Order of Service – 13th September 2026

The Order of Service follows below.

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Please join us in saying and singing the words printed in bold text. Items in red text are for information and explanation and are not spoken.

Brougham Place Uniting Church

Kardlayirdi Karnungga

A Light on the Hill

13 September, 2026

Preacher: Mark Waters

Welcome to Brougham Place Uniting Church.

We acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional carers of the land on which our church is built.

As you wait for worship to begin, please turn your phone to silent.

Prelude

Welcome and Acknowledgment of Country

Naa marni?

(Are you all good?)

Marni Ai!

(Good I am)

We worship here on the land of the Kaurna people.

We honour their stewardship of this land from time immemorial

and acknowledge these ancestral ties to land, waters, and community.

We pay our respects to Elders and community—

past, present, and emerging—

and extend this respect to First Nations people

from other places who might be with us today.

We hold that God is always drawing us into togetherness.

We commit to the renewal of our shared life

as First and Second Peoples from many lands.

Introit and Lighting of the Candles

In the Bulb there is a Flower (N. Sleath)

Call to Worship

We come from a world of settling scores,

where debts are tracked and walls are built.

Let us leave behind those old ways

that do not bring life.

Let us step into the possibility of another way—

where mercy flows, and the captive is set free.

Let us worship God,

who makes a way where there seems to be no way.

Opening Prayer

We sing: And Can It Be (TIS 209)

And can it be that I should gain

an interest in the Saviour’s blood?

Died he for me, who caused his pain

for me, who him to death pursued?

Amazing love! how can it be

that thou, my God, shouldst die for me!

He left his Father’s throne above

(so free, so infinite his grace!),

emptied himself of all but love,

and bled for Adam’s helpless race.

’Tis mercy all, immense and free:

for, O my God, it found out me.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

fast bound in sin and nature’s night:

thine eye diffused a quickening ray

I woke; the dungeon flamed with light!

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

No condemnation now I dread:

Jesus, and all in him, is mine!

Alive in him, my living Head,

and clothed in righteousness divine,

bold I approach the eternal throne,

and claim the crown, through Christ, my own.

Prayer of Confession

God, we admit that we like to keep track.

We remember who hurt us, who owes us,

and who isn’t working hard enough.

We receive your forgiveness for ourselves,

but do not always extend that same grace to others.

Forgive us.

When we hold on to what should be released,

closing ourselves off from one another,

loosen our grip on our grudges.

A moment of silence.

Words of Grace

We are not defined by what we owe,

nor by what is owed to us.

Jesus meets us with mercy beyond measure.

The debt is released. The way is opened. We are held in love.

In the name of Jesus, we are forgiven.

Thanks be to God.

Passing of the Peace

The peace of our God be with you.

And also with you.

Community News and Notices

You can sign up to receive BP E-news by email and read past issues on our website: www.bpuc.org

Children’s Time (Exploring the Theme)

Children and Young People may go downstairs for Sunday School and Youth. Parents, you are welcome to join your young children in Sunday School if you feel they may need your assistance. Alternatively, you may wish for your child to remain with you for the duration of worship. Activity packs are available at the entrances.

Choral Anthem

Praise to God, Immortal Praise (Anna Barbauld)

Scripture Reading:

Romans 14:1-12

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarrelling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,

’every knee will bow before me;

every tongue will acknowledge God.’“

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

Matthew 18:21-35

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

May the Spirit of God open our eyes to see, our ears to hear,
and our hearts to understand.

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