You can watch the bible readings and sermon here, or scroll down to read the rest of the Sunday prayers and content, and watch this video at the point it occurs during worship.
GAZA – ISRAEL
The images of destruction are staggering and overwhelming. Many thousands killed. Many of them are children. When we stop seeing people as human beings, when any means justifies an end whether it be Hamas fighters sheltering under hospitals or the IDF bombing targets at whatever cost to kill Hamas leaders, and 2,300,000 people are starved of every basic human necessity, then we have lost our way. And darkness abounds: when hatred and revenge are all the motivation you need, then we have lost our way. And darkness abounds. Come Lord Jesus, light of the world, Peace Maker, who stretched out his arms to embrace all of humanity, to embrace Israelis and Palestinians.
Come afresh and use us to be your hands and voices. Let us Pray, in silence…
CANDLE LIGHTING
When our world is full of hatred and suspicion, where ego and vanity trump selfless service and humility and when we are overwhelmed by the darkness that abounds, we light a candle to be reminded of the One whom death could not contain and whose Spirit is present. Thanks be to God!
WELCOME
If you love the Lord Jesus a little and wish to love him more deeply, you are welcome;
If you don’t know who he is or you have lost the faith you had in him, you are welcome;
So come with all that you are in body, mind, spirit and heart, with all your searching, with all your questions whatever your gender, sexuality and experience of life, Jesus of Nazareth bids you w’come.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
Our Church may legally own the Title Deeds to this place and we may legally own the Title Deeds to the places where we live but the Dharawal People own the moral and spiritual and life lived for generations Deeds to this land. It is theirs and it is ours. We are joint heirs of God’s promises for everything we have and hold is in trust from our Creator. We honour their elders past and present and seek afresh their wisdom on how to be good stewards of this land and agents of truth telling.
HYMN
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty
early in the morning to you our praise shall be
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore you
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before you
God everlasting through eternity.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide you
Though the sinful human eye your glory may not see
You alone are holy, there is none beside you
Perfect in power, in love and purity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty
All your works shall praise your name in earth and sky and sea
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.
Reginald Heber 1783 – 1826 Public Domain CCLI Licence # 31951
PRAYER OF ADORATION & CONFESSION
Come to us, God of peace.
Come with your healing and reconciling power
Come, that fear may be cast out by love.
Come to us, God of peace.
Come to us, God of justice.
Come with your righteous judgments and your mercy
Come, that we may hear the cries of the oppressed in every land.
Come to us, God of justice.
Come to us, God of love.
Come, that we may see you in the people of every race and culture
That we may embrace you in the lonely, the bereaved and the rejected
Come to us, God of love.
Come to us, God of hope
Come with your forgiveness and your healing grace
Come that we may witness to reconciliation for a divided world, and
Come, that we may be your pilgrim people on our journey to your kingdom.
Come to us, God of hope.
Based upon the Opening prayer at our Uniting Church’s Fourth National Assembly in 1985
BIBLE READINGS Jennie & Ian
Revelation 7: 9 – 10, 15 – 17 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” They are before the throne of God and serve God day and night in God’s temple; and the One who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
Matthew 5: 1 – 10 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Here is found the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
HYMN The Beatitudes
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for God’s kingdom shall be theirs
Blest are those who mourn with grieving; they of God shall be the heirs.
They shall not be lost, forsaken, but shall comfort full receive.
God will bless them with God’s mercy and their every fear relieve.
Blessed are the meek and lowly; God shall give them of the earth.
Blest are those who thirst for rightness; God shall slake their hungering.
God shall bless the ones whose mercy mirrors God’s abundant grace.
God will bless them now, forever; they in heaven there by God’s grace.
Blest are they whose hearts are purely, living truly by God’s grace;
They receive God’s favoured blessing and behold God face to face.
Blest are those who seek not warfare, but will always seek God’s peace;
Children of the Lord, forever, there with all – God’s amazing grace.
Author unknown. CCLI Licence # 31951
MESSAGE
HYMN Go, silent friend
Go, silent friend
your life has found its ending;
to dust returns
your weary mortal frame.
God, who before birth
called you into being,
now calls you forth,
his accent still the same.
Go, silent friend,
your life in Christ is buried;
for you he lived
and died and rose again.
Close by his side
your promised place is waiting,
where, fully known,
you shall with God remain.
Go, silent friend,
forgive us if we grieved you;
safe now in heaven,
kindly say our name.
Your life has touched us,
that is why we mourn you;
our lives without you
cannot be the same.
Go, silent friend,
we do not grudge you glory;
sing, sing with joy
deep praises to your Lord.
You, who enriched
the lives of all around you
still fill our hearts
as we celebrate your life.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
OFFERING PRAYER
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & LORD’S PRAYER Heather S
COMMUNION Leanne B
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
A PRAYER OF THANKGIVING
With what shall we come before the Lord the maker of heaven and earth?
Who in Christ Jesus became one with us, flesh of our flesh, a person of faith, like us yet is Lord of all.
We come before your table in our poverty, we are beggars looking for crumbs which fall from His table. You feed us extravagantly, you overwhelm us with your provision and we are grateful Lord!
You give us the gift of community in your Name and the gift of humanity in your created world.
Fruit of the vine and work of our hands, the gift of your life through arms out stretched on a cross.
In gratitude and thanksgiving, in humbling awe we bring you our lives that we may be fed and transformed into your likeness as disciples of Jesus. And when words are never enough we join with the choirs of angels and the whole creation in the eternal hymn:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
NARRATIVE, INVOCATION & DISTRIBUTION…
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Thank you, O Christ, for this feast of life.
We are fed by your love; we are strengthened by your life.
We are sent forth into this world
to live into the visions God has laid on our hearts.
We are now commissioned to:
feed as we have been fed, forgive as we have been forgiven
love as we have been loved. Thanks be to God. Amen.
HYMN ‘From the falter of breath’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhRNsm-dwGQ
From the falter of breath
Through the silence of death
To the wonder that’s breaking beyond;
God has woven a way
Unapparent by day
For all those of whom heaven is fond.
From frustration and pain
Through hope hard to sustain
To the wholeness here promised, there known
Christ has gone where we fear
And has vowed to be near
On the journey we make on our own.
From the dimming of light
Through the darkness of night
To the glory of goodness above;
God the Spirit is sent
To ensure heaven’s intent
Is embraced and completed in love.
From today till we die
Through all questions why
To the place from which time and tide flow;
Angels tread on our dreams
And magnificent themes
Of heaven’s promise are echoed below.
John Bell & Graham Maule © Iona CCLI Licence # 31951
BLESSING & BENEDICTION
There’s a light upon the mountains, and the day is at the spring
When our eyes shall see the beauty and the glory of the King
Weary was our heart with waiting, and the night-watch seemed so long
But his triumph day is breaking, and we hail it with a song!
Henry Burton 1840 – 1930 Words & music by permission Methodist Publishing House UK CCLI Licence # 31951
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