Order of Service 5 April 2020

April 5, 2020

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

Ready to join in a loud acclamation of songs of praise, we wait for a new triumphal entry.
Eagerly expecting the new ages to be announced with fanfare, we listen for trumpets.
Still as of old the truth comes clothed in humbleness and living sacrifice.
Proclaim the coming not so much with shouts and branches but with lives given in love’s humble service.
Welcome to St Andrew’s on The Terrace

Wherever you are on your faith journey, wherever you have come from and wherever you are going to, whatever you believe, whatever you do not believe, you are welcome here.

This Service is conducted by Catriona Cairns and Jim Cunningham.

 

 

GATHERING The Donkey
by G K Chesterton
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

OPENING HYMN FFA 57 ‘Song of faith that sings forever’
Words: © 1999 Shirley Erena Murray
Music: © 1999 Colin Gibson, Hope Publishing Company

Song of faith that sings forever
through God's people, ages long,
Word that holds the world together
when our hearts take up the song,
always, always, somewhere sounding,
though the source we do not see,
counterpoint to all despairing,
it is hope that sets the key.
… continued on next page

And when life would overwhelm us,
when there seems no song to sing,
hear the constant voice of courage
out of fear and suffering:
all who've loved and trusted Jesus,
all who lift us to be strong,
endless, endless are the voices
of the faith that makes the song.

WELCOME AND OPENING

Jesus self-understanding did not include thinking and speaking of himself as the Son of God whose historical intention was to die for the sins of the world, and his message was not about believing in him.

Rather he was a spirit person, subversive sage, social prophet, and movement founder who invited his followers and hearers into a transforming relationship with the same Spirit he himself knew, and into a community whose social vision was shaped by the core value of compassion. (Marcus Borg)

PRAYER

JESUS’ PRAYER

Eternal Spirit,
Life-giver, Pain-bearer, Love-maker,,
Source of all that is and that shall be.
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen.

LIGHTING THE RAINBOW CANDLE

PASSING THE PEACE (We invite you to take this moment to greet those who are with you today, or to hold in your mind others from St Andrew’s, or your own loved ones)

THE WORD IN TEXTS AND MUSIC Maxine Cunningham

Liturgy of the branches
Introduction
For the past five weeks of the Season of Lent we have been preparing...
preparing for this moment in the story of Jesus' journey.
Now, we are one week from Easter!
Today is what has traditionally been called 'Palm Sunday'.
But you won’t hear about “palms” in this story from Matthew.
The Gospel of John, written several years later, is the only one that says
people waved 'palm' branches for Jesus.
Anyway...
This is the day on which, our tradition tells us,
Jesus entered Jerusalem, and just days before his death.
So I invite you to reflect on
some of the feelings associated with Holy Week.
(Pause)
Let’s imagine we have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
We begin by listening again to Matthew's story:
to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, his own city,
to encourage the people to see
and experience God in new ways.

Gospel Matthew 21: 1-11

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, “The Lord needs them.” And he will send them immediately.’ This took place to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
‘Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’

Contemporary Reading “First Unitarian Church of Dallas”
The Rev Dr Daniel Kanter
Today we begin the walk to Jerusalem
The holy week
The demand that we face the darkness, the broken path, the abuse of power.
Today we walk toward the dayspring breaking through,
The Easter day of joy.
So let us join together
To see what holiness resides within and about us
To welcome in the day
And make straight the path for the work of God. (Adapt/Daniel Kanter)

RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.

REFLECTION Reflections from the gutter Jim Cunningham

(This is a dramatic monologue by a street sweeper in Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. He reflects on what he has seen and, combined with his own experience, makes some attempt to interpret the events of the day.)
He compares and contrasts the entry of Jesus through the East Gate with the entry of Pontius Pilate through the West Gate and concludes that we are being given choices:
What kind of leadership do we Want? Need? Admire?
Who do we want to follow – Pilate or Jesus?
What kind of people do we want to become – strong, ambitious, self-centred, with little respect for ordinary people OR compassionate, caring, loving people committed to an inclusive community and society?
(You can watch this on video)

POEM (the following poem has also been set to music – tune Londonderry Air.
The words are those of New Zealander Mary Pearson. Today we are reading it as a poem.)

Who is this man who gathered people to him
and touched their lives along each dusty way,
who spoke to all with passion and with peacefulness
and valued all their ordinary days?
Who is this man who at the day’s long ending,
would draw apart to wait on God and pray?
Who, in the mystery that knows no ending,
would find God’s wisdom and would know God’s words to say?

Who is this man who gave to women dignity
in partnership of worth and equal grace?
Who listened to the stories that they told him,
and honoured each whatever was their place;
who let them choose to come and join his company
and learned with them God’s love for every race,
who showed to each the courage of their nature
to care and tend each lonely and each suffering face?

Who is this man who spoke to men of gentleness
showed them all the children at his side;
who taught of love and justice for all people,
who took a towel and washed away their pride?
In him they saw the strength of truth and mercy,
and how he trusted God to be his guide,
knew how he led them through misunderstanding,
and then forgave them when they ran away to hide.

Who is this man who calls us now to follow,
a shadow presence asking us to be
companions on the way through this life journey,
to live in truth, to set our tired world free?
So, let us find each other now in partnership,
with ears to hear and eyes awake to see,
that we might grow in grace and understanding,
and walk beside that man who comes from Galilee.

THE OFFERING
(Today as you listen to the offertory music – you are invited to not only think about your financial offering for the work of St Andrews and the money offering you can send to Downtown Community Ministry for them to buy food for the foodbank – but also to remember the gifts that have been offered to you this last week – e-mails, telephone calls, gifts of friendship, healing and hope – and to think about what gifts you might offer to others in the coming week.)

MUSIC
We listen and watch Mike Wespel-Rose playing “The Firth of Lorn”.

OFFERING PRAYER
Today we offer what we have, our skills, our money, our energy, as we follow the path of Jesus – as we step into this holy week may our hands, hearts and minds be centred on the Way.
Amen
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.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Sandra Kirby

CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Yemen and the people and organisations working towards global poverty eradication. We remember the detainees of Manus and Nauru Islands, yearning that their cases be resolved.
In New Zealand, we remember those in Parliament, and today we name Andrew Little and Jan Logie list MPs. Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Scots College.

PRAYER FOR ST ANDREW’S

Renew your people, God,
and renew our life in this place.
Give us a new spirit of unity
with those of all faiths,
and a new spirit of love
towards all people.

Bless the city in which we live
that it may be a place
where honest dealing,
good government,
the desire for beauty,
and the care for others flourish.

Bless this church
that what we know of your will
may become what we do,
and what we believe
the strong impulse
of our worship and work.

Amen

HYMN WOV 455 ‘Be thou my vision’
Words Irish c. 8th cent. Music: Slane (Public Domain)

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
naught be all else to me, save that thou art,
thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

BLESSING

TIME FOR A CUPPA

The end of our Sunday service is normally a time for catching up, meeting people and sharing what is happening in our lives. Perhaps you would like to phone a St Andrew’s person today.