Reflections from Richmond Uniting

Online worship for Sunday 15 May 2022 Everyone is welcome at worship at Richmond Uniting. Here we seek to create prayerful space to engage seriously with the biblical text and questions of faith, doubt and life. For those who cannot join us in-person worship we are offering two ways of connecting with our worship. You can access a pre-recording of the reflection here most weeks. Worship is not only on Sundays at Richmond Uniting. On Wednesdays we gather online via Zoom for a contemplative Midday Prayer service. If you would like to join this service please email the office to get the Zoom Link and the liturgy: richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 8 May 2022 Revelation 7.17 Everyone is welcome at worship at Richmond Uniting. Here we seek to create prayerful space to engage seriously with the biblical text and questions of faith, doubt and life. For those who cannot join us in-person worship we are offering two ways of connecting with our worship. You can access a pre-recording of the reflection here most weeks. Worship is not only on Sundays at Richmond Uniting. On Wednesdays we gather online via Zoom for a contemplative Midday Prayer service. If you would like to join this service please email the office to get the Zoom Link and the liturgy: richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Easter Day 2022 reflection Sunday 17 April 2022 Everyone is welcome at worship at Richmond Uniting. Here we seek to create prayerful space to engage seriously with the biblical text and questions of faith, doubt and life. For those who cannot join us in-person worship we are offering two ways of connecting with our worship. You can access a pre-recording of the reflection here most weeks. Worship is not only on Sundays at Richmond Uniting. On Wednesdays we gather online via Zoom for a contemplative Midday Prayer service. If you would like to join this service please email the office to get the Zoom Link and the liturgy: richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Good Friday 2022 reflection Everyone is welcome at worship at Richmond Uniting. Here we seek to create prayerful space to engage seriously with the biblical text and questions of faith, doubt and life. For those who cannot join us in-person worship we are offering two ways of connecting with our worship. You can access a pre-recording of the reflection here most weeks. Worship is not only on Sundays at Richmond Uniting. On Wednesdays we gather online via Zoom for a contemplative Midday Prayer service. If you would like to join this service please email the office to get the Zoom Link and the liturgy: richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 10 April 2022 Everyone is welcome at worship at Richmond Uniting. Here we seek to create prayerful space to engage seriously with the biblical text and questions of faith, doubt and life. For those who cannot join us in-person worship we are offering two ways of connecting with our worship. You can access a pre-recording of the reflection here most weeks. Worship is not only on Sundays at Richmond Uniting. On Wednesdays we gather online via Zoom for a contemplative Midday Prayer service. If you would like to join this service please email the office to get the Zoom Link and the liturgy: richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 3 April 2022 Exploring the story of Mary anointing Jesus in John’s Gospel (John 12.1-8). Everyone is welcome at worship at Richmond Uniting. Here we seek to create prayerful space to engage seriously with the biblical text and questions of faith, doubt and life. For those who cannot join us in-person worship we are offering two ways of connecting with our worship. You can access a pre-recording of the reflection here most weeks. Worship is not only on Sundays at Richmond Uniting. On Wednesdays we gather online via Zoom for a contemplative Midday Prayer service. If you would like to join this service please email the office to get the Zoom Link and the liturgy: richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 27 March 2022 This Sunday in the audio reflection we engage with Jesus’ story of the wayward son in Luke 15 with the practice of Imaginative Prayer. To find out more about this prayer style go to: https://richmond.unitingchurch.org.au/2020/12/imaginative-prayer/ Everyone is welcome at worship at Richmond Uniting. Here we seek to create prayerful space to engage seriously with the biblical text and questions of faith, doubt and life. For those who cannot join us in-person worship we are offering two ways of connecting with our worship. You can access a pre-recording of the reflection here most weeks. Worship is not only on Sundays at Richmond Uniting. On Wednesdays we gather online via Zoom for a contemplative Midday Prayer service. If you would like to join this service please email the office to get the Zoom Link and the liturgy: richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 20 March 2022 Exploring Luke 13.1-9 on the third Sunday in Lent. Everyone is welcome at worship at Richmond Uniting. Here we seek to create prayerful space to engage seriously with the biblical text and questions of faith, doubt and life. For those who cannot join us in-person worship we are offering two ways of connecting with our worship. You can access a pre-recording of the reflection here most weeks. Worship is not only on Sundays at Richmond Uniting. On Wednesdays we gather online via Zoom for a contemplative Midday Prayer service. If you would like to join this service please email the office to get the Zoom Link and the liturgy: richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 5 March 2022 Everyone is welcome at worship at Richmond Uniting. Here we seek to create prayerful space to engage seriously with the biblical text and questions of faith, doubt and life. For those who cannot join us in-person worship we are offering two ways of connecting with our worship. You can access a pre-recording of the reflection here most weeks. Worship is not only on Sundays at Richmond Uniting. On Wednesdays we gather online via Zoom for a contemplative Midday Prayer service. If you would like to join this service please email the office to get the Zoom Link and the liturgy: richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 1 August 2021 We are gathering live in person for worship this Sunday 1 August. If you are unable to join us in person, please find below an audio recording of the reading from Ephesians 4.1-16 for this Sunday and the reflection and wondering questions. This Sunday we explore what it might mean to speak the truth in love - a particularly hard challenge when we are speaking with around us influenced by conspiracy theories. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

After a year of providing pre-recorded audio online worship resources because of COVID-19 this is now coming to an end, as lockdowns have lifted in Melbourne and people can attend face to face worship. Down the track we may explore audio recording the live reflection in worship and posting this online.  But for now, as this chapter closes, Sally wanted to share a few thoughts with you - especially those of you who have been joining Richmond Uniting in online worship over this year.

Worship resources for Easter Sunday 4 April On this Easter Day Rev Dr Sally Douglas challenges us to listen to the women apostles - Mary the Magdalene, Salome and the other Mary - attending to both their words and experiences (it is an ancient and contemporary challenge to listen to, and believe, women). In doing so, Sally invites us to expand our understanding of what faith is. Christian faith is not static but includes wrestling, questioning and acknowledging the whole range of our our human emotions - even fear - and learning to trust Jesus in the middle of all this messiness - the one who loves us to death and through the other side. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Worship resources for Good Friday 2 April In this worship for Good Friday Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to notice the violent mob mentality of the crowd in this story and to reflect on the shocking 'un-power' of God revealed to us in Jesus.  In Jesus, the human desire for violence and power - that can captivate each one of us - is exposed and transformed. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship resources for Sunday 28 March This week, Palm Sunday, as we hear about Jesus entering Jerusalem, Rev Dr Sally Douglas challenges us to take seriously that in Jesus understandings of divine power are undone. The power that Jesus embodies looks like nothing like the empire’s power. Taking this seriously invites us to reconsider how God moves in ‘power’ and how we might pray. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship resources for Sunday 21 March This Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, Rev Dr Sally Douglas challenges us to take seriously Jesus’ claim in John’s Gospel that all people will be gathered in and included in the divine embrace and she invites us to wrestle with the question ‘what is Christianity for?' If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship resources for Sunday 14 March This Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to dive into Jesus’ claims in John 3 that G*d’s movement, G*d’s nature and G*d’s being are shaped by love and not judgement. Today we are challenged to explore the call of journey from fear into love in our daily lives. Sally reads out the poem ‘The Moment’ by Catherine Lewis from her book Coming Home: Meditations, Prayers Poems. Montrose: Poetica Christi Press, 2020. Find more information here. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 7 March This Sunday, the third Sunday in Lent, we explore the extraordinary account of Jesus in the temple overturning tables. Here Jesus is not meek or mild, instead Jesus is angry, loud and disruptive. Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us into the complexity of this reading and challenges us to get in touch with the importance of anger as followers of Jesus. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example Midday Prayers, Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship resources for Sunday 28 February This week, the second Sunday in Lent, Rev Dr Sally Douglas challenges us to explore Jesus’ call to deny self and take up cross in Mark 8.31-38 within its context. Beyond dangerous ideas that can contribute to the glorification of suffering, in Jesus we discover that divine power is very different to human constructs of power. Furthermore, in Jesus we are invited into G*d’s subversive compassion. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers, Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com.

 Online worship resources for Sunday 21 February This week, the first Sunday in Lent, we journey with Jesus into the wilderness as he faces the accuser. As we explore this reading, Rev Dr Sally Douglas challenges us to face the reality of evil within our global village instead of being constantly shocked by human behaviour. In this process, she argues, we find truth and energy for the work of liberation. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online Worship for 14 February 2021 This week in the reflection Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to engage with the story of the transfiguration of Jesus and to read this within its wider context in Mark’s Gospel. In particular we are invited to reflect on the ‘upside down’ glory of G*d revealed in Jesus and challenged to stop thinking we have to be ‘gloriously strong’ or ‘together’ before we can approach G*d. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for 2 February 2021 This week in worship the readings are Psalm 147.1-11 and Mark 1.29-39. Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to dive into Mark's Gospel, where we discover a very different understanding of discipleship. Rather than ‘leaving everything’, in Mark’s Gospel we find the reverse - the disciples invite Jesus into the mess, joy and sorrow of their family and home. Jesus responds in compassion and an unnamed woman models the truth about discipleship. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion, please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com.

Online Worship for 27 December 2020 The audio worship does not include a full service, because you are invited to utilise this liturgy if you cannot join us for contemplative worship in person on Sunday 27 December. The audio includes the bible readings for the day and a brief reflection on Luke 2.22-40, a passage that is set a little over a week after Jesus is born. In preparation for this worship at home you are invited to print out the liturgy and to light a candle. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Christmas Day, 25 December 2020 This Christmas Day Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us beyond the ‘santafication’ of Christmas (in which God and Santa get confused) and beyond the assumption that we should be having an ‘awesome’ time because it is Christmas Day. Instead, drawing from the ancient hymn found in John 1.1-14 we discover that the proclamation of Christmas is that vulnerable God chooses to pitch tent with us in the middle of the darkness. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 20 December This Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Advent, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to dive into Luke 1.26-56. Sally invites us beyond saccharine images of Mary and the baby Jesus - and beyond obsessive focus on Mary’s sex life - to attend to the disruptive theology that Mary and Elizabeth proclaim in Luke’s Gospel. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 13 December This Sunday, the third Sunday in Advent, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to dive into Isaiah 61 and John 1 and to explore the idea of joy. Sally challenges us to move beyond the idea that we can only taste joy when everything is sorted and the lie that daring to taste joy will invite tragedy. In contrast, we explore the idea of cultivating joy as an essential spiritual practice - if we are followers of Jesus. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 6 December This Sunday, the second Sunday in Advent, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to dive into Mark 1.1-8 and to explore what peace might be, if we are followers of Jesus. Beyond the idea of peace as the absence of conflict, we are challenged to think about peace as the call to wholeness. From this perspective, living in peace may mean saying hard things and even inviting conflict, as we allow our inner truth, and God’s call to justice and compassion, to be reflected in our outer life - our words and deeds. If you would like to connect with the Richmond Uniting Church community in other ways as well as in audio worship, for example for Midday Prayers or Zoom ‘morning teas’, or a theology group discussion please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com

Online worship for Sunday 29 November This Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to dive into Mark 13.24-37 and to explore idea of hope. Sally invites us beyond the idea of hope as wishful (or deluded) thinking and into a robust understanding of Christian hope that acknowledges the messiness of life and that leans into the loving presence of God amidst this mess. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via Zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Online worship for Sunday 22 November In this audio form of worship Rev Dr Sally Douglas introduces a Pentecost Season Table Liturgy and invites us to participate at home in this worship over a meal. See the PDF of the Table Liturgy below. The audio worship does not include a full service, because we are all invited to utilise this Table Liturgy. Instead, the audio includes the bible readings for the day, and a reflection on the reading from Romans 8 focused on the question of prayer and desolation. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via Zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Online worship for Sunday 15 November This Sunday Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to dive into Matthew 25.14-30 and to explore the questions of what stories we tell about ourselves, others, the church and God. Sally invites us to notice the ways in which these stories impact on our experiences of life, others and God and to investigate whether the stories we tell align with the story of God embodied in Jesus. In worship this week we also honour NAIDOC Week and acknowledge Remembrance Day. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via Zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Online worship for Sunday 8 November  This Sunday Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to dive into Matthew 25.1-13. As we dive into this story Jesus tells we explore the idea of apocalyptic thinking and reflect on the question of what actually sustains us in the long dark night of the soul. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via Zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Online worship for Sunday 1 November On this All Saints Day Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to explore the tricky topics of death, the afterlife and judgement. Reflecting on Matthew 5.1-12, Revelation 7.9-17 and Colossians 1.15-20 Sally invites us to engage with the claim that the heart of the universe is kind and that God longs for all things to be reconciled in this life and the life to come. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via Zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Online worship resources for Sunday 25 October In this audio form of worship Rev Dr Sally Douglas introduces a Table Liturgy for the Season of Pentecost and invites us to participate in this worship over a meal. Download the PDF of the Table Liturgy. This week's audio worship does not include a full service, because we are all invited to utilise this Table Liturgy. Instead, the audio includes the bible readings for the day - Deuteronomy 34.1-12 and Matthew 22.43-46 and a reflection on the reading from Matthew. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Richmond Uniting online worship 18 October 2020 Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to explore the double temptation of suppressing our doubts and domesticating God as we reflect on Exodus 33.12-23 and Matthew 22.15-22. Sally challenges us to engage with wild faith, in which we are honest about our doubts and sorrow and we are open to the vastness of God in the midst of our lives. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Richmond Uniting online worship 11 October 2020 Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to explore the so called “Christian” claim that people are going to hell if they don’t believe certain things about Jesus. We reflect on Exodus 32.1-14, Phil 4.1-9 and dive deeply into Matthew 22.1-14, and its counterpart in Luke 14.15-24. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to explore why some people are denying the seriousness of Covid-19. We wrestle with the shadow-side of contemporary forms of spirituality and engage with the Divine call into collective responsibility, as we reflect on the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20.1-4, 7-9, 12-20 and in Matthew 21.33-46. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

In this audio form of worship Rev Dr Sally Douglas introduces a Pentecost Season Table Liturgy and invites us to participate at home in this worship over a meal. See the PDF of the Table Liturgy below. The audio worship does not include a full service, because we are all invited to utilise this Table Liturgy. Instead, the audio includes the bible readings for the day, and a reflection on the reading from Philippians 2. This reading explores the ancient hymn embedded within this chapter in which divine power is revealed to be very different from human constructions of power. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Never enough? What might life be like beyond scarcity narratives? This week we continue to explore the epic story of the people of Israel in Exodus 16.2-15, as well as Matthew 20.1-16. Now, liberated from slavery in Egypt, God’s people are captive to the fear that there is not enough. Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us investigate the scarcity narratives of consumerist culture and challenges us to take seriously Jesus’ invitation to trust in God for our daily bread. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

What does forgiving others mean? This week we continue to listen to the confronting story of Israel being liberated from Egypt in Exodus 14.19-31 and we explore Matthew 18.21-35. Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to think about what forgiving others means in light of Jesus’ command to call inappropriate behaviour to account. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

When Christians confuse loving enemies with being nice or tolerating abuse This week we explore the epic story of Israel being liberated from Egypt in Exodus 12.1-14 and we explore Matthew 18.15-20. Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to think about evil, liberation and what Jesus’ call to love enemies really means. Challenging any notion that loving enemy is about being nice or tolerating abusive behaviour, in sacred text we discover Jesus’ call into fierce, liberating love that exposes evil and calls violence and abuse to account. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

What does ‘taking up your cross’ mean? This week, as we explore Matthew 16.21-28, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to reflect on what Jesus really means when he says ‘take up your cross’. Beyond the notion of ‘we all have our cross to bear’ we discover that here we are called into the radical non-violence of God. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Reflecting on Exodus 1.8-2.10, Romans 12.1-8, Matthew 16.13-20 Scapegoats, collective violence and working with Spirit to do what we can… In this audio form of worship Rev Dr Sally Douglas introduces a Pentecost Season Table Liturgy and invites us to participate at home in this worship over a meal. See the PDF of the Table Liturgy below. The audio worship does not include a full service, because we are all invited to utilise this Table Liturgy. Instead, the audio includes the bible readings for the day, and a reflection on the reading from Exodus about these brave midwives doing what they can and on Paul's call to take our gifts seriously. If you would like to become more involved in Richmond Uniting (eg. Midday prayers via zoom, discussion groups etc) please email richmond.uniting@bigpond.com to find out more, or visit us at https://richmond.unitingchurch.org.au/

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship resources for Sunday 16 August. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 16 August available on the Richmond Uniting Church website.  God, power and the problem of suffering This week, as we again engage with the ancient story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 45.1-15, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to reflect on God, power and the problem of suffering. Beyond the false paradigms of thinking God causes suffering or that God is impotent to respond to suffering, we dive deeply to reflect on who, and how, God is involved in suffering in the light of Christ Jesus.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship resources for Sunday 9 August. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 9 August available on the Richmond Uniting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week, as we engage with the ancient story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 37.1-4, 12-28, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to reflect on the narratives of our families and culture, and the ways in which God’s dreamings for us might call us into a bigger perspective.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship resources for Sunday 2 August. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 2 August available on the Richmond Uniting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week, as we reflect on the feeding of the multitudes in Matthew 14.13-21 in the midst of COVID-19, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to dive into thinking about 'end times' (the theological word for this is eschatology). We explore how might we might think of end times if we believe that in Jesus we discover divine reality.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship resources for Sunday 26 July. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 26 July available on the Richmond Uniting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own. In this audio form of worship Rev Dr Sally Douglas introduces a Pentecost Season Table Liturgy and invites us to participate at home in this worship over a meal. Download the PDF of the Table Liturgy we will use in worship. The audio worship does not include a full service, because we are all invited to utilise this Table Liturgy. Instead, the audio includes the bible readings for the day, and a reflection on the reading from Romans 8 focused on the question of prayer and desolation.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship resources for Sunday 19 July. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 19 July available on the Richmond Uniting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week, our seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to engage in contemplative Christian worship. We explore Psalm 139.1-14, 23-24 through the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, sacred reading.  We also discuss how we do not to come to the bible with a neutral lens – instead we come to the bible already shaped by our experiences and what we have been taught about God – and this influences how we actually hear sacred text.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship resources for Sunday 12 July. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 12 July available on the Richmond Uniting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week, our sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Rev Dr Sally Douglas invites us to engage in contemplative Christian worship. We explore Matthew 13.1-9 through the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, sacred reading.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship resources for Sunday 5 July. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 5 July available on the Richmond Unting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week, our fifth Sunday after Pentecost, we are invited to explore Matthew 11 and dive deeply into John the Baptist’s crisis of faith and how Jesus responds. In this text we discover that here Jesus images himself as Woman Wisdom, the Female Divine figure from Jewish traditions, as he defends his actions of feasting with, and befriending, sinners.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship resources for Sunday 28 June. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 28 June available on the Richmond Unting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own.. Reflecting on Psalm 13 and Matthew 10.40-42 In this audio form of worship Rev Dr Sally Douglas introduces a Table Liturgy for the Season of Pentecost and invites us to participate in this worship over a meal. See the PDF of the Table Liturgy below. This week's audio worship does not include a full service, because we are all invited to utilise this Table Liturgy. Instead, the audio includes the bible readings for the day, and a reflection on the reading from Matthew 10.40-42.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship for Sunday 21 June. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 21 June available on the Richmond Unting Church website . You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week, our second Sunday after Pentecost, we are invited to dive into the difficult story of Sarah and Hagar in Genesis 21. We explore issues of slavery, abuse, racism and sexism and examine how we are called to approach the bible faithfully as Christians. The stereotype that Christians are called to take the bible literally is disrupted and we engage with earliest church understandings of Jesus (and not the bible) as the Word of God.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship for Sunday 14 June. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 14 June available on the Richmond Unting Church website . You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week, our first Sunday in ‘ordinary time’, we are invited to explore Matthew 9.35-10.23 and enter deeply into what this passage says about the core business of being a follower of Jesus. We also investigate what this passage does not say about being a follower of Jesus (hint - it is not about being nice). Throughout this worship we also explore the ways in which Christianity has been literally 'white washed' and what kind of disruptive and liberating anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-prejudiced life we are called into.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship for Sunday 7 June. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 6 June available on the Richmond Unting Church website . You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week it is Trinity Sunday and we are invited to dive deeply into what it might mean to engage with the Christian theology of God as Holy One – Sacred Three.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship for Sunday 31 May. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 31 May available on the Richmond Unting Church website . You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week, it is Pentecost Sunday and we are invited to reflect on what happens when we are open to Holy Spirit being poured out. In 1 Corinthians 12.3-13 and Acts 2.1-21 we discover that experiencing the Holy Spirit is not simply about a personal high but rather it is about being caught up in Divine love in which our categories - of racism, sexism, ageism, class based discrimination and our own ego trips are all burned away.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship for Sunday 24 May. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 24 May available on the Richmond Unting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own. In this audio form of worship Rev Dr Sally Douglas introduces a Table Liturgy and invites you to participate at home in this worship over a meal. See the PDF of the Table Liturgy on our website. This week the audio worship does not include a full service, because we are all invited to utilise this Table Liturgy. Instead, the audio includes the bible readings for the day, and a reflection on the reading from 1 Peter focused on the question of where God is in the midst of anxiety and suffering.

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship for Sunday 17 May. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 17 May available on the Richmond Unting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week, the 6th Sunday in the Easter Season, we are invited to reflect on understandings of Holy Spirit. In John 14.15-21 Jesus does not describe Holy Spirit like wind, nor is Spirit imaged as a bird. Instead, here Jesus describes Holy Spirit as the Advocate. This week we are invited to explore what this might mean in our lives.

This Sunday 10th May our online worship at Richmond Uniting will be in the form of a Facebook livestream, as Rev Dr Sally Douglas leads worship for Richmond Uniting and for the UCA Assembly’s livestream worship.  The streaming will be on the Uniting Church in Australia Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnitingChurchAu/. The Order of Worship and video of the service are available at: https://richmond.unitingchurch.org.au/2020/05/facebook-live-worship-sunday-10-may-2020/

Welcome to Richmond Uniting’s Worship resources for Sunday 3 May. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, along with prayer resources and bible readings for 3 May available on the Richmond Unting Church website. You can listen to this with others or on your own. This week in our audio worship for Easter 4, we wrestle with the metaphor that Jesus shares in John’s Gospel, of the sheepfold, the thugs, the sheep and the gate (John 10.1-10). In particular, we explore the tension of the paradoxical reality of human violence and the Divine’s invitation into abundant life.

We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID–19 pandemic – but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This is an audio introduction to this weeks worship, which includes a Table Liturgy, the bible readings for the day, and a reflection on Luke’s account of the people on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24.13-35). The audio for this week does not include a full service, because we are all invited to join in worshipping over a meal instead this week.  You can access our online worship resources at www.richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Welcome to Richmond Uniting Church’s online worship resources for Sunday 19 April. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID-19 pandemic - but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This Sunday in our audio worship we engage in prayer and wrestling with sacred text, as we reflect on Psalm 16, John 20.19-31 and 1 Peter 1.3-9. In particular, we are invited us to lean into the letter of 1 Peter and its astonishing claims about experiencing the gift of joy in the midst of suffering. We unpack what experiencing joy does not mean, and explore how we might cultivate new practices that create space for joy to be received. You can access our online worship resources at www.richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

We gathered for live audio worship at Richmond Uniting for Easter Day. We sang awkwardly over the airwaves, we prayed together, we shared with one another, we cried together and we laughed together. Here is the audio recording of the Reflection exploring John 20.1-18 in which Mary Magdalene is a disciple, the first apostle and the evangelist to the male disciples. We also explore what it might mean for us to take God’s resurrection life seriously in our own living. The order of worship is available at www.richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Welcome to Richmond Uniting Church’s online worship resources for Good Friday 10 April. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID-19 pandemic - but we are still worshipping together in new ways. On Good Friday we lean in to listen and engage with John’s telling of Jesus’ passion (John 18.1-19.45). We wrestle with the shocking implications of this account as it confronts us with hard truths about ourselves and about God. Here we discover the gentleness of God and our own propensity for violence. Here we face truth that can set free. You can access our online worship resources at www.richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Welcome to Richmond Uniting Church’s online worship resources for Sunday 5 April. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID-19 pandemic - but we are still worshipping together in new ways.  This Sunday we dive into the account of Jesus entering Jerusalem as found in John 12.12-19. We engage with the traditions and metaphors that undergird this account and explore the disruptive understandings of the Divine, and of Divine power, that Jesus here embodies. You can access our online worship resources at www.richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Welcome to Richmond Uniting Church’s online worship resources for Sunday 29 March. We are currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID-19 pandemic - but we are still worshipping together in new ways. Below you will find a brief film introduction to the online worship, as well as an audio recording that you can be used for worship at home that includes prayer, the bible readings for March 22 and discussion. You can listen to this with others or on your own. This Sunday’s worship focuses on John 11.1-45 as we explore what it might mean to believe in resurrection life in the midst of deathliness. There might be songs or hymns that connect to these themes that you love and want to get ready to sing or listen as you participate in this worship.  You can visit us online at www.richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

Richmond Uniting Church is currently not worshipping as a gathered community due to the COVID-19 pandemic - but we are still worshipping together in new ways. This audio recording can be used for worship at home, with others or on your own, and includes prayer, the bible readings for March 22 and discussion.  There is also a simple liturgy that can be used over a meal. To access this and other resources, visit us at www.richmond.unitingchurch.org.au

‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ Faith and Doubt in times of crisis. A reflection on Exodus 17.1-7 and John 4. 5-42 by Rev Dr Sally Douglas on Sunday 15 March 2020 at Richmond Uniting Church.

Temptation, the devil and angels. A Reflection on Matthew 4.1-11 by Rev Dr Sally Douglas at Richmond Uniting Church, Sunday 1 March 2020.

#metoo and Jesus’ disruption of patriarchy - A reflection on Matthew 5. 21-37 - Sunday February 16 2020 by Rev Dr. Sally Douglas at Richmond Uniting Church.

'You are the salt of the earth' - A reflection on Matthew 5. 13-20, Sunday 9 February 2020 by Rev. Dr. Sally Douglas at Richmond Uniting Church

A reflection on Luke 20.27-38 Rev Dr Sally Douglas Sunday 10th November, Richmond Uniting Church

A reflection by Rev. Dr. Sally Douglas on Luke 19.1-10 at Richmond Unting Church, 3 November 2019.

Let’s talk about sin. A reflection on Psalm 14 and Luke 15. 1-10. A reflection by Rev. Dr. Sally Douglas at Richmond Unting Church, Sunday 15 September 2019.

A reflection by Rev. Dr. Sally Douglas at Richmond Unting Church, Sunday 1 September 2019.

Anger, Justice, Love - A reflection on Isiah 5.1-7 and Luke 12.49-56 by Rev. Dr. Sally Douglas at Richmond Uniting Church, Sunday 18 August 2019.

A reflection on Luke 12.13-21. Rev Dr Sally Douglas, Sunday 4th August, Richmond Uniting Church. 

Exploring Jesus’ disruption of patriarchal expectations and the call to be integrated, reflecting the qualities of both Martha and Mary.  Rev Dr Sally Douglas’ reflection at Richmond Uniting on Luke 10.38-42, Sunday 21st July 2019.

Sally Douglas reflection at Richmond Uniting Church, Sunday 30 June 2019. Around Australia debates have raged this week about Christianity, free speech, the LGBTQI community and what the bible says. Huge amounts of hate, anger, hurt and misrepresentations of the bible have been spawned by these debates. This Sunday, one of the readings in the lectionary (the weekly list of bible readings set out for worship in the world wide church) was the passage in Galatians 5 that Israel Folau (mis)quoted from. In worship at Richmond Uniting on Sunday 30th June we explored this reading deeply –  its context in the first century and the potential implications of taking the bible seriously today.