REACHING OUT

1. They came, knew his name, rumours how they flew; they heard simple words — every line rang true.
Is he real? Has he some new kind of deal?
Jesus, you're the one who shows us how God feels:
Reaching out, reaching out, reaching out with open arms.

2. Lame men walked again, blind men they could see; lost ones, frowned-upons were your company; children came, you gave everyone a name —
saved a woman trapped in one of man's dark games:

3. One man was condemned, all the world went free; one man took the blame all for you and me.
When you died, Jesus, when your body cried,
you were calling everyone to be your bride:

4. (So) take up Jesus' cup, drink it to the end;
love, give, start to live, we are Jesus' friends.
May we care with our actions and our prayers.
We've been given so much, people, let's all share!

1980. Written for a Uniting Church Youth Congress, this song has been growing on me in the last couple of years. It sums up for me a lot of what Jesus is about. It was no accident, I believe, that Jesus was crucified rather than being executed in some other way. With his arms extended, he is both vulnerable to the world and also inviting the world into his embrace. John Sabel — friend, mentor, and former student chaplain — used to choose this for services quite a bit. So, when I was asked to give names to the tunes of songs included in the Lutheran Hymnal Supplement, this one was called ‘Sabel’. It reflects his style — thanks, John!

ALWS 29/5/24

In May 2023 we travelled to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, seeing work supported by Australian Lutheran World Service. Dorothy and I are Ambassadors for the ALWS programme, Lives You Touch. We are encouraging people to leave money in their will for the work of ALWS. We committed to leave a third of our will many years ago and hope many others can touch lives in this way.

Last year we visited churches in SA, Vic, Qld and WA with Jonathan & Julie Krause promoting the cause of ALWS.

Coming up soon:

* Nuriootpa (St Petri) Saturday June 22, 4 pm

To be confirmed:
Bordertown July 28,
Everton Park (Qld) August 17,
Canberra August 24 

Looking forward to seeing you at one of these events