Please note that the video feed will go live from around 9:50 am and will be switched off after the service.
A separate video feed of the choir is available here.

Led by Revd George Mwaura

Gathering Music

Sung by the Cornerstone Children’s Choir

Welcome

Prayer

God our Mother and Father, your Son Jesus Christ lived in a family in Nazareth:
Grant that in our families on earth we may so learn to love and to live together
that we may rejoice as one family in your heavenly home.
Lord Jesus, you know well the blessing an earthly home can bring:
Receive our thanks for all the love we have received in our homes,
especially from those who have nurtured us from our earliest years.
Hear our prayers for mothers everywhere,
that they may never lose heart nor ever be taken for granted,
but receive from their children the honour and love you showed to your mother, Mary,
even as you were suffering on the Cross.
Bless and keep them all, for we ask in your name.

Amen

Hymn: Give me joy in my heart

Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising,
give me joy in my heart, I pray.
Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising.
Keep me praising till the end of day.

Sing hosanna! Sing hosanna!
Sing hosanna to the King of kings!
Sing hosanna! Sing hosanna!
Sing hosanna to the King!

Give me peace in my heart, keep me resting,
give me peace in my heart, I pray.
Give me peace in my heart, keep me resting.
Keep me resting till the end of day.

Sing hosanna! …

Give me love in my heart, keep me serving,
give me love in my heart, I pray.
Give me love in my heart, keep me serving.
Keep me serving till the end of day.

Sing hosanna! …

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning,
give me oil in my lamp, I pray.
Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning.
Keep me burning to the end of day.

Sing hosanna! …

Traditional

Confession

Friends, let us call to mind our failure to value the love of others
and our failure to love our mothers as Christ has loved us.
God our Mother, your love gives us life from the moment of conception.
Often though, we fail to live as your children and we ask that you have mercy on us.
You call us to do good, but we seek our own good.
You hear us when we cry for help yet we ignore the cries of others.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Amen

Kyrie from Ukraine

Prayer of the Week

Loving God, we thank you for the precious gift of love,
which we receive from our Mothers, family and friends.
We give you thanks for the ability to care, nurture and love, which you have set deep within us.
Help us to use these gifts for the good of our families and friends
and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the one who loves us so much that he gave his life for us.

Amen

Ephesians 6: 1–4

Read by a member of Cornerstone Youth

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² ‘Honour your father and mother’ – which is the first commandment with a promise – ³ ‘so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’

⁴ Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

NIV®

Hymn: For the beauty of the earth

For the beauty of the earth,
for the beauty of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies,
Christ our God, to you we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

For the beauty of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale, and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light.
Christ our God, to you we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,
for the heart and mind’s delight,
for the mystic harmony
linking sense to sound and sight.
Christ our God, to you we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth and friends above,
pleasures pure and undefiled.
Christ our God, to you we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

For each perfect gift of divine
to our race so freely given,
joys bestowed by love’s design,
flowers of earth and fruits of heaven,
Christ our God, to you we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

F.S. Pierpoint (1835–1917)
CCL31580

John 19: 25–27

Read by a member of Cornerstone Youth

²⁵ Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing near by, he said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ ²⁷ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

NIV®

I wish I knew how it would feel to be free

Sung by the Cornerstone Children’s Choir

Reflection

By Revd George Mwaura

Distribution of Flowers

Life is a wonderful thing

Sung by the Cornerstone Children’s Choir

Intercessions

Led by Glynne Gordon-Carter

The Lord’s Prayer

Led by the Cornerstone Children’s Choir

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 Peace

The Lord Jesus is the prince of peace and he bids us to preach peace and practice peace in his name.
So, my dear friends, may the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be always with you!

Let us share peace in the agreed protocols.

Hymn: This little light of mine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. [×3] let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

This light that shines is the light of love,
lights the darkness from above.
It shines on me and it shines on you,
and shows what the power of love can do.
I’m gonna shine my light both far and near,
I’m gonna shine my light both bright and clear.
Where there’s a dark corner in this land
I’m gonna let this little light shine.

This little light of mine, …

On Monday he gave me the gift of love,
Tuesday peace came from above.
On Wednesday he told me to have more faith,
on Thursday he gave me a little more grace.
Friday he told me just to watch and pray,
Saturday he told me just what to say.
On Sunday he gave me the power divine
to let my little light shine.

This little light of mine, …

Traditional

Notices

Milton Keynes Foodbank – Big Doorstep Give

Friday, 25 March – Sunday, 27 March 2022

MK Food Bank has had its busiest winter ever and their food supplies are running low. To restock their shelves the MK Food Bank has launched the Big Doorstep Give 2022.

That’s right now, so if you have not booked a time slot it is probably too late to participate. However, Cornerstone is a regular collecting point for donations to Milton Keynes Foodbank. Just leave your donations of non-perishable food in the cupboard in Reception. The Milton Keynes Foodbank website (https://mkfoodbank.org.uk/) has an up-to-date list of food they particularly need (This week we need more …).

As you will see, demand for the foodbank is already 10% higher than last year, and, with rising food and fuel prices, it is only going to go higher. Please do all you can to support the Foodbank.

Truby’s Garden Tea Room

This Sunday (27 March 2022) following coffee after the morning service

Following the usual tea and coffee in the Guildhall after the morning service, no need to go home for lunch! You can stay and have it here – or come back later for Afternoon Tea. Truby’s Garden Tea room will be running their Interfaith ‘pop-up’ Café in the Guildhall until 5.00 pm, selling lunches and teas to raise funds in support of local community groups. There will also be a free prize draw for Mothering Sunday – all Mums entered in free. Prizes include signed copies of Nadia’s Fast Flavours!

Fair Trade Stall

11.15 am – 5.00 pm Sunday, 27March 2022 In the Guildhall

At the request of Truby’s Garden Tea Room there will be a Fair Trade stall in the Guildhall during the afternoon, from 11.15 am. This is also an opportunity to order your Fair Trade Easter Cards and Easter Eggs. If anyone would like to help staff the stall, please let me know.

Joy Chapman mobile 07854 762676, email cjoy.chapman9@gmail.com

Support Earth Hour

8.30–9.30 pm Saturday, 26 March 2022

Earth Hour is an annual event organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), when people and organisations all over the world switch off their lights at home for one hour ‘to help raise awareness on the most urgent issues facing our planet’. It is expected that this year there will be supporters in over 190 countries taking action and raising awareness of the issues facing our one home. Information is available at https://www.earthhour.org/.

UK churches are being encouraged to join in the Earth Hour ‘switch off’ when church members are invited to switch off as some lights and devices and take time to pray. Hereford Cathedral has produced a meditation for the hour: https://www.herefordcathedral.org/event/earth-hour-2022. It would be good if Cornerstone members would participate for one hour 8:30–9.30 pm this Saturday, (26 March 2022).

Revd George Mwaura Sabbatical Leave July–October 2022

The purpose of a sabbatical in a minister’s ministry, or indeed an academic’s is not to go and rest under a palm tree drinking coconut wine while contemplating the universe! On the contrary, the leave is an opportunity to step away from the normal duties and engage in an exercise that will bring enrichment as well as enhance personal and professional development. The knowledge gained from a sabbatical time is then utilised in the person’s work or ministry context. In my case, I intend to look at the issue of the missing generation in our churches – the youth. The churches of the global south seem to understand the mindset of the youth and have them in hundreds, while the youth have almost disappeared completely in the western-hemisphere churches.

In conversation with my moderator and sabbatical supervisor, we have agreed that my intention is to spend time in a local Presbyterian church in rural Kenya that has a very active youth group – more than two hundred, and is especially active during school holidays. I have had conversations with their moderator and parish minister and received consent from the Nyeri synod in central Kenya to spend time in this church preaching for five Sundays (scattered from late July to mid-September)

The church has also included me in their August youth program and I will be a guest speaker in their gathering as well as leading Bible studies. I will also accompany the elders as they do their pastoral visits and learn something of how they minister to the very poor in their own poverty! My primary focus however will be to try to understand (as well as learn) the model the church is using to retain such a large number of youth groups ranging from Sunday school to university students. I hope that I can gain some useful insight to bring back to my local context.

Revd George

David & Ruth Murray

David & Ruth Murray, long-standing and beloved members of our Congregation, have moved to a new residence: Ashby House. Please keep them in your prayers as they settle in their new home.

Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Covid Safety at services

As the infection rates are still quite high, we are keeping our safety protocols as they are for the next 4 weeks. We’ll review them again after then. So, please can everyone continue to wear face masks throughout services and remain aware of social distancing. We are very grateful for your continued help with this. Thank you.

Eco Church News

The Congregational Meeting approved Cornerstone registering as an Eco Church and to work towards achieving a Bronze Award by 2024. A baseline survey to assess Cornerstone’s current environmental status is under way, involving several committees and the Trading Company, and will be reporting back to church members in June, when a programme of activities will be announced.

C of E Churchwardens for Christ the Cornerstone

I have received two nominations for churchwardens: Krou Assoua and Ann Wilson. Please keep them in your prayers.

Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga (Incumbent)

‘God loves a cheerful giver’

Thanks to your generous giving we can be an OASIS OF HOPE to Milton Keynes.

Please keep supporting our mission!

If you are at our worship service in the church building and would like to make an offering, please place your offering in the basket at the door to the worship area. If you can’t find it, please ask the stewards.

There are many different ways to give: online, telephone banking or by cheque. For more information how to give please visit the Cornerstone website (www.cornerstonemk.co.uk) or contact: steward.cccmk@gmail.com.

Thank you for your support. It is much appreciated.

Offertory Prayer

The Blessing

May the Lord who brought us to birth by his Spirit, strengthen us for the Christian life.
May the Lord who provides for all our needs sustain us day by day.
May the Lord whose steadfast love is constant as a mother’s care,
send us out to live and work for others.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be with you and remain with you always.

Amen

Dismissal

Church, go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

In the name of Christ.

Amen