Service for Sunday 12th May, which was conducted by Mrs Moana (Ana) Teulilo-Schaaf

Welcome: –

Call to Worship: –

( Psalm 1) NIV

¹Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

²but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

³That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

⁴Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Prayer of Praise

You, loving God, are the ground of our being and the river of life; you both steady our roots and draw them to seek the living waters.

You are like the sunlight enticing us taller and like the breeze rustling our leaves. You are with us through hard seasons of summer heat, and in the nights when winter’s frost ice the landscape your love warms and sustains us. You are everything to us.

O let our gratitude be great, let our praise be plentiful, let our worship be wonder-full! Through Christ Jesus your ever-living Son.

Amen!

You are invited to listen to or join in singing a medley of 3 songs:

‘I WILL SING OF THE MERCIES OF THE LORD FOREVER’ SIS 404James Fillmore

THE STEADFAST LOVE OF THE LORD NEVER CEASES SIS 414 Edith McNeill

PRAISE THE NAME OF JESUS SIS 111 Roy Hicks

Prayer of Confession

(Responsive)

God of grace and God of glory, in your glory may we find grace, and in your grace may we find your glory.

Shed your light around us and within us, that the shabby things we do and the shabby things that inhabit the dark recesses of our minds, may be revealed for what they are.

Please do not allow us to hide from the unpalatable truth, or having glimpsed the truth, do not permit us to cover up our tardy response with vain self-justifications.

Mercifully confront us, expose, judge and reclaim us from all evil. Forgive both our sins and our excuses.

Help us, wherever it is possible, to humbly apologise and make restitution to those whom we have wronged.

Let your grace abound in our lives, enabling us to merciful towards any who have wronged us, and supportive of those who have failed badly and seek a new start.

In the name of Christ Jesus our Saviour, we ask this.

Amen!

Assurance of Forgiveness

“This is the testimony of God: That God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. They who have the Son of God have life.”

Receive the grace of God’s Son and begin anew, no longer dragging your feet for shame.

Our sins are forgiven.

Thanks be to God.

Prayer of illumination –

Leading onto the scripture reading.

Lord, thou hast given us thy Word for alight to shine upon our path, grant us so to meditate on that Word, and to follow its teaching, that we may find in it the light that shines more and more until the perfect day, through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

Bible Readings

Acts 1:15-17; 21-26 (NIV)

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) ¹⁶and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

²¹Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, ²²beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” ²³So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. ²⁴Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen ²⁵to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” ²⁶Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

This is the Word of God

Praise to you Almighty God.

John 17:6-19 (NIV)

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

⁶“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

¹³“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

This is the Gospel of our Lord

Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

You are invited to listen to or join in singing: ‘How great Thou Art’ TiS 155

Sermon: –Theme: Life Together

We Pray:

Your word, O Lord, is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path, amen.

An ancient saying suggested that there are two wings by which we rise, ONE being personal piety and the OTHER community charity. No one can fly by flapping only one wing. It is impossible to be sincere in our worship of God without expecting to do the will of God. It is equally impossible to do the full will of God without the guidance and empowerment of a vital personal relationship with God. As Allan Hunter (Doctorate in literature from Oxford University) has said, “Those who picket should also pray, and those who pray should also picket.”

The same combination of devotional vitality and social action is also emphasized in the two great commandments of Jesus – to love God with all one’s being and to love other persons as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).

There are certain personal attitudes and feelings that contribute to creative relationships with others. The include, for one thing, warm acceptance and understanding instead of rejection or hostility. Even when we disagree with or regret the action another, we can emphasize “I still love you,” instead of “You really were a fool.”

When disagreement is called for, we can be honest and open instead of masked and hidden. Instead of remaining silent, we can speak out when a different position needs to be expressed. But such a reaction can be held within a framework of basic support for the other. We can help others feel that we are still on their side when it comes to appreciating and encouraging them as persons.

This internalizing of openness to God and concern for neighbors is what it means to be a Christian, rather than simply to act like a Christian.

That the church can produce this kind of person is a persuasive recommendation for the church.

Within the fellowship of the church, we help one another become such Christians. Here we can become comrades of our better selves. We support one another in our highest resolves. An entire searching congregation turns our attention to the liberation of unrealized possibilities as we respond to the upward call of God. Even one other person or a small subgroup within the church can sustain our determination to spend more time at devotions and to act differently in society.

In such a combination, we are to love both God and neighbor. We cannot fully do either without the other. We reach the ecstatic heights of a devotional life only as we also act creatively in society. Full creativity as consumer, worker, citizen, and friend is possibly only with the vision and power that comes from vital devotion.

To “turn on” is to “turn up” toward God and to “turn out” toward neighbor.

Please turn to the person next to you and say: “Turn to God always.”

The two wings of soaring, liberated life are indeed devotion and action.

Without the solitude of heart, the intimacy of friendship, marriage and community life cannot be creative.

Without the solitude of heart, our relationships with others easily become needy and greedy, sticky and clinging, dependent and sentimental, exploitative and parasitic, because without the solitude of heart, we cannot experience the others as different from ourselves but only as people who can be used for the fulfilment of our own, often hidden, needs.

Our Gospel reading in John 17 vs 6: “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.”

They have obeyed your word. Christ’ prayer for protection, joy, sanctification, love and unity applies only to a particular people…..i.e; to those who belong to God, believe in Christ (vs 8), are separated from the world. (vs 14-16), and obey the Word of Christ and accept his teachings.

We must continue to obey and live the life together with God in his only begotten son Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Let us pray.

Brother and Sister, be held in the centre of Jesus Christ’s will today and know the joy, freedom, and power of walking by faith and in faithfulness. Amen

You are invited to listen to or join in singing ‘God has spoken by his prophets’ (TiS158)

Offering

Offering Prayer

Prayers for Others

(Responsive)

We have been invited to live the divine call to love God and our neighbour as ourselves. As we renew our commitment to this call, may this love strengthen our unity as Christians.

With all our hearts, we desire to dwell in God’s love and to have the grace to love our neighbour as ourselves.

God of boundless love, we pray that all people may come to know your unlimited mercy and believe in your desire to fill us with your infinite love.