WELCOME AND NOTICES
CALL TO WORSHIP:
This is one world and we are one people.
There is one God and we are all God’s people.
There is one life and we are called to live it together.
There is one hope and we share it with one another.
With one voice, one joy, one faith, one love
we worship God together.
HYMN: Praise With Joy (Tune: Praise My Soul WOV 68)
Praise with joy the world’s Creator,
God of justice, love and peace,
source and end of human knowledge,
God whose grace shall never cease.
Celebrate the Maker’s glory,
power to rescue and release.
Praise the Christ who feeds the hungry,
frees the captive, finds the lost,
heals the sick, upsets religion,
fearless both of fate and cost.
Celebrate Christ’s constant presence –
friend and stranger, guest and host.
Praise the Spirit sent among us,
liberating truth from pride,
forging bonds where race or gender,
age or nation dare divide.
Celebrate the Spirit’s treasure –
foolishness none dare deride.
Praise the Maker, Christ and Spirit,
one God in community,
calling Christians to embody
oneness and diversity.
Thus the world shall yet believe,
when shown Christ’s vibrant unity. © Iona Community (VU)
OPENING PRAYERS & THE LORD’S PRAYER (sung)
STORY-TIME
INTRODUCTION TO THE READINGS
READINGS: Psalm 148 Deborah Fitchett
(from A New Zealand Prayer Book)
Acts 11:1–18 Marilyn Tait
John 13: 31-35 Deborah Fitchett
HYMN: In Christ There is No East or West
In Christ there is no east or west,
in him no south or north,
but one great family of love
throughout the whole wide earth.
In him shall true hearts everywhere
their high communion find,
his service is the golden cord
close-binding humankind.
Join hands, then, people of the faith,
whate’er your race may be;
all children of the living God
are surely kin to me. (C/A)
SERMON: Beyond Boundaries
A TIME OF QUIET
HYMN: We are Many, We are One
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 a 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. © Colin Gibson (FFS)
THE OFFERING
God, all creation ~ from greatest to least
and all equal in your sight ~ praises you.
In response to your love, we bring these gifts for blessing:
the gifts of money and food, skills and time,
love and energy; to be caught up and used in your work in the world,
through Jesus the Christ. Amen.
WE GREET ONE ANOTHER
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
HYMN: We Remember With Thanksgiving (Tune:Blaenwern WOV 165ii)
We remember with thanksgiving
those who dared frontiers of old.
Speaking words of faithful living,
they in truth the gospel told.
They believed the church’s story
that in Christ all folk are one.
Both the mission and the glory
were that God’s good will be done.
We rejoice to see the Spirit
working here and now as then,
claiming lives of those who hear it –
good news told by tongue and pen.
Reconciling, teaching, healing,
saving body, mind and soul;
peace with justice, love revealing
God’s desire to make us whole.
Into future generations
may the Word go out abroad,
so all people, lands and nations
join to praise our gracious God.
Then, in gratitude for vision,
Reaffirm, recall, rejoice,
recommit ourselves to mission,
still the church’s clearest voice. © Jane Parker Huber (SiC)
THE BLESSING
NOTICES A very warm welcome to all who worship with us today. Morning tea will be served after the service.
A CONGREGATIONAL MEETING is called for Sunday 12th May following Morning Worship. The meeting will consider a recommendation from the Session and the Board of Managers regarding future buildings for the parish. The recommendation from the combined meeting of the Session and the Board of Managers will be e-mailed or circulated this week. If you have an e-mail address not on the parish list, but are willing to share it for the purpose of receiving this information, please e-mail Anna at stmartpresch@xtra.co.nz
SUNDAY 19th MAY 7.45am: This is Pentecost Sunday so what better way to start off than with Breakfast! There is a list in the foyer – please put your names down if you would like to attend this breakfast. For further information, speak to a Worship Committee member: Bill, June, Audrey, John S, Joan Mac, Fern, Allison or Chris.
THANKSGIVING OFFERINGS may be made on any Sunday over the next few weeks or posted to Joan Mac.
NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS to Anneke by Friday 3rd May please. Post to 5 Simeon Quay Lyttelton 8082 or email anneke.howie@gmail.com. Queries? Phone Anneke on 328 7459.
CUPPA & CHAT: Tuesdays & Wednesdays 10am – 12 noon in the Lounge at Beckenham Methodist. All welcome. Aubrey 930 2525.
WEDNESDAY WALKERS 1st May: Meet 9.30am – details from Judith 332 1577.
CRAFTY CRAFTERS meets every Thursday from 10am – 12 noon in the Beckenham Methodist Lounge. $3 per session. New faces are always welcome ?. Beverley 332 7786.
MEN’S GROUP will recommence for the year on Thursday 2nd May at 6pm with a shared tea. Venue: Merchiston 75 St Martins Rd. Rob Meier will be talking about his adventures in Vietnam, and you are all invited to attend. For further information, phone Tony 332 0554.
Turakina Maori Girls’ College presents a musical and cultural afternoon on Saturday 11th May at the Archer Leisure Centre, 166 Colombo Street. Admission by ticket ($20) only – available from the Archer Office 943 6006. Afternoon tea included. All Welcome.
FOOTCARE CLINIC: Next Session Monday 10th June 1-4pm at Beckenham Methodist. Phone the Parish Office 332 6192 to book.
THE PARISH OFFICE is now at St Anne’s Anglican Church, 7 Wilsons Rd (at the rear of the site near the sandpit!). Open Wednesday & Thursday 9am – 12 noon and Friday 9-11am. Phone 332 6192 or email stmartpresch@xtra.co.nz.
KEEP AN EYE ON THE WEBSITE: www.stmartins.org.nz
HUB NEWS: Please see the noticeboard in the foyer for this week’s information.
BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK: Sun 28th Joan; Wed 1st Margaret, Betty.