Worship

NBUC offers a variety of worship opportunities:

Sunday morning 10am

Our main service on Sunday morning at 10am is a service that seeks to cater for a wide range of ages and backgrounds in a fairly formal setting. Mostly traditional music is provided by a beautiful pipe organ and choir. Congregational hymns are sung by the congregation, and the psalm is often sung responsively with one of our cantors.

The liturgy is clearly structured, with lay involvement in readings and prayers. Occasionally we experiment with interactive elements in the service, by projecting images or video on a screen, and we let ourselves be challenged by new formats and ideas.

Every service is aimed to make worship an experience where young and old can feel at home, worshipping in God’s presence in and through scripture, prayer and music.

The preaching seeks to listen to the voice of the ancient scriptures of our tradition and to consider what they have to offer us for our lives today. Our theological orientation takes in a breadth of perspectives, ranging from traditional to post-modern and post-progressive Christian.

High Feasts

We celebrate Christmas and Easter with a variety of extra services:

Christmas

We prepare for Christmas during Advent, lighting candles in the advent wreath as we proceed towards Christmas. We offer two services at Christmas time. One on Christmas eve at 5pm (with afternoon tea served at 4.15pm prior to the service) and the other at 9am Christmas day. The Christmas day service is usually packed with extended families meeting in an atmosphere of true Christmas joy.

Easter

Palm Sunday is celebrated with a special music service in the morning and special activities for children. Good Friday morning worship at 10am focusses on the story of Jesus’ suffering and death. The Easter morning service commences at 10am, celebrating with a family communion service and finish with a special morning tea and Easter egg hunt.

Other special Sundays

The All Saints service is held around the first Sunday in November, dependent on the Melbourne Cup Day holiday.

The anniversary of the Uniting Church is celebrated with a special service followed by a talk over a special morning with cake.