Guest Preacher: Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch
Lead Minister: Revd George Mwaura
Celebrant: Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Gathering Music

Welcome

Lord Jesus Christ, you call us together in faith and love.
Breathe again the new life of your Holy Spirit among us that we may hear your holy word,
pray in your name, seek unity among Christians (and harmony with all men and women)
and live more fully the faith we profess.
All glory and honour be yours with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.

Amen

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 recognize 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

Hymn: Christ is made the sure foundation

Christ is made the sure foundation,
Christ the head and corner-stone,
chosen of the Lord, and precious,
binding all the Church in one,
holy Sion’s help for ever,
and her confidence alone.

All that dedicated city,
dearly loved of God on high,
in exultant jubilation
pours perpetual melody,
God the One in Three adoring
in glad hymns eternally.

To this temple where we call you
come, O Lord of Hosts today;
with you wonted loving kindness
hear your people as they pray,
and your fullest benediction
shed within its walls alway.

Here vouchsafe to all your servants
what they ask of you to gain,
what they gain of you fir ever
with the blessed to retain,
and hereafter in your glory
evermore with you to reign.

Praise and honour to the Father,
praise and honour to the Son,
praise and honour to the Spirit,
ever Three and ever One,
consubstantial, co-eternal,
while unending ages run.

tr. J.M.Neale (1818–1866)
CCL31580

Prayer of the Week

Holy God, generations know your promises, your covenant of love.
Lord of all, every promise made, you remain faithful to fulfil,
for your ways are holy and your name is holly; all honour and glory belong to you.
So hold us and let your love surround us.
Draw us to your side, and as we wait, we will rise up like an eagle,
and we will soar with you as your spirt leads us on in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Bible Readings

2 Corinthians 5: 14–20

Read by Veronica Fernandes

¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

NIV®

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

John 17: 20–26

Read by Pat Kyd

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.

²⁴ ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ ‘Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’

NIV®

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

Meditation

By Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch

Choral Response

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 Joy Enenche

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 the Lord be always with you.
and also with you.

Let us offer one another a sign of peace.

Act of Covenant Renewal

Brothers and sisters as we gather, to worship God and to renew our covenant,
let us pray, that the vision of unity will one day 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

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.

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.

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.

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:

To work together in love to pray and care for one another and for our neighbours,
to serve together the community based in the City Centre
and to live together in fellowship to the greater glory of God.

Amen

Hymn: Jesus calls us here to meet him

Jesus calls us here to meet him
as, through word and song and prayer,
we affirm God’s promised presence
where his people live and care.
Praise the God who keeps his promise;
praise the Son who calls us friends;
praise the Spirit who, among us,
to our hopes and fears attends.

Jesus calls us to confess him
Word of life and Lord of all,
sharer of our flesh and frailness,
saving all who fail or fall.
Tell his holy human story;
tell his tales that all may hear;
tell the world that Christ in glory
came to earth to meet us here.

Jesus calls us to each other,
vastly different though we are;
creed and colour, class and gender
neither limit nor debar.
Join the hand of friend and stranger;
join the hands of age and youth;
join the faithful and the doubter
in their common search for truth.

Jesus calls us to his table
rooted firm in time and space,
where the Church in earth and heaven
finds a common meeting place.
Share the bread and wine, his body;
share the love of which we sing;
share the feast for saints and sinners
hosted by our Lord and King.

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

Holy Communion

The Thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation.
Through your goodness we have this bread to set before you,
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 set before you,
fruit of the vine and work of human hands.
It will become for us the cup of salvation.

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.

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.
Save us from the time of trial
and 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:

[Sung by the 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:

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

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

Report from meeting of Church Council Trustees 22 October 2024

Covenant Renewal: Sunday. 3 November 2024 in the Guildhall at 12.00 noon

Our congregations renew the Covenant promises between them. We will share the celebration with Cake and Coffee!

From 2025, we will return to having Covenant Renewal the third Sunday in September.

Preparations for Advent and Christmas

The Advent Wreath will be prepared on Friday, 29 November by Iraida and Katherine. The Christmas Tree will be put up between 9.00 and 11.00 am on Saturday, 30 November 2024. Helpers are welcome to decorate but we must be prompt because there is a wedding rehearsal at 11am that day.

Christmas Charity Appeal

The charities chosen for this year’s appeal are: Advantage Africa, MK ACT (helps people to escape from domestic abuse), Tools for Self Reliance (MK) and the Christian Foundation Urb Farm, Wolverton. Information will be available in early December.

Projects for young people

MK Deanery is looking to support projects aimed at young people. Revd George agreed to talk with Sunday School Leaders and our young adults to find out what they may be interested in doing together.

Education & Worship Group

It was agreed to defer establishing a new Education & Worship Group until we have received the result of the Bishop’s visitation.

Pop-up Presentations: Sunday, 12 January 2025

It was agreed to invite Jay Kaur (Cancer Support Outreach Worker) and Hanna Kara (Adult Social Care Support Worker) to speak for five minutes each between Sunday Worship and the Congregational Meeting on 12 January 2025.

The next Church Council meeting is on Tuesday,19 November 2024

Cheryl Montgomery, Chair

Ecumenical Confirmation

Sunday, 24 November 2024 at Christ the Cornerstone

There will be Ecumenical Confirmation at Cornerstone on Sunday, 24 November 2024 with Bishop Steven. The Preacher will be Revd Ian Suttie, District Ecumenical Officer of the Northampton Methodist District. Confirmation evening classes are available at St Mary’s Wavendon and Watling Valley churches If you may be interested in confirmation, please contact one of our ministers.

Church Christmas Cards

Three cards designed by our volunteer Yvonne Bell are now available in the Cornerstone shop. All proceeds towards church funds.

Bob Collard

Offering

Hymn: Now thank we all our God

Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things hath done,
in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mother’s arms
hath blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessèd peace to cheer us;
and keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
in this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son, and him who reigns
with them in highest heaven,
the one eternal God,
whom earth and heaven adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

Martin Rinkart (1586–1649)
tr. Catherine Winkworth
CCL31580

Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you;
may the Lord’s face shine on you, and be gracious to you;
may the Lord’s face turn towards you and give you peace.
And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be with you today and always

Amen

Dismissal

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

Amen