11 August, 2017

Special Occasion Prayers

Celebrating Ministry with another ethnic congregation

God of our beginnings and endings,
we celebrate all that our congregations have shared together,
we thank you for those with the foresight to set up this congregation,
and we thank you for the pioneering people who have enabled this,
we thank you for the Methodist Church, the Otara congregations
we thank you for the Anglican Church, the Papakura congregations
and all who have made this possible,
and we thank you for all who join in together,
because it is our togetherness that has created this space and place.

We thank you for your continued blessing,
and that we can celebrate today as a marker on our journey,
as we celebrate our first anniversary.

May the love that is in our hearts be a bond that unites us forever,
wherever we may be.

May the power of your presence bless this moment;
this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.

As we re-commit this congregation to you Gracious God,
we pray your blessing upon everyone here,
and everyone yet to come.

As we continue in your service may we know the assurance of your presence,
the gifts of your grace and the wonder of your love in all Creation.

Be to us a sure guide through our lives and all connected with us. Amen.

Dedication of an Electric Organ

My colleague, Revd Terry Molloy wrote the prayer of dedication used in this service. We blessed the organ after the call to worship, and before the first song.

Blessing of the Organ

Psalm 150

Whakamoemititia a Ihowa/ Praise God in his holy house of worship,

praise him under the open skies;

Praise him for his acts of power,

praise him for his magnificent greatness;

Praise with a blast on the trumpet,

praise by strumming soft strings;

Praise him with castanets and dance,

praise him with banjo and flute;

Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum,

praise him with fiddles and mandolin.

Let every living, breathing creature praise GOD!

Praise God.

Prayer of Dedication

God, you commanded Moses that trumpets should sound
at the offering of sacrifices in your name.

Your will was that Israel should proclaim the glory of your name with instruments.

Bless this organ and sound system, now dedicated to your worship.

We ask that we your faithful people here on earth will praise you with songs,
worthy of your eternal joy in heaven.

We ask this in Jesus’ name, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Pentecost Sunday

Invocation

Creator God, you are our God, and we worship you.

We thank you for your mercy and love.

Holy Spirit,
we have remembered your first coming in power.

Today in anticipation, like the first disciples waiting for your coming, empowering Spirit, we watch and pray.

Silence

Holy Spirit of God, meet us in this moment as you met the apostles of old.

Be with us, Holy Spirit,

bring faith and hope, we pray.

Come Holy Spirit,

be present in your power.

Song

BE STILL AND KNOW

Light candle

New birth for us by water and the Spirit is your gift, a gift that none can take away;
grant that we may grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ.
Fill us with the joy of your presence.
Increase in us the fruit of your Spirit:
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of love, patience and gentleness,
the spirit of wonder and true holiness. AMEN.

Thanksgiving for ministry

I am uncertain who is the original author of this. The Prayer part comes from a Celebration service at St Stephen’s Onerahi by John Marcon. John chose Psalm 147, I changed the translation to The Message. The Song of Praise is from ANZPB.

Please stand

Psalm of Praise

Hallelujah!

It’s a good thing to sing praise to our God; praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.

God’s the one who rebuilds Jerusalem, who re-gathers Israel’s scattered exiles.

He heals the heartbroken and bandages their wounds.

He counts the stars and assigns each a name.

Our Lord is great, with limitless strength; we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.

God puts the fallen on their feet again and pushes the wicked into the ditch.

Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn, play music on your instruments to God,
who fills the sky with clouds, preparing rain for the earth,
then turning the mountains green with grass, feeding both cattle and crows.

Prayer

God of all time you are our God,
you created us and our years belong to you, we are yours.

Our endings are often your beginnings.
Our dreamings are often your realities.
You affirm our past and give life to our future.

God our Creator, we celebrate 150 years of Anglican outreach,
teaching, nurture, sending forth and worship
centred around this building built to your Glory.

We thank you for your encouragement and empowerment.

We will continue to seek your ways and renew our commitment to your call. Amen.

Song of Praise

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 Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in Heaven…