Order of Service for Sunday 5 May 2024
Processional Hymn
The Gathering of the People
E te Whanau a te Karaiti, welcome to this holy
table; welcome to you, for we are Christ’s body,
Christ’s work in the world. Welcome to you
whose baptism makes you salt of the earth and
light to the world. Rejoice and be glad. Praise
God who gives us forgiveness and hope.
Amen. Christ is our light,
the joy of our salvation.
Christ is the living water cleansing, refreshing, making all things new.
Christ is the living bread; food for the hungry, strength for the pilgrim and the labourer.
So now we offer our thanks
for the beauty of these islands;
for the wild places and the bush,
for the mountains, the coast and the sea.
We offer thanks and praise to God for this good land; for its trees and pastures,
for its plentiful crops
and the skills we have learned to grow them.
Our thanks for marae
and the cities we have built;
for science and discoveries,
for our life together,
for Aotearoa, New Zealand.
The Confession
We come seeking forgiveness for all we have failed
to be and do as members of Christ’s body.
Silence
In God there is forgiveness
Loving and all-seeing God, forgive us where we have failed to support one another and to be what we claim to be. Forgive us where we have failed to serve you; and where our thoughts and actions have been contrary to yours we ask your pardon.
Silence
God forgives us, be at peace.
Silence
Rejoice and be glad, for Christ is resurrection,
reconciliation for all the human race.
We shall all be one in Christ, one in our life together. Praise to God who has created us, praise to God who has accepted us, praise to God who sends us into the world.
The sentence of the day is taken from Psalm 98
Make a joyful noise to the lord, all the earth;
Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Psalm 98:4
We pray together the Collect
Almighty God, you teach us in your word that love is the fulfilling of the law: grant that we may love you with all our heart and our neighbour as ourselves; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
the first reading
Acts 10:44-48 (New International Version)
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues[a] and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
The Epistle
1 John 5:1-6 (New International Version)
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
Gradual Hymn
The Holy Gospel
St John, Chapter 15, verses 9-17 (New International Version)
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Affirmation of Faith
We affirm our faith in God
You, O God, are supreme and holy,
You create our world and give us life.
Your purpose overarches everything we do.
You have always been with us.
You are God.
You, O God, are infinitely generous, good beyond all measure.
You came to us before we came to you.
You have revealed and proved your love for us in Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose again.
You are with us now. You are God
You, O God, are Holy Spirit.
You empower us to be you gospel in the world.
You reconcile and heal;
you overcome death.
You are our God. We worship you.
The Prayers of the People are offered. Add your own prayers for the church and the world, giving thanks for God’s goodness.
The COMMUNION (USING THE RESERVED SACRAMENT)
The Peace (all standing)
The peace of God be with you all.
In God’s justice is our peace. E te whānau / Brothers and sisters,
Christ calls us to live in unity.
We seek to live in the Spirit of Christ.
Offertory Hymn
THANKSGIVING FOR the Gifts
Blessed are you God of all creation;
through your goodness
we have these gifts to share.
Accept and use our offerings for your glory
and for the service of your kingdom.
Blessed be God forever.
THE COMMUNION
Let us pray
Let us give glory to God, our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier
Glory to God in the highest
Glory to God in the highest
God our Creator, we thank you for the world you have made; we thank you for your loving care watching over all creation; we thank you for entrusting part of your world to us and to tend, to care for and to develop.
Glory to God in the highest
You have made us, women and men in your image, so that in each other we can trace your likeness and serve you by serving our brothers and sisters.
Glory to God in the highest
You made us to know you and to be near you, our hearts are restless until we come to you. To bring us nearer to you when we were still far off, you sent your prophets and teachers to show us the glory of your steadfast love.
Glory to God in the highest
The wonder of your redeeming love was fully shown in Jesus the Christ, who walked among us as one of us, meeting us face to face, person to person, God in human form.
Glory to God in the highest
Yet we did not value him and sent him to death, a death he freely accepted, stretching out his arms on the cross to embrace the whole human race and to bear our sin in himself. By his death and resurrection, death is destroyed and we are delivered from sin to share his risen life.
Glory to God in the highest
You sent your Holy Spirit upon your Church so that, in Jesus, we are united to you, Father, with all the redeemed.
Glory to God in the highest
We thank you that we can worship you with prayer and praise as one with all your people. Above all we thank you for this sacrament of the body and blood of Christ.
Glory to God in the highest
God, creator of time and space, may the love and faith which makes this bread the body of Christ this wine his blood enfold us now.
Make us one with the people at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul last Thursday, and the whole body of Christ. May Christ’s Holy Spirit bring to us in the sacrament the strength we need and an abiding trust in your gift of eternal life.
Amen.
We pray and sing the Lord’s Prayer i te reo Māori
We pray the Prayer of Humble Access
We do not presume to come to your holy
table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own
righteousness, but in your great mercy.
We are not worthy even to gather the crumbs
from under your table.
But you are the same Lord whose nature is always to
have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the body of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us. Amen
The Invitation
Lifting the bread and cup, the minister invites the people, saying
Bread and wine; the gifts of God
for the people of God.
May we who share these gifts
be found in Christ
and Christ in us.
Spiritual Communion Prayer for those viewing on-line
Dear Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, I confess my love for you and desire your mercy. Though separated from my community of faith, I am not separated from your presence and the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, I make this act of spiritual communion to unite myself to you who are the Living Word of God. In mind and heart, I unite myself to the sacrament of your Body and Blood. In love and hope, I unite myself to my brothers and sisters in the church.
By the power of your Holy Spirit, draw near. Give the consolation of your presence and the gift of your peace. By your holy cross and resurrection, restore us to life. Amen.
Prayer after communion
Blessed be God who calls us together.
Praise to God who makes us one people.
Blessed be God who has forgiven our sin.
Praise to God who gives hope and freedom.
Blessed be God whose Word is proclaimed.
Praise to God who is revealed as love.
Blessed be God who alone has called us.
Therefore we offer all that we are and all that we shall become.
Accept, O God our sacrifice of praise.
Amen. Accept our thanks for all you
have done. Our hands were empty,
and you filled them.
Blessing
Father, we have seen with our eyes and touched with our hands the bread of life.
Strengthen our faith that we may grow in love for you and for each other;
Through Jesus Christ the risen Lord.
To us, may we be a new creation, Christ for those to whom Christ shall send us…
…and the blessing of God almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with us and remain with us forever. Amen.
Recessional Hymn
The Dismissal of the Community
Go now to love and serve the Lord. Go in peace.
Alleluia. Alleluia.
Amen. We go in the name of Christ.
Alleluia! Alleluia