Koonung Heights Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Epiphany 4 – 1 February, 2026 – 10am or whenever possible
You may like to light a candle during your time of worship.
Feel free to text the Peace to other members of the congregation.
During the service we will share Communion so you might like to have the elements ready.
Introit: Holy, holy, holy – (TiS 723)
Holy, holy, holy.
My heart, my heart adores you!
My heart knows how to say to you:
Holy are you, Lord.
Lighting the Christ Candle:
We acknowledge that we walk with the Light of the World.
In the name of Christ, we light this candle.
Acknowledgement of Country:
As we look upon the hills and the valleys,
we see love poured out on this land
by those who have cared since time before measure.
I pay my respects to the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung People of the Kulin Nations
and I honour those who have gone before and are yet to come.
May we be mindful of the calling God places on humanity
to care for creation, and to walk together with one another
in God’s covenant.
Call to Worship:
Blessed are the seekers
for here is a place to be all you are.
Blessed are the questioners
for here is a place of mystery and honesty.
Blessed are the followers
for here is a place to pause and recharge.
Blessed are the burdened
for here is a place to lay things down.
Blessed are the unsure
for here is a place to wrestle and explore.
Blessed are we
for here is a place to meet and worship
the One who blesses us all.
We Sing: Gather Us In – (TiS 474)
Here in this place new light is streaming,
now is the darkness vanished away,
see, in this space, our fears and our dreamings,
brought here to you in the light of this day.
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken; gather us in, the blind and the lame;
call to us now, and we shall awaken, we shall arise at the sound of our name.
We are the young, our lives are a mystery;
we are the old, who yearn for your face;
we have been sung throughout all of history,
called to be light to the whole human race.
Gather us in, the rich and the haughty; gather us in, the proud and the strong;
give us a heart so meek and so lowly, give us the courage to enter the song.
Here we will take of the wine and the water,
here we will take the bread of new birth,
here you shall call your sons and your daughters,
call us anew to be salt of the earth.
Give us to drink the wine of compassion, give us to eat the bread that is you;
nourish us well, and teach us to fashion lives that are holy and hearts that are true.
Not in the dark of buildings confining,
not in some heaven light years away,
but here in this space, the new light is shining,
now is the kingdom, now is the day.
Gather us in, and hold us forever; gather us in, and make us your own;
gather us in, all peoples together, fire of love in our flesh and our bone.
Prayer of Approach and Confession:
Gracious God,
we thank you that we can gather together in your name,
some among many who have worshipped you over millennia.
We thank you that we can immerse ourselves in your wisdom,
knowing that in your mystery our lives will not stay the same.
Lord of all blessing, giver of all happiness,
as we gather in this space we are reminded of your goodness.
Teacher of the way, giver of all hope,
as we gather in this space we are reminded of your love.
Spirit of God, giver of all inspiration,
as we gather in this space we are reminded of your stirring.
We come to be blessed – ready to be a blessing to others.
We come to listen – ready to take what we hear out into the world.
We come just as we are – ready to leave changed.
We come with whatever is heavy on our hearts,
knowing that we are less than perfect
no matter how hard we try to do the right thing.
We remember words we have said or left unsaid,
and things we have done or left undone,
and ask your forgiveness.
We are here ready to acknowledge our failures,
knowing that you transform us by your love
so that we might be ready to start afresh.
We are blessed, your blessed, always.
Amen.
Words of Assurance:
Friends,
we are called and blessed
when we live in God’s ways,
and embraced even when we fall short
of what God desires for us.
Know that God never stops loving and forgiving us
with a fierce tenderness that is transforming.
Thanks be to God.
Time for All:
Each week on Sunday we pass around the collection bowls and some of us place our offerings in them. Some of us give our offering directly through our accounts. Others of us bring offerings of food to support in material ways. I remember when I was a little girl at Sunday School and dad used to give me 20c to put in the collection plate. The plate would be passed around, and as we placed our coins in, our teachers would encourage us to sing with them …
‘Hear the pennies dropping! Listen while they fall;
Ev’ry one for Jesus, He will get them all.
Dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping; hear the pennies fall!
Ev’ry one for Jesus, He will get them all.
I’m sure the idea behind this song was that as we sang, we learnt the value of giving to God.
Of course we can give to God in many ways, not just giving money or food, but giving our time and our talents, giving our friendship or a smile to a stranger, giving our voice to those who find it hard to speak for themselves. I’m sure you can think of many ways we can give. But what is it that God really wants from us?
In one of our readings today, the prophet Micah tells the people what God really wants as offerings … ‘to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.’ To put it simply, doing justice means caring about what is fair and wanting the best for others. Loving kindness means recognising the mercy and love that God has given us and offering the same to others. Walking humbly with God means living each day with God by our side, knowing that all we are able to do comes from what God has given us.
We Sing: What does the Lord require – (TiS 618)
What does the Lord require for praise and offering?
What sacrifice desire or tribute bid you bring?
Do justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God.
Rulers of earth, give ear! should you not justice show?
Will God your pleading hear, while crime and cruelty grow?
Do justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God.
Leaders in wealth and trade, for whom the worker toils,
think not to win God’s aid if greed your commerce soils.
Do justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God.
Still down the ages ring the prophet’s stern commands:
to merchant, worker, king, he brings God’s high demands.
Do justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God.
How shall our life fulfil God’s law so hard and high?
Let Christ endure our will with grace to fortify.
Then justly, in mercy, we’ll humbly walk with God.
Offering Prayer:
Let us say this simple prayer together …
Dear God,
Thank you for all that you give us, and for taking care of all our needs.
Accept what we have given back to you today.
Help us to trust in you – to act justly, love kindness and walk humbly.
Help us live in a way that shows your love to others every day.
In Jesus name we pray,
Amen.
Bible Reading: Micah 6:1-8
– God Challenges Israel
1 Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, you mountains, the case of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has a case against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
3 “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”
– What God Requires
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?
Bible Reading: Matthew 5:1-12
– The Beatitudes
1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Reflection:
I wonder how you came to worship today. Did you come out of a sense of duty, for some words of comfort, to connect with others, or to discover something about God. Maybe you came for a combination of those reasons or for something else entirely. Maybe you came full of questions. If we are honest, we come to church a little like we come to life, sometimes wondering what sense we can make of it all, and how we can play a role that impacts more than just ourselves. In the gospel passage, Jesus is speaking to the disciples at a time when life was tough – the country was occupied, the people were living under the rule of the Romans; there was little in the way of medical care and both infant and maternal mortality were high; common disease often proved fatal and the sick and disabled were often shunned out of fear. Work was back breaking and many didn’t have enough to eat.
In light of all that is happening in the world today, it seems that things are still much the same for many people. People are still living in occupied territories where life is cheap and there is little access for the basic necessities. People are discriminated against because of their race, gender, sexuality, religion and socio-economic status. In Jesus’ day, when people suffered it was often seen to be a punishment from God. Today we might not name it as punishment from God, but we can too easily think that the situation people find themselves in is of their own making. Into all of this, I find myself asking the question that if life is not as God intended it to be, then what is my role in bringing about God’s kin-dom values?
Jesus’ vision of the kin-dom of God emerges clearly in the gospel text when Jesus gathers his disciples around him, takes them to a quiet place and begins to teach them. Jesus speaks about what they think they know and turns it upside down! Jesus’ proposition is counter-cultural, centralised on changing the unjust conditions of the poor, the lowly, the sick, the oppressed and the chronically dislocated individuals and communities of his time. His declaration of ‘blessedness’ over the meek, the mourners, the peacemakers, the persecuted and the pure of heart, affirms that the very conditions that create discomfort, struggle, suffering and even scorn, are those which paradoxically transform into the essential ingredients to inherit and inhabit the kin-dom of God.
Jesus affirms the richer meaning of the word ‘blessed’. To be blessed is to be in a good relationship with God, so Jesus’ words offer hope and comfort – hope that those suffering are not forgotten and hope that things will change. The bible tells us that God has always had a special love and concern for those who are suffering. God used Moses to rescue the people out of slavery in Egypt, because he heard their cries as they suffered at the hands of their oppressors. Jesus shows this same love when he pronounced blessings on the meek, the grief stricken, the impoverished and the oppressed. Jesus’ words were never just mere platitudes because he used his life and ministry to empower the meek, feed the hungry, care for the poor, heal the sick and demand justice for the oppressed.
Jesus acted. He didn’t simply speak blessing, but lived it, embodied it, incarnated it. Through his words, his hands, his feet and his life, Jesus brought about the very blessings that he promised. Jesus worked to bring healing, abundance, liberation and joy to everyone who crossed his path. Maybe it is within this, that I can answer my earlier question. What is my role in bringing about God’s kin-dom values? It seems to me to centre around being a blessing to others by embodying the gospel, the good news. Just like Jesus, we are called to be sharers of hope, healing, love, compassion and peace. We, too, are called to shine light into dark places.
Within Jesus’ words we are reminded of how we should live. After promising a blessing to those living in difficult situations, Jesus clearly names the behaviours that contribute to an expression of the transformative vision of God’s kin-dom values. Living as followers of Jesus, we are to show mercy, be pure of heart, act as peacemakers and be righteous. In essence, we are to live in the way of Christ. This is the same call that the prophet Micah shares … the call to ‘do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8).
The beatitudes not only address people with a word of good news, and give us a model of discipleship, but they also describe the direction of God’s blessing. God is a God who cares about the poor in spirit, the humble, those yearning for right to be done, the merciful, the single-minded, the peacemakers, and those persecuted for righteousness’ sake. God will not abandon such people or leave them without hope.
If Jesus were to climb a mountain and ‘declare’ blessings today, I wonder whether he might include those who are protesting against First Nation’s injustices, those who are enslaved through human trafficking, and those who lose their lives while protecting others. I wonder whether he would also declare the Earth blessed, and mourn at her efforts to exist and flourish.
There are ethical implications for those of us who have heard this text. As followers of Christ, surely our attitudes, consciousness and living are shaped by the God in whom we believe. What Micah identifies as ‘love kindness’, is a lifestyle that calls for forgiveness and mercy, an understanding of compassion which is more than about simply having pity or feeling sympathy for others. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote that sharing the human journey with the most vulnerable enables us to become the kind of Kingdom people that Jesus declares ‘blessed’. He writes: “To learn to be a disciple is to learn why we are dependent on those who mourn or who are meek, though we may not possess that gift ourselves.”
The Beatitudes remind us that even in the worst of situations, God’s love is always present. When we are the one suffering in that darkness, we can be sure that we are not alone, that God is present, that God loves us, and that hope is present. When we reach out to others who are in those dark places with love and compassion, we are doing the kin-dom work of Christ. May we be ready and willing to live into that calling.
Amen.
We Sing: All the sleepy – (TiS 697)
All the sleepy should have a place to sleep.
All the hungry should have a place to eat.
All the mourning should have a place to weep.
Does not every child of God deserve a home?
Make love happen by God’s grace and by God’s power.
Let God move you on this day and in this hour.
New creations will then blossom like a flower
for together we can be the hands of God, for together we can be the hands of God.
All who suffer should have a place to heal,
and compassion to ease the pain they feel.
Talk is easy, but who will make love real?
Does not every child of God deserve some peace?
Make love happen …
The forgotten should be remembered too.
Lonely people might need a friend of two.
Who would be there if it were me or you?
Does not every child of God deserve some care?
Make love happen …
Prayer for Others:
Response:
We know that you are with them loving God,
and that we can be their companions.
Loving God,
We come before you now with prayers for our world and community.
We pray for all those who are poor in Spirit. For those who are longing for hope and life in this world.
We know that you are with them loving God, and that we can be their companions.
We pray for those who are powerless. For those who are lost in the machinery of social and political deserts and have no voice to be heard.
We know that you are with them loving God, and that we can be their companions.
We pray for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. For those who may frighten us with fervent advocacy and raised voices of discontent.
We know that you are with them loving God, and that we can be their companions.
We pay for those who are merciful. Who give themselves for the greater good and hope of our communities. Who dedicate their lives to the care of others.
We know that you are with them loving God, and that we can be their companions.
We pray for those who are pure in heart, whatever their gender, race, creed or religion.
We know that you are with them loving God, and that we can be their companions.
We pray for the peacemakers. Those who against all odds turn their faces to the hope of a world not governed by repression and violence.
We know that you are with them loving God, and that we can be their companions.
We pray for those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Those whose claims for a just and loving community infused with a love of God are marginalised and rejected.
We know that you are with them loving God, and that we can be their companions.
Finally, loving God, we pray in silence for those who are on our hearts. (Time of silence).
Thankyou that you hear our prayers, spoken and unspoken, and that you see the candles that have been lit this day. Thankyou for the invitation to be part of the renewal of your creation.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
Communion:
The Peace:
The peace of 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.
Prayer of Thanksgiving:
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you have always shown us what is good and what you require of us.
You laid the foundations of the earth,
and the mountains and hills witness to your justice.
You redeemed your people and called us to remember your saving acts,
that we might know your ways and live our lives in justice, kindness and humility.
When our own wisdom and discernment failed to bring us near to you,
you chose what was foolish, weak and despised in our eyes
to break the grip of human wisdom and strength:
Christ Jesus our Lord, and him crucified.
Raised to new life, he has made known to us what the wise never guessed,
that you honour not what the world seeks
but those who walk with you the way of the cross.
Therefore we gladly join our voices to the song of the Church on earth and in heaven,
singing:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of love and light,
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.
On the night of Jesus betrayal and arrest, as he shared a meal with his friends,
Jesus took bread; gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his followers, saying:
“Share this bread among you; this is my body which will be broken for justice.
Do this to remember me.”
When supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to his disciples, saying:
“Share this wine among you; this is my blood which will be shed for liberation.
Do this to remember me.”
Invocation:
Creating, Redeeming, Sustaining God,
as we celebrate this meal together,
may your Spirit come upon those gathered here.
Spirit of compassion, bless us and this bread and wine.
May this meal be food and drink for our journey
renewing, sustaining and making us whole.
When we eat and drink may we experience again
the presence of the risen Jesus in our midst.
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name;
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and 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.
Distribution:
The bread we take is a sharing in the body of Christ.
The wine we take is a sharing in the blood of Christ.
These are the gifts of God for the people of God.
The bread of life – the cup of hope.
May this meal nourish and refresh you, strengthen and renew you,
and may it remind you that you are loved.
Amen.
Prayer:
God of love, we give you thanks for satisfying us with this meal.
Send us from here to reveal your love in the world,
and to be agents of justice and righteousness.
Inspire us to use our words to point others to the Word.
Inspire in us the resolve and the courage, the compassion and passion
to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with you. Amen.
We Sing: Sent forth by God’s blessing – (TiS 531)
Sent forth by God’s blessing, our true faith confessing,
the people of God for this 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.
God’s grace shall incite us, God’s love shall unite us
to work for the kingdom, God’s 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 the life that we share.
Then may all the living, with praise and thanksgiving,
give honour to Christ and his name that we bear.
Blessing:
Be blessed as you leave this place today.
Be a blessing in the world.
Be a word that brings life.
Be a community that speaks love.
Be God’s people wherever you are.
And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
Three in One, One in Three,
be with you always.
Amen.
Thanks to all those who have assisted in preparation for this liturgy with encouragement, prayers and conversation. I have also utilised the following resources: Fig Tree Worship, Spill the Beans and www.LaughingBird.net.au.