A separate video feed of the choir will be available here during the service.

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

Gathering Music

Welcome

God, source of life and strength, we approach you with longing hearts and addled minds.
May you lift our faces to see you, even when the world is puzzling and unclear.
Help us to know you better; and draw close to us today.

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: The kingdom of God is justice and joy

The kingdom of God is justice and joy,
for Jesus restores what sin would destroy;
God’s power and glory in Jesus we know,
and here and hereafter the kingdom will grow.

The kingdom of God is mercy and grace,
the captives are freed, the sinners find space
the outcasts are welcomed God’s banquet to share,
and hope is awakened in place of despair.

The kingdom of God is challenge and choice,
believe the good news, repent and rejoice!
His love for us sinners brought Christ to his cross,
our crisis of judgement for gain or for loss.

God’s kingdom is come, the gift and the goal,
in Jesus begun, in heaven made whole;
the heirs of the kingdom shall answer his call,
and all things cry ‘Glory!’ to God all in all.

Bryn Rees (1911–1983)
CCL31580

Confession

Lord, forgive us
when we have closed our eyes to the things that matter,
when we have prioritised the trivial surface matters
over urgent needs and deep-seated injustice.

Forgive us
when we have chosen to look away from those who need us the most.

Forgive us
when we have stretched ourselves so thin
that we do not have time and energy
for that which you call us to do and to be.

Forgive us
and restore us, we pray.
Give us what we need to live, love and pray persistently,
in the power and counsel of your Spirit.

[Silence]

Loving God, we know you hear us.
You not only hear us, you accept us as your children,
surrounding us with grace and forgiveness.
Thank you for your unconditional love.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

Loving God, you are the source of life and strength;
we approach you with longing hearts and weary bodies.
Mercifully we lift our faces to see you, even when the world is puzzling and unclear.
Teach us to be patient as we wait for your response.
We know that you hear all our prayers, however they are made and whoever we are.
Give us faith to trust your awesome love and care for us.

Amen

Ministry of the Word

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains –
where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip –
he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you –
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm –
he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and for evermore.

NIV®

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

Luke 18: 1–8

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, “Grant me justice against my adversary.”

⁴ ‘For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!” ’

⁶ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’

NIV®

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

Meditation

By Revd George Mwaura

[Silence]

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.

Hymn: Lord, for the years

Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided,
urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,
sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided,
Lord of the years, we bring our thanks today.

Lord, for that word, the word of life which fires us,
speaks to our hearts and sets our souls ablaze,
teaches and trains, rebukes us and inspires us,
Lord of the word, receive your people’s praise.

Lord, for our land, in this our generation,
spirits oppressed by pleasure, wealth and care;
for young and old, for commonwealth and nation,
Lord of our land, be pleased to hear our prayer.

Lord, for our world; when we disown and doubt him,
loveless in strength, and comfortless in pain;
hungry and helpless, lost indeed without him,
Lord of our world, we pray that Christ may reign.

Lord, for ourselves; in living power remake us,
self on the cross and Christ upon the throne;
past put behind us, for the future take us,
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.

Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926)
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

Service for 50th Anniversary of United Reformed Church

6.00 pm this Sunday (16 October 2022) at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone

We are proud to be hosting this special commemorative service for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Reformed Church (URC). We shall be welcoming Revd Geoffrey Clarke, Moderator of the East Midlands Synod of the URC, who will be preaching; Revd Canon Helen Cameron, Moderator of the Free Churches Group and a President of Churches Together in England, Chair of the Northampton District and of the Nottingham & Derby District of the Methodist Church; Revd Lisa Kerry, the new Regional Minister and Team Leader of the Central Baptist Association; and Rt Revd Dr Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham. The Bishop of Northampton is also sending a representative. URC members from throughout the East Midlands will also be coming.

Do come to this very special service and give a warm Cornerstone welcome to all our guests.

This anniversary service will also be live streamed.

Harvest Thanksgiving

This week, 16 October 2022, sees the start of our Harvest Thanksgiving. We are asking you to consider whether you can give a financial gift to support the work of Cornerstone. A flyer containing details of how to make your gift along with an envelope should be included with this Notice Sheet, extra flyers and envelopes can be obtained from the Stewards.

Thank you for your support, it is much appreciated.

Janet Trimnell
steward.cccmk@gmail.com

Children’s Harvest Activity

9.30 am –12.30 pm Saturday, 22 October 2022

A morning full of fun activities based around harvest – these will include making pumpkin muffins! Please see Tabbie, Nerys or Ruth to make sure you have a place reserved.

The Coat of Hopes

The Church of Christ the Cornerstone is pleased to welcome the Coat of Hopes and the artist behind its creation, Barbara Keal, for events on 22 & 23 October 2022. The Coat will be on display in the church until 29 October 22022.

Saturday, 22 October 2022: beginning at 4.30 pm

The Coat will lead a walk of witness through the shopping centres, returning to the church about 5.15 pm.

From 7.00 pm Barbara will give a talk about the coat and its pilgrimage from Newhaven to Glasgow to COP 26 last year and the creativity of textile contributions from hundreds of people along the journey, from artists and makers to the volunteers who attached the patches to the coat.

There will be an opportunity for local patch-makers to tell their stories. There will be a time to explore ‘Where am I going and what is my purpose within the climate crisis?’ and to make a fresh commitment to Care for Creation.

10.00 am Sunday, 28 October 2022

Then on Sunday, 28 October 2022, at 10.00 am there will be Harvest Thanksgiving Worship on the theme of Hope, featuring the Coat.

Cheryl Montgomery

Church Membership Renewals 2022

Each year as church members we have to complete information for our parent churches. This year we have agreed to do it slightly differently: easier for members and easier for our Stewardship Secretary. Instead of sending everyone blank Membership and Gift Aid forms to be written out from scratch, it was agreed that church members who had previously supplied their email address could receive a copy of their previous completed membership form. The member is asked to check the details on their form and email the Stewardship Secretary steward.cccmk@gmail.com, saying whether or not changes were needed, e.g. change of address etc. This would greatly reduce the effort required to update church records. For those members who are new this year, or whose Membership and Gift Aid forms were not supplied by email last year, please can you email steward.cccmk@gmail.com to receive a blank form for you to complete and return by email to her?

If you do not have email access, paper Renewal and Gift Aid forms will be given or posted to you, together with reply envelopes addressed to the Stewardship Secretary.

Citizens:MK Listening Project

‘Citizens:MK is a growing alliance of diverse community groups – churches, mosques, schools and others – working together for a thriving, inclusive and fairer Milton Keynes.’ Over the next few weeks, Cornerstone is working with Citizens:MK community organiser Steph Laing to run a listening project around climate change. A few members of the congregation will act as listeners, and they will be keen to hear your views on how this issue touches your life in Milton Keynes (thinking about things like the fuel crisis, for instance). We’ll just be asking for 5 minutes of your time (though if you’d like to talk for longer, that’s great, too). Your thoughts and ideas, along with those gathered from other community organisations, will be fed into the Citizens Assembly on 3 December 2022. Steph will be on hand at the morning service this Sunday to tell you more.

Final Prayer

Lord our God, you promise to stay awake, you protect us,
you hear all of our prayers, you want us to keep talking to you.
You are God of everything and we look up to you.
Bless us as we trust in you.
Send us out to live and work and pray, in Jesus’ name.

Amen

Hymn: Through all the changing scenes of life

Through all the changing scenes of life,
in trouble and in joy,
the praises of my God shall still
my heart and tongue employ.

O magnify the Lord with me,
with me exalt his name;
when in distress to him I called,
he to my rescue came.

The hosts of God encamp around
the dwellings of the just;
deliverance he affords to all
who on his succour trust.

O make but trial of his love,
experience will decide
how blest are they, and only they,
who in his truth confide!

Fear him, ye saints, and you will then
have nothing else to fear;
make you his service your delight,
your wants shall be his truth care.

To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
the God whom we adore,
be glory, as it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

Nahum Tate (1652–1715) and Nicholas Brady (1659–1726)
(based on Psalm 34)
CCL31580

Blessing

The Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
teach you to walk in his way more trustfully,
to accept his truth more faithfully, and to share his life more lovingly;
that by the power of the Holy Spirit
you may come as one family to the kingdom of the Father.
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