October 16, 2022
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
PRELUDE “Adagio” John Bennett (1735 – 1784)
GATHERING
God of the unexpected,
God who crashes through our assumptions:
we worship you.
God, whose friend break through the boundaries
of preconceived ideas and rules:
we worship you.
God, whose life is written in bold strokes of love
beyond anything which we can predict or dream:
we come to worship you in spirit and in truth!
PROCESSIONAL HYMN ‘Our life has its seasons’ AA113
Words: © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray
Music: Kotuku by Colin Gibson © 1992 Hope Publishing Co.
1. Our life has its seasons, and God has the reasons
why spring follows winter, and new leaves grow,
for there’s a connection with our resurrection
that flowers will bud after frost and snow,
so there’s never a time to stop believing,
there’s never a time for hope to die,
there’s never a time to stop loving,
these three things go on.
2. There’s a time to be planting, a time to be plucking,
a time to be laughing, a time to weep,
a time to be building, a time to be breaking,
a time to be waking, a time to sleep,
but there’s never a time……
3. There’s a time to be hurting, a time to be healing,
a time to be saving, a time to spend,
a time to be grieving, a time to be dancing,
a time for beginning, a time to end.
but there’s never a time…
OPENING RESPONSES
We remember our foremothers in faith,
who from ages immemorial wove threads of meaning through
difficult times.
We honour the invisible heroines of the past,
who suffered in silence, brought healing to the hurt, children to birth and wisdom to seekers after truth.
We acknowledge the wild women in our midst,
activists, protestors, doers, questioners, creators, copers, strengtheners and humorists. May their courage and vitality be our also.
WELCOME
E te whānau a te Karaiti,
ngā mihi aroha ki a tātou katoa.
Kia ora tātou.
Talofa lava.
Talofa.
PRAYER
We open to the patient presence of Spirit,
waiting for willing souls future fashioning artists
to share with her a palette of possibility.
Waiting for fourteen billion years,
for us to take up the brush and daub and dab
new colours – our true colours onto unformed
canvas of the future.
Spirit waiting for this moment to arrive,
to plunge those with ears to hear into the waterfall of grace,
shrieking with laughter and delight under the thundering
baptismal water.
Baptise us once more in the Spirit, so that our bold strokes
may draw a wider circle and play a part in describing our universe.
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 ROOM CANDLE,
We light the rainbow candle to show that we are an inclusive community and also for our children. Rainbow room is on recess this Sunday because of school holidays.
FAMILY TIME Frank Cook
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 Tony Kirby
Hebrew Bible Exodus 20:7-12
New Testament Ephesians 6:1-7
Contemporary reading by Karen Georgia A. Thompson
Holding hands
I learned to hold your hand
signalling safety and security
the streets of cities
navigating life and telling stories
Holding your hand provided guidance
lacing my fingers through yours
you reminded me of our destinations
you gently pulled me from back from danger
Over the years, across the miles
assurance of your presence
held in body, mind and spirit
visited at will, without hands, guided by heart
Waning years brough us back
to holding hands
my need to keep you safe
holding your hand and guiding you
You learned to hold my hand
signalling safety and comfort
walking the streets of cities
visiting doctors, searching for diagnoses
Holding my hand provided guidance
lacing your fingers through mine
I reminded you of our destinations
I gently held you as we navigated a world not your own
Holding hands provided reassurance
reminding us that we are connected
in absence of clear memories
a touch clarifying
I held your hand in your final days
as you journeyed from this world
into the next
as you laid in final rest
We never let go
each holding the other across time
journeying from one stage to the next
we walk holding hands
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks
HYMN ‘Who is my mother?’ AA158
Words © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray
Music © 1993 Ian Render
1. Who is my mother?
who is my brother?
All those who gather around Jesus Christ:
spirit blown people
born from the Gospel
sit at the table, round Jesus Christ.
2. Differently abled,
differently labelled
widen the circle round Jesus Christ,
crutches and stigmas,
cultures’ enigmas
all come together round Jesus Christ.
3. Love will relate us
colour or status
can’t segregate us round Jesus Christ:
family failings,
human derailings,
all are accepted, round Jesus Christ.
4. Bound by one vision,
met for one mission
we claim each other, round Jesus Christ.
here is my mother,
here is my brother
kindred in Spirit, round Jesus Christ.
REFLECTIONS ON ECUMENICAL WOMEN’S ROUNDTABLE SEOUL, KOREA
HYMN ‘Come celebrate the women’
Words © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray
Music: Ellacombe WOV 277
1. Come, celebrate the women
who brought the Church to birth!
the gentle revolution
that shall transform the earth:
whose faith was salt and leaven,
whose hearts and minds were free,
and this was their direction —
to peace and unity.
2. The teachers, saints and mothers
who lived and died unsung,
kept safe the gospel story
and taught it to the young;
the Christ child Mary cradled,
the living Word to be,
was crucified for pleading
this peace and unity.
3. Daughters of the disciples,
you weave the story still,
the fabric of the future
with warmth and love and skill,
you make the bread of wholeness,
the wine of harmony —
and all shall share your feasting
in peace and unity!
OFFERTORY MUSIC “England’s Lane” Adapted by Geoffrey Shaw (1879 – 1943)
OFFERTORY HYMN ‘Here we bring small or great’ AA 62
Words Shirley Murray: Music © Colin Gibson
Here we bring small or great,
gifts to offer on this plate, What we’ve earned, what we own
tithe or token, bread, or stone.
REFRAIN
Jesus said “Have a care – your hearts will always be,
where your riches are, where your riches are.”
OFFERING PRAYER
With trusting belief we bring these gifts and our intentions for the week to come, in the firm hope that they will share the love we ourselves experience in our daily lives and in our community. 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 not already in the order of service, 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 Barrie Keenan
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Taiwan and the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. 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 Todd Muller (Bay of Plenty) and Stuart Nash (Napier). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of the Palmerston North Presbyterian New 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 shall go out with hope’ CH4729
Words by June Boyce-Tillman © 1993 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Music: CH4 729 Londonderry Air
1. We shall go out with hope of resurrection
we shall go out, from strength to strength go on;
we shall go out and tell our stories boldly,
tales of a love that will not let us go.
We’ll sing our songs of wrongs that can be righted,
we’ll dream our dreams of hurts that can be healed;
we’ll weave a cloth of all the world united
within the vision of a new life in Christ.
2. We’ll give a voice to those who have not spoken;
we’ll find the words for those whose lips are sealed,
we’ll make the tunes for those who sing no longer,
expressing love alive in every heart.
We’ll share our joy with those who still are weeping,
raise hymns of strength for hearts that break in grief,
we’ll leap and dance Christ’s resurrection story,
including all within the circles of our love.
BLESSING
Love God! Put God first. Walk humbly with our God. We are not the boss. Love others – all of them! As we love ourselves
Love others – as God loves them…especially the least, the last, the lost.
Be kind. Be fair. Share. Forgive. Encourage. Respect. Care for the Earth.
Trust God. Go and be a blessing. (Rosie Staite)
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE “Processional March” C. Armstrong Gibbs (1889 – 1960)
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THANK YOU
THANK YOU Peter Franklin
our musician today