Order of Service 3 May Easter 4

May 3, 2020

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

The Lorax, Dr. Seuss

 

The 180^th anniversary of the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi

at Te Whanganui-ā-Tara Wellington

29 April 1840

 

Welcome to St Andrew’s on The TerracE

Wherever you are on your faith journey,

wherever you have come from and wherever you are going to,

whatever you believe, whatever you do not believe, you are welcome here.

 

This Service is conducted by Rev. Dr. Niki Francis

 

PRELUDE                                                                                        Largo from “Xerxes”

by G.F. Handel (1685 – 1759)

 

MIHI WHAKATAU – WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
Kia ora.

KARANGA – GATHERING CALL
Inspired by stories of hope
and injustice,
we gather this day to embrace
the task that is ours.
May our hearts be strong for the work we find
may our minds be open to the challenges it provides us
may our bodies
be ready when the call comes
so that no one is ever left behind.
On this promises we stand
as those who see this world clearly
and yet would see it no other way.
Amen
(Adapted from “So Easy” by Gretta Vosper,
in “We All Breathe: Poetry for Reflection, Book 3”, Gretta Vosper: Toronto, 2012.)

HĪMENE – HYMN ‘Where Mountains Rise to Open Skies’(verses 2 and 3)
Words: © 1971, 2000 Shirley Erena Murray. Music by Vernon Griffiths
Music: © 1971 Faber Music Ltd – Alleluia Aotearoa 155

Your people's heart, your people's part
be in our caring for this land,
for faith to flower, for aroha*
to let each other's mana** stand. 

From broken word, from conflict stirred,
from lack of vision, set us free
to see the line of your design,
to feel creation's energy.

* aroha = te reo Māori word for "all-embracing love"
** mana = te reo Māori for prestige, authority, control, power, influence,

KARAKIA – PRAYER
It would be so easy if we were given something
That might tell us clearly
What it is we are here to do, to be, to offer
We have but stories of what has been
Tales of what was hoped for and did not turn out,
Ideas of what might make things better
May the story we hear this week
Inspire us in ways that bring us a hope-filled clarity
About who we are, what we can do,
What our lives might be about.
As we walk this winding path,
may we see the love and passion of those who journey with us
and support and nurture each other in the work we set out to do.
Amen
(Adapted from “So Easy” by Gretta Vosper,
in “We All Breathe: Poetry for Reflection, Book 3”, Gretta Vosper: Toronto, 2012.)

TE KĀNARA O TE WHARE ĀNIWANIWA – LIGHTING THE RAINBOW CANDLE
Kezia and Jasper

 
E TO MATOU MATUA I TE RANGI—Lord’s Prayer Fionnaigh McKenzie
E to matou Matu
ai te rangi
kia tapu tou ingoa
kia tae mai tou rangatiratanga
kia meatia tau e pai ai
ki runga kite whenua,
kia rite ano ki to te rangi.
Homai ki a matou aianei
he taro ma matou mo tenei ra.
Murua o matou hara
me matou hoki e muru nei
i o te hunga e hara ana ki a matou.
Aua hoki matou e kawea kia
Whakawaia
engari whakaorangia matou
i te kino
nou hoki
te rangatiratanga,
te kaha, me te kororia,
Ake ake ake.
Amine

TE RANGIMARIE – PASSING THE PEACE

(We invite you to take this moment to greet those who are with you today, or to hold in your mind others from St Andrew’s, or your own loved ones)

KŌRERO PŪMAHARA – WORDS OF WISDOM Ellen Murray
Fionnaigh McKenzie

Comparatively Speaking, There is no Struggle
© Jacq Carter
From “Puna Wai Korero: An Anthology of Maori Poetry in English”,
Auckland University Press, 2014
edited by Reina Whaitiri
When people like you tell me
things aren’t as bad here
as they are elsewhere
I wish you had been there
in the Waikato
or amongst my own people
the century before last
and every day after that
standing on land
that is no longer yours
fishing from waters
that no longer run pure
or at every hui
on every marae
that activates the words
mana Maori motuhake
which is every marae in the country.
You seem to think things
are better off here
because you don’t see us dying
or visibly fighting
as if it all happened
in yesteryears.
I tend to think
that one of the worse effects of
colonisation
is when people no longer fight
because they don’t see a need
and think that
comparatively speaking
everything’s alright.
So how many Maori
have you convinced today
that really us “Mahrees”
should consider ourselves lucky
that things could have been worse
as they are with the “Abos”?

Our Watch Now
Witi Ihimaera © 2012
From “Puna Wai Korero: An Anthology of Maori Poetry in English”,
Auckland University Press, 2014
edited by Reina Whaitiri
Used and printed here with Witi Ihimaera’s permission.

If New Zealand had been Aotearoa
just imagine ...
The Treaty would have been honoured in 1840
Māori would have retained their tino rangatiratanga
and Pākehā would have kāwanatanga
Being kaitiaki,
we would have heard huia still singing today
our seas would flourish with the thunder of sounding whales
Matariki would usher in Aotearoa New Year
This is not to say we wouldn’t have had wars between us
and through the years, that there wouldn’t have been pain and lots
of anger and tears
But ... just imagine ...
... what might have been ... what we could have seen ... and
what it might mean ...
The Representatives we send to the United Nations
would be ... from Aotearoa ...
The Prime Minister would have a tā moko ...
and might even be a wahine ariki ...
Being kaitiaki,
the huia would fill the air with
coruscating beauty and incandescent trilling
pods of tohorā would thrill our blood
with regular soundings along our shores
and tales all children would have learnt
would be about whale riders, mountain movers,
and mythical taniwha
Māori Earth ... not
Middle Earth
It’s our watch now
the time to make dreams come true
today is a good day to begin ...
Kia hora te marino
kia whakapapa pounamu to moana
kia tere te kārohirohi mua i tōu huarahi
Āianei, ā ake tonu atu
May the calm be widespread
no storms, but a glistening greenstone sea instead
and may the shimmer of rainbow lit spray
ever dance over our pathway.

WHAKAUTU – RESPONSE
For the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.

KŌRERO – REFLECTION Niki Francis
The 180th anniversary of the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi
at Te Whanganui-ā-Tara Wellington, 29 April 1840
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It’s not.
The Lorax, Dr. Seuss

HĪMENE – HYMN AA 113 ‘Our life has its seasons’
Words: © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray
Music by Colin Gibson © 1992 Hope Publishing Co.

Our life has its seasons (verse 2 and a refrain)
Our life has its seasons, and God has the reasons
why spring follows winter, and new leaves grow,
for there's a connection with our resurrection
that flowers will bud after frost and snow.

Refrain: So there's never a time to stop believing,
there's never a time for hope to die,
there's never a time to stop loving,
these three things go on.

There's a time to be planting, a time to be plucking,
a time to be laughing, a time to weep,
a time to be building, a time to be breaking,
a time to be waking, a time to sleep.
Refrain

There's a time to be hurting, a time to be healing,
a time to be saving, a time to spend,
a time to be grieving, a time to be dancing,
a time for beginning, a time to end.
Refrain

KAWANGA – OFFERING PRAYER
Words.
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.

INOI O NGA TANGATA – PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Prepared by Pat Booth
Read by Sue Hirst

This is the fifth Sunday we have not been able to meet together in our St Andrew’s building. But we give thanks for the creative ways by which worship leaders have linked us together.

We give thanks that decisions made by our government and public service have meant that New Zealand has not been impacted by Covid19 as much as most other countries.

We give thanks for all the essential workers who have made it possible for us to stay at Level 4 in order to combat Covid19, even at some cost to themselves.

But we remember at this time of prayer the burdens many have been carrying:
for those who have lost jobs, and the ability to care for their families;
those worrying about family and friends in other parts of the world who may be in far more danger than we have been;
for families who have had bereavements which have had nothing to do with Covid19.
Today as a community we particularly remember 93 year old Prue Wilson who died last week after a stroke.
We remember families who have not been able to honour their dead adequately because of constraints on gatherings.

Today we also commemorate the 180th anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi on a ship in the harbour of Whanganui a Tara.

So as we acknowledge the linking of two peoples, and as we acknowledge the links we have with each other in this community, we pray from the Anglican Prayer Book:

Ka aru matou i a te Karaiti, We will follow Christ,
Tui, tui, tuituia matou. link, link, let us be linked together.
Tuia ki te mamae Linked in pain,
Tuia ki te tumanako linked in hope,
Tui, tui, tuia ki te ora. Link, link, linked in abundant life.
(Translation by Joan Metge)

CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Algeria and the Protestant Church of Algeria. We remember the detainees of Manus and Nauru Islands, yearning that their cases be resolved. In New Zealand, we remember those in Parliament, and today we name Jo Luxton and Trevor Mallard list MPs. Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of St Francis Cooperating Parish, Clive Haumoana and from the worldwide church for the African Protestant Church.

KARAKIA O ST ANARU – PRAYER FOR ST ANDREWS

Renew your people, God,
and renew our life in this place.
Give us a new spirit of unity
with those of all faiths,
and a new spirit of love
towards all people.

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

HĪMENE – HYMN AA 115 ‘Purea nei e te hau’
Music: © Words: © 2018 Hirini Melbourne

Purea nei e te hau
Horoia e te ua
Whitiwhitia e te rā
Mahea ake ngā pōraruraru
Makere ana ngā here.
Scattered by the wind
washed by the rain
and transformed by the sun,
all doubts are swept away
and all restraints are cast down.

E rere wairua, e rere
Ki ngā ao o te rangi
Whitiwhitia e te rā
Mahea ake ngā pōraruraru
Makere ana ngā here,
Makere ana ngā here. Fly O free spirit, fly
to the clouds in the heavens,
transformed by the sun,
with all doubts swept away
and all restraints cast down.
Yes, all restraints are cast down

POROPOROAKIA MĀNAWATANGA-FAREWELL AND BLESSING
It’s our watch now
the time to make dreams come true
today is a good day to begin ...
May the calm be widespread
no storms, but a glistening greenstone sea instead
and may the shimmer of rainbow lit spray
ever dance over our pathway.
(from Witi Ihimaera, “It’s Our Watch Now”)
Amen

TIME FOR A CUPPA

The end of our Sunday service is normally a time for catching up, meeting people and sharing what is happening in our lives. Perhaps you would like to phone a St Andrew’s person today.

POSTLUDE Te Deum by M. Charpentier
by M. Charpentier (1643 – 1704)