Order of Service – 8th October 2023

The Order of Service follows below.

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Kardlayirdi Karnungga
The light on the hill

October 8th, 2023
Pentecost 19. Older Person’s Sunday
Preacher: Rev Linda Driver
Liturgical colour: Green

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!

Lighting of the Candles and Introit – God gives us a future

JM Brierley/Elizabeth Smith Together in Song 687

Call to Worship

Based on Psalm 19

The heavens declare the glory of God!
The skies proclaim God’s wonders!

God’s teachings are wise!
God’s ways revive our weary hearts!

Let us join with the heavens in praising God.
May the words of our mouths and the meditations on all our hearts praise and honour you today and every day.

We Sing: Praise with Joy The World’s Creator

Praise with joy the world’s Creator,
God of justice, love and peace,
source and end of human knowledge,
force of greatness without cease.
Celebrate the Maker’s glory,
power to rescue and release.
Praise the Son who feeds the hungry,
frees the captive, finds the lost,
heals the sick, upsets religion,
fearless both of fate and cost.
Celebrate Christ’s constant presence –
Friend and Stranger, Guest and Host.
Praise the Spirit sent among us,
liberating truth from pride,
forging bonds where race or gender,
age or nation dare divide.
Celebrate the Spirit’s treasure –
foolishness none dare deride.
Praise the Maker, Son and Spirit,
one God in community,
calling Christians to embody
oneness and diversity.
Thus the world shall yet believe, when
shown Christ’s vibrant unity.

Together in Song, 179, John L. Bell 1949- and Graham Maule 1958- Words from Wild Goose Songs 1, Heaven Shall Not Wait. Words used with permission under copyright CCLI Licence No 37219. Copyright cleared music for churches.

Prayer of Adoration

God our Creator, Our thoughts cannot contain you; our words fall short of your vastness.
Yet you are our God.

God of all ages, your breath gives us life. Your hands shape our being. Your artistry in creation leaves us gasping in wonder, longing to experience that which is of you. In each person, there you are, if we could but discern you.
Accept us again, O ancient yet ever new God,
as we gather to worship and adore you.
Amen.

Responsive Prayer

We walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before
and know that we are not alone on this journey.

We walk in the footsteps of those who are older
and know that they go before us.

We walk in the footsteps of God
For the feet of God have walked this way.

The footsteps of God will become for us the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Thanks be to God!

Prayer of Confession

Gracious God, we know that there is a time to be born, a time to grow old and a time to die. We know that ageing is a part of life.
Yet sometimes we forget.

Sometimes we fail to embrace the life of our older people. We confess that we sometimes do not hear the voices of our older people, their needs and concerns. In our busy daily life, sometimes we just don’t stop and listen.
Forgive us when we close our ears to our older people.

We confess that we sometimes become reluctant to share precious resources of life with our older people. In this competitive world, too often our priorities go to where we readily see new life, youth and the promise of worldly success.
Forgive us for our failure to share.

We confess that many Indigenous Australians never know old age, or become old before their time, through the struggles in their lives.
Forgive us when we fail to notice and act.

Loving God, the Giver of Life, bring to us the awareness that our life depends on each other. We are called to uphold each other, especially those who are weak, frail and vulnerable. Fill us with your compassion, love and grace, the grace that walks with us, embracing even our death. In the name of Christ,
Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness

God is love.
Through Christ, God reaches out to us,
embracing the young and the old,
the strong and the weak,
the living and the dying.
In Christ we are one.
Thanks be to God.

Passing of the Peace

May the grace and peace of 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…

Church Council and Linda

We Sing –

Congregation sings 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.

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: – Be Thou My Vision

Arr. Rosemary Nairn

Prayer of Illumination

As we prepare to hear the Word,
may we open our hands to receive,

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

Bible Reading

Philippians 3:4b-14 (NRSVue)

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

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

Message

Affirmation of Faith

Together let us affirm our faith:
We believe in God who is creating all that is,
who knows our hearts and loves us as we are,
who speaks to us in our deepest beings,
who calls people of all ages
to abundant life and wholeness.

Christ Jesus shows us the Way,
guiding us and healing our bodies and minds,
sharing our joys and sufferings,
crossing all human barriers and distinctions,
transforming the power of death into new life.

The Holy Spirit is the gift of God’s life with us now,
giving us the courage to take new paths,
and the strength to continue the journey
in different stages and ages of our lives.

In solitude, vulnerability, compassion and love,
the Spirit reveals her presence with us.

Amen.

We Sing: God of Generations

God of generations, we are all your children;
To your church we bring our gifts, our worship and our song.
Young and old we follow, hand in hand together:
In your great love, together we are strong.
Christ, you welcomed children, called us to be like them,
And received a boy’s small gift to feed a hungry crowd.
In our church’s children, may we see you working:
More than “our future”! They are faithful now.
Spirit, freely moving, giving youth a vision,
By your grace young Jeremiah heard your loving call;
Mary was a young one when she learned her mission:
Through faithful youth, you offer truth to all.
God of men and women, Helper on our journey,
You have called us in our faith to grow and to mature.
May we keep on learning, worshipping, and praying,
That each new day, we’ll serve you all the more.
Abraham and Sarah trusted in your promise:
Age was no condition when you gave them work to do.
Old and young, we follow, hand in hand together;
At every age, Lord, we belong to you.

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer

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 in the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours

now and forever. Amen.

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 – Now Thank We All Our God

Offering Prayer:

We dedicate this money and these gifts we offer, O God, for the work of your church, asking that you use all that we have, and all that we are, in your service.
Amen

We Sing: For Everyone Born

For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread;
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star overhead.

And God will delight when we are creators of justice
and joy, compassion and peace:
yes God will delight when we are creators of justice,
justice and joy.
For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong.

And God will delight when we are creators of justice
and joy, compassion and peace:
yes God will delight when we are creators of justice,
justice and joy.
For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out to witness and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be free.

And God will delight when we are creators of justice
and joy, compassion and peace:
yes God will delight when we are creators of justice,
justice and joy.

Word of Mission

Benediction

And may the blessing of the one God Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, be with you and remain with you always.
Amen.

Go in peace to love and serve in all you do
In the name of Christ. Amen.

Choral Blessing: – God be with you till we meet again

Rosemary Nairn

Postlude

Chimes – O Waly Waly

arr. Rosemary Nairn

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.

Older Person’s Sunday Discipleship Ideas

Over Morning Tea or at another gathering during the week, you are invited to try out the intergenerational activity provided or download at https://www.bpuc.org/intergenhistory/

Read more from UnitingCare Australia about ageing to our full potential https://unitingcare.org.au/advocacy-post/ageing-to-our-full-potential/

.. and join Uniting Friends of Ageing https://unitingcare.org.au/uniting-friends-of-ageing/

And don’t forget to..

Check out the Nature Festival on now (October 1-15) https://www.naturefestival.org.au/events
Register for the Aussie Bird Count (October 16-22) and start getting to know the birds in your neighbourhood. https://aussiebirdcount.org.au

Some of the liturgy in this service has been adapted from:
Liturgy, Learning, & (purposeful) Life. Pentecost 2, 2023. Year A.
Writers: Bec Lindsay and Amanda Nicholas Seasons of the Spirit: Seasons Fusion. Pentecost 2, 2023 Older Persons Sunday: Dignity and Hope for All Ages. UnitingCare Australia. 2022