December 13, 2020

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

GATHERING

A child will be born

We are ready!

 

PROCESSIONAL HYMN COC 7 ‘Carol our Christmas’
Words: © 1986 Shirley Erena Murray
Music by Colin Gibson. Music © 1992 Hope Publishing Co.

1. Carol our Christmas, an upside-down Christmas:
snow is not falling and trees are not bare.
Carol the summer, and welcome the Christ Child,
warm in our sunshine and sweetness of air.

2. Sing of the gold and the green and the sparkle,
water and river and lure of the beach.
Sing in the happiness of open spaces,
sing a nativity summer can reach!

3. Shepherds and musterers move over hillside,
finding, not angels, but sheep to be shorn;
Wise ones make journeys, whatever the season,
searching for signs of the truth to be born.

4. Rightside-up Christmas belongs to the universe,
made in the moment a woman gives birth;
Hope is the Jesus gift, love is the offering,
everywhere, anywhere, here on the earth.
WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
Kia ora.

CANDLE LIGHTING & CHRISTIAN WORLD SERVICE
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 BIDDING
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the trial and deliver us from evil
for the power and the glory are yours
now and forever,
AMEN
Lesson 1 Haere mai – Welcome by Joy Cowley

Kia ora, my friend. Welcome.
You bring honour to my house
and a blessing to my whanau.

Come in, spend time with us
and we will talk, You and I,
of good things.

You know, when I was young
I had a picture of You in my head,
a young Jewish man in a long robe,
and that is true, my friend, that is true,
but You grew with me over the years
and now I know that your whakapapa
belongs as much here, as over there
or anywhere else.

You are one of our people,
one with these mountains,
one with this land.

Haere mai e Ihu Karaiti,
Welcome Christ Jesus,
this is your home.
HYMN CH4 326 ‘As with gladness those of old’
Words: William Chatterton Dix
Music from a chorale by Conrad Kochner arr. Willian Hanry Monk. Public domain

1. As with gladness those of old
Did the guiding star behold,
As with joy they hailed its light,
Leading onward, beaming bright;
So most gracious God may we
Evermore be led by Thee.

2. As with joyful steps they sped,
To that lowly manger bed,
There to bend the knee before
Him whom heaven and earth adore;
So may we with willing feet
Ever seek Thy mercy seat.

3. As they offered gifts most rare
At that manger rude and bare;
So may we with holy joy,
Pure and free from sin's alloy,
All our costliest treasures bring,
Christ to Thee, our heavenly King.
Lesson 2 Isaiah 7: 14, Isaiah 40: 1-5, Isaiah 61: 1,2
Lesson 3 A New Zealand Christmas
by Eileen Duggan

Oh, the grace was on it that He chose that country –
We have kind oxen and our straw is sweet,
We have shepherds too now, and stables and a manger,
Had we but one footprint of His little feet!

Oh, my heart goes crying through these days of summer,
Through the sleepy summer, slow with streams and bees,
Had my land been old then, here He might have lighted,
Here have seen His first moon in the ngaio trees.

Oh, my heart goes crying through these days of waiting
While our lilies open and our tuis sing,
Had my Lord been born here angels might have ringed us,
Standing round our islands wing wide to wing.

Had my Lord been born here in the time of rata,
Three dark-eyed chieftains would have knelt to Him,
With greenstone and mats and the proud huia feather,
And the eyes of Mary, seeing, would grow dim.

Oh, my heart goes crying through these days of waiting,
We too have oxen and our straw is sweet,
We too have shepherds and stables and a manger,
Oh, for one clear footprint of His little feet!
Lesson 4 Nativity
by Joy Cowley

Look now! It is happening again! Love like a high spring
tide is swelling to fullness and overflowing the banks
of our small concerns.

And here again is the star, that white flame of truth blazing
the way for us through a desert of tired ways.

Once more comes the music, angel song that lifts our
hearts and tunes our ears to the harmony of the universe,
making us wonder how we ever could have forgotten.

And now the magi within us gathers up gifts of gold
and Myrhh, while that other part of ourselves, the impulsive
reckless shepherd, runs helter skelter with arms
outstretched to embrace the wonder of it all.

We have no words to contain our praise. We ache with awe, we tremble with miracle, as once again, in the small rough stable of our lives, Christ is born.
Lesson 5 God’s troubling the waters
by Clare Fussell

“God is troubling the waters” said the moon
“What - again?” shrieked the stars
“Isn't heaven full enough already, and all the lighting done?
That god of yours, that god likes to cause trouble.”
Then the Spirit moved on the waters,
and Trouble danced along the wavetops of the deep
and god saw, saw that it was very good...
and had a Good Idea.

“God is troubling the waters” said Mr Noah
“Oh not again!” said Mrs Noah
“That god of yours - that god is Trouble.
The neighbours are lost, I'm sick of the rain
and animals weren't meant to be in here...”
Once more the spirit moved - dancing in across the waters
with a sprig of hope,
Dove achieving what raven had not -
and god saw that the Idea was Very Good.

“I think God is troubling my waters” said Mary
‘There's Trouble for sure’, thought Joseph – ‘it's too soon.
It’s all wrong - we're not ready - these aren't our people.’
The donkey laughed - in a hee haw sort of way
“It feels like the baby is dancing” said Mary
‘I knew this baby would be Trouble.’ thought Joseph,
but wisely kept his thinking to himself.

Then angels sang and starlight saw;
And shepherds and wise ones danced together.
For Tiny Ones can mean Big Trouble
and that is Very Good.....

“God's coming to trouble the waters – look! ” said the child
dangling her legs in the coolness.
“What - so soon?” said the paralysed one
“God moving already and I'm nowhere near.
Won't you help me be there
for when the troubling starts?”.
“Can't” said the child.
“My mum says I got to stay in here
so I'm healed when the trouble begins”.

Alongside the pool a shadow danced by -
that of a man who looked down with concern,
at the one held by fear and rage -
both hearing the call to courage.
“A healing will bring us both Trouble” said Jesus.
But if that’s what you want........”
So paralysis danced - and doubt went marching
and god looked , and knew the Idea was Very Good.

Again God is troubling the waters -
in our days the Spirit is moving :
Troubling those who can't help but see;
Making song when the world says “Be Quiet ! ”;
Dancing wild when the world says “Keep Still !”

Let us be the Trouble of God.
HYMN WOV 237 ‘Once in Judah’s least known city’
Words: Cecil Frances Alexander, Tune: Irby. Public Domain
1. Once in Judah’s least known city
Stood a boarding house with back-door shed,
Where an almost solo mother
Tried to find her new-born a bed.
Mary’s mum and dad went wild
When they heard their daughter had a child.

2. He brought to earth a sense of heaven,
Lord of none yet Lord of all;
And his shelter always was unstable
For his mission was beyond recall.
With the poor, with those least holy,
Christ the King was pleased to live so lowly.

3. Can he know our youth and childhood’s pattern
When we know-not how he daily grew?
Was he always little, weak and helpless,
Did he share our joys and problems too?
In our laughter, fun and madness,
Will the Lord of love share in our gladness?

4. Not in that uncharted stable
With village-gossips standing by,
But in heaven we shall see him -
Here as much as up above the sky -
When, in love for friend and stranger,
We embrace the message-of-the manger.
Lesson 6 Luke 2: 8-15
Choir ‘Pohutukawa Carol’
REFLECTION ‘Believe the Fantasy’ Ken Irwin
Lesson 7 Luke 1: 26 - 38
THE OFFERING & DEDICATION

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.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Lynne Dovey
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
Choir: ‘Not on a snowy night’
Lesson 8 The Magnificat: Luke 1: 47-56

Please stand for the Gospel
Lesson 9: John 1: 1-14
Paraphrase Alan T Dale
HYMN WOV 228 ‘O Come all ye Faithful’ vv 1-3
Music John Francis Wade
Words C. Frederick Oakeley (alt)words

1. O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him, born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

2. God of God,
Light of light
Lo! He abhors not the Virgin’s womb
Very God,
Begotten, not created
O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

3. Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
sing all ye citizens of heaven above.
Glory to God in the highest;
O come, let us adore Him...
O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
BLESSING adapted from Fra Giovanni (1513)

There is nothing which we can give you which you have not;
but there is much that, while we cannot give, you may take.

No heaven can come to us unless our minds find rest in it here today.
We will take heaven.

There is no rangimarie - peacefulness that lies only in the future: it is accessible right now in the present instant.
We will take rangimarie - peace.

Likewise tumanako – hopefulness is not trapped, to be unlocked only for times ahead
We will take tumanako – hope.

There is gloom in the world – it comes in the form of shadow. It masks what lies behind: harikoa – joy.
We will take harikoa - joy.

This thing we call aroha is not something new. It has come to us from our ancestors and is for us to pass on
We will take aroha – love.

And so, at this Christmas, we greet you with the trust that for you, now and forever, the day is reborn and the shadows fall away.
We will take Christmas.
SUNG AMEN