April 17, 2022
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
Today’s service is led by Rev. Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai
WE GATHER IN SILENCE
GATHERING
It was early dawn,
Still dark when the women approached the garden
In their grief and emptiness they had to go there
Taking the spices they had prepared
They had to do what had been denied them on the Friday
One final act of love
Dawn was breaking
The sun was on the rise,
Small signs of change
The stone rolled away
The body gone
And then two men beside them
They were startled, perplexed
Who are you?
What’s happening?
As the sun rose
‘He is not here, but has risen.
Light was shining
And they remembered His words
And they ran to tell the disciples
The Lord is risen
He is risen indeed
PROCESSIONAL HYMN AA15 ‘Christ is alive!’
Words: © 1993 Shirley Erena Murray
Music: © 1993 Jillian Bray
1. Christ is alive, and the universe must celebrate,
and the stars and the sun shout on this Easter Day!
Christ is alive, and his family must celebrate
in a great alleluia,
a great alleluia
to praise the power that made the stone roll away.
2. Here is our hope: in the mystery of suffering
is the heartbeat of love, love that will not let go,
here is our hope, that in God we are not separate,
and we sing alleluia,
we sing alleluia
to praise the power that made the stone roll away.
3. Christ Spirit, dance through the dullness of humanity
to the music of God, God who has set us free!
You are the pulse of the new creation’s energy;
with a great alleluia
a great alleluia
we praise the power that made the stone roll away.
WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
Kia ora.
Talofa lava
Talofa
PRAYER: (from Wild Goose worship group)
Early in the morning,
When the world was young,
You made life in all its beauty and terror;
You gave birth to all that we know.
Hallowed be your name.
Early in the morning,
When the world least expected it,
A new born child crying in a cradle
Announced that you had come among us,
That you were one of us
Hallowed be your name.
Early in the morning,
Surrounded by respectable liars,
Religious leaders, anxious statesmen
And silent friends
You accepted the penalty for doing good, for being God:
You shouldered and suffered the cross,
Hallowed be you name.
Early in the morning,
A voice in a guarded graveyard
And footsteps in the dew
Proved that you had risen,
That you had come back
To those and for those
Who had forgotten, denied and destroyed you.
Hallowed be your name.
Early this Easter morning,
In the multi coloured company
Of your church on earth
We celebrate your creation
Your life,
Your death and resurrection,
Your interest in us.
Hallowed be your name. Amen
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.
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!
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 Anna Smith
Hebrew Bible Isaiah 65:17-25
Gospel John 20:1-18
Contemporary Reading: Mustard Seed by Lotte Webb
A mustard seed
Is full of possibility
There’s a tree in there
Somewhere
Reach into the sky
Little seed
What possibilities lie dormant in us
Ready to grow into being
When we let go
And open ourselves
To the light of the sun
To the refreshing rain
To the hidden depths of
The mothering earth
Solid beneath us
Yet soft to shelter our sprouting
Reach up to the sky
Let yourself grow
And one day you will
find the birds of the air
resting their heads under their wings
waking and singing the dawning of hope
sheltering in your branches
A soft nest
perhaps
a pale blue speckled egg
waiting to be born
and to fly
Let yourself be grown
your life is full of possibility
You are the seed
You are the bird
And you are also the tree
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture and poetry,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
We give thanks.
REFLECTION Fei
OFFERTORY MUSIC
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
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated
States of Micronesia and the United Church of Christ – Congregational in the
Marshall Islands. 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 Simon Court and Dr Liz Craig list MPs. Here in the Central
Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of St Anselm’s Union Church,
Karori.
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 303 ‘Thine be the Glory’
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.
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 is 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 WOV451 ‘Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us’
Words: Patrick Appleford, Music. Living Lord
1. Lord Jesus Christ,
you have come to us,
you are one with us,
Mary’s Son;
cleansing our souls from all their sin,
pouring Your love and goodness in,
Jesus, our love for you we sing,
living Lord.
2. Lord Jesus Christ,
now and every day
teach us how to pray,
son of God.
you have commanded us to do
this in remembrance Lord of you:
into our lives your power breaks through,
living Lord.
3. Lord Jesus Christ
you have come to us,
born as one with us,
Mary’s Son;
led out to die on Calvary,
risen from death to set us free,
living Lord Jesus, help us see
you are Lord.
4. Lord Jesus Christ,
I would come to you,
live my life for you,
Son of God.
All your commands I know are true,
Your many gifts will make me new,
Into my life your power breaks through,
Living Lord.
BLESSING AND SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE
“Triumphal March”
by Richard Popplewell (1935 – 2016)
THANK YOU Peter Franklin
our musician today
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