A Light on the Hill

Order of Service – Maundy Thursday

The Order of Service follows below.

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Brougham Place Uniting Church
Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A Light on the Hill

Thursday April 17, 6.00pm
Maundy Thursday

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

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)

Introduction and Call to Worship

We have come to worship the Trinity,
One God, three persons,
beyond our understanding
yet constantly revealing themselves to us.

We have come to worship an infinite being
who took on finite flesh: fully human and fully divine—
a being who is love itself,
yet loathes injustice;
who is almighty,
yet let go of power
to be in solidarity with outcasts and criminals.

We gather to worship the living God
who died.

We sing: Holy Spirit, Come To Us

Holy Spirit, come to us,
kindle in us the fire of your love.
Holy Spirit, come to us,
Holy Spirit, come to us. (we sing 5 times)

Author: The Community of Taize. Tune: Tui amoris ignem. Composer: Jacques Berthier. c 1998 Taize Community, France, GIA Publications, Inc.

First Reading: Luke 22:7-13

The Day of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John with this task: “Go and prepare for us to eat the Passover meal.”

They said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”

Jesus replied, “When you go into the city, a man carrying a water jar will meet you. Follow him to the house he enters. Say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher says to you, “Where is the guestroom where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?”’ He will show you a large upstairs room, already furnished. Make preparations there.” They went and found everything just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

Invitation to Christ’s Table

Great prayer of thanksgiving / A litany of in between

In the limbo of uncertainty, when all we can do is wait—
with those between pays, between jobs, between meals,
with those in hospital rooms or prison cells,
Ever-present Jesus, abide.

With those who fight to be believed by doctors,
who wait for diagnosis, treatment, or results,
and with those who have Long COVID or other serious conditions,
Jesus the Suffering Savior, abide.

With those in the closet, and those who’ve just come out,
with those waiting for surgery, or HRT, or radical acceptance,
Rainbow God, abide.

With those who are sick of waiting:
Indigenous people seeking self-determination
and opportunity for truth-telling,
and all those who find themselves burning out
in the endless efforts to resist injustice,
Creator God, abide.

With all who scramble between
life and death, survival and thriving:
immigrants and refugees,
the peoples of occupied lands—
bombed, displaced, and denied aid—
Jesus the refugee, abide.

With those enduring the worst of climate change,
and all whose homes or whole communities
have been ravaged by natural disasters,
Creator God, abide.

With all whom our society fails to protect:
those who are unhoused,
and those whose homes are fractured by violence,
those experiencing mental illness or addiction,
and all who are shoved to the margins,
Persecuted Christ, abide.

And when the in-between becomes permanent
with no going back to how things were,
in our moments of despair at the world’s pain,
we cry out,
“How Long, Oh Lord?!”

Abide with us, everlasting God.
Abide with us.

Co-creating and co-suffering God…

…May it give us courage,
just as it surely gave you courage on that night many years ago.
Amen.

Words of Institution

Adapted from Luke 22:14-20.

Breaking of the Bread

Communion Song: Eat This Bread

Eat this bread, drink this cup,
come to him and never be hungry.
Eat this bread, drink this cup,
trust in him and you will not thirst.

Author: Robert J. Batastini and The Community of Taize. Tune: EAT THIS BREAD. Composer: Jacques Berthier. c 1984 Taize Community, France, GIA Publications, Inc.

Prayer after Communion

Continuing the Feast

Second Reading: Luke 22:24-27

A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. But he said to them, “The kings of the gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather, the greatest among you must become like the youngest and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves…”

Group Conversation or Reflection

  1. How do you think Jesus would define power?

  2. What does it mean for the greatest to become the least, and for the leader to be like a servant?

  3. How can our faith community, or the whole Church, lean into Jesus’ servant model of leadership?

  4. Have there been times when you felt you had to be the greatest, the holiest, the most pious—or that you were not holy enough or good enough? How do you work through those feelings?

Journeying to the Cross

We sing: Stay with Me

Stay with me, remain here with me,
watch and pray, watch and pray. (sing 7 times through)

Author: The Community of Taize. Tune: STAY WITH ME. Composer: Jacques Berthier. c 1984 Taize Community, France, GIA Publications

Sending Words

We Strip the Table

Offering

If you would like to make an Offering towards the ministry of our Church, you can give electronically: go to bpuc.org/give

Alternatively, there is an offering bowl on the table on the left-hand side by the lectern.

This service has been based on a Liturgy by Avery Arden A Sanctified Art LLC sanctifiedart.org

www.bpuc.org