Order of Service – 5th February 2023

The Order of Service follows below.

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Candle Image: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Kerzen – 2021 – 5553” / CC BY-SA 4.0

Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A light on the hill

The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
February 5, 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 and Introit

Christ is the World’s Light. Traditional (Together in Song 246)

Call to Worship

We are here to be light.
Prisms for bringing out
God’s colours.
We are here to make God public.
Bearers of light to the world.
We are here to shine brightly,
salt to bring out God’s flavours
with our hearts, our minds and our senses… let us open up to God.

Opening Prayer

We Sing: Jesus Calls Us Here to Meet Him

Jesus calls us here to meet him
as, through word and song and prayer,
we affirm God’s promised presence
where his people live and care.
Praise the God who keeps his promise;
praise the Son who calls us friends;
praise the Spirit who, among us,
to our hopes and fears attends.
Jesus call us to confess him
Word of Life and Lord of All,
sharer of our flesh and frailness
saving all who fail or fall.
Tell his holy human story;
tell his tales that all may hear;
tell the world that Christ in glory
came to earth to meet us here.
Jesus calls us to each other:
found in him are no divides.
Race and class and sex and language
such are barriers he derides.
Join the hand of friend and stranger;
join the hands of age and youth;
join the faithful and the doubter
in their common search for truth.
Jesus calls us to his table
rooted firm in time and space,
where the Church in earth and heaven
finds a common meeting place.
Share the bread and wine, his body;
share the love of which we sing;
share the feast of saints and sinners
hosted by our Lord and King.

Together in Song #477. Verse 4 Church Hymnary #510. John L. Bell and Graham Maule © 1989, WGRG, Iona Community. Administered in Australia and New Zealand by Willow Publishing Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. ONE LICENSE, License #A‑604444.

Prayer of Praise and Adoration

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.

Scripture Reading – Isaiah 58:1–9a

Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practised righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgements,
they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.

Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

Scripture Reading – Matthew 5:13–20

‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

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

Choral Anthem

This Little Light of Mine – traditional spiritual

Sermon

Offering

To give electronically please go to bpuc.org/give

Prayers of the People

We Sing: For Everyone Born

For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread;
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star overhead.

Refrain:
And God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy.
For woman and man, a place at the table,
revising the roles, deciding the share;
with wisdom and grace dividing the power,
for woman and man, a system that’s fair.

And God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy.
For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong.

And God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy.
For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out to witness and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be free.

And God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy.

Communion

THE LORD’S PRAYER

And as he said a prayer before sharing, so we say the prayer he taught us

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.

GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

And so with the faithful people in all times and places we join together in words of praise;

Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory,
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Thank you Loving God
For inviting us to share in this meal
May we sense your presence in new and deeper ways
And carry within us a sacred longing
For your absent guests.
So may we seek always to share the good news…
that there is a place at your table for everyone.
Amen

We Sing: Sent Forth by God’s Blessing

Sent forth by God’s blessing, our true faith confessing,
the people of God from his table take leave,
The supper is ended: may now be extended
the fruits of his service in all who believe.
The seed of his teaching, our hungry souls reaching,
shall blossom in action for all humankind.
His grace shall incite us, his love shall unite us
to work for his kingdom, his purpose to find.
With praise and thanksgiving to God ever-living
the tasks of our everyday life we will face,
our faith ever sharing, in love ever caring,
embracing as neighbours all those of each race.
One feast that has fed us, one light that has led us,
unite us as one in his life that we share.
Then may all the living, with praise and thanksgiving,
give honour to Christ and his name that we bear.

Together in Song #531. Words by Omer Westendorf © Copyright 1964, World Library Publications. All rights reserved. ords used with permission under copyright CCLI Licence No 137219. Copyright cleared music for churches.

Sending Forth and Benediction

Choral Blessing

Shine, Holy Spirit of Peace – Rosemary Nairn

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.

Some of the liturgy in this service is adapted from Spill the Beans, published by the Spill the Beans Resource Team, spillbeans.org.uk and also Words for Worship and Seasons of the Spirit, published by MediaCom Education – mediacomeducation.org.au