Holy Communion will be live streamed today

There are two cameras, one faces the Dais, covering the altar and lectern. The other camera faces the organ and choir area. The live feed from these cameras will be shown below. You may watch both or just one, depending upon the size of your device (two may fit on a laptop screen but may not on a phone’s screen).

You may need to adjust your sound volume to hear the service – this should be a temporary measure as we adjust the sound levels to suit the new cameras.

Please note that the feeds will go live from around 9.45 am and will be switched off after the service.

Altar Camera

Organ Camera

Living Stones

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

Introit/Gathering Music

Welcome

Lord God, you have the bread of life for the hungry and living water for the thirsty.
We come hungry and thirsty for your word, with a desire to know your will
and to love with your unconditional love. Help us to be fed and to learn from you.

Amen

[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

[Silence]

Hymn: And can it be

And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died he for me, who caused his pain;
for me, whom him to death pursued?
Amazing love! – How can it be,
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all! – The Immortal dies –
who can explain his strange design?
In vain the first-born seraph tries
to sound the depths of love divine!
’Tis mercy all! – Let earth adore,
let angel minds inquire no more.

He left his Father’s throne above,
so free, so infinite his grace;
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
’Tis mercy all, immense and free;
for, O my God, it found out me.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
fast bound in sin and nature’s night:
thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke – the dungeon blazed with light,
my chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine!
Alive in him, my living Head,
alive with righteousness divine,
bold I approach the eternal throne,
and claim the crown through Christ my own.

Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
CCL31580

Prayer of Approach

Bread of life, complete sustainer, provider of all that we need,
we come before you – seeking you, believing and trusting –
so that we may never hunger and thirst again.

Amen

[Silence]

Confession

When we make wrong assumptions about others and judge the way they live:
forgive us, Lord, for limiting people and possibilities.

When we don’t allow others to speak out and be the people you have called them to be:
forgive us, Lord, for limiting people and possibilities.

When we cast judgements on particular communities or neighbourhoods that are different from ours:
forgive us, Lord, for limiting people and possibilities.

Let us journey together towards wholeness and healing, knowing that only God can sustain us and set us free.

Amen

[Silence]

Giver and sustainer of life, through the power of the cross
we are a forgiven people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
chosen by you, who has called us out of darkness into your marvellous light.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

Limitless God, thank you that we cannot contain you,
that you are unfathomable and always up to something!
We worship and adore you.
Just when we think we have worked it all out, you surprise us!
Gracious God, we are truly blessed by you.
Thank you, that as we bow down humbly at your throne, we know that only you can satisfy our needs.
Praise you, Lord God.

Amen

Ministry of the Word

Psalm 34: 1–8

¹ I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
² I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
³ Glorify the Lord with me:
let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
⁶ This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

⁸ Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

NIV®

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

John 6: 35 & 41–51

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. …’

⁴¹ At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ⁴² They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I came down from heaven”?’

⁴³ ‘Stop grumbling among yourselves,’ Jesus answered. ⁴⁴ ‘No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: “They will all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ No-one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰ But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’

NIV®

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

Meditation

By Revd George Mwaura

Choral Response

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

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.

Bind us together

Bind us together, Lord,
bind us together with cords
that cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord,
bind us together,
bind us together with love.

There is only one God,
there is only one King.
There is only one Body,
that is why we sing:

Bind us together, Lord, …

Made for the glory of God,
purchased by his precious Son,
born with the right to be free,
for Jesus the victory has won.

Bind us together, Lord, …

You are the family of God,
you are the promise divine,
you are God’s chosen desire,
you are the glorious new wine.

Bind us together, Lord, …

Bob Gillman (b. 1946)
CCL31580

Holy Communion

The Lord 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 forever and ever.

Amen

The Lord’s Prayer (Said)

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.

Amen

Post-Communion Prayer

Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us
as living members of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
Send us now into the world in peace,
and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart;
through Christ our Lord.

Amen

 

Notices

Maureen Onwunali: Roundhouse Poetry Slam Champion of 2021

As Maureen reported in church last Sunday, on Thursday, 29 July 2021 she went to London to compete in the Roundhouse Poetry Slam Final, in which she performed two poems and won both the audience vote and the first prize. Maureen is now the Roundhouse Poetry Slam Champion of 2021.

The Roundhouse Poetry Slam Final 2021 is available to view on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1hndFdngVk. However, the complete video is nearly three hours long, so if you just want to hear Maureen, she starts around 37½ min into the recording with ‘Why I rise’ and then again at 2 hr 12 min with ‘Mother Tongue says to Nigerian girl’. The announcement of the results comes at 2 hr 44 min.

Maureen says she is very grateful for the church’s support.

We are very proud of her achievement and wish her every success as a poet.

Mark Okor

Our Administrator, Mark Okor, has been signed off by his doctor for two weeks, following recent surgery. We wish Mark a speedy recovery.

Cornerstone Café

The Cornerstone Café is open 8.30 am – 3.00 pm Monday–Friday, serving hot and cold drinks, freshly made sandwiches, toasties, paninis, home-made cakes and scones, hot snacks, soup made in the kitchen, and specialities like omelettes and crêpes.

If you are in or around the city centre during the week, do drop in for a drink or a snack. Meet up with friends for a chat over a cup of coffee.

This is the best value anywhere in central Milton Keynes!

Climate at Cornerstone: Countdown to COP26

Last Sunday a group met in the Small Hall to design a patch for the Coat of Hopes (https://www.coatofhopes.uk/), representing our hopes for the future, to be worn by an artist on the pilgrimage to Glasgow for the Cop 26 Climate Summit. We tried to encapsulate our fears and our dreams in an image that also represented our Milton Keynes locality. Cheryl now has the task of making it into a patch. We’ll keep you posted on progress!

And just to show us how far we have to go, Thursday was Earth Overshoot Day: the day marking the moment when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. For the rest of the year we are eating into the finite reserves of the planet. Take a look at https://www.overshootday.org/

David Chapman

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.

Final Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for believing in us,
for seeing beyond our outside and knowing who we really are inside.
Thank you for giving us all we need to do your work, even when others may tell us we are ‘only’.
Thank you, Lord, for calling us to be adverts for you,
so that others can see that you also believe in them.

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 name 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 & Graham Maule, The Iona Community (1987)
CCL31580

Blessing

God be in your head, and in your understanding;
God be in your eyes, and in your looking;
God be in your mouth, and in your speaking;
God be in your heart, and in your thinking;
God be at your end, and at your departing.
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