Order of Service – 22nd January 2023

The Order of Service follows below.

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Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A light on the hill

The Third Sunday after Epiphany
January 22, 2023

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

Prelude

Welcome

Lighting of the Candles

Call to Worship

Our land is alive with the glory of God; desert sands hum and gum trees dance.
Brown grasses sing and mountains breathe their stillness.
All created things add their rhythms of delight and even stones rap out their praise.
Let our voices mingle with those of the earth;

May our hearts join the beat of her joy, for our triune God is with us:
The Source of all being surrounds and upholds us.
Christ Jesus walks beside and before us.
The Spirit moves within and between us.
Blessed be God, our wonder and delight.

We Sing: Where Wide Sky Rolls Down

Where wide sky rolls down and touches red sand,
where sun turns to gold the grass of the land,
let spinifex, mulga and waterhole tell
their joy in the One who made everything well.
Where rain-forest calm meets reef, tide and storm,
where green things grow lush and oceans are warm,
let every sea-creature and tropical bird
exult in the light of the life-giving Word.
Where red gum and creek cross hillside and plain,
where cool tree-ferns rise to welcome the rain,
let bushland, farm, mountain-top, all of their days
delight in the Spirit who formed them for praise.
Now, people of faith, come gather around
with songs to be shared, for blessings abound!
Australians, whatever your culture or race,
come, lift up your hearts to the Giver of grace.

Acknowledgement of First Peoples

Today, as we gather to worship, we acknowledge the Kaurna people, the first inhabitants of this place from time beyond remembering

We acknowledge that through this land, God nurtured and sustained the First Peoples of this country, the Aboriginal and Islander peoples.
We honour them for their custodianship of the land on which we gather today.

We acknowledge that the First Peoples had already encountered the Creator God before the arrival of the colonisers;
the Spirit was already in the land, revealing God to the people through law, custom and ceremony.

We acknowledge that the same love and grace that was finally and fully revealed in Jesus Christ sustained the First Peoples and gave them particular insights into God’s ways;
and so we rejoice in the reconciling purposes of God found in the good news about Jesus Christ.

Lament and Confession

Merciful God, we, the Second Peoples of this land, lament the injustice and abuse that has so often marked the treatment of the First Peoples of this land.

We lament the way in which their land was taken from them and their language, culture, law and spirituality despised and suppressed.
We acknowledge and lament the way in which the Christian church was so often not only complicit in this process but actively involved in it.

Gracious God, hear our confession —
We have not loved you with our whole heart, nor have we loved First Peoples and other neighbours as ourselves. God of mercy, forgive us for our failures, past and present and give us the grace today to make a fresh start. Amen

Declaration of Forgiveness

This is the best of all:
When we are empty, God fills us; when we are disheartened, God is compassionate; when we are wounded, God brings healing; when we confess our sin, God forgives.

In Christ, through Christ and because of Christ, our sins are forgiven.

Thanks be to God.
You refill the cup of life, O God.
In Christ, we find refuge, strength and hope. Amen.

Passing of the Peace

The peace of our God be with you.
And also with you.

Community News and Notices

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Children’s Time

Children may go downstairs for Sunday School. Parents, you are welcome to join your child in Sunday School if you feel your child 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.

Introduction to Scripture

Scripture Reading – Matthew 4:12–23

Jesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.’ From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Crowds of People

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

The Gospel of Christ, Light of the world.
Thanks be to God.

Sermon

We Sing: Help Us Accept Each Other

Help us accept each other
as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother,
each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us
and bring us to believe
we are ourselves accepted
and meant to love and live.
Teach us, O Lord, your lessons,
as in our daily life
we struggle to be human
and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people,
for all – not just for some,
to love them as we find them
or as they may become.
Let your acceptance change us,
so that we may be moved
in living situations
to do the truth in love;
to practise your acceptance
until we know by heart
the table of forgiveness
and laughter’s healing art.
Lord, for today’s encounters
with all who are in need,
who hunger for acceptance,
for righteousness and bread,
we need new eyes for seeing,
new hands for holding on:
renew us with your Spirit;
Lord, free us, make us one!

Together in Song 648. Frederik Herman Kaan 1929- Frederik Herman Kaan 1929- Words by permission Stainer & Bell Ltd. London. Words used with permission under copyright CCLI Licence No 137219. Copyright cleared music for churches.

Offering

To give electronically please go to bpuc.org/give

Music Reflection

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer

And now with the confidence of the children of God, let us pray the prayer Jesus taught us saying…

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins,

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours

now and forever. Amen.

We Sing: Gather Us In

Here in this place new light is streaming,
now is the darkness vanished away,
see, in this space, our fears and our dreamings,
brought here to you in the light of this day.

Gather us in, the lost and forsaken;
gather us in, the blind and the lame;
call to us now, and we shall awaken,
we shall arise at the sound of our name.
We are the young, our lives are a mystery;
we are the old, who yearn for your face;
we have been sung throughout all of history,
called to be light to the whole human race.

Gather us in, the rich and the haughty;
gather us in, the proud and the strong;
give us a heart so meek and so lowly,
give us the courage to enter the song.
Not in the dark of buildings confining,
not in some heaven light years away,
but here in this space, the new light is shining,
now is the kingdom, now is the day.

Gather us in, and hold us forever;
gather us in, and make us your own;
gather us in, all peoples together,
fire of love in our flesh and our bone.

Sending Forth and Benediction

Postlude

Please come and share morning tea in the basement. There are stairs behind the organ and a ramp between the church and the car park leading to the basement.