This Service is conducted by Zoom.
The link to the Zoom session is:
https://bit.ly/ccc-sunday
or
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89527510416?pwd=cDliVE9YSlIwUC93aTRTdlA2cFpEQT09
Further details on how to access the Zoom Service can be found here.

Led by Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga and Revd George Mwaura

Preachers: Andrew & Jane Betts, Advantage Africa

Introit: Aria for Suite Antique by John Rutter

Welcome

Lenten Prayer

God who calls us on our journey, as we remember Jesus’ time in the wilderness,
help us to cast aside those things that get in the way of hearing your word.
Help us to seek you in the places of bounteous beauty and of barren bleakness.
Help us to seek you in the faces of friends and in the smiles of strangers.
Help our devotion to be made real in the actions of our lives.
When we have looked deep into our own hearts and struggled with who we are,
send angels to minister to us and draw us out from our own wilderness
to fulfil our calling to serve you.
In Christ’s name.

Amen

Hymn: It is a thing most wonderful

It is a thing most wonderful,
almost too wonderful to be,
that God’s own Son should come from heaven,
and die to save a child like me.

And yet I know that it is true:
he chose a poor and humble lot,
and wept and toiled and mourned and died,
for love of those who loved him not.

I cannot tell how he could love
a child so weak and full of sin;
his love must be most wonderful,
if he could die my love to win.

I sometimes think about the cross,
and shut my eyes, and try to see
the cruel nails and crown of thorns,
and Jesus crucified for me.

But even could I see him die,
I could but see a little part
of that great love which, like a fire,
is always burning in his heart.

It is most wonderful to know
his love for me so free and sure;
but ’tis more wonderful to see
my love for him so faint and poor.

And yet I want to love thee, Lord;
O light the flame within my heart,
and I will love thee more and more,
until I see thee as thou art.

Walsham How (1823–1897)
CCL31580

Gathering Prayer

We light this candle to remind us that the love
of God is like a light in our darkness.
Blessed be God for ever.

We praise you, our God, for all mother who have loved
and laughed and laboured as they cared for their children.
Blessed be God for ever.

We praise you, our God, for all mother who have
wept in sorrow and joy for their children.
Blessed be God for ever.

We praise you, our God, for Jesus, born of a woman and nurtured in her love,
and for Mary, a reminder of your patient, waiting love.
Blessed be God for ever.

Amen

The Confession

Let us call to mind our sin,
our failure to value the love of others
and our failure to love as Christ loves us.

[Silence]

Your love gives us life from the moment of conception.
We fail to live as your children.

Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy.

You call us to do good.
We seek our own good.

Christ have mercy.
Christ have mercy.

You hear us when we cry for help.
We ignore the cries of others.

Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy.

Kyrie

Absolution

May the Father of all mercies
cleanse you from your sins,
and restore you in his image
to the praise and glory of his name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Bible readings

Psalm 107: 1–3

Read by Janet Trimnell

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures for ever.
² Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story –
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
³ those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.

NIV®

John 3: 14–21

Read by Ian Trimnell

 

‘… ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

NIV®

Meditation

By Andrew & Jane Betts, Advantage Africa

Choral response: For the beauty of the earth (John Rutter)

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

Intercessions

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

Through the prophet Isaiah, God says,
‘As a mother comforts her child, I will comfort you.’

The peace of the Lord be always with you,
and also with you.

Praise God who loves us.
Praise God who cares.

Notices

Lent Study Groups

Lent Study Groups continue this week with Session 4 ‘No Condemnation’ at 7.15 pm on Tuesday, at11.00 am on Wednesday, and at 7.30 pm on Thursday, all by Zoom.

Annual Congregational Meeting 2021

The 2021 Annual Congregational Meeting will be held next Sunday (21 March 2021) by Zoom at 11.30 am, following the Morning Service. A copy of the draft Annual Report 2020 has been posted on the Cornerstone website at: https://cornerstonemk.co.uk/annual-report-2020/.

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.

Prayer for Mothers

Praise God who loves us.
Praise God who cares.

For the care of mothers:
Thanks be to God.

For their patience when tested:
Thanks be to God.

For their love when tired:
Thanks be to God.

For their hope when despairing:
Thanks be to God.

For their service without limit:
Thanks be to God.

[A symbolic flower is given to all mother.]

Thank you, God, for the love of our mothers;
thank you, God, for their care and concern;
thank you, God, for the joys they have shared with us;
thank you, God, for the pains they have borne for us;
thank you, God, for all that they give us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Hymn: Tell out, my soul

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord!
Unnumbered blessings, give my spirit voice;
tender to me the promise of your word;
in God my Saviour shall my heart rejoice.

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his name!
Make know his might, the deeds his arm has done;
his mercy sure, from age to age the same;
his holy name, the Lord, the mighty one.

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his might!
Powers and dominions lay their glory by.
Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight,
the hungry fed, the humble lifted high.

Tell out, my soul, the glories of his word!
Firm in his promise, and his mercy sure.
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
to children’s children and for evermore!

Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926)
based on Luke 1: 46–51
CCL31580

The Blessing

Praise God who loves us.
Praise God who cares.

May God, who gave birth to all creation, bless us;
may God, who became incarnate by an earthly mother, bless us;
may God, who broods as a mother over her children, bless us.
May almighty God bless us: Father, Son and Hoy Spirit,
now and for ever.

Amen

Dismissal

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord

In the name of Christ.

Amen

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The following musical items, which could not be included in the Service, are available here:

Psalm for Mothering Sunday – My Shepherd is the Lord, nothing indeed shall I want

Responsorial Psalm 23 translated by the Ladies of the Grail, in a musical setting composed by Joseph Gelineau.

Postlude  –  Ostinato from ‘Suite Antique’

Second of six movements for flute, harpsichord & strings composed by John Rutter1979. Performed by Abigail Burrows (flute) Adrian Boynton (piano).