An Order for Lay Preachers Sunday 7 th August, 2016 An Order of Service, with introductory reflections, for Lay Preachers Sunday in Uniting Church congregations in South Australia The Uniting Church in South Australia has nominated the first Sunday in August each year for the Lay Preachers Sunday a day on which the church celebrates in an intentional way the contribution made to its life and work by Lay Preachers. The Lay Preachers Committee for the Synod of SA is pleased to offer an Order of Service for the day. The order is based on the lectionary readings specified for the day, which in 2016 is August the 7 th. The service is prepared as an integrated whole, but worship leaders remain free to use as many of the elements of this order as they wish. Music suggestions are drawn from various sources. Some may wish to use different readings. Others may need or elect to celebrate the occasion on another date. That is not of great concern much more important is that the event be celebrated!!
An Order for Lay Preachers Sunday 7 th August, 2016 Call to Worship There are diverse gifts: but it is the same Spirit who gives them. There are different ways of serving God: but it is the same Lord who is served. God works through people in different ways: but it is the same God whose purpose is achieved through us all. Each one of us is given a gift by the Spirit: and there is no gift without its corresponding service. There is one ministry of Christ: and in this ministry we all share. Together we are the body of Christ: and individually members of it. Based on 1 Corinthians 12:4ff and Basis of Union, para 13.
Gathering for worship Song / hymn In praise of God the creator: TiS 181 Come, O God of all the earth TiS 187 Let all creation dance Celebrating the goodness and love of God: TiS 171 Glory to God TiS 183 Sing of the Lord s goodness God encountered as Creator, Son and Spirit: TiS 179 Praise with joy the world s creator TiS 188 Where wide sky rolls down ATAR 605 God of creation Prayers of adoration and praise The preacher (or the people) may find the form of a responsive prayer helpful; alternatively, the preacher may wish to lead the people in prayer using the reflections presented here. Adoration Leader: Our great and wonderful God, we gather as a community of your people to worship and adore you; Response: for you alone are worthy of worship, you alone are the one to whom in the end we rightly bring our gratitude and adoration. We worship you for your faithfulness to your people across countless generations: you call people to go where you send them - and those who respond in trust find that you are faithful, that they can rely on you to provide what is needed to complete what you call them to do. We remember Abraham and Sarah, Rahab and Gideon, Daniel and Ruth; We remember Paul and Lydia, Aquinas and Luther, Juliana of Norwich and Mother Teresa - and so many more like them who trusted you with their lives, even though they could have no guarantee that you would deliver for them.
Confession But we confess that we are sometimes not as trusting of you as they were, for we have put our faith in our religious practice: we have thought that our prayers and our hymns freed us from the obligation to care. Forgive us if we have given assent to creeds and statements of belief - but then not followed through to work for justice or be the people of compassion you call us to be. God of justice and grace, will we make you meet us as the God of raging fire, to purify and refine? O God, we pray for the humility that will enable us to let you be heard, and allow you to confront us with the truth we don t want to hear. Come into our lives, we pray. Change us into the people you made us to be. Words of Assurance Our God never gives up on us; and those who turn to God find a treasure that does not decay and life that does not fade away. Our sin is forgiven. Thanks be to God. We hear the words of life The early message (perhaps focused on the children) Reading Heb 11:1-3, 8 What does it mean to trust someone? Who are the people you trust? How do you show you trust someone, that you really do believe what they say? Play the Trust game with anyone who will join in. Song TiS 691 Faith will not grow from words alone
Second message Readings Isa 1:1, 10-20 Heb 11:8-16 Lk 12:32-40 Isaiah: worship not matched with lifestyle is a waste of time Hebrews: faith is demonstrated in acting on what we say we believe Luke: Jesus re treasure that doesn t decay Our response: how we live is the test of what we really believe. Song Select from: ATE 308 ATE 582 TiS 697 TiS 665 We are called to follow Jesus Like a candle Make love happen Jesus Christ is waiting We respond to the word from God Celebration of Lay Preachers There s no small irony in the fact that today we are celebrating those who are authorised by the Uniting Church to lead worship and preach the word yet we are warned by Isaiah against placing undue reliance on formal worship in our relationship with God. We recognise the knowledge and skills of preachers trained in exegesis and critical scholarship yet also knowing that in the end we confront deep mystery. Perhaps it is that those who probe the Scriptures most deeply are also the ones most acutely aware of the ultimate mystery of God. Today we acknowledge those who bring their secular life experience to the business of preaching in a way that Lay Preachers have always done and is now increasingly common among those called to ordained ministry. Life experience with all its complexities helps keep the preaching grounded in real life while at the same time presenting a wider and higher vision of what life in the communion of God can be like.
Preachers lay or ordained know all too well that the more we know, the more there is still to know; they are acutely aware that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews was right: the basis of our relationship with God is trust. We can have all the confidence and assurance in the world, but in the end we are human beings in relationship, that is, something we take on trust, in faith. Prayers of the people As determined by the person leading them but prayers for Lay Preachers are highly appropriate on this occasion. The Lord s Prayer may be included. Song ATAR 673 Community in Christ or another from those suggested for after the second message. The Blessing Sung Blessing according to local custom A note for worship leaders: Whenever written text is used, either on paper of via data projector, and whether it be song words or responsive liturgy as in this order of service, please remember to make appropriate provision for any visually-impaired people in your congregation.