April 11, 2021

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

GATHERING                                                                          © Ruth Burgess (Iona Community)

Beyond Easter

we go singing.

Having been grabbed

by resurrection

we are full of tears and laughter.

The way ahead is unknown.

It will always be like that.

But having danced in the light

we will look for glory everywhere.

 

PROCESSIONAL HYMN AA 36 ‘Every Day I will offer you’
Words © 1992 Shirley Murray
Music by Colin Gibson, © 1993 Hope Publishing Company (Vs x 3)
1. Every day I will offer you,
loving God, my heart and mind,
every way I discover you
in the work your hand has signed;
help me see I'm your image,and
you have dreamed what I might be
every day in your Spirit,
I'll find the love and energy!

2. Every day I will look to Christ,
and give thanks for wine and bread
through the pain and the emptiness
where Your world cries to be fed;
help me see I can work for change
and wherever I might be
every day in Your Spirit
I'll find the love and energy!

3. Every day I will take your word,
answer Your compassion's claim,
celebrate every sign of hope,
every deed done in your name;
help me see You are always there,
and your light can shine through me,
every day in your Spirit,
I'll find the love and energy!
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 CHILDREN Rosemary Lawrence
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. Now that Covid is here
we ask that you pass the peace without shaking hands.
HYMN HIOS 153 ‘Where the light of Easter Day’
Words © 2008 Shirley Erena Murray (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company)
Music © 2008 Jillian Margaret Bray (Admin. by Sylvia Fountain) 5 verses

1. Where the light of Easter Day
shines through our life, then faith can say,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ is changing all the world.
Here is God's good kingdom!

2. Where the yeast of love will rise,
bubbling with God's new enterprise,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving
Christ is working through the world.
Here is God's good kingdom!

3. Where a child can grow in trust,
where there is joy that powers are just,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ will color all the world.
Here is God's good kingdom!

4. Where the harvests ripen in peace,
where all the sounds of gunfire cease,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ is healing in the world.
Here is God's good kingdom!

5. Where the Spirit's flame burns bright,
where there is health and truth and light,
Christ is living
Christ is moving,
Christ will resurrect the world.
Here is God's good kingdom!
THE WORD IN TEXTS Wendy Matthews
Hebrew Bible Psalm 133
Gospel John 20:19-31
Contemporary reading “As I Walked Out One Evening”
From Another Time by W. H. Auden
published by Random House

As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
'Love has no ending.

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

'I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

'The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.'

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
'O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.

'In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.

'In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.
'Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow.

'O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed.

'The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

'Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.

'O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.
'O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'

It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.

RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
REFLECTION ‘Taking hold of life’ Adrian Skelton
SHORT AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
We say together:
Faith is experienced rather than learned.
Being part of St. Andrew’s enables us:
to celebrate what is good in life
to explore Jesus' way of love
to share in witness to the Spirit's working in the world
HYMN FFS 76 ‘Where the love of God is guiding’
Words © 1999 Shirley Murray (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company)
Music © 1999 Jillian Bray (Admin. by Sylvia Fountain)
1. Where the love of God is guiding
there is now another way:
new awareness of compassion
learned from one another,
love, the face of God in Jesus,
new creation's thrust,
love, transforming tears and terror
into health and trust.

2. Where the truth of God is driving
there is now another way,
shining through our time's confusion,
sharp with revelation:
words that stifle sense or spirit
changed and redefined,
crosses raised to teach division
lowered, left behind.

3. Where the life on earth is cherished,
there is now another way,
where a child may grow in safety,
where there's peace and shelter,
when we hold the fragile planet
in our conscious care,
when we see again as sacred
all we are and share.

4. God will lead us on this mission,
God, the flight-path and the power,
lifting all who grasp the vision
into understanding:
so the heart and hope within us
set each other free,
where the love of God is guiding,
this shall come to be.
OFFERTORY MUSIC
OFFERING HYMN Tune: AA 127
Take whatever I can offer –
gifts that I have yet to find,
skills that I am slow to sharpen,
talents of the heart and mind,
things made beautiful for others
in the place where I must be:
take my gifts and let me love you,
God who first of all loved me.

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 Ken Irwin
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Estonia and Latvia. 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 Meka Whaitiri (Ikaroa-Rāwhiti) and Arena Williams (Manurewa). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of St Alban's Presbyterian 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 ‘Give thanks for life’
Words © Shirley Murray (AA 45)
Music: SINE NOMINE, Ralph Vaughan Williams (CH4 736&WOV 384)
1. Give thanks for life,
the measure of our days,
mortal, we pass
through beauty that decays,
yet sing to God
our hope, our love, our praise,
Alleluia!

2. Give thanks for those
who made their life a light
caught from the Christ-flame,
bursting through the night,
who touched the truth,
who burned for what is right,
Alleluia!

3. And for our own,
our living and our dead,
thanks for the love
by which our life is fed,
a love not changed
by time or death or dread,
Alleluia!

4. Give thanks for hope,
that like the wheat, the grain
that lies in darkness
does its life retain
in resurrection
to grow green again,
Alleluia!
BLESSING
SUNG AMEN