Order of Service – 2nd February 2025

The Order of Service follows below.

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Brougham Place Uniting Church
Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A light on the hill

Epiphany 4 February 2^nd, 2025, 10.00 am
Preacher: Trevor Phillips
Liturgical Colour: Green

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

Niina marni!
(Are you all good?)
Marni’ai!
(Good I am)

Lighting of the Candles

Call to Worship:

You are my refuge.
You are my rock.

You are my strength.
You are my rock.

I celebrate your faithfulness.
You are my rock.

Come, let us worship
God our rock.

We Sing: The Great Love of God

The great love of God
is revealed in the Son,
who came to this earth
to redeem everyone.
That love, like a stream
flowing clear to the sea,
makes clean everyheart
that from sin would be free.
It binds the whole world,
every barrier it breaks,
the hills it lays low,
and the mountains it shakes.
It’s yours, it is ours,
O how lavishly giv’n!
the pearl of great price,
and the treasure of heav’n.

Together in Song 164. Words by Daniel Thambyrajah Niles 1908 -1970. Arrangement by C. Vijaya from the CCA. Hymnal by permission Christian Conference of Asia. All rights reserved. ONE LICENSE. License #A‑604444.

Opening Prayer

God who has been present through the ages,
may we learn your faithfulness from the stories of the past.

We come to worship you,
thankful for your steadfast love.
Amen.

Prayer of Confession

In you, O God, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.

Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

For you, O God, are my hope,
my trust, O God, from my youth.

Upon you I have learned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.

I have been like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.

My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all day long.
Amen.

Words of Assurance (Psalm 71:23)

The psalmist declares their trust in God, naming God’s faithful presence and gentle strength. May you also know God’s unwavering love, to declare with the psalmist:

My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have rescued.
Amen.

Passing of the Peace

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

Community News and Notices

Link for 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.

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now, we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.

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

Message: Trevor Phillips

We Sing: I the Lord of sea and sky (Here I am Lord)

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin
my hand will save.
I who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?

    Here I am, Lord, is it I, Lord?
    I have heard you calling in the night;
    I will go, Lord, if you lead me;
    I will hold your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain;
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my word to them.
Whom shall I send?

    Here I am, Lord, is it I, Lord?
    I have heard you calling in the night;
    I will go, Lord, if you lead me;
    I will hold your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of wind and flame
I will tend the poor and lame;
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide
till their hearts are satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?

    Here I am, Lord, is it I, Lord?
    I have heard you calling in the night;
    I will go, Lord, if you lead me;
    I will hold your people in my heart.

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

Prayers of the People

God of Love: Beloved and Love itself.
You call us to be your people.
You call us to live with love.
You call us to name injustice in the world.
You call us to proclaim your presence.

God of Love: Beloved and Love itself.
Teach us to live as your body in all that we do and say.
Pour out your Spirit, use us to transform the world.
Amen.

We Sing: For Your Generous Providing

For your generous providing
which sustains us all our days,
for your Spirit here residing
we proclaim our heartfelt praise.
Through the depths of joy and sorrow,
though the road be smooth or rough,
fearless, we can face tomorrow
for your grace will be enough.
Hush our world’s seductive noises
tempting us to stand alone;
save us from the siren voices
calling us to trust our own.
For those snared by earthly treasure,
lured by false security,
Jesus, true and only measure,
spring the trap to set folk free.
Round your table, through your giving,
show us how to live and pray
till your kingdom’s way of living
is the bread we share each day:
bread for us and for our neighbour,
bread for body mind and soul,
bread of heaven and human labour –
broken bread that makes us whole.

Church Hymnary 4 655. Music: The Columbian Harmony, Cincinatti 1825. Arr Marty Haugen (b.1950). Text: Leith Fisher 1941-2009. Text copyright 1987, WGRG, Iona Community, administered in Australia by Willow Publishing Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. ONE LICENSE, License #A‑604444.

Communion

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.

This is the table of our Lord Jesus Christ. In great humility and love Jesus lived among us, he became one of us.

He came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came, not to condemn us, but to save us from our sins. He understands our doubts, our lack of faith, our longing for more love, more holiness of life;
He accepts us for who we are and calls us to be his disciples.

We praise you, O God, that in your mercy you gave your only Son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
We give thanks for his humble birth, for his life and ministry of love, for his sufferings and death on the cross, for his glorious resurrection and ascension, and for the promise that he will come again.

O God, by your word and Spirit bless and sanctify this bread and this wine, that they may be for us the communion of the body and blood of Christ, and that he may ever live in us and we in him.
Father accept us, as we offer and present ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a holy and living sacrifice;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory, now and for ever.

…We join together with the voices of heaven and earth 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

We remember…

… offering our hands in faithful service, and showing your love for all of creation.
Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all honour and glory is yours, God of Love,
for ever and ever, Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Let us pray together in the words that Jesus taught us:

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 thank you for this meal, God of love, and for welcoming us to this table.
May our lives be strengthened to follow the example of Jesus,
who called us to share love and to serve others.
May God’s Spirit draw us closer so that we may be found centred in God’s grace,
enfolded in God’s love,
and reflecting God’s light into the world.
Amen

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.

Sending Forth and Benediction

Postlude

Please join us for morning tea 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!

Compiled with the assistance of:

Liturgy, Learning & (purposeful) Life. Worship resources (MediaCom). Writer: Bec Lindsay

The Scripture Readings are from the NRSVUE. 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.