May 1, 2022
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
PRELUDE Chorale Prelude BWV 706
by J.S. Bach
CALL TO WORSHIP:
Quieten our minds.
Still our hearts.
For your living ways are all we seek.
Strengthen our lives.
Inspire our spirits.
In your living waters flow endless grace.
SILENCE
GATHERING
Today we reflect on the act of Communion:
Communion over a meal,
Communion in prayer,
communing when in silence and
communion conveyed by words.
Let us reach deep within
and learn more about ourselves.
PROCESSIONAL HYMN CH251 ‘Here I am Lord’
Words based on Isaiah 6: Dan Schutte. Music Dan Schutte
Words & music © 1981, 2000, OCP
Reprinted with permission under One License A-623996. All rights reserved
1. I, the Lord of Earth and Sky
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and pain
my hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness light.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
[Refrain]
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me,
I will hold your people in my heart
2. I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them;
they turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
give them hearts for love alone;
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?
[Refrain]
3. I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame;
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide,
till their hearts be satisfied;
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?
[Refrain]
WELCOME
Kia ora tātou.
Kia ora.
Talofa lava
Talofa.
Good morning
Good morning.
PRAYER
Transforming Womb of God,
conceive in us;
Create anew life;
faith, the confidence to bear
hope, continuously expectant
love, the true beginning.
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 Frank Cook
BLESSING THE CHILDREN (All stand)
Thank you for being here with us today.
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.
THE WORD IN TEXTS Valerie Rhodes
Hebrew Bible Psalm 30
New Testament Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Contemporary reading NO ORDINARY SUN – Hone Tuwhare
Tree let your arms fall:
Raise them not sharply in supplication
to the bright enhaloed cloud.
Let your arms lack toughness and
resilience for this is no mere axe
to blunt, nor fire to smother.
Your sap shall not rise again
to the moon’s pull.
No more incline a deferential head
to the wind’s talk, or stir
to the tickle of coursing rain.
Your former shagginess shall not be
wreathed with the delightful flight
of birds nor shield
nor cool the ardour of unheeding
lovers from the monstrous sun.
Tree let your naked arms fall
nor extend vain entreaties to the radiant ball.
This is no gallant monsoon’s flash,
no dashing trade wind’s blast.
The fading green of your magic
emanations shall not make pure again
these polluted skies… for this
is no ordinary sun
O tree
in the shadowless mountains
the white plains and
the drab sea floor
your end at last is written.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
HYMN WOV 183 ‘Lord of the Dance’
Music: adapted from Simple Gifts Words © Sydney Carter
1. I danced in the morning when the world was young,
I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth
at Bethlehem I had my birth.
Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he
2. I danced for the scribes and the Pharisees;
they wouldn't dance, they wouldn't follow me
I danced for the fishermen James and John;
they came with me so the dance went on.
Dance then, wherever…
3. I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame;
the holy people said it was a shame
They ripped, they stripped, they hung me high;
left me there on the cross to die.
Dance then, wherever…
4. I danced on a Friday when the world turned black;
it's hard to dance with the devil on your back
They buried my body, they thought I was gone;
but I am the dance, and the dance goes on.
Dance then, wherever…
5. They cut me down and I leapt up high;
I am the life that will never, never die
I'll live in you if you'll live in me;
I am the Lord of the dance, said he.
Dance then, wherever…
REFLECTION Meeting God on the road Fei
OFFERTORY “Triumphal March”
by Richard Popplewell
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:
What we have we bring,
money for this place’s work
and food for those who need it more than we.
May all gifts be used well
so they are effective in spreading love abroad in the world.
So may it be.
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, 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 Catriona Cairns
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Papua New Guinea and the Christian World Service supported literacy programme in Bougainville that seeks to provide local language literacy training to young adults in all 22 language group areas of Bougainville with the expectation that this will act as the first stepping stone towards gaining an education. We hold all refugees in our hearts. We pray in particular for the detainees of Manus and Nauru Islands. 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 Phil Twyford (Te Atatū) and Hon Louise Upston (Taupō). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Khandallah 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
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.
COMMUNION HYMN CH 661 ‘Eat this bread drink this cup’
Text: John 6; adapt. By Robert J Batastini, b.1942, and the Taize Community.
Tune: Jacques Berthier, 1923-1994.
Words & Music: © 1984, Les Presses de Taize, GIA Publications, Inc. agent.
Reprinted with permission under One License A-623996. All rights reserved
COMMUNION LITURGY
Please remain in your seat and the bread and wine (light coloured) or grape juice (dark coloured) will be brought to you.
THE PEACE
This is God's house, a place of peace.
A place where we befriend one another
in the name of Christ.
The peace of God is here... to stay
Thanks be to God.
COMMUNION PRAYER
God is the heart of life.
And we are the heartbeat.
May our hearts be filled
with thanks and praise and songs of joy.
We rejoice in the miracle of life
and delight in our participation.
We celebrate Spirit Presence,
God-here-with-us
beyond our words,
beyond our images,
a reality that grounds and sustains
everything that exists.
We sense this Creative Presence
in the immensity of our universe,
in the incredible display of life-forms
on this planet,
and in the development of consciousness
in the human species.
All our collected human wisdom
is a visible expression of this Liberating Presence
active in all places, at all times,
in individuals and cultures,
seeking expression in the creation
of a just and peaceful world.
As Christians. we rejoice in the life of Jesus.
In Jesus we see the fullness of human possibility:
to make God visible in our lives.
In Jesus we have seen this Presence
come to expression in human form.
Like us he grew in wisdom.
Questioning.
Searching for meaning.
Shaping convictions.
Enacting justice.
Experiencing love
and coming to know love's connectedness with God.
Jesus stood firmly in his own religious tradition
and preached good news to all people
dreaming of a better world.
We rejoice that this teaching sets us free
from imagining a manipulative, intervening God
and from thinking we are distant
from the Creative Presence
in which our very existence is grounded.
We rejoice that Jesus led people
to discover the sacred in the ordinary:
in the crowd,
in the rejected ones,
in everyday life,
in human yearnings for peace and justice,
and in being neighbour to one another.
And so we recall the ancient story...
We remember the night before he died,
when he shared a meal with his friends,
Jesus took some bread, and set aside some wine,
honouring the God of faithful presence
in the ordinary of life.
He gave thanks for all the blessings in his life.
Broke the bread.
Poured out the wine.
And shared both with his friends.
We break bread as Jesus broke bread,
mindful of the call to love generously and faithfully,
whatever the cost.
We pour out wine
mindful of our responsibility
to be bearers of forgiveness,
creators of justice and understanding.
God of life,
with this bread and this wine,
we celebrate the life of Jesus,
and we offer ourselves
to follow his way.
To this commitment we give our 'Amen'
and offer it as our gift
to our family, friends and neighbours
and to all the earth.
Come now, tender spirit of God,
brood over these bodily things,
that we and these may be signs of life and love
to each other.
Nourish us in faith.
Bind us together in love.
Fill us with hope.
The gifts of God for the people of God.
Come, for all is made ready.
SHARING THE BREAD AND WINE
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Living God, we give thanks
for this time shared around this table.
From now on, whenever we walk in strange places,
we shall find your footprints there;
whenever we meet with unknown faces,
we shall see your image there;
whenever we face nameless terror,
we shall hear your 'Fear not' there;
whenever we stumble into unexpected joy,
we shall feel your heartbeat there.
Wherever we go we start from here.
Based on a liturgy by Rex A E Hunt, Australia.
HYMN AA156 ‘Where the road runs out’
Words and Music: © 1992 Colin Gibson
1. Where the road runs out and the signposts end,
where we come to the edge of today,
be the God of Abraham for us;
send us out upon our way.
Lord, you were our beginning,
the faith that gave us birth.
We look to you our ending,
our hope for heaven and earth.
2. When the coast is left and we journey on
to the rim of the sky and the sea,
be the sailor’s friend, be the dolphin Christ;
lead us on to eternity.
Lord, you were……….
3. When the clouds are low and the wind is strong,
when tomorrow’s storm draws near,
be the spirit bird hov’ring overhead
who will take away our fear.
Lord, you were ……….
BLESSING
May holy Wisdom,
kind to humanity,
steadfast, sure and free,
the breath of the power of God;
may she who makes all things new, in every age,
enter our souls,
and make us friends of God,
through Jesus Christ, Amen. (Janet Morley)
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE Toccata “Songs of Praise”
by Robert Prizeman (1952 -2021)
THANK YOU
THANK YOU Thank you to Peter Franklin our musician today