A Light on the Hill

Order of Service – 10th September 2023

The Order of Service follows below.

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Kardlayirdi Karnungga
The light on the hill

Season of Creation – Land Sunday
September 10th, 2023
Preacher: Rev Linda Driver
Liturgical colour: aqua

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

Prelude

Welcome and Acknowledgment of Country

Welcome! Niina marni!
Marni’ai!

We worship this Sunday with the land. We celebrate with the grasses, the soils, the vines and the creatures of the land.

We care for Kaurna Land
We care for Kaurna Sky
We care for Kaurna Water
We touch our hearts and say –
Thank you Kaurna People.

Lighting of the Candles and Introit

Lord of earth and all creation

Michael Rayner Thwaites and Honor Mary Thwaites Together in Song 672 (ii)

Opening Prayer

In the name of the Creator, the fountain of life, the name of Christ, the pulse of life, and the name of the Spirit, the breath of life. Amen.
Holy! Holy! Holy!
Earth is filled with God’s presence.

Christ, we come into your presence today to worship in this sanctuary called Earth,
A planet filled with your presence,
quivering in the forests,
vibrating in the land,
pulsating in the arid lands,
shimmering in the rivers.

God, reveal yourself to us in this place and show us your face in all creation.
Holy! Holy! Holy!
Earth is filled with God’s presence.

We Sing: Beneath the Southern Cross

From the ends of the earth we will sing;
God is here, the Kingdom is near.
Shore to shore across ancient lands.
Christ to dwell, Emmanuel.

  1. From north and south, from east and west
    beneath the Southern Cross we rest.
    Found by One who came for all,
    in this tale of spacious love we’re born.

  2. This, the land on which we stand,
    this holy ground made by God’s hand,
    marred and scarred yet marred by grace,
    held and healed, in Christ we find our place.

    From the ends of the earth we will sing;
    God is here, the Kingdom is near.
    Shore to shore across ancient lands.
    Christ to dwell, Emmanuel.

  3. God, our hope, our life, our heart,
    come break our differences apart.
    Strangers once now called as one,
    every soul awake to greet this love!

    From the ends of the earth we will sing;
    God is here, the Kingdom is near.
    Shore to shore across ancient lands.
    Christ to dwell, Emmanuel.

Words and music: Catherine Burton and Malcolm Gordon © 2014 Adapted for the Australian context by The Centre for Music, Liturgy and the Arts and Malcolm Gordon © 2021

God Is with Us Everywhere

Based on Psalm 139:7–12

God is always present with us anywhere on Earth, even in the skies. We can go to the North Pole or the South Pole, or any continent and…
God is there.

You can find any place on a map and know that…
God is there.

We can’t hide from God.
God looks after us and cares for us.

God guides us, and we feel as comfortable as we would if someone was cuddling us. God’s Spirit is like the gusts of wind.
It goes everywhere,
blowing goodness throughout the universe.

God’s Spirit plays hide and seek with us. God peeks through the clouds. God hides below the ocean floor. God is in the green spaces of the land, in the land where it seems nothing will grow. We can’t weigh or measure God. We can’t put a fence around God and keep God in.
God is with us now and will be with us always, whatever may happen to us.

If you are sitting down, lying down, or walking around…
God is there.

If we make mistakes and do things that are wrong, however, we feel…
God is there.

When you look up in the sky and see the moon and the stars…
God is there.
God is with us everywhere.

Remembering

We remember the dry land that rose from the waters in the beginning of creation, and the plants that emerged from the soil to cover the land with vegetation.
We remember with delight the gardens
and the fields of our childhood,
the places where we played in the sand,
when we felt close to the ground,
to bright flowers and baby animals.

We remember and rejoice.
Thank you, God, for the land,
for soils that sustain our life.

Prayer of Confession

We remember and confess that we have become alienated from Earth and cleared much of the life from the land in our garden planet.

We are sorry.
We have killed living soils with excessive chemicals.
We have turned fertile fields into lifeless salt plains.
We have cleared rich lands of wild life.
We have swallowed Earth’s resources in selfish cities.
We are sorry.
We are sorry.

Assurance of Forgiveness / Affirmation

Christ hears our confession from deep in the tomb and forgives our sins against the land.
Christ, teach us to love Earth and reconcile with Earth as our home.

Passing of the Peace

The peace of our 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

Song: Getting to Know You

Choir Only – Sing once through.

As we learn, about you today
As you learn, about us today
As we learn, together on the way
God is here with us to-day.

Getting to know…UCNA and Linda

We Sing – Congregation sings twice.

As we learn, about you today
As you learn, about us today
As we learn, together on the way
God is here with us to-day.

Tune from Love and Anger song 70. African American traditional. © Wild Goose Resource Group. Words M Harris

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: – Look at the World

John Rutter

Introduction to Bible Readings

May the Spirit of God open our eyes to see, our ears to hear,
and our hearts to understand.

Psalm 139:7-12 NRSVue

Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and night wraps itself around me,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

Matthew 12:38-40 NRSVue

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.

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

Message

We Sing: Touch the Earth Lightly

  1. 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.

  2. 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!

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

Together in Song 668. Shirley Erena Murray 1931- Words Shirley Erena Murray, Music: Colin Gibson. Words & Music © 1992 By Hope Publishing Co., Carol Street, IL60188. All rights reserved. ONE LICENSE. License #A‑604444.

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.

Chimes –Thank You for Giving Me the Morning

Offering Prayer

God, our Creator, through your love you have given us these gifts to share. Accept our offerings – of cash, and of gifts n goodies to go towards the East Adelaide Domestic Violence Service (EADVS)., – as an expression of our deep thanks and as signs of our concern for those in need, including our fellow creatures on planet Earth.

With all creation we praise our Creator.
Amen

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,

allowed 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 in 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: Where Wide Sky Rolls Down

  1. Where wide sky rolls down and touches red sand,
    where sun turns to gold the grass of the land,
    let spinifex, mulga and waterhole tell
    their joy in the One who made everything well.

  2. Where rain-forest calm meets reef, tide and storm,
    where green things grow lush and oceans are warm,
    let every sea-creature and tropical bird
    exult in the light of the life-giving Word.

  3. Where red gum and creek cross hillside and plain,
    where cool tree-ferns rise to welcome the rain,
    let bushland, farm, mountain-top, all of their days
    delight in the Spirit who formed them for praise.

  4. Now, people of faith, come gather around
    with songs to be shared, for blessings abound!
    Australians, whatever your culture or race,
    come, lift up your hearts to the Giver of grace.

Together in Song 188. Elizabeth J. Smith 1956- Words © E. J. Smith. All rights reserved. ONE LICENSE, License #A‑604444.

Sending Forth and Benediction

Blessing

Go in peace, serving Christ and loving Earth!
We go in peace,
serving Christ
and tending Earth!

Choral Blessing: – We Face East

BPUC Creation team

Postlude

Chimes – Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah/Redeemer

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.

Some of the liturgy in this service is adapted from Seasons of the Spirit, Wood Lake Publishing; and the Forest Sunday resource from the Season of Creation https://seasonofcreation.org/

Season of Creation Discipleship Ideas

You are invited to try one or more of the following as Spiritual Disciplines during the Season of Creation: