June 7, 2020

WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE

GATHERING

We gather in this time of uncertainty

and unrest

in the world

hoping to make sense of events

longing for a sense of well being

wishing for things to be made right

craving normality

for us and our loved ones.

We come today to this space

for time to stop and reflect,

to sing, pray and be with friends.

On this Trinity Sunday

we seek the trinity of love, hope and action.

We gather in this place to honour and affirm life

to listen to one another

and contemplate hope.

 

PROCESSIONAL HYMN HIOS 56 ‘Here in the busy city’
Words: © 1992 Shirley Murray
Music: Barry Brinson © 2009 Hope Publishing Company
Here in the busy city
now let the Church be seen
where lesser gods are worshipped
in money and machine;
where news is but sensation,
the Good News hardly heard --
now let the Church take action
in living out the Word!

In policies and planning
the Church be there to speak
to moderate the powerful,
to argue for the weak:
where law must sit in judgment
and love is little known,
there at the crisis centre
the Christ concern be shown.

Where litter chokes the gutter
and people go to waste,
where joblessness is bitter
and living lost its taste --
to under leavened people
be proof of rising yeast,
in lives devoid of flavour
be saltiness released!

Here in the busy city
God walks on every street
in generous or greedy,
the honest or the cheat,
and daily we must offer
the good that goes unpriced
with vigour and with vision -
the lifestyle of the Christ.
WELCOME
Kia ora tatou
Kia ora.
PRAYER
love is what we seek
love is what we need
love is how we must be
love is who we must be

love is not a noun
love is a verb

and that we are called to be that verb called love
we who follow Jesus of Nazareth
the man who said love one another

only the sheer force of love
can drive back the specters of social misery
and the scourge that is racism

love can make us whole
can heal our society
and the world

it is neither the easy road
nor a straight road
or a neatly tarsealed smooth road

it is rough and pitted
scattered with rocks
blocked by huge logs
dives off into thick forests
and circles so many times
we are left dizzy and disoriented

but it is the way

let us have the sight to see what we may have missed
the moral compass to guide us
the maps to direct us
the words to urge us on
the friends to accompany us

and the courage to be the love the world needs

let it be so. Amen

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 THE 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”. The response is “peace be with you, or “and with you.” You can also simply say hello. Now that COVID-19 has arrived in the country, we are all asked to take precautions again transmission. We invite you all therefore to try different methods of acknowledging and greeting each other. For example, placing both hands together in the prayer position and bending the head towards the other person. This is a greeting practiced in many countries. A hand on the upper chest and bowing slightly to acknowledge the other person is also an option. Feel free to simply observe if you wish.

THE WORD IN TEXTS Tony Kirby
Christian Bible 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Gospel Matthew 28:16-20
Contemporary reading From ‘Found Poetry’ in “There is no harbour”
by © Dinah Hawken
Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2019
In 1937 Robyn Hyde said:

the dead thing at our heart
poisons us all … we cannot be ourselves
we cannot know ourselves
for shame

*
In 1940 Virginia Woolf said:

Unless we can think peace into existence
we—not this one body
but millions of bodies yet to be born—
will lie in the same darkness and hear
the same death rattle overhead

*
In 2000 J.C. Sturm said:

Have you heard of Parihaka’s
Boys and girls
Waiting outside the gates
When the mounted soldiers came

To rape and murder
Pillage and burn
To take Te Whiti and Tohu away
With all the ploughmen

And ship them south
To build a causeway
Around Dunedin’s
Wintry harbour?

Have you heard of Taranaki iwi
Denied a trial
Chained like dogs
In sealed caves and tunnels?

*

Te Whiti said:

Those who are bent by the wind
shall rise again
when the wind softens
From ‘Raukura: White Feather’ in “There is no harbour”
by © Dinah Hawken
Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2019

In 1881 the women of Parihaka
baked 500 loaves of bread for the visitors.

Sit close and be stouthearted, Te Whiti said,
as the military surrounded the village.

Two thousand people sat in silence. Unmoving.

They sat in silence.

They held the silence

together.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks.
REFLECTION Niki Francis
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change,
I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
Angela Davis, USA
Dame Whina Cooper, Aotearoa

HYMN HIOS 28: ‘Everything that has voice’
Words © 2004 Shirley Murray, Music © 2009 Colin Gibson
Everything that has voice,
sing for peace,
speak for peace,
given chance, given choice,
work for peace,
write for peace,
resonating everywhere,
echoing our common care:
everything that has voice,
sing for peace!

All the world longs for peace,
cries for peace,
dies for peace,
let the children, every place
sleep in peace,
grow in peace,
home and country safe to be
where the spirit rises free,
all the world longs for peace,
cries for peace.

Everyone who has breath,
you and I,
passers-by,
every tenant of the earth,
plant for peace,
gather peace,
cultivate a neighbourhood
cherishing our neighbours' good:
everyone who has breath,
live in peace!
OFFERING PRAYER (said together)
Let us help be gracious and generous with our gifts and resources, so others might know hope, healing and love.
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.

HISTORICAL MOMENT Lois Robertson and Tony Cowdry
As part of St Andrews’ 180 years celebration, we will have a short ‘Historical Moment’ each month with a brief story about the church and parish.
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 Sandra Kirby
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East. We remember the detainees of Manus and Nauru Islands, yearning that their cases be resolved. In New Zealand, we remember those in Parliament, and today we name Iain Lees-Galloway (Palmerston North electorate) and Tim Macindoe (Hamilton West electorate). Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of St Andrew's Union Church, Featherston and from the worldwide church for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States.
PRAYER FOR ST ANDREW’S
Renew your people, God,
and renew our life in this place.
Give us a new spirit of unity
with those of all faiths,
and a new spirit of love
towards all people.

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 HIOS 156 ‘Wisdom be our guide’
Words: © 2005 Shirley Murray
Music: Colin Gibson, © 2005 Hope Publishing Company
Wisdom be our guide:
wisdom as in Jesus,
strong through storm and crisis,
turning terror's tide.
Wisdom be our wings:
lift the human spirit,
banish bomb and bullet,
warlord posturings.
And with God's help,
ordinary people,
we ordinary people
will turn the world around (repeat)

Wisdom be our ground:
there new truths are growing,
streams begin new flowing,
seams of gold are found.
Wisdom be our friend:
warn us of our danger,
earth's appalling hunger,
greed that has no end.
And with God's help,
ordinary people,
we ordinary people
will turn the world around. (repeat)

Wisdom be our frame:
common sense with vision,
heart's own intuition,
giving love a name.
Wisdom be our light:
lead us and illumine
all that's fully human,
simple, sane and right.
And with God's help,
ordinary people,
we ordinary people
will turn the world around! (repeat)

BLESSING
Let’s go now
sure in the love of our St Andrews community
transfigured by compassion
filled with hope to share
with eyes and hearts wide open
willing to be challenged
ready to love
Amen
SUNG AMEN