April 4, 2021

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

WE GATHER IN SILENCE

 

GATHERING
Easter begins in the darkness;
the darkness of despair
and broken dreams and hopes,
the loss of beloved leader and friend.

But Easter begins in the darkness for us as well – each Easter.
The darkness of our own despair and sorrow,
of death and tragedy and injustice,
of failure and fear and guilt and loss.
Out of the darkness comes rebirth of hope,
new freedom to be fully alive.
Hope burst the bonds of what has been
and creates “new time”,
time filled with new possibilities.

THE EASTER GREETING: Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!

PROCESSIONAL HYMN WOV 280 ‘Jesus Christ is risen today! Allelujah’
Words and Music: Charles Wesley, Samuel Arnold, Easter Hymn, Public domain

1. Jesus Christ is risen today: Alleluia!
Let the joyful people say: Alleluia!
Christ has shared our earthly life: alleluia
Conquered death to end our strife: Alleluia!

2. Pow’rs of death have had their day: Alleluia!
Earthly rulers have no sway: Alleluia!
Nothing more to fear have we: Alleluia!
Those who trust in Christ are free: Alleluia!

3. Sharing in Christ’s death we rise: Alleluia!
Soar like eagles to the skies: Alleluia!
Finding mercy, we forgive: Alleluia!
Off’ring up our lives, we live: Alleluia!

4. Glory be to God on high: Alleluia!
Let the whole creation cry: Alleluia!
Let the name of Christ be sung: Alleluia!
Every-where, by every tongue: Alleluia!

WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
Kia ora.

READING:
“And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.” Mark 16:2-4

PRAYER:
When we are locked in despair;
when we are sealed up by grief;
when we feel trapped and see no way ahead;
when hope has gone away:
Roll back the stone!

When we feel isolated and shut away:
when we feel that we are forgotten;
when we feel that no one cares;
when love has gone away:
Roll back the stone!

When we feel apprehensive about the future;
when we fear change;
when we feel ill-equipped for what lies ahead;
when we feel lost and inadequate:
Roll back the stone!

When we feel anxious about our world;
when we lose confidence about our ability to survive;
when worry seems to overpower and smother us:
Roll back the stone!

Remind us that the power of resurrection
has forever changed us and our world
and gifts us with the ability to live faithfully, love wastefully,
and have the courage to be who we are created to be.

And so today as we light the Christ Candle we celebrate new life, new joy, new possibilities.....
and we give thanks for the Spirit of Life visible in Jesus,
visible in us, visible in people in all walks of life. Amen
WE LIGHT THE CHRIST CANDLE

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.
HYMN WOV 303 ‘Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son’
Music: Maccabaeus – G F Handel, Words and Music: Public Domain.

1. Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory, thou o’er death hast won;
angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave clothes, where thy body lay.
Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory thou o’er death hast won.

2. Lo, Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
Lovingly , he greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
let the church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing,
for her Lord is living, death has lost its sting.
Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory thou o’er death hast won.

3. No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life;
life is nought without thee: aid us in our strife;
make us more than conquerors, through thy deathless love:
bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.
Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory thou o’er death hast won.

LIGHTING THE RAINBOW CANDLE

TIME WITH THE CHILDREN
BLESSING THE CHILDREN (All stand)
PASSING THE PEACE
Traditionally we shake hands to pass the peace and say “peace be with you”. Now that Covid is here
we ask that you pass the peace without shaking hands.
THE WORD IN TEXTS Ken Irwin
Hebrew Bible Psalm 103: 1-5
Gospel Mark 16: 1-8

Contemporary Reading: RELEASE by Joy Cowley

It was a bit like
the opening of the tomb, really,
the lids of the cage pulled back
and quick bright life spilling out
with an eagerness to fly.
As I watched the wing-beat
of those pigeons, I felt murmurings
against the bars of my heart.

All the love imprisoned within me
fluttered for release. Blessings unspoken,
smiles concealed, acts of kindness
which had never got off the drawing board,
clamoured for the light of day.

I wondered about the cost
of opening the cage
and letting love spread its wings.
I felt a bit frightened.
When I’d given everything away,
could I live with an empty heart?

What I’d forgotten, of course,
was the homing instinct of love,
and how, unlike pigeons,
love always returns
with more than it takes away.

The other thing I forgot
was how love enlarges the heart
to take its increase,
multiplying and enlarging,
multiplying and enlarging,
until the little cage
is big as the Kingdom of Heaven.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture and poetry,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
We give thanks.

ST ANDREW’S SINGERS + CONGREGATION ‘Alleluia! Alleluia!’
Words: Christopher Wordsworth & Edward Osler
Music: Hyfrydol arranged by Mary Macdonald, Public Domain.
1. Alleluia, Alleluia!
Hearts to heav'n and voices raise:
Sing to God a hymn of gladness,
Sing to God a hymn of praise.
Praise the Lord! for He hath spoken;
Worlds His mighty voice obeyed;
Law which never shall be broken,
For their guidance hath he made.

2. (Congregation remain standing)
Verse 2 - Choir only

3. Worship, honour, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto Thee.
Young and old, thy praise expressing,
in glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in heav'n adore Thee.
We would bow before Thy throne;
As thine angels serve before Thee,
So on earth Thy will be done.

4. Choral ending - Choir only

REFLECTION Easter begins in the darkness….! Jim Cunningham

OFFERTORY MUSIC ‘Jesus Christ is Risen Again’
(arranged by Stephen Walters)

OFFERTORY HYMN Tune: Duke Street WOV 24
Willing hands, to lead the blind,
heal the wounded, feed the poor.
Love embracing all our kind,
charity with liberal store.

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 Sandra Kirby
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe and the Council of Protestant Churches of Equatorial Guinea. We hold all refugees in our hearts. We pray in particular for those detained for many years in Papua New Guinea & Nauru. We give thanks for progress that has been made and pray that their calls for justice might yet find a compassionate response. In New Zealand, we remember those in Parliament, and today we name Tamati Coffee, Simon Court, list MPs.
Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Milson Combined Church, Palmerston North.
PRAYER FOR ST ANDREW’S

Renew your people, God,
and renew our life in this place.
Give us a new spirit of unity
with all who follow the Way of Jesus
and new bonds of love
with people of other faiths.

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

COMMUNION

St Andrew’s is an open community and 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 share in the communion. This is God’s meal for all people.
WELCOME TO THE TABLE

At this Table we give thanks for justice, love, peace and freedom.
At this Table we give thanks for friends and strangers together
in community in this safe place.
For everyone born a place at the Table.
We are all invited.
HYMN WOV 658 ‘Let us talents and tongues employ’
Words: Frederik Herman Kaan
Music: Linstead (Jamaican Folk Melody
1. Let us talents and tongues employ,
reaching out with a shout of joy;
bread is broken, the wine is poured,
Christ is spoken and seen and heard.
Jesus lives again,
earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around:
loaves abound.

2. Christ is able to make us one;
at his table he sets the tone,
teaching people to live to bless,
love in word and in deed express.
Jesus lives again,
earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around:
loaves abound.

3. Jesus calls us in, sends us out
bearing fruit in a world of doubt,
gives us love to tell, bread to share:
God-Immanuel everywhere.
Jesus lives again,
earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around:
loaves abound.

THE STORY...
We remember the stories from our tradition....
How on many occasions Jesus would share a meal with friends.
Bread and wine, the very basics of life, shared in community.
How bread would be taken, a blessing offered, and then shared amongst them.
And all ate.

How some wine would be poured out, a blessing offered, and then passed amongst them. All of them drank.

When they gathered in this way it was a time of concern,
conversation and celebration.
The bread and the wine symbolised
human lives interconnected
with other human lives,
and the power of giving and receiving.
May the passion for life as seen in Jesus
and in the lives and struggles
of many other committed and faithful people then and now,
enable us to dream and to risk....
Together may we re-imagine the world.
Together may we work to make all things new.
Together may we celebrate the possibilities and hope
we each have and are called to share.
For everyone born, a place at the Table.

THE BREAD IS BROKEN
We break the bread for the broken Earth,
ravaged and plundered for greed.

May there be healing for our beautiful blue and green planet.

We break the bread for our broken humanity,
for the powerful and the powerless
trapped by exploitation and oppression.
May there be healing for humanity.
We break the bread for those who follow other paths;
who travel on a different road from us;
those who think and act differently;
those whose belief system is different to ours;
those who see our world through different eyes
of ethnicity and culture.

May there be healing where there is pain and woundedness.

We break this bread for the unhealed hurts and wounds
that lie within us all.
May we, too, be healed.
THE WINE IS POURED
This is the cup of peace and of new life for all.
A sign of love for the community of hope.

A reminder of the call
to live life fully,
to love wastefully,
and to be all that we can be.

Come then, life-giving Spirit of our God,
brood over these bodily things,
and make us one body with Christ;
that we may no longer be in bondage
to the principalities and powers
that enslave creation,
but may know your liberating peace
such as the world cannot give.

THE BREAD AND THE WINE ARE SHARED

During this “Covid Time” we celebrate Communion using ONLY
gluten free bread. Wine is served in small glasses – the darker colour
is fermented wine – the lighter colour grape juice.
THE CALL TO SERVICE (standing)
Go as far as your courage takes you,
for we cannot go beyond the reach of God.
Give as extravagantly as you may,
for we cannot spend all the riches of God.
Care as lavishly as you are able,
for we cannot exhaust the love of God.
Keep journeying and searching,
for God will always travel with us.
HYMN ‘Resurrection all around us’
Words: Gloria Klinger
Music: WOV 92 Hymn to Joy: Ludwig van Beethoven

1. Resurrection all around us, hearts arise and leap for joy
Hope eternal grows within us, voices silenced now employ
Live in joy of new beginnings, live in harmony and love
Finding strength to meet each trial; conquering sorrow, being love.

2. Being human, honouring Jesus, in a covenant of grace
Living the divine commandment, one with all the human race
Leading strong for peace and justice, doing away with hate and fear
Finding ways to work together, keeping voice and vision clear.

3. Celebrate the light within us, love divine and human spark
Reaching out to be inclusive, everyone a work of art
Light the flame of love around us, echoing through the stars above
Holding hands, in peace surrounds us, being human, being love.

BLESSING & SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE “Processional” from "Music for the Royal Fireworks"
by G.F. Handel (1685 - 1759)