May 9, 2021

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

Today’s service is led by Rev. Norman Wilkins

PRELUDE                                                                                   Prelude and Fugue in D

by Dietrich Buxtehude (1637 – 1707)

GATHERING

Day by day, we do what we are called to do

But very little is noticed and even less is remembered.

We do our best to say words that will be helpful and achieve good

But much seems to have no effect or is even misunderstood.

We exercise our minds to find the best course of action

But often reality was just different than we imagined.

That’s the ingredients of our day to day lives.

But despite all that, in us people can glimpse God.

 

PROCESSIONAL HYMN ‘In this place where now we gather’
Written for the 175th anniversary of St Andrews Words © 2014 Fiona McDougal
Music © 2013 Vivien Chiu, used by permission

1. In this place where now we gather,
we have lived our common life.
In this place we’ve learned together,
moving through both joy and strife.
In this place hope’s grown within us
as we shared the bread and wine.
In this place where all are welcome,
we have known a love that shines.

2. From a past that saw the old folks
travelling from lands afar;
from a past that brought mixed blessings
to tangata whenua.
From a past of change and challenge,
synthesising new ideas;
from a past that brought rich stories,
giving strength to face old fears.

3. In this time of fresh beginnings,
opening our hearts with hope.
In this time of great adventure,
seeking out God’s greater scope.
In this time we stand together,
reaching to our world anew.
In this time we make commitment
to this city’s greater good.

WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
Kia ora.

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PRAYER
 
THE LORD’S PRAYER

E tō mātou Matua i te rangi
Kia tapu tōu ingoa
Kia tae mai tōu rangatiratanga
Kia meatia tāu e pai ai
Ki runga ki te whenua
Kia rite anō ki to te rangi
Homai ki a mātou āianei
He taro mā mātou mō tēnei rā
Murua o mātou hara
Me mātou hoki e muru nei
I o te hunga e hara ana ki a mātou
Aua hoki mātou e kawea
Kia whakawaia
Engari whakaorangia mātou
I te kino
Nou hoki te rangatiratanga
Te Kaha me te kōroria
Ake ake, Amine

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LIGHTING THE RAINBOW CANDLE

TIME WITH CHILDREN Graham Howell
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 ‘We walk in silence’
Words: Bronwyn Angela White. Tune: Winchester WOV 264

1. We walk in silence while the earth
quivers and cracks beneath our feet,
swallows our dreams and shatters worth.
Solemn, we trudge to hearts’ dull beat.

2. We walk while singing, motley choir
of traitors, lovers, meek and proud.
Small sparks of apostolic fire
light up the path, lighten the shroud.

3. We walk in solidarity
and sing of hope that never dies.
We march to end disparity;
graves open as our spirits rise.

4. We walk the way that has no end,
free to evolve, transform our creed.
Hearts, torn like curtains, start to mend;
love rising now in word, in deed.

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THE WORD IN TEXTS Heather Macfarlane
Hebrew Bible Psalm 1:3
They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."
Our men and women respond to the reading
Christian Scriptures Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Secular reading from “The Body, a guide for occupants” by Bill Bryson”
The beginning of a modern understanding of blood can perhaps be said to date from 1900 and an astute discovery by a young medical researcher in Vienna. Karl Landsteiner noticed that when blood from different people was mixed together sometimes it clumped and sometimes it did not. By noting which samples joined with which others he was able to divide the samples into three groups which he labelled A B and O. Although everybody reads and pronounces the last group as the letter O, Landsteiner in fact meant it to be taken as a zero because it didn’t clump at all. Two other researchers at Landsteiner‘s lab subsequently discovered a fourth group which they called AB and Landsteiner himself, forty years later, co-discovered Rh factor - short for rhesus, from the type of monkey in which it was found. The discovery of blood types explained why transfusions often failed because the donor and recipient had incompatible types. It was a hugely significant discovery but unfortunately almost no one paid any attention to it at the time. Thirty years would pass before Landsteiner’s contribution to medical science was recognised with a Nobel Prize in 1930.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
REFLECTION ‘The Word of God within us’ Rev. Norman Wilkins
HYMN ‘For all the saints’
Words: © Susan Jones Tune: Sine Nomine WOV 384
1. For all the saints of every age and day,
who bravely seek to follow loving ways;
sharing Good News by what they do and say:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

2. For those who struggle much with who they are,
listening to feelings which with bodies jar,
who seek and ask and travel near and far:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

3. For those who understood, as feelings grew,
the need to live within a body true
and all that’s needed to change and renew:
Alleluia, Alleluia

4. For Jesus, who exploded people’s view,
of who was ‘out’ or ‘in’ the chosen few
who died for freedom out of love for you,
Alleluia, Alleluia.

5. And so we live and celebrate the fight
to be yourself by day and every night;
praying Love’s flame will always burn for right:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

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OFFERTORY MUSIC Largo e spiccato
adapted by JS Bach for organ,
from the Violin Concerto in d minor by Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)
OFFERING HYMN AA127 ‘Take my gifts’
Take my gifts and let me love you,
God who first of all loved me.
Gave me light and food and shelter,
Gave me love and set me free.
Now because your love has touched me,
I have love to give away;
Now the bread of love is rising
Loaves of love to multiply
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.

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PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Catriona Cairns
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of France and the Reformed Church of France. 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 Dr Megan Woods (Wigram) and Hon Kiritapu Allan (East Coast). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of Plimmerton Presbyterian 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 AA118 ‘Sing a happy Alleluia’
Words: © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray
Music: Colin Gibson, © 1992 Hope Publishing Company
1. Sing a happy alleluia!
Sing it out with heart and style,
we’re the echo of God’s laughter,
we’re the image of God’s smile.
Alleluia, all creation,
alleluia, everyone,
alleluia, all creation,
alleluia everyone.

2. We’re the proof of God’s good humour,
we’re the twinkle in God’s eye,
made to shine, reflect the glory,
given light and space to fly –
Alleluia.....

3. Sarah laughed at God’s good timing,
Mary sang and David danced,
Jesus smiled and hugged the children –
so for us is life enhanced.
Alleluia.....

4. Every day sing alleluia!
We are loved, though so absurd.
Human, foolish, chosen people,
God still takes us at our word!
Alleluia.....

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BLESSING
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE “Dorian” Toccata in d minor, BWV 538
by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)