April 25, 2021

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

“Peace” by Allan Boesak

 

In the Bible, peace and justice are never separated.

Peace is never simply the absence of war,

it is the active presence of justice.

It has to do with human fulfilment,

with liberation, with wholeness,

with a meaningful life and well-being,

not only for the individual,

but for the community as a whole.

The prophets speak of peace as the offspring of justice.

BEFORE                                                                            Fantasia in c minor BWV 537

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)

 

GATHERING

Let us remember our heroic past,
actions of courage and selflessness,
of compassion and generosity,
and work to make such actions
part of the people we are today.

Let us remember the ugly happening,
acts of greed and power-seeking,
of hate and bitterness,
of sordidness, degradation and dishonour;
learning from them,
so that such actions cease to be
part of our on-going story.

Let us remember those who give themselves
to the tasks of reconciliation and peace-making,
and add our vision and commitment to theirs.
Let us celebrate life in the presence we name God.

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PROCESSIONAL HYMN ‘Great God of all time’
Words: © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company)
Music: Laudate Dominum WOV 83

1. Great God of all time, this moment we claim
to sing of your love, to honour your name –
the Presence who breathed us, gave life to our void,
a bush ever burning, yet never destroyed.

2. Great God of our land, the Christ Spirit known –
our flaxroots of faith in staunch seed were sown,
through strong men and women, your agents of good,
the heartwood of forests sure-planted, has stood.

3. Great God of our Church, our home our marae,
the place where we learn to live and to die,
here gathered at table, our hungers are fed,
one family thankful and sharing the bread.

4. Great God of all time, our land and our Church,
your Presence our life, your vision our search:
by new generations, your love be enjoyed,
a love that’s forever, and never destroyed!

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WELCOME
Kia ora tatou
Kia ora
CALL TO WORSHIP
We are here because
we have collected the hurts and bruises
of living through another week.
We gather as the wounded people.

We are here because
we have also seen joy and hope,
creativity and new life in the week that is past.
We gather as the wondering people.

We are here because
we believe that love is the power
that brings life together and makes it whole.
We gather as the worshipping people.

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PRAYER
O God, you are the gathering one
who calls us into community with each other
to love and work, support 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 community with the whole creation;
to live in harmony, to cherish and renew.
We worship you, the God who makes us one.
Praise be to God,
who calls the people to new hope in every generation,
who lifts our eyes to see a new heaven and a new earth
which one day will break through the old tired efforts
and reach into justice beyond our imagining.

Praise be to God,
who leads us on past crucifixions of defeat and failure,
rejection and faithlessness,
drawing a picture of a new world
ready to blossom from the bud,
delicate and fragile, vulnerable as a baby in Bethlehem.

Praise be to God,
who brings to life the dead bodies of despair
which lie entombed in our souls and in our churches,
dancing ahead of us undefeated
in the Spirit of truth and healing and love.

Praise be to God!
Amen
JESUS' PRAYER

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.

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LIGHTING THE RAINBOW CANDLE
TIME WITH CHILDREN Jim Cunningham
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.

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THE WORD IN TEXTS Ann Barrie
Introduction

Poem The Parable of the old man and the young
By Wilfred Owen 1893-1918

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.

But the old man would not so,
but slew his son, -
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.
New Testament Letter Romans 8:31-39
More Than Conquerors
Gospel Matthew 5

Responsive Reading of Contemporary Version of the Beatitudes
by Peter Matheson

Jesus, is this what you say to us today?
How blest are those who abhor easy pieties;
the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
How blest are those who train in non-violence;
they shall have the earth for their possession.
How blest are those who fast for justice;
they shall be satisfied.
How blest are those who see enemies as human;
mercy shall be shown to them.
How blest are those who live what they profess;
they shall see God.
How blest are those who build bridges of reconciliation;
they shall be called friends of God.
How blest are those who show the outcast
that someone understands;
the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture and story,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks
HYMN ‘Wounded world that cries for healing’
Words © 1996 Shirley Erena Murray
Music: Blaenwern WOV 165ii
1. Wounded world that cries for healing –
here we hold each other’s pain,
wounded systems, bruised and bleeding
bear the loads, the scars of strain;
dollars ration out compassion,
hard decisions rule the day,
Jesus of the healing Spirit,
free us to another way.

2. Through our nation’s pent frustration,
through the corridors of stress
may there move a kindlier wisdom
all may feel, and all may bless;
tax and tithe are for a purpose
shared to shield the poor and weak:
past the systems of our sickness
let the voice of justice speak.

3. Honour those whose loving spirit
nurses hope, restores and heals,
towel and basin used in service
like the Christ who comes and kneels;
in the tending, in the mending
may we see the right and fair,
in our common quest for wholeness
heal each other by our care.

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REFLECTION More Than Conquerors Jim Cunningham
RECORDED MUSIC Arvo Part: Spiegel im spiegel
Music for piano and cello
During the music you are invited to come to the front of the church
and light a candle in Remembrance, for Peace, for the Future
HYMN HIOS 61 ‘Honour the Dead’
Words © 2005 Shirley Erena Murray. Tune: ANZAC © 2005 Colin Gibson

1. Honour the dead, our country’s fighting brave,
honour our children left in foreign grave,
where poppies blow and sorrow seeds her flowers,
honour the crosses marked forever ours.

2. Weep for the places ravaged with our blood,
weep for the young bones buried in the mud,
weep for the powers of violence and greed,
weep for the deals done in the name of need.

3. Honour the brave whose conscience was their call,
answered no bugle, went against the wall,
suffered in prisons of contempt and shame,
branded as cowards, in our country’s name.

4. Weep for the waste of all that might have been,
weep for the cost that war has made obscene,
weep for the homes that ache with human pain,
weep that we ever sanction war again.

5. Honour the dream for which our nation bled,
held now in trust to justify the dead,
honour their vision on this solemn day:
peace known in freedom, peace the only way.

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OFFERTORY MUSIC Elevation Toccata No. 3
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 - 1643)
OFFERING HYMN
Tune: Duke Street WOV 24
Willing hands, to lead the blind,
heal the wounded, feed the poor.
Love embracing all our kind,
charity with liberal store.

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.
AFFIRMATION

Isaiah said:
“It shall come to pass that the peoples shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
This is our vision:
That a world of harmony and peace
will replace our world of injustice and war.

Jesus said: “Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.”
This is our calling:
To know God’s ways of peace,
and so to make peace,
in our family and community,
our nation and world.

Paul said:
“In Christ God was reconciling the world ... not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
This is our faith:
That in Jesus, we meet the God
who makes peace with
our wayward and hurting world;
and that by this reconciling love,
we are moved to bridge the chasms of
fear and estrangement.

May it be so.

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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 Catriona Cairns
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Fiji and the Christian World Service partner the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy in Fiji which aims to increase community awareness and action on economic justice, social issues and conflict resolution. 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 Hon Poto Williams (Christchurch East), Hon Michael Wood (Mt Roskill). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of St Luke’s Co-operating Church, Patea.
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 HIOS 19 ‘Deep in the human heart’
Words: © 2009 William Livingstone Wallace;
Music: Diademata WOV 163
1. Deep in the human heart the fire of justice burns;
a vision of a world renewed through radical concern.
As Christians we are called to set the captives free,
to overthrow the evil powers and end hypocrisy.

2. This is our task today to build a world of peace;
a world of justice, freedom, truth, where kindness will increase;
a world from hunger freed, a world where people share,
where every person is of worth and no one lives in fear.

3. Taking the step of faith, we leave the past behind
and move into the future’s world with open heart and mind.
By grace we work with Christ, as one community,
and bring new hope and fuller life to all humanity.

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BLESSING
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE Fugue in C BWV 547
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)