake?
It was awe of you, LORD, God of our ancestors.
The whole earth trembles in your presence.
For you are the one who melts rocks into pools of water;
the one who brings springs bubbling up from hard baked ground.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Gospel Reading (Year A - 2026): Matthew 28: 1-10

The morning after the Sabbath, just as the first day of the new week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to visit the tomb. Suddenly the earth shuddered and shook beneath them and an angel from the Lord appeared from heaven right in front of them, rolled back the boulder that had sealed the mouth of the tomb, and sat on it. The angel was as radiant as lightening, and wore clothes as white as freshly fallen snow. The angel’s appearance had the security guards quaking in their boots and falling like flies, scared stiff. But to the women, the angel said, “Do not be afraid of me! I know you have come here looking for Jesus, the one they executed, but you won’t find him here. He has been raised to life, just as he said he would be. Come and I will show you the place where his body was laid to rest. Then run and tell the rest of his followers that he has been raised from the dead. Tell them that he is heading back to Galilee and you are all to follow. There you will see him for yourselves. This is what I have been sent to tell you.”
So they left the tomb on the double, awestruck and overjoyed, and ran to tell the rest of his followers the news. On the way, they suddenly ran straight into Jesus himself. “Good morning!” he said.
They threw themselves at him and fell down kissing his feet and worshipping him. Jesus said to them. “There is nothing to be afraid of. Go and tell the rest of my brothers and sisters to go on up to Galilee and I will meet them there.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Gospel Reading (Year B - 2027): Mark 16: 1-8

When the Sabbath rest day was over, three of the women – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome – went and purchased the spices required to anoint the body of Jesus in the customary way. At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the first day of the week, they went to the tomb. On the way there they had been discussing whether they would be able to find anyone to shift the large boulder that sealed the entrance to the tomb, but when they arrived within sight of it, they could see that the massive stone had already been rolled aside. They went into the tomb and nearly jumped out of their skins when they found a young man, wearing a white robe, sitting on the right hand side. He said to them, “Don’t panic. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was executed. He has been raised up. You won’t find him here. Look, this is the spot where they laid his body. Off you go. Tell his disciples, and especially Peter, that Jesus is going on up to Galilee ahead of you. There, in Galilee, you will see him, just as he told you you would.”
The women bolted out of the tomb and fled as fast as they could, shaking with fear and their heads spinning. They were so frightened that they didn’t breathe a word of it to anyone.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Gospel Reading (Year C - 2025): Luke 24: 1-12

Among the followers of Jesus there were some women who had come from Galilee with him. At the crack of dawn on the Sunday, they came to the tomb where his body had been laid, bringing with them the embalming spices that they had prepared. They found the tomb open with the stone rolled out of the way. They went in, but there was no sign of the body. They were standing there shocked and confused when, out of the blue, two men appeared right beside them. Their clothes were dazzling light and the terrified women had to look away. The two men said, “Why are you looking in a graveyard for one who lives? You won’t find him here. He has risen! Remember what he told you back in Galilee. He said that the New Human would be handed over to godless people and executed, but that on the third day he would rise to life again.”
Suddenly the memory of those words came flooding back to them. They returned from the graveyard and told all these things to the eleven and to all the other followers too. Now the group of women who brought this news included Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; but even so, the men wrote it off as some sort of hysterical delusion and they didn’t believe a word of it. Peter was the only one who ran off to look for himself. He bent down and peered into the tomb. All he could see was the linen grave clothes lying there by themselves. He went home scratching his head, with no idea what to make of it all.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

The Easter Homily of St John ChrysostomA sermon by Nathan Nettleton

God Came BackA sermon by Nathan Nettleton

A Young Man in WhiteA sermon on Mark 16:1-8 & Romans 6:3-11 by Nathan Nettleton

Do Not Be AfraidA sermon by Andrew Woff

This Changes EverythingA sermon on Mark 16:1-8 by Nathan Nettleton

Factoring the UnthinkableA sermon on Luke 24:1-12 & Romans 6:3-11 by Nathan Nettleton

The Great Reversal Moves ForwardA sermon on Matthew 28:1-10 by David Devine

A Backwards GlanceA sermon by Nathan Nettleton

Life and love in the face of deathA sermon by Roslyn Wright

The Failure of FailureA sermon on Matthew 28:1-10 by Nathan Nettleton

How Does It End?A sermon on Mark 16: 1-8 by Nathan Nettleton

By The Light Of A RumourA sermon on Luke 24:1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

Showing UpA sermon by Joel Sierra

A Question For Your TearsA sermon on John 20:11-18 by Edward L Taylor

Moving On From CrucifyingA sermon on Luke 24:1-12 & Romans 6:3-11 by Nathan Nettleton

Darkness Breaks SlowlyA sermon on Mark 16: 1-8 by Nathan Nettleton

Holy Saturday (The Day of Nothingness) for services prior to the Paschal Vigil
2026-04-04 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Job 14: 1-14

Job addressed God saying:
What happened to dying ‘old and full of days’?
‘Few of days and full of grief’
seems to be the lot of everyone born.
Like flowers, we’re lucky to survive the heat of a single day;
like shadows, we never survive the fall of night.
So why have you set your sights on me?
Why are you dragging me into court as though I was your equal?
How can anyone like me, born in the gutter,
expect to come out clean on legal street? Not a chance!
The length of our lives is already set.
You have decided how long we’ve got,
and when our number’s up, there is nothing we can do about it.
So why not back off and give us a break?
Can’t we do our time without you standing over us?
A tree can still have hope
even if it is cut down in its prime.
There is every chance
that it will sprout again and flourish.
Even if its stump rots away
and its roots wither in the ground,
it only needs a whiff of water and it buds again
and comes up strong like a young plant reborn.
But we mere mortals die, and that’s it.
Dead and buried, no human is ever seen again.
Just like a lake drying out in a never ending drought,
or a river fading to a trickle and then its gone,
so too we mortals crumble to dust
with no hope of a second time round.
We think we’ll wake up in the morning,
but no way! Not till hell freezes over.
If only the land of the dead was just a prison
and you could lock me safely away till your anger cools down.
You could fix my sentence
and remember me when my time was done.
Then I could serve my time and hang on to hope,
as I counted down the days till my release.
Wishful thinking!
When we mere mortals die, that’s it, isn’t it?
©2013 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Lamentations 3: 1-9, 19-24 (alternative 1st reading)

I have borne the brunt of your anger, God.
I have suffered the punishment you dished out.
You drove me away from the light
and left me facing the darkness alone.
You singled me out for a beating;
and belted me around day and night.
Under your hand, my body wasted away,
and my bones were cracked and broken.
You were constantly in my face,
standing over me, keeping me in fear.
You locked me up in darkness
and death seemed close at hand.
You have fenced me in with barbed wire,
and chained my ankles for good measure.
I can cry for help all I like,
but you’ve blocked your ears.
You built permanent blockades on every road.
Wherever I go, I am turned back.
The reality I’m facing is like a bitter taste in my mouth.
Grief and deprivation poison my mind.
I can’t stop thinking about it over and over,
but every thought makes me want to die.
The one thing that gives me hope,
the one thing I keep reminding myself of is this:
Your love and loyalty never die, LORD.
Your generous mercy never runs dry.
They are created new every morning
and you are as trustworthy as the solid rock.
So I keep telling myself that you are all I need
and that I can still trust you to come through for me.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 31: 1-4, 15-16

I look to you for refuge, LORD;
don’t let me be dragged through the mud.
You promised justice – save me!
Give me your ear – I’m crying for help;
rescue me before it’s too late.
Be a secure refuge for me,
a bomb shelter where I can hide.
Your solid walls protect me from danger;
lead me and guide me so I’ll be a credit to you;
keep me clear of pitfalls and traps.
You are the only refuge I trust, LORD;
my future is in your hands.
Snatch me from the grasp
of those who are hunting me down.
I’m working for you; look on me with love.
Stand by me and save me.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

1 Peter 4: 1-8

The Messiah put his body on the line and went through serious suffering, and so now you need to steel yourselves to face it with the same guts and determination. Those who keep putting their bodies on the line at great cost have clearly cut their ties with sin. Even in this age of indulging every bodily appetite, you will be able to live through it, freely following the ways of God instead of being driven slavishly by every pathetic desire. You have already done more than enough time being driven along in the ways of the godless by such desires, caught up in a life of desperate partying, emotional chaos, binge drinking, sexual regrets, self-degradation, and out-of-control worship of worthless things. Your old friends can’t believe it when you are no longer first to join them in the same old patterns of compulsive indulgence. “Are you too good for us now?” they sneer, and they heap offensive insults on all that is good. But they will have to answer to God for their offences, as everyone will, living or dead. This is the reason that the great news about God’s love was broadcast even to those who have died. That way, even though the judgement of the way they lived in their bodies is now in the past — indeed none of us can take back what we have done — they still have the opportunity to live in the spirit as God lives.
Everything is about to be wrapped up, so keep your wits about you, your heads clear, and your prayers focussed. And make it your number one priority to keep loving one another, no matter what. Any number of offences will be forgotten if love stays on the job.
©2013 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Matthew 27: 57-66

A few hours after Jesus had died, a wealthy man from Arimethea went to Pilate and asked permission to take the body of Jesus for burial. The man’s name was Joseph, and he was a follower of Jesus. Pilate gave orders for the body to be released into his care. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linen cloth. He buried Jesus in a new tomb which he had had cut into the rock for his own eventual use. He rolled a boulder over the entrance to the tomb to seal it, and then went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting opposite the tomb watching all this.
The next day was still part of the sacred festival, and a deputation of the chief priests and members of the Pharisee party held an early meeting with Pilate. They said, “Sir, we have remembered that while that con man was still alive, he claimed that he would rise again three days after his death. So please give orders to have guards secure the tomb for the next three days so that his fan club can’t steal his body and start telling everyone that he has been raised from the dead. A fraud like that would be even more dangerous than the pack of lies he was pushing before.”
Pilate said to them, “Fair enough. There are security guards at your disposal. Go and do whatever you think is necessary to prevent anyone tampering with the tomb.”
So they took the security guards, taped off the area around the tomb, sealed the stone, and kept it under constant surveillance.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 19: 38-42 (alternative gospel reading)

Once Jesus was well and truly dead, a man went to Pilate and got permission to take the body for burial. His name was Joseph of Arimethea, and he had been a closet follower of Jesus, because he was afraid for his reputation with the Temple hierarchy. He and Nicodemus, who had first spoken to Jesus in the quiet of night, removed the body. Nicodemus supplied the embalming spices, and as was the Jewish custom, they wrapped the body with the spices in linen cloth. There was a memorial garden not far from the place where Jesus was crucified, and there was a tomb there which had not yet been used. Because it was the day of preparation and there was little time, they buried Jesus in that tomb.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Good Friday
2026-04-03 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12

The LORD says:
“This one who serves on my behalf will succeed.
He will come out on top
and be honoured by everyone.
Many people were shocked by what happened to him;
his appearance was enough to make them throw up.
Torture had disfigured him beyond recognition;
at first sight he no longer looked human.
The next time he’s seen will be an even greater shock;
nations and their kings will fall to their knees, speechless.
All of a sudden, what they had never seen or understood
will be as plain as day, and all they can think about.”
The people reply to this news, saying:
“Who could have believed what we now know to be true?
Who would have recognised what the LORD was doing?
This one who serves on the LORD’s behalf
grew up hard like a plant taking root in the stony desert.
To look at him, you wouldn’t think he’d amount to much;
nothing about his appearance would make you look twice.
Others wrote him off, and treated him as scum;
pain and suffering were his constant companions.
He was despised and abused, but we looked away;
we didn’t consider him worth caring about.
The sickness and brokenness he endured turned out to be ours;
if it wasn’t for him, it would have wiped us out.
But back then we thought it was his own fault
and that God was punishing him for what he had done.
In reality, it was what we had done that was to blame.
It was us who deserved to be punished,
but him who copped the flak.
When he was left battered, broken and bleeding,
we were off the hook;
free to enjoy the fruits of health and wholeness.
We were all doing our own thing in our own way;
as far off-track as a penguin in the desert;
as far off-key as a mob of galahs.
And yet the LORD accepted his offer to take the rap
for the actions of each and every one of us.
He was ripped off and kicked around,
but he took it on the chin.
Not once did he ever whinge or protest;
he was as silent as a lamb that trots to its fate,
knowing neither shearer nor slaughterer.
His arrest and trial made a mockery of justice.
No one knew or cared what he was up against.
He was dragged off in the midst of life;
put to death for crimes committed by our people.
Although he had never breathed a lie
or done anything to hurt anyone,
they buried him alongside the callous and corrupt
– thoughtless profiteers who died rich.”
The LORD says,
“It was me who decided to allow this tragedy
to befall the one who serves on my behalf.
He made the ultimate sacrifice at your hands,
and won forgiveness for you in the process.
So now he will be rewarded with life;
he will live to see his children and their children.
Through his actions,
my plans are able to succeed.
In the depths of agony and despair he discovered the truth,
and with the truth he found true peace.
The one who serves on my behalf was beyond reproach,
but he took the rap for what others did,
and left their record as spotless as his own.
Because of all that he has done,
I, the LORD, elevate him to the hall of fame
and give him the rewards of true greatness.
He deserves the best, for he made the ultimate sacrifice,
accepting the death of common criminal
so that through his suffering and prayers
others might be cut free from their sin.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 22

God, my God, why the hell have you turned your back on me?
How come in my most desperate hour,
you are nowhere to be found?
I called you all day, God, over and over;
I tossed and turned all night,
but I still didn’t hear back from you.
Aren’t you supposed to be our one and only?
Aren’t you the one we’ve always voted for?
Our ancestors put their trust in you
and you never let them down.
They cried out for help and you stepped in;
you saved them from disaster and shame.
So what about me?
Shouldn’t I still be treated as a human being,
even if I feel like a worm –
looked down on, loathed, stomped on?
Everyone who sees me sticks the boots in;
they turn up their noses and dismiss me with a sneering joke;
“Why don’t you see if God’s on your side?
Surely if you’re a mate of God’s then God will help you out!”
What’s the story God?
Your hands eased me from my mother’s womb;
You kept me from harm as I suckled at her breast.
As a baby, I rested trustingly in your arms;
You’ve been my God since the day I was born.
Don’t quit on me now.
All hell is about to break loose
and there is no one else I can turn to.
I’m surrounded by enemies
like a mob of wild bulls.
Angry, snorting, stampeding beasts;
they charge at me, all horns and pounding hoofs.
I’m chucked out like a bucket of dirty water,
and I’m so smashed up I can barely move a muscle.
My heart has gone to jelly,
a quivering useless blob.
My throat is as dry as a salt pan,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
And you? You have left me for dead
covered in dust and flies.
Like a pack of hungry dingoes they sniff around me;
evil mongrels, every one of them.
I’m so wasted my hands and feet feel like they could snap off;
My ribs stick out like a picket fence.
They hang me up for a public viewing,
boasting over how they finished me off.
They empty my pockets
and toss a coin to see who gets my clothes.
What are you doing, LORD? Don’t quit on me now!
Get your act together and come to my rescue!
Save me before I get my throat cut,
before my body is dog meat!
Pull me out before they get their teeth into me!
At last! Just before the bulls ran me down, you have rescued me.
I won’t forget this – I’ll let everyone know.
Whenever people gather, I’ll be singing your praise.
I’ll call on all who honour you, LORD, to stand up and say so!
All who trace their roots to Jacob will give you the glory!
All who share the heritage of Israel will stand in awe of you!
LORD, you did not rubbish anyone
or blame the victims for their suffering.
You did not turn away or slip off quietly;
when I cried for help, you responded.
Whenever people gather to worship,
my heart overflows and I sing your praises.
Out in the open for all to see
I’ll do all that I promised.
At your table, God, the needy will feast;
those who hunger for you will be fed till they burst with praise!
They will be able to live it up, now and forever!
In every corner of the earth people will wake up to themselves
and turn back to you, LORD.
Every race, nation, tribe and family
will offer themselves to you in worship,
for you have the last word on everything;
what you say goes.
Even the dead will bow down to you, LORD;
those who are trampled in the dust will look to you in hope,
and I will live for you and you alone.
Our kids and their kids will serve you, LORD;
as we pass the message down from one generation to the next.
People not even born yet will hear the story;
they will be told of what you have done to set us free.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Hebrews 10: 16-25

The Holy Spirit says to us in the scriptures:
“The new alliance I will make with the people
will be different, says the Lord:
No more writing down the rules for people to read;
this time I’ll write them into their hearts and minds.”
“I’ll wipe the record of their failings and their perverse behaviour;
none of it will ever again even enter my mind.”
So if that’s done – if the slate has been wiped clean – then there is no longer any need to come offering sacrifices to try to make up for what we’ve done wrong.
So, my friends, now it’s a whole new ball game. Now we can confidently walk straight into the sacred place because Jesus won us that right, spilling his own blood in the process. We walk in via a new route. The old way had a big curtain between us and the sacred place – on the new route the only thing between us and the sacred place is Jesus, and he invites us to become part of his own body and go in that way. Add all that to the fact that Jesus himself is now our great priest who says what goes in the house of God, and you’ll understand what is now open to us. So let’s go! Let’s approach God with integrity and with deep trust. Let us stand before God knowing for sure that not only have our bodies been washed clean in pure water, but so to have our hearts, our minds, our conscience.
In light of all this, let’s hold on tight to the hope that we’ve put our hands up to. None of this on-again off-again stuff! You can’t get more dependable than the one who has made these promises. So let’s put on our thinking caps and come up with some good strategies for stirring one another up to greater and greater love and more and more ways to put it into action. Some people have got out of the habit of gathering together as a congregation – let’s not go down that path. Gather often, support and encourage one another. It becomes more and more important the closer we get to that final day.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Hebrews 4: 14-16; 5: 7-9 (alternative)

Let’s see to it that we stand firm in the faith we’ve already put our hands up to. After all, the one who will present us to God and speak on our behalf — our great high priest — is Jesus, and as God’s own Son we can be sure he has God’s ear. We can also be sure that he can relate to the realities we have to live with, because he has already been through everything we have to go through — weakness, doubts and torments — and all without selling out to sin. What more could we want in a high priest?! So let’s not be timid. Whenever we’re in need of help, let’s walk right up to the throne of God and ask, for our God is extravagantly welcoming and generous — only too happy to wipe our debts and help us out.
When Jesus was among us and the threat of death was closing in on him, it was with agonized cries and tears that he did his priestly work of offering up prayers and appeals to the God who has the power to save us from death. His pleas were heard because of his prayerful acceptance of God’s will. He was given no special privileges as a Son — he got his lessons in obedience in the same school of suffering as the rest of us. Once he had made the grade, perfecting all that he had to learn, he became the one who sets free all who trust and follow him. For them he is the source of life without limit.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 18:1 - 19:42

After the supper, and after Jesus had prayed for his followers, they went outside and headed across town to the Kidron Valley gardens where they had often met together before. Judas had now betrayed Jesus, and of course, he knew they would be heading for the gardens. Judas showed the way to those sent to arrest Jesus – a detachment of Roman soldiers and some Temple security guards sent by the chief priests and the hard-line Pharisee party. It was now late, and so the heavily armed group carried torches and flood lights. Jesus knew what he had coming to him and so when they arrived he just stepped out in the open and asked, “Who are you looking for?”
They answered, “We’ve been sent to find Jesus of Nazareth.”
“Well you’ve found him,” he replied, “I’m Jesus.”
When he said that, they were so taken aback you could have knocked them over with a feather. Judas, the back-stabber, was still with them. Because they were looking so uncertain, Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”
And again they replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus answered, “Like I said, I’m Jesus. And since I am the man you’re looking for, you can let these others go in peace.”
In so saying, he backed up the promise he had made in his earlier prayer when he had said, “I didn’t lose a single one of those you entrusted to me.”
Suddenly Simon Peter pulled a knife and began slashing wildly. He struck a man named Malchus – a servant of the high priest – and cut off his ear. Jesus yelled at his, saying, “Peter, put that thing away. Do you think I’m going to back out now and refuse to drink the cup that God has poured for me?”
At that point, the soldiers and the Temple security guards surrounded Jesus and made the arrest. They handcuffed him, and dragged him off to see Annas, who had issued the arrest warrant. Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphus, who was the high priest that year; and Caiaphus was the one who had persuaded the authorities that, for the sake of the rest of the population, it would be best if this one person died.
Simon Peter and one of the other disciples followed as Jesus was dragged off. When the arrived at the high priest’s residence, Peter was refused entry at the gate, but the other disciple knew the high priest and got in. Having got in, he spoke to the woman in charge of the security gate and had Peter let in too. As he came in, the woman looked at Peter and said, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples are you?”
He replied, “No, I’m not.”
The soldiers and guards were standing around an open fire in the middle of the courtyard warming themselves, because it was a cold night. Not knowing what else to do, Peter joined them.
Inside, the high priest was interrogating Jesus about his followers and about the things he had been teaching the people. Jesus answered him, saying, “Everything I’ve said has been out in the open. I have always done my teaching in the public places where the people gather – in the synagogues and in the temple. I’ve kept nothing behind closed doors, so what are you asking me for? Why don’t you ask the people who heard what I said. They can tell you what it was all about.”
When he said this, one of the security guards gave Jesus a whack in the face, saying, “You think you can get away with back-chatting the high priest, do you?”
But Jesus stood his ground, saying, “If you think there’s something wrong with what I’ve been saying, then put your evidence on the table. But if what I’m saying is correct, what are you smacking me around for?”
While this was happening, Simon Peter was still keeping warm by the fire with the guards. They asked him, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?”
“Not me,” said Peter, denying everything.
One of the Temple guards there was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off when he’d pulled the knife in the garden. He said, “Come on mate, you’ve got to be one of them. Didn’t I just see you with him in the garden when we picked him up?”
But Peter denied it again, and the words were barely out of his mouth when he heard the sound of the rooster crowing.
Shortly after that, in the early hours of the morning, Jesus was transferred from the residence of Caiaphus to the headquarters of Pilate, the Roman governor. The Jewish officers themselves did not go inside the headquarters, because it was nearly time for the sacred Passover festival, and going into a gentile home would have ruled them out of participating. Pilate agreed to come out and meet their delegation, and asked them, “So, what have you charged this bloke with?”
They answered, “You can take it for granted that he’s a dangerous criminal – otherwise we wouldn’t have bothered you with his case.”
Pilate replied, “I’m sure you are quite capable of dealing with him yourselves. Get him out of here and deal with him according to your own local laws.”
But the Jewish officers said, “We don’t have the power to authorise an execution.”
Clearly the things Jesus had previously said about the sort of death he would die were coming true.
Pilate went back into his headquarters and had Jesus brought inside so he could interrogate him. “Do you see yourself as the King of the Jews?” he asked.
Jesus replied, saying, “Is that your own question or has someone else been wording you up?”
“Give me a break,” Pilate retorted, “I’m obviously not one of the Jews, am I? It wasn’t my people who had you dragged in here. It was your mob, your own race, your own religious leaders. What in the world have you done?”
Jesus answered, “My reign is not tied to this world. If my power base depended on this world, those who have given their allegiance to me would be fighting tooth and nail to keep me out of the hands of that mob. But it’s not like that. My reign is not tied to this world.”
Pilate latched on to that: “So you are claiming to be a king then?”
“You’re the one who’s putting the ‘king’ label on me,” Jesus replied. “If you want to know what I’m on about, what I was born into the world for, it’s this: I’m the key witness whose job it is to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Everyone who has given their allegiance to the truth responds to my voice.”
“Truth,” Pilate sneered. “What is truth?”
Then he went back outside to the delegation from the Temple and told them, “I can’t find any basis for a case against this prisoner. It is customary for me to release a political prisoner for you at Passover time. How about I release this ‘king of the Jews’ for you? He seems harmless enough to me.”
But they shouted back, “No way! Not this man. Release Barabbas!” Barabbas was a convicted terrorist.
At that point, Pilate handed Jesus over to some of his own soldiers and told them to give him a flogging. The soldiers thought it was huge joke. They hung a purple robe on him and wove a crown out of barbed wire and jammed it on his head. They took turns at coming up to him, saying, “Heil, King of the Jews!” as they saluted him, and then smashed their fists into his face. When they’d finished their brutal sport, Pilate went back out to the Temple delegation and said, “Look, I’m handing him back over to you and telling you that I can’t find any basis for a case against him.”
Jesus was dragged back out, still wearing the barbed wire crown and the purple robe. Pilate said “Here he is: the man!”
But the minute the chief priests and the Temple security guards saw him, they began screaming, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Pilate replied, “You take him and crucify him yourselves. I can’t see that he’s done anything wrong.”
The delegation replied, “The case against him is clear in our law. He claimed to be the Son of God and our law makes the death penalty mandatory for that.”
When Pilate heard this, he began to really worry, and went back inside his headquarters to interview Jesus again. “Where have you come from?” he asked him, but Jesus didn’t answer. Pilate said to him, “It’s no use claiming the right to silence. Don’t you understand that I can say the word to have you released or to have you tortured to death?”
Jesus replied, “You wouldn’t have any authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from a higher power. It is the one who handed me over to you who is going to have to answer for the greatest wrongdoing.”
After that, Pilate tried to have Jesus released, but the Temple crowd would have none of it. They insisted, “If you release this man you are no friend of the emperor, and we’ll see that he hears about it. Anyone who claims to be a king is setting himself up in opposition to the emperor.”
With that, Pilate capitulated to their demands. At noon on the day of Preparation for the Passover festival, Pilate sat down at the judge’s bench at the Stone Pavement Court – known in Hebrew as Gabbatha – and had Jesus stood in the dock. He said to the Temple delegation, “Here is your king!”
They shouted in chorus, “Get rid of him! Kill him! Crucify him!”
“Crucify him?” Pilate replied. “You want me to crucify your king?”
“We have no king but the emperor!” they shouted.
With that, Pilate passed sentence and handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus out to the place called Skull Hill, or in Hebrew, Golgotha. Jesus was made to carry his own cross on the way out there. When they got there, they hung him on the cross by nails driven through his flesh. They crucified a couple of other convicted men at the same time – the three of them in a row with Jesus in the middle. On Pilate’s orders, a sign was hung on the cross Jesus was on, saying, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many people read the sign because the crucifixion occurred in a public place on the main road into the city and the sign was written in three languages – Hebrew, Latin and Greek. The chief priests from the Temple went to Pilate objecting to the sign. They wanted the sign changed from “The King of the Jews” to “This man claimed to be the King of the Jews” but Pilate told them that what was written was written and that was the end of the story.
When the soldiers had hung Jesus up on the nails, they divided up his clothes between the four of them. His robe was left over, and when they saw that it was woven from a single piece of fabric, with no seams, they decided that rather than tear it, they’d have a round of two-up, and award it to the winner. This backed up what the scriptures had said long ago:
“They divided up my clothes,
and tossed for my coat.”
While the soldiers tossed coins, a group of women stood near Jesus’ cross. They were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Jesus saw that his mother was standing with the disciple with whom he was most intimate, and so he said to his mother, “Woman, this man is your son.” And then he said to the disciple, “This woman is your mother.” From that day on, Mary moved into the home of that disciple.
After that, Jesus knew it was all over. He did one more thing that the scriptures had spoken about. He said, “I’m thirsty.”
Someone had half a bottle of wine that had turned to vinegar, so they poured some into a sponge and held it up to his mouth. He drank it and then said, “Everything is finished.”
With that, his head dropped and he gave up his spirit.
Because it was the day of Preparation for the Passover, the Temple authorities wanted to make sure the bodies were not left hanging up on the sacred festival day. They went to Pilate and got him to authorise the soldiers to break the legs of the three crucified men, so that they’d die quicker. The soldiers broke the legs of the other two crucified men, but when they came to Jesus, they saw that there was no need – he was already dead. Just to make sure, one of the soldiers drove a spear into his side, and blood and water gushed out.
The eyewitness to these things has given a sworn account of it all. His report is true and can be trusted. Scripture was again shown to be true, because it was written that not one of his bones would be broken. Similarly in another place the scriptures said, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
When it was all over, a man went to Pilate and got permission to take the body of Jesus for burial. His name was Joseph of Arimethea, and he had been a closet follower of Jesus, because he was afraid for his reputation with the Temple hierarchy. He and Nicodemus, who had first spoken to Jesus in the quiet of night, removed the body. Nicodemus supplied the embalming spices, and as was the Jewish custom, they wrapped the body with the spices in linen cloth. There was a memorial garden not far from the place where Jesus was crucified, and there was a tomb there which had not yet been used. Because it was the day of preparation and there was little time, they buried Jesus in that tomb.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Prayers

Opening Prayer

This is the day when life is raw,
quivering, terrifying:
The day of numbed emotions,
the day of blunt nails
and splintered wood,
of bruised flesh
and red blood.
The day we loathe,
when hopes are crushed.
The day we long for,
when pretences fall away—
Because the worst that we can do
cannot kill the love of God.

Gracious God,
your love is a light in our darkness,
vulnerable, yet unquenchable.
We would stand with Christ,
in the midst of the horrors of this world
where betrayal and death
constantly threaten your love and peace.
©1996 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayer at the Arrest of Christ (responding to the reading of John 18: 1-12)

Again and again
we have bound you
and taken you captive, O Lord,
Because it's easier,
easier than facing the reality
of what you ask of us.
Again and again
you have been taken captive
and your voice silenced.
Again and again
you have been dragged out
whenever it seems
that quoting your name will justify
our attempts to gain what we want
at the expense of others.
©1996 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayer at the Death of Christ (responding to the reading of John 19:25-30)

God, why did you let this happen,
why do our greatest hopes
seem to flicker out and die?
We search for meaning in life
and before we find it, it is gone.
We search for meaning in death
but its horrible reality drives us back
and we are afraid to look.
God, we shudder at the way this life ended:
surrounded by cold brutality,
rejected and betrayed by a friend,
deprived of justice,
and loved by only a frightened few
who watched in fear.
Inside we are afraid that this is all there is,
a flickering light snuffed out, no meaning,
no future, no love.
Evil triumphs yet again.
Evil triumphs so often.
Yours was one of thousands of deaths.
From those times to now
thousands die in loneliness and fear,
victims of the cruelty and oppression of this world.
Remind us with every death,
that there is still so much to be done,
before love reigns
and fear is driven away.
©1996 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

The Request for the Disposal of the Body (responding to the reading of John 19:31-37)

Once again we don't want to face up
to what we have done.
We quickly seek to clean up the mess,
to hide the evidence,
to get life normal again.
We want it finished
and the body put out of sight.
And yet that broken body,
if we would only face it
is the evidence of the love we crave
and the source of
the healing we cry for.
Give us courage
to see beyond the blood and the horror.
Give us the hope that in this death
we may find our own life.
©1996 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

Joanna’s StoryA reflection for Good Friday by Margie Dahl

Moving on from CrucifyingA sermon by Nathan Nettleton (This sermon was written for the Paschal Vigil, but the first half or more would also be useful in reflecting on Good Friday)

Thursday of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday)
2026-04-02 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Exodus 12: 1-4, (5-10), 11-14

After the King of Egypt had refused to listen to all the warnings, the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron again, saying:
“Rewrite your calendars — from now on, this month is to be the beginning of the new year. Put the word out among all the Israelite people that on the tenth day of the month, each household is to obtain a lamb or a young goat to be eaten. Small households can combine with their neighbours to share one, dividing it up so that there is enough for everyone to have some. The lamb must be a healthy male yearling with no deformities — not a runt. Having obtained the lamb, the household is to keep it at home for four days. Just after sunset on the fourteenth, all the Israelites are to slaughter the lambs ready for cooking. Take some of the blood and paint it on the frame of the front door of the house where you are eating the lamb. Cook and eat it that night. Don’t serve it raw or boiled. Don’t even cut it up or gut it. Spit-roast it whole over the fire and serve it with unleavened flat-breads and bitter herbs. Eat it all that night. If there is any left over in the morning you are to burn it. When you eat it, you are to eat as though you were in a hurry and about to leave on a journey. You should be dressed and packed, with your walking boots on and your stick at hand. In this way you are to keep the feast of Passover in honour of me, the LORD.
That night, I will pass through Egypt, killing the firstborn sons of every family and the firstborn male animals. I am the LORD, and I will carry out the sentence I have passed on the gods of Egypt this night. The lamb’s blood painted on your door frames will be the sign that your households are to be exempted. I will pass over every house that I see marked with the blood, and you will not be touched by the plague that will strike down the Egyptians.
Remember this day and, in every generation to come, celebrate it as an annual festival to honour me, the LORD.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-19

I love you, LORD!
How could I not love you
when you always respond to my cries?
You are always ready to listen to me,
so I will bring my needs to you as long as I live.
How can I ever repay you, LORD?
What gift could ever express my gratitude?
I will raise my glass in your honour,
I will name you as the one who saved me.
I will make good on all I promised you, LORD,
and I’ll let everyone know its for you.
Whenever one of your faithful people dies
it affects you deeply.
LORD, you have released me from my chains.
I will serve you forever,
just as my forebears have done.
I will bring a gift to say thanks;
I will pray to you, and you alone.
I will be true to the vows I’ve made;
and I won’t keep it hidden.
In full view of all your people,
in the public place of worship,
I’ll do all I promised you, LORD.
All the praise and all the credit are your, LORD!
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

1 Corinthians 11: 23-26

The teaching I gave you about the Lord’s Supper is worth repeating. I gave it to you exactly as I received it from the Lord himself. On the very night that he was betrayed, Jesus was sharing a meal. He took a loaf of bread in his hands, gave thanks to God and then broke the loaf, saying:
“This is my body. It is for you.
Do this so that I will be remembered.”
At the end of the meal he did the same thing with the cup, saying:
“This cup is God’s new alliance with you —
an alliance sealed with my blood.
Do this, every time you drink it,
so that I will be remembered.”
The meaning of this is clear: whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you are announcing the truth about the Lord’s death. This truth will continue to be broadcast in this way until the Lord returns.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 13: 1-17, 31b-35

Even before the sacred Passover festival began, Jesus knew that his time was running out. He knew that he had come from God, and he knew that it was time to leave this world and return to God. He had consistently loved his followers in this world, and he continued to demonstrate his love for them right up to the end. A seed sown by the devil had taken root in the mind of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, and by the time they gathered for supper, he was planning to double-cross Jesus.
Jesus knew that everything was up to him, because God had put everything in his hands. During the supper, he got up from the table, took off his jacket and tied a towel around his waist. Filling a large bowl with water, he began to wash the feet of each of the disciples in turn and to dry them with the towel tied around his waist. When it was his turn, Simon Peter objected saying, “Surely it’s not your job to wash my feet, Lord?”
Jesus answered, “I know you don’t yet understand why I’m doing this, but in time it will make sense to you.”
But Peter said, “No way! I’ll never let you wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “If I don’t wash you, then it’s all over between us. You’ll have nothing further to do with me.”
“In that case,” Simon Peter replied, “don’t just wash my feet! Wash my hands; wash my head!”
Jesus said to him, “You had a bath before you came! Once someone’s had a bath, they don’t need to wash anything on arrival other than their feet and they’ll be completely clean. You lot are clean.” But then, because he knew who was going to double-cross him, he added, “Well, most of you are clean anyway.”
When he had finished washing their feet, he put his jacket back on and sat back down at the table. He said to them:
“Do you understand what I have just done to you? You lot call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’, and that’s fair enough, because that’s exactly what I am. So if I’m your Teacher and Lord, and I’ve just been down on my knees washing your feet, then you too ought to serve one another in the same way. I’m modelling the way I want you to live. Do as I have done. You can take it from me: servants do not outrank their boss, and the postie who brings the letter does not rank as importantly as the one who wrote it. When you get these things sorted out for yourselves, you’ll discover just how good life can really be.
“Now the moment of glory has arrived for the New Human, and it is God’s glory too. If God’s glory is made known in him, then God will pour out his own glory on him. It’s all happening right now.
“You are my children, but you’re about to be on your own because our time together is almost up. You’ll keep looking for me, but as I said to the people before, where I am going, there is no way you can come.
“I’ve got one new instruction for you – in fact take it as an order – love one another. I want you to love one another in the same way that I have loved you. If you do that – if you really have love for one another – then it will be apparent to everyone that you are following in my footsteps.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
We do indeed bring you a gift of thanks, O God,
as we raise the cup of freedom in your name,
for you have made a covenant with us in the blood of Christ
and broken us free from the grip of death.
In your creative love, you brought the world to birth,
and from the first you loved all who live in it.
You heard the cries of your suffering people
and protected them with the blood of the Passover lamb
as you struck down those who oppressed them.
You sent your Son, Jesus, as our Teacher and Lord
and gave all things into his hands.
Laying aside his power,
he gave himself to us in humble service
and taught us to love one another
as he had loved us.
When the hour for his departure came,
he was betrayed by a friend
and his body broken on the cross.
With his outpoured blood you marked out those
who will follow where he has gone,
into the promised land of resurrection life.
Therefore with .....
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We raise the cup of freedom in thanks to you, O God,
for you have made a covenant with us in the blood of Christ,
who gave himself to us in humble service
and taught us to love one another as he had loved us.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

The blood of Christ, the true lamb,
seals God’s new covenant with us
and marks us out for salvation.
The Lord has forgiven your sins,
washed you clean,
and freed you from death’s grip.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now and fulfil your vows to the Lord.
Love one another as Christ has loved you
and give yourselves to one another in humble service,
just as Christ has given himself to you.
Celebrate these holy days as a perpetual ordinance,
for no gift could ever repay God’s goodness to us.
And may God hear you whenever you call;
May Christ Jesus keep you safe through his blood;
And may the Holy Spirit lead you further
into the depths of God’s saving mysteries.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

Discerning the Body at the TableA sermon on 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 by Nathan Nettleton (This sermon was not intended for Maundy Thursday, but may provide some applicable ideas)

Wednesday of Holy Week
2026-04-01 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Isaiah 50: 4-9a

The LORD God has given me the gift of the gab
so that my words can teach others
and put a spring in the step of the weary.
As I wake up each new day,
God makes me hungry for learning.
The LORD cleaned out my ears
so that I could hear every word.
I learned eagerly;
I never rebelled or quit.
I was opposed by others,
but I gritted my teeth and stood my ground.
I looked them in the eye
when they insulted me and spat in my face.
I took it on the chin and did not fight back,
when they gave me a belting and tore out my hair.
The Lord GOD is always there for me,
so no disgrace ever gets to me.
I have steeled my jaw and dug in my heels,
and I’m sure I’ll never be ashamed of my stand
because I can trust God to back me up.
So, who thinks they can take me on?
Let them stand up and face me!
Who are my opponents?
Let’s see what they’re made of!
The Lord GOD is backing me;
so who is going to accuse me of doing wrong?
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 70

Please God, deliver me!
Help me, LORD, quickly!
These people are out to get me, LORD;
leave them confused
with egg all over their faces.
They are trying to do me harm;
knock them off their perches
and send them packing.
When they smirk and make a joke of me,
run them out of town in disgrace.
Put a smile on the face
of everyone who seeks you, LORD.
Give everyone who loves your ways
reason to celebrate your greatness forever.
But right now, God, I need your help in a hurry;
I can’t make ends meet.
You are the one who helps me;
the one who rescues me from danger.
Quickly, LORD, help me without delay!
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Hebrews 12: 1-3

So, we are by no means running the race alone! The air around us is thick with encouragement — all these heroes who bore witness to the truth before us, cheering us on. So let’s strip down for the run that lies ahead, tossing aside everything that would hold us back, especially the sin that clings on so tenaciously. And then let’s get on with it — run and run and never quit until we’ve crossed the line. We can do it if we just keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, because he has led the way and become the first to complete this faith marathon. He was so focussed on the goal that he was able to push on through the pain barriers, enduring the agony and humiliation of the cross. He knew that the celebrations would make it all worth while, and sure enough, he now enjoys the number one seat of honour alongside God’s throne.
So, whenever you feel yourself running low on energy or confidence, think again about him and how he endured the violent hostility directed at him by faithless people, and draw new strength from that.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 13: 21-32

While Jesus was speaking with his disciples at the supper, he began to get quite churned up, and before long they all knew why. “I kid you not,” he said, “one of you lot is going to double-cross me.”
The disciples began scanning each others faces, looking for a clue as to who he was talking about. Simon Peter whispered to one of the other disciples – the one with whom Jesus was most intimate and who was sitting next to him at the time – saying, “Ask him who he’s talking about.”
So he did. He leaned over and asked, “Lord, who is it?”
Jesus answered quietly, “I’ll dip this bread in the gravy and hand it to him. He’s the one.”
So Jesus dipped a piece of bread in the gravy and handed it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. When he received the piece of bread, the satan got into his head and took over. Jesus said to him, “What you’ve got to do, you’ve got to do. Go, and get it over and done with quickly.”
At the time, no one else at the table understood what he meant when he said this to Judas. Judas handled their finances, so some of them just assumed that Jesus was telling him to go and buy some things they needed for the Passover celebration, or perhaps to go and give some money to people in need. Anyway, after receiving the piece of bread, Judas immediately disappeared off into the night.
Once he was gone, Jesus spoke to the remaining disciples, saying, “Now the moment of glory has arrived for the New Human, and it is God’s glory too. If God’s glory is made known in him, then God will pour out his own glory on him. It’s all happening right now.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Tuesday of Holy Week
2026-03-31 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Isaiah 49: 1-7

Everyone, from coast to coast, listen up!
All you people, far and near, don’t miss a word.
Before I was born, the LORD had chosen me.
While I was still in my mother’s womb
I was given a name and a job.
I was created to be a surgeon’s knife,
razor sharp in the hand of the LORD;
ready and waiting to slice through any defence
and cut to the core with a word.
The LORD said to me, “Israel, you are my servant,
the one who will put my name up in lights.”
But I said, “Then how come every thing I do comes to nothing?
I’ve worked my guts out but there is nothing to show for it.
But I gave it my best shot for you LORD,
so you decide whether I’m worth my pay.”
And now the LORD has more to say to me;
this God who chose me as a servant before I was born;
who gave me the job of bringing home the people of Israel
for a great reunion with God.
It is a privilege and an honour to do this for the LORD,
and God has given me the strength to see it through.
But now the LORD says to me,
“Getting the people of Israel back on their feet is great,
but it’s a piece of cake for my number one worker.
Now I’ve got a real challenge for you!
I want you to help the whole world to see the light!
I want you to give my saving love a global reach!”
I, the LORD, the one and only, who puts things right for Israel,
have this to say:
“You have been treated like dirt.
kicked around by the nations,
and forced to work in chains for their rulers;
but let me tell you how it is going to be:
Kings will stand up when you walk in;
Governors will snap to attention at your approach.
You have my word on this and I can be trusted;
I am the LORD, your one and only, and I have chosen you.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 71: 1-14

I run to you for protection, LORD,
please don’t ever let me down.
You always do the right thing,
so please be there for me when I need you.
Hear me when I call for help
and step in quickly to bail me out.
Keep me safe when I need somewhere to hide.
You are like a mountain hideaway to me;
like a bunker than nothing can blast open.
If I fall into hostile hands,
be my God and rescue me;
Don’t let the callous and cruel
get their claws into me.
You are my only hope,
the only one I can depend on, LORD;
I’ve trusted you since I was a kid.
I’ve leaned on you for support
since the day I was born.
You were the midwife who delivered me from my mother’s womb,
the safe hands who pulled me gasping into life.
I’ll never stop thanking you for that!
Many people think my name spells trouble,
but you stick up for me when they attack.
How can I ever thank you enough?
I go on all day about how wonderful you are.
Don’t give up on me when I get too old, LORD;
don’t turn your back when I’ve got nothing left to offer.
I’ll need your help, because my enemies are out to get me,
they’re plotting against my life even now.
They’ve put out a contract on me
and guaranteed immunity to whoever brings me down
They say you’ve given up on me
and that no one will defend me.
Don’t ever let me out of your sight, God;
jump to my defence at the first sign of trouble.
Turn the tables on those who slandered me,
leave them with egg all over their faces.
See to it that those who set out to destroy me
get the public humiliation they deserve.
I will never give up hope,
because I trust in you.
Every time I open my mouth,
I will sing your praises more and more.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

1 Corinthians 1: 18-31

The message about the cross sounds like a lot of mindless cock-and-bull to those who have thrown their lot in with this present world order and are going down with the ship. But to those of us who are being saved from that, it is nothing less than the power of God! God spoke about this in the Scriptures:
“I will expose the brilliant insights of your experts
and the wise counsel of your gurus;
I will expose them for what they really are,
a load of codswallop!”
So where are the intellectuals now? Where are the religious experts? Where are those who have an answer for everything? What have they got to show for all their cleverness now that God has turned all the conventional wisdom on its head and made it look foolish? Seeing that no amount of human cleverness had ever woken anybody up to God’s ways, God made the wise decision to use something that seemed utterly foolish to everyone — our preaching! — to rescue those who would trust the message. Most people want something more than this. Those with a religious world view demand to see miraculous signs to prove that it is from God. Those with a modern rational world view insist that it should have to prove its intellectual credibility. But what we are preaching is a Messiah who was strung up and killed. The religious people find this unthinkable, and the intellectuals regard it as primitive nonsense; but to those who have heard the call of God, whatever their background, it is the ultimate good news of God’s chosen one — as miraculous and profound as one could ever wish for! When it’s all said and done, the sum total of the human race’s intellectual achievements don’t even begin to stack up against the foolishness of God; and the combined force of all the world’s powers is puny in comparison to the weakness of God.
Sisters and brothers, you don’t have to look any further than your own experience of God’s call to see the truth of this. Not many of you were academic hot-shots. Not many of you were movers and shakers in the corridors of power. Not many of you were feted as celebrities. But God chose you! God chose those who were dismissed as fools to expose the bankruptcy of the world’s accepted wisdom. God chose those who were weak and vulnerable in the world to show up the corruption of those who wield power. God consistently chooses what is despised as the dregs by the world, things which are seen as worthless, to expose the worthlessness of things which are seen as being ‘it and a bit’. Because of this, no one who is accepted into God’s presence has any grounds for blowing their own trumpet. God and God alone is the source of the life you share in union with the Messiah, Jesus. It is only in Jesus that we have been able to tap into God’s wisdom. And it is only in Jesus that our lives have been put back on track, given a clean bill of health, and set on the path to wholeness. For this reason, the scriptures make sense to us when they say:
“If you are going to blow your trumpet about something,
blow it about the Lord!”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 12: 20-36

Many people were arriving in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Jewish religious festival known as Passover. However, not all of the people were Jewish, and one group of foreigners made contact with Philip, and said, “Sir, we would like to meet Jesus.”
Philip, who was from the Galilean town of Bethsaida, told Andrew, and together they went and told Jesus about the request from the foreign visitors. On hearing about it, Jesus said, “If the foreigners are asking after us, we’ve reached the point of no return. The time has come for the New Human to be lifted up in all his glory.”
He went on to say:
“I kid you not, a grain of wheat is nothing unless it hits the dirt and loses its life. But if it gives up its life as a single grain, then it will begin to produce a bumper crop of life. Anyone who prizes their own life above everything else will end up losing the lot. But those who treat their individual survival in this world as a matter of no consequence will find life opening up before them without limit. If any of these people want to apprentice themselves to me, they will need to come and stick with me. Those who work for me will be going wherever I go. Whoever works for me will get the thumbs-up from the God who conceived me. But at the moment, I’m all churned up inside. Should I call on the Father to bail me out of what is about to happen? No, I can’t do that because what is about to happen is the pinnacle of everything I came to achieve. So then, I call out to God and say, ‘Father, put your name up in lights!’ ”
And a voice answered from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.”
The crowd who were gathered there heard the voice. Some of them said it sounded like thunder, and others said, “A messenger from God has spoken to him.”
Jesus addressed them, saying, “This voice has spoken for your benefit, not mine. The world is being weighed in the balance right now; and the one who has been calling the shots in this world will now be driven out. As for me, I will be lifted up off the ground, and when that happens, I will draw all people to myself.”
With these words, he gave an indication of the kind of death he was going to die. The crowd questioned him about this, saying, “The Bible tells us that the Messiah will be with us forever, so how can you say that the New Human will be strung up? And who exactly is this New Human?”
Jesus said to them, “The light will only be with you for a little while longer, so make your move while it continues to light up the way. If you leave it too late, the darkness will catch up with you, and if you try to make your move then, you’ll have no idea where you are going. Put your trust in the light as long as you have access to it, so that you may become people of the light.”
And having said this, Jesus cleared off and made himself scarce.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Monday of Holy Week
2026-03-30 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Isaiah 42:1-9

The Lord says:
Let me introduce to you the one who serves me,
the one I am backing all the way.
I have chosen him,
and I am bursting with pride over him.
I have given him my spirit in full measure,
and he will bring about justice everywhere on earth.
He won’t go thrusting himself into the public eye,
or grandstanding in the street with pompous speeches.
He won’t exploit the vulnerability of damaged people,
or squeeze the last drops out of those who are running on empty.
He will be completely fair dinkum
about making justice a reality.
He will not run out of steam or throw in the towel
until his mission is accomplished;
until justice holds sway everywhere on earth
and the world’s peoples are eager to learn from him.
I am the one who created the universe
and stretched out the skies;
the one who constructed the earth
and produced everything that grows from it;
the one who breathes life into the world’s people
and kindles the spark of life within them;
I am the LORD your God;
so listen to what I have to say:
I, the LORD, have called you to stand for what is right.
I have put my arm around you and kept you safe.
I have made you a shining light for all the earth to see,
to draw all people everywhere
into a permanent alliance with me.
I have given you a privileged role
as the one who enables the blind to see the light;
the one who opens the gates of the stifling detention centres
and welcomes the prisoners into the fresh air of freedom.
I am the LORD, that is my name;
I don’t allow pretenders to cash in on my glory
or rip off my image to promote their frauds.
Take note: everything I warned you about has happened on cue.
Now I am announcing my new projects;
I’m letting you in on them even before they get started.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 36: 5-11

You unwavering love fills the universe, LORD;
your loyalty is as timeless as the milky way.
Your passion for doing right
is as solid as the mountain ranges;
your understanding of us
is as deep as the oceans.
You set out to save the lives of every creature, LORD,
and no one – not man nor woman,
not bird nor beast – is left out of your care.
Your love, O God, is our greatest treasure!
You keep a place for everyone
under the shelter of your wings.
You invite all who come to feast at your table;
the wine of your love flows like a river
and no one’s glass is allowed to run dry.
Life bursts forth from you like a fountain;
light shines from you and lights up our world.
Don’t ever give up on us, LORD;
keep loving all who trust you,
keep rescuing all whose hearts are in the right place.
Protect us from those who would trample us underfoot.
Stand in the way of those who would drive us from the land.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Hebrews 9: 11-15

The priests of old served in a great tent which people had made as the place to approach God here on earth, but when Christ came he bypassed the old tent. He came as the new high priest, bringing a new improved way of approaching God. Once and for all he went in to the real Holy Place of God’s presence, in the middle of the ultimate tent — heaven itself. He also bypassed the old sacrifices of goat and calf blood. Instead, he shed his own blood in the process of winning permanent freedom for everyone.
Under the old arrangements, people were not permitted to come and worship God if they had done something that made them officially unclean. They had to be purified first in a ritual that required them to be sprinkled with blood from goats and bulls and with the ashes of a sacrificed calf. Now if such a ritual was enough to clear up these problems, imagine how much more thoroughly our lives can be cleaned up — inside and out — by the blood of Christ! Christ’s self-sacrifice — which because of his spotless record was the greatest possible sacrifice — was made in the power of God’s Spirit to wipe the slate clean for us. No longer are we weighed down by the emotional debris left over from previous futile efforts to sort things out with God. Now we are free to join the joyous dance of life that honours God!
This is why we say that Jesus is the mediator. He brought the two sides together — us and God — to establish a new alliance. It took his own death to bring the job to completion, but he succeeded in having written off the debts we had accumulated by breaking the rules of the old agreement, and having us written back into the list of those who God has called — those who will inherit for all time all that God has promised to give.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 12: 1-11

Six days before the celebration of Passover, Jesus arrived in Bethany. He stayed overnight in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus; the man he had previously raised from the dead. Martha prepared a dinner party in honour of Jesus, and everyone was there, including Lazarus. During the evening, Mary broke open a very expensive bottle of blended fragrant oils. She poured out the oil and used it to massage Jesus’ feet. She then wiped them dry with her own hair. The intoxicating fragrance of the oils filled the whole house.
Judas Iscariot, however, took exception to her behaviour. Although he was one of Jesus’ closest followers, the seeds of betrayal were taking root in his mind. When he saw what Mary was doing, he growled, “What do you think you’re doing? That stuff is worth a fortune. Why was it not sold and the money put to work to do something for the poor?”
He wasn’t really the least bit concerned about the plight of the poor, but he was their treasurer and liked to keep their shared account topped up so he could help himself to it without anyone noticing.
Jesus said, “Get off her case, Judas! She brought that oil and kept it to use in preparing me for a decent burial. There will never be any shortage of opportunities to do something worthwhile for the poor, but you won’t always have the opportunity to do anything worthwhile for me.”
The news that Jesus was back in Bethany spread quickly and the crowds gathered to see him. Many were also keen to see Lazarus, because they had heard about Jesus raising him from the dead. When news of this reached the senior religious authorities, they began plotting to have Lazarus killed as well. They wanted to get rid of him because he had inspired so many of their followers to give up on them and switch their allegiance to Jesus.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

6th Sunday in Lent (Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday) - Year A
2026-03-29 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Matthew 21: 1-11 (Gospel for the Liturgy of the Palms)

Jesus and his followers were getting close Jerusalem. Their last stop was just outside the twin townships of Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount Of Olives. Jesus sent two of his followers into the township, saying, “As soon as you get into the main street you’ll see two donkeys tied up to a fence; a female and her awkward looking colt that has not yet even been ridden. Collect them and bring them to me. If anyone questions you, just tell them that the boss needs them, and they will let you take them.”
These events again shed new light on what the prophet had said:
“Broadcast this to the people of Jerusalem.
Look, here comes your king!
He doesn’t big-note himself,
but comes riding a simple donkey,
and a baby one at that!”
So they did as Jesus had told them and brought the donkeys to him. They made improvised saddles from items of spare clothing and got Jesus seated. As Jesus began riding slowly up the road, the crowd began giving him the red-carpet treatment. Some were spreading their coats on the road before him while others were cutting down branches of leaves and flowers and spreading them along the road. Both in front of him and behind him, the cheering crowd began to chant:
Hooray for the new King David!
God’s blessing is on the one
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hooray for God, the greatest of all!
As he arrived in Jerusalem, it was absolute mayhem. The question on everyone’s lips was “Who on earth is this?”
The answer coming from the crowd was, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29 (Psalm for the Liturgy of the Palms)

Thank you, LORD, thank you!
Thank you for your goodness!
Thank you for your love —
rock solid and timeless!
May all your people recognise
that your love and loyalty last forever.
The minute they open the city gates
— the gates of justice —
we’ll be the first through, LORD;
eager to tell you how thankful we are.
These gates belong to you, LORD,
those you have put right can come on through.
Thank you for answering our prayers, LORD;
for coming to our rescue and putting us right.
From a rejected stone found in a rubbish pile
you cut and polished a priceless jewel.
This is obviously your work, LORD,
and we can hardly believe our eyes!
Today is your day, LORD, a day to honour you;
we will celebrate with joy and laughter.
Get us through safely, LORD!
In the tasks ahead, give us success!
The one who comes in your name, LORD,
is the one who is truly blessed.
Gathered here in your house,
we praise you for sending him.
You, LORD, are our only God,
and you light up our lives.
In a great procession,
we march to the sacred place,
waving branches and banners;
tossing flowers in the air.
You are our God
and we give you thanks.
You are our God
and we give you our highest acclaim.
Thank you, LORD, thank you!
Thank you for your goodness!
Thank you for your love —
rock solid and timeless!
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Isaiah 50: 4-9a

The LORD God has given me the gift of the gab
so that my words can teach others
and put a spring in the step of the weary.
As I wake up each new day,
God makes me hungry for learning.
The LORD cleaned out my ears
so that I could hear every word.
I learned eagerly;
I never rebelled or quit.
I was opposed by others,
but I gritted my teeth and stood my ground.
I looked them in the eye
when they insulted me and spat in my face.
I took it on the chin and did not fight back,
when they gave me a belting and tore out my hair.
The Lord GOD is always there for me,
so no disgrace ever gets to me.
I have steeled my jaw and dug in my heels,
and I’m sure I’ll never be ashamed of my stand
because I can trust God to back me up.
So, who thinks they can take me on?
Let them stand up and face me!
Who are my opponents?
Let’s see what they’re made of!
The Lord GOD is backing me;
so who is going to accuse me of doing wrong?
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 31: 9-16

Be kind to me, LORD,
I’m a mess.
My eyes are bloodshot from crying;
My heart is breaking
and my whole body aches.
Grief gnaws away at my life,
sorrows piles up, year after year.
Misery is draining my strength
and destroying my health.
I get no respect from my opponents;
nothing but ridicule.
Those who know me can’t bear to look at me;
even strangers cross the street to avoid me.
Everyone wants to purge me from their thoughts;
they’ve given me up for dead;
abandoned me like a burned out car.
Everyone is out to get me;
they’re whispering behind my back.
They’ve portrayed me as a monster
and put a price on my head.
But I still put my trust in you, LORD;
you are my God and you’re all I’ve got left.
My future is in your hands;
snatch me from the grasp
of those who are hunting me down.
I’m working for you; look on me with love.
Stand by me and save me.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Philippians 2: 5-11

Model your attitude on the attitude of the Messiah, Jesus.
Although Jesus was the same as God in every way,
he did not think of his God-like privileges
as something to be milked for all they were worth.
Instead, he laid it all aside
and, with no more privileges than a slave,
was born as a human being.
Having become a human being,
he was the model of humility.
He didn’t demand his own way
but let God set the agenda;
even when it included his own death,
and a gruesome public death at that.
Because of all this,
God has raised him to the status of number one
and honoured him more highly
than anyone else in the universe.
So now, just the mention of the name ‘Jesus’
should bring everyone to their knees;
everyone who has ever lived or ever will.
Everyone, everywhere will honour God
by openly acknowledging
that Jesus the Messiah is Lord of all!
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Matthew 26:14 - 27:66

One of Jesus’s twelve closest followers, a man named Judas Iscariot, met with the High Priests in secret, and asked them, “What would you pay me for the information that you need to arrest him.”
They agreed on a price of thirty pieces of silver, and from then on, Judas was looking for the right moment to double cross Jesus.
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, Jesus’s closest followers asked him where he wanted them to book a room for their celebration of the Passover Meal. He sent them to see a certain man in the city with instructions to say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is due. I want to celebrate the Passover with my followers in your house.” So they did as he asked, and got everything ready for the Passover Meal in the man’s house.
When the evening came, Jesus sat down to share the meal with the twelve. While they were eating, he said, “I kid you not; one of you will double cross me.”
They were all quite shaken by this, and began asking him in turn, “Surely, Lord, it is not me, is it?”
He answered, “I will be betrayed by one who has been sharing meals with me; one who passes me the sauce and tops up my glass. And while the fate of the New Human is well known to scripture, the writing is on the wall for the one who stabs him in the back. That one is going to wish he had never been born.”
Judas, who had already taken the blood money, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, do you, Rabbi?”
Jesus replied, “Take a good hard look at yourself, Judas!”
Later during the meal, Jesus took a loaf of bread in his hands and praised God. He broke the loaf, and gave it to his followers, saying: “Take some of this and eat it. This is my body.”
Then he picked up a glass of wine, gave thanks to God, and gave it to them, saying: “Drink this; all of you. This is my blood which seals God’s new alliance and is spilled for countless people in the forgiving of their toxic ways. I’ll tell you now; not another drop will pass my lips until the day when we drink together in celebration of the culture of my Father.”
Then, after singing the hymn that concludes the meal, they went out to the Mount Of Olives. As they went, Jesus said to them, “You lot will all drop your bundle and turn your backs on me tonight. It will be just like the old saying in Scripture,
‘Knock off the shepherd,
and the sheep will run in all directions.’
But when I have been raised, I will go on up to Galilee ahead of you.”
Peter protested, saying, “Everyone else might lose their nerve and shoot through, but not me. I will stick with you, no matter what.”
Jesus said to him, “Don’t bet on it. Even before the rooster crows tonight, you will have sworn three times that you don’t even know me.”
“Over my dead body!” said Peter. “I’d die before I would deny you.”
And all the others swore the same.
Soon Jesus and his followers arrived at the Gethsemene Gardens. He asked most of them to wait for him while he found a place to pray, and took only Peter and the brothers, James and John, with him. As they went, he became increasingly disturbed and distraught. He said to the three, “I feel totally gutted. It feels like it’s killing me. Wait here and hang in there with me while I pray.”
He went ahead a little and threw himself down on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if there is any way out of this, I want out. But still, the bottom line is whatever you want.”
When he got up, he found that his companions had fallen asleep. He woke Peter, saying, “Couldn’t you hang in there with me for even one hour? Stay on the watch, and pray that you will not have to face anything that’s too tough for you to handle. Your spirit is raring to go, but your body can’t hack the pace.”
Then he moved off for a second time and prayed, “My Father, if there is no other way to get rid of this bitter cup than for me to drink it dry, I’m ready to do whatever you want.”
When he came back, he found them all asleep again, simply unable to keep their eyes open. So he just left them and went off to pray for a third time, praying in the same way as he had before. Then he returned to his followers and said, “Are you lot planning to sleep right through? Come on. The time is up. A traitor has dealt the New Human into the hands of the corrupt. On your feet, and get moving! Look, here comes the one who has done the dirty on me!”
Even before he finished getting the words out, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived on the scene with a heavily armed mob. They had been dispatched by the chief priests and political authorities. The traitor had given them their cue: “The one I greet with a kiss is the target. Bust him.”
So he went straight up to Jesus and said, “How are you, Rabbi?” and gave him a kiss.
Jesus said to him, “Mate, get it over with.”
Immediately the mob surrounded Jesus, grabbed him roughly and began to drag him off. In a flash, one of Jesus’s followers pulled a knife and began lashing out, slashing a personal attendant of the High Priest and cutting off his ear. But Jesus said, “Put that knife away, back where it belongs. All who live violent lives will die violent deaths. What were you thinking? You must realise that one word from me and God would send a dozen elite fighting units of angels. But if I did that, what would be left of the agenda outlined in scripture that took all this into account?”
At the same time he addressed the mob, saying, “Do you think I am some kind of dangerous thug, that you need your weapons drawn and your batons ready when you come out here to take me in? I have been sitting in the temple nearly every day, teaching the people, and you could have easily busted me if you had wanted to. But it had to happen this way didn’t it, just as the prophets in scripture described.”
By this time, his followers had all turned tail and run for their lives.
The mob who had seized Jesus dragged him off to the home of Caiaphas the High Priest, where all the religious lawyers and political heavy-weights were waiting for him. Peter followed at a safe distance, trying to keep track of what was going on. He got as far as the security guards stationed in the High Priest’s entrance courtyard, but no further.
The chief priests and the ruling council were doing their best to frame Jesus on charges that would lead to a summary execution. Although a procession of witnesses brought false allegations against him, they couldn’t get anything to stick. Eventually though, two separate witnesses testified that Jesus had claimed to be able to completely demolish the Temple of God and rebuild it in just three days. The High Priest put Jesus back on the stand and said, “You have heard the allegations that you claimed to have powers which only God could possess. What do you have to say in your own defence?”
But Jesus remained silent. Then the High Priest said to him, “I remind you that you are under oath before the living God to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Tell us then: are you the Messiah, the Son of God?”
Jesus replied, “You said it! And what’s more, from now on you will see the New Human seated as God’s right hand man and riding in on the clouds of heaven.”
At that, the High Priest feigned utter dismay and turned to the council saying, “It’s blasphemy! This man is claiming to be on a par with God. Why should we bother with further witnesses? You have all heard him for yourselves. What is your verdict?”
The verdict was unanimous: “He must die for this.”
There was a near riot as they all began to stick the boots in, spitting in his face and roughing him up. Some of them were even hitting him from behind and then saying, “Come on, Mr Messiah. Show us how good a prophet you really are. Name the person who hit you.”
Peter was still keeping a low profile out the front courtyard. A girl who worked there recognised him and said, “You were with that Galilean bloke, Jesus, weren’t you?”
But in front of everyone, he denied it, saying, “I’ve got no idea what you are talking about.”
A short time later he was walking along the front porch when another staff member piped up and said, “Look, that bloke there was with Jesus the Nazarene.”
Once again Peter denied it adamantly: “I swear I don’t even know the man. I give you my word on it.”
Later still, some of the bystanders became more insistent, closing in on Peter and saying, “You’ve got to be one of them. Your accent gives you away for sure.”
Peter began foul-mouthing them and yelling, “I’ve never even set eyes on the bloke. I swear it on a stack of bibles!”
But the moment the denial was out of his mouth, a rooster began to crow, and as the words of Jesus came flooding back – “Before the rooster crows, you will have sworn three times that you don’t even know me” – Peter ran off down the street bawling his eyes out; a broken man.
The next morning, the chief priests and the ruling council met to work out what steps they needed to take in order to get Jesus executed. Setting the wheels in motion, they handcuffed him, marched him off, and transferred him into the custody of Pilate, the Roman governor.
When Judas, the traitor, saw that Jesus was now on death row, he couldn’t live with what he had done. He took the thirty pieces of silver back to the chief priests and the ruling council and said, “I am guilty of a terrible thing. I have betrayed an innocent man to death.”
But they said, “What has that got to do with us? You made your own bed; go lie in it!”
Judas threw the money back at them, stormed out, and went off and hanged himself. Gathering up the money, the chief priests said, “We can hardly put this into the Temple offerings; it has got blood all over it.”
So they put their heads together and decided to use the money to buy a property that a nearby potter had put up for sale, and redevelop it as a cemetery for foreigners. That is why the place came to be known as “the Killing Field” – a name that has stuck. It shed new light on the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
“They took the thirty pieces of silver,
the price set on the head of a man by his own people,
and they spent it on a potter’s field,
just as the Lord had told me.”
Jesus was brought before Pilate for further interrogation. The governor got straight to the point: “Are you the King of the Jews?”
“They are your words,” said Jesus.
The delegation from the chief priests and the ruling council began outlining all the allegations against him, but Jesus made no attempt to defend himself. Pilate turned to him and said, “Do you realise the seriousness of all these crimes they are accusing you of?”
But, much to the governor’s amazement, Jesus continued to remain silent, not even replying to a single charge.
Now a custom had developed that the Roman governor would release a political prisoner – any prisoner nominated by the people – during the annual celebration of the Passover festival. One of the most notorious prisoners held at the time was a man named Jesus Barabbas. Pilate realised that Jesus of Nazareth had only been charged to get him out of the way of his religious rivals, and he saw the annual custom as an opportunity to solve two problems at once. So when the crowd had gathered he addressed them, saying, “Which prisoner would you like me to release for you this year, Jesus Barabbas or the Jesus they call the Messiah?”
While Pilate was still presiding over the court, his wife sent him a message saying, “Don’t get yourself caught up in the conspiracy against that innocent man, for I have had a long and disturbing dream about him.”
The chief priests and the council members began putting the word around among the crowd that they should call for the release of Barabbas and the execution of Jesus. So when the governor asked them again which of the two they wanted him to release, they all began to shout, “Barabbas.”
“Then what am I supposed to do with the Jesus they call the Messiah?” Pilate asked the crowd.
The shout came back, “Execute him!”
“Why? What evil has he done to deserve death?” asked Pilate.
But the crowd just kept chanting, “String him up! String him up!”
When Pilate saw that it was useless to go on, and that further argument would only spark a riot, he called for a basin of water and made a show of washing his hands as he said to the crowd, “This man’s blood is not on my hands. Have it your own way and be it on your own heads.”
The crowd responded, roaring as one, “It is on our heads. We and our children accept full responsibility!”
So Pilate gave orders for the release of Barabbas, and after having Jesus flogged for good measure, he handed him over to the executioners.
The governor’s security guards kept Jesus detained for a while in the Roman headquarters while the whole battalion gathered round and entertained themselves at his expense. They stripped him naked and then dressed him in a scarlet robe. They twisted some barbed wire into a crown and jammed it on his head. They put a flag in his hand and made a big joke of coming up and saluting him and saying, “Heil, King of the Jews!” Then they spat on him and gave him a serious bashing with their batons. When they’d finished their brutal sport, they stripped the robe back off him, put him back in his own clothes, and marched him off to be executed.
As they hit the main street, they pulled a Cyrenian man named Simon out of the crowd, and forced him to carry the large wooden cross on which Jesus was to be strung up. The place where the executions were carried out was called Skull Hill, or in Hebrew, Golgotha. When they got there, they offered Jesus a strong drink – wine spiked with a common drug – but when he tasted what it was, he refused it. They strung Jesus up on the cross by driving nails through his flesh. Then they tossed coins for his clothes, and sat down to wait for him to die. The sign hung on his cross to inform onlookers of the offence for which he was dying, read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
A couple of convicted thugs were executed at the same time. The three crosses were erected in a row with Jesus on the middle one. People passing by hurled insults and ridicule at him. They shook their heads and said, “What happened to the big man who reckoned he could demolish the Temple and rebuild it in three days? Show us what you’re made of and save yourself now! Getting yourself off the cross should be a piece of cake if you’re the Son of God!”
The chief priests, the religious lawyers and the members of the ruling council were all there sticking the boots in with the best of them. “He reckoned he could save everyone else, but he can’t even save himself!” they said. “He is supposed to be the King of Israel, so let’s see him prove himself by getting himself down off the cross. He made a big noise about trusting God, let’s see whether God is interested in getting him out of this one. After all, he did claim to be God’s Son!”
Even the two thugs being executed alongside him joined in and hurled more abuse at him.
At midday, the sky went black for three hours and it was dark everywhere. At about three o’clock Jesus screamed out in agony, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you turned your back on me?”
When the people standing around heard this, some of them thought he was calling for help from Elijah. Someone poured some wine that had turned to vinegar into a sponge and held it up to his mouth with a stick, but the others said, “Hold your horses. Let’s see whether Elijah will turn up to rescue him first.”
Then Jesus let out another loud cry, and breathed his dying breath. At that very moment, the curtain that closed off the most holy place in the Temple tore open, all the way from the top to the bottom. There was a violent earthquake, that split rocks and broke open the tombs. The bodies of many of God’s people who had been laid to rest in peace were raised, and after Jesus had been raised they came out of their tombs and went into Jerusalem where many people saw them.
When the commanding officer and the security guards on duty with him saw the earthquake and everything else that happened, they were scared spitless, and said, “Fair dinkum, this bloke must have been God’s Son!”
There were a number of women there too, watching it all from a distance. They had been among Jesus’s followers since the days in Galilee and had provided most of the resources needed by his group. Among them were Mary Magdalene, another Mary who was the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of James and John, Zebedee’s wife.
That evening, a wealthy man from Arimethea went to Pilate and asked permission to take the body of Jesus for burial. The man’s name was Joseph, and he was a follower of Jesus. Pilate gave orders for the body to be released into his care. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linen cloth. He buried Jesus in a new tomb which he had had cut into the rock for his own eventual use. He rolled a boulder over the entrance to the tomb to seal it, and then went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting opposite the tomb watching all this.
The next day was still part of the sacred festival, and a deputation of the chief priests and members of the Pharisee party held an early meeting with Pilate. They said, “Sir, we have remembered that while that con man was still alive, he claimed that he would rise again three days after his death. So please give orders to have guards secure the tomb for the next three days so that his fan club can’t steal his body and start telling everyone that he has been raised from the dead. A fraud like that would be even more dangerous than the pack of lies he was pushing before.”
Pilate said to them, “Fair enough. There are security guards at your disposal. Go and do whatever you think is necessary to prevent anyone tampering with the tomb.”
So they took the security guards, taped off the area around the tomb, sealed the stone, and kept it under constant surveillance.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Matthew 27: 11-54 (Alternative shorter gospel reading)

Jesus was brought before Pilate for further interrogation. The governor got straight to the point: “Are you the King of the Jews?”
“They are your words,” said Jesus.
The delegation from the chief priests and the ruling council began outlining all the allegations against him, but Jesus made no attempt to defend himself. Pilate turned to him and said, “Do you realise the seriousness of all these crimes they are accusing you of?”
But, much to the governor’s amazement, Jesus continued to remain silent, not even replying to a single charge.
Now a custom had developed that the Roman governor would release a political prisoner – any prisoner nominated by the people – during the annual celebration of the Passover festival. One of the most notorious prisoners held at the time was a man named Jesus Barabbas. Pilate realised that Jesus of Nazareth had only been charged to get him out of the way of his religious rivals, and he saw the annual custom as an opportunity to solve two problems at once. So when the crowd had gathered he addressed them, saying, “Which prisoner would you like me to release for you this year, Jesus Barabbas or the Jesus they call the Messiah?”
While Pilate was still presiding over the court, his wife sent him a message saying, “Don’t get yourself caught up in the conspiracy against that innocent man, for I have had a long and disturbing dream about him.”
The chief priests and the council members began putting the word around among the crowd that they should call for the release of Barabbas and the execution of Jesus. So when the governor asked them again which of the two they wanted him to release, they all began to shout, “Barabbas.”
“Then what am I supposed to do with the Jesus they call the Messiah?” Pilate asked the crowd.
The shout came back, “Execute him!”
“Why? What evil has he done to deserve death?” asked Pilate.
But the crowd just kept chanting, “String him up! String him up!”
When Pilate saw that it was useless to go on, and that further argument would only spark a riot, he called for a basin of water and made a show of washing his hands as he said to the crowd, “This man’s blood is not on my hands. Have it your own way and be it on your own heads.”
The crowd responded, roaring as one, “It is on our heads. We and our children accept full responsibility!”
So Pilate gave orders for the release of Barabbas, and after having Jesus flogged for good measure, he handed him over to the executioners.
The governor’s security guards kept Jesus detained for a while in the Roman headquarters while the whole battalion gathered round and entertained themselves at his expense. They stripped him naked and then dressed him in a scarlet robe. They twisted some barbed wire into a crown and jammed it on his head. They put a flag in his hand and made a big joke of coming up and saluting him and saying, “Heil, King of the Jews!” Then they spat on him and gave him a serious bashing with their batons. When they’d finished their brutal sport, they stripped the robe back off him, put him back in his own clothes, and marched him off to be executed.
As they hit the main street, they pulled a Cyrenian man named Simon out of the crowd, and forced him to carry the large wooden cross on which Jesus was to be strung up. The place where the executions were carried out was called Skull Hill, or in Hebrew, Golgotha. When they got there, they offered Jesus a strong drink – wine spiked with a common drug – but when he tasted what it was, he refused it. They strung Jesus up on the cross by driving nails through his flesh. Then they tossed coins for his clothes, and sat down to wait for him to die. The sign hung on his cross to inform onlookers of the offence for which he was dying, read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
A couple of convicted thugs were executed at the same time. The three crosses were erected in a row with Jesus on the middle one. People passing by hurled insults and ridicule at him. They shook their heads and said, “What happened to the big man who reckoned he could demolish the Temple and rebuild it in three days? Show us what you’re made of and save yourself now! Getting yourself off the cross should be a piece of cake if you’re the Son of God!”
The chief priests, the religious lawyers and the members of the ruling council were all there sticking the boots in with the best of them. “He reckoned he could save everyone else, but he can’t even save himself!” they said. “He is supposed to be the King of Israel, so let’s see him prove himself by getting himself down off the cross. He made a big noise about trusting God, let’s see whether God is interested in getting him out of this one. After all, he did claim to be God’s Son!”
Even the two thugs being executed alongside him joined in and hurled more abuse at him.
At midday, the sky went black for three hours and it was dark everywhere. At about three o’clock Jesus screamed out in agony, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you turned your back on me?”
When the people standing around heard this, some of them thought he was calling for help from Elijah. Someone poured some wine that had turned to vinegar into a sponge and held it up to his mouth with a stick, but the others said, “Hold your horses. Let’s see whether Elijah will turn up to rescue him first.”
Then Jesus let out another loud cry, and breathed his dying breath. At that very moment, the curtain that closed off the most holy place in the Temple tore open, all the way from the top to the bottom. There was a violent earthquake, that split rocks and broke open the tombs. The bodies of many of God’s people who had been laid to rest in peace were raised, and after Jesus had been raised they came out of their tombs and went into Jerusalem where many people saw them.
When the commanding officer and the security guards on duty with him saw the earthquake and everything else that happened, they were scared spitless, and said, “Fair dinkum, this bloke must have been God’s Son!”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you alone are good and your steadfast love is forever.
The creation of the world was your doing
and is a marvel to our eyes.
Your prophets told of the coming one
who would teach your ways
and sustain us with your word.
Your son, Jesus, though one with you
gave up all he had,
taking on human flesh,
and walking the path of obedience
all the way to insult, betrayal and death,
trusting only in your vindication.
Though he was rejected by those who had cheered him,
you made him the cornerstone of new life
and raised him to the highest place of honour.
He has opened the gates of justice
and become our salvation,
so with shouts of joy we greet his appearing,
and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord
to your glory forever.
Therefore with .....
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ,
who, giving up all he had
and walking the path of obedience
all the way to insult, betrayal and death,
opened the gates of justice
and become our salvation.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you alone are good and your steadfast love is forever.
The creation of the world was your doing
and is a marvel to our eyes.
Your prophets told of the coming one
who would teach your ways
and sustain us with your word.
Your son, Jesus, though one with you
gave up all he had,
taking on human flesh,
and walking the path of obedience
all the way to insult, betrayal and death,
trusting only in your vindication.
Though he was rejected by those who had cheered him,
you made him the cornerstone of new life
and raised him to the highest place of honour.
He has opened the gates of justice
and become our salvation,
so with shouts of joy we greet his appearing,
and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord
to your glory forever.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

The Lord who vindicates you is near.
God has heard your confessions
and you will not be put to shame.
With the Lord God as your help
no one can declare you guilty.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now and follow Christ in obedience.
Have the same mind as was in Christ Jesus;
Keep your ears open to God’s teaching;
Be humble, even in the face of hostility
and do not turn back.
And may God help you and keep you from disgrace;
May Christ Jesus lead you through the gates of justice;
And may the Holy Spirit keep you in God’s steadfast love
and fill your mouths with praise to the glory of God.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website, but our church no longer includes a sermon in the Palm Sunday liturgy, so there is not much here.

Jesus and the Opinion PollsA sermon for Palm Sunday by Nathan Nettleton

5th Sunday in Lent - Year A
2026-03-22 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Ezekiel 37: 1-14

The LORD took hold of me and the LORD’s Spirit carried me away and dropped me off in the middle of Death Valley. I took a look around but there was nothing to be seen but bones – old human bones, baked dry in the sun – thousands and thousands of them. The LORD questioned me saying, “Ezekiel, mortal man, can these bones come back to life?”
I replied, “Lord GOD, only you can answer such a question.”
Then the LORD told me to preach boldly to the bones, saying:
“All you dry bones, listen to what the LORD is saying to you. Though you are long dead, I, the Lord, will put breath into you again, and you will live. Muscles, ligaments, organs, veins; all these I will give you, wrapped in healthy new skin. You will have whole new bodies and I will breathe life into you. Then you will know for sure that I am the LORD.”
So I did what the LORD told me and I preached to the bones. Even while I was in full flight, the noise of rattling bones began to echo through the valley. They were coming together, linking up, one bone to another. As I watched, muscles appeared and grew. Bodies filled out with new flesh, and fresh skin was wrapped around them. But they were still lifeless.
Then the LORD told me to call to the winds, saying:
“North Wind, South Wind, East Wind, West Wind, listen to what the LORD is telling you to do. Come from everywhere and blow the breath of life into these corpses, so that they can live again.”
Again I spoke as the LORD had said, and even as I did, gusts of wind swirled among the bodies, resuscitating them before my very eyes. Rising to their feet like a finals’ crowd, they could have easily filled the biggest stadium.
Then the LORD explained to me what it all meant:
“Ezekiel, mortal man, my people are just like old dry bones. They are always whingeing that life has become one long drought and they’ve been left for dead with no reason to hope that the future might be any better. So preach boldly, Ezekiel, and tell them this:
“All you people, listen to what the LORD is promising: I am going to dig up your graves, and open your coffins. I will bring you back as my people to the promised land. When I do this for you, my people, when I restore life to your bodies, then you will know for sure that I am the LORD. My Spirit will be within you like the breath in your lungs, and so you shall live. I will once again plant your feet on your own patch of dirt. Then there will no longer be any doubt that I, the LORD, have spoken and that what I say goes.”
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 130

From the depths of despair, from rock bottom,
I cry to you, O LORD.
I beg you to listen!
Please tune in and hear what I’m asking!
If you put black marks against our names
for every failing,
Lord, wouldn’t you have to write off everyone?
But forgiveness is much more your style,
and for this we adore you.
I wait in eager anticipation for your presence, LORD.
Everything inside me yearns for you
and your promises fill me with hope.
Deep in my guts there is a hunger for you, LORD,
more pressing than a woman
waiting for the birth of her baby,
more impatient than a child
waiting for a birthday;
crossing off the days, one by one.
O People of Israel, put your trust in the LORD!
The LORD’s love never lets us down,
and is always ready to rescue us from danger.
It is the Lord who will bail us out
when we are caught in the consequences
of our own sin.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Romans 8: 6-11

Preoccupation with gratifying your own selfish impulses is a downward spiral into living death. But a mind open to the Spirit is an open door to the fullness of life and peace. Clearly then, a mind that is fixated on self-gratification is hostile to God. Such a mind will not, and can not, respond positively to anything God asks of it, and so those who are locked into their own selfish impulses are incapable of getting the thumbs-up from God.
But you are not locked into such impulses. You are now living in union with God’s Spirit, and the Spirit has moved in and become the life-force within you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of the Messiah at work within them does not, in fact, belong to him at all. But if the Messiah has taken up residence within you, then, even though your bodies will die from the after-effects of sin, the Spirit has put you on the right track and you will have life. If the Spirit who lives in you is the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead, then you can rest assured that this same Spirit will raise your bodies out of death and into a life that is lived to the full in union with the Spirit of the Messiah.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 11: 1-45

A man named Lazarus became dangerously ill. He and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, lived in the town of Bethany and were good friends of Jesus. Mary was the one who is remembered for having massaged the Lord’s feet with perfumed oils and dried them with her hair. When her brother Lazarus got sick, she and her sister sent a message to Jesus, saying, “Lord, your good mate Lazarus is gravely ill.”
When Jesus got the message, he said, “This illness is not going to result in death, but in great credit being given to God and to the Son of God.”
Despite his great love for Martha and her sister, and for Lazarus, Jesus did not drop everything the minute he got the message and head off to be with them. It was another two days before he finished up what he was doing and got ready to go. When he was ready he said to his disciples, “Let’s make tracks back to Judea.”
But the disciples said, “Rabbi, you’ve only just fled Judea because they were trying to kill you there. Why on earth would you be wanting to go back?”
Jesus replied, “There is a time for working and a time for sleeping. If you go about your business during the daylight, you won’t stumble, because your world will be full of light. But if you wait until its dark, you will fall flat on your face because you will have no light to guide you. Our good mate Lazarus has gone to sleep, and I am going down there to wake him up.”
The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he is getting plenty of sleep then he will be back on his feet in no time.”
Jesus had really been saying that Lazarus had died, but the disciples had taken him too literally, so he spelt it out for them: “Lazarus is dead. I’m glad, for your sakes, that I wasn’t there, because this will toughen up your faith. So let’s go and join him.”
Thomas the Twin turned to the other disciples and said, “Come on. If he is going to get himself killed, we might as well be killed with him.”
When Jesus arrived in Bethany, he discovered that Lazarus had been buried four days earlier. Many people from nearby Jerusalem had come to town to comfort Martha and Mary and pay their last respects to Lazarus. Martha heard that Jesus had arrived and ran down the street to meet him, leaving Mary at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you’d been here. I know my brother wouldn’t have died if you had been here. But I know that, even now, God will do anything you ask.”
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will be raised to life again.”
Martha replied, “I know that he and all the dead will be raised to life at the end of time.”
But Jesus said to her, “I am the one who raises the dead and gives life. Those who put their trust in me will have life, even if they die. Those who live trusting in me, will never succumb to death. Will you take my word for this, Martha?”
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God; the one whose arrival the world has been waiting for.”
Having said this, Martha went back to the house and spoke in private to her sister Mary, saying, “The teacher is here and he wants to see you.”
When she heard this, Mary wasted no time in getting up and hurrying out to meet Jesus. She found him where Martha had left him, just outside the fringe of the town. When all the visitors from Jerusalem who had been with her in the house saw her hurrying out, they assumed that she was going to the graveyard to mourn and leave flowers, so they followed her. When Mary saw Jesus, she embraced him and sobbed, “Lord, if only you’d been here. I know my brother wouldn’t have died if you had been here.”
Jesus was stirred up, deep in his guts, by her tears and by the crying of the people who were with her. “Where did you bury him?” he asked.
“Come and we’ll show you, Lord,” they said. As they went, Jesus too began weeping. This prompted some of the people to say, “He must have really loved Lazarus,” but others were more cynical, saying, “If he loved him so much, how come he didn’t do something to keep him from dying? After all, he had no trouble giving sight to a blind man.”
Jesus arrived at the tomb, and by now he was quite worked up. The tomb was a cave with a big rock sealing the entrance. Jesus gave orders for it to be reopened. Martha, the other sister of the dead man, protested saying, “Lord, it will stink to high heaven. He’s already been dead for four days.”
But Jesus said, “I told you, didn’t I, that if you believed, you would see things so amazing that they could only be credited to God?”
So they went ahead and removed the rock from the entrance of the tomb. Jesus paused to pray, saying, “Father, thank you for hearing my prayer. I know you always do, but I want this crowd to hear me giving the credit to you, because then they might believe that it was you who sent me.”
Having said that, he raised his voice and bellowed, “Lazarus, get out here!”
And sure enough, the dead man came out, still wrapped up like a mummy from head to toe. Jesus gave the order to unwrap him and set him free.
This was the turning point for many of the people who had accompanied Mary. When they saw what Jesus did, they put their trust him.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for yours is the power of life
that even death cannot hold back.
You created the world
and breathed your Spirit into our bodies of earth,
forming for yourself a people with whom to celebrate life.
In Jesus Christ, your child,
you have sent to us one who is both life and resurrection.
Sharing our grief in the face of death,
he prised open the grip of the grave
and called us forth into the fullness of life and peace.
Arousing the fury of hell,
he was crucified and cast lifeless into the depths,
but you raised him to new life.
Now, wherever people lay lost in valleys of death,
he again comes speaking the word of life
and calling his Spirit to breathe new life into us
so that hope is reborn and you are glorified.
Therefore with .....
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We give thanks for your Son, Jesus Christ,
who comes wherever people lay lost in valleys of death
and calls his Spirit to breathe new life into us
so that we might come forth into the fullness of life and peace.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for yours is the power of life
that even death cannot hold back.
You created the world
and breathed your Spirit into our bodies of earth,
forming for yourself a people with whom to celebrate life.
In Jesus Christ, your child,
you have sent to us one who is both life and resurrection.
Sharing our grief in the face of death,
he prised open the grip of the grave
and called us forth into the fullness of life and peace.
Arousing the fury of hell,
he was crucified and cast lifeless into the depths,
but you raised him to new life.
Now, wherever people lay lost in valleys of death,
he again comes speaking the word of life
and calling his Spirit to breathe new life into us
so that hope is reborn and you are glorified.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

If God recorded our sins, no one could survive,
but God’s forgiveness is awesome.
The Lord will bring mercy
and grant full pardon.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now and walk in the light of Christ.
Trust in the one who is resurrection and life.
Stand firm before the forces of death
and speak words of life.
And may God raise you up and give life to your bodies;
May Christ Jesus dwell in you in righteousness;
And may the Holy Spirit be the life in your every breath.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

Is anything too far gone?A sermon on Ezekiel 37:1-14 & John 11:1-45 by Nathan Nettleton

Do you believe this?A sermon on John 11:1-45 by Nathan Nettleton

Signs of Unimaginable LifeA sermon on John 11:1-45; Romans 8:6-11 & Ezekiel 37:1-14 by Nathan Nettleton

Sacred DepthsA sermon on Psalm 130, Ezekiel 37:1-14 & John 11:1-45 by Nathan Nettleton

4th Sunday in Lent - Year A
2026-03-15 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

1 Samuel 16: 1-13

One day the LORD said to Samuel, “It is time for you to get over your misery about the failure of King Saul. I have had a gutful of him and I am going to end his reign. Fill up your flask with olive oil ready to anoint a new king. Go to Bethlehem and find a man named Jesse there, for I have chosen one of his sons to be my king.”
Samuel protested, “How can I do that? If Saul gets wind of it he will kill me.”
But the LORD replied, “Take a calf with you and tell everyone that you have come to a hold a feast offered in honour of me, the LORD. Invite Jesse and his family to join you for the feast, and then I will let you know what to do next. I will pick out one of Jesse’s sons, and you are to pour the oil on his head to mark him out as the next king.”
Samuel followed the LORD’S instructions and went to Bethlehem. The town officials were unnerved by his arrival, and went out to meet him asking, “What brings you to town? Have we done something wrong, or are you just passing through in peace?”
Samuel replied, “Nothing’s wrong. I am here to offer a feast to the LORD. Go and prepare yourselves properly and then come and join me for the occasion.”
Samuel also invited Jesse and his family to the feast and instructed them to prepare themselves properly. When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab, and thought to himself, “He has got to be the one the LORD has chosen.”
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t be fooled by how big and impressive he looks. He is not the man for me, because I, the LORD, am not impressed by the same things that impress you people. People judge others by their outward appearance, but I look beneath that and see what makes them tick.”
Then Jesse introduced Samuel to his next son, Abinadab, but Samuel said, “No, this is not the one the LORD sent me to find.”
Jesse introduced his next son, Shammah, but Samuel said, “This is not the one the LORD sent me to find either.”
Jesse introduced seven sons to Samuel, but Samuel was convinced that none of them was the one the LORD had chosen. So he asked Jesse, “Are all your sons here?”
Jesse replied, “My youngest boy is not here. He is out on the farm taking care of some sheep.”
Samuel said, “Send someone to get him as quickly as possible, for we will not sit down to this meal until he arrives.”
So Jesse sent someone to get his youngest son, David, and bring him to the feast. David was a good-looking, fresh-faced kid, and his eyes were full of life. As soon as he walked in, the LORD said, “Samuel, get up and anoint him, because this is the one I have chosen.”
So Samuel took out his flask of oil and poured it on David’s head in full view of his brothers. The Spirit of the LORD took hold of David and was powerfully at work in him from that moment on. With his mission accomplished, Samuel got up and headed back home to Ramah.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 23

You, LORD, are my guide in the wilderness;
there is nothing more I could need.
You set up camp in places of beauty and shelter;
you lead the way on secluded tracks
beside creeks of cool clean water.
I feel my spirit breathing freely again;
your reputation puts me at ease;
I leave the navigating to you, and follow.
Even if we hike through a perilous valley,
where crows keep a menacing watch,
fear will still not get the better of me.
As long as I stick with you
I know I’ll make the distance;
with a knife and a bit of rope
you seem able to tackle any challenge.
You cook up a feast for me,
as those who wanted to feed on me watch, frustrated.
You pamper me like an honoured guest
and constantly top up my glass.
My life feels charmed, each and every day.
Love, mercy and all good things
keep falling into my lap.
I’m with you for life, LORD,
where you go, I’ll go;
where you live, I’ll live.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Ephesians 5: 8-14

In the past, the darkness was your natural habitat, because you needed its cover to hide the way you lived. But now you are united to the Lord and are at home in the light. So live lives that reflect the light. Be shining examples of all that naturally grows in the light – goodness, honesty, and integrity. Do your best to discern what will be most pleasing to the Lord, and let that set your agendas. Have nothing to do with the things that people will only do under cover of darkness. Blow their cover instead, for such things produce nothing good. It does no one any credit to even talk about the corrupt activities that people go to such lengths to keep hidden. The truth about everything is seen when it is exposed to the light, and those things that can stand the light are worth seeing. That’s why it is said,
“Wake up, sleepy head!
Rise from your grave,
and Christ will light up your life!”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 9: 1-41

One day, Jesus and his disciples were heading down the street when they saw a man who had been blind since birth. The disciples asked, “Rabbi, was this man born blind because of his own sins or because of the sins of his parents?”
Jesus replied, “You can’t blame either him or his parents for his blindness. The important thing to look for is not what caused it, but what God can do about it. The one who sent me has given us work to do, and we had better be on the job as long as it is still day. Night fall will put an end to everyone’s work soon enough, but as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Having said this, he spat on the ground and made a mud ointment from a mixture of dust and saliva. He pasted the mud over the blind man’s eyes and sent him off to wash himself in the Siloam Pool. (The name Siloam actually means ‘sent’.) The man went and washed, and when he came back he could see. It certainly caused a stir. People who knew him or were used to seeing him begging for money on the streets were soon asking, “What’s going on here? Isn’t this the blind bloke who is always rattling his can on the street?”
Some were saying, “It’s him alright,” but others reckoned it must just be someone who looked like him. He kept insisting that he was indeed the same man, but some took a lot of convincing and kept demanding an explanation for how he could now see. All he could do was repeat the story: “Someone called Jesus spread mud on my eyes and told me to go and wash in the Siloam Pool. So I went and washed it off, and now I can see.”
Then they wanted to know where Jesus was now, but the man said, “I don’t know.”
The people then marched him off to the relevant authorities – the leaders of the devoutly religious Pharisee party. The day on which Jesus had made the mud and healed the man’s blindness was a Sabbath day, so there were questions of religious law at stake. The authorities questioned the man about how he had received his sight. He told it to them straight: “The man spread mud on my eyes. I washed it off, and now I can see.”
Some of the Pharisees were quick to express their opinion: “Obviously this man is not from God, because he doesn’t even stop what he is doing on the Sabbath.”
But others were not so sure: “How could a man who was against God have the ability to do things which so clearly point to God’s involvement?”
Since they were divided over the matter, they asked the man what he thought. “It was your eyes he opened. What do you make of him?”
The man replied, “I think he is God’s messenger!”
Some of the religious leaders began casting doubts on whether the man who had been given his sight had really been blind in the first place, so his parents were called in for questioning. “Is this man your son?” they were asked. “Are you sure he was blind? How then, is it that he can now see?”
His parents answered, “This is certainly our son, and we know, without the slightest doubt, that he was born blind. But as to how come he can see now, or who was responsible for opening his eyes, we are completely in the dark. Why don’t you ask him? He’s a grown man and can speak for himself.”
His parents were playing it safe because they didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the Jewish authorities. The authorities had already made up their minds that any one who expressed the belief that Jesus was the Messiah would be stripped of their membership of the Synagogue. With that threat hanging over their heads, his parents hand-passed the question back to their son.
So the authorities called in the man who had been blind and questioned him for a second time. They said to him, “Swear by God to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. We know that the man who did this to you is opposed to God!”
He replied, “I wouldn’t know anything about that, one way or the other. The one thing I know for sure is this: I was born blind, but now I can see.”
“So what did he do to you?” they demanded to know. “How did he open your eyes?”
He answered, “I have already told you all I can about that, but you didn’t want to believe me. Why do you need to hear it over and over again? Are you planning to sign up as his followers?”
At that, they went off their heads at him, saying, “You are obviously following him, but we are followers of Moses. We can know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but this Jesus is a no-one. We don’t even know where he comes from.”
“Well what a bizarre situation this is,” said the man. “You lot don’t know the first thing about him, and yet he gave sight to my blind eyes. Everybody knows that God doesn’t team up with liars and crooks. It is only the person who worships and obeys God that God is going to take sides with. Never before in the whole history of the world has anybody heard of someone opening the eyes of a person who had been blind from birth. So surely if this man were not from God he wouldn’t be able to do such a thing.”
With that, they wrote him off. “You are nothing but the scum of the earth, and you always have been. How dare you talk to us like that!”
And they threw him out into the street. Word reached Jesus that they had thrown the man out, so he went and found him. “Do you believe in the New Human?” Jesus asked him.
The man answered, “I don’t know who he is, mister, but if you will introduce me to him, I will believe in him.”
“Jesus replied, “You have seen him, sure enough. You are talking to him right now!”
The man said, “Lord, I believe in you!” and fell to his knees at Jesus’s feet.
Jesus said, “I came into the world to sort out who was who. I came so that those who have been kept in the dark might see, and so that the blindness of those who see might be exposed.”
Some members of the Pharisee party overheard this, and stopped to question him. “You are not suggesting that we are blind, are you?”
But Jesus replied, “If you were blind, you would not be held guilty. But since you claim that the way you see things is the only way they can be seen, you’ve got blood all over your hands.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you do not judge us by outer appearances,
but make visible the secret places of our hearts
and commission us as children of the light.
Once there was darkness,
but you created the the light.
With your touch the world was begun,
and when you spoke to Moses and the prophets,
you gave guidance to keep us on sure paths.
In your servant, David, the least of his family,
you saw a King who could shepherd your people.
In your child, Jesus Christ,
you gave us one whose light could open blinded eyes
and guide us safely through death’s dark valley.
When he was killed, you awoke him,
raising him from the dead.
Now he spreads a rich table before us,
filling our cup with goodness and love
that we may live forever in your house.
Therefore with .....
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We thank you for giving us your Son, Jesus Christ,
whose light opens blinded eyes
and guides us safely through death’s dark valley,
that we may live forever in the light of your house
and feast at the rich table where you fill our cup with goodness and love.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you do not judge us by outer appearances,
but make visible the secret places of our hearts
and commission us as children of the light.
Once there was darkness,
but you created the the light.
With your touch the world was begun,
and when you spoke to Moses and the prophets,
you gave guidance to keep us on sure paths.
In your servant, David, the least of his family,
you saw a King who could shepherd your people.
In your child, Jesus Christ,
you gave us one whose light could open blinded eyes
and guide us safely through death’s dark valley.
When he was killed, you awoke him,
raising him from the dead.
Now he spreads a rich table before us,
filling our cup with goodness and love
that we may live forever in your house.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light.
Everything exposed by the light becomes light.
You have brought your sin into the light of Christ.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now and live as children of the light.
Seek what is pleasing to the Lord.
Expose the unfruitful works of darkness,
and commit yourselves to the works of God who sends you.
And may the Lord be your shepherd and be all that you need.
May Christ open your eyes and guide you along sure paths.
May the Spirit Holy revive your spirits
and tend you with goodness and love
every day of your life.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

The advertiser is my shepherd??A sermon on Psalm 23 by Nathan Nettleton

The Hidden LightA sermon on John 9:1-41 by Garry Deverell

Healing those blinded by sinA sermon on John 9:1-41 by Nathan Nettleton

God sees what’s on the inside and there’s nothing to fearA sermon on 1 Samuel 16:1-13, John 9:1-41 & Psalm 23 by Alison Sampson

Don’t let them keep you blindA sermon on John 9:1-41 & Psalm 23 by Nathan Nettleton

3rd Sunday in Lent - Year A
2026-03-08 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Exodus 17: 1-7

The whole gathered people of Israel pushed on from the Sen Desert, making the journey in manageable stages as the LORD directed them. At the end of one stage, they set up camp at a place called Rephidim, only to find that there was no drinking water in the area. The people started getting stuck into Moses again and demanding that he provide them with water to drink. But Moses said to them, “What are you taking it out on me for? Are you trying to provoke the LORD into losing patience with you?”
But the people’s thirst was becoming severe, and the more desperate they became, the more they blamed Moses. “Now look at the mess you’ve got us into,” they said. “Is this what you dragged us all out of Egypt for: to watch us die in a parched desert, and our children and livestock with us?
So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What am I supposed to do with these people? They are nearly ready to tear me limb from limb.”
The LORD replied, “Take some of the Israelite tribal leaders with you, and go on ahead of the people. Take your hiking stick with you — the same one you used to strike the waters of the Nile. I will be waiting for you at the rock at Mount Sinai. Give the rock a good thump with your stick, and water will come pouring out of it for everyone to drink.”
In full view of the tribal leaders, Moses did as the LORD had told him, and sure enough, there was water for everyone. From then on, Moses referred to that place by either of two names: Massah, which means ‘testing’, because the people had tested the LORD’s patience; and Meribah, which means ‘dispute’, because the people had questioned the LORD’s loyalty.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 95

We gather and sing to you, LORD.
We raise the roof with shouts of joy
for you are the rock on which we are safe!
We come into your presence bursting with gratitude;
we set the house rocking as we sing your praises!
For you, LORD, are the greatest God of all;
you rank way above every other claim on our loyalty.
You hold the depths of the earth in your hands,
and the highest mountains are at your disposal.
The oceans and the dry lands alike belong to you,
for you made them with your own hands.
You made us too, LORD, and we worship you,
falling to our knees and bowing down to the ground!
You are our God and we are your people;
you tenderly care for us like a sheep rearing her young.
If only all your people would pay attention to you!
If only they wouldn’t turn their backs on you
like their ancestors did that day at Meribah.
There in the Massah Desert they slandered you;
they forgot all you had done
and demanded that you prove yourself.
For forty years you turned your back on them, LORD,
for you couldn’t stand to see how twisted they became
as they deserted your ways.
You angrily wrote off the whole generation
and denied them the satisfaction of finding a place to call home.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Romans 5: 1-11

It was our faith that put us back in the good books with God. We put our trust in Jesus Christ our Lord and we can rest assured that he has cleared up everything with God for us. Christ got us in on the extravagant generosity of God, and that generosity has given us a safe place to plant our feet. We don’t just stand there, though. We hold our heads up high and announce, with pride, that we confidently expect to be sharing the glory that is coming to God. Actually, it’s not just what’s coming in the future that makes us feel so good. Even now, when life seems to be giving us a raw deal, we can stand proud. We know that going through suffering can make us tough enough to survive the worst of times. This ability to tough things through will in turn generate new depths of integrity and maturity within us. And that brings us full-circle because it is this integrity and maturity that gives us our confidence about the future. Our confidence is not in vain either. We are sure about that because of what we have already experienced: a flood of love surging into our hearts from the Holy Spirit who God has given to us.
Christ got us on track at the cost of his own life. He did it right when we most needed it; when we were way off course and too weak to ever get ourselves back. It’s hard to believe, but true. You rarely hear of people putting their lives on the line for others, even for innocent children. Perhaps we might be able to imagine finding the courage to die for someone who we deeply admired and loved. But if you need proof of how much God loves us, just look at what Christ did. While we were still showing no signs of ever offering God anything but contempt, Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
So if Christ was willing to spill his own blood to get us back on side with God, you can bet your bottom dollar that he will get us through safely when it all hits the fan. When we were still his enemies, Christ died to reconcile us to God, so imagine how much he would be prepared to do for us now that we are his friends. In his dying he ended the hostility: now in his living he is building us a rich life of love and peace. So you can see why we get so carried away about it all. Christ has taken us from being enemies to being friends of God, and we can never find adequate words to express the praise we want to heap on God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

John 4: 5-42

On his way back to Galilee, Jesus stopped in a Samaritan town called Sychar; a town known for its historic links to Jacob. There was a piece of land which Jacob had given to his son Joseph there; and a well he had dug was still providing the town with water. Feeling bushed after hiking all morning, Jesus plonked himself down near the well while his disciples went into town to buy some lunch.
One of the local women came out to draw water from the well. Jesus said to her, “Could you give me a drink, please?”
The woman replied, “What are you doing talking to me? I didn’t think you Jews ever had anything to do with us Samaritans, let alone with Samaritan women!”
Jesus answered her, “You don’t realise what God is willing to give you, or who it is who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you’d be asking me to give you a drink, and I would have offered you pure living water.”
The woman replied, “Mister, this is a deep well and you don’t even have a bucket. Where do you suppose you’re going to get this living water? This well was given to us by our ancestor Jacob. He drank from it himself, and so did his family and his livestock. You’re not making yourself out to be a better man than Jacob are you?”
Jesus said to her, “You can drink this water all you like, but it won’t quench your thirst for long. But everyone who drinks the water I give them will never be thirsty again. For them, the water I will give will become a permanent spring within, an overflowing source of life without limit.”
“O please Mister,” said the woman, “give me some of this water so that I won’t keep getting thirsty and having to trudge out here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her, “Go and get your husband first, and come back with him.”
“But I don’t have a husband,” the woman protested.
“You’ve hit the nail on the head there,” said Jesus. “You’ve lost five husbands, and the man you’re living with now hasn’t taken you as his wife. You’re not wrong saying you don’t have a husband!”
“Obviously you are a prophet, Mister,” said the woman, “so clear up a question for me. Who’s right: our ancestors who worshipped God on this mountain, or you Jews who claim that Jerusalem is the only place to worship?”
Jesus replied, “Woman, you can take from me that the time is coming when it won’t make the slightest bit of difference where you worship. You people worship as best you can, but you don’t have the full picture. We Jews have got a much better idea what we are doing when we worship, because God is working through us to save the world. But the time is coming – it’s here now now – when the measure of true worship will be the integrity and spirit of those who offer it, not their location. The God who conceived us seeks people whose worship is for real. Since God is spirit, our worship of God must flow out of the integrity of who we are in the core of our being, and of how we live.”
The woman said to him, “Well, I know that the anointed one is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he arrives, he’ll spell out the truth about everything for us.”
Jesus said to her, “You are looking at him. I am the one.”
At that moment, his disciples came back with the lunch. Their shock at finding Jesus interacting with the woman was written all over their faces, even though none of them came right out and challenged him. The woman cleared off in such a hurry that she forgot her bucket. She went back into town and began telling everyone about Jesus. “You have all got to come and see this bloke,” she said. “He read me like a book and told me all about my past! You don’t think he could perhaps be the Messiah do you? Come and see.”
So everybody began coming out from the town to see him. Meanwhile, the disciples were trying get him ready to move on again, saying, “Come on, Rabbi. Get some food into you.”
But he said to them, “I’m getting by fine on food that you lot know nothing about.”
They looked at one another and said, “Surely no one else has been bringing food to him out here?”
Jesus said to them, “The food that keeps me going is to do what is asked of me by the One who sent me, and to finish the job I was sent to complete. Now you lot might look around you and think that it will be at least four months until the crops are ready for picking, but I’m telling you to look again. What has been growing around here is ripe for picking now. The gun picker is already on the pay roll and the fruit he is picking is destined for life without limit. You can be sure that the One who planted and the One who harvested will be celebrating together. You can see here the truth of the old saying, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ The job I’m setting for you is to pick fruits that you haven’t had to do a moment’s work for. Others have put in the hard yakka, and you get to share in the rewards.”
Many of the Samaritan people from the town were ready to put their trust in Jesus because of what the woman had told them about how he had read her like a book. They came out and pleaded with him to stay on in the town, so he stayed there for a couple of days. Many more of them put their trust in him once they had heard his message for themselves. They told the woman, “We believed what you said about him, but now we have heard him for ourselves and we are quite convinced that he is the One who will save the world!”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you are our saviour, our rock,
the shepherd who leads us with care.
You formed the earth by hand
and brought forth all things from nothing.
You led your people to freedom
and provided them with living water,
and with the law and prophets to guide them.
You sent your child, Jesus, to reconcile us to yourself.
While we were still sinners,
he proved your love for us in dying for us.
You raised him to life that we might be saved through him,
and drink from the spring of living water
that gushes up for eternal life.
Through your Holy Spirit poured into our hearts,
you have given us access to grace
and formed in us endurance, character and hope
that we might worship you in spirit and truth
and share in your eternal glory.
Therefore with .....
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We thank you for pouring your Holy Spirit into our hearts,
giving us access to grace
and forming in us endurance, character and hope
that we might worship you in spirit and truth
and share in your eternal glory.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you are our saviour, our rock,
the shepherd who leads us with care.
You formed the earth by hand
and brought forth all things from nothing.
You led your people to freedom
and provided them with living water,
and with the law and prophets to guide them.
You sent your child, Jesus, to reconcile us to yourself.
While we were still sinners,
he proved your love for us in dying for us.
You raised him to life that we might be saved through him,
and drink from the spring of living water
that gushes up for eternal life.
Through your Holy Spirit poured into our hearts,
you have given us access to grace
and formed in us endurance, character and hope
that we might worship you in spirit and truth
and share in your eternal glory.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

God proves his love for us in that
while we were still sinners Christ died for us,
and was raised that we might be saved and reconciled to God.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
be at peace.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go out into the world
and in your words and your living
make it known that Christ is the saviour of the world.
Make it your food to do the work of God who sends you,
and drink deeply of the water of life.
And may God shepherd you and lead you with care.
May Christ who justifies you, give you peace with God,
and may the Spirit fill you with truth
that your lives may be worship, and your worship may live.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

When Jesus sees through youA sermon on John 4:5-42 by Nathan Nettleton

Struggles and SecurityA sermon on Romans 5:1-11 & John 4:5-42 by Nathan Nettleton

Knowing your PlaceA sermon on Romans 5:1-11 & John 4:5-42 by Nathan Nettleton

The Living Water of Love and FreedomA sermon on Romans 5:1-11 & John 4:5-42 by Nathan Nettleton

Quenching Our ThirstA sermon on John 4:5-42; Exodus 17:1-7 & Romans 5:1-11 by Nathan Nettleton

Thirsting at the WellA sermon on John 4:5-42 by Vincent Hodge

The Feast of the Epiphany
2026-01-06 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Isaiah 60:1-6

On your feet, people of God! Let everyone see you!
The glory of the LORD
has set you aglow with light
like the sunrise on the rock.
Darkness overpowers the earth and its peoples,
blinding them, weighing them down;
but for you the sun always shines,
because the LORD has lit up your lives with glory.
As the brightness of your light intensifies,
nations and their rulers will be drawn to you
like moths to a flame.
Open your eyes! Look around you!
The crowds are streaming towards you.
Everyone is coming,
even the children you thought had gone forever.
What a sight for sore eyes!
You’ll be elated and proud – positively aglow.
You’ll be showered with gifts by those who arrive,
priceless gifts from overseas and around the world.
They’ll arrive by the truckload from everywhere,
from places rich and exotic and mysterious.
People will bring gold and frankincense,
and lavish their praise on the LORD.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14

Send us a wise ruler, O God,
one who takes after you in justice and honesty;
one who does the right thing by everybody,
and is vigilant in ensuring justice for the poor;
one who will stand up for the disadvantaged,
provide a way out of the poverty trap,
and stomp on those who exploit the vulnerable.
Then the whole land will know prosperity and integrity;
the mountains, the valleys, the hills, the plains.
Send us a wise ruler, O God,
who will outlive the sun and moon,
who will rule forever, generation after generation.
May your chosen one give life to the land
like the spring rains in the wheat country.
May the people yield a bumper crop of honesty,
and may peace be as dependable
as the southern cross in the night sky.
Give your chosen one the top ranking in all the world,
deferred to and revered
by every other monarch, president and governor.
May they all feel compelled to pay homage,
to come bearing gifts, priceless and exotic,
and to put themselves and their nations
at the service of your chosen one.
All this is only right for the one who rescues those in need,
and has compassion for the homeless and the refugees;
who champions the cause of the forgotten and the spurned,
and guarantees the lives of the powerless;
who rescues those subjected to violence and oppression,
and treasures their lives, each and every one.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Ephesians 3:1-12

I, Paul, am in jail for my commitment to Jesus Christ, or more particularly, for my efforts on Christ’s behalf to break down the walls that kept you Gentiles separated from his people. No doubt you have heard about how God, in an amazing act of generosity, assigned me to this job. You’ve also heard - since I just told you a page or so back - about how God let me in on this mystery directly. If you go back and read over what I said about this earlier, you too will be able to understand what God has shown me concerning the mystery of Christ. No previous generation was ever given the opportunity to begin unravelling this mystery. The whole human race was in the dark about it until now. Now though, the Holy Spirit is bringing it all out into the open through Christ’s chosen leaders and messengers. And, in a nutshell, this is what it is all about: the Gentiles are God’s chosen people too! Those who have had no previous contact with God’s people have exactly the same right of access to God as those who can trace their bloodline back to Abraham. There is only one body of people who will inherit all that God has promised, and Jesus Christ has opened it up to everybody, regardless of their origins. No more segregation - Christ has put the welcome mat out for everyone.
I’ve taken on the job of getting this message out into the public arena. I still can’t get over how generous God was in trusting me with the job and equipping me for it. Of the available candidates, you wouldn’t have thought I’d have even made the short list, but in an act of reckless good will, God gave me the tap on the shoulder. So now I have the privilege of letting the Gentiles know that they too can share in the inexhaustible riches and extravagant generosity of Christ. God, who created everything, had always had this plan in mind, but now I have the privilege of giving everyone else their first look at it! The wisdom of God has more angles and aspects than the finest diamond, and more than any one person or group could every comprehend, but through the church it is all being opened up. Through ordinary congregations of believers like you, the powers of the universe and the authorities of the spiritual world are being schooled in God’s ways! God had always planned for it to be this way, and the plan was put into effect through the actions of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is because we trust him that we now have the confidence to deal directly with God and the courage to live accordingly.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Matthew 2:1-12

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the territory of Judea, during the reign of King Herod. Some time after his birth, a group of eastern mystics turned up in Jerusalem looking for him. “Where can we find the child who has been born to be the king of the Jews?” they asked. “We observed the appearance of the star that heralds his birth, and so we have come all this way to pay our respects.”
When King Herod heard this, he went berserk, and when Herod was agitated, everybody in Jerusalem was on edge. Pulling himself together, he called in the city’s top priests and religious scholars and asked them whereabouts the Messiah was supposed to be born. They were in no doubt: “Bethlehem in Judea,” they said. “The prophet Micah spelt it out quite clearly:
‘Bethlehem in Judea, you’re it!
I’m going to put you on the map!
You will be the home town of my chosen ruler,
the one who will lead my people on the right track.’”
Having sorted that out, Herod met behind closed doors with the visiting mystics and pumped them for information about exactly when the star had first appeared. He then gave them directions to Bethlehem and sent them on their way, saying, “Go, and leave no stone unturned until you find the child. When you’ve found him, drop me a line so that I can come down and pay my respects too.”
So, having gained this information from the king, they hit the road. As they did, they spotted the star again, the same one they had first seen appear. Taking a line from the star, they were able to track down the exact place where the child was. Their search was finally at an end, and they were over the moon! They were allowed into the house and there they saw him, a little child in the arms of his mother, Mary. Overcome with awe, they fell to their knees in reverent wonder before the child. From their luggage, they gave him exotic gifts of gold, aromatic frankincense, and myrrh.
They were warned in a dream to avoid contacting Herod, so they kept a low profile and took the back roads out of Judea as they began their journey home to their own country.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you are the fulfilment of all our searching.
Since the time you created all things
you have had a plan
— hidden in mystery through the ages —
to draw all the world into one body,
and to share with all peoples your promises of glory.
And now the light has risen,
the mystery is made known:
your beloved child, Jesus, is revealed to the whole world
as Saviour and Redeemer,
and as the King who reigns in justice and peace.
You made him known first
to the magi from the east,
who came to pay him homage,
though they knew of him only what the silent stars could tell.
And now, you draw us again to the feet of Jesus
— the crucified and risen Christ —
to offer our gifts of praise to the light of the world.
Therefore with .....
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We give you thanks for your beloved child, Jesus,
who you made known to the magi from the east,
who knew of him only what the silent stars could tell.
You have drawn us again to his feet
and in him we have found the fulfilment of all our searching.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

Gracious God, our hearts rejoice in your presence,
as we give you our thanks and praise,
for you are the fulfilment of all our searching.
Since the time you created all things
you have had a plan
— hidden in mystery through the ages —
to draw all the world into one body,
and to share with all peoples your promises of glory.
And now the light has risen,
the mystery is made known:
your beloved child, Jesus, is revealed to the whole world
as Saviour and Redeemer,
and as the King who reigns in justice and peace.
You made him known first
to the magi from the east,
who came to pay him homage,
though they knew of him only what the silent stars could tell.
And now, you draw us again to the feet of Jesus
— the crucified and risen Christ —
to offer our gifts of praise to the light of the world.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

God has declared that through our union with Christ
and through our faith in him
we may enter God’s presence with all confidence.
Our sins are no longer held against us,
God’s grace has been given to us.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
be at peace.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now, seek out the Christ wherever he may be found,
and share the good news with all who bear him no ill will.
Bring light to those in thick darkness,
a voice to those no one speaks for,
and hope to those no one cares for.
And may God make you a sharer in the promised light.
May Christ Jesus fill you with his sense of what is right.
And may the Holy Spirit be to you like rain
that gives life to the fertile earth.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

The Visit of the MagiA sermon on Matthew 2: 1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

Shocking NewsA sermon on Matthew 2: 1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

Gifts that really matterA sermon on Isaiah 60:1-6 & Matthew 2: 1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

Coming to LightA sermon on Matthew 2: 1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

An Epiphany TsunamiA sermon on Matthew 2: 1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

A Little Child, God Before the AgesA sermon on Matthew 2: 1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

The Power and the KingsA sermon on Matthew 2:1-12; Isaiah 60:1-6 & Ephesians 3:1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

Epiphany and the Hope of UnityA sermon for the Feast of Epiphany by Fr Abel van der Veer

May a Multitude of Camels Cover You!A sermon on Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12 & Matthew 2:1-12 by Fr Richard Treloar

SearchingA sermon on Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7,10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12 & Matthew 2:1-12 by Fr Sam Goodes

The Feast of EpiphanyA sermon on Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12 & Matthew 2:1-12 by the Revd Marilyn Hope

Wilde Fairytales and Epiphany LightA sermon for the Feast of Epiphany by Fr Matthew Dowsey

By a Different RouteA sermon on Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2: 1-12 & Ephesians 3:1-12 by the Revd Roxanne Addley

Gifts to be ReceivedA sermon for the Feast of Epiphany by the Revd Dr Craig D’Alton

Brought to LightA sermon on Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12 & Matthew 2:1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

Generous LightA sermon on Matthew 2: 1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

New Years Day
2026-01-01 00:00 - 23:59
Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

Things happen in their due season; there is a right time for everything that happens on earth:
a time to be born,
and a time to die;
a time to sow the seed,
and a time to harvest the crop;
a time to end a life,
and a time to rehabilitate;
a time to demolish,
and a time to create;
a time to cry,
and a time to laugh;
a time to grieve,
and a time to party;
a time to throw caution to the wind,
and a time to play it safe;
a time to make love,
and a time to keep your pants on;
a time to keep searching,
and a time to write off the loss;
a time to hold on to what you’ve got,
and a time to let it go;
a time to share another’s pain,
and a time to urge them to move on;
a time to keep your mouth shut,
and a time to speak your mind;
a time to love,
and a time to hate;
a time to fight;
and a time to make peace.
But in the end, what difference does it make what we do? I have observed everyone working hard at the jobs that God has given them. God sets things up so that there is a proper time and place for everything, but we forget too quickly and fail to learn the lessons of history. We see what has happened and what is happening, but we can’t make sense of the connections or see what God is doing in it all. So I figure that there is no point in losing too much sleep over it. The most important thing is for people to be happy and to enjoy their lives for as long as they live. What’s more, there is nothing wrong with eating and drinking and finding satisfaction in our work. They are God’s gifts to us.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Psalm 8

Our LORD and ruler,
all over the world
the mere mention of your name sets hearts pounding!
Your glory fills the universe!
The gurgling of babies makes more sense
than the clever arguments of your enemies.
The innocent chatter of children
silences the venomous talk of your opponents.
When I gaze at your handiwork in the night skies
— the moon, the stars, the milky way —
the whole cosmos under your control;
I can’t help but wonder why you bother with us.
Why do you care so much for mere human beings
when we count for so little in the scheme of things?
And yet, for reasons known to you alone,
you created us almost on a par with yourself
and decorated us with the highest honours and glory.
You have even entrusted us with power over your precious creation;
you placed the future of all life in our hands:
sheep and cattle;
emu and kangaroo
insects, reptiles, birds, and sea creatures;
air, land and water and the planet itself.
Our LORD and ruler,
all over the world
the mere mention of your name sets hearts pounding!
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Revelaton 21: 1-6a

I, John, had another extraordinary vision. I saw a completely revamped heaven and a radically reconstructed earth. The first heaven, the first earth and the sea were all but a memory. Then I saw Jerusalem, the city dedicated to God, now made completely new. She was coming down the aisle from heaven itself, from God, and she looked sensational, like a bride on her wedding day. I heard a loud voice coming from heaven’s throne. It said:
“See, God has moved in and set up home among ordinary people.
God will live with them and be their God,
and the people will gladly belong
to the God who lives right in their midst.
God will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be abolished forever;
pain and grief and tears will be things of the past.
All these things have been made obsolete.”
Then the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new – absolutely everything!”
“Write all this down,” he said, “because these words can be depended on. They are the truth.”
This is what he said: “The job is done! I am the whole story, from A to Z. I am the beginning and I am the end.”
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Matthew 25: 31-46

While speaking to his followers, Jesus said, “The day is coming when the New Human will turn up in all his glory, accompanied by all his angels, and he will be crowned as king. He will sit down on the judgment seat, and all the nations of the world will be summoned to appear before him. Like a quality controller sorting out the good fruit from the rejects, he will carefully sort the nations into two groups, one on his right side and one on his left. Then the King will say to the group on his right side:
‘Welcome, you who have been given the thumbs up by my Father. Ever since the foundation of the world, there has been a kingdom ready with your name on it. Come now, and inherit it; because
I was hungry and you lot fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I came seeking asylum and you made me welcome,
I didn’t have a stitch to wear
and you lot gave me clothes,
I was diseased and you took care of me,
I was in detention and you visited me.’
Then those compassionate nations will ask him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When were you a refugee and we welcomed you, or in detention and we visited you? When did we find you without clothes or sick and do something about it?’
And the King will reply, ‘The fact is, you did these things for people who were regarded as the dregs of society, but who I love as my nearest and dearest; and each time you helped one of them, you were helping me.’
Then he will say to the nations on the other side:
‘You lot have been written off. Get out of my sight! A time of fire has been ignited by the devil and his agents, and you will be swallowed up in it with them; because
I was hungry and you lot didn’t give me a bite,
I was thirsty and you gave me nothing,
I came seeking asylum and you wouldn’t let me in,
I didn’t have a stitch to wear
and you lot left me to freeze,
I was diseased and in detention
and you turned your backs and wouldn’t come near me.’
They too will ask, ‘Lord, when was it that we failed to take care of you? We don’t recall seeing you hungry or thirsty or seeking asylum or naked or sick or in detention.’
But he will answer, ‘The fact is, you failed to do these things for those who were regarded as the dregs of society, and each time you turned your backs on them, you were turning your backs on me.’
And with that, those nations will be gone, swallowed up in the time of punishment. But the nations who did the right thing by others will enjoy life without limit.”
©2023 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
and with the whole earth we tell of the greatness of your name,
for you are the God who makes all things new.
The moon and the stars are your handiwork,
and the earth and its inhabitants reflect your glory.
You have created us, dressing us in glory undeserved,
and entrusted the charge of the earth to our hands.
You have created a time for everything under heaven:
a time for remembering,
and a time to set plans for the future;
a time for prayer
and a time to act with courage and compassion;
a time for sacrifice
and a time to enjoy the fruits of our toil.
In Jesus Christ, you have made your home among us,
and gathered our times into your time,
so that we might live the life of the kingdom
which you prepared for us from the foundation of the world.
Therefore with .....
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface (for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We thank you for gathering all our times into your time,
so that we might live the life of the kingdom
which you prepared for us from the foundation of the world.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
and with the whole earth tell of the greatness of your name,
for you are the God who makes all things new.
The moon and the stars are your handiwork,
and the earth and its inhabitants reflect your glory.
You have created us, dressing us in glory undeserved,
and entrusted the charge of the earth to our hands.
You have created a time for everything under heaven:
a time for remembering,
and a time to set plans for the future;
a time for prayer
and a time to act with courage and compassion;
a time for sacrifice
and a time to enjoy the fruits of our toil.
In Jesus Christ, you have made your home among us,
and gathered our times into your time,
so that we might live the life of the kingdom
which you prepared for us from the foundation of the world.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

In Jesus Christ, God makes all things new.
The former things have disappeared.
God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
Sisters and Brothers,
your sins are forgiven;
be at peace.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go now, and embrace the new time which God has given us.
Recognize Christ in friend and stranger,
and as Christ has been gracious to you,
so be gracious to those in need.
And may God dwell with you as your God.
May Christ be your food and drink
and give you pleasure in your work.
And may the Spirit be your beginning and end
and hold all your times in her loving embrace.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.
©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

When I was hungry, what did you do?A sermon on Matthew 25: 31-46 by Nathan Nettleton

When I joined your church, you burned me out!A sermon on Matthew 25: 31-46 by Nathan Nettleton

Icons on Street CornersA sermon on Matthew 25: 31-46 by Nathan Nettleton

Will the Sheep Plead for the Goats?A sermon on Matthew 25: 31-46 by Nathan Nettleton

Judging NationsA sermon on Matthew 25: 31-46 by Nathan Nettleton
