This Service will be on Zoom at 10.00 am.
Join the Zoom meeting at
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85941021452?pwd=SXFGY1ZDQ2MraWhTYlcvRjJpM0Uvdz09
Meeting ID: 859 4102 1452
Passcode: 434821

Led by Ian Trimnell
Preacher: Revd George Mwaura
Celebrant: Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Gathering music

Welcome

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
for he has made us righteous, and his Spirit gives us life.

The Spirit – who raised Jesus from the dead,
the Spirit – who lives within us.

The Spirit – who has adopted us as God’s children;
the Spirit – who sets us free.

The Spirit – who confirms in our inmost being that we belong to Christ.
We are born again by God’s Spirit.

Amen

Hymn: Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here

Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here;
Come bow before Him now with reverence and fear.
In Him no sin is found, we stand on holy ground;
Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here.

Be still, for the glory of the Lord is shining all around;
He burns with holy fire, with splendour He is crowned.
How awesome is the sight, our radiant King of light!
Be still, for the glory of the Lord is shining all around.

Be still, for the power of the Lord is moving in this place;
He comes to cleanse and heal, to minister His grace.
No work too hard for Him, in faith receive from Him;
Be still, for the power of the Lord is moving In this place.

David J. Evans (b. 1957)
Copyright © 1986 Thankyou Music
CCL31580

Gathering Prayer

Today is the feast of Pentecost.

Come, Holy Spirit:
breathe into our prayers your breath of life.

Come, Holy Spirit:
fan the flame of love within us and draw us into the life of God:
Father, Son and Spirit.

Come Holy Spirit:
renew us and revive us, that in our worship and in our living,
we may live a life of love for the praise and glory of God.

Amen

Confession

Spirit of God, you blow where you will;
free and unpredictable, familiar yet surprising;
yet often we prefer the comfort
of that which we can devise and contain.
Break us, bend us, mould us, fill us.

Spirit of God you work in ways unseen
and dance to rhythms we have yet to discover;
but our eyes remain fixed on past routines and disappointments,
and the endless landscape of your purpose is obscured by their shadow.
Break us, bend us, mould us, fill us.

Spirit of God, you make possible
what wisdom alone can neither imagine nor believe;
yet our boundaries stay fixed to limits of our making,
while beyond them you wait to exceed our every expectation.
Break us, bend us, mould us, fill us.

Spirit of God, you renew and restore
what yesterday’s struggles have damaged and broken;
yet we too readily wallow in the hurts and frustrations
that your healing presence invites us to abandon
Break us, bend us, mould us, fill us.

Spirit of God, inspire our imaginations with what you might achieve.
Accomplish within us what could never be attempted in our strength alone.
Release us from ourselves, that your purposes might prevail.
Break us, bend us, mould us, fill us.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

Spirit of God, come to us now,
so that, in this time of Pentecost,
the sparkling light of faith,
the rushing wind of hope
and the joyful sound of praise
may echo round the world,
may echo in the church, and find their response in us.

Amen

Scripture Readings

Acts 2: 1–4

Read by Rosemary Kearsey

The Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost

¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

NIV®

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

John 20: 19–23

Read by John Kearsey

Jesus appears to his disciples

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

²¹ Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’

NIV®

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

Meditation

By Revd George Mwaura

Choral Response: If ye love me, seek my commandments

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 Martha George

We belong to each other, and so we gather today, like the apostles,
to receive the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit.

God has chosen to reveal himself to us in the form of flames of fire – the fire of love.
Love that has come into the world to replace conflict with peace.

At Pentecost, a very special relationship is restored, we are clothed with power now,
we can face the world with confidence
because the language of love and peace has replaced hatred and scorn.

May Jesus Christ give us grace and peace.

‘How many times have I wanted to put my arms around you, my people, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings!’

Matthew 23: 37

May the power of the Holy Spirit transform our hearts.

Intercessions

Lord, we offer our intercession for the church, fragile and flawed;
in your mercy grant us forgiveness.
As we struggle to become all we could be we pray that you will hold us together.

We pray for the gift of love, that we may trust and care for one another.
We pray for the gift of patience, that we may hear, listen and respond to each other.
We pray for the gift of courage, that we may be bold in our commitment and witness.
We pray for the gift of humility, that we will be honest with each other.
We pray for the gift of grace, that we may rejoice in our shared humanity.
We pray for the gift of faith, that we might believe that you will make us wholly yours.

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

Let us offer one another a sign of peace

Holy Communion

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.

Father, you made the world and love your creation.
You gave your Son Jesus Christ to be our Saviour.
His dying and rising have set us free from sin and death.
By your Holy Spirit you make us your friends.
And so we gladly thank you,
with saints and angels praising you and saying:

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

We praise and bless you, loving Father,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord;
and as we obey his command,
send your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts
that broken bread and wine out-poured,
may be for us the body and blood of your Dear Son.

On the night before he died he had supper with his friends
and taking bread, he praised you.
He broke the bread, shared it with them and said,
‘Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.’

When supper was ended he took a cup of wine.
Again he gave you thanks, shared it and said,
‘Drink this, all of you, this is my blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.’

So, Father, as we remember all that Jesus did,
we plead with confidence his sacrifice made once for all upon the cross.
We proclaim his death and resurrection until he comes in glory.

Great is the mystery of faith:

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

Lord of all life, help us to work together for that day
when your kingdom comes and justice and mercy will be seen in all the earth.
Look with favour on your people; gather us in your loving arms
and bring us with all the saints to feast at your table in heaven,
through Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory are yours,
O loving Father, for ever and ever.

Amen

The Lord’s Prayer

As our Saviour taught us, so we pray:

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.

Take this bread:

Share this wine.

In these Christ comes to us with love from God.
The gifts of God for the people of God.

Amen

After Communion

Holy One, in your grace you brought us to your table to share this meal of hospitality.

May the love we find at this table
be reflected in our lives.

May the power we received at this table
make us peacemakers and healers.

May the Spirit who fills us again at this table be the compass of our journey, our stories and our lives.

Amen

Notices

Trinity Sunday – 30 May 2021

Next Sunday (30 May 2021) there will be Services of the Word at 10.00 am, both in the Worship Area at Cornerstone, led by Revd George Mwaura, and on line by Zoom, led by Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga. The preacher at both services will be Revd George Mwaura.

Offering Envelopes 2021

If you have requested offering envelopes for 2021 these are now ready for collection.
Now that the Cornerstone building is open, they can be collected when you come to the church,
so please contact Janet Trimnell, mailto:steward.cccmk@gmail.com
beforehand to arrange for your envelopes to be sent to the church.
Thank you.

‘Institutional racism still a flaw’

Following the publication last month of From Lament to Action, the report of the Church of England Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce, the Director of Justice and Inclusion for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) invited Glynne Gordon-Carter to write an article on the work that led to the publication of An Amazing Journey: The Church of England’s response to institutional racism in 2012.

You can read Glynne’s article on the Churches Together In Britain and Ireland (CTBI) website at https://ctbi.org.uk/institutional-racism-still-a-flaw-glynne-gordon-carter/.

Glynne’s book, An Amazing Journey is published by Church House Publishing and you can order a copy from them by Following this link: https://www.chpublishing.co.uk/books/9780715143551/an-amazing-journey.

You can find out more about the report of the Anti-Racism Taskforce on the Church of England website here: From Lament to Action.

Offering

Thank you
to everyone who has continued giving through our regular schemes during these past months.
Your generosity has been amazing and much appreciated.
We couldn’t have carried on without you.

We have various ways in which you can continue to give your offering in support of the Church.

For details please contact the Stewardship Secretary, Janet Trimnell, at steward.cccmk@gmail.com

Full details are also available on our website at: www.cornerstonemk.co.uk/giving.

Hymn: Shine, Jesus, shine

Lord, the light of your love is shining,
in the midst of the darkness, shining;
Jesus, light of the world, shine upon us,
set us free by the truth you now bring us,
shine on me, shine on me.

Shine, Jesus, shine,
fill this land with the Father’s glory;
blaze, Spirit, blaze,
set our hearts on fire.
Flow, river, flow,
flood the nations with grace and mercy;
send forth Your word,
Lord, and let there be light.

Lord, I come to Your awesome presence,
From the shadows into Your radiance;
By the blood I may enter Your brightness,
Search me, try me, consume all my darkness.
Shine on me, shine on me.

Shine, Jesus, shine, …

As we gaze on Your kingly brightness
So our faces display Your likeness.
Ever changing from glory to glory,
Mirrored here may our lives tell Your story.
Shine on me, shine on me.

Shine, Jesus, shine, …

Graham Kendrick (b. 1950)
Copyright © 1987 Thankyou Music
CCL31580

Final Prayer

Spirit of Truth – Guide us in your ways.
Spirit of Freedom – Release our hearts and imaginations.
Spirit of Wisdom – Inhabit our thoughts and conversations.
Spirit of Healing – Restore and anoint us for your service.
Spirit of Forgiveness – Pour out your grace upon us.
Spirit of Hope – Open us to new possibilities.
Spirit of Power – Accomplish your purpose through us.
Spirit of Unity – Bind us in love and common endeavour.
Spirit of Life – Inspire and enable us to fulfil your calling.
Spirit of Christ – Mould us in your likeness.

Amen

 

The Dismissal

Brothers and Sisters,
filled with the Spirit’s power,
go in the light and peace of Christ.
Thanks be to God.