April 15, 2018
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
Write your welcome here
GATHERING
What is the rhythm of our lives?
Is there presence and balance?
Accountability as well as creativity?
Acceptance and hospitality?
Are our lives marked by a rhythm of prayer
Or by panicky heartbeats?
What rhythm do we choose?
What is the background beat to the music of our lives?
PROCESSIONAL HYMN AA 41 ‘For the music of creation’
Words: © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray.
Music: Douglas Mews (Admin. by The NZ Hymnbook Trust)
For the music of creation,
for the song your Spirit sings,
for your sound’s divine expression,
burst of joy in living things:
God, our God, the world’s composer,
hear us, echoes of your voice.
Music is your art, your glory;
let the human heart rejoice!
Psalms and symphonies exalt you,
drum and trumpet, string and reed.
Simple melodies acclaim you,
tunes that rise from deepest need,
hymns of longing and belonging,
carols from a cheerful throat,
lilt of lullaby and love song
catching heaven in a note.
All the voices of the ages
in transcendent chorus meet,
worship lifting up the senses,
hands that praise and dancing feet;
over discord and division
music speaks your joy and peace,
harmony of earth and heaven,
song of God that cannot cease!
WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
Kia ora.
PRAYER
JESUS PRAYER Jim Cotter paraphrase on card
LIGHTING THE RAINBOW ROOM CANDLE
TIME WITH CHILDREN Cameron Smart
BLESSING THE CHILDREN (All stand)
We send you to the Rainbow Room programme to hear stories, ask questions
and have fun together. We bless you. Amen.
PASSING THE PEACE
Feel free to pass the peace with those nearby or move to greet others further away. Passing the peace consists of shaking hands and saying “Peace be with you.” The response is “Peace be with you” or just “And with you.” Or, simply saying “Hello” is a good idea. Also feel free to simply observe if you wish!
THE WORD IN TEXTS Margaret Pannett
Hebrew Bible selected verses from Psalm 4
Contemporary reading ‘Introductory thoughts on a moot rhythm of life’
by Gareth Powell http://www.klisia.net/blog/mootrhythm.pdf
At the heart of a rhythm of life is the desire to know and to follow Christ wherever you are. For us, as moot, that means in the busy city of London, with all the many and various challenges that presents. In this busy city it is easy to see our Christian spirituality as a part of our life, a Sunday affair.
However, as a community, living this rhythm helps us to see God in every moment of life, and to hear the voice of the Spirit beckoning us to come and follow in the footsteps of where God already is at work, beckoning us to join in. In that sense it is also a call to mission, in bringing the good news to this broken and fragmented world. Living a rhythm helps us as a community to allow people to shift from being consumers of church, or spiritual tourists, into being pilgrims, and partakers in the body of Christ. It also allows people to easily journey with us, so they can belong without necessarily believing – in that way we become a fluid community with the rhythm as our centre.
As a community we have been inspired by those great Saints that have gone before us: St Benedict and St Francis, whose visions for Christian community are the foundation of the monasticism movement, and the great wanderers Aiden and Cuthbert, reminders to us that a life spent pilgrimaging towards God is also a life spent pilgrimaging with those around, both inside the cloister and outside it, for we journey together not in isolation.
It would be easy for us to get bogged down by the enormous amount of detail that we could go into in writing a rhythm of life, but this is a danger that we want to avoid. A rhythm of life should be exactly that, a rhythm, not a full concerto with every instrument written up, but rather the background beat that keeps everything else in order, that calls things back on track when they deviate, that reminds us of the type of music we are wanting to play, or perhaps more accurately, what type of lifestyles we are wanting to lead.
Simplicity is the key, the rhythms of life that have worked, and continue to work are those that are easily understood and grasped, this does not mean they are simplistic. The simplicity means that it is far easier to work them into everyday life, as they are easy to memorise. Most rhythms can be reduced to just a few words, behind which lie the core ideas and hopes of the community.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture, for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks
REFLECTION ‘Rhythms of Life’ Susan Jones
AFFIRMATION (to be read silently while the music is playing)
We live the moot rhythm of life through presence, acceptance, creativity, balance, accountability and hospitality
presence We commit to journeying together with God and each other, by meeting together as a community, in prayer in worship, friendship, grief, and happiness. Being a hopeful sign of an open community in the city rather than just a group of individuals or anonymous people.
acceptance We desire to accept both ourselves and other people as they are, and to allow people to say what they believe without fear of judgment. We want to create a safe space where people feel at home and welcomed. We hope to learn from all those in and outside the community.
creativity We want to have an open approach to how we learn, live and encounter God in the plurality of our city and the world. We wish to be creative in our worship, in prayer, in our lives, in learning, and with the Christian tradition, in our theology and with the arts.
balance We aspire to live with integrity in the city, striving as a community for balance between work, rest and play. We wish to develop healthy spiritual disciplines such as daily prayer, meditation and contemplation, drawing on the ancient Christian paths. We want to live within our means, living sustainable lives. We desire to not be simply consumers, but people committed to giving and receiving in all of life.
accountability Within the rhythm of life we desire to be accountable to one another, to grow and journey together, listening to each other and the wider Christian community for wisdom rather than trusting only ourselves. We want to have a willingness to share life, rather than to privatise it and we seek to walk together in a deep way rather than as strangers who only know the surface of each other.
hospitality We wish to welcome all whom we encounter, when we are gathered and when we are dispersed, extending Christ’s gracious invitation to relationship, meaning and life in all its fullness.
HYMN FFS 50 ‘Nothing is lost on the breath of God”
Words and Music by Colin Gibson
Words and Music © 1996 Hope Publishing Co.
Nothing is lost on the breath of God,
nothing is lost forever,
God's breath is love,
and that love will remain,
holding the world forever.
No feather too light,
no hair too fine,
no flower too brief in its glory,
no drop in the ocean,
no dust in the air,
but is counted and told in God's story.
Nothing is lost to the eyes of God,
nothing is lost forever,
God sees with love,
and that love will remain,
holding the world forever.
No journey too far,
no distance too great,
no valley of darkness too blinding;
no creature too humble,
no child too small for God to be seeking and finding.
Nothing is lost to the heart of God,
nothing is lost for ever;
God's heart is love,
and that love will remain,
holding the world forever.
No impulse of love,
no office of care,
no moment of life in its fullness;
no beginning too late,
no ending too soon,
but is gathered and known in its goodness.
OFFERING PRAYER (said together)
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 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 Sue McRae
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Timor Leste and Christian World Service Partners in Timor Leste providing youth vocational training, sustainable agriculture, water supply and emergency relief. In New Zealand, we remember those in Parliament. Today we name list MPs Winston Peters and Willow-Jean Prime. Here in Central Presbytery, we pray for leaders and people of The Cook Islands Presbyterian Church.
PRAYER FOR ST ANDREW’S on card
HYMN AA 113 ‘Our life has its seasons’
Words: © 1992 Shirley Murray
Music: Colin Gibson ©1992 Hope Publishing Co.
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
BLESSING
SUNG AMEN
THANK YOU Judy Dumbleton
Our musician today
THANK YOU
Write the Thank You here