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.
WELCOME
At Engadine Uniting we believe all people are created lovingly and wonderfully in the image of God, and we welcome everyone to this church and worship time regardless of race, age, ability, sexuality and gender.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
Together we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians on whose lands we are today and pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future. We commit to walking together across these lands in friendship, trust, justice and healing.
LIGHTING THE CANDLE A reminder that God’s presence is with us today and always
HYMN – Christ Be Our Light
Longing for light, we wait in darkness.
Longing for truth, we turn to you
Make us your own, your holy people,
Light for the world to see.
Chorus
Christ be our light, Shine in our hearts,
Shine through the darkness.
Christ be our light,
Shine in your church gathered today.
Longing for peace, our world is troubled.
Longing for hope, many despair.
Your word alone has power to save us.
Make us your living voice.
Chorus
Longing for food/ many are hungry.
Longing for water, many still thirst.
Make us your bread, broken for others,
Shared until all are fed.
Chorus
Longing for shelter, many are homeless
Longing for warmth, many are cold.
Make us your building, sheltering others
Walls made of living stone.
Chorus
Many the gifts, many the people,
Many the hearts that yearn to belong,
Let us be servants to one another,
Making your kingdom come.
PRAYER OF APPROACH
Most wonderful God, we have come from many separate directions to gather here as one community. Please assist us to be one in peace and joy, that we may praise you with one voice and adore you with one heart, and be ready to serve you in the world as the one compassionate body of Christ. For your name’s sake. Amen
CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE
Let us, as the baptised community of Christ, confess to God our sin. Let us pray.
God most holy, God most discerning, God most merciful, you know the complete, uncensored story of this church and each of these people.
You know our tangled motives and our times of open disobedience.
You understand our weaknesses and our strengths much better than we do.
Please open our eyes to the truth, no matter how unpalatable it may seem to us.
Give us a moment of spiritual clarity and honestly.
Forgive us for all our failings as a church community, and for all our private sins of commission and omission; bless us with your freeing, healing grace.
Revive our stodgy spirits and bring under control our unruly wants and anxieties.
Let us make a new beginning, rid of the sludge of guilt and self-pitying regret.
In the name of Christ our Redeemer.
Amen!
ASSURANCE
Now the One who created us, the God who shaped our life, says this:
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.”
People of God, trust the plentiful love of this Saviour, and know for sure that we are forgiven and restored.
Thanks be to God!
HYMN – She sits like a bird
She sits like a bird, brooding on the waters,
Hovering on the chaos of the world’s first day;
She sighs and she sings, mothering creation,
Waiting to give birth to all the Word will say.
She wings over earth, resting where she wishes,
Lightning close at hand or soaring through the skies;
She nests in the womb, welcoming each wonder.
Nourishing potential hidden to our eyes.
She dances in fire, startling her spectators,
Waking tongues of ecstasy where dumbness reigned;
She weans and inspires all whose hearts are open,
Nor can she be captured, silenced or restrained.
For she is the Spirit, one with God in essence,
Gifted by the Saviour in eternal love;
She is the key opening the scriptures,
Enemy of apathy and heavenly dove.
PSALM 29 Rewritten by Bruce Prewer
Give yourselves to Christ Jesus, children of God!
Give to Christ all honour and glory!
Offer him the praise his name deserves!
Worship him with wholeness of life!
The voice of Christ is stronger than rushing streams;
above the thundering surf of the oceans he speaks.
Listen to the mighty word of the Lord;
filled with majesty is his message.
His voice could splinter Tasmanian blue gums;
the cedars of New England would shatter into pieces.
At his word mountains would leap like the wallaby;
Kosciusko and the Cradle like the red kangaroo.
If the Lord commanded it, Uluru would split;
torn asunder as from volcanic fire.
The voice of the Lord whips up the Gibson desert;
he whirls the Simpson in red dust storms.
When he speaks, forest giants are uprooted,
and the mulga scrub is stripped bare.
Those who live close to him are in awe,
while everything shouts “Glory!”
From the very beginning, Christ alone is King;
his government is established forever.
Lovingly he gives strength to his people;
in his blessings is our joy and peace
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 8: 14 – 17
Luke 3: 15–17, 21-22
POEM
Out of the crowd
the young man came
filled with love,
bearing no shame.
Into the water
the young man went,
numbered with sinners
he was content.
Out of the water
the young man rose,
ready to go
where Wild Wind blows.
Most wonderful God, friend of the foolish and the fallen, in your generosity you sent your Holy Child, Jesus, to stand with sinners in the baptismal waters of the river Jordan. With your continuing generosity you place him in our midst.
Encourage us to delight in his presence, to adore his glory, and to receive his grace which washes away our sins and draws us together as one body. For your name’s sake. Amen!
REFLECTION
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRAYERS FOR GIVING
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE
HYMN
Filled with the Spirit’s power, with one accord,
The infant church confessed its risen Lord;
O Holy Spirit, in the church today
No less your power of fellowship display
Now with the mind of Christ set us on fire.
That unity may be our great desire;
Give joy and peace, give faith to hear your call,
And readiness in each to work for all.
Widen our love. Good Spirit, to embrace,
In your strong care all those of every race;
Like wind and fire with life among us move
Till we are known as Christ’s, and Christians prove.
GOING OUT
We are a baptised people, a community of hope, the new race dedicated to doing the unlikely deeds of grace, and sometimes even taking on the impossible.
Thanks be to Christ, whose power is made perfect in human weakness.
The blessing of the Creator, Redeemer and Inspirer will always be with us. Amen!
HYMN
There’s a spirit in the air,
Telling Christians everywhere,
Praise the love that Christ revealed,
Living, working in our world
May the Spirit fill our praise,
Guide our thoughts and change our ways:
God in Christ has come to stay
Live tomorrow’s life today
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