Order of Service – 29th December 2024

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

December 29, 2024
Preacher: Rev Dr Ian Price
Liturgical week: First Sunday after Christmas; Colour: White

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

Welcome! As you wait for worship to begin, please turn your phone to silent.

Prelude

Welcome and Acknowledgment of Country

Naa marni?
(Are you all good?)
Marni Ai!
(Good I am)

We acknowledge that we meet together on the land of the Kaurna people. We pay our respect to the elders past and present whose care nurtures this land, its people, its creatures, its plants, and its waters.

Lighting of the Candles

Call to Worship

We gather to encounter the goodness and grace of God, to draw closer to Christ, and to listen for the guidance and wisdom of the Spirit.
Let us worship God the creator,
Christ the saviour born among us,
and the Spirit – bringer of life.

Prayer

We sing: Hark! The herald Angels Sing

Hark! the herald angels sing
glory to the new-born King,
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful, all you nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with the angelic host proclaim,
‘Christ is born in Bethlehem’.

Hark! the herald angels sing
glory to the new-born King.
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of a virgin’s womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail the incarnate Deity,
pleased in human flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.

Hark! the herald angels sing
glory to the new born King.
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings:
mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more need die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.

Hark! the herald angels sing
glory to the new born King.

Together in Song 303. Charles Wesley 1707-88 and others. Public Domain.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Confession

Words of Assurance

Our God is indeed merciful and abounding in steadfast love. Like the promised child who would be the shepherd of God’s people, so God will shepherd us in the ways of light. In Christ, we are forgiven!
Thanks be to God!

Passing the Peace

The peace of our God be with you.
And also with you.

Notices and community concerns

Go to our website to view current or previous issues of BP E-news and to sign up to receive BP E-news by email.

Baptism of Alexander, son of Karagh and Gregory White

Welcome

Scripture Sentences

The Meaning of Baptism

The Confession of Faith

Please join me in our Confession of Faith:

We are not alone; we live in God’s world.

We believe in God:
who has created and is creating;
who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new;
who works in us and others by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence;
to love and serve others;
to seek justice and resist evil;
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Baptism

Responses

…Friends in Christ, will you promise to maintain a life of worship and teaching, witness and service so that this child and all the children among you may grow in the Grace of Jesus Christ and the knowledge and love of God?
With God’s help, we will live out our baptism
As a loving community in Christ:
We will nurture one another in faith,
uphold one another in prayer,
And encourage one another in service.
Amen.

Prayers

We sing: May the Feet of God Walk With You

May the feet of God walk with you,
and his hand hold you tight.
May the eye of God rest on you,
and his ear hear your cry.
May the smile of God be for you,
and his breath give you life.
May the Child of God grow in you,
and his love bring you home.

Presentation

Blessing

Children’s Time

Five Shepherds on Boxing Day (Subtle Bricks)

Scripture

Colossians 3:12-17

Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Luke 2:41-52

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this. Assuming that he was in the group of travellers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favour.

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

We sing: Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

Infant holy,
infant lowly,
for his bed a cattle stall;
oxen lowing,
little knowing
Christ the babe is Lord of all;
swift are winging
angels singing,
nowells ringing,
tidings bringing,
Christ the babe is Lord of all,
Christ the babe is Lord of all.
Flocks were sleeping,
shepherds keeping
vigil till the morning new
saw the glory,
heard the story,
tidings of a gospel true;
thus rejoicing,
free from sorrow,
praises voicing,
greet the morrow,
Christ the babe was born for you,
Christ the babe was born for you.

Together in Song 292. Polish Carol (?13^th cent.). Edith Gellibrand Reed 1885-1933. Translation from The Kingsway Carol Book © E. G. Reed by permission HarperCollins Publishers. Public Domain.

Address: Belonging

We sing: Joy to the World

Joy to the world! The Lord is come;
let earth receive its king;
let every heart prepare him room,
and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth! The Saviour reigns;
let us our songs employ;
while fields and streams, rocks, hills and plains
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of his righteousness
and wonders of his love,
and wonders of his love,
and wonders, wonders of his love.

Together in Song 268. Isaac Watts, 1674 – 1748 alt. based on Psalm 98. Public Domain.

Offering and Offertory Prayer

To give electronically towards the ministry of Brougham Place, please go to bpuc.org/give

Alternatively, there is an offering bowl near the lectern on your left at the front of the church.

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.

We sing: Because We Bear Your Name

Lord Jesus, we belong to you,
you live in us, we live in you;
we live and work for you

because we bear your name.
Help us receive each other, Lord,
for you receive the least of us
and come to us in them –

because we bear your name.
Bless those who give us any gift,
because they know that we are yours;
reward them with your grace –

because we bear your name.
Let us acknowledge those as friends
who use your name to right a wrong,
but have not joined us yet –

because we bear your name.
Let nothing that we do or say
offend the weak so that they fail
and lose their faith in you –

because we bear your name.
Keep us from missing out on life;
give hands that help, and single sight,
and feet that walk your way –

because we bear your name.
You are the salt that cleanses us,
so clean us out, and make us fit
for common life with you –

Because we bear your name.

Benediction

Postlude

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. All are welcome!

This service has been prepared with assistance from

MediaCom Education – Words for Worship

The Scripture quotation is from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition (NRSVUE). Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States.