WELCOME Dear friends, we are God’s gift to each other. We come with our own experience of life, we come seeking to discover what we don’t yet know about our God and God’s hopes and dreams for our lives. We declare in Jesus’ name that this is a safe physical, emotional and spiritual environment for all as we search for meaning and purpose in life.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY We live on land which was taken, a land too often called terra nullius & its people unacknowledged within our country’s Constitution. Without this truth telling there can be no justice. And just as Jesus noticed and valued the marginalised of his day who had no voice, so we acknowledge the Dharawal people, their elders past & present and we join with them in their continued search for justice; for God’s justice that flows like a stream.
CHRIST CANDLE We light this candle because it brings light to this place and can bring light to our minds and hearts. We light this candle because it reminds us of Christ Jesus the Light of the world.
CALL TO WORSHIP from Psalm 147
Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God
Sing to the Lord with grateful praise
make music to our God on the harp
the Lord delights in those who fear him
who put their hope in her unfailing love.
HYMN 181
Come, O God of all the earth; come to us, O Righteous One. Come and bring our love to birth; in the glory of your Son.
Chorus: Sing out, earth and skies! Sing of the God who loves you. Raise your joyful cries, Dance to the life around you.
Come, O God of wind and flame; fill the earth with righteousness. Teach us all to sing your name; may our lives your love confess.
Come, O God of flashing light; twinkling star and burning sun. God of day and God of night; in your light we all are one.
Come, O God of snow and rain; shower down upon the earth. Come, O God of joy and pain; God of sorrow, God of mirth.
Come, O Justice, come, O Peace; come and shape our hearts anew. Come and make oppression cease; bring us all to life in you.
Words and music: Marty Haugen Copyright © 1985 by GIA Publications, Inc. 7494 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638 www.giamusic.com. 800-442-1358. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Licence CCLI #31951
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS Ian to talk about Synod
BIBLE READING Janene
Psalm 147: 1 – 11 Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, what a privilege and honour to praise God! The LORD builds up Jerusalem; the LORD gathers the exiles of Israel. The LORD heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. The LORD determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our LORD and mighty in power; the LORD’s understanding has no limit. God sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. Sing to the LORD with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. God covers the sky with clouds and supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. The LORD provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. God’s pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor delight in the strength of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in her unfailing love.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
If this is a psalm of praise of such Biblical proportions then surely these qualities of God are not our ways Lord, for your actions warm our hearts and give hope to our lives.
Forgive us Lord, if we have not built up others or bound their wounds in word or deed. Forgive us Lord, if we have taken for granted the beauty & wonderful diversity of your creation. Forgive us Lord for taking for granted the delicate balance and interconnectedness of all life on earth & for living life that holds nothing in trust for tomorrow.
And forgive us Lord, for not seeking your reconciling presence this week amidst all the thoughts and conversations we have had with others. By so confessing these things in each other’s presence and in yours may you strengthen and sustain us through your unfailing and constant love – the love we see supremely in Jesus. To God’s name be praise & glory! Amen
GOSPEL READING Janene
Matthew 18: 15 – 20 If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
In your presence Lord, we find words of challenge and grace. Thanks be to God.
HYMN 477
1. Jesus call us here to meet Him, As through word and song and prayer
We affirm God’s promised presence Where His people live and care.
Praise the God who keeps His promise, Praise the Son who calls us friends
Praise the Spirit who among us To our hopes and fears attends.
2. Jesus calls us to confess Him, Word of Life and Lord of All
Sharer of our flesh and frailness, Saving all who fail or fall.
Tell His holy human story, Tell His tales that all may hear
Tell the world that Christ in glory, Came to earth to meet us here.
3. Jesus calls us to each other, Found in Him are no divides
Race and class and sex and language, Such are barriers He derides.
Join the hand of friend and stranger, Join the hands of age and youth
Join the faithful and the doubter, In their common search for truth.
© 1989 WGRG, c/o Iona Community, Glasgow, Scotland. Used with permission Licence CCLI # 31951
MESSAGE It is always about the relationships! Rev Paul Bartlett
HYMN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lsr6C5HYIY
We will take what you offer
We will live by your word
We will love one another
And be fed by you, Lord.
Words & Music: John L Bell © Iona Community. Used by permission Licence CCLI # 31951
OFFERTORY PRAYER
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Kathy
HYMN 626
Lord of creation, to you be all praise! Most mighty your working, most wondrous your ways!
Your glory and might are beyond us to tell, and yet in the heart of the humble you dwell.
Lord of all power, I give you my will, in joyful obedience your tasks to fulfill.
Your bondage is freedom, your service is song; and, held in your keeping, my weakness is strong.
Lord of all wisdom, I give you my mind, rich truth that surpasses man’s knowledge to find.
What eye has not seen and what ear has not heard is taught by your Spirit and shines from your Word.
Lord of all bounty, I give you my heart; I praise and adore you for all you impart;
your love to inspire me, your counsel to guide, your presence to cheer me, whatever betide.
Lord of all being, I give you my all; if ever I disown you, I stumble and fall;
but, sworn in glad service your word to obey, I walk in your freedom to the end of the way.
BLESSING & BENEDICTION
Remember who you are.
Remember who God calls us to be:
Remember you are loved by God
Invited to gather around food and stories
Freed to work for the freedom of people everywhere.
Let us go and live with love. Amen
We leave listening to ‘We will not make peace with oppression’ by Porters Gate
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