April 18, 2021

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

GATHERING                                                                                    Dorothy McRae McMahon

 

Holy God, you are the gathering one who calls us into community with each other

To love and work, to praise and heal

 

You are the gathering one who calls us into community with all people

To bring justice and hope, freedom and truth

 

You are the gathering one who calls us into communion with the whole creation

To live in harmony, to cherish and renew

 

Let us worship the God who makes us one

Amen.                                                                           

 

PROCESSIONAL HYMN CH4 623 ‘Here In This Place’
Words and Music: © 1982 Marty Haugen GIA Publications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission under One License A-623996. All rights reserved (3 verses)

1. Here in this place new light is streaming,
now is the darkness vanished away;
see in this space our fears and our dreamings
brought here to you in the light of this day.
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken,
gather us in, the blind and the lame;
call to us now, and we shall awaken,
we shall arise at the sound of our name.

2. We are the young, our lives are a mystery,
we are the old who yearn for your face;
we have been sung throughout all of history,
called to be light to the whole human race.
Gather us in, the rich and the haughty,
gather us in, the proud and the strong;
give us a heart, so meek and so lowly,
give us the courage to enter the song.

3. Not in the dark of buildings confining,
not in some heaven light years away –
here in this place the new light is shining,
now is the kingdom, now is the day.
Gather us in and hold us forever,
gather us in and make us your own;
gather us in, all peoples together,
fire of love in our flesh and our bone.
WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
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
TIME WITH THE CHILDREN Graham Howell
BLESSING THE CHILDREN (All stand)
Children you may return to sit with your family or find some activities to do from the cupboard at the back of the church.
We bless you. Amen.
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.
HYMN WOV 637 ‘Jesus stand among us’
Words and music © 1977 Graham Kendrick Thankyou Music
(Admin. by SHOUT! Music Publishing Australia) 2 verses

1. Jesus stand among us at the meeting of our lives;
Be the full agreement in the meeting of our eyes.
O Jesus we love you and so we gather here;
Join our hearts in unity and take way our fear.

2. As to you we gather, from so many different lands,
Christ the life between us in the joining of our hands.
O Jesus we love you and so we gather here;
Join our hearts in unity and take way all fear.
THE WORD IN TEXTS Valerie Rhodes
Hebrew Bible Numbers 27: 1-11 The Daughters of Zelophehad
Moses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they are saying; you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance among their father's brothers and pass the inheritance of their father on to them.”
Gospel Luke 24 36b-48 Jesus Appears to His Disciples
Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Contemporary reading “I think I saw Jesus yesterday”

I was down at the mall in Otara – you know, in South Auckland…
And I saw this Pacific Islander leaning against a rail at MacDonald’s – he had plenty of tats, long tied up hair, and was wearing a bright red T-shirt. He had a kindly, calm look about him – and he was surrounded by young people…
Then I noticed he was talking with a young woman in particular and I could hear everything they said. The girl had her head down, looking at the ground, with a miserable look on her face… I noticed that she had a black eye and bruises up her arm.
“You are not worthless” he said, “you are special and precious to me, and to lots of others…”
And he wiped the tears from her face and gave her a hug and they talked some more about what had happened to her – she got to tell him her story, and he really was listening to her.
“But what about him,” she asked – meaning the man who had beaten her, I supposed.
But the big man just said, “It’s Ok – you’re safe here. And we’ll talk to him too – we’ll try and help him; we’ll listen to his story and try to understand how he came to be so violent…”
Then he took her into MacDonald’s where there were some other young people and they all shared their fries and drinks with her…
And somehow, I knew that young woman was in safe hands and that hope was alive for her… that she had the possibility of a new beginning, she could stand tall.
I thought I saw Jesus yesterday - but perhaps it was just a good Pasifika youth worker bringing hope to a battered young woman?
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
REFLECTION ‘Have you seen the risen Christ?’ Pamela Tankersley

HYMN CH4 360 ‘Jesus Christ is waiting’
Words: John Bell and Graham Maude
Music: Noel Nouvelet, French Carol harmonised by John Bell
© WGRG, c/o Iona Community, Glasgow, Scotland (Admin. by Willow Publishing Pty. Ltd.) 5 verses

1. Jesus Christ is waiting,
waiting in the streets;
no one is his neighbour,
all alone he eats.
Listen, Lord Jesus,
I am lonely too.
Make me, friend or stranger,
fit to wait on you.

2. Jesus Christ is raging
raging in the streets,
where injustice spirals
and real hope retreats.
Listen, Lord Jesus,
I am angry too.
In the Kingdom's causes
let me rage with you.

3. Jesus Christ is healing,
healing in the streets;
curing those who suffer,
touching those he greets.
Listen, Lord Jesus,
I have pity too.
Let my care be active,
healing just like you.

4. Jesus Christ is dancing,
dancing in the streets,
where each sign of hatred
he, with love, defeats.
Listen, Lord Jesus,
I should triumph too.
On suspicion's graveyard
let me dance with you.

5. Jesus Christ is calling,
calling in the streets,
"Who will join my journey?
I will guide their feet."
Listen, Lord Jesus,
let my fears be few.
Walk one step before me;
I will follow you.

OFFERTORY MUSIC
OFFERING HYMN AA 127 ‘Take my gifts’
Words © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray, (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company)
Music: ©1992 Colin Gibson Hope Publishing Company
Take my gifts and let me love you,
God who first of all loved me,
gave me light and food and shelter,
gave me love and set me free.
Now because your love has touched me,
I have love to give away;
now the bread of love is rising,
loaves of love to multiply.

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 Patricia Booth
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. 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 Liz Craig and Marama Davidson, list MPs. Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of 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

HYMN CH4 622 ‘We sing a love that sets all people free’
Words: June Boyce-Tillman© 1993 Stainer & Bell Ltd
Tune: Woodland WOV109 5 verses

1. We sing a love that sets all people free,
that blows like wind, that burns like scorching flame,
enfolds the earth, springs up like water clear:
come, living love, live in our hearts today.

2. We sing a love that seeks another's good,
that longs to serve and not to count the cost,
a love that, yielding, finds itself made new:
come, caring love, live in our hearts today.

3. We sing a love, unflinching, unafraid
to be itself, despite another's wrath,
a love that stands alone and undismayed:
come, strengthening love, live in our hearts today.

4. We sing a love that, wandering, will not rest
until it finds its way, its home, its source,
through joy and sadness pressing on refreshed:
come, pilgrim love, live in our hearts today.

5. We sing a burning, fiery Holy Ghost
that seeks out shades of ancient bitterness
transfiguring these as Christ in every heart:
come, joyful love, live in our hearts today.

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BLESSING
Kia tau ki a tatou katoa te atawhai o tatou Ariki o Ihu Karaiti,
me te aroha o te Atua,
me te whiwhinga tahitanga ki te wairua tapu.
Ake, ake, ake Amine

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all, now and forever…
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE Prelude in C major, BWV 553
by J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750)