3. Join the mystic dance of species,
Chaining, weaving, circling, one
Strong-competing, close depending,
Life swift ending, new begun.
Sing our senseful keen awareness-
Form and sound, scent, taste and hue.
High achieving, passing, transient-
Living, dying born anew.
WELCOME (by Fionnaigh McKenzie)
Mihi ki te whenua
Greetings to this land
To the icy June winds that race across the harbour
To the Tararua mountains, dusted with snow
To the harbour, storm-tossed and grey
He mihi aroha
Mihi ki nga mate
Greetings to the dead,
to our ancestors
who laid down the path we walk on
and to loved ones
whose absence still aches like an open wound
He mihi aroha
Mihi ki a koutou katoa
And warmest greetings to all of you
If this is your first visit to St Andrew’s
or if you have returned after an absence
we welcome you.
Your presence enriches us
and this time together.
He mihi aroha.
RAINBOW ROOM CANDLE
TIME WITH THE CHILDREN
PASSING THE PEACE
THE WORD IN TEXTS
First Testament: Ezekiel 17:22-24
Gospel Mark: 4:26-34
Contemporary Reading: The Night Sky, by Joy Cowley
Oh God, when I stand under the stars
I am filled with nameless awe
at the immensity of your presence
and I wonder how, in my daily thinking
I can make you so small.
Oh Holy One, the All of existence
How can I claim to know your mind?
How can my tiny words describe the Word
that brought this universe into being?
Could it be that I worship and idol
of my own making?
In your all-pervading presence, you know
The limitations of the human heart.
Have you given us this night sky
this vision of galaxies growing and unfolding
to remind us that we have two gods
one that we make in our image
and the One who made us?
Oh God, I stand under the stars
filled with nameless awe.
RESPONSE
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church
Thanks be to God.
JESUS PRAYER
E Te Atua Aroha
Kia whakatapu tou Ingoa
Loving God, in whom is heaven
May your name be kept pure
Kia tae mai tou rangatiratanga.
your new day come, your will be done
on earth as in heaven
Homai ki a matou aianei
he taro ma matou mo tenei ra.
With the bread we need for today feed us
Murua o matou hara,
Me matou hoki e muru nei
io te hunga e hara ana ki a matou.
In the hurts we absorb from one another,
forgive us.
Aua hoki matou e kawea kia whakawaia;
Engari whakaorangia matou i te kino:
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great too endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
Nou te ihi, te wehi
Te mana aroha
ake ake ake
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
Now and forever.
Amen.
HYMN: AA 113 Our life has its seasons
Matariki is a time to learn about whanau
and to remember those who have passed on from this world.
READING: Waka 16, Kua Wheturangitia Koe by Robert Sullivan
Beloved sent to Hawaiki
to become a star
who guides
dreamers to reality
to become a star
portrait on the cloak
of a night on whose
shoulders rest
dreams
of a restless people
who dream white
waves of currency
waka rides
and falls
black and blue
with only stars
to point away since
sun and moon
are tagged for domination
yet stars are
ancestors
they are stars
our ancestors
and we will be stars
like kauri
totara
kahikatea
rimu
awa
tapped for fire
sapped for gum
used for battle
construction materials
veins into dams
where the power
of the land powers
a mechanical culture
strange ships in the sky
air filled with radiation
we’re vacuumed into this
culture of menace to the land
we’re told we’d do this too if
we had the technology
and our people do it
to the land, for people
by people, and this land
joins the congress of scars
on the planet, a culture
of urban decay and renewal
a culture of dead capitals
sucking the life out of new
cities a culture that knows
no boundaries has only
prophesies, called strategies
and stars look down on this and eyes
of divinities
look down on stars
and eyes
of the powerless look up
but only at night
when machines
lighten blackness
when many stars
are lost in the lightning
except in the papakainga,
from tops of pa
from middle of ocean
from these places stars
meant to be seen can be.
A TIME TO REMEMBER
There is a star inside your service sheet. During this time you may like to write the name of someone who has died in the past year, or an ancestor, on the star, and bring it up the front to place on the cloth “sky”.
WAIATA Whiti Te Marama by Hirini Melbourne
POEM Shortest Day, by Brian Hardie
God, we are hankering after more light
We are tired of short days and long nights.
Our feet hardly touch the floor,
We only seem to begin the day
When night closes in on us,
and we are preparing again for our beds.
God, we need more light to brighten up our day.
We need more light to find our way in the world.
We need more heat to take the stiffness out of our bones,
So we can keep up with life and laugh on at the world.
God, too much darkness makes life dull,
even on the best of days.
Lift off this dim bewilderment.
Let the bright light of your love
shine into our world to brighten up the horizon.
God, we are sick of being in the dark.
We want to feel your penetrating insight
calling in the summer, shrugging off the winter,
waking up the spring,
to make our spirit glad, and bright, full of play.
God, on the shortest day
we are craving a bit of light,
to stave off our week of night.
Make your presence felt
with fresh enlightenment,
to lift us up with the wonder
of your dawning insight, today.
One of the themes of Matariki is conservation.
and respect for the earth.
POEM By Nancy Wood
The earth is all that lasts.
The earth is what I speak to when I do not understand my life
nor why I am not heard
The earth answers me with the same song
that it sang for my fathers when
their tears covered up the sun.
The earth sings a song of gladness
The earth sings a song of praise
The earth rises up and laughs at me
Each time that I forget
How spring begins with winter
and death begins with birth.
REFLECTION: DVD: Renewing the Sacred Balance
Seeking Common Ground for The Common Good
A Canadian Inter-faith Project, www.faith-commongood.net
HYMN AA 77 Jesus Comes to Me as a Springtime Tree
LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY OF ST ANDREW’S
People share news and notices and visitors are welcomed.
OFFERING AND PRAYER OF DEDICATION
We recognise and bless the gifts brought to the table
and those given to support the mission of the church
through automatic payments.
POEM Winter by Michael Leunig
We give thanks for the blessing of winter:
Season to cherish the heart
To make warmth and quiet for the heart
To make soups and broths for the heart
To cook for the heart and read for the heart
To curl up softly and nestle with the heart
To sleep deeply and gently at one with the heart
To dream with the heart
To spend time with the heart
A long, long time of peace with the heart
We give thanks for the blessing of winter
Season to cherish the heart.
HYMN AA 26 Come to Our Land
PRAYERS OF SOLIDARITY
CIRCLE OF PRAYER
In our circle of prayer today we think of all those who are working to care for our fragile earth. We remember those who work to nurture Te Reo Maori, teachers and learners alike. We pray for all those who strive for peace and understanding amongst the peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand
PRAYER FOR ST ANDREW’S (on pew card)
BLESSING (by Fionnaigh McKenzie)
As we near the shortest day of the year
we teeter on the brink of a promise
of hope and light.
The cold winds of winter
whisper of spring.
May the beauty of the earth
Fill you with wonder.
May the love of your ancestors
wrap around you like a cloak.
May this new year be bursting with possibilities
unfurling like fern fronds.
May your life be filled with blessings
as numerous as the stars.
HYMN AA 31 E Te Atua (Tune: Kum buy yah)
E te Atua aroha mai x 3
Ake ake tonu e x 2
E te Atua manaaki mai x 3
Ake ake tonu e x 2
E te Atua awhina mai x 3
ake ake tonu e x 2
SUNG AMEN
He mihi tino nui, thank you to the children who have led today’s service.