Order of Service – 11 December 2022 – Advent 3

December 11, 2022

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

Today’s service is led by Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai
PRELUDE “Luckington” by Basil Harwood (1859 – 1949)

GATHERING
The season of Advent challenges us
to see God’s vision of what is yet to be,
to hear God’s voice calling anew,
to smell the scent of God in the world.
Let us celebrate life in the presence of an Advent God.

OPENING RESPONSES Ann Weems
The Christmas spirit is the hope
which tenaciously clings to the hearts of the faithful
and announces in the face of any Herod
the world can produce
and all the inn doors slammed in our faces
and all the dark nights of the soul
that with God all things still are possible,
that even now: unto us a child is born!

PROCESSIONAL HYMN AA77 ‘Jesus comes to me as a Springtime tree’
Words: Joy Cowley, Music: Ian Render, Tune: Joy
Reprinted with permission under One License A-623996. All rights reserved

1. Jesus comes to me as a springtime tree
and I receive him as a springtime tree.
Fragrant the blossoming of the child,
fresh with laughter, free and wild,
and carrying the green of summer.

 

2. Jesus comes to me as a summer tree
and I receive him as a summer tree.
Warm in the sun and richly laid
with patterns of growth through light and shade,
and carrying the fire of autumn.

3. Jesus comes to me as an autumn tree
and I receive him as an autumn tree.
Season of ripeness, brightly ablaze
like a torch in the quietness of closing days
and carrying the wood of winter.

4. Jesus comes to me as a winter tree
and I receive him as a winter tree.
Gentle the cross and gentle the snow,
gentle the path where he and I go,
carrying the buds of spring.

WELCOME
E te whānau a Te Karaiti. Ngā mihi aroha ki a tātou katoa.
Kia ora tātou.

Talofa lava
Talofa

LIGHTING THE ADVENT CANDLE (Invite the latest birthday person to light)
Light three candles.
Joy is not a commodity that can be bought or sold, but lives deep in the human spirit. Help us to hear that truth and believe it. Let go of what our consumer culture says will bring us happiness – money, success, a scramble to the top that leaves us flat. If we have robbed others of what they need in our clamour and quest for more than our fair share, forgive us. Help us hear the call of John the Baptist to turn around and begin again. God of love, we were made in joy. May we live that way.

All: We light a candle for joy. May it light the way.
SING: Tune: Away in a manger (alternate tune)

A candle is burning a flame warm and bright,
a candle which brings HOPE and offers delight.
While we await our expectations are high;
our hearts rejoice gladly for Jesus is nigh.

A candle is burning, a candle of PEACE,
A candle to signal that conflict must cease.
For Jesus is coming to show us the way;
a message of peace humbly laid in the hay.

A candle is burning, a candle of JOY,
a candle to welcome brave Mary’s new boy.
Our hearts fill with wonder and eyes light and glow
as joy brightens winter like sunshine on snow.

PRAYER:
Source of Life – who called the rich to travel toward poverty,
the powerful to know their own frailty;
who gave to strangers
a sense of homecoming in an alien land
and to stargazers
true light and vision as they bowed to earth –
We lay ourselves open to your signs for us.
Stir us with holy discontent
over a world which gives its gifts to those
who have plenty already,
whose talents are obvious,
whose power is recognised;
and help us both to share our resources
with those who have little,
and to receive with humility
the gifts they bring to us.
(Silence)
Rise within us, like a star,
and make us restless till we journey forth to seek our rest in you.
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.

ADVENT 3
FACING THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE WITH JOY 

In October, Hurricane Julia swept across Nicaragua causing widespread flooding and damage, including in the rural community of Aguas Calientes where Kelly lives. Like many people who live in the country, her family had few resources to cope, especially when the river they use for water became contaminated.
“My name is Kelly I live with my husband, my son, his wife and my grandson. They live next door because they are building a little house for themselves. I am a housewife.
My husband works on the land. He does not earn a lot, but we adjust to what we have.
Both my husband and my son work for farmers. One of the difficult situations we have in the community is that we live in the dry corridor and water is scarce. We have been through a terrible hurricane and ten latrines contaminated the river with faeces. The twenty families in the community depend on the river for water. We clean our clothes in the river or use rockpools after the rain (see below). Clean water has been a very serious problem in our communities for many years.
During the hurricane I was scared because the whole house was moving, and inside the house everything was getting wet. I had to put plastic and aluminium containers out so that the rain would not make mud inside the house and cover the things we have inside. We thought we were going to lose everything, but we kept our faith in our Lord that he was going to protect us during those hurricanes.
When I heard about CEPAD it was a great relief for me because they arrived with food package. We were very happy because we were going to have something to eat for a while. Of that food that I received, I shared a part with my son and his family and kept the other part for my husband and I,” Kelly concludes.
CEPAD also supplied three litres of fresh water per person to Aguas Calientes and surrounding communities affected by the Hurricane each day.
About Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America and is highly vulnerable to climate change. It lies in the pathway of hurricanes from the Atlantic and on major earthquake faults. Rising temperatures are producing more severe droughts and rainfall is increasingly unpredictable.
Rain can be heavy, causing flooding and landslides. Climate change will make it harder for farmers to grow the food the growing population needs to survive. A lack of safe water is likely to lead to greater poverty and poor health outcomes.
LIGHTING THE RAINBOW CANDLE
We light the rainbow candle to show we are an inclusive community and for our children.
FAMILY TIME Cameron Smart
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.
THE WORD IN TEXTS Anna Smith
Hebrew Bible Isaiah 35:1-10
Gospel/New Testament Matthew 11:2-11
Contemporary reading The Bridge by Joy Cowley

There are times in life
when we are called to be bridges,
not a great monument spanning a distance
and carrying loads of heavy traffic,
but a simple bridge to help one person from here to there over
some difficulty
such as pain, grief, fear loneliness,
a bridge which opens the way
for ongoing journey.

When I become a bridge for another,
I bring upon myself a blessing,
for I escape from the small prison of self
and exist for a wider world,
breaking out to be a larger being
who can enter another’s pain
and rejoice in another’s triumph.

I know of only one greater blessing
in this life, and that is,
to allow someone else
to be a bridge for me.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
HYMN: COC14ii ‘Come now Lord Jesus, enter our Christmas’
Words: © 1992 Shirley Murray Music: Traditional Zulu arr. Roy Tankersley

1. Come now, Lord Jesus,
enter our Christmas,
be to us no stranger
in this new made manger.
2. Come, small and human,
born of a woman,
yet a child much greater,
of our own Creator.

3. Come, cold and crying
comfort denying,
no place to receive you,
few yet to believe you.
4. Come, poor and simple,
our flesh your temple
in your body feeling
hurt as well as healing.

5. Come, gift and token,
bread to be broken —
star and sign still point you,
myrrh will anoint you.

REFLECTION “Is he the One” Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai
HYMN COC30 ‘Look towards Christmas ‘
Words © 1996 Shirley Erena Murray, Music © Colin Gibson

1. Look towards Christmas! Advent is here:
welcome December, changing the year.
Whistle up, shepherds! Saddle up, kings!
Chorus up angels, flexing your wings.

Sing, sing, alleluia!
Sing, sing alleluia!
Sing, sing out the story,
sing about hope and peace.

2. Set the world singing, make the world glad;
now is good reason not to feel sad!
Hear John the Baptist shout to prepare:
Good News is coming, earth be aware.
Sing, sing, alleluia!
Sing, sing alleluia!
Sing, sing out the story,
sing about hope and peace.

3. Mary and Joseph, soon is the day:
ready the donkey, start on your way.
You are the chosen, willing to trust,
joyful your burden, carrying Christ
Sing, sing alleluia!
Sing, sing alleluia!
Sing, sing out the story,
sing about hope and peace.

OFFERTORY MUSIC “Cantilena” by F. Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)
OFFERING HYMN
Willing hands, to lead the blind,
heal the wounded, feed the poor.
Love embracing all our kind,
charity with liberal store.
OFFERING PRAYER
Faithful God, you ask us to be faithful people.
In this community, you ask us to be people of justice.
In this community, you ask us to be people of mercy.
In this community, you ask us to be people of peace.
Be with us as we try to be faithful
in large ways and in small ways
so your eternal community may come in every way.
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 Lois Robertson
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Uganda and the Christian World Service partner the Church of Uganda and their work focussing on infrastructure development, small scale enterprise, environmental protection, human rights, civic education, and community-based health care. We hold all refugees in our hearts. We pray in particular for the 111 refugees 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 the Hon Grant Robertson (Wellington Central) and Adrian Rurawhe (Te Tai Hauauru). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Taihape-Waimarino Presbyterian Parish.
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 COC8 ‘Child of Christmas Story’
Words: © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray, Hope Publishing Company
Music © 1992 Richard Madden

1. Child of Christmas story,
stable straw and star,
small and sweet and gentle,
tell us who you are.

2. Child whose baby finger
round our own is curled,
come to melt our hearts,
and come to change the world.

BLESSING
Go forth to straighten the pathways of life for the child who is to come, even Jesus the Christ – that the healing power of God’s love may rush without impediment into every wounded heart.
All: May we be nothing other than channels of God’s truth and grace.

Sing: May the God of new beginnings, start with you and me
May the God of continuing story, speak through you and me,
May the God of infinite wisdom shine through you and me
May the God of safe homecomings, welcome you and me.
.
BENEDICTION:
Go out into the world with Peace
We go knowing that the God of peace goes with us this day and in the days to come. Amen
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE “Cornet Voluntary” by William Walond (1725 – 1770)

 

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