September 3, 2017
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
Write your welcome here
GATHERING
This is the month of September!
When we reflect on the breadth and depth and length of Creation
Today is River Sunday
When we reflect on rivers, all they bring us and all we owe them
This place is a sacred space
One of the places in which we consider, pray, receive and respond to grace and beauty
One of the places where we can be challenged to hear the demands of the divine and the planet
In this month, on this day, in this place, we journey the River of Life.
PROCESSIONAL HYMN
‘Song of t
he Waters’
Words: ©Norman Habel. Tune (CH
4 160): Praise, my soul
Watch once more the windswept storm clouds;
Suddenly the sky has wings!
God has come to rain among us,
giving hope to all dry things.
Sing a song of splashing waters,
pulsing through
the veins of Earth.
Taste the moisture of the morning,
smoother than the best red wine;
toast the lifeblood of the planet:
Here’s to God’s wild wet design!
Sing a song of flowing waters,
pulsing through the veins of Earth.
View anew the dark blue o
cean,
Whales cavorting, spraying foam;
God at play with deep sea monsters,
feeling very much at home.
Sing a song of laughing waters,
pulsing through the veins of Earth.
Feel the breath of God move softly,
gentle mists that brush the skin;
Earth is
breathing God’s own spirit,
life renewed from deep within.
Sing a song of living waters,
pulsing through the veins of Earth
WELCOME
Kia ora tatou
.
Kia ora.
CALL TO WORSHIP
We call to the rivers t
o worship with us:
the Clutha, Rakaia, Manawatu, and Waikato,
all rivers that flow to the sea.
We invite the streams to sing:
Trout and water crays, inanga whitebait,
Cockabullies and eels sing praise.
We invite the river bi
rds to
add their praise
.
Whio, and mallard duck,
Kingfisher and dragonflies call their praise.
We join
with the waters in their hymn of praise
:
waterfalls, singing streams,
rushing rapids and still pools,
ripples that dance at the river mouth.
Sing,
river, sing praise to all creation.
Adapted
from Season of Creation worship resources
www.seasonofcreation.com
PRAYER
We remember the rivers across our planet,
rivers that are the lifeblood of Earth
and
vital for all forms of life.
We remember the streams of our past,
the pools and ponds where we played
and the feeling of celebration
as we splashed each other.
We remember and rejoice.
We give thanks
for rivers,
streams that flow with the
water of life.
We acknowledge and confess
that we have become alienated from Earth
and have polluted the rivers of our garden planet.
We are sorry.
We have polluted our rivers with poisons.
We have treated our streams as waste dumps.
We have turned living waters into dea
th
-
traps.
We have wasted precious waters in luxury living.
We need to be taught
to love Earth
and return to Earth as our home.
Shalom! Shalom!
We are coming
home!
As we come home to Earth,
As we seek to love our home,
As we seek to care for our kin,
Open o
ur hearts.
Creation’s
glory fills our planet
.
May we
discern
the
vibrant presence among us and our kin in
creation, especially in the
rivers, the streams and waterways of
Earth. Help us empathise with
creatures who are suffering.
May our
spirits lift an
d
rejoice with the
vibrant world of the rivers
and
waterways of our planet
.
Amen
.
Adapted
from Season of Creation worship resources www.seasonofcreation.com
SUNG RESPONSE
(sung twice seated)
‘When Peace, Like a River
’
Wor
ds:
Horatio Gates Spafford (1873)
, Philip Paul Bliss. Public Domain
Tune:
Ville Du Havre.
Public Domain
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, you have taught me to say,
"It is well, it is well with
my soul."
Refrain
It is well with my soul;
it is well, it is well with my soul.
LIGHTING THE RAINBOW CANDLE
TIME WITH THE CHILDREN
Colma Froggatt
BLE
SSING THE CHILDREN
(
All stand
)
We send you to the Rainbow Room programme to hear stories, ask
q
uestions and have fun together.
We
bless you. Amen.
PASSING THE PEACE
Feel free to pass the peace with those nearby or move to greet others further away. Passi
ng the peace
consists of shaking hands and saying “Peace be with you.” The response is “Peace be with you” or just
“And with you.” Or, simply saying ‘Hello” is a good idea. Also feel free to simply observe if you wish!
ST ANDREW
’
S SINGERS
The River
Words ©Joy Cowley. Music © 2014 Vivien Chiu
Life is like a river
that flows towards the sea.
It has a small beginning,
increasing gradually
until it's in a larger place,
a current deep and wide,
giving its abunda
nce
to the land
on either side.
And I have a question
to ask you, my friend.
Where does the sea be
gin?
Where does the river end?
The river has its secrets.
In its depths it knows
the nature of the ocean
where its water flows.
It hears the seabirds singing.
It feels
the touch of foam.
The sea is always calling
the river to come home.
Chorus
Life is like a river
and deep inside my mind,
the call of love grows stronger
as I leave each day behind.
We move with the current
of this unseen mystery.
Already we have knowle
dge
of the presence of the sea.
Chorus
INTRODUCTION
Susan Jones
THE WORD IN TEXTS
Joan Tyler
Hebrew Bible
2 Kings 5: 1
-
4 and 9
-
16
Gospel
Matthew 3: 13
-
17
The Epistle
Revel
ations 22: 1
-
2
RESPONSE
For the
W
ord
i
n scripture
,
for the
W
ord among us
,
for the
W
ord
w
ithin us,
we give thanks
REFLECTION
'Rivers for Life'
Andrew Matthews
CONTEMPORARY READING
Wendy
Matthews
From
This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn
By
Aidan Chambers
I thought how lovely and how str
ange a river is. A river is a river, always
there, and yet the water flowing through it is never the same water and is
never still. It’s always changing and is always on the move. And over time
the river itself changes too. It widens and deepens as it rubs
and scours,
gnaws and kneads, eats and bores its way through the land. Even the
greatest rivers
-
the Nile and the Ganges, the Yangtze and the Mississippi,
the Amazon and the great grey
-
green greasy Limpopo all set about with
fever trees
-
must have been n
o more than trickles and flickering streams
before they grew into mighty rivers.
Are people like that? I wondered. Am I like that? Always me, like the river
itself, always flowing but always different, like the water flowing in the
river, sometimes walking
steadily along andante, sometimes surging over
rapids furioso, sometimes meandering with hardly any visible movement
tranquilo, lento, sometimes gurgling with pleasure, sometimes sparkling
in the sun, sometimes appassionato, sometimes misterioso, sometime
s
staccato, sometimes vivace, and always, I hope, amoroso.
Do I change like a river, widening and deepening, eddying back on myself
sometimes, bursting my banks sometimes when there’s too much water,
too much life in me, and sometimes dried up from lack of
rain? Will the I
that is me grow and widen and deepen? Or will I stagnate and become an
arid riverbed? Will I allow people to dam me up and confine me so that I
flow only where they want? Will I allow them to turn me into a canal to
use for they own purpo
ses? Or will I make sure I flow freely, coursing my
way through the land and ploughing a valley of my own?
VISUAL
REFLECTION ON
RIVERS
Vltava or "The Moldau"
By
Bedřich Smetana
OFFERING PRAYER
So may it be
A
men
We recognise and bless the gifts brought to the table, and those
which wing
their way electronically from our banks to the church’s account.
LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY OF ST ANDREW’S
People share notices and visitors are welcomed. If you have a notice,
please move to the front row, ready
to speak
briefly
from the lectern.
For the benefit of newcomers, please introduce yourself before you begin.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Bronwyn White
CI
RCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of
Burundi
and
the National Council of
Churches of Burundi
.
In New Zealand, we remember those
who work this
election season as candidates, members of all political parties and all
voters.
Here in the Central P
resbytery, we pray for the leaders and
people of
St Paul’s Union Church, Pahiatua.
PRAYER FOR ST ANDREW’S
on card
INVITATION TO COMMUNION
St Andrew’s is an open community a
nd all are invited to Christ’s table.
Wherever you are on your faith's journey, wherever you have come from and
wherever you are going to, whatever you believe, whatever you do not believe,
you are welcome to participate in the communion. This is God’s m
eal for all
people.
COMMUNION LITURGY
INCLUDING COMMUNION HYMN
on card
HYMN
‘Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
’
Words
and music
:
Public Domain. John Hughes, Peter
Williams, William Williams.
Tune:
CH4
1
67 Cwm Rhondda
. Public Domain.
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty,
Hold me with thy powerful hand;
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven
Feed me till I want n
o more;
Feed me till I want no more.
Open now the crystal fountain
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through:
Strong deliverer, strong deliverer;
Be thou still my strength and shield;
Be thou still
my strength and shield.
When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell's destruction
Land me safe on Canaan's side:
Songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to thee;
I will ever give to thee.
BLESSING
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE
“Hornpipe” from The Water Music
By
G.H. Handel (1685
-
1759)
THANK YOU
Thank you to
Peter Franklin
Our
musician
today
Unless otherwise specified all our music is used by permission CCLI Licence 3341550
Words/
music are
original unless acknowledged
THANK YOU
Write the Thank You here