January 31, 2021

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

The Gospel According to Mark

Today’s service is led by Rev. Dr Jim Cunningham

GATHERING

We come to re-weave the unravelling fabric of our community,

to re-connect once more with the larger human family,

to find once more that place of calm,

to remind ourselves that we belong,

to remember what it is we belong to.

So, come into this place

which we make special by our presence.

Where the ordinary is sanctified,

the human is celebrated,

and the compassionate is expected.

Together we make it a holy place with our every act of worship.

Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life

in the presence we name God.

 

PROCESSIONAL HYMN ‘Now Be Aware’
Words © 1965 Iris McCoy, Tune: Mit Freuden Zart, public domain WOV 27

1. Now be aware, and glory in
this fellowship with others,
that learns to give and take with grace;
where there is life it gathers.
It deepens joy, it eases strain,
it heartens those who live with pain,
each strengthens each, together.

2. The wordless touch where sorrow is,
the sharing of a vict’ry;
the flash of mind when insight leaps
to truth, provoked by query.
The freedom of our fellowship
accepts us as we are, and this
is God’s own gift of liberty.

3. Now be aware that hearts and hands
and minds are rich when sharing;
for here within this fellowship
the strength of God is growing.
Now life has reason, love has powers
beyond our own, for into ours
the love of God is flowing.
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.

CANDLEMAS CEREMONY

Introduction
Candlemas commemorates the ritual purification of Mary, 40 days after the birth of Jesus. It also marks the ritual presentation of the baby Jesus to God in the Temple at Jerusalem. The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus was met by Anna and Simeon. Simeon held Jesus and called him a Light to the World. The festival is called Candlemas because this was the day that all the church's candles for the year were blessed.
Candles light up many sacred moments in our community throughout the year and at gatherings large and small.

Purple during Advent – a penitential colour – a longing for life to be different.
White during Christmas – the colour that speaks of Love.
Green during Epiphany – the colour of new growth and possibilities
Purple (again) during Lent – the colour for grief, sadness and regret as we follow Jesus to Calvary
White and Gold – for Easter and the triumph of LOVE
Red for Pentecost and the Sundays following – representing the fire of the Spirit warming and encouraging the fledgling Church.
Blue for the Season of Creation – the colour of the Earth when seen from Outer Space.
Green during the time between Creation and Advent. Sometimes referred to as “Ordinary Time” – green is the colour of vegetation and growth.

Our Rainbow Candle celebrates our children and our diversity.

The Blessing
So now we remember all those occasions
and bless these candles for the year ahead.
We give thanks for the warm light they shine within our gatherings
and the moments of illumination that come to us in this place.
May the radiance recognisable in the baby Jesus
shimmer within our lives
and bring light and healing to all those we encounter.
Bless these candles, light up our lives.
LIGHTING THE RAINBOW CANDLE
BLESSING THE CHILDREN (All stand)
For all those of our community on summer holidays and especially for our children, we pray for fun, relaxation and adventure.
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 ‘How shall we find you’
Words: © 1996 Shirley Murray, (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company)
Music: Bunessan WOV 91
1. How shall we find you, God who is Holy,
captured by gender, colour and code?
How shall we worship, God of the Presence,
actions and essence, meaning and mode?

2. How shall we know you, God who is Wisdom,
argued by scholars, proofed on a page:
how to imagine, God of creation,
world beyond thinking, here on our stage.

3. How shall we trust you, God in the scriptures,
filtered through lenses biased and blurred:
how to revere you God of Tradition,
cased in our churches, Word bound to word?

4. How shall we see you if not in people
knit to your nature, focused in sight –
angels and artists, teachers and healers,
heart and soul people, children of light.

5. How shall we love you if not as human,
loving us wholly, fleshed on our frame,
known in our hunger, known in the meeting
spirit to Spirit, naming our name.
THE WORD IN TEXTS John Morgan
Gospel Mark 1: 12-28

Contemporary reading The Quest For The Historical Jesus
By Albert Schweitzer

He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time.
He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
REFLECTION The Gospel According to Mark Jim Cunningham
A TIME FOR SILENT REFLECTION
HYMN ‘Who is this man?’
Author: 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.
THE OFFERINGS ARE GATHERED

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.

PRAYER OF DEDICATION
We give thanks to God for our life
and the courage we are given to live it.
Let our dreams be large and compassionate.
Let our gratitude for life be expressed in our generosity.
Let our faith be expressed through living justly.
Let our hopes and dreams for the future
find full expression in our daily attitude of mind.
Amen.
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 Fiona McDougal

CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Cyprus and the Church of Cyprus. We are thankful for progress which has been made for some of the detainees in Papua New Guinea and Nauru and continue to hope for a satisfactory resolution for those who remain. In New Zealand, we remember those in Parliament, and today we name Chlöe Swarbrick (Auckland Central) and Rino Tirikatene (Te Tai Tonga). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of the Church of Cyprus, New Plymouth.
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 ‘When All the Good Is Gathered Up’
Words: © 2011 Shirley Murray (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company)
Music: Ombersley WOV 626
1. When all the good is gathered up,
when all the pain is gathered, too,
then will an energy be born
to spark a world alight and new!

2. When all the spirit of the good
absorbs our suffering and fears,
then will an energy arrive
that grows creation out of tears.

3. Within a chemistry of change,
within the heart of all that beats
will be the energy of love
that nothing quenches or defeats.

4. Where all the elements combine
to fire new truth, to foster joy,
set loose that energy of love
to be in us God's strong alloy!

5. When goodness takes the place of gold,
when pain of war, of word and fist
becomes the energy of hope,
then peace and justice will have kissed.
BLESSING
SUNG AMEN