A separate video feed of the choir will be available here during the service.

Preacher Revd George Mwaura
Celebrant Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Gathering Music

Welcome

Opening Prayer

Brothers and sisters, as we gather together to worship God and to renew our covenant,
let us pray that the vision of unity will one day be fulfilled in all its richness
in God’s own time, in its own pace, in its own way, as the Spirit leads the Church into the future.

God our Father, you are the source of all unity and love.
Help us to grow that we may pray, live and work together
to manifest clearly the unity of your Church in Jesus,
that filled with your Spirit,
we may accomplish here the mission of your Church.

Amen

Hymn: For I’m building a people of power

For I’m building a people of power
and I’m making a people of praise,
that will move through this land by My Spirit,
and will glorify My precious Name.
Build Your Church, Lord,
make us strong, Lord,
join our hearts, Lord, through Your Son.
Make us one, Lord,
in Your Body,
in the Kingdom of Your Son.

Dave Richards
CCL31580

Prayers of Repentance

We confess to you, living God,
our failure to live as brothers and sisters.

We confess to you, loving God,
that we have not loved you as you have loved us.

We confess to you, gracious God,
that we have doubted your Word and failed to obey its teaching.

We confess to you, merciful God,
our desire to own you and contain you within our doctrines and theologies.

We confess to you, almighty God,
that we do not acknowledge you as Lord of all the earth.

[Silence]

Jesus said: ‘Let me give you a new commandment:
Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.
This is how everyone will recognise that you are my disciples
when they see the love you have for each other.’

Gracious God, thank you for your assurance of forgiveness, now and always.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

Living God, you created us as a people
and claimed us for your own by the precious blood of your Son and our Lord.
As we come before you this day to acknowledge your Sovereignty and grace,
and to renew our covenant with you and our brothers and sisters,
we pray that you will reveal any reluctance or falsehood within us.
Let your Spirit impress the truth of your desire for us to be one with each other
as you are One with Christ.

Amen

Psalm 33

Read by Rosemary Kearsey

¹ How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!

² It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
³ It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life for evermore.

NIV®

This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

John 17: 20–23

Read by Chibby Chima-Okoro

Jesus prays for all believers

²⁰ ‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – ²³ I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

NIV®

This is the Gospel of Christ.
Praise to Christ our light.

Meditation

By Revd George Mwaura

Choral Response

An Affirmation of Faith

We believe in the Creator:
the maker of all things.

We believe in the Son:
the redeemer of our broken world.

We believe in the Spirit:
The sacred wind that binds all things together in the family of God.

Creator Father, beloved Son and living Spirit.

Amen

Prayers and Intercessions

Led by Ann Wilson

Act of Covenant Renewal

[The Ministers] Having committed ourselves to serve God as a family at Cornerstone,
we remember the covenant that makes us one Christian community here in Central Milton Keynes,
and we renew it together.

[All together] Believing that the unity of the Church is the will of God,
we, the members and ministers of the congregations
at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone,
hereby covenant upon the foundation of the recognition
that we have one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism;
for we share a Gospel which effects reconciliation between God and humankind
and between nations and peoples.

[Women] Travelling as pilgrims on a journey that has already started
and which will lead we know not where,
we are pleased to place our trust in God,
in whose hands the future lies,
and to be led forward by him.

[Men] In order to proclaim the Gospel by common witness
and service in the community and the world,
and in obedience to God’s call, through the power of the Holy Spirit,
we therefore joyfully covenant with one another:

[All together] to work together in love,
to pray and care for one another and for our neighbour,
to serve together the community based in the city centre
and to live together in fellowship to the greater glory of God.

Amen

The Peace

Peace to you from God, who is our Father.
Peace from Jesus Christ, who is our peace.
Peace from the Holy Spirit, who gives us life.

The peace of God be always with you.
and also with you.

Let us offer one another a sign of peace.

Hymn: The Church’s one foundation

The Church’s one foundation
is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the Word;
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride,
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

Elect from every nation,
yet one o’er all the earth,
her charter of salvation
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.

’Mid toil, and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great Church victorious
shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
with God the Three in One,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is one:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.

J. Stone (1830–1900)
CCL31580

The Thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation.
Through your goodness we have this bread to offer,
which earth has given and human hands have made.
It will become for us the bread of life.

Blessed be God for ever.

Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation.
Through your goodness we have this wine to offer,
fruit of the vine and work of human hands.
It will become our spiritual drink.

Blessed be God for ever.

The Lord be with you
and also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give thanks and praise.

Holy Communion

It is right to praise you, Father, Lord of all creation; in your love you made us for yourself.
When we turned away you did not reject us, but came to meet us in your Son.
You embraced us as your children and welcomed us to sit and eat with you.
In Christ you shared our life that we might live in him and he in us.
He opened his arms of love upon the cross and made for all the perfect sacrifice for sin.

On the night he was betrayed,
at supper with his friends he took bread, and gave you thanks;
he broke it and gave it to them, saying:
Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of me.

Father, we do this in remembrance of him:
his body is the bread of life.

At the end of supper, taking the cup of wine,
he gave you thanks, and said:
Drink this, all of you;
this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins;
do this in remembrance of me.

Father, we do this in remembrance of him:
his blood is shed for all.

As we proclaim his death and celebrate his rising in glory,
send your Holy Spirit that this bread and this wine may be to us the body and blood of your dear Son.

As we eat and drink these holy gifts make us one in Christ, our risen Lord. With your whole Church throughout the world we offer you this sacrifice of praise and lift our voice to join the eternal song of heaven:

Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.

Amen

Breaking of the Bread

We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.

Though we are many, we are one body,
because we all share in one bread.

We take this bread and remember:

[Choir] The bread we share is a gift from God.
The bread we break is the body of Christ.

We take this cup and remember:

[Choir] The cup we share is a gift from God.
The wine we take is the blood of Christ.

Notices

Annual Multifaith Service: ‘Music and Worship’

7.15 for 7.30–9.00 pm this Monday, 7 November 2022, at Cornerstone

Please join InterfaithMK as they both demonstrate and explain the purpose and practice of music within worship. Religious music from Jewish, Hindu, Islamic, Christian and Buddhist backgrounds will be featured.

Delicious snacks and refreshments will follow!

David Rennie, Convenor, InterfaithMK

Poppies for Remembrance

Available from Reception in the run up to Remembrance Day, alongside the Royal British Legion’s red poppies there are the white poppies of the Peace Pledge Union. White poppies were first produced in the aftermath of the First World War to hold on to the key message of remembrance: ‘never again’. You can read more on the Peace Pledge Union website https://www.ppu.org.uk/remembrance-white-poppies. Some people wear white poppies instead of red poppies, other people wear both.

David Chapman

Advent 2022 Study Groups

The 2022 Advent study groups will use a resource produced by Faith and Worship entitled: ‘God with Us’, which explores the Advent story through the eyes of Matthew’s Gospel.

There will be four meetings, starting in the week commencing 21 November 2022. Some group meetings will be held on Zoom and others will be a combination of in-person and Zoom. There are currently three groups:

Day & time	Leaders	Zoom/In person	Availability
Tuesday 7.15 pm	Ian & Janet Trimnell	Zoom	No spaces
Wednesday 7.00 pm	Revd George Mwaura	Zoom	Spaces available
Thursday 7.30 pm	Stuart Kean	In person & Zoom	Spaces available

If you would like to lead another group or join any of these groups, please send a message to: living.stones.cccmk@gmail.com.

Deadline for registration: 18 November 2022.

Stuart Kean

Cornerstone Prayer Network

Prayer is central to our Christian fellowship. The Cornerstone Prayer Network is here for people who have asked us to pray for them. Please send your prayer requests to cornerstonechurch.prayernetwork@gmail.com and the details will be passed on to the members of the Prayer Network. If your prayer request is for someone else, please check with them before sending details to the Cornerstone Prayer Network.

If you would like to become a member of the Cornerstone Prayer Network, please send your details by email to cornerstonechurch.prayernetwork@gmail.com, or speak to June Halstead after a Service in the church.

Hymn: Bind us together

Bind us together, Lord,
bind us together with cords
that cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord,
bind us together,
bind us together with love.

There is only one God,
there is only one King.
There is only one Body,
that is why we sing:

Bind us together, Lord, …

Made for the glory of God,
purchased by his precious Son,
born with the right to be free,
for Jesus the victory has won.

Bind us together, Lord, …

You are the family of God,
you are the promise divine,
you are God’s chosen desire,
you are the glorious new wine.

Bind us together, Lord, …

Bob Gillman (b. 1946)
CCL31580

The Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you.
May the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you today and always.

Amen

The Dismissal

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
In the name of Christ.

Amen