Order of Service – 3rd November 2024

The Order of Service follows below.

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Brougham Place Uniting Church
Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A Light on the Hill

November 3, 2024
Preacher: Rev Linda Driver
Pent 24 (Proper 26). Green. Stewardship

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)

Lighting of the Candles

Call to Worship

The people of God say:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

The people of God say:
the Earth and all it contains are one creation.

The people of God say:
the world belongs to God.

The people of God say:
let us worship.

We Sing: Inspiring Love

Love divine, all love inspiring,
joy of heav’n on earth is known;
you, the heart of all that’s living,
you, the breath, the mind, the soul.
All creation sings your praises,
plains and mountains, sea and sky;
we will join the sacred chorus,
we will sing your love through time.
Jesus come to dwell among us,
Holy love personified.
Wisdom of the broad wide cosmos,
timeless star dust in your eyes.
With your touch you healed and welcomed,
with your words you showed us your way;
now we follow your path of justice,
spread your peace more day by day.
Breath of Life, breathe ever hopeful,
liberate from tyranny.
Blow, wind, blow, and carry onward
humans into unity.
Help us weave our threads together,
vibrant, strong, community;
we are one, one body in Spirit;
found in wonder, love, are we.

Words: Rev Dr Sarah Agnew, in loving memory of her father David. Used with permission Tune: ‘Love divine, all loves excelling’ – HYFRYDOL

Opening Prayer

God, you hold the universe in your embrace, you make the world a home for all its creatures,
you welcome us into life in every new day.

We gather today in love and thankfulness.
We gather today in courage and hope.

This is the day that you have made:
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Amen.

Prayer of Confession and Word of Grace

We confess that you are our God:
the Lord our God,
the Lord is one.

We confess the greatest commandment:
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.

We confess your call of love:
Love your neighbour as yourself.

Confession is not only words, it must reach into our living and being.
Teach us to live what we confess, O God.
Amen

Passing of the Peace

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

Community News and Notices

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.

Children’s Time

The children are invited to sit with their families in preparation for Communion.

We Sing: Yesu Yesu

    Yesu, Yesu,
    fill us with your love,
    show us how to serve
    the neighbours we have from you.

Kneels at the feet of his friends,
silently washes their feet:
master who acts as a slave to them.

    Yesu, Yesu,
    fill us with your love,
    show us how to serve
    the neighbours we have from you.
Neighbours are wealthy and poor,
varied in colour and race,
neighbours are near us and far away.

    Yesu, Yesu,
    fill us with your love,
    show us how to serve
    the neighbours we have from you.
These are the ones we should serve,
these are the ones we should love;
all these are neighbours to us and you.

    Yesu, Yesu,
    fill us with your love,
    show us how to serve
    the neighbours we have from you.
Loving puts us on our knees,
silently washing their feet,
this is the way we should live with you.

    Yesu, Yesu,
    fill us with your love,
    show us how to serve
    the neighbours we have from you.

Together in Song 640 ’Yesu, Yesu Fill Us with Your Love.” Words: Tom Colvin and people of Ghana. alt Words & Music © 1969 by Hope Publishing Co. Words used with permission under copyright CCLI Licence No. 137219. Copyright cleared music for churches.

Communion

Invitation

Words of Institution

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

Let us give our thanks to God:

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.

Let us pray…

…we say with every person who has been at this table in every time and in every place:
Holy, holy, holy God
God of power and might
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 Breaking of the Bread

And so, we will together share in this bread and this wine – and remember Jesus.
These are the gifts of God for us, the people of God.

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 Communion

Let us all drink together:
The cup of hope.
Thank you, Jesus!

Prayer After Communion

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.

We Sing: When Ruth Set Out..

When Ruth set out for Naomi’s land,
embraced her people, God and law,
new love and joy came to Bethlehem
in barley-field and threshing-floor.
A bitter woman grows sweet again,
an old man gains a loyal wife,
a child is born and a town is blessed
as loving-kindness leads to life.
Wherever grief leaves a broken heart,
let women’s care help healing flow.
Where dreams are dashed and where darkness falls,
let women’s hope and courage grow.
Wherever age, faith or race divides,
where fear and hatred still surround,
let gifts of friendship transform the world
as women search for common ground.

Scripture Readings

Ruth 1:1-18

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

So she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said,

“Do not press me to leave you,
    to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
    where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people
    and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die,
    and there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus to me,
    and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”

When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

Mark 12:28-34

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

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

Message

We Sing: Make Me a Channel of Your Peace’

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me bring your love;
where there is injury, your pardon, Lord;
and where there’s doubt, true faith in you.

    O Master, grant that I may never seek
    so much to be consoled as to console,
    to be understood as to understand,
    to be loved, as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope;
where there is darkness, let me bring your light;
and where there is sadness, ever joy.

    O Master, grant that I may never seek
    so much to be consoled as to console,
    to be understood as to understand,
    to be loved, as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
in giving of ourselves that we receive,
and in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

Together in Song 607. Based on an anonymous prayer (?French) c.1900 This version by Johann Sebastian Templehoff (‘Sebastian Temple’) 1928-. Words and Music by permission of Oregon Catholic Press. All rights reserved. One License, License #A‑604444.

Prayers of the People

Loving God, transform us yet again, alongside many others,
that we, like Ruth, will be determined to care for people, beyond our safe communities.

Loving God, transform us yet again, alongside many others,
that we may embrace, value and relate positively to all people,
so that your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Loving God, transform us yet again, alongside many others,
so that we may LOVE like you: compassionately, openly, wisely and justly.
This we pray and plead in Jesus’ name. Amen

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 at the front of the church.

Offering Prayer

You give us everything, Loving God.
May we share our love in response.
Amen.

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.

Sending Forth and Benediction

We go back out into the world to love and serve the world around us,
just as this church fellowship has done for 165 years.

We go out, held in the loving arms of God who creates, redeems, supports, and sustains us.
We go, scaffolded with love.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

Postlude

Come and share morning tea together in the basement. There are stairs behind the organ. You are welcome.

This service has been prepared with assistance from

Liturgy Learning & (Purposeful) Life (L3). Writer: Bec Lindsay

Words for Worship (MediaCom)

Bible Reading: New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Communion Liturgy based on a resource For When Children Are Present by Roddy Hamilton.