August 14, 2022
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
Today’s service is led by Rev. Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai
PRELUDE
GATHERING
Hope brings us here:
hope of inspiration,
hope of peace,
hope of justice,
hope of love.
Let us celebrate life in the presence of God.
OPENING RESPONSES (CWS)
When our world is twisted by greed and bruised by violence
we come seeking signs of hope and healing;
when our concerns have become inward and narrow
we come seeking the Peace that passes understanding;
when our actions are small and our vision weak
we come looking for you in friend and neighbour.
God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is. We come.
PROCESSIONAL HYMN Let us talents and tongues employ; WOV 658
Words: Frederick Herman Kaan; Tune: Linstead; ©Hope Publishing; 3 verses
Let us talents and tongues employ,
reaching out with a shout of joy:
bread is broken, the wine is poured,
Christ is spoken and seen and heard.
Jesus lives again; earth can breathe again.
Pass the Word around: loaves abound!
Christ is able to make us one,
at his table he set the tone,
teaching people to live to bless,
love in word and in deed express.
Jesus lives again; earth can breathe again.
Pass the Word around: loaves abound!
Jesus calls us in, sends us out
bearing fruit in a world of doubt,
gives us love to tell, bread to share:
God (Immanuel) everywhere!
Jesus lives again; earth can breathe again.
Pass the Word around: loaves abound!
WELCOME
E te whānau a te Karaiti,
ngā mihi aroha ki a tātou katoa.
Kia ora tātou.
Talofa lava.
Talofa.
PRAYER FOR PEACE ON HIROSHIMA DAY (11 August 2022) (CWS)
We remember the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as they remember the tens of thousands who lost their lives, their health and their homes from atomic bombs.
We will work for peace.
We remember the many more people who have been injured or killed from nuclear testing, in wars and conflicts not of their making and those who have stood against them.
We will work for peace.
We remember the earth which has been torn by war, poisoned and exploited by human actions.
We will work for peace.
In your many names we pray. Amen.
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
The rainbow candle represents the inclusive nature of our church where all are welcome, and also celebrates our children.
TIME WITH CHILDREN Dawn Cowdry
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 Tony Kirby
Hebrew Bible Isaiah 5:1-7
Gospel/New Testament Luke 12:49-56
Contemporary reading The Rediscovery of Spirituality by Norman Shanks
Life in all it’s fullness
‘Leave the beaten path to find happiness. Take your mind over uncharted terrain – it might just change your life for ever.’
Just the advice I needed in the newspaper yesterday morning. In the bookshops, too, the shelves are full in the ‘Body, Mind, and Spirit’ sections. The whole area of self-improvement, personal growth, health and well-being – and, of course, diet – has become an industry in itself; people are queuing up to join gyms and health clubs.
And the politicians are at it too. We are promised policies that shall increase everyone’s prosperity – although more than likely we shall not read the small print that tells us that that really means that the rich will get richer and the poor will be left as far behind as ever. A recent book by a leading economist asks why, although average incomes have doubled, people are no happier than they were fifty years ago, and argues that happiness should be at the heart of public policy.
Of course we all know that you cannot buy real happiness – it does not come automatically with material prosperity. And the harder you try to be happy the more difficult is it to achieve. In the Bible we find Jesus talking of fullness of life – the kind of joy and deep inner contentment that comes from living a life that seeks to be generous, faithful, compassionate, just and self-giving. Centuries ago St Augustine wisely said that ‘our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God’. How can we but be restless in a world that is so full of suffering and need, conflict and injustice? Somehow it is in caring and striving to change things for the better that happiness and contentment are to be found. And some of the happiest people I know are those who have come through sorrow to know grace and joy and to give thanks for all the good things of life. I find this wisdom much more healthy and helpful than all that the latest lifestyle gurus have to say.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
HYMN In this familiar place Words: Colin Gibson© Music Colin Gibson © Hope Publishing 4 verses
In this familiar place
know the mystery of your grace.
Refrain:
For the love that I receive,
for the truth that I believe,
I praise and thank you;
for this here and now.
In halting song and word
the music of your voice is heard
Refrain
Among these friends of mine
I taste the company divine.
Refrain
Within this narrow sphere
I learn that you are everywhere.
Refrain
REFLECTION Jesus the Home wrecker! Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai
HYMN Loving Spirit AA 94
Words: Shirley Erena Murray; Music David Dell ©NZ Hymnbook Trust 5 verses
Loving Spirit, loving Spirit,
you have chosen me to be —
you have drawn me to your wonder,
you have set your sign on me.
Like a mother you enfold me,
hold my life within your own,
feed me with your very body,
form me of your flesh and bone.
Like a father you protect me,
teach me the discerning eye,
hoist me up upon your shoulder,
let me see the world from high.
Friend and lover, in your closeness
I am known and held and blessed:
in your promise is my comfort,
in your presence I may rest.
Loving Spirit, loving Spirit,
you have chosen me to be —
you have drawn me to your wonder,
you have set your sign on me.
AFFIRMATION
God, our God, is the Creator,
who forms new things from nothing,
even our emptiness.
God, our God, is the Christ,
who would rather die than leave us without grace,
who sits with sinners and walks with the searching,
who brings hope and healing
from as little as a touch of his robe.
Christ’s arms stretch out to embrace us all
and to carry us beyond where we thought we could go
in costly risen life.
God, our God, is the Holy Spirit,
giver of the gifts we need,
discovered in surprising places,
always moving towards us
in healing, comfort and love.
OFFERTORY MUSIC
OFFERING HYMN ‘Give thanks for life’
Words © Shirley Murray (AA 45)
Music: SINE NOMINE, Ralph Vaughan Williams (CH4 736&WOV 384)
Give thanks for life,
the measure of our days,
mortal, we pass
through beauty that decays,
yet sing to God
our hope, our love, our praise,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
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 Somalia and we pray for peace efforts in Somalia. We hold all refugees in our hearts. We pray in particular for those detained for many years in Papua New Guinea & 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 Ingrid Leary (Taieri), Dr Anae Neru Leavasa (Takanini). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, New Plymouth.
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 God of Freedom God of Justice AA50
Words: Shirley Erena Murray © Hope Publishing, 3 verses
God of freedom, God of justice,
you whose love is strong as death,
you who saw the dark of prison,
you who knew the price of faith —
touch our world of sad oppression
with your Spirit’s healing breath.
Rid the earth of torture’s terror,
you whose hands were nailed to wood;
hear the cries of pain and protest,
you who shed the tears and blood —
move in us the power of pity
restless for the common good.
Make in us a captive conscience
quick to hear, to act, to plead;
make us truly sisters, brothers
of whatever race or creed —
teach us to be fully human,
open to each other’s needs.
BLESSING:
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.
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE
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THANK YOU
THANK YOU Mark Stamper
our musician today