SCHOOL OF FAITH
ASSEMBLY OF CONFESSING CONGREGATIONS
OF THE UNITING CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA
DEVOTIONAL SACRED SEASON
DAY 1 and 21 - 5th and 25th June
PRAYER TIME FOR DAY 1 and 21 - JUNE 5th and 25th
Especially designed for zoom prayer times during the Sacred Season of Prayer and Fasting but can be used in face to face prayer times as well. Spontaneous prayer is offered in times of prayers of praise and confession from group members using if possible some of themes in the psalm or scripture reading. The prayers for others can also be prayed spontaneously and can weave in thoughts from scripture reading, passage from Basis of Union and devotional reading.
SOLE LOYALTY TO CHRIST THE LIVING HEAD OF THE CHURCH!
REV DR. HEDLEY FIHAKI
Rev Dr Hedley Fihaki is the National Chair and Spokesperson for ACC. His Current placement is the Minister of the Word - Mooloolaba Uniting Church, Sunshine Coast Qld. He has been a member of the National Assembly 2006, 2009, 2015 and has been elected as a member in 2018. He is a Teacher of the ACC School of Faith.
OPENING PRAYER
BIBLE READINGS: Philippians 2: 9-11.
Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)
Leader
In your relationships with one another,
have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Reader 1
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage;
Leader
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
Reader 2
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death —
even death on a cross!
Leader
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
Reader 3
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Leader
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
PRAYERS OF PRAISE AND ADORATION
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
BIBLE READINGS: 1 Corinthians 3: 10-15
Reader 1
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Reader 2
12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.
Reader 3
14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
PARAGRAPH 1: BASIS OF UNION
Reader 1
The Congregational Union of Australia, the Methodist Church of
Australasia and the Presbyterian Church of Australia, in fellowship with
the whole Church Catholic, and seeking to bear witness to that unity
which is both Christ's gift and will for the Church, hereby enter into union
under the name of the Uniting Church in Australia.
Reader 2
They pray that this act may be to the glory of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.…..
Reader 3
To this end they declare their readiness to go forward together in sole loyalty to Christ the living Head of the Church…
REFLECTION
Reader 1:
Three things stand out:
1. The three churches saw themselves as being part of a church movement
that was not ‘its own denomination’ but part of the fellowship of the whole
Church Catholic, witnessing to that unity which is both Christ’s gift and will
for the Church.
2. The three churches ‘prayed’ that this act may be to the glory of God the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
3. The three churches ‘declared’ their readiness to go forward together in sole loyalty to Christ the living head of the Church.
Reader 2:
As the Uniting Church seeks to move forward together in fellowship with the whole Church Catholic, in the light of the radical proposal by the ASC to
redefine marriage in July, we are reminded of our historical and ecumenical
commitment to go forward together in sole loyalty to Christ. That is, the UCA cannot go off on a tangent apart from its commitment to live and work within the faith and unity of the Only Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. To do so will be a departure from our Basis of Union and our Constitution. The aim of Assembly, therefore, is NOT to try maintain a ‘diversity of views’ on this matter as if ‘diversity’ of theologies is in itself the highest good and goal of the Church, but, to help the Church to move forward together in ‘sole loyalty’ to Christ.
Reader 3:
Contrary to the significant flaw in the ASC report, the Assembly of Confessing Congregations ‘declares’ that Marriage enters into the substance of the faith and therefore not a matter that allows for a diversity of opinion.
The issue before us is not human sexuality as such, but the authority of
Scripture. When we speak of the authority of Scripture (BOU para.5) we are
speaking about the lordship of Christ as the ‘living head of the Church’. And the lordship of Christ is the essence of the gospel itself. To deny this reality, is to promote a totally different gospel to the one outlined in the UCA’s Basis of Union
PRAYER
Leader:
Our Father, we pray that Assembly will be bold in helping the Uniting
Church to move forward together with the whole Church Catholic in sole loyalty to your Son, our Lord, Jesus the Christ, the living head of your Church. Amen!
PRAYERS FOR OTHERS
CONFESSION FROM BASIS OF UNION
Leader:
Within this fellowship of the Uniting Church in Australia, and as part of the Christian church around the world, let us confess Christ in the following words from the Basis of Union.
Reader 1:
Today we ‘confess Jesus as Lord over (our) own life’ and ‘Head over all things, the beginning of a new creation, of a new humanity’.
Leader:
Let us reaffirm our desire ‘to live and work within the faith and unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church’.
Reader 2:
We joyously ‘acknowledge that Christ alone is supreme in his Church’ and declare our ‘readiness to go forward together in sole loyalty to Christ the living Head of the Church’.
Amen.
Nb. The words in quotation marks are direct quotes from the Basis of Union
Prepared by Rev Rod James.