Presiding Minister: Revd George Mwaura

Welcome

Gathering Prayer

We gather this day to worship almighty God, and to pray for our King,
that, both now and always, God may grant him wisdom and grace for his ministry among us.

[Silence]

Welcome to the house of God.
We have come from all the corners of the earth.

Welcome to the hospitality of God.
We come as we are; we bring our life, our stories, our journey.

Welcome, brothers and sisters.
We are the rainbow people of God.

Welcome, chosen people.
May God our companion bind us in his love.

Amen

Hymn: All creatures of our God and King

All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voice and with us sing
alleluia, alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
thou silver moon with softer gleam:
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
ye clouds that sail in heaven along,
O praise him, alleluia!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,
ye lights of evening, find a voice:
O praise him, ….

Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
make music for thy Lord to hear,
alleluia, alleluia!
Thou fire so masterful and bright,
that givest us both warmth and light:
O praise him, ….

Dear mother earth, who day by day
unfoldest blessings on our way,
O praise him, alleluia!
The flowers and fruits that in thee grow
let them his glory also show.
O praise him, ….

And all who are of tender heart,
forgiving others, take your part,
O sing ye, alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
praise God and on him cast your care.
O praise him, ….

And thou, most kind and gentle death,
waiting to hush our latest breath,
O praise him, alleluia!
Thou leadest home the child of God,
and Christ our Lord the wat hath trod:
O praise him, ….

Let all things their Creator bless,
and worship him in humbleness,
O praise him, alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, Three in One.
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

William Henry Draper (1855–1935)
based on St Francis of Assisi’s ‘Cantico do Frate Sole’
CCL31580

Prayer of Approach

Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness,
bless our Sovereign Lord, King Charles, and all who are in authority under him;
that they may order all things in wisdom and equity, righteousness and peace,
to the honour of your name, and the good of your Church and people;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Confession

Holy God, whose perfect nature challenges and changes us, our guilt weighs heavy on our shoulders.
It saddens us that we fail you so often when we fail our families, friends, and neighbours;
fail to recognise need; fail to see how we can be the hand that guides,
the love that enfolds, the word that strengthens.

Forgive us that we deliberately look the other way and avoid the hard challenges you call us to.
Forgive us, O God, for our failings, our deafness,
and our blindness in reaching out and offering your love.

[Silence]

Your love is abundant, your forgiveness unimaginable, O God.
May we hear your still small voice that says,
‘My child, my much-loved child, your sins are forgiven,
your slate wiped clean, the weight of your guilt removed.
Go in peace to love and serve your neighbour.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

God of surprises, you go on ahead to prepare a place for us.
We hope and believe that it will be a place where: barriers are broken to reflect your justice.
A place where life is lived to reflect your righteousness.
A place where wholeness and well-being reflect your peace.
A place of quiet gentleness to reflect your compassion.
A place of warm-hearted tenderness to reflect your love.
A place of graceful selflessness to reflect your humility.

But we live in the here and now, and as we wait with anticipation and hope,
we build your kingdom right here and right now.

Amen

Ministry of the Word

1 Peter 2: 2–10

Read by Pat Kyd

² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:

‘See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.’</span

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,’

⁸ and,

‘A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.’

They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

NIV®

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

John 14: 1–14

Read by Robin Kyd

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

¹‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.’

Jesus the Way to the Father

⁵ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’

⁶ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’

⁸ Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’

⁹ Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

NIV®

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

Meditation

By Revd George Mwaura

[Silence]

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 Grace Hunting

The Peace

God has made us one in Christ.
He has set his seal upon us and, as a pledge of what is to come,
has given the Spirit to dwell in our hearts.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.
and also with you.

Let us offer one another a sign of peace.

Hymn: Meekness and majesty

Meekness and majesty, manhood and deity,
in perfect harmony, the Man who is God.
Lord of eternity dwells,
kneels in humility and washes our feet.

O what a mystery, meekness and majesty,
bow down and worship for this is your God,
this is your God.

Father’s pure radiance, perfect in innocence,
yet learns obedience to death on a cross.
Suffering to give us life, conquering through sacrifice,
and as they crucify prays: ‘Father forgive.’

O what a mystery, …

Wisdom unsearchable, God the invisible,
love indestructible in frailness appears.
Lord of infinity, stooping so tenderly,
lifts our humanity to the heights of his throne.

O what a mystery, …

Graham Kendrick (b. 1950)
CCL31580

Holy Communion

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 is here.
His Spirit is with us.

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.

Almighty God, good Father to us all, your face is turned towards your world.
In love you gave us Jesus your Son to rescue us from sin and death.
Your Word goes out to call us home to the city where angels sing your praise.

We join with them in heaven’s song:

Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

We bless the name of Jesus, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
whose brokenness and suffering makes love real,
who on the night in which he was betrayed took bread,
gave thanks, broke it and gave it to his disciples saying,

Take, eat. This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

After supper he took the cup saying,

Drink from this, all of you, this is my blood given for you.
Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.

This is the mystery of our faith.

Christ has died:
Christ is risen:
Christ will come again.

Therefore, as we eat this bread and drink this cup,
we acknowledge brokenness as a path to truth.
We long for the bread of tomorrow: eternally broken and so able to nourish.
We long for the new wine of the kingdom: continuously poured out that thirst may be quenched.

Send your Spirit on us now,
that by these gifts we may feed on Christ with opened eyes and hearts on fire.
May we and all who share this food offer ourselves to live for you
and be welcomed at your feast in heaven, where all creation worships you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

Blessing and honour and glory and power
be yours for ever and ever.

Amen

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

The Communion

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.

Amen

Draw near with faith.
Receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which he gave for you,
and his blood which he shed for you.
Eat and drink in remembrance that he died for you,
and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

Post Communion Prayer

Eternal Father, we thank you for nourishing us with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith, build us up in hope, and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Notices

Cornerstone celebration of Coronation

Raise a toast to King Charles III! Come and join everyone for coffee after the morning Service this Sunday to celebrate with cake and fizz.

Season of Pentecost Wednesday Bible study

Friends,

Welcome to this exciting and fresh look into the study of the parables of the Kingdom. Together, during the season of Pentecost, we shall endeavour to peel off the layers of time using the wisdom of the Holy Spirt and the tools available to us to look afresh into the parables of Jesus. By talking about familiar situations, Jesus introduced concepts of God’s Kingdom into the minds of his listeners. I highly caution interpreting the parables of Jesus as short, moralistic lessons; this can cause problems. Instead, we should see these stories as important ways that Jesus communicated how he was bringing the Kingdom of God into the world of the Jews and the gentiles. ‘But why study the parables?’ you might ask. Well, the importance of the parables can hardly be overestimated. They comprise a substantial part of the recorded preaching of Jesus. The parables are generally regarded by scholars as among the sayings which we can confidently ascribe to the historical Jesus; they are, for the most part, authentic words of Jesus. Parables open our eyes to deeper insights into Christ and his Kingdom, and give us a greater glimpse into the spiritual realm.

We shall look at parables in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, but mostly concentrate on the parables in the New Testament. We shall study them under the two headings of: The Nature of the Kingdom and the Ethics of the Kingdom.  I am really excited about this exploration, and I invite you register your interest with Pat Kyd, our Bible study secretary if you are not registered yet. As usual, we meet on Wednesdays at 7.00 pm for about an hour and a quarter. Our first session is on 10 May 2023. Welcome everyone!

Blessing, y’all
Revd G.

Christian Aid Week

14–20 May 2023

Visit the Christian Aid website https://www.christianaid.org.uk/ to find out about the projects that your donations for Christian Aid Week 2023 will be supporting. Donations can be made easily using the Christian Aid website.

Thy Kingdom Come

18–28 May 2023 – Ascension Day to Pentecost

Churches Together in Milton Keynes (CTMK) are organising a range of services and events across Milton Keynes throughout the period from Ascension Day to Pentecost. At Cornerstone there will be prayer stations set up with the themes of Thy Kingdom Come, and the Chapel will be open and available to all who would like make use of it for prayer. The Chapel will be open Monday–Friday 8.30 am – 5.00 pm, Saturday 9.00 am – 6.30 pm, Sunday 9.00 am – 12.00 noon & 4.00–6.30 pm. For more details of Thy Kingdom Come visit the CTMK website at: https://www.ctmk.church/2023/04/thy-kingdom-come-2023.html.

Eco Church Workshop

10.00 am – 1.00 pm Saturday, 10 June 2023

Please join us for a workshop being organised by the Cornerstone Eco Church Group to learn from the experiences of other local Eco Churches. We’re delighted that Simon Brown, who is A Rocha’s Coordinator for Speakers, has kindly agreed to speak and to facilitate the workshop. The workshop will take place on Saturday, 10 June2023 at Cornerstone from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm. Please bring your own packed lunch. Please contact stuart.kean@gmail.com for more information.

Stuart Keane, for Cornerstone Eco Church Group

Menopause Café

Once a month in the Cornerstone Café 2.30–4.30 pm, starting this Wednesday (10 May 2023). Tea or coffee and cake will be available, courtesy of Milton Keynes City Council.

Offering

Final Prayer

Send us out, Lord, into your world.
Draw us closer to yourself by your Spirit,
so that others may see your presence in us in all we do and say and are.
In Jesus’ name.

Amen

Hymn: God is working his purpose out

God is working his purpose out
as year succeeds to year,
God is working his purpose out
and the time is drawing near;
nearer and nearer draws the time,
the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled with the
glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

From utmost east to utmost west
where human foot hath trod,
by the mouth of many messengers
goes forth the voice of God.
‘Give ear to me, ye continents,
ye isles give ear to me,
that the earth may be filled with the
glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

What can we do to work God’s work,
to prosper and increase
the friendship of all humankind,
the reign of the Prince of Peace?
What can we do to hasten the time,
the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled with the
glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

March we forth in the strength of God
with the banner of Christ unfurled,
that the light of the glorious Gospel of
truth may shine throughout the world.
Fight we the fight with sorrow and sin,
to set their captives free,
that the earth may be filled with the
glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

All we can do is nothing worth
unless God blesses the deed;
vainly we hope for the harvest-tide
till God give life to the seed;
yet nearer and nearer draws the time,
the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled with the
glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

A.C. Ainger (1841–1919)
CCL31580

Blessing

God grant to the living, grace;
to the departed, rest;
to the Church, the King, the Commonwealth and all people, unity, peace and concord;
to us and all God’s servants life everlasting.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.

Amen

Dismissal

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

Amen