March 27, 2022
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
INTRODUCTION CALL TO WORSHIP
St Andrews on Zoom
27th March 2022 – Lent 4
Love Wins – Somehow…
Today’s service was created by Paul Barber
Quick, bring out the best clothes, the finest jewellery, and new shoes.
Let us celebrate; for this child of mine was dead and is alive again; was lost and now is found.
And they began to celebrate…
WELCOME
E te whānau a Te Karaiti
Ngā mihi aroha ki a tātou katoa.
Kia ora
OPENING PRAYER
Psalm 32 Making Peace with the Past
Blessed are those who have made peace with the past
with all they have done and left undone.
Blessed are those who have found the courage
to inventory their failings and missteps,
who know their weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
Blessed are those who have heard a word of forgiveness
from those they have hurt—and those who have felt the
accepting love of God.
When I tried to soldier on
to deny the past and always be perfect,
I hit a wall, I dried up like a dirt road in the summer’s heat.
I had to open my heart—to myself, to others, and to You.
I had to forgive others and take in their forgiveness of me.
I had to let go of being perfect so I could forgive myself.
I had to open it all to you and feel your peace.
(Christine Robinson, Psalms for a new world)
HYMN ‘Wounded world’ Words © Shirley Murray Music Abbot’s Leigh – Cyril Vincent Taylor; CH4:615.
Wounded world that cries for healing —
here we hold each other’s pain,
wounded systems, bruised and bleeding
bear the load, the scars of strain;
dollars ration out compassion,
hard decisions rule the day,
Jesus of the healing Spirit,
free us to another way!
Through our nation’s spent frustration,
through the corridors of stress
may there move a kindlier wisdom
all may feel, and all may bless;
tax and tithe are for a purpose
shared to shield the poor and weak:
past the symptoms of our sickness
let the voice of justice speak.
Honour those whose loving spirit
nurses hope, restores and heals,
towel and basin used in service
like the Christ who comes and kneels;
in the tending, in the mending
may we see the right and fair,
in our common quest for wholeness
heal each other by our care.
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
PASSING THE PEACE
Traditionally we shake hands to pass the peace and say, “peace be with you.” Now that COVID-19 is here, and we are on ZOOM we suggest you greet those you are with at the moment. Or perhaps after the service ends get in touch with someone here today and check in with them to see how they are doing.
THE WORD IN TEXTS John Harper
Gospel Luke 15:1-3, 11b -32
Contemporary reading
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
Reflection Paul Barber
HYMN ‘Community of Christ’ Words: © Shirley Murray 1992 Hope Publishing co. Tune: LEONIE CH4 99
Community of Christ,
who make the Cross your own,
live out your creed and risk your life for God alone:
the God who wears your face,
to whom all worlds belong,
whose children are of every race
and every song.
Community of Christ,
look past the Church’s door
and see the refugee, the hungry,
and the poor.
Take hands with the oppressed,
the jobless in your street,
take towel and water, that you wash
your neighbour’s feet.
Community of Christ,
through whom the word must sound —
cry out for justice and for peace
the whole world round:
disarm the powers that war
and all that can destroy,
turn bombs to bread, and tears of anguish
into joy.
When menace melts away,
so shall God’s will be done,
the climate of the world be peace
and Christ its Sun;
our currency be love
and kindliness our law,
our food and faith be shared as one
forevermore.
OFFERING
We can’t physically give our offering today, but some already give online. Another option might be to give to a charity online. Or as you listen to the offering music pause to think of someone you could offer a helping hand to this week.
NOTICES – please send any notices for the coming week to the office to be included in the next e-news.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Sandra Kirby
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Nigeria and the Christian Council of Nigeria. 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 Hon Aupito William Sio (Māngere) and Stuart Smith (Kaikōura). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Island Bay 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
HYMN ‘We are many, we are one’ FFS 67 Words and music © Colin Gibson 1998
We are many, we are one,
and the work of Christ is done
when we learn to live in true community,
as the stars that fill the night,
as a flock of birds in flight,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine;
as the branches of a tree,
as the waves upon the sea,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine.
All division is made whole
when we honour every soul,
find the life of God in every you and me,
as the fingers of a hand,
as the grains that form the sand,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine;
as the threads upon the loom,
as a field of flowers in bloom,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine.
We will join creation’s song,
make a world where all belong,
build as one in peace and loving harmony,
as the voices of a choir,
as the flames within a fire,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine;
as the snowflakes in the snow,
as the colours of a bow,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine.
BLESSING
POSTLUDE
THANK YOU Peter Franklin our musician today
Unless otherwise stated all hymns are used by permission CCLI Licence 341550
Words/music to new hymns and gathering statement, prayers and affirmation are original unless acknowledged.