October 17, 2021
WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
Write your welcome here
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 Cameron Smart
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-19 is here we ask that you pass the peace without shaking hands.
THE WORD IN TEXTS Gavin Watson
Introduction
Reflection 1
Reading Galatians: 3: 23-29
All are one in Christ
Reflection2
Reading 1 Corinthians 13
(Translation by J B Phillips)
The love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—
it looks for a way of being constructive.
It is not possessive:
it is neither anxious to impress
nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
Love has good manners
and does not pursue selfish advantage.
It is not touchy.
It does not keep account of evil
or gloat over the wickedness of other people.
On the contrary, it is glad when truth prevails.
Love knows no limit to its endurance,
no end to its trust,
no fading of its hope;
it can outlast anything.
It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands
when all else has fallen.
Reflection 3
Reading Luke 4: 14-21
Jesus reads from the Prophet Isaiah
HYMN ‘Who is this man?’
Words: Mary Pearson
Music: Londonderry Air (Trad) CH4 729
1. Who is this man who gathered people to him
and touched their lives along each dusty way,
who spoke to all with passion and with peacefulness
and valued all their ordinary days?
Who is this man who at the day’s long ending,
would draw apart to wait on God and pray?
Who, in the mystery that knows no ending,
would find God’s wisdom and would know God’s words to say?
2. Who is this man who gave to women dignity
in partnership of worth and equal grace?
Who listened to the stories that they told him,
and honoured each whatever was their place;
who let them choose to come and join his company
and learned with them God’s love for every race,
who showed to each the courage of their nature
to care and tend each lonely and each suffering face?
3. Who is this man who spoke to men of gentleness,
showed them all the children at his side;
who taught of love and justice for all people,
who took a towel and washed away their pride?
In him they saw the strength of truth and mercy,
and how he trusted God to be his guide,
knew how he led them through misunderstanding,
and then forgave them when they ran away to hide.
4. Who is this man who calls us now to follow,
a shadow presence asking us to be
companions on the way through this life journey,
to live in truth, to set our tired world free?
So, let us find each other now in partnership,
with ears to hear and eyes awake to see,
that we might grow in grace and understanding,
and walk beside that man who comes from Galilee.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture and song,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
OFFERTORY MUSIC
OFFERING HYMN AA 127 ‘Take my gifts’ verse 3
Words © 1992 Shirley Erena Murray, (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company)
Music: ©1992 Colin Gibson Hope Publishing Co.
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.
OFFERING PRAYER
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 Catriona Cairns
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Kenya and the Methodist Church in Kenya. 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 Damien Smith and Hon Jan Tinetti, list MPs. Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of St Paul's and St Mark's Presbyterian Church, Whanganui.
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 WOV 526ii ‘O Perfect Love’
Words: Mary Pearson
1. Word of God's love, with longing hearts we listen,
eager to hear of grace when grace is spent,
seeking to understand in all our being,
the truth in which Christ's life for all was sent.
2. Word of God's hope, when life seems dark and empty,
bruised by the powerlessness which clouds our days,
help us to see with ever clearer vision,
the light and wisdom of the Christ trod way.
3. Word of God's joy, we yearn to hear your music
through storms of anger, fear and silent pain,
knowing that though there is no easy answer
in Christ life finds its harmony again.
4. Word of our God, you call us to each other,
breaking down walls of pride and selfish gain,
and, as we reach to bear each other's burdens,
we find love, hope and joy alive again.
BLESSING
SUNG AMEN
POSTLUDE
THANK YOU
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