Preacher: Revd Peter Ballantine
Led by: Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Gathering Music

Welcome

Gathering Prayer

Come to the living God, to the Spirit promised by Jesus, to the Comforter, our Advocate.

Come and worship.

[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: Come down, O love divine

Come down, O love divine,
seek thou this soul of mine,
and visit it with thine own ardour glowing;
O comforter, draw near,
within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy name bestowing.

O let it freely burn,
till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let thy glorious light
shine ever on my sight,
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

Let holy charity
mine outward vesture be,
and lowliness become mine inner clothing;
true lowliness of heart,
which takes the humbler part,
and o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.

And so the yearning strong,
with which the soul will long,
shall far outpass the power of human telling,
for none can guess its grace,
till he become the place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling.

Bianco da Siena (d. 1434)
tr. Richard Frederick Littledale (1833–1890)
CCL31580

Confession

Creator God, you have planted the seed of love in our hearts, in our souls, in our lives.
We long for the brightness of your presence drawing ever closer to you and to one another,
as we join with your people at all times in all places to worship and to serve.

We confess:
those frequent times when we have been stony ground,
too hard to value the tiny seed, the generous smile, the heartfelt word.

[Women] You grow us into community.

We confess
those frequent times when we have been stony ground,
too hard to see beyond our selfish desires
and for tacitly accepting a world that smothers the dreams of those with less power and wealth.
Creator God, once again, you have planted the seed of love in our hearts, in our souls, in our lives.

[Men] You grow us into community.

[Silence]

We draw near today in the knowledge that your forgiveness waters the seed
and nurtures us with the power of your Spirit to grow, to flourish
and to bear the fruit of your justice now and for ever more.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

God, gardener of Eden, who flung stars into space and nurtures the tiniest plant,
lift our hopes and dreams above the loss and damage of our suffering planet
that we might share your long-dreamed vision which values the pea as much as the plant,
fill us with your life-giving hope and inspire us with your creative Spirit now, and in the age to come.

Amen

Ministry of the Word

Joel 1: 10–12 & 2: 18–29

Read by Bob Collard

¹⁰ The fields are ruined,
the ground is dried up;
the grain is destroyed,
the new wine is dried up,
the olive oil fails.

¹¹ Despair, you farmers,
wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
¹²The vine is dried up<
and the fig-tree is withered;
the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree –
all the trees of the field – are dried up.
Surely the people’s joy
is withered away.

…

The Lord’s Answer

¹⁸ Then the Lord was jealous for his land
and took pity on his people.

¹⁹ The Lord replied to them:

‘I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil,
enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
an object of scorn to the nations.
²⁰ ‘I will drive the northern horde far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench will go up;
its smell will rise.’

Surely he has done great things!
²¹ Do not be afraid, land of Judah;
be glad and rejoice.
Surely the Lord has done great things!
²² Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig-tree and the vine yield their riches.
²³ Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
²⁴ The threshing-floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

²⁵ ‘I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten –
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm –
my great army that I sent among you.
²⁶ You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
²⁷ Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the Lord your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.

The day of the Lord

²⁸ ‘And afterwards,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
²⁹Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

NIV®

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

Matthew 13: 1–9 & 31–32

Read by Stuart Kean

The Parable of the Sower

¹ That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.’

…

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³¹ He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. ³² Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.’

NIV®

Meditation

By Revd Peter Ballantine

[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

Hymn: In Christ there is no east or west

In Christ there is no east or west,
in him no south or north,
but one great fellowship of love
throughout the whole wide earth.

In him shall true hearts everywhere
their high communion find.
His service is the golden cord
close-binding all mankind.

Join hands, then, brother of the faith
whate’er your race may be.
Who serves my Father as a son
is surely kin to me.

In Christ now meet both east and west,
in him meet south and north.
All Christly souls are one in him
throughout the whole wide earth.

John Ovenham (1852–1941)
CCL31580

Intercessions

Led by Cheryl Montgomery

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 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.

Notices

Christian Aid Week

14–20 May 2023

If you would like to make a donation to Christian Aid, there will be Christian Aid envelopes available at our services. Please put your donation in an envelope and put the envelope in our collection baskets in the next couple of weeks. Please make any cheques payable to ‘Christian Aid’.

Alternatively, you can make a donation via the Christian Aid website https://www.christianaid.org.uk/. The website also gives details of the very worthwhile projects that your donation will support.

Thank you.

Guest Preacher: Revd Peter Ballantine

Our preacher at the 10.00 am Service on Sunday (14 May 2023) is Revd Peter Ballantine. Peter writes: I have been retired for eight years, having been Team Vicar at Great Linford in the Stantonbury and Willen team and Training Officer for the Milton Keynes Mission Partnership. I’m just coming up for my fiftieth anniversary of ordination! Interests include the Woodland Trust, supporting Brighton and Hove Albion, and teaching Biblical languages.

Thy Kingdom Come

18–28 May 2023 – Ascension Day to Pentecost

Churches Together in Milton Keynes (CTMK) are organising a range of services and events across Milton Keynes throughout the period from Ascension Day to Pentecost. At Cornerstone there will be prayer stations set up with the themes of Thy Kingdom Come, and the Chapel will be open and available to all who would like make use of it for prayer. The Chapel will be open Monday–Friday 8.30 am – 5.00 pm, Saturday 9.00 am – 6.30 pm, Sunday 9.00 am – 12.00 noon & 4.00–6.30 pm. For more details of Thy Kingdom Come visit the CTMK website at: https://www.ctmk.church/2023/04/thy-kingdom-come-2023.html.

Truby’s Garden Tea Room Interfaith Community Café

12.30–5.30 pm Sunday, 21 May 2023 in the Guildhall

Join us for lunch or afternoon tea. Truby’s Garden Tea Room is an interfaith community café run by British Muslim women who live in Milton Keynes. All the food is Halal.

Eco Church Workshop

10.00 am – 1.00 pm Saturday, 10 June 2023

Please join us for a workshop being organised by the Cornerstone Eco Church Group to learn from the experiences of other local Eco Churches. We’re delighted that Simon Brown, who is A Rocha’s Coordinator for Speakers, has kindly agreed to speak and to facilitate the workshop. The workshop will take place on Saturday, 10 June2023 at Cornerstone from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm. Please bring your own packed lunch. Please contact stuart.kean@gmail.com for more information.

Stuart Kean, for Cornerstone Eco Church Group

Cornerstone weekly Notice Sheet

The Cornerstone weekly Notice Sheet aims to provide the Cornerstone community with news and information about the Services and other events at Cornerstone, as well as other items of interest to the members of our Church. Please send all items for inclusion in the Notice Sheet, including information about the Sunday services, to reach our Administrator Mark Okor (admin@cornerstonemk.co.uk) and Robin Kyd (robin_kyd@yahoo.co.uk) by 1.00 pm on Wednesday.

Offertory Prayer

God, our Farmer,
you plant the seed, you water the seed, you nourish the seed.
You value the widow’s mite.
You value Esther’s peas.
You value what we bring today.
What we bring today is already yours.
Accept these, our offerings
And use them to help dreams come true:
in this community through this church,
and in your world through Christian Aid.

Amen

Final Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for your promise of the Spirit of truth to guide and lead us.
Send us out with hearts ready to welcome your gift,
eyes open to see and ears eager to hear,
that we may live and reveal your truth and love in every moment, day by day.

Amen

Hymn: For the healing of the nations

For the healing of the nations,
Lord, we pray with one accord,
for a just and equal sharing
of the things that earth affords.
To a life of love in action
help us rise and pledge our word.

Lead us, Father, into freedom,
from despair your world release,
that, redeemed from war and hatred,
all may come and go in peace.
Show us how through care and goodness
fear will die and hope increase.

All that kills abundant living,
let it from the earth be banned;
pride of status, race or schooling,
dogmas that obscure your plan.
In our common quest for justice
may we hallow life’s brief span.

You, Creator-God, have written
your great name on all mankind;
for our growing in your likeness
bring the life of Christ to mind;
that by our response and service
earth its destiny may find.

Fred Kaan (1929–2009)
CCL31580

Blessings

Go into the world working together for change
so that everyone can thrive and share life in its fullness.
And in all we do let us show the love of Jesus.

Let us treat everyone with dignity.
We will show the love of Jesus.

Let us stand up for equality.
We will show the love of Jesus.

Let us fight for justice.
We will show the love of Jesus.

Amen

Dismissal

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

Amen