Join us in person or live-streamed at 10AM or find our recorded service at your convenience. Details on our Worship page. Service words are below.
Prelude: All Will Finish Well
Acknowledgement
Welcome
Gathering Hymn: 429 CP (tune 160) For the Beauty of the Earth
For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies,
Christ our God, to thee we raise this our sacrifice of praise.
For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night, hill and vale and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars of light,
Christ our God, to thee we raise this our sacrifice of praise.
For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind’s delight,
for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight:
Christ our God, to thee we raise this our sacrifice of praise.
For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child, friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild,
Christ our God, to thee we raise this our sacrifice of praise.
For each perfect gift of thine to our race so freely given, graces human and divine, flowers of earth and buds of heaven, Christ our God, to thee we raise this our sacrifice of praise.
Gathering (based on Psalm 66)
It is about time that we start making happy noises about God. Be bold about the proclamation and not be embarrassed to sing praises
We know from history all of the good works of God, of those who give witness and those who remind us of all that God constantly provides and does for us
Yes, we are tested, experience conflict, sorrow, pain
God uses these moments to help us find our inner strength, enabling us to carry on and we renew our promise to seek God in those times.
Are you seeking God? What things has God done for you?
God has accepted us despite our short comings and failures, listens when we cry out for help and responds. We proclaim praise to God, God will love us forever.
Shema “Hear O Israel”
Hear O Israel! God is one.
Love God with heart, mind, soul and strength.
Hear O Israel! God is one.
Love God with heart, mind, soul and strength.
As ourselves, let us love one another;
Nothing’s greater than this.
Hear O Israel! God is one.
Love God with heart, mind, soul and strength.
Hear O Israel! God is one.
Love God with heart, mind, soul and strength.
Collect of the Day
Merciful God, you have prepared for those who love you riches beyond imagination. Pour into our hearts such love toward you, that we, loving you above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Childrens Ministry time
Song: MV 104 Know that God is Good
Know that God is good, know that God is good,
know that God is good, God is good, God is good.
Know that God is good, know that God is good,
know that God is good, God is good, God is good.
C’est vrai: Dieu est bon! C’est vrai: Dieu et bon!
C’est vrai: Dieu est bon! Dieu est bon! Dieu est bon!
Know that God is good, know that God is good,
know that God is good, God is good, God is good.
The Proclamation of the Word
A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles 17:22-31
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring.” Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’
Living word of God live in our lives today
Psalm 66:8-20 Refrain: Be joyful in the Lord all you lands
Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip. For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs; you let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
Be joyful in the Lord all you lands
I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows, those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats.
Be joyful in the Lord all you lands
Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.
Be joyful in the Lord all you lands
A Reading from the first letter of Peter 3:13-22
Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
Living word of God live in our lives today
Gradual Hymn: 494 CP Not for Tongues of Heaven’s Angels
Not for tongues of heaven’s angels, not for wisdom to discern,
not for faith that masters mountains, for this better gift we yearn:
Refrain
may love be ours, Lord; may love be ours.
May love be ours, O Lord.
Love is humble, love is gentle, love is tender, true and kind;
love is gracious, ever patient, generous of heart and mind: Refrain
Never jealous, never selfish, love will not rejoice in wrong;
never boastful nor resentful, love believes and suffers long: Refrain
In the day this world is fading, faith and hope will play their part;
but when Christ is seen in glory, love shall reign in every heart: Refrain
The Lord be with you And also with you
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John 14:15-21
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you." I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
The Gospel of Christ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
Homily
Affirmation of Faith
On my best days, I believe that God is there—
standing in the sun with me,
laughing a contagious laugh and cheering me on.
On my hardest days, I believe that God is there—
standing in the rain with me,
holding me up and sharing in my grief.
No matter where I go—
in joy or in loss, in pain or in love, in heartache or in gratitude—
I believe that God is there, leaning in,
noticing where it hurts, and carrying me through it.
And so, I believe we are called
to care for each other as God cares for us.
On your best days in the sun
and on your worst days in the rain,
I will do my best to be there for you too. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession: Mothers Day Litany
The Peace
Offering Hymn: 645 CP Come Down, O Love Divine
Come down, O Love divine, seek thou this soul of mine, and visit it with thine own ardor glowing; O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear, and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.
O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn to dust and ashes in its heat consuming; and let thy glorious light shine ever on my sight, and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.
Let holy charity mine outward vesture be,
and lowliness become mine inner clothing;
true lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part,
and o’er its own short comings weeps with loathing.
And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long, shall far out-pass the power of human telling; for none can guess its grace, till they become the place wherein the Holy Spirit finds a dwelling.
Prayer over the Gifts God of glory, accept all we offer you this day, and bring us to that eternal city of love and light, where Christ is King. We ask this in his name. Amen
Eucharistic Prayer (Supplementary Prayer 2 ACC)
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to God our Creator.
It is right to offer thanks and praise.
Eternal God, Source of all being, we give you thanks and praise for your faithful love. You call us into friendship with you and one another to be your holy people, a sign of your presence in the world. When those we trust betray us, unfailingly you remain with us. When we injure others, you confront us in your love and call us to the paths of righteousness. You stand with the weak, and those, broken and alone, whom you have always welcomed home, making the first last, and the last first.
Therefore we raise our voices with angels and archangels, forever praising you and singing:
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might Heaven and Earth of your glory are full Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest. Blessed is one who comes in the name of the Lord
Blessed is one who comes in the name of the Lord
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might Heaven and Earth of your glory are full Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest.
Blessed are you, O Holy One:
when Hagar was driven into the wilderness you followed her and gave her hope.
When Joseph was sold into bondage, you turned malice to your people’s good.
When you called Israel out of slavery, you brought them through the wilderness into the promised land. When your people were taken into exile you wept with them by the river of Babylon and carried them home.
Restore us, O God, let your face shine!
At the right time you sent your Anointed One to stand with the poor, the outcast, and the oppressed.
Jesus touched lepers, and the sick, and healed them.
He accepted water from a woman of Samaria and offered her the water of new life. Christ knew the desolation of the cross and opened the way for all humanity into the redemption of your reconciling love.
On the night he was betrayed, Jesus, at supper with his friends,
took bread, gave you thanks, broke the bread, gave it to them, and said,
“Take and eat: this is my body which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”
After supper he took the cup of wine, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said,
“Drink this, all of you: this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”
Loving and Holy One, recalling Christ’s death and resurrection, we offer you these gifts, longing for the bread of tomorrow and the wine of the age to come. Therefore, we proclaim our hope.
Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory.
Pour out your Spirit on these gifts that through them you may sustain us in our hunger for your peace.
We hold before you all whose lives are marked by suffering, our sisters and brothers.
When we are broken and cast aside, embrace us in your love.
Restore us, O God, let your face shine!
Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory are yours,
O Source of all life, now and for ever. Amen
The Lord's Prayer (sung: Cameron)
Breaking of the Bread
Lord, we died with you on the cross.
Now we are raised to new life.
We were buried in your tomb.
Now we share in your resurrection.
Live in us, that we may live in you.
These are the Gifts of God for the people of God
Thanks be to God
The Communion
Hymns during Communion: If You Love Me Sweet Sweet Spirit
Prayer after Communion: Loving God, you restored us to life by raising your Son from death. May we who receive this sacrament always be strengthened to do your will, in the name of Jesus Christ the risen Lord. Amen.
The Doxology
Glory to God, whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Blessing
Announcements
Hymn: 536 CP Singing Songs of Expectation
Singing songs of expectation, onward goes the pilgrim band, through the night of doubt and sorrow, marching to the promised land. Clear before us through the darkness gleams and burns the guiding light: trusting God, we march together stepping fearless through the night. One the light of God’s own presence, o’er his ransomed people shed, chasing far the gloom and terror, brightening all the path we tread: one the object of our journey, one the faith which never tires, one the earnest looking forward, one the hope our God inspires. One the strain the lips of thousands lift as from the heart of one; one the conflict, one the peril, one the march in God begun: one the gladness of rejoicing on the far eternal shore, where the one almighty Creator reigns in love for evermore.
Dismissal Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God. Alleluia
Postlude: Joyful Joyful