Preacher: Revd George Mwaura
Celebrant: Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Gathering Music

Welcome

Almighty, eternal, everlasting God,
you are love, you are truth, you are merciful and just.
We come to worship you.

[Silence]

Welcome to the hospitality 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 my hope on God is founded

All my hope on God is founded;
he doth still my trust renew.
Me through change and chance he guideth,
only good and only true.
God unknown,
he alone
calls my heart to be his own.

God’s great goodness aye endureth
deep his wisdom, passing thought:
splendour, light, and life attend him,
beauty springeth out of naught.
Evermore
from his store
new-born worlds rise and adore.

Daily doth th’Almighty giver
bounteous gifts on us bestow;
his desire our soul delighteth,
pleasure leads us where we go.
Love doth stand
at his hand;
joy doth wait on his command.

Still from man to God eternal
sacrifice of praise be done,
high above all praises praising
for the gift of Christ his Son.
Christ doth call
one and all:
ye who follow shall not fall.

Robert Bridges (1844–1930)
CCL31580

Confession

We are sorry, God, that we are often weak and helpless.
Come O God, you are our Saviour, forgive us.

We are sorry, God, that we do not always like to hear the truth because it hurts.
Come O God, you are our Saviour, forgive us.

We are sorry, God, that we so often lack motivation to speak out
about the way of life and the gift of love you give to us.
Come O God, you are our Saviour, forgive us.

[Silence]

God, who is full of mercy, hears our confession, knows our penitence,
and forgives us our sins, our wrongdoing, our outbursts, and our silences.
Thanks be to God.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

Faithful God, give us courage to hear hard truths and wisdom to face them.
When your word challenges us, help us not turn away in anger or pride.
Like Jeremiah, make us bold to speak truth, even when it causes discomfort.
And like Jesus in Nazareth, grant us strength when those closest to us misunderstand our calling.
Remind us that true repentance means returning to you with our whole hearts, not just empty words.
Strip away our pretences.
Plant in us the humility to recognize where we resist your transforming work in our lives.
May we be a people who welcome your prophetic voice,
even when it disrupts our comfortable assumptions.

Amen

Ministry of the Word

Jeremiah 4: 1–10

Read by Kudakwashe Matare

¹ ‘If you, Israel, will return,
then return to me,’
declares the Lord.
‘If you put your detestable idols out of my sight
and no longer go astray,
² and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
you swear, “As surely as the Lord lives,”
then the nations will invoke blessings by him
and in him they will boast.’

³ This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:

‘Break up your unploughed ground
and do not sow among thorns.
⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
circumcise your hearts,
you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire
because of the evil you have done –
burn with no one to quench it.

Disaster From the North

⁵ ‘Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say:
“Sound the trumpet throughout the land!”
Cry aloud and say:
“Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities!”
⁶ Raise the signal to go to Zion!
Flee for safety without delay!
For I am bringing disaster from the north,
even terrible destruction.’

⁷ A lion has come out of his lair;
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his place
to lay waste your land.
Your towns will lie in ruins
without inhabitant.
⁸ So put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned away from us.

⁹ ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord,
’the king and the officials will lose heart,
the priests will be horrified,
and the prophets will be appalled.’

¹⁰ Then I said, ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, “You will have peace,” when the sword is at our throats!’

NIV®

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

Hymn: Christ for the world we sing!

Christ for the world we sing!
The world to Christ we bring
with fervent prayer
the wayward and the lost,
the restless passions tossed,
redeemed at countless cost
from dark despair.

Christ for the world we sing!
The world to Christ we bring
with one accord;
with us the work to share,
with us reproach to dare,
with us the cross to bear,
for Christ our Lord.

Christ for the world we sing!
The world to Christ we bring
with joyful song;
the new-born souls, whose days,
reclaimed from error’s ways,
inspired with hope and praise,
to Christ belong.

Samuel Wolcott (1813–1886)
CCL31580

Luke 4: 20–30

Read by Don Head

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’

²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked.

²³ Jesus said to them, ‘Surely you will quote this proverb to me: “Physician, heal yourself!” And you will tell me, “Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.”’

²⁴ ‘Truly I tell you,’ he continued, ‘no prophet is accepted in his hometown. ²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed – only Naaman the Syrian.’

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

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 Rosemary Kearsey

Sharing 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: Through all the changing scenes of life

Through all the changing scenes of life,
in trouble and in joy,
the praises of my God shall still
my heart and tongue employ.

O magnify the Lord with me,
with me exalt his name;
when in distress to him I called,
he to my rescue came.

The hosts of God encamp around
the dwellings of the just;
deliverance he affords to all
who on his succour trust.

O make but trial of his love,
experience will decide
how blest are they, and only they,
who in his truth confide!

Fear him, ye saints, and you will then
have nothing else to fear;
make you his service your delight,
your wants shall be his truth care.

To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
the God whom we adore,
be glory, as it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

Nahum Tate (1652–1715) and Nicholas Brady (1659–1726)
Psalm 34
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

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

Bishop of Oxford’s Visitation to Cornerstone

Friends,
Last July Bishop Steven of Oxford came to Cornerstone to tell us of the review of church life he and the other four denominational leaders had commissioned. His three commissars would spend five days in Milton Keynes in September 2024 meeting civic and faith leaders and some of the congregation; you were encouraged to send comments to the commissars. Their Report was completed by December 2024. The denominational leaders discussed the Report and Bishop Steven presented an outline of the conclusions and recommendations to Cornerstone leaders and members last week. A great many people attended after the service and twelve people took part on Zoom.

If you would like a copy of the Report, please contact me, Pat Kyd or Robin Kyd, who will supply one.

The Report recognises that because we are the Church at the centre of a rapidly growing city, we need to make changes to meet the challenges of the future.

There are good things we must take care to keep and nurture:

• The ecumenical nature of our church life and worship;
• Our diverse congregation and church council they have elected.
• Our key role at the heart of the city as a community of faith
• Our service to each other and the wider community.

The visitors identified key areas for us to work on; these are listed fully in the Report but to highlight a few:

• Our shared vision. There seems to be a wide divergence of views relating to the Vocation of Christ the Cornerstone – what is God calling us to do in this place? The Report suggests a vision of an Ecumenical Kingdom in these words:

The vocation of Christ the Cornerstone is to point to the presence of God who is active at the heart of civic life and to celebrate, serve and resource people and events which focus the unity of the City under God. This is similar to our existing ‘Oasis of Hope’ strategy.

It is clear that we need to live up to being the Church in the centre of the City:

• City leaders look to us to provide a focus for civic life, including supporting city institutions and the spiritual life of the city;
• We need to recognise the tension between the need to raise income from use of the building and its focus on mission;
• Our management structures need to be simplified and made clear so people understand how we operate and who to approach; we need to learn how to work together better.

I commend the Report to you. Please read it carefully, pray over it, and join in discussions on the way ahead. Some parts of the Report are excluded which contain names or personal details, otherwise it is complete. The Church Council meets om 11 February 2025 to begin considering the recommendations. Please pray for us and tell us what you think and feel about the way ahead – what our future should be like. There is much of God’s work ahead for all of us to share.

Cheryl Montgomery, Chair of Church Council

Community Learning and Cornerstone Trading

For the past year Cornerstone Trading have been providing training opportunities for young vulnerable adults mentored by Community Learning, one of our main tenants.

To develop this further, we applied for a grant under the Government Levelling Up scheme through Milton Keynes Council, which was successful to an amount of £35,000.

We are using this to extend the Cornerstone Café kitchen, provide a new servery and an EPOS (card-reading) system for the tills in the Cornerstone Café and Shop.

This will enable Community Learning to mentor up to five individuals at a time in the Café, the Shop and in building maintenance, providing them with the basic skills necessary to obtain a permanent job.

We hope that all church members will support this vital outreach work.

Bob Collard

Offering

Final Prayer

Loving God, thank you for your great love for us,
love which is patient, kind, protecting and persevering.
Help us to take your love out with us this week
and show it to those who feel they are outside of your family.
Give us your heart for those who do not yet know you.
We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen

Hymn: Will you come and follow me

Will you come and follow me,
if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
will you let my love be known,
will you let my life be grown,
in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind
if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer
in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see
if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free
and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean
and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean
in you and you in me?

Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound
in you and you in me?

Lord, your summons echoes true
when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
and never be the same.
In your company I’ll go
where your love and footsteps show,
thus I’ll move and live and grow
in you and you in me.

John l. Bell (b. 1949) and Graham Maule (b. 1958) Iona Community
CCL31580

Blessing

When we are together
we will remember what it is like to travel alone.
When we are alone
we will remember what it is like to travel together.
Wherever we are
we will remember God who always goes with us.

Lord, go with us now, this day and always.
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

Dismissal

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

Amen