January 3, 2021

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

Today’s service is led by Bronwyn White

 

MUSIC FOR GATHERING                                                      ‘Prayer for the New Year’

Words: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam

Tune ‘Ring Out, Wild Bells’/’Carol of the Bells’: Crawford Gates & Mykola Leontovych

performed by Kat Tingey

GATHERING                                                        A New Year for Beloved Community

—Debra Haffner

Happy new year!

Happy new year for our beloved community.

We gather together at the start of this new year

as people of many ages

as people of many sexual orientations and gender identities

as people of many races and ethnicities

as people of many theologies and religious backgrounds

woven together in our love for this community.

With our hopes and dreams and prayers for the year before us

With our hearts and minds and spirits ready

to be touched by the year before us

With our hands and time and talents ready

to be offered in the year before us.

We gather together at the start of this new year

with gratitude and love

for those who have come before us,

for those who stand here with us.

May it be a good year. May it be a sweet year.

Come, let us worship together.

 

PROCESSIONAL HYMN ‘Where is the room?’
Carol our Christmas 48
Music: © 1993 David Dell. Words: ©1992 Shirley Murray
Where is the room,
where is the house of Christmas?
Where shall we welcome Jesus,
where are the signs of home?
Where are the signs of home?

Let Christ have space,
place at the heart of living,
centre of birth’s new breathing,
cradle for hope and peace,
cradle for hope and peace.

Let there be room,
room for the friend and stranger,
room without hurt or anger,
room for whoever come,
room for whoever come.

Let love be here,
love from the Christmas stable,
love at our open table,
love to be shared all year,
love to be shared all year.

WELCOME
Ngā mihi o te tau hou! Happy New Year!
Kia ora tatou. Kia ora.

GREETING EACH OTHER—please remain seated
We greet the people sitting beside us, then listen in silence—or join in singing quietly:

MUSIC ‘Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth’
Lyrics: Julian of Norwich; adapted by Jean Wiebe Janzen
performed by The Concordia Choir

PEACE OF CHRIST
Peace be with you
And also with you.
Peacefulness to the people
and peace to the land.
PRAYER Meditation for a New Year
Amanda Poppei
A NEW PRAYER Bronwyn White
Creating, Evolving, Nurturing Spirit
We honour the mana of naming, describing and bringing-into-being
through the power of Breath and Word.

The ground on which we stand is holy, Whenua Tapu,
a place of mana tangata, where we show leadership
in care for the rights of all people;
a commonwealth of justice and liberation.

We are thankful for our resources:
we will be generous in sharing with others,
gracious in learning from others.
May we not offend when we mean to welcome,
not interject when we need to listen.

We let go of past hurts and memories which scar us—
things we have done, things done to us,
harmful attitudes we have absorbed.

We will be mindful, not falling back into negative patterns,
as we learn new ways of being,
a new appreciation of our full humanity.
We focus on things that are life-giving and true,
rejecting defensiveness and cynicism.

We live in the abundance of the universe:
the sustenance of our mother the earth,
the nurture of our father the sky,
the oxygen-breath of forest, the manaakitanga of land.

For this is our promise today, our aspiration for tomorrow
and our dream for the future.
Kia kaha te mahi! Amen

LIGHTING THE RAINBOW CANDLE
HYMN ‘I am the light of the world’ (WOV 669)
Words: Howard Thurman and Jim Strathdee Music © 1969 Jim Strathdee
Chorus
I am the Light of the World
You people come and follow me.
If you follow and love, you'll learn the mystery
of what you were meant to do and be.

1. When the song of the angels is stilled.
When the star in the sky is gone.
When the kings and the shepherds have found their way home.
The work of Christmas is begun!
Chorus
2. To find the lost and lonely one,
To heal that broken soul with love,
To feed the hungry children with warmth and good food,
To feel the earth below the sky above!
Chorus
3. To bring hope to every task you do,
To dance at a baby's new birth,
To make music in an old man's heart,
And sing to the colours of the earth!
Chorus

If you have a notice, please come forward during the last verse and chorus.
Be ready to introduce yourself (for newcomers & visitors) and speak briefly from the lectern.

LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY OF ST ANDREW’S

OFFERING
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.

OFFERING PRAYER Prayer at New Year
Tim Atkins
As we share our gifts of money & food & time:
May we all be grounded in living our values in the coming year.
May we all spread our wings to new heights in the coming year.
May the fire of our commitment to our ethical values
burn brighter than before.
And may we all be authentically ourselves in the coming year.
Amen
THE WORD IN TEXTS Tony Kirby
Gospel selected verses from John 1:1-14 (NRSV)
Historical reading from Revelations of Divine Love
Julian of Norwich (C.1374)
Contemporary reading Suddenly there is light all around
Bronwyn Angela White, You who delight me
RESPONSE Michelle L Torigian
The light shines in dimness
And dimness did not overtake the light
The light shines in each space.
No gloom, no despair will overtake it.
The light shines in our souls.
The shadows of life did not shade Divine light.
We celebrate the light of Christ
A steadfast presence from the beginning
which will shine through the end of time.
REFLECTION: “Mothering God” Bronwyn White
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Sandra Kirby
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Costa Rica and Panama and the environmental and conservation organisations in Costa Rica and Panama and throughout the world. We remember the detainees of Manus and Nauru Islands, yearning that their cases be resolved. In Aotearoa New Zealand, we remember those in Parliament, and today we name Aupito William Sio and Stuart Smith and the people of their electorates of Māngere and Kaikōura. Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Miramar Uniting Church.
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 ‘Light of lights beholden’ (AA89)
Indigo II—Words & music by Jenny McLeod ©1983
Reprinted with permission under One License A-623996. All rights reserved

Light of lights beholden
we from days of olden
sang this song
for to understand
that peace upon this planet
was pledged to come.
Each to other, sister, brother,
born for life and song,
Look towards the light and carry on:
let the simple heart and hope among us
keep our family strong,
let the simple heart and hope among us
keep our family strong.

Darkness all around us,
light has always found us,
light will come
where the dark is deepest,
greater light will keep us
safe from harm.
Troubled times will always find
a voice of trouble doom,
Look towards the light and carry on:
let the simple heart and hope among us
keep our family strong,
let the simple heart and hope among us
keep our family strong.

BLESSING FOR THE NEW YEAR Cara Heafey
Let us look for Christ wherever we go
Let us never stop seeking
Believing that there is a light that shines in the darkness
Which the darkness shall not overcome.

BENEDICTION
Go into this new year with courage.
Follow a star that’s twinkling with curiosity
blazing with possibility
leading to places you’ve dreamed of finding.
Know as you midwife and mother and bring forth
the Righteous Kindom
the Beloved Community
that Love—Mother, Christa, Sophia—
surrounds you every moment of every day.
So go in peace, to love and to serve
this day and always—
SUNG THREEFOLD AMEN