Order of Service Sunday 6 May 2012

WELCOME AND NOTICES

GATHERING:
The  days are shortening, leaves continue to fall.  Soon there will be days when the sun struggles  to warm the air.  Yet we come in joy to worship,  for the Son is our promise of life transformed.
While the soil will soon sip on the frost and snows of winter as creation rests to restore its energy,  in preparation for a new cycle of growth;
we come seeking new growth.
God of grace, God of companionship, move among us this day, that we may see your face, in the faces of friends and strangers;  that we may hear your voice, in the voices of those with us;
that we may sense your  touch, in the encounters with each other. Amen.

HYMN:  25 Sing Praise and Thanksgiving

PRAYER OF CONFESSION & THE LORD’S PRAYER

TIME WITH THE CHILDREN

PRACTISE HYMNS:
There’s a Spirit in the Air   (Tune: Lauds)
There’s a Spirit in the air,
telling Christians everywhere:
“Praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working in our world.”

Lose your shyness, find your tongue
tell the world what God has done:
God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow’s life today!          © Brian Wren
Go, Tell Everyone
God’s Spirit is in my heart, ?He has called me and set me apart. ?This is what I have to do, ?what I have to do.
He sent me to give the Good News to the poor, ?Tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more, ?Tell blind people that they can see, ?And set the downtrodden free ?And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come, ?And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come. ??And just as the Father sent me, ?So I’m sending you out to be ?My witnesses throughout the world, ?The whole of the world.
READINGS:  Acts 8: 26-40    ~  David Hodder
Philip takes a ride on a chariot with an Ethiopian official.
Starting with the prophecy of Isaiah, Phillip explains the good news about Jesus. The Ethiopian is then baptised and carries on his way rejoicing.

John 15:1-8   ~  Deborah Fitchett
Jesus is the true vine. Those that stay joined to him will produce much fruit.

SERMON: The Final, I Am

A TIME OF QUIET

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

OFFERING
We dedicate ourselves to love, to recognizing and realizing the connections that bind us to each other, that make us one with one another like branches on a tree or like fruit on a vine. We dedicate ourselves to you, God,  the source of love; and to working with you,  that the Good News of Jesus may be known.
Bless this offering that it may be used in your service.
Bless this bread and this wine, that through  your Holy Spirit
they may be food and drink for the journey, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

THE INVITATION TO COMMUNION

THE PEACE

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))