How To Do Worship

Neutral Bay Uniting

Lectionary Scriptures: Acts 8:26-40 Ps 22:25-31 1 Jn 4:7-21 Jn 15:1-8 

Scripture Theme: Acts 8:26-40 Ethiopian Eunuch 

Call to Worship – Adapted from Ministry Matters United Methodist Church Resource From The Abingdon Preaching Annual Series 2, Copyright © by Abingdon Press.

L:               Come and sit with me; we shall study the Word, God’s love, put in writing by people. 

ALL:          Together we shall read and understand.

L:               Come and kneel with me; we shall break the bread.

All:            Together we shall eat and be satisfied.

L:               Come and walk with me; you have a place by my side just as you are. 

All:            Together we shall risk, and, behold, we shall be changed. Amen. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY 

L: The Cammeraygal people are the original custodians of the land on which our church stands. The Cammeraygals were spiritual leaders amongst the Indigenous clans of Sydney, leaving us art and rock carvings that have lasted millennia. They manged the land so well, there was food and drink enough for all.  

All: We pay our respects to their Elders: past and present. 

L: We honour the deep spiritual traditions of the indigenous peoples; their gifts of lore and culture, and their holistic understanding of country and community.

We honour the wisdom of the Elders and the Dreaming of the First Peoples of these lands now called Australia.

All: We commit to walking respectfully in this country, and to journeying with them in their quest for justice and reconciliation.

Song – Amazing Grace 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION 

God who meets us in unexpected places. We confess. 

We confess to a lack of creativity. We confess that we’d prefer if you move in our life a different way to how you usually move. We want all the discomfort of faith and life gone. We prefer to consume faith instead of participate in it. We prefer to ask forgiveness and not learn from our mistakes because it’s easier. 

Bless with us with the open heart of the Ethiopian Eunuch. Who found you on the road of life’s journey. Who was open to learning from scripture and encountering Jesus in an expected place. Keep turning our expectations upside down and inside out we pray. 

Amen 

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS 

One:         Hear the Good News: God has a heart for all who are made in God’s image. That means you, that means me, that means people in minorities, people of different races, cultures, creeds. Our God of the underdogs is walking with you every step of the journey. 

All:            Thanks be to God. Amen  

Song: This is The Air I Breathe 

SCRIPTURE READING ACTS 8:26-40

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

²⁶ Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) ²⁷ So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” ³⁰ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³² Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

    and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

        so he does not open his mouth.

³³ In his humiliation justice was denied him.

    Who can describe his generation?

        For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 

³⁸ He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

For the word of God in scripture 

For the Word of God among us 

For the Word of God within us 

We say, Thanks be to God!

SONG OF ACCLAMATION 

I will listen to Your words O Lord 

I will listen to Your words

I will go where you want to go, I will seek very path 

Please Lord, lead me the way to my home in Your heart

DISCUSSION – When have you found God in an unexpected place? 

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE –  

Please join in me in prayers of the people. When I say God of the journey, you are invited to respond, we walk with you in faith. 

Let us pray. 

God who cares for those who have been neglected, we think of the Ethiopian Eunuch. A person, made in Your image. A person who didn’t fit neatly into male or female boxes. When the Eunuch was on a journey you chose him to receive the Gospel and share it to many. 

L:      God of the Journey 

All:   We walk with you in faith 

God of healing, we pray for those who are weighed down by the journey. For those who feel that Christ’s love is far away. For those who have hurt by others on the road, those who have gotten lost, those who every step is painful. May you love transform just as it transformed the Eunuch.

L:      God of the Journey 

All:   We walk with you in faith 

God of new beginnings, we give thanks that we learn on the journey. When we step outside and go on the long journey of faith, we encounter you in unexpected places. We pray for transformation that helps us be just in all our dealings. We pray for changed hearts that leads decision makers and law makers to put justice at the centre. 

L:      God of the Journey 

All:   We walk with you in faith 

God who meets violence with love and justice. We pray for peace makers in our world and country. For peace and healing in communities scarred by violence and terror as in Bondi and Wakely. For Gaza and Israel, for Ukraine and Sudan and everywhere else. 

We lament that we only take notice when one of our own dies. We pray for a just peace for the blood shed to end. 

May all parties be ready for the long journey of peace making. 

L:      God of the Journey 

All:   We walk with you in faith 

As ask these things as we pray together the prayer that Jesus taught us in the language of our hearts. 

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 for ever. Amen.

BLESSING – Alex

L:           Go now, find God in unexpected places and people. 

              Know that God cares for minorities, that race, gender and being an outsider are no barriers to receiving and giving God’s love. 

All:        We go in peace to love and serve the Lord, 

              In the name of Christ. Amen.