A separate video feed of the choir is available here.

Celebrant: Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Gathering Music

Welcome

All around us new life is emerging, though we may not see it yet.
All around us, God makes things new.
Let us open our eyes and see –
see the new things God is doing, see God at work in and among us!

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

Hymn: Take my life, and let it be

Take my life, and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee;
take my moments and my days,
let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands, and let the move
at the impulse of thy love love.
Take my feet, and let the be
swift and purposeful for thee.

Take my voice, and let it sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my intellect, and use
every power as thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it thine,
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart; it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee.

Frances R. Havergal (1836–1879)
CCL31580

Prayer of Approach

Come, let us praise the name of the Lord,
the one whose name is so great, whose glory is above the earth and the heavens.
Come, let us praise the name of the Lord, who was and is and is to come.

Amen

Confession

Lord, you gave a commandment to love one another.
You loved your disciples of old; you love us today.
You will continue to love into eternity.
Help us each day to give life to your words by sharing and showing your love to one another.
It is not always easy and often we slip up.
Sometimes what we say can be hurtful.
Sometimes what we do can cause pain.

We are sorry, Lord, for saying or doing what we shouldn’t.
Forgive us, and help us to live out your words in our lives today.
Help us to speak and show your love to one another and sow it forward into the future.

[Silence]

Jesus knows our flaws, yet loves us unconditionally.
Be assured of his forgiveness.
He has wiped our slate clean.
New beginnings beckon.
Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

God of our past, present and future,
help us to see you at work in your creation –
as flowers lift their heads to the sun, or trees shake their leaves.
Help us to see you at work in our daily lives, in our routines and choices,
in our growing and our changing.
Help us to see you at work in all things.
In Jesus’ name.

Amen

Ministry of the Word

Psalm 148

Read by Bob Collard

¹ Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
² Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
³ Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.
⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.

⁵ Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for at his command they were created,
⁶ and he established them for ever and ever –
he issued a decree that will never pass away.

⁷ Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
⁹ you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,
¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,
¹² young men and women,
old men and children.

¹³ Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendour is above the earth and the heavens.
¹⁴ And he has raised up for his people a horn,
the praise of all his faithful servants,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.

Praise the Lord.

NIV®

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

John 13: 31–35

Read by Brian Halstead

³¹ When he [Judas] was gone, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. ³² If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

³³ ‘My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: where I am going, you cannot come.

³⁴ ‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’

NIV®

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

Meditation

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 Grace Hunting

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: 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

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 forever 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

Christian Aid Week

15–21 May 2022

The climate crisis is driving families to the brink. Will you help turn hunger into hope?

Cornerstone is raising money for the work of Christian Aid to help people across the world who are struggling because of the impact of poverty and climate change, and you are invited to contribute whatever you can afford. In the past there would have been paper envelopes for you to use for your donation, but this year we are making use of Christian Aid’s e-envelope scheme. This is a special page on the Christian Aid website which provides an easy way to make a donation as part of our contribution. If you use this method the money you donate will be automatically assigned to Cornerstone’s fundraising effort for Christian Aid and it will help us achieve our target of £500.

This is the link to our e-envelope: https://envelope.christianaid.org.uk/envelope/cornerstonemk and it can also be reached by scanning the QR code. Via this link you will be able to make a donation using a credit card, a debit card or PayPal, and you will be able to see how close we are to the £500 target.

Home-baked Cake Sale for Christian Aid

Next Sunday (22 May 2022) in the Guildhall after 10.00 am Service

Cornerstone is fundraising for Christian Aid with the help of our super bakers! Please note the date, and start baking, or at least getting hungry..

If you can help, please let Heather Hughes know, either in church, or by emailing Heather at mk_hmh@outlook.com.

Book Sale

Sunday, 8 May 2022

Thank you to everyone who supported last Sunday’s book sale. We raised £44 for church funds. Happy reading!

Milton Keynes Young Musician 2022

2.30 pm Sunday, 15 May 2022

Milton Keynes Festival of the Arts presents Milton Keynes Young Musician 2022 at 2.30 pm this Sunday afternoon (15 May 2022) here at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone. Seven outstanding young musicians compete for the title ‘Milton Keynes Young Musician 2022’. The adjudicators are John Byron and Anthony Williams. Programme to include works by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Gershwin, Mozart, Prokofiev, Rameau, Schoenberg and Tchaikovsky.

Admission by programme at the door £3.00 (under 18s free).

Offering

‘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.

Final Prayer

God, who is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all things,
you know our past – the burdens we carry.
We know that you will wipe away every tear and make all things new –
though we cannot always see the work you are doing.
Help us to learn from the past, live in the present, and hope for the future.
In all of life’s joys and sadnesses, may we love one another as you love us.

Amen

Hymn: We are one in the Spirit

We are one in the Spirit,
we are one in the Lord, [×2] And we pray that all unity
will one day be restored.

And they’ll know we are Christians
by our love, by our love,
yes, they’ll know we are Christians
by our love.

We will walk with each other,
we will walk hand in hand, [×2] and together we’ll spread the news
that God is in our land.

And they’ll know we are Christians …

We will work with each other,
we will work side by side, [×2] and we’ll guard each man’s dignity
and save each man’s pride.

And they’ll know we are Christians …

All praise to the Father
from whom all things come,
and all praise to Christ Jesus,
his only Son,
and all praise to the Spirit,
who makes us one.

Peter Scholtes (1938–2009)
CCL31580

Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you.
May the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace;
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

The Dismissal

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

Amen