Welcome to the Parish of Modbury and Golden Grove

​​​​​

The People We Didn't Expect God to Save

One of the things we humans seem remarkably good at is drawing boundaries: between those who belong and those who do not, between people we trust and those we find difficult, between those we consider deserving of mercy and those we quietly write off. This week's readings challenge those boundaries.

In Genesis, Joseph is reunited with the brothers who betrayed him and sold him into slavery. He has every reason to reject them, yet instead he chooses reconciliation, recognising that God's purposes have brought life out of circumstances intended for destruction. In Romans, Paul warns Gentile Christians not to become proud about their inclusion in God's people. They have been grafted into the story of Israel by grace, and therefore have no grounds for boasting. God's mercy is not something we possess or control; it is something we receive. Then, in Matthew's Gospel, a Canaanite woman approaches Jesus seeking healing for her daughter. She is an outsider by every conventional measure, and even the disciples want her sent away. Yet she persists in faith, and Jesus ultimately declares, "Woman, great is your faith!" The person others might have regarded as being beyond the boundaries becomes an example of extraordinary trust in God. Together these passages proclaim a wonderfully challenging truth: God's mercy is bigger than our boundaries. That is good news for those of us who have sometimes felt like outsiders, unsure whether we belong or whether our past places us beyond God's grace. But it is also a challenge for those of us who already feel securely inside. We are reminded that we stand within God's love by grace, not because we have earned a privileged position. As we worship together this week, we might therefore ask: Whom have we placed outside the circle of God's mercy—and what might God be asking us to see differently? Perhaps the Gospel invites us to become, ourselves, people whose lives make God's extravagant and boundary-crossing mercy visible to others.

​​​

Usual weekly services and activities:

​

Sunday:        Holy Communion 8.00 am

                       Holy Communion 10am

Monday:       Bible Study 10.00 am 

Tuesday:       Holy Communion 8.30 am

                        Community Garden 9.30 am

                        Christian meditation 9;30-10am alternate Tuesday from

                        21 Jan 2025

Wednesday: Bible Study 10.00 am

                        Fortnightly Foodbank   10.00 am

Thursday:      Holy Communion 10.00 am

Friday:            Community Garden 9.30 am

                        

 

1st Tuesday of the month Community Garden BBQ 11.30 am

1st and 3rd Sunday of the month Bari Service 11.30 am

2nd Thursday of the month Men's Group 7.30 pm

1st Friday of the month "Come as You Are" - Women's Fellowship 10-12 ​

​​​​​​

​

 

​​