WELCOME TO ST ANDREW’S ON THE TERRACE
GATHERING
All colours of the earth enrich our life
Exciting red, fresh orange and bright yellow
new green, calm blue and regal violet
All unite in a rainbow of promise and hope
So we can become one together, with the rainbow God.
PROCESSIONAL HYMN ‘Our delight is in the living’
Words: © 2014-2015 Susan Jones
Tune: Praise my Soul WOV 68
Our delight is in the broadness
of the world dawn brings to sight;
Harbour, beach and islands’ structure,
plain and hilltop, mountains’ might;
Thanks be giv’n for nature’s beauty,
celebrate each new day’s light.
Our delight is in the living
of each moment every day,
working, playing, walking, sleeping,
being family, straight, bi, gay;
Grace be giv’n for every minute,
wisdom for each interplay.
Our delight is in the creatures
sharing with us this our place,
moths and birds with stunning markings,
dolphins moving with sweet grace;
Thanks be giv’n for all creation,
celebrate each life, each space.
Our delight is in the loving
of each other as we may;
Searching, finding, liking, loving,
talking, list’ning on the way;
Thanks be giv’n for our affections,
celebrate them night and day.
WELCOME
Kia ora tatou.
Kia ora.
PRAYER
JESUS PRAYER Jim Cotter paraphrase on card
LIGHTING THE RAINBOW ROOM CANDLE
TIME WITH CHILDREN Susan Jones
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 Wendy Matthews
Hebrew Bible Genesis 9:16
Ezekiel 1:28
Gospel Luke 4: 1-13
Contemporary reading “2016 Community Hero Awards, Australia”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3R2UJcyirY
Community Hero Award winner – Rev Dorothy McRae-McMahon.
For over 30 years Dorothy has been a spiritual leader for LGBTI people and the LGBTI community and has championed acceptance and inclusion of LGBTI people in faith-based organisations. A peace activist in the 1960s, Dorothy was ordained a minister in the Uniting Church in 1982, leading the Pitt St congregation in Sydney and then taking on the role of National Director of Mission before becoming one of the first Uniting Church ministers to ‘come out’, subsequently becoming a leader in the successful campaign to have homosexual ministers formally accepted within the Uniting Church, arguing that homosexuality was a sign of wholeness rather than evidence of moral decay. After retiring in 1997, [Dorothy] has remained engaged in ministry in an inner-Sydney Uniting Church, worked as co-editor of the South Sydney Herald and has continued to be recognised as an internationally renowned writer, liturgist and feminist theologian.
RESPONSE
For the Word in scripture,
for the Word among us,
for the Word within us,
we give thanks
REFLECTION ‘Rainbow God’ Susan Jones
HYMN FFS 67 ‘We are many, we are one’
Words and Music © 1998 Colin Gibson
We are many, we are one, and the work of Christ is done
when we learn to live in true community,
as the stars that fill the night, as a flock of birds in flight,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine;
as the branches of a tree, as the waves upon the sea,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine.
All division is made whole when we honour every soul,
find the life of God in every you and me,
as the fingers of a hand, as the grains that form the sand,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine;
as the threads upon the loom, as a field of flowers in bloom,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine.
We will join creation's song, make a world where all belong,
build as one in peace and loving harmony,
as the voices of a choir, as the flames within a fire,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine;
as the snowflakes in the snow, as the colours of a bow,
as the cluster of the grapes upon the vine.
AFFIRMATION FOR AN INCLUSIVE CHURCH
The doors of this church are open to all;
just as Jesus welcomed all kinds and types of people
we seek to keep doors and arms open wide.
We believe that the love of God,
as expressed in the life of Jesus,
now is available to all through the Spirit.
We celebrate the red of passion,
warm orange of sunrise, bright yellow of hope;
we yearn for the greenness of new life
the clear blue of overarching love
and share the royal, purple status of being children of God together.
We give thanks that this is possible
through sacred human promise and everlasting divine love.
OFFERING PRAYER (said together)
We give this food and this money
so others will feel the Love which is always there for them.
We pray these gifts will be used in a way which makes them most effective and helps to make this world a better place.
So may it be, 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 Cameron Smart
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
We think today of the people of Mongolia and we pray for the continued development of indigenous ways of life in a changing world. In New Zealand, we remember those in Parliament, and today we name Agnes Loheni and Marja Lubeck list MPs. Here in the Central Presbytery, we pray for the leaders and people of First Presbyterian Church, Martinborough.
PRAYER FOR ST ANDREW’S on card
HYMN ‘When we were young’
Words © March 2019 Susan Jones
Tune: Amazing Grace WOV 56
When we were young our God was huge,
grey bearded, distant, tall;
He ruled the earth and knew each move,
judged all, both great and small.
We learned of Love shown by the man
who walked here long ago,
but others blotted out, with guilt,
the peace we longed to know.
Then as we grew, we changed our view,
we questioned, thought and prayed;
We found God was less gruff and cold,
her colours more displayed.
So we have learned that God is like
a rainbow in the sky,
embracing many different hues,
trans, gay, straight, and bi.
A Rainbow God is colourful
accepting, bright and gay;
Like joy which shines out through the rain,
Joy which won’t go away.
BLESSING
SUNG AMEN
THANK YOU Judy Dumbleton
Our musician today
Unless otherwise specified all our music is used by permission CCLI Licence 341550
Words/music to new hymns and gathering statement, prayers and affirmation are original unless acknowledged. If Susan Jones is the worship leader any liturgy will have been written by her. These words can be used in other worship and small group situations without seeking permission. Please acknowledge the source.