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.
Acknowledgement of Country
My fellow worshippers, we are not clones. There are many differences among us, including different ways and degrees of experiencing God.
Some feel God as always very close, some feel God as occasionally close, and others feel God as more distant. But our feelings are not the measuring stick of our faith, or the essential ingredient in our worship.
The crucial factor is God’s faithfulness. God promises to be with us whether we sense it or not.
Engadine Uniting Church is intentionally an open, diverse and caring community of Jesus’ disciples. In following Christ’s commandment to love one another, we welcome all who wish to share in the fellowship of our faith community. As we affirm that every person is a child of God, no one is excluded, regardless of race, ethnic or socio-economic background, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental ability, nationality, or faith background. All are welcome here!
The inclusive love of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
Lighting of the Christ Candle
God is here, let us worship with mind, heart, soul and strength.
Call to Worship
In the morning and in the evening, you are present with us, God of all.
At dawn, your sun wakes the earth.
At noon, the world is filled with light.
At nightfall, the moon and stars shine.
The universe is filled with your energy!
Energise and fill us today, we pray. Amen.
Prayer of Invocation
Let us pray.
God our sublime Friend, you are far more majestic than the human mind can ever conceive, and more loving than our deepest feelings can ever explore.
Yet we want to offer you the best we can do in thought and devotion,and offer the enthusiasm of our songs and prayers.
Glory and honour, thanksgiving and praise, belong to you now and always.
Amen!
Song: Blessed be the Lord God Almighty
Our God in heaven, how we love you.
We lift your Name in all the earth.
May your kingdom, be established in our praises,
As your people declare your mighty works.
Blessed be the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is, and is, to come.
Blessed be the Lord God Almighty.
Who reigns forever more.
Our God in heaven, how we love you.
We lift your Name in all the earth.
May your kingdom, be established in our praises,
As your people declare your mighty works.
Prayer of Confession
Merciful God, look kindly upon your human family, we pray. By your irrepressible grace, mend the brokenness that inevitably follows our sinning.
If we have been quietly wilful or openly rebellious, sending waves of unhappiness among the lives of those around us,
Come Saviour God,
come and reclaim us.
If we have become infected by the cheap values and selfish goals of the advertising industry and have found ourselves aping them:
Come Saviour God,
come and reclaim us.
If we have allowed our faith to be eroded by the endless chatter of critics who have nothing to offer except their own sour grapes:
Come Saviour God,
come and reclaim us.
If we have become so caught up in trivial pursuits that we have little time left for holy wonder and spiritual growth:
Come Saviour God,
come and reclaim us.
If we have been wounded by the spite of others, and have turned in on ourselves, nursing our injuries and brooding over revenge:
Come Saviour God,
come and reclaim us.
If we have participated in wrongdoing for so long that we no longer feel any regret or desire for repentance;
Come Saviour God,
come and reclaim us.
Jesus Christ, friend of sinners, please never let go of us. Forgive our failings and help us to make amends where we have harmed others. Call us back to the disciplines that flow from faith, that in loving you and one another, we may find that peace and joy for which we were built. Through your love and to the praise of your holy name.
Amen!
Words of Assurance
God waits to welcome us into love. To welcome us into community with God, each other, and all creation. We are forgiven and loved. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Bible readings
Psalm 22:1–15
Mark 10:17–31
17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money[d] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is[e] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another,[f] “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
28 Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news[g] 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
Sermon: John McKinnon (sermon starts at 5.15)
Offertory Prayer
We are invited to give, as freely as we are able. As we do, we receive the gift of a generous heart
God, bless what we give here and what we are able to give in other ways and places, that we, and what we give, may be a blessing to others. Amen.
Prayers of the People
We thank you, Holy Friend, for the compassion you have placed within our hearts, for our ability to empathise with those who days are fraught with struggle and pain. If the magnitude of the world’s needs seem overwhelming, save us from closing our minds and hardening our hearts. Let us put our trust always in you.
We pray for those who sufferings seem to be the result of their own folly or sin. Those who try our patience and maybe offend our sensibilities. Please bless them, with our help or without it, as you think best, for you understand them with a love which never wearies.
We pray for those whose misery is the result of the wilfulness and sin of others. The victims of hatred and violence, war and persecution, crime and apathy, greed and exploitation, road rage, or drugs and alcohol. Please bless them, with our help or without it, according to your overriding wisdom and love.
We pray for those who are on the front line in serving others. Police officers and social workers, overseas aid workers and peace keepers, nurses and doctors, ambulance officers and counsellors, pharmacists and parents, teachers and magistrates. Please bless them, with our help or without it, that they may be kept from chronic weariness or cynicism.
We pray for those who work hard to keep the church wide open, both to the Gospel and to the world’s needs. Committee members and hospital visitors, secretaries and editors of church newspapers, theologians and treasurers, parish ministers and evangelists, youth workers and street priests, denominational leaders and social justice campaigners. Please bless them, with our help or without it, that the witness to the word and way of Christ may never be dimmed.
We pray for those among us who feel burdened or distressed today. Any who are dealing with bad news, poor health, tense relationships, suffering, sorrow or any other hardship. Please bless them, with or without our help, that they may find the extra resources and guidance that they need.
Most holy Friend, we thank you that our prayers are heard before we even express them. May our deeds embody our prayers, and our prayers become more aware because of our deeds. Through Christ Jesus our teacher and liberator.
Amen!
Song: Take my Life and Let it Be
Take my life and let it be
all you purpose, Lord, for me;
consecrate my passing days,
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
at the impulse of your love;
take my feet, and let them run
with the news of victory won.
Take my voice, and let me sing
always, only, for my King;
take my lips, let them proclaim
all the beauty of your name.
Take my wealth all I possess,
make me rich in faithfulness;
take my mind that I may use
every power as you shall choose.
Take my motives and my will,
all your purpose to fulfil;
take my heart it is your own,
it shall be your royal throne.
Take my love my Lord, I pour
at your feet its treasure-store;
take myself, and I will be
yours for all eternity.
Benediction
It’s time to start moving back along those separate paths from which we have come.
None of us can predict what this week may bring, but there is one certainty:
the resources of the God, who engineered the whole universe, will be there for you.
You may be tested, you may suffer, you may waver and become weary, but you will not finally be overcome. God is your strength and salvation. Amen!
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