WELCOME
CALL TO WORSHIP
HYMN: Come Host of Heaven’s High Dwelling Place (Tune: St Columba)
Come, Host of Heaven’s high dwelling place,
Come, earth’s disputed guest;
Find where we meet a welcome home,
Stay here and take your rest.
Surround these walls with faith and love
That through the nights and days,
When human tongues from speaking cease,
These stones may echo praise.
Bless and inspire those gathered here
patience, hope and peace,
And all the joys that know the depth
In which all sorrows cease.
Here may the loser find his worth,
The stranger find a friend;
Here may the hopeless find their faith
And aimless find an end.
Build, from the human fabric signs
Of how your kingdom thrives,
Of how the Holy Spirit changes life
By changing lives. ©Iona Community GIA Publications
OPENING PRAYERS & LORD’S PRAYER
NOTICES
TIME WITH THE CHILDREN ~ Alice Shanks
READING: Isaiah 45:1-8 Sue Saunders
HYMN: O Lord and Master of Us All (Tune: Wetherby)
O Lord and Master of us all, whate’er our name or sign,
we own thy sway, we hear thy call, we test our lives by thine.
Our thoughts lie open to thy sight and naked to thy glance,
our secret sins are in the light of thy pure countenance.
Yet weak and blinded though we be, thou dost our service own;
we bring our varying gifts to thee, and thou rejectest none.
To thee our full humanity, its joys and pains belong;
the wrong of man to man on thee inflicts a deeper wrong.
Apart from thee all gain is loss, all labour vainly done;
the solemn shadow of thy cross is better than the sun.
Our friend, our brother and our Lord, what may thy service be?
Nor name, nor form, nor ritual word, but simply following thee.
We faintly hear, we dimly see, in differing phase we pray;
but dim or clear, we own in thee the Light, the Truth, the Way.
JG Whittier (WOV)
READING: Acts 17: 19-28 David Beaumont
SERMON
HYMN: All Loving God We Come to You (Tune: Melita)
All loving God, we come to you and pray for peace on earth this day: that wars may cease, aggression fail, and tyranny no more hold sway. In this and every other land, Lord, hold your people in your hand.
Show us the way of making peace in every thought and word and deed: to love our neighbours as ourselves, whatever colour, race or creed. In this and every other land, Lord, hold your people in your hand.
Give us an all-embracing heart, forgiving, caring, loving, strong: that we may show our love for you and work for peace, our whole life long. In this and every other land, Lord, hold your people in your hand.
©Jan Chamberlin
PRAYERS FOR OTHERS
OFFERING & PRAYER
HYMN: Father of Peace and God of Love (Tune: Caithness)
Father of peace, and God of love!
We own your power to save,
that power by which our shepherd rose
victorious o’er the grave.
Him from the dead you brought again,
when, by his sacred blood,
confirmed and sealed for evermore
the eternal covenant stood.
O may your Spirit seal our souls,
and mould them to your will,
that our weak hearts no more may stray,
but keep your precepts still;
That to perfection’s sacred height
we nearer still may rise,
and all we think, and all we do,
be pleasing in your eyes. P Doddridge & others (WOV)
BENEDICTION
NOTICES:
A very warm welcome to all who worship with us this morning. Please stay for morning tea following the service.
Many thanks to Charles Manning for leading our worship this morning.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN of the Annual General Meeting of parishioners on Sunday 20th September 2015 following Morning Worship. All are encouraged to attend. Please send any items for General Business or apologies to me. Irene Gray, Session Clerk.
WEDNESDAY WALKERS 2nd Sept: Meet 9.30am in Lichfield St outside Bus Interchange for a city walk, and view NZ Geographic Photographer of the Year exhibition. Coffee at C1 café. All Welcome. Sonya 339 7038.
CRAFTY CRAFTERS Thursdays 10am -12noon in the Lounge. $3. All Welcome.
MEN’S GROUP will meet on Thursday 3rd September at 6 pm at Merchiston for a shared tea. The speaker will be Wayne Barton talking about his role with Radio Lollipop in the Children’s Ward at Christchurch Hospital. Look forward to seeing you all there. Tony 332 0554.
ST MARTIN’S PARISH OFFICE HOURS: Wed & Thurs 9am-12noon and Fri 9-11am. Phone 332 6192 or email stmartpresch@xtra.co.nz. Website: www.stmartins.org.nz. Any notices to Anna by 9am each Thursday please.
St Martin’s 2016 Calendars $20 each. There are only 10 left – contact Anna in the Office 332 6192 if you would like one.
ALPINE PRESBYTERY Newsletter is on the noticeboard in the Lounge.
CONCERT AT KNOX CHURCH TODAY 2.30pm. The Knox Singers present Schubert & More with sacred choral music from Bruckner to Stainer, featuring Schubert’s Mass in G Major. $15 waged; $10 unwaged.
Copies of the Moderator’s Pastoral Letter are available for those not on email.
BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK: Thu 3rd Charlotte; Sat 5th Anneke, Lyndsey.