Order of Service – 25th February 2024

The Order of Service follows below.

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Brougham Place Uniting Church

Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A light on the hill

25 February 2024. 10.00 am
Lent 2
Preacher: Rev Linda Driver
Liturgical colour: Purple

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

Prelude

Welcome

Niina marni!
Marni’ai!

Acknowledgment of Country

Introit and Lighting of the Candles

Take Up Your Cross.
Together in Song 583

Call to Worship

We follow Christ,
who invites us to take up our cross.

We follow Christ,
who bids us come and offer the whole of our lives.

We follow Christ,
who summons us into new life.

Come, let us worship God.

Prayer of Invocation

Loving God, turn to us – speak to us. Be near to us and help us to turn towards life in its fullness.
Shape us, inspire us, challenge us –
give us new hearts and new imagination
bound up in your purposes and hopes for all creation.

Be with us this day.

We Sing: Fresh As the Morning

God of the Bible, God in the Gospel,
hope seen in Jesus, hope yet to come,
you are our center, daylight or darkness,
freedom or prison, you are our home.

Refrain:
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
God in our struggles, God in our hunger,
suffering with us, taking our part,
still you empow’r us, mothering Spirit,
feeding, sustaining, from your own heart.

Refrain:
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Those without status, those who are nothing,
you have made royal, gifted with rights,
chosen as partners, midwives of justice,
birthing new systems, lighting new lights.

Refrain:
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Not by your finger, not by your anger
will our world order change in a day,
but by your people, fearless and faithful,
small paper lanterns, lighting the way.

Refrain:
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Hope we must carry, shining and certain
through all our turmoil, terror and loss,
bonding us gladly one to the other,
till our world changes, facing the Cross.

Refrain:
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.

Prayer of Confession

Christ calls us to follow.
Sometimes, we are afraid.

Christ calls us to love the world.
Sometimes, we are afraid.

Christ calls us to work for justice.
Sometimes, we are afraid.

Ancient of Days, we are sorry for the times and places where we have not responded to your call to love our neighbours and to work for justice. We pray that you might give us the courage to follow Christ in the moments, the days, and the weeks ahead. Amen.

Words of Grace

Hear then this Good News: In Christ, your sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God. Amen

Passing of the Peace

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

Community News and Notices

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

Children’s Time

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

Come Down, O Love Divine.
Flexible Anthem 10. p46

Scripture Reading: Mark 8:31-38

Then [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

The Gospel of Christ, Light of the world.
Thanks be to God.

Sermon

A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition

I am no longer my own, but yours.

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you or laid aside for you;
exalted for you or brought low for you;
let me be full, let me be empty;
let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours,
to the glory and praise of your name. Amen

We Sing: God Who Sets Us on A Journey

God who sets us on a journey
To discover dream and grow
Lead us as You led Your people
In the desert long ago
Journey inward journey outward
Stir the spirit stretch the mind
Love for God and self and neighbour
Marks the way that Christ defined
Exploration brings new insights
Changes choices we must face
Give us wisdom in deciding
Mindful always of Your grace
Should we stumble lose our bearings
Find it hard to know what’s right
We regain our true direction
Focused on the Jesus light
End our longing for the old days
Grant the vision that we lack
Once we’ve started on this journey
There can be no turning back
Let us travel light discarding
Excess baggage from our past
Cherish only what’s essential
Choosing treasure that will last
When we set up camp and settle
To avoid love’s risk and pain
You disturb complacent comfort
Pull the tent pegs up again
Keep us travelling in the knowledge
You are always at our side
Give us courage for the journey
Christ our goal and Christ our guide

Prayers of the People

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.

Offering

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.

Offering Prayer

We Sing: The Summons Linda

Will you come and follow Me
If I but call your name
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same
Will you let My love be shown
Will you let My name be known
Will you let My life be grown
In you and you in Me
Will you leave yourself behind
If I but call your name
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same
Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare
Will you let Me answer prayer
In you and you in Me
Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name
Will you set the prisoners free
And never be the same
Will you kiss the leper clean
And do such as this unseen
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in Me
Will you love the you you hide
If I but call your name
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same
Will you use the faith you’ve found
To reshape the world around
Through My sight and touch and sound
In you and you in Me

AGM Announcement and Musical Interlude

***

After the AGM we continue in worship

We Sing: The Summons

Lord Your summons echoes true
When You but call my name
Let me turn and follow You
And never be the same
In Your company I’ll go
Where Your love and footsteps show
Thus I’ll move and live and grow
In You and You in me

Sending Forth and Benediction

As you journey with God through Lent may you find the road that leads to life and pause to accompany others on the way.

May God take your hand as you go, Christ be your constant companion, and the Spirit guide you on the Way this day and for evermore. Amen.

Choral Blessing:

The Lord Bless You and Keep You.
Together in Song 776. (2) Aaronic

Postlude

Come and share morning tea together, downstairs in the basement. There are stairs behind the organ and a ramp between the church and the car park leading to the basement.

Some of the liturgy in this service is adapted from the work of:

Rosemary Lamie, First Congregational Church of Greenwich.

Words for Worship, Mediacom Education

Bec Lindsay in Leadership, Learning and Purposeful Life (L3)

The Scripture Readings are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.