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.
GATHERING THE PEOPLE
Welcome and Announcements
Good morning and welcome to Engadine Uniting Church.
The story of God is bigger, wider, more inclusive and welcoming, filled with more love than we could ever imagine.
There is room here for everyone , there is room here for you.
Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, wherever you’ve come from, wherever you’re going, whatever is in your heart – you are welcome here and you are loved. A particularly warm welcome if you are a visitor among us, whether you are just having a look or are searching out for a place to worship, we’re delighted to have you with us this morning, and we hope you feel welcome.
Acknowledgement of country
This land is God’s land and God’s Spirit dwells here.
We acknowledge the Dharawal People, traditional custodians of this land under God.
We commit ourselves again to working for reconciliation in this land.
All: In doing so, we recommit to the path of reconciliation and justice that God lays before us.
Lighting of the Christ Candle / Call to worship
Come, gather.
God is at the centre, blazing with love,
shaping us with compassion,
giving us eyes to see and hearts to feel,
strengthening our respect for life!
Come, let’s worship our God together!
(light the candle)
Prayer Of Invocation/Welcome
Spirit of God, Spirit of Freedom,
You are welcome in this place.
You are welcome in our hearts.
You are welcome in our minds.
Renew us from the inside out.
Enliven us with your purposes and plans.
Hymn/Song: All praise to our redeeming Lord
Prayer of confession
God who gathers the outcast and hears the cry of the oppressed,
many of us know what it is to benefit from the way things are,
and we know enough to know that there is an underside to our political and economic systems that we are a part of.
Many of us are insulated by privilege, wealth, and power, while others –
the poor and powerless.
The plants and animals
and the earth itself
feel the hard edge of ‘business as usual’.
We confess, compassionate God, that we quietly shake hands with unjust systems and structures.
Forgive us for the ways we see suffering but struggle to act with compassion for justice.
Words of Assurance/Affirmation
Our God never gives up on us.
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
God finishes what God starts in us.
Grace is the only way forward for all of us.
So, trust in God’s love,
which gives us both the courage to act and the freedom to fail.
You are forgiven, cherished, and restored.
Thanks be to God.
Prayer of adoration and thanksgiving
Blessed be our Creator who made it all.
Everything we can see, and everything we can’t!
We join in thanks and praise for the God who always has our back!
When enemies surround us on every side,
when the waters threaten to swallow us whole or sweep us away,
you are always on our side, God! You never leave or abandon us!
You free us from the jaws of the predators,
you smash open the snares of hunters.
We’re free like birds soaring with freedom.
Your strong name, O God, is our help, our liberation.
HEARING THE WORD
1 Samuel 8:4-17
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.4 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead[a] us, such as all the other nations have.”5 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord.6 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.7 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.8 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”9 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king.10 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots.11 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.12 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.13 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.14 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.15 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[b] and donkeys he will take for his own use.16 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.17
Hymn/Song:
Life Of Brian – “You are all individuals”
(play to 1:05 only).
Readings: Ross Eagleton
Matthew 16:13-20
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”13 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”14 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”15 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”16 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.17 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.18 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”19 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.20
Matthew 20:20-28
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.20 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”21 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered.22 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”23 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.24 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.25 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 26 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—27 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”28
Romans 12:1-8
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.1 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect.2 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.3 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,4 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.5 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;6 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;7 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.8
Sermon/Reflection: John McKinnon
RESPONDING TO THE WORD
Hymn/Song:
Video with words on screen: Jesus for PM
Jesus for Prime Minister.
The Nazarene’s our man.
Caste your vote for the carpenter.
He’ll build a better land.
Every year we waste enough
To feed the folks who starve;
Set our political economy up,
And shoot it down with wars.
Jesus for Prime Minister.
The Nazarene’s our man.
Caste your vote for the carpenter.
He’ll build a better land.
The only way we’ll ever have
Real justice on the ground,
Is to overturn the tables, an’
Run the scoundrels out of town.
Jesus for Prime Minister.
The Nazarene’s our man.
Caste your vote for the carpenter.
He’ll build a better land.
But Jesus doesn’t want a job
Tellin’ others what to do.
He’d rather show you how it’s done
And leave the job to you.
Jesus ain’t a minister.
He’s a grafter in a gang.
He’s looking for some extra hands
To build a better land.
He’s looking for some extra hands
To build a better land.
Woody Guthrie adapted by Dave Andrews
Announcements:
Big week in fundraising:
Street Stall = $
Two PM fundraiser for Project Youth = $
Offertory prayer
We are loved and cared for by a generous God.
Thank you to everyone as you bring your gifts of loving service and financial support through online giving. If you prefer to use cash, it can be placed in the wooden box at the back, and you can also make one-off donations via the QR code on the box.
Let us bring our offerings with a spirit of gratitude and hope.
Let us pray:
Life-bringing God, we offer our diverse gifts, grateful for the opportunity to share in your heart for the world, giving thanks and seeking your blessing. Let your Holy Spirit breathe life into our serving, so that all that we do may bring glory to your name. Amen
Prayers of the people: Kathy Slade
Lord’s Prayer (a variation written in South America)
Our Father and Mother who is in us here on earth,
holy is your name
in the hungry who share their bread and their song.
Your Kingdom come,
which is a generous land flowing with milk and honey.
Let us do your will,
standing up when all are sitting down, and raising our voice when all are silent.
You are giving us our daily bread
in the song of the bird and the miracle of the corn.
Forgive us
for keeping silent in the face of injustice, and for burying our dreams; for not sharing bread and wine, love and the land, among us, now.
Don’t let us fall into the temptation
of shutting the door through fear, of resigning ourselves to hunger and injustice, of taking up the same arms as the enemy.
But deliver us from evil.
Give us the perseverance and the solidarity to look for love, even if the path has not yet been trodden, even if we fail;
so we shall have known your Kingdom which is being built forever and ever.
Amen.
Hymn/Song: Community of Christ
PRAYER OF INTERCESSION
Brother Jesus, the Human One in our midst, you call us, ordinary as we are, to become a people who stand on the side of freedom, and to stand on the side of life.
Give us all the courage to walk in the way of costly love.
Brother Jesus, the Human One in our midst, help each of us wrestle with the matters of integrity that we have been weighing up in our own spirits.
Offer us wisdom and grace to navigate the complexity life throws our way.
Give us all the courage to walk in the way of costly love.
Brother Jesus, the Human One in our midst, bless all those taking risky action for justice and peace in your name.
Hold their hearts with special care and help them to know their place in God’s family.
Give them a special endurance and hope, a sense that their actions are part of a broader struggle and that the universe’s arc bends towards justice.
Give us all the courage to walk in the way of costly love.
Benediction
We go into the world as a people who stand firmly on the side of life.
We are called to see, to hear and to feel the struggles of others.
We are invited to act compassionately and join with the God who transforms dead ground into Eden once more.
So may you know the affection of the God who is for you, the solidarity of the Son who is with you, and the resolve of the Holy Spirit who is in you.
Go in peace!
Benediction Song: Piano music
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