Order of Service – 12th January 2025

The Order of Service follows below.

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Brougham Place Uniting Church
Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A Light on the Hill

January 12, 2025

Preacher: Rev Dr Ian Price
Worship Leader: Dr Deidre Palmer
Reader: Dr Lawrie Palmer
Musicians: Peter Murchland and Jenny Symonds
Solo and Blessing: Nigel Hall
Liturgical week: Baptism of our Lord; 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 Acknowledgement 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

Come one and all to experience anew the life-giving love of God; the God who created us, who formed us, who redeems us
We come to worship God!

Come and worship the One who has called us by name and claims us.
We come to worship God!

Prayer

Spirit of life, come amongst us once more. Call to us that we might remember we are your daughters and sons – beloved and made whole.

Spirit of life
Claim us

Spirit of life
Enfold us

Spirit of life
Make us whole

We Sing: Come and Find the Quiet Centre

Come and find the quiet centre
in the crowded life we lead.
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
Clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace, and simply be.
Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, touches base,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we’re shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.
In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other’s pain,
let our loves and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
There’s a place for deepest dreaming,
there’s a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit’s lively scheming
there is always room to spare.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Confession

Passing the Peace

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

Community News and Notices

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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.

Solo – Nigel Hall

Scripture:

Acts 8:14-17

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

We Sing: Christ Be My Leader

Christ be my leader by night as by day;
safe through the darkness, for he is the way.
Gladly I follow, my future his care,
darkness is daylight when Jesus is there.
Christ be my teacher in age as in youth,
drifting or doubting, for he is the truth.
Grant me to trust him, though shifting as sand,
doubt cannot daunt me; in Jesus I stand.
Christ be my Saviour in calm as in strife;
death cannot hold me, for he is the life.
Nor darkness nor doubting nor sin and its stain
can touch my salvation: with Jesus I reign.

Address – Behaving

We sing: Touch the Earth Lightly

Touch the earth lightly,
use the earth gently,
nourish the life of the world in our care:
Gift of great wonder,
ours to surrender,
trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
We who endanger,
who create hunger,
agents of death for all creatures that live.
We who would foster
clouds of disaster,
God of our planet, forestall and forgive!
Let there be greening,
birth from the burning,
water that blesses and air that is sweet,
health in God’s Garden,
hope in God’s children,
regeneration that peace will complete.
God of all living,
God of all loving,
God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,
teach us, deflect us,
Christ re-connect us,
using us gently and making us one.

Offering

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 the left-hand side at the front of the church.

Offering Prayer

Prayers of the People

Gracious God, we are your people, called to your work in the world.

We pray for all of creation as it groans with rebirth under the strain of environmental degradation. Give us hearts and hands to make a difference in our world.
Help us to live out our baptism.

We pray for the poor those who are abused, marginalized, feared and forgotten. Give us hearts and hands to make a difference in our world.
Help us to live out our baptism.

We pray for our nation that we will be a place of striving for equality and reconciliation. Give us hearts and hands to make a difference in our world.
Help us to live out our baptism.

We pray for our city that families and communities will grow in healthy and wise ways. Give us hearts and hands to make a difference in our world.
Help us to live out our baptism.

We pray for your church that we will be a light upon the hill and live out the freedom you offer. Give us hearts and hands to make a difference in our world.
Help us to live out our baptism.

Holy Communion

Setting of the Table

The Words of Institution

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!

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.

Breaking of the Bread

(distribution of the elements)

Prayer after Communion

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

Blessing

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. You are welcome!

This service has been prepared with assistance from

Words for Worship (MediaCom Education)

The Scripture Reading is from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition