Acknowledgement of Country
As we gather to worship, we acknowledge the Dharawal peoples and offer our respect to elders past and present. We honour their care of this Country. We acknowledge their unceded sovereignty. We hold that God is always drawing us into togetherness. May we walk together as First and Second Peoples motivated by love, seeking justice and reconciliation.
Welcome
Safe statement – God loves and accepts us just as we are. Engadine Uniting seeks to be a safe place for all people to gather regardless of age, ability, sexuality, or culture. We gather today accepting each other in our diversity to seek love and joy in the presence of God. Know that you are loved and that your presence here this morning both enriches each one of us and our worship time together.
Call to Worship
From Isaiah 43:16–21
16 I am the one who cut a path
through the mighty ocean.
18 Forget what happened long ago!
Don’t think about the past.
19 I am creating something new.
There it is! Do you see it?
I have put roads in deserts,
streams[d] in thirsty lands.
20 Every wild animal honors me,
even jackals[e] and owls.
I provide water in deserts—
streams in thirsty lands
for my chosen people.
21 I made them my own nation,
so they would praise me.
Come and worship our God, who does new things,
who makes a way in the wilderness.
Opening Prayer
Based on Isaiah 43:1–3
Creator God,
You create and form us,
In you, we need have no fear,
for you call us by name and we are yours.
Gather us in your love,
be with us as we pass through
the waters and rivers of life,
and let the holy spirit of God,
bless and baptise us, Amen.
Lighting the candle
We light the Christ candle knowing that God brings light and hope to Dark places.
Holy Friend, whether we are eager to draw near to you, or we are cautious, whether we are certain of your guidance, or we are unsure how you call to us, you are present. Open our senses and open our hearts to experience your light and love in all its fullness. Amen
We come to this place because we want to know God, who helps us set aside the past to walk the path to new life. We come in these moments because we want to know Jesus, who anoints us with the resurrection, who shares our lives with us.
We come to share with these people because we want to know the Spirit, who shapes us for life with God.
Together: The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoice May those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. Let us worship God, in this community and in the company of those who have gone before us.
SONG Come as you are
Verse 1
Come as you are That’s how I want you Come as you are Feel quite at home; Close to My heart Loved and forgiven Come as you are Why stand alone
Verse 2 No need to fear Love sets no limits No need to fear Love never ends; Don’t run away Shamed and disheartened Rest in My love Trust Me again
Verse 3
I came to call sinners
Not just the virtuous
I came to bring peace
Not to condemn
Each time you fail
To live by My promise
Why do you think
I’d love you the less
Verse 4
Come as you are
That’s how I love you
Come as you are
Trust Me again
Nothing can change
The love that I bear you
All will be well
Just come as you are
Prayer of Confession
Let us bring our brokenness and our shortcomings before God in prayer.
Gracious and loving God,
when we have favoured an easier, more comfortable path
rather than following the radical way of Jesus:
break open a new way before us.
When we have criticised the extravagant generosity of others
while remaining comfortable and cautious in our own giving:
break open a new way before us.
When we have failed to see you right before our eyes
while rushing through life, unaware and inattentive:
break open a new way before us.
Let us spend a few moments in silence,
Bringing our lives before God.
(Silence)
Alternatively, use the embodied practice ‘Anointing with fragrant oil’ here or after Word for the Day (see page 68 for instructions).
Words of Grace
Based on Isaiah 40:4 (NIV)
In the wilderness, God prepares a way.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of God will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
God is continually creating, doing a new thing in us. Where we have erred, God brings us back into Gods embrace. God sees you, and God loves you
Thanks be to God.
UNITING WORLD LENT EVENT – Kathy
The Uniting World video for Lent Event this week is the story of Toupou entitled A Constant Hope and tells yet again of how Climate Change and Weather events affect lives in the South Pacific.
VIDEO –Lent Event 5 A Constant Hope
PRAYER – Kathy
Loving God
We pray for women and girls who shoulder the strain of survival, of finding food and water and livelihoods in developing countries, and who are under more pressure as changing climate and disaster impact land use and clean water.
Give thanks for our partners who are supporting women to develop ways to make an income to feed themselves and their families, to create kitchen gardens using drought proof seeds and irrigation methods and helping to set up clean water initiatives that serve whole communities.
We particularly pray for Toupou as she works not just for herself but to encourage others to have hope and not give up. We pray that she and her family will continue to live lives of joy and good health and that we may share their hope and determination and be the hands of love in times of suffering. AMEN
SONG – GOD THE MAKER OF THE HEAVENS – tune is What a friend we have in Jesus – music by Charles Converse
https://www.resoundworship.org/song/god_the_maker_of_the_heavens
God, the maker of the heavens,
and the planet that we share,
show us how to live, like Jesus,
lives of gratitude and care.
Make us mindful of the footprints
from the lives that we pursue.
Make us partners in your mission:
you are making all things new.
God, the gardener of Eden,
teach us how to tend this earth,
learning from the changing seasons,
times of fallow and new birth.
Lord, have mercy when we’re careless,
rich resources we misuse.
Use our hands to heal creation:
you are making all things new.
God of labour and vocation,
Lord of science, trade and art,
take our efforts and our passions
make them mirrors of your heart.
Every habitat and creature
loved and valued, God, by you.
May our lives reveal your Kingdom:
you are making all things new.
CCL# 7126825 © Sam Hargreaves / Resound Worship
BIBLE READING – Ian
John 12:1–8. Six days before Passover Jesus went back to Bethany, where he had raised Lazarus from death. 2 A meal had been prepared for Jesus. Martha was doing the serving, and Lazarus himself was there.
3 took a very expensive bottle of perfume and poured it on Jesus’ feet. She wiped them with her hair, and the sweet smell of the perfume filled the house.
4 A disciple named Judas Iscariot was there. He was the one who was going to betray Jesus, and he asked, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor?” 6 Judas did not really care about the poor. He asked this because he carried the moneybag and sometimes would steal from it.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone! She has kept this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor with you, but you won’t always have me.”
May God open our hearts and minds today. AMEN
SERMON: JOHN M
As we reflect on John’s words and what they mean for each of us – we will listen to a song by Sydney Carter – Said Judas to Mary
Song on screen – Said Judas to Mary Video (If possible just the sound not the pictures?)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Church Plan – After church today 10.30 opportunity to review, discuss and have input into the Plan.
Candidates Forum – thanks to everyone
Holiday Sewing Workshops
OFFERING
Prayer Giver of all good things, let your grace flow through us; a generous stream, unstoppable, refreshing, abundant to those around us. Receive our gifts, of time, talent, food and money so that that blessings of hope and life and transformation might be offered to others. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Prayers of People – Bruce
Lord’s Prayer South American Style – On screen
COMMUNION – Kathy
SONG – Let us break Bread together with the Lord
Let us break bread together with the Lord!
Let us break bread together with the Lord
As we travel through this land,
all God’s children hand in hand,
Lord, fill all our living with your life.
2 Let us drink wine together with the Lord!
Let us drink wine together with the Lord!
3 Let us all work together for the Lord!
Let us all work together for the Lord!
As we travel through this land,
all God’s children hand in hand,
Lord, fill all our living with your life.
THE INVITATION
Jesus invites us to life in all its fullness.
All are welcome at this table.
In this meal we remember and celebrate
Jesus presence with us and our community with each other.
THE Narrative
On a night long ago, in an upper room where Jesus gathered with his friends, reaching out in love and promising that wherever this meal was re-enacted he would be present,
Jesus took bread and wine – everyday, familiar things –
and named them as symbols of the most holy mystery of God.
Taking the fragrant, newly baked bread in his hands
– hands that had healed and blessed,
hands that had been lifted in celebration,
and wrung in grief and pain;
hands that had overturned tables,
hands that had been clasped in prayer,
and stretched out to gather in the excluded,
Jesus took the bread in these hands, broke it,
and blessed it, saying
“This is my body, broken for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
Then he took the cup,
– filled with rich, red wine,
pressed from the fruit of the vine;
purified and matured;
symbol of human and divine hospitality;
poured out generously into empty vessels;
a gift which words and rituals cannot fully describe
but which we receive in faith and hope;
the holy wine of God’s never-ending grace,
Jesus blessed it, saying: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
Let us, as Friends of Christ, gathered in this time and place, know ourselves to be invited and included in the sacred meal which began that night, and which has never ended.
The Great Prayer Of Thanksgiving
The presence of Christ be with you,
and also with you.
Be encouraged, dare to be hopeful,
we lift our hearts with hope and joy.
Let us be profoundly thankful
We give to God our thanks and praise.
God, before time you were present.
You burst into creativity and everything began.
The Universe and its galaxies exploded into life,
dancing spirals and fiery stars
played across the heavens.
life on earth flourished and changed,
and gave way to new life.
And in all this Your very self was being expressed
and made known to us.
Here in this land, the rocks and oceans,
deserts and rainforests,
creatures of sky, sea and land,
and human life, came into being,
and an ancient people told their stories
and cherished the creation.
Wisdom was present on earth, speaking through
religions and prophets, through story-telling
and myth, in word and ritual,
giving meaning to mystery,
and charting the story of humankind.
In the Ancient Near East,
as prophets had foretold,
Jesus the Christ, revealer of God,
holy one born into our humanity,
came and lived and walked among us,
teaching, healing and calling for justice.
Through his life, death and abiding presence
a confused and hurting world received
a new message of hope, reconciliation,
and liberation for all God’s creation.
A new community and a new story began.
The story continues through all who follow the Way of Christ
as the Holy Spirit directs them to in their time and place.
Recalling this, and remembering
the splendour, complexity,
and eternal possibilities of God
we pray together
Holy, Holy, Holy God,
the whole of creation sings to You,
angels and prophets,
women, men and children,
whole communities,
the trees of the earth,
and the stars in the heavens.
Blessed is Jesus Christ who comes in your Name
Praise be to You, Holy God! AMEN
In this community of Your people,
We acknowledge and greet
the One who comes among us,
Bread of Life, hope of the world.
Christ is with us, Christ is one with us,
and we are invited to participate
in the celebration of this holy meal.
Invocation of the Holy Spirit
God who knows us all
may this bread and this wine
be infused with the Christ-presence, that we may be bearers of this presence
in our life together, and our life in the world.
a moment of silence
Together we say
Christ has died,
Christ has risen,
Christ will come again
The bread of Christ,
broken and shared with all;
our source of life
in all its fullness.
Christ is the Cup of life ,
poured out for us,
so that we may never thirst again.
Let us receive what we are, let us become what we receive
The body of Christ
Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.
Jesus, redeemer of the world, show compassion grant us peace.
The gifts of God that make you God’s people.
DISTRIBUTION ( Please hold the elements so that we can participate in communion together)
Christ’s body broken for you.
Amen.
Christ’s life poured out for you.
Amen.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Holy and Loving God,
we thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ,
for the nourishment of his life and teaching,
the power of his death and resurrection,
and for his invitation to enjoy
life in all its fullness.
Invited and fed at your table we are remade, repurposed.
May God’s presence
be revealed through our lives
AMEN
Continuing on from John’s reflection, Invitation to comment on Church plan – Kathy
Blessing/Benediction
And now, as we leave this place,
where we have been fed and sustained,
may we enter the wilderness places of this world
taking with us the living water and the bread of life.
May the blessing of God,
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
be with us each step of the way.
Amen.
Blessing SONG – For you Deep Stillness
For you, deep stillness of the silent inland
For you, deep blue of the desert skies
For you, flame red of the rocks and stones
For you, sweet water from hidden springs.
From the edges seek the heartlands
and when you’re burnt by the journey
may the cool winds of the hovering Spirit
soothe and replenish you.
In the name of Christ, In the name of Christ.
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