Women in the Bible Theme: Ruth

Order of Service

WELCOME

CALL TO WORSHIP

L: Here in this place, there are no foreigners,

for all are welcome in God’s house.

All: Where you go, I will go. You’re people will be my people and your God my God

L: Here in this worship, there is only acceptance, for love is the language of faith.

All: Where you go, I will go. You’re people will be my people and your God my God

L: Here in our lives, there are no divisions,

for God dwells in each of us. Come, let

us worship in unity and love.

All: Where you go, I will go. You’re people will be my people and your God my God. 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.

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

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

SONG – WILL YOU COME AND FOLLOW ME

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Helper God,

be the hope that overcomes our despair;

be the love that overcomes our hatred;

be the mercy that overcomes our sin.

Set us free from the prisons of our own making,

and release us from the bonds that bind us.

Forgive us and watch over us.

Welcome us home

into the loving arms of your mercy.

In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

L: Hear the good news. You are not far from the kingdom of God, for in Christ we are given grace and forgiveness. Praise God for this marvelous gift!

All: Thanks be to God

SONG – BE STILL MY SOUL

READING – Ruth 1:1-5, 14-17

MESSAGE

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Please join me in the prayers of the people. Lord in your mercy, you are invited to respond, hear our prayer.

God of Ruth and Naomi,

God of hope in bitterness,

God of harvest in hunger,

God of life in death,

we offer our prayers of blessing

on the feet and lives of women and men

living in poverty and taking risks to

feed their families and communities.

Lord in Your mercy

Hear our Prayer

You, Lord, are born in our resistance to injustice

and shoulder with women the burden of poverty.

Invite us into solidarity with them and with you,

as you lead us to life and justice.

Lord in Your mercy

Hear our Prayer

We gave thanks that Ruth stuck by Noami against all the odds.

Life was incredibly hard for two widowed women in Bible times as it is now. Yet their faithfulness set the example of how God sticks by us against the odds right up until the life and ministry of Jesus. We give thanks that you are faithful to us in the hardest of times.

Lord in Your mercy

Hear our Prayer

We offer up our prayers for people who are left with nothing, like Ruth and Naomi. We pray for our own selfishness and indifference to the plight of others.

As Ruth, inspired by God, found it within herself to take action and stick by Naomi, we pray for similar strength.

Strength to stand with refugees who yearn for home, for peacemakers who yearn for justice, the homeless who search for shelter and the lost looking for answers.

Lord in Your mercy

Hear our Prayer

We ask these things as we pray 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.

OFFERING – Alex

COMMUNION

Invitation:

Friends we gather as a diverse people, diverse in culture and belief, but united around this sacred table of Christ.

For this is not my table. This is not Neutral Bay Uniting Church’s table. This is not the Uniting Church’s table. This is God’s table and as such all are welcome. And all…means all.

But before we partake let us prepare our hearts to receive our spiritual nourishment. Is there someone you need to forgive in your heart? Starting with yourself? Is there gratitude you need to express? Is there peace you need to embrace? Let us have a moment of silence, to do so.

(Silence)

Friends having made space in your hearts for God to move, hear the good news. God has loved you. God is loving you right now. And God will always always love you because you are accepted, you are forgiven and you are free.

Thanks be to God

Thanks be to God

Amen

Great Thanksgiving

And with all of creation we give thanks. With all the prayers of the world and the global church we give thanks. With our interconnectedness, our global solidarity with the poor of every nation and tongue and our hope for a better world we give thanks.

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.

We thank you that you called a covenant people to be a light to the nations. Through Moses you taught us to love your law, and in the prophets you cried out for justice. In the fullness of your mercy you became one with us in Jesus Christ, who gave himself up for us on the cross. You make us alive together with him, that we may rejoice in his presence and share his peace.

And so we praise you

with the faithful of every time and place, joining with choirs of angels

and the whole creation

in the eternal hymn:

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 our God

Hosanna in the highest

Institution

Let us do more than hear the words of institution. But let these words of institution, words that bring forth a sacred remembering, be not just spoken, but sung from our hearts.

On the night you were betrayed, you took the bread

After giving thanks you broke it and said

This is my body, broken for you

And as you eat it, remember me

This is my body, broken for you

And as you eat it, remember me

On the night you were betrayed, you held the cup

After giving thanks you lifted it up

This is my blood, poured out for you

And as you drink it, remember me

This is my blood, poured out for you

And as you drink it, remember me

So we thank you for the wine and for the bread

For we see the life you gave and the blood you shed

And we remember Your wonderous love

You gave your body, you shed your love

And we remember Your wonderous love

You gave your body, you shed your love

By your Word and Holy Spirit, bless these gifts that we may truly share Christ’s body and blood, and become, by grace, his body given for the sake of the world.

As we prepare to receive let us prayer the prayer that he taught us, in the language and tongues of our hearts.

Lords Prayer

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.

Breaking of the Bread

Christ is the bread of heaven that nourishes all with just one bite.

Christ is the cup of salvation that is shared to all who ask.

The gifts of for the people of God. Let us receive what we are; let us become what we receive. The body of Christ.

Distribution

Prayer After Communion

Lord God we give thanks for this sacred meal and for this time of sacred remembering of who Christ is and what Christ has done for the world

SONG

Christ has died

Alleluia x 4

Christ is risen

Alleluia x 4

Christ is coming

Alleluia x 4

Alleluia

Alleluia x 4

BLESSING

L: Go now and cling to God as Ruth clung to Noami. Form sacred partnerships with the least of these. Go where Jesus goes. May God give you strength when you face against the odds journeys.

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

In the name of Christ. Amen.

SONG – TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS