WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

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.

Please join in the congregational responses printed in bold italics.

Please stand if you are able, for the hymns and the offering prayer.

We usually sing the hymns without announcement.

To use the loop system in the church, turn your hearing aids on to the appropriate setting.

Printed copies of the reflection are available at the back of the church for people with extreme hearing loss.  For others they can be picked up at the end of the Gathering.

 

Please note your nearest fire exit.

The church and hall have been earthquake strengthened.  In an earthquake: drop, cover and hold.

GATHERING

We arrive, each of us, jostled and distracted,
trailing clouds of hurry and worry

to seek once more that place of calm
where we are not isolated from each other.

We come to re-connect once more with our community;
to remind ourselves that we belong,

and to remember what it is we belong to.

We come to re-affirm those values which we wish

to weave into our lives and our relationships;
to choose again our better selves, and the
ways we know of peace and gentleness and joy.

 

We are here
To centre ourselves, to open ourselves, to remember ourselves,

And to celebrate the life we share together.  

(Mike Young/tcb Adapted)

 

PROCESSIONAL HYMN ‘Celebrate the life we’re given’
Words © 2015 Susan Jones, used by permission
Tune WOV 577 Austria
1. Celebrate the life we're given
grace on grace, where love abounds.
Celebrate the world around us,
blue and green, where birdsong sounds.
Celebrate sun’s rise and setting
across the harbour, over hills.
Everything reflects its making
beauty, love, joy; each heart fills.

2. We choose to live lives of meaning
even when the sky turns grey.
We choose to continue journeying
cis and trans, bi, straight and gay.
We choose wrestling doubt or danger,
trials may shadow, haunt our way.
But we know that we're companioned,
love walks with us, every day.
WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
Kia ora.
PRAYER
A spark
is all we need
on this day,
to light our lives with warmth
which signals to those around us
that we care.

A word.
just one, little word
on this day, Poet of Pentecost,
so that we can be the voice
of all those forgotten by the world,
so that we can be the warmth
to melt all the hearts frozen by greed,
so that we might speak in that still, small voice,
and be the ones that live out,
your good news to everyone we meet.

A breeze.
a soft, gentle breeze
that stirs the curtains
on this day, Shattering Spirit.
a breeze that will stay quiet,
and peaceful, and still
until the day comes (and it will)
for us to become that storm
of hopes to clear the despair
from all our neighbourhoods and lands.

Feel the spark
share the warmth

(Thom Schuman, adapted)
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 ROOM CANDLE
TIME WITH CHILDREN Frank Cook
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”. The response is “peace be with you, or “and with you.” You can also simply say hello. Now that COVID-19 has arrived in the country, we are all asked to take precautions again transmission. We invite you all therefore to try different methods of acknowledging and greeting each other. For example, placing both hands together in the prayer position and bending the head towards the other person. This is a greeting practiced in many countries. A hand on the upper chest and bowing slightly to acknowledge the other person is also an option. Feel free to simply observe if you wish.
THE WORD IN TEXTS John Harper
Hebrew Bible Psalm 104:24-31
Christian Bible Acts 2:1-21
Gospel John 7:37-39
Contemporary reading ‘Praying’
By Mary Oliver © 2007 from “Thirst”, Beacon Press, Boston
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
REFLECTION ‘Together in one space’ Niki Francis

HYMN ‘He Waiata mō Aotearoa (Song for Aotearoa)’
Words: © Bronwyn Angela White - Tune: Hanover WOV 67

Give thanks for Creation: orokohanga
that cosmic explosion—our whakapapa;
for logos and mythos, for spirit and word
give thanks for the ethos through which they are heard.

Remember ngā tūpuna—those gone before
their stars shining on us in Aotearoa
for we are the ashes of stars as they die
niho taniwha on the cloak of the sky.

Give thanks for the speakers: ngā kaikōrero
we listen and hear—aroā whakarongo.
With courage, with passion we greet the new day
ngā pā harakeke of cosmos and clay.
OFFERING PRAYER (said together)
Blow the dust off our fears, Generous Spirit, so we might be more giving people. Blow the dust off our material gifts we think are so paltry, so we might realize how they can bring hope and life to others. Blow the dust off our mistaken views of others, so we might see them as our sisters and brothers, ready to grace us, even as we may bless them with these offerings. In Jesus’ name, we pray. 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 Prepared by Bronwyn White, read by Catriona Cairns
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Argentina and the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America. 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 Tracey Martin and Kieran McAnulty list MPs. Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Kaponga Co-operating Church, Eltham and from the worldwide church for the the Bengal-Orissa-Bihar Baptist Convention.
PRAYER FOR ST ANDREW’S

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
HYMN ‘The church needs a foundation’
Words © Susan Jones, used by permission. Tune: WOV 385 Aurelia

The church needs a foundation
though not of brick or stone
for buildings are but shelter
from rain or hailstorm.
They symbolise commitment
they resonate with praise
but people form the true church
in these postmodern days.

Through Christendom’s great worship
the rafters have been wrung;
We’ve gazed at stained glass windows,
made sure the brass has shone.
We’ve consecrated, maintained,
we’ve renovated but
religion’s modern rituals
are those postmoderns cut.

God’s commonwealth of spirit
is not built out of wood
but by our follow’ng Jesus
with praxis that is good.
Postmodern ‘church’ emerges
in fresh expressions, new,
with talk and acts of justice,
compassion which is true.

In our time we now follow
Jesus upon the Way,
on terms for us authentic,
and honest for this day.
We see our ‘church’ re-forming,
the Spirit helps it grow;
We see anew a future
where trust and faith may flow
BLESSING
We will go to share visions of hope,
to listen to the dreams of the oppressed,
even if only through social media,
a text, or a phone conversation.
Our loneliness and fears will be set aside
by the Spirit of inclusion creating community.
We will speak words of peace to all we meet
even while maintaining a safe distance,
we will open ourselves to the gifts of others
across the space between us.
(Thom Schuman, adapted)
SUNG AMEN