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

Please note that the video feed will go live from around 9:50 am and will be switched off after the service.
A separate video feed of the choir is available here.

Gathering Music

Welcome

Here we are, Lord, with our gifts and our gaps, our successes and our failures,
our enthusiasm and our doubts, our passion and our unworthiness.
Help us to hear your call and to have the courage to say, ‘Here I am, send me.’
In Jesus’ name.

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: 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 him 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 enquire 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 flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, we forth, and followed thee.

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

Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
CCL31580

Prayer of Approach

As we draw near to you, Lord God, we remember how you approached your first disciples by the lake; we follow you as they did, captivated and in awe at being caught up in your story.

Amen

[Silence]

Confession

Lord, we confess that we fear getting in too deep.
When we feel you drawing us to you,
calling us to leave the safe confines of life as we know it
and plunge into the depths of life with you, we are afraid.

What will you ask of us, Lord?
For we are ordinary people:
we have no tongues to talk in clever parables;
we have no miracles to perform.

And, the fact is, we’re quite content as we are;
we’re happy to serve you from the wings, we don’t want the spotlight.

Yet you have drawn us into your story, and you call us to be all that we can be.

We confess that we are afraid of our potential; afraid to unleash your power within us.

Forgive us, and grant us the courage to overcome our fears and follow you.

Amen

[Silence]

Our Father in heaven forgives us for being less than we might be;
for following half-heartedly when his Son calls,
skulking in the shadows, afraid of the power of the Holy Spirit to transform us, and the world,
and to bring out the extraordinary within our nature.

Accept then this forgiveness, and this call to shine:
step from the shadows now and follow.
In Jesus’ name.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

As we draw near to you, God, today, we praise your holy name
for allowing your Kingdom to break through into our lives.
We thank you for the things that are ordinary to you, God, but extraordinary to us
and we thank you for calling us to be part of your story–
ordinary people, caught in the extraordinary story of your wonderful plan for our salvation.
We give praise in Jesus’ name.

Amen

Ministry of the Word

Isaiah 6: 1–8

Read by Pat Kyd

Isaiah’s Commission

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’

And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’

NIV®

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

Luke 5: 1–11

Read by Don Head

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

¹ One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding round him and listening to the word of God. ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’

⁵ Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’

⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.’ ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

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.

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: Blessed assurance

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine:
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God;
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long. [×2]

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
visions of rapture burst on my sight;
angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long. [×2]

Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blest —
watching and waiting, looking above
filled with his goodness, lost in his love:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long. [×2]

Fanny Crosby (née Frances J. van Alstyne) (1820–1915)
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

Cornerstone Christmas 2021 Appeal

We now have the outcome of December’s Christmas Appeal. In round figures we raised £6254. This will earn us an estimated £1363 in gift aid. Provided that we are awarded the full amount of gift aid (not yet confirmed), our final total will be £7617, one and a half times our target of £5000.

This will be shared among our beneficiary charities, namely Advantage Africa, Citizen’s Advice, the Community Foundation’s local Afghan Refugee Appeal, the Church’s own Hardship Fund and the Winter Night Shelter.

Very warm thanks to the many members of the Congregation who contributed so generously to the Appeal. And to the Appeal group, Peter Cope, Don Head, Heather Hughes, Stuart Kean, Cheryl Montgomery and Janet Trimnell, especially Janet, who oversaw all the counting and recording of donations.

Sam Crooks

Cornerstone Prayer Network

Prayer is central to our Christian fellowship. The Cornerstone Prayer Network is here for people who have asked us to pray for them. Please send your prayer requests to cornerstonechurch.prayernetwork@gmail.com and the details will be passed on to the members of the Prayer Network. If your prayer request is for someone else, please check with them before sending details to the Cornerstone Prayer Network.

If you would like to become a member of the Cornerstone Prayer Network, please send your details by email to cornerstonechurch.prayernetwork@gmail.com, or speak to June after a Service in the church.

Wednesday evening Bible Study

We have our last Bible Study session on Nehemiah at 7.00 pm this Wednesday (9 February 2021), studying the last chapter of Nehemiah (13).

Shortly it will be Lent, and we shall, like the other Study Groups, be studying Life on the Breadline, which is based on research by Coventry University and others, including Church Action on Poverty. The materials can be downloaded by clicking on this link: https://breadlineresearch.coventry.ac.uk/churches/lent-course/.

Fundraiser at coffee after the service: new Morsbag totes

Sunday, 6 February 2022

Morsbags (Sociable Guerrilla Bagging) are handmade tote bags made from donated recycled fabric by sewing volunteers. Last Sunday I sold five of the MorsbagsI donated by the Leicester Morsbag Group, so there are still five totes left, and one of these could be yours for a donation to church funds (suggested £5.00). Please come and choose!

Pat Kyd

Congregational Meeting

Sunday, 13 February 2022 at 12:30 pm by Zoom

The next Congregational Meeting will again be held on Zoom. The main business of the meeting will be:

• Election of the new Chair of Ecumenical Council. Ecumenical Council has nominated Peter Cope.
• Election of church members to fill the two current vacancies on the council. There have been two nominations: Sarah Adjei and Pat Kyd. Please contact the Clerk with any other nominations
• A proposal that Cornerstone plays its part in tackling climate change by working towards an ECO Church award. For more information see https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/.

For more information contact the Clerk, David Chapman, on clerk.cccmk@gmail.com.

David Chapman

Lent Study Groups

This year the Lent Study Groups will meet virtually and will use material entitled Life on the Breadline, which is based on research by Coventry University and others, including Church Action on Poverty. It is a six-week Lent course and the materials are free to download. Each of the sessions has just two pages, and the sessions include a short video, a Bible passage, guided reflections, discussion questions, and take-away actions. The materials can be downloaded by clicking on this link: https://breadlineresearch.coventry.ac.uk/churches/lent-course/.

So far three groups have been agreed, which will be led by Ian & Janet Trimnell, Revd George Mwaura, and Stuart Kean, which will be meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings respectively. We would like to encourage more groups to meet, which would enable more people to join in and keep the groups of a size to encourage discussion. If you would be willing to lead a group but may not feel tech savvy to convene a group, we have a kind offer that someone will convene the group on Zoom. If you are interested, or would like more information, please contact Stuart Kean (stuart.kean@gmail.com).

Stuart Kean

Elizabeth Eweyemi Oritsejafor

We are sad to inform you of the sad demise of our church member Elizabeth E. Oritsejafor. She passed away on Sunday 30 January 2022. The family will announce funeral arrangements in the coming days.

Final Prayer

Lord of the deep,
be with us when we feel out of our depth.
Lord of the waves,
send us where we are most needed.
Lord of the shore,
bring us safely home.
In Jesus’ name.

Amen

Hymn: Forth in thy name

Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go,
my daily labour to pursue;
thee, only thee, resolved to know,
in all I think or speak or do.

The task they wisdom has assigned
O let me cheerfully fulfil;
in all my works thy presence find,
and prove thy good and perfect will.

Preserve me from my calling’s snare,
and hide my simple heart above,
above the thorns of choking care,
and gilded baits of worldly love.

Thee may I et at my right hand,
whose eyes my inmost substance see,
and labour on at they command,
and offer all my works to thee.

Give me to bear thy easy yoke,
and every moment watch and pray,
and still to things eternal look,
and hasten to thy glorious day;

For thee delightfully employ
whate’er thy bounteous grace hath given,
and run my course with even joy,
and closely walk with thee to heaven.

Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
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