Welcome to all who are here today in person and via zoom. We come to this place of worship, each with our unique reason. As we gather and join together in prayer, song, confession, and listening to the words of scripture, we work towards this place being a safe physical, emotional and spiritual environment.
Announcements: Loraine
Acknowledgement of country
We worship on Dharawal land. We acknowledge and remember the first nations peoples who also gathered, lived, cared for and had a spiritual connection with this land. We acknowledge the great sorrows and injustices brought on the Dharawal peoples through the past and present actions and inactions of the church, the government and the society in which we live.
Lighting the Christ Candle
This candle is lit to remind us that Christ is the light of the world, showing us the way to life, and exposing the dark.
Call to worship (words by Bruce Prewer)
This is a time for worship.
God is awesome beyond all our ability to comprehend,
beautiful beyond all possible imagining..
The Lord our God reigns, let all the earth tremble.
It is written:
“No one could look on the face of God and go on living.”
But we have glimpsed his glory, in the face of Jesus Christ.
The Lord our God is holy.
Let us exalt in the Lord
and worship at his footstool,
Most loving God, you are the Joy of loving hearts! Please touch us with the fringes of your glory, so that our minds may become alert to you and our souls reach up to you with that mixture of praise and yearning love which is the most precious of our delights. May Christ give us the confidence, and the Spirit grant us the liberty, to worship you with awe yet without reservation or fear. For your love’s sake. Amen!
Hymn: Praise to the Lord the Almighty, the King of Creation.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise, for God is your health and salvation!
All you who hear, Now to God’s temple draw near;
Sing now in glad adoration!
Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigning,
Who, as on wings of an eagle, uplifting, sustaining.
Have you not seen All that is needed has been
Sent by God’s gracious ordaining?
Praise to the Lord, who will prosper our work and defend us,
Surely God’s goodness and mercy shall daily attend us:
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
Who with true love God befriends us.
Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all that is in me adore them!
All that has life and breath, come now with praises before them!
Let the Amen sound from His people again;
Gladly for ever adore them.
Prayer of Confession
We give thanks that God calls us to be part of God’s community of love.
We live in awe of God’s grace and mercy. We are also mindful that we do not always live as we would like. Friends, let us pause to reflect on who we are and on who God calls us to be.
Time for silence.
Psalm 96
Hymn: Tell Out my Soul.
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord!
Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice;
Tender to me the promise of his word;
In God my Saviour shall my heart rejoice
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his Name!
Make known his might, the deeds his arm has done;
His mercy sure, from age to age to same;
His holy Name–the Lord, the Mighty One
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his might!
Powers and dominions lay their glory by
Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight
The hungry fed, the humble lifted high
Tell out, my soul, the glories of his word!
Firm is his promise, and his mercy sure
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
To children’s children and for evermore!
Bible Reading: Gordon, Sarah
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Matthew 22: 15- 22
Song Item: What Does the Lord Require of you? Paul, Ian, Bruce
What does the Lord require of you?
What does the Lord require of you?
Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God
To seek justice and love kindness and walk humbly with your God
(https://youtu.be/K4NGnV_OVlU?si=-MtpWc_YV3cFl7m2)
Reflection: Loraine H
Silent Meditation
Offering Prayer: Loraine
Prayers of the People: Kathy S
Blessing/Benediction
As we leave, may God’s Spirit be present in our lives,
so that dreams develop and help shape new visions.
May God’s Word live through our lives,
so that we truly are children of the living God.
Let humility and wisdom settle in our hearts.
There, we will find the right ways to be and do.
May the rich and fertile life with God stream with the living waters of love,
to refresh and renew our baptism and unfold a new pathway every day. Amen.
Closing Hymn: What Does the Lord Require of you? Lead by Paul, Ian, Bruce
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