Order of Service – Sunday 17 March 2024 – LENT 5
Click the link below to download the Order of Service.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
WELCOME TO WORSHIP
INTRODUCTION OF THE THEME
CALL TO WORSHIP (Based on Jeremiah 31: 31-34)
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant…it will not be like the old covenant:
Written on stone.
This will be a radically new covenant, my laws will be within you;
Written on our hearts.
And God added these wonderful words – I am your God and you are my people.
Imprint these words anew on our hearts, O God, so that we know You in all Your fullness, love You as You love us, and worship You as You deserve.
PRAYER OF APPROACH –
We praise You, O God, not only with our hearts, but with our minds – indeed – with every part of our lives. We praise You for being our God and for claiming us as Your people. As Your people. Such easy words to say and yet such astounding words to own. You – great Creator of the universe – acknowledge that each person is special to You. We shake our heads in disbelief at such an unlikely action – and yet – You have proved its truth through the person of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Saviour and Lord. He even went to the length of dying to demonstrate the depth of His love for us – the intensity of divine love for all humanity. Accept our worship, gracious God, for we offer it with glad and grateful hearts, hearts energised and renewed by our relationship with You. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!
HYMN: 685 “Lord, I Come to You” (The Power of Your Love)
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Have mercy on us, God of steadfast love, according to Your abundant mercy blot out all our wrongdoings. Cleanse us thoroughly from all our sins.
We know all too well, when we do sin, that we do it against You, O God. When we do evil in Your sight, O God, You are justified in Your judgment of our misdeeds. You desire truth in all we think, and do and say; therefore etch Your wisdom on the innermost places of our hearts.
Wash and scrub our sins away until we are free from imperfection.
Silent Confession
Create in us clean hearts, O God, and put a new and right spirit within us. Do not cast us from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from us.
Restore to us the joy of Your salvation and sustain in us a willing spirit so that we can respond joyfully to Your intention for our lives.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!
ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS
Hear the good news: Jesus, having been made perfect, became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him (Hebrews 5:9). And so, I declare to you: in Jesus Christ, we are loved, we are renewed, and we are forgiven. Thanks be to God!
HYMN: 256 “From Heaven You Came, Helpless Babe”
BIBLE READING – Chris Butters
Psalm 51:1-12 (Pages 562-563) Hebrews 5:5-10 (Pages 1186-1187)
John 12:20-33 (Pages 1065-1066)
MUSICAL REFLECTION
MESSAGE: “The Star Thrower” Bob Minton
HYMN: 583 “Take Up Your Cross”
NOTICES –
- Bus Trip – Wentworth Falls Lake – Wed 20 March 9:00 am.
- Good Friday Service – Friday 29 March 9:30 am.
- Easter Sunday Service – Sunday 31 March 9:30 am.
- Movie/ Pizza Nights – Tuesday 2 April 6:30 pm
OFFERING
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Lord Jesus Christ, Your suffering and death are a source of our hope and joy. In You the mighty love of God faced the worst the human race can do. Yet in the cold darkness of death, we see the fire of love, and recognise the depths of God’s mercy.
We realise that the world is as cruel now as it was then.
Despair and death still swallow up our hopes and our triumphs and the evil in all our hearts still crucifies goodness.
As we pray for the world, we remember how profoundly You cared, and we realise that we cannot stand aside uncaring.
We cannot stand aside while men, women and children suffer and die, while they go hungry and are deprived of justice and love.
And, remembering Your sorrow, we know that we cannot hide from the sorrow of others or run away from the things which cause sorrow to ourselves.
Lord Jesus, we ask for ourselves, and all who are Your disciples, that, where men, women and children are in despair, in anxiety, or in loneliness, we may share Your suffering and proclaim the love and mercy of God.
Until in us, Your sorrows have run their course, and love’s final work is finished, cause us to remember, Lord, that You have chosen us, and commissioned us, to pray and to work, to live and to die, for the human race.
Lord, for the world’s sake keep us faithful to You, so that we may always put love before ambition, and goodness before success, to the honour of Your name. We ask it in Jesus’s name.
Who taught us to pray saying….
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name …..
HYMN: 595 “O Jesus, I Have Promised” (Tune 15)
BLESSING
That the light of Christ may shine on your path brighter than the morning sun, I bless you!
That the wind of the Spirit may be at your back as you go on your way rejoicing, I bless you!
That the undergirding ground of God may prevent you from falling anywhere except into the arms of grace, I bless you.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
In the name of Christ. Amen!
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To contact Krikor call 9453 0787 or 0418 417 411
Church Website: http://www.longueville.unitingchurch.org.au
Church email: standrewsunite@tpg.com.au
Church Office phone: 9427 4740