Tomorrow we have a public holiday for the Queen’s birthday. It is not her real birthday, and in Great Britain, where she lives, they do not have a holiday. But in Australia we do have a holiday tomorrow, except in Western Australia, where the holiday is on 4^th October, instead. It is all very confusing, even for people who have been born here and lived here all their lives. Coming from a different country makes it even more difficult. Other countries have different customs and holidays, and even a different calendar. For example, the Australian New Year, the Chinese New Year and the Thai New Year are not at the same time.

To add to the confusion, we do not agree on how important these celebrations are. There are people who celebrate the Queen’s birthday with great delight, recognising that she is, after all, the Queen of Australia, and that Queen Elizabeth herself has carried out that role with sincerity, honour and success. Other people do not agree. They may support a different style of government, and see no reason to celebrate a holiday for the head of state of a foreign country.

A fortnight ago we commemorated Sorry Day out of solidarity with our indigenous brothers and sisters to remember and repent from the injustices done to them now and in the past. We celebrated a journey of healing with them. Not all Australians felt able to do this; we do not all have the same understanding of our history; we do not all see things the same way.

These differences of custom, of opinion and of understanding are not going to go away. And, in the end, it is not the differences that are important, but how we deal with them. In our discussions at Parish Council last Wednesday, we were reminded of the mission statement we have at St Luke’s. We seek to share God’s unconditional love of all people, regardless of age, gender, race, marital or family status, sexual orientation, disability or wealth.

In other words, we will look for the things that bring us together, not the things that divide us. As Christians, we know that it is the love of God which brings us together, whatever our political viewpoint. We are brought together by our shared love of God, our shared faith in Jesus Christ and our shared obedience to God to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbours as ourselves.

St Luke’s is about including people and living with difference. Some differences we can delight in and celebrate, others we will have to live with as a reminder of our imperfections; but our aim – God’s aim, is to make this place a community of trust and love, caring and understanding, tolerance and forbearance. To put it another way, it is God’s aim, through God’s Holy Spirit working in us, to bring all people in to the Kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is nothing less than the sharing of God’s unconditional love of God for all people.

We have two readings today, one from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and the other from the gospel according to Luke. They are both show how God includes people of different background in the kingdom of God. Both readings speak of God’s unconditional love for people; a love which reaches out to include them.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians mentions two groups, “Jews by birth” and “Gentile sinners”. The Jews definitely included themselves in the kingdom of God because they were the descendants of Abraham and God had made a promise to Abraham to be his God and the God of his children. The Jews called everyone who was not a Jew, Gentiles, and the Gentiles were automatically sinners because they were excluded from the promise made to Abraham. The astonishing truth that Paul proclaims to the Galatians is that, through faith in Jesus Christ, everybody is included in the kingdom of God, both Jews and Gentiles, everyone who has faith in Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel, we have the story of the woman who was a sinner, who came and anointed Jesus’ feet with ointment, bathing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair. Because she is a sinner, she is excluded from the kingdom of God and the promises made to Abraham. We don’t know why she was called a sinner, she might have been a prostitute, but equally she might have been a Gentile. The point of the story is that Jesus includes her by saying, “Your sins are forgiven; your faith has saved you, go in peace.” That is, Jesus has removed everything that separates her from God, and she can begin a new life. St Paul would say that the life she now lives in the flesh she lives by faith in the Son of God, Jesus, who loved her and gave himself for her.

Today, we are going to see another declaration of the wonders of God’s love. Through the sacrament of baptism, we will declare Matthew, Uma and Grace to be included in the kingdom of God and inheritors of the promise which God made to Abraham. We use water to show that all that separates Matthew, Uma and Grace from God is washed away. By doing this, we are saying, “Your sins are forgiven; your faith has saved you, go in peace.”

After the baptism, we will pray for the world and for the church, praying that they, too, may have their sins forgiven and be saved by faith in peace. After we make our confession, remembering our own sins – the barriers between us and God; the absolution is proclaimed – to remind us all that by our faith in Christ and the faith of those around us, we, too, can have our sins forgiven and be saved. Then we turn to each other and give the greeting of peace, using the same words with which the risen Christ greeted his disciples, “Peace be with you.”

And then we will celebrate the Eucharist together, sharing the bread and the wine, the body and blood of Christ. This is a feast which reminds us of the death of Christ for the sins of the whole world. As we stand around the altar and share the food we become one with Jesus Christ and with each other. We hear the promise that we will one day share the heavenly feast with all God’s faithful people in heaven, and as we go out, we promise to take God’s love into the world.

Our differences and our disagreements are important, and many of them need to be worked at, but in Christ we see them in perspective. We see that they should not form barriers between us, they should not create sin. Let us pray for wisdom and faith to be true to our life in Christ.