WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

Today’s service is led by Rev. Dr Jim Cunningham

PRELUDE

CALL TO WORSHIP

We gather here on this Peace Sunday

to remember the bombing of Hiroshima

and the ravages and destruction that war brings.

We also gather here seeking a vision of peace

that inspires us with hope:

hope of peace,

hope of justice,

hope of love,

hope of God’s Shalom.

SILENCE

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Let us celebrate life in the presence we name God.

 

PROCESSIONAL HYMN                                            AA 105 ‘O Christ who by a cross’

Words © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray
Music: Sursum Corda WOV 182

1. O Christ who by a cross made peace your sign,

who gives your peace in water, bread and wine:

O Spirit Christ who is our spirit’s home,

teach us the secret of the true shalom.

 

2. We speak of peace when in our hearts we war

and, unforgiving, keep our grudges sore,

we promise peace while yet we strive to win,

and in our enemy, see not our kin.

 

 

3. Two deaths now face the starving and the fed –

the blinding bomb, the simple lack of bread;

with riches of the earth at our command,

from weaponry to welcome, turn our hand.

 

4. The selfishness which is our human curse,

the arsenal of hatred which we nurse —

all are dispelled when in our hearts we say

“There is no way to peace: peace is the way.”

WELCOME

E te whanau a Te Karaiti

ngā mihi aroha ki a tātou katoa

Kia ora tātou.

GATHERING WORDS

When our world is twisted by greed and bruised by violence,

we come seeking signs of hope and healing.

When our concerns have become inward and narrow,

we come seeking the Peace that passes understanding.

When our actions are small and our vision weak,

we come to see the holy in friend and enemy.

 

PRAYER
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 CANDLE
TIME WITH THE CHILDREN Graham Howell
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.” Now that COVID-19 is here we ask that you pass the peace without shaking hands.
MUSIC ‘You Raise Me Up’
Songwriters: Rolf Lovland / Brendan Joseph Graham © 2002 Peermusic III, Ltd.

Introduction: Gavin Watson
Piano: Mark Stamper
Vocalist: Margy Bliss
Violin: Christine Watson

Introduction and Chorus – Piano

Verse – Vocal Solo

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence
Until You come and sit awhile with me.

Chorus: Congregation stand and sing:

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains,
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas.
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders.
You raise me up to more than I can be.

Chorus: Violin Solo

Chorus: Congregation sing:

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains,
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas.
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders.
You raise me up to more than I can be.

Last line: Vocal Solo

You raise me up to more than I can be.

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THE WORD IN TEXTS John Harper

Hebrew Bible Micah 4: 1-4

Gospel
Responsive Reading of Contemporary Version of the Beatitudes
by Peter Matheson

Jesus, is this what you say to us today?

How blest are those who abhor easy pieties;
the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
How blest are those who train in non-violence;
they shall have the earth for their possession.
How blest are those who fast for justice;
they shall be satisfied.
How blest are those who see enemies as human;
mercy shall be shown to them.
How blest are those who live what they profess;
they shall see God.
How blest are those who build bridges of reconciliation;
they shall be called friends of God.
How blest are those who show the outcast that someone understands;
the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Contemporary reading “Peace”
by Allan Boesak

In the Bible, peace and justice are never separated. Peace is never simply the absence of war, it is the active presence of justice. It has to do with human fulfilment, with liberation, with wholeness, with a meaningful life and well-being, not only for the individual, but for the community as a whole. The prophets speak of peace as the offspring of justice.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.

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REFLECTION Jim Cunningham

HYMN ‘How happy you who work for peace!’
Words: © 1992 Shirley Murray, Hope Publishing Co.
Music: WOV318 Gonfalon Royal
1. How happy you who work for peace!
Your hands shall plant and not destroy,
your words defuse the power of hate,
and prayers bring aroha and joy.

2. The scars of earth, the blast of bomb
shall then be healed, and green will grow,
the air that radiated death
give life and health, as sun and snow.

3. The toys of war shall all be sold
to buy a feast the world can share,
the glint of guns become the tools
that till the earth and make it fair.

4. How happy you who work for peace,
who mend the torn, who bend the rod!
You make the Christ direction plain,
you truly are a child of God.

OFFERTORY MUSIC
OFFERING 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.

PRAYER
Compassionate God, who calls us all to be one family, teach us to share our gifts with each other, and strengthen us to make peace by working together, and challenge us with a vision of the feast where all are welcome. 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.

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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 Ken Irwin

CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of India and the Christian World Service partners in India who are bringing Dalit and tribal communities together to improve their lives and opportunities and working with other caste communities to realise the more equal society promised with independence. 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 Jacqui Dean (Waitaki) and Matt Doocey (Waimakariri). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Wadestown Presbyterian 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 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

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INVITATION TO COMMUNION
St Andrew’s is an open community and all are invited to Christ’s table.
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 to participate 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 ‘Crowded table, urgent faces’
Words: Andrew Pratt
Music: Hymn to Joy WOV 92
1. Crowded table, urgent faces,
people longing for the bread,
bread of life and bread for living,
bread for rising from the dead.
Young and old, both men and women,
those for whom this life is hard,
those who live in warmth and comfort,
those whose life is stained or tarred.

2. All are welcome, wise or foolish,
at this table all are fed,
sharing wine in celebration,
eating Christ’s communion bread.
Then in costly life and giving
we will share what we receive,
demonstrate in daily living
all that we affirm, believe.
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.

We remember that on the night before his death
he shared the Passover Meal with his disciples
and gave the meal a new significance and purpose.

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 the bread for those places devastated by war and violence.
May there be people there to work for peace, justice, and reconciliation.
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 lighter colour is fermented wine –
the darker colour is grape juice.

HYMN ‘Deep in the human heart’
Words: © 2009 William Livingstone Wallace NZ Hymnbook Trust HIOS 19;
Music: Diademata WOV 163

1. Deep in the human heart the fire of justice burns;
a vision of a world renewed through radical concern.
As Christians we are called to set the captives free,
to overthrow the evil powers and end hypocrisy.

2. This is our task today to build a world of peace;
a world of justice, freedom, truth, where kindness will increase;
a world from hunger freed, a world where people share,
where every person is of worth and no one lives in fear.

3. Taking the step of faith, we leave the past behind
and move into the future’s world with open heart and mind.
By grace we work with Christ, as one community,
and bring new hope and fuller life to all humanity.

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BLESSING
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE