June 14, 2020
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
GATHERING
We come to be opened by visions
that can enlist us in larger causes
and more caring actions.
We come to hear stories that might takes us
into a deeper kind of integrity,
and reconnect us with our better selves.
So may the warmer fullness that we seek
fill our hearts, our minds and our spirits.
PROCESSIONAL HYMN CH4 198 ‘Let us build a house where love can dwell’
Words and music: Marty Haugen © 1994 GIA Publications Inc., Used by permission
Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where prophets speak, and words are strong and true.
where all God’s children dare to seek to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness and as symbol of God’s grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where love is found in water, wine and wheat:
a banquet hall on holy ground, where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus, is revealed in time and space,
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond the wood and stone,
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God’s face;
let us bring an end to fear and danger:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace;
let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
Kia ora.
PRAYER Dorothy McRae-McMahon (adapted)
We are called into community with each other;
to love and work, support and heal.
We are called into community with all people;
to bring justice and hope, freedom and truth.
We are called into community with the whole creation;
to live in harmony, to cherish and renew.
Silence
For our community gathered here,
for the spirit that called us together and drew us to this place:
We give thanks.
For moments we have shared with others;
for times we have reached out across barriers
of distance and fear;
for times when others have reached out to us:
We give thanks.
For our weaving together out of many separate selves
this hour of celebration and reflection;
this community of faith and hope:
We give thanks this day. Amen
JESUS PRAYER Jim Cotter paraphrase
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 for ever.
Amen.
LIGHTING THE RAINBOW ROOM CANDLE
TIME WITH CHILDREN Dawn Cowdry
BLESSING THE CHILDREN (All stand)
We send you to the Rainbow Room to hear stories, ask questions and have fun together.
We bless you. Amen.
PASSING THE PEACE
Traditionally we shake hands to pass the peace and say “peace be with you”. The response is “peace be with you, or “and with you.” You can also simply say hello. Now that COVID-19 has arrived in the country, we are all asked to take precautions again transmission. We invite you all therefore to try different methods of acknowledging and greeting each other. For example, placing both hands together in the prayer position and bending the head towards the other person. This is a greeting practiced in many countries. A hand on the upper chest and bowing slightly to acknowledge the other person is also an option. Feel free to simply observe if you wish.
THE WORD IN TEXTS, MUSIC & REFLECTIONS Rev. Jim Cunningham and
Gillian Feist
Introduction
Music (CD recording)
Reflection
Hebrew Bible Psalm 137
Reflection
New Testament Letter Romans 13: 8-10
Love for One Another
Reflection
Contemporary reading Norman Shanks:
A counter-cultural vision and an eagerness to celebrate.
An Iona Community Publication
Music for Reflection (Mark Stamper)
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
HYMN ‘Now Be Aware’
Words © 1965 Iris McCoy
Tune: Mit Freuden Zart, WOV 27 public domain.
Now be aware, and glory in
this fellowship with others,
that learns to give and take with grace;
where there is life it gathers.
It deepens joy, it eases strain,
it heartens those who live with pain,
each strengthens each, together.
The wordless touch where sorrow is,
the sharing of a vict’ry;
the flash of mind when insight leaps
to truth, provoked by query.
The freedom of our fellowship
accepts us as we are, and this
is God’s own gift of liberty.
Now be aware that hearts and hands
and minds are rich when sharing;
for here within this fellowship
the strength of God is growing.
Now life has reason, love has powers
beyond our own, for into ours
the love of God is flowing.
OFFERING AND OFFERING PRAYER
For the gifts we receive and the gifts we share
we give thanks.
For the abundant universe, with resources enough and to spare
we give thanks.
May our offerings of money and food, compassion and goodwill,
be multiplied to those who receive them
blessing them, as we are blessed to give. 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.
LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY OF ST ANDREW’S
People share notices and visitors are welcomed. If you have a notice not already in the order of service, 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 Ellen Murray
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Australia and the National Council of Churches in Australia. 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 Clayton Mitchell and Alfred Ngaro list MPs. Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Oroua Presbyterian Parish, Feilding and from the worldwide church for the Christian Protestant Angkola Church.
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 ‘Past and Present’
Words © William L Wallace. Tune: Cwm Rhondda WOV 478
Past and present, with our dreaming,
join to make us what we are;
ancient wisdom, ancient follies
shape the way we love and care:
Give us reverence,
Give us wisdom,
From the past for life today.
Make us mindful of each moment –
ev’ry force, each strength, each flaw;
free us from those empty longings
which consume us more and more:
Give us vision,
Give us courage,
For this present age of change.
We must face the future’s challenge
to create a better earth
hand in hand with all who labour
dream and suffer for its birth,
For through sharing
And through caring
We shall build community.
BLESSING
SUNG AMEN