COCU Index

COCU Year B 2023-2024 (with coding system as used on this website, which helps keep all resources for each particular week in the lectionary)

NEW! COCU Year C 2024-2025 (with coding system as used on this website, which helps keep all resources for each particular week in the lectionary)

World Council of Churches (WCC) ecumenical prayer cycle here.

Acknowledgement of country (various)

Year B
(for ‘special days/weeks’ arranged by month click here. A few dates are included below)
(Scroll down further for links to specific elements of worship for resources)

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP)
(usually celebrated on the first or second Sunday in November)

November 9th Kristallnacht (night of broken glass)
(the night of Nov 9–10, 1938, when German Nazis attacked Jewish persons and property)

November 9th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

November 10th COCU65B

November 11th Remembrance Day
November 13th World Kindness Day

November 17th COCU66B

November 19th International Men’s Day
November 20th UN World Children’s Day

November 24th COCU67B Reign of Christ

November 25 16 days of activism against gender based violence begins (concluding on Human Rights Day on December 10)
November 25 International Day Elimination of Violence against Women

ADVENT Year C

December 10 International Human Rights Day

Components of worship – general
Acknowledgement of Land
Gathering
Prayer of thanksgiving
Prayer of confession/prayers of who we are/Words of Assurance
Prayer for Illumination
Readings (see specific weeks)
Prayers for others
Lord’s Prayer
Prayer of Dedication
Benediction and sending out
(Communion)
(Communion Hymns)

Starters for great resources
Lectionary Liturgies (Thom Shuman) with HC each week
Sacredise
Textweek
Singing from the Lectionary
Songs of Hope, Faith and Love (Australian) with lyrics, chords and recordings
Church of Scotland Weekly Worship
Re-worship
Together to Celebrate
Pray the Story
UCC Worship Ways
Unfolding Light
Spill the Beans (no longer uses the lectionary but great resources)
Church Anew blog ….spiritual reflections, imaginative biblical commentary, and thoughtful ideas for innovation (including Diana Butler Bass, Walter Brueggemann). 
Australian Women Preach podcast
Rev Roddy Hamilton, New Kilpatrick Parish Church – Original Liturgy
Project Reconnect has sermons for every week – check them out here.
Worship Well have sermons and other elements of worship available each week in plenty of time to use – they’re here.
Saltbush provide liturgy and video sermon “uniting the scattered community” here.
L3 (Liturgy, Learning and (purposeful) Life) from Mediacom
L3 Lay Leaders Liturgy form Mediacom
Intergen (resources for children’s and family ministry and for worship)
The Billabong

Citation index (Vanderbilt Library) in canonical order
UCA Calendar of commemorations
Ecumenical prayer cycle (World Council of Churches)
2024 NCCA Ecumenical Prayer Cycle with lectionary readings

Narrative lectionary

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Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving)

Chuseok, also known as Hangawi or ‘autumn eve’, is a major mid-autumn harvest festival in Korea, and a three-day holiday in South Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunisolar calendar on the full moon.

If there are Korean people in the congregation, consider ways to acknowledge this festive ‘new year’ day.

20255 Oct to 7 OctSun to Tue
202624 Sep to 27 SepThu to Sun
202714 Sep to 16 SepTue to ThuChuseok

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Seafarers Sunday

“Being a seafarer is a tough, lonely and dangerous existence. Courageous men and women from some of the poorest countries in the world are sourced as labour for this industry. On board for lengthy eight to 10 month contracts, they do this job as a means of making a living and providing for their families back home.”

More than 90% of the world’s goods and fuels are transported around the world, thanks to seafarers. Without them the world economy would grind to a halt. This would place businesses and millions of jobs around the world in jeopardy.

Sea Sunday is the day set by many Christian Churches to remember, celebrate, pray for seafarers and their families and give thanks for their lives and work. It is officially held in July – various dates including ‘second Sunday in July’ as well as  Sunday, 21 July, and Sunday, 28 July, 2024. Probably ok for any Sunday in July.

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Earth Hour 23 March 2024

Earth Hour has grown to become much more than switching your lights off, but that iconic switch-off moment is still an important part of Earth Hour. Millions of participants around the world will switch off their lights at 8:30 pm local time on Saturday 23rd March for an hour to demonstrate their support of the environment. It is a symbolic gesture that brings millions of people together to promote climate action – and, of course, much more needs to happen. Earth Hour has been uniting people all over the world, in more than 190 countries, since 2007.

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Wattle Day 1st September

Wattle is a powerful symbol of Australia. Its golden blossoms come from this land and speak of and to its people and place. Wattle predates us all and because of its presence in this land for millions of years, it has welcomed us all and unites us all. It is a bridge between ancient and modern, multicultural Australia. Wattle welcomes the spring, and is among the first plants to regenerate after fire, reminding us of the importance of renewal as it paints our national colours across our landscapes.

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COCU43A

Genesis 12:1-9 God calls Abram to leave his home country, promising that his offspring will become a great nation. So Abram leaves with family and settles in the land of Canaan. Then God promises to give that land to his descendants.
OR Hosea 5:15-6:6The prophet calls the people to return to God with the assurance that God will raise them up. But God speaks through the prophet, grieving the fickle love of God’s people and declaring that God desires love and not sacrifice.

Psalm 33:1-12The psalmist calls God’s righteous people to praise God in music, song and shouting because God is true, righteous, just and loving. God made the earth and skies and God’s plan is eternal. The nation which worships God is happy.
OR Psalm 50:7-15God speaks to God’s people telling them that God does not need their sacrifices because the world and everything in it belong to God, and they must rather offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, fulfil their promises and cry out to God when they are in trouble.
(Psalm 50 paraphrase by Bruce Prewer here)

Romans 4:13-25God’s promise to Abraham did not come through the Law but through righteousness and faith. In faith, Abraham trusted in the promise and held on to hope and God credited him as righteous. In the same way when we have faith in the Risen Christ, it will be credited to us too.

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26Jesus calls Matthew to follow him and shares a meal in Matthew’s home with many tax collectors and sinners. When the Pharisees questioned this, Jesus responded that he had not come to call the righteous but sinners. Then he heals a woman who had been suffering for twelve years with bleeding and raises a ruler’s daughter from death.

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Intercultural Neighbouring Sunday

The Uniting Church in Australia has introduced Intercultural Neighbouring Sunday on the 3rd Sunday in July. In 2024, it will be 21st July. 2024 Resources here.

PRAYER
God our Creator,
you brought this Uniting Church into being
You have called us to be your diverse and multi-coloured people Show us how to value one another as those made in your image Christ Jesus
You reached out across the barriers that divided Jews, Samaritans and Romans,
Enable us to cross the barriers that separate us from one another Holy Spirit,
You are the Giver of Unity,
Unite your people in love that we may be a community of justice, love and reconciliation –
A Church for all God’s People. Amen
(A CHURCH FOR ALL GOD’S PEOPLE – VISION STATEMENT adopted by the 2006 Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia)

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World Mental Health, 10th October

World Mental Health Day  is 10th October and part of Mental Health Week.
(these are dates for Australia – check out dates in your own country eg Mental Health Day in USA is in May)

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World Week for Peace Palestine Israel

The third week of September is the annual World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel (WWPPI). It includes the International Day of Peace. In 2024 the dates are 16-22 September. The theme for 2024 is ‘Whatever you did..you did for me‘.

The theme is based on the larger context of Matthew 25:35-40.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

The theme speaks to the devastating situation of Palestinians in Gaza after so many months of war. After eight months since the beginning of the war on Gaza, the level of human loss and destruction has been unprecedented in the Holy Land. The statistics issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs are devastating, including 35,500 Palestinians killed and 80,000 injured with 60% in both categories being elderly, women, and children; 1.7 million people (75% of the population) internally displaced with 60% of residential units damaged as well as 80% of all commercial facilities. In addition, 1.1 million people reached catastrophic levels of food insecurity, and they lack any electricity, sewage, water, or communication networks.

”The situation in Gaza exposes the lowest decline in our shared humanity and our collective total failure to honour life,” said Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, WCC programme director for Public Witness and Diakonia. “We need to take decisive action to redeem the little of our humanity that may be left.”

Download the 2024 resources here.

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COCU58C

Readings
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15: In spite of his prophecies of the destruction of Judah, Jeremiah buys his cousin’s field and proclaims God’s word that people will again buy property in the land of Judah.
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16: God promises refuge, protection and long life to those who trust in God.
1 Timothy 6:6-19: Followers of Christ are encouraged to be content with what they have, not to strive after wealth, and to share generously with others.
Luke 16:19-31: Jesus tells a parable about a wealthy man who failed to share with the poor beggar outside of his gates, and who finds himself in torment after death, while Lazarus, the beggar, finds himself in comfort.

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COCU57C

Readings
Jeremiah 8:18 – 9:1Psalm 79:1-91 Timothy 2:1-8Luke 16:1-13

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