October 9, 2022
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
Today’s service is led by Rev Dr Jim Cunningham
PRELUDE
CALL TO WORSHIP
We come to be opened by visions that can enlist us
in larger causes and more caring actions.
We come to hear stories that might takes us into a deeper kind of
integrity, and reconnect us with our better selves.
So may the warmer fullness that we seek
fill our hearts, our minds and our spirits.
Let us worship the One we name God
SILENCE
PROCESSIONAL HYMN Words: Janes Parker Huber; Music WOV Leoni
Used by Permission CCLI Licence #341550
- O God of earth and space, of sea, and fire and air,
your providence surrounds us here and everywhere.
In fruit and grain and tree, in shelter from the cold,
in cooling breezes, flowing wells, now as of old.
- Where faithfulness is shown, where love and truth abound,
where beauty graces human life, there you are found.
Inspirer of all thought! Creative force of art!
The melody on every tongue, in every heart.
- Wherever freedom reigns, where sin is overthrown,
where justice fused with mercy rules, there you are known.
Give us the courage clear, to make the earth a home,
for all to live in harmony, in Christ’s shalom.
GATHERING
Let there be joy in our coming together this morning.
Let there be compassion heard in the words we speak,
and love in the songs we sing.
Let there be silence for the voice within us and beyond us.
Let there be joy in our coming together.
May we awaken to the presence of God,
here in this ordinary place.
May we awaken to the power of love,
here in this ordinary crowd.
May we build a community of justice for all,
now in this ordinary time.
May we daily work to build a world at peace
now with these ordinary hands.
WELCOME
Kia ora tātou.
Kia ora.
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
FAMILY TIME Johan Van der Merwe
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.
HYMN Welcome doubt
Words: David Stevenson
Music: WOV 165 (11) Blaenwern
- Welcome doubt! Refine our thinking,
urge us further into light;
lead us to a greater dawning
from the shadows of our night.
Welcome knowledge! Food for wisdom,
leaving prejudice behind;
pledge of science, fruit of reason,
seeking love with all our mind.
- Welcome truth! But little caring
whence it come, cost what it will;
though it challenge deep conviction,
truth shall be our focus still.
Welcome faith! Our thought transcending,
touching mystery divine;
joy of trusting, source of action,
fervent hope’s courageous sign.
THE WORD IN TEXTS AND PREACHING Marilyn Wallace
Hebrew Bible Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Jeremiah writes to the exiles in Babylon
Psalm Psalm 137
“By the waters of Babylon…”
Gospel Luke 4: 14-20
Jesus reads in the synagogue in Nazareth
Reflection: Jim Cunningham
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”
Contemporary Reading
A counter-cultural vision and an eagerness to celebrate.
by Norman Shanks
An Iona Community Publication
The Church vocation in each and every locality
is to be a worshipping, healing, learning,
serving community,
faithfully living by the values of the kingdom,
modelling and embodying a counter-cultural vision,
looking and reaching out beyond itself
with a wider vision,
to discover the light and love of God
in engagement with the life of the world,
standing up and speaking out against
all that diminishes and disempowers humanity.
In so doing it will dream and explore;
it will be open, flexible and ready to take risks;
it will be generous, hospitable and ready to celebrate;
it will not be a ghetto but keen to co-operate and engage;
it will be a transforming community –
influencing others for good,
and being transformed itself in the process;
it will be resilient and persistent,
however hard the way,
and it will be marked by joy
and an eagerness to celebrate.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture and preaching
for the Word around us
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
HYMN In this place where we now gather
Words: Fiona McDougal; Music: Vivien Chiu. All Rights Reserved
- In this place where now we gather,
we have lived our common life,
in this place we’ve learned together,
moving through both joy and strife,
in this place hope’s grown within us
as we shared the bread and wine,
in this place where all are welcome,
we have known a love that shines.
- From a past that saw the old folks
travelling from lands afar,
from a past that brought mixed blessings,
to tangata whenua.
From a past of change and challenge,
synthesising new ideas,
from a past that brought rich stories,
giving strength to face old fears.
- In this time of fresh beginnings,
opening our hearts with hope,
in this time of great adventure
seeking out God’s greater scope,
in this time we stand together,
reaching to our world anew,
in this time we make commitment
to this city’s greater good.
- Let us join in celebration
making joyful harmony,
let us join our hands and promise
to treat earth respectfully.
Let us join and share our vision
of a world that’s just and free,
let us join in deep intention
to live gently, lovingly.
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 (together)
God, by our smallest actions, we become part of a bigger world.
The smallest giving can be an expression of
the good spirit of generosity and caring.
Help us to carry through the doorway of each new day
this spirit spirit of generosity and caring. Amen
OFFERING PRAYER
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 Jenn Keenan
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Syria and the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. We hold all refugees in our hearts. We pray in particular for the 122 refuges still detained in 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 Mark Mitchell (Whangaparaoa) and Joseph Mooney (Southland). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of the Presbyterian New 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
CALL TO SERVICE (standing)
Go, as people who are free and responsible.
We go to live out our freedom by the choices we make.
Go in freedom to be instruments of peace.
We go to act in ways that will achieve and cherish
a just and lasting peace
in ourselves, in our community, and in our world.
HYMN Past and present, with our dreaming
Words: Bill Wallace
Music:WOV 478 Cwm Rhondda
- Join to make us what we are;
ancient wisdom, ancient follies
shape the way we love and care:
give us reverence,
give us wisdom,
from the past for life today.
- Make us mindful of each moment –
ev’ry force, each strength, each flaw;
free us from those empty longings
which consume us more and more:
give us vision,
give us courage,
for this present age of change.
- We must face the future’s challenge
to create a better earth
hand in hand with all who labour,
dream and suffer for its birth.
for through sharing
and through caring,
we shall build community.
BLESSING
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE
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