Order of Service – 5th November 2023

The Order of Service follows below.

For improved text clarity and easier reading, e.g. change text size, you can use ePub on iPhones, iPads and other devices with an ePub application. If you want to see it exactly as printed, or print your own there is a pdf.

Brougham Place Uniting Church
Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A light on the hill

November 5^th, 2023. 10.00am
Pentecost 23. Stewardship 1.
Preacher: Rev Linda Driver
Liturgical colour: Green

We acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional carers of the land on which our church is built.

Prelude

Welcome

Niina marni!
Marni’ai!

Welcome to this time of worship!

Acknowledgment of Country

Lighting of the Candles and Introit – Lord For the Years

Timothy Dudley Smith (Church Hymnary 159)

Call to Worship

Welcome to worship here
whether you’re from Belair, Brisbane or Bangladesh
whether you’ve been freezing in Mt Buffalo or basking in Broome
whether you have favourite seats or you’re here for the first time
whether you’re online or catching up later
Here, we are welcome

We are toddlers, tweenagers, young adults, seniors
We grew up with the wireless and the wireless Internet
We love Beethoven, the Beatles and Billie Eilish
Here, we are welcome

We are straight and queer and all in-between
We are in all kinds of relationships, individual and together
We seek honest friendship and true belonging
Here, we are welcome

We have more questions than answers
We know what to expect, yet we have no idea
We have much hope and a little faith
Here, we are welcome

So be welcome here The One who made our world and shaped our souls is here around us, among us, within us breathing, beckoning giving, gathering claiming, calling
Here, we are welcome

Breathe deeply
Listen hopefully
Look carefully
God is around us and with us.

We Sing: Come As You Are

’Come as you are: that’s how I want you.
Come as you are: feel quite at home,
Close to my heart, loved and forgiven.
Come as you are: why stand alone?
’No need to fear, love sets no limits;
no need to fear, love never ends;
don’t run away shamed and disheartened,
rest in my love, trust me again.
’I came to call sinners, not just the righteous;
I came to bring peace, not to condemn.
Each time you fail to live by my promise,
why do you think I’d love you the less?
‘Come as you are; that’s how I love you;
come as you are, trust me again.
Nothing can change the love that I bear you;
all will be well, just come as you are.’

Prayer of Confession

Words of Assurance

In Christ, your sins are forgiven:
Thanks be to God. Amen!

Passing of the Peace

May the peace of God be with you.
And also with you.

Stewardship – All Are Welcome

God’s love ever reaches out welcoming each one to be part of God’s kingdom of love and grace.
We are connected by grace.

Life in community is a gift. Here we are known and loved welcoming one another as we grow in faith.
We are connected by grace.

Offering and Stewardship Response

To give electronically please go to bpuc.org/give Alternatively, there is an offering bowl near the lectern on the left-hand side as you exit the church.

Welcoming God, Open our eyes to see the connections of grace all around us. May all we do and say be a witness to our love of you and our neighbour.
Grant that we may grow in grace and hope.
In Christ’s name, Amen.

We Sing: All Are Welcome. Verses 1, 2, 3

Let us build a house where love can dwell
and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children tell
how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where prophets speak,
and words are strong and true,
where all God’s children dare to seek
to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness
and as symbol of God’s grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where love is found
in water, wine and wheat:
a banquet hall on holy ground
where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus,
is revealed in time and space;
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.

Community News and Notices

Current or previous BP E-news and to sign up to receive BP E-news

Children’s Time

A Church for All
Written by Gayle E. Pitman
Illustrations: Laure Fournier

Used with permission: Albert Whitman & Company.

Children may go downstairs for Sunday School. Parents, you are welcome to join your child in Sunday School if you feel your child may need your assistance. Alternatively, you may wish for your child to remain with you for the duration of worship. Activity packs are available at the entrances.

Choral Anthem – God Be in My Head

John Rutter

Scripture Readings

Psalm 107:1-3 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    those he redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 Common English Bible (CEB)

You remember, brothers and sisters, our efforts and hard work. We preached God’s good news to you, while we worked night and day so we wouldn’t be a burden on any of you. You and God are witnesses of how holy, just, and blameless we were toward you believers. Likewise, you know how we treated each of you like a father treats his own children. We appealed to you, encouraged you, and pleaded with you to live lives worthy of the God who is calling you into his own kingdom and glory.

We also thank God constantly for this: when you accepted God’s word that you heard from us, you welcomed it for what it truly is. Instead of accepting it as a human message, you accepted it as God’s message, and it continues to work in you who are believers.

From this, shines forth the Word of God.
Thanks be to God.

Message

We Sing: All Are Welcome. Verses 4 and 5

Let us build a house where hands will reach
beyond the wood and stone
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach,
and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the stranger
bear the image of God’s face:
let us bring an end to fear and danger:

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where all are named,
their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured, taught and claimed
as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter,
prayers of faith and songs of grace,
let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.

Prayers of the People

Communion

Everyone is invited to participate in communion. This morning we will gather in a circle as the people of God.

Setting of the Table

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

May God be with you.
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts!
We lift them up to our God.

Let us give thanks to God our Creator.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

… And so we raise our voices, together with heaven and earth, your people throughout all time and in all places, and all of creation, saying:
Holy, holy, holy God, of all creation and life,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory,
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
Hosanna in the highest!

Words of Institution

that we may know Christ’s presence, through this visible sign of your grace and be his faithful followers, showing your love for all of creation.

The Lord’s Prayer

And now with the confidence of the children of God, let us pray the prayer Jesus taught us saying…

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be Your name,

your Kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in Heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins,

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours

now and forever. Amen.

The Breaking of the Bread

The Communion

Prayer After Communion

We Sing: Draw the Circle Wide

Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide,
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.
No one stands alone,
We’ll stand side by side.
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.

Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide,
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.
No one stands alone,
We’ll stand side by side.
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.

Draw the circle wide.
Draw it wider still,
Let this be our song No one stands alone!
Standing side by side,
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.

Draw the circle wide.
Draw it wider still,
Let this be our song
No one stands alone!
Standing side by side,
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.

Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide,
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.
No one stands alone,
We’ll stand side by side.
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.

Draw the circle wide.
Draw it wider still,
Let this be our song
No one stands alone!
Standing side by side,
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.

Draw the circle wide.
Draw it wider still,
Let this be our song
No one stands alone!
Standing side by side,
Draw the circle,
Draw the circle wide.

Words: Colin Light. Music: Mark a Miller. Words © 1994 Common Cup Co; music. © 2008 Abingdon Press, admin. By the Copyright Company. Words used with permission under copyright CCLI Licence No. 137219. Copyright cleared music for churches

Sending Forth and Benediction

Choral Blessing – Depart With the Peace of God

Tscharke

Postlude

Please stay for our Congregational Meeting, then come and share morning tea together, in the basement. There are stairs behind the organ and a ramp between the church and the car park leading to the basement. You are welcome!

“A Church for All”, the book read in Children’s Time, was used with permission, thanks to Albert Whitman & Company.

Some of the liturgy in this service has been adapted from: Uniting in Worship 2, Deeper Water: resources for immersive worship (Craig Mitchell), Liturgy, Learning 7 (purposeful) Life. Worship resources (MediaCom), Spill the Beans